((Some bits with Almon, others with Al-X))

"Wow." Lene produced with a dry leer as she sauntered past the carrot-top.
She tilted her head to indicate towards the other gunslinger; the trigger
happy one. "You have a real people problem, don't you, Cargo?"

Raejol offered a shrug and a half-smile. "That coming from a woman who just
spent the last half hour being chased by the Bazaar? I am not sure, but that
almost sounds like a compliment."

She would have hissed, shown him the full extent of her displeasure for the
day's events, but settled for a cold, disapproving glance instead. It was
only a game, after all. Lene pointed an accusing finger at him, pointed at
the ship and mouthed, "You. Owe. Me."

The mock bow she received in return, she ignored.

Tylwyth Teg> Get on the boat okay?

The malcontent nymph treated the blinking message with equal disdain. Its
position on the screen only served to remind her again of how much cash she
had been chiselled out of.

Lene> No thanks to you. Weren't you supposed to be talking? Blim. You know
damned well Thelonious' bias.

Tylwyth Teg> Whoa. Whoa. The monsters were respawning too quickly for me to
leave my vessel in the hands of the NPCs. ...what was the damage?

She sighed to herself, her body language instinctively reacting to the
disembodied conversation. Her slender, ivy-entwined fingers ran delicately
along the ship's stylish tapestries. It was a pity she couldn't actually
feel them.

Lene> Bloody double. Might even need to find a fence and sell the
merchandise, instead of give it away this time.

Tylwyth Teg> Heh. If it's that much of a hassle, Lene, I'll procure a
present for you.

She smiled.

Lene> Well... I /really/ like these tapestries on the Sabrosa... third
corridor, starboard-side...

Tylwyth Teg> We'll see. Talk later. More monsters.

Now, her attention focused fully on the interior of the Sabrosa, the nymph
blanched. While the tapestries -most of which would have been expensive
masterpieces in real life- proved to be a pleasant distraction, there was no
denying the predominant presence of iron.

Lene wrapped her willowy arms around her waist. Despite being a simulation,
her aversion to the fae racial bane felt very real and very much like her
physical reaction to being forcibly seated down and fussed over by three
stereotypical gay hair stylists and a bossy, overbearing witch with a
phone-in degree.

Her practiced stride staggered uneasily for a second. The amount of iron was
beginning to cause extreme vertigo and she had to catch a tapestry rung
before the experiance became very, very painful.

At least for her character. It was only a character and a realistic in-game
effects. Not her.

Lene rubbed her head and readjusted her large witch hat, shaking off the
unpleasant episode. Resuming her careful steps along the corridor, she began
to notice short spurts of sudden movement interluded by long, uneventful
pauses. Decidingly not jumping at shadows, the nymph ignored the
disturbance - writing it off as a glitch in the programming.

This was, after all, a player-customized ship. Maybe Thelonius had found a
way to incorperate atmospheric hauntings...

"Ne..." Lene heard a distinct whisper coming from one of the corners,
followed by a giggle.

She tensed. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself forward and showed no
visible disruption in her step. Instinctively, the illusionist began to
cycle through her macros list of dimmed -and therefore uncastable- spells.

"Fae hate iron, don't they?" The shadows spoke again with a cutesy tone that
sounded curious and interested. "You're -so- going the wrong way, then..."

Twitch.

"Okay, Thelonious, I get it!" Lene called out, perturbed, "The haunted ship
algorithm you found on Google is funny. Now stop it."

"Wah! I'm not a ghost!" Lene cringed at the tone of that answer. If she
could put an expression to go with it, she was sure it would be pouting.

Her green eyes narrowed. "Then why don't you come out where I can see you
and prove it, hm?"

"Poke." The voice said as Lene felt a gentle and playful finger poking her
back. Her lower back.

Jolted, and visibly, she reached behind and grabbed the offensive arm,
squeezing to hurt.

"Now." Lene's voice had an icy twinge to it, "I'm okay with the talking, but
contact is another matter entirely. Understand?"

"Oowwiiieee!!!" The young girl she surprised twisted her face... then
twisted around in the air in an acrobatic turn, with her feet running along
the walls and the ceiling. In less than a second, it was Lene's arm was
getting twisted so she had to let go. The girl jumped back, her top-knotted
ponytail bouncing around. She then flashed her a big friendly smile and
Lene recognised her from the top deck. "Sorry! I was following you along...
I'm Elora."

"I'm sure." The nymph gave no show of warmth. She massaged her arm -not out
of genuine pain, but out of habit- and took a calculated step backward. "So,
care explaining why you were following me? As far as I'm concerned, tails
are not in fashion. Not today."

"Eeeh..." Elora blinked and cocked her head faintly. "Was that a joke?
Well, anyway, I was following you 'cause... uhm...." She began to fidget,
rubbing her finger togethers and making circles with her foot. "Aheh...
well, you're really cute... and... well... you being fae and going straight
for the machines room..."

"Blim." Lene exclaimed, her eyes rolling heavenward and her arms making
exasperated waves. "I simply /adore/ this ship. Metal everywhere and
corridors which I thought lead to the passenger rooms pointing straight
towards the.." She took a glance around. "This is towards the stern... the
uh... 'back', isn't it?"

"Nooo...." Elora giggled. "It's the fore..." The stern is -that- way." She
pointed to the other way. I can show you the way; the ship is more
complicated than it seems. Sooo... what's your name?"

"So you say the stern is that way?" Lene pointed down the corridor. More
reasons to dislike this ship. "And it isn't 'fore', the term is 'bow'.
Although..."

"Bow!" And she bowed, then stuck her tongue out. "Heh; I'm not very good
with ships; I just know that up is the deck and down is the... well...
down... You're going straight towards Gian's playground. She gets mad if
you get too nosy."

"I can't imagine why with the infernal racket the machines in this thing
must make..." Lene muttered under her breath. "Why the hell is the machine
room on this end?"

She shook her head and turned to her supposed guide. "Well..?"

"Because... they only make the boat float. The sails move it...
Le-Ne-chan!" Another giggle.

"That's Lene! Pronounce it Lee~n, not 'Le-Ne'." She huffed violently,
putting a hand to her waist indignantly. "Makes it sound more French that
I'd like to be; like some bimbo maid fetish porn star."

Lene reiterated again for emphasis. "Lee~n. Like 'scene'. Lene."

"Leen?" Elora cocked her head. "Lean? Leanne? Ah, well... profile displays
sure come useful sometimes, ne?"

"What?" The nymph did a double take, then realized what had happened.
"Shit."

"Why are you so grumpy about giving your name out, eh?" Elora started to
walk around the nymph, looking her over. "I bet it must get boring with all
the guys asking you out..."

"I... well..." Lene stammered uneasily. She attempted to pivot to keep the
other girl from getting behind her. "Stop that, will you."

"Stop whaaaat?" She said and began walking the other way. "Is it hard being
a faerie? I mean, so many way cool magic weapons that you can't use..."

Becoming exceedingly disconcerted, Lene stumbled for the one macro available
to her and acknowledged its use. The 'per day' meter ticked down and,
without any external display, she managed to freeze Elora in place.

"Whaaaa!" The young thief cried out.

"Okay." Lene smiled triumphantly, prodding her immobile prisoner. "First of
all, I wanted you to stop encircling me like some hungry shark. Secondly,
the restrictions upon my race are something I view as a challenge, as are
the would-be suitors. Thirdly... well... you see how I am able to handle
that problem, don't you?"

If Elora could nod vigourously and desperately, she would have.

"So... now... can you lead me to a more pleasant portion of this ship? If
you want conversation, I'll give it to you... on the condition that we may
engage in it like civilized people."

"I can! I can!" The girl pouted and looked at Lene pleadingly.

"Goo~d." The feeling of utter control had rejuvenated her. She snickered.
"The effect should wear off in a minute or so."

"That's mean!" Elora cried out. "I hate hold spells!"

"It's actually a poison." Lene explained mirthfully. "Nymphs are poison."

"I wasn't going to do anything! I just wanted to check you out in first
person!" The girl was making an excellent show of appearing extremely hurt.

"You should have done so before I noticed you, then." Lene pointed out.
"Plenty of opportunity there. Wasted now." She exaggerated a shrug.

"Meanie." The shadow thief pouted again... then brightened. "Poison? So
it's just physical? Nyahaha!"

Lene didn't like the sound of the last laugh... she liked it even less when
tendris of shadow began to creep around the nymph. Lene was about to jump
out; she knew the spell and she was not in the mood of getting entangled by
shade tentacles and her mana drained. But then one of her class abilities
kicked in and the tendrils became opalescent to her eyes. An illusion. A
very well-crafted illusion but no match to a faerie who was also a skilled
illusionist.

She wished she had mana; then she'd have returned the favour with some
style. Instead, she reached over uncaringly and tipped the stunned
girl -another illusionist?- over and onto the ground.

"Nyahaha!" She mimicked the laugh.

"Waaaaah! You -are- mean! You're not cute at all!" Elora cried from her
prone position.... and then disappeared into the shadow that Lene had
pushed her close to.

"And for your info..." The girl's disemobdied voice continued. "I'm a
shadow mage and a thief... illusions are only part of my collection...
I -do- know the shade tentacle spell..."

"Damn." She cursed, trying to discern where Elora had disappeared to.
Without even a simple invisibility spell, she was a sitting duck -again-.
Still, there was something to be said about the challenge.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" Lene produced a rod from her inventory
and a 'Spore Cloud' item. It was a bluff. Her true plan was to run fast if
this turned ugly.

"Nooo.... I'm not -mean-!" The voice giggled again.

It was very hard to ascertain where the voice was coming from; Lene had
heard of the shadow meld ability, but she had never actually seen it in
action.

"Poke." Lene felt a poking finger on her back again, but the girl hopped out
of reach before she could repeat her previous manoeuvre. "The nice thing
about being inside the shadow is that recovery is quicker..."

"Apparently so." The rod and item disappeared and Lene turned around. The
chances this one was out chasing a bounty were low anyway. "Okay. You got
me. I don't know quite how to handle you and admit it. Now what?"

"Now we go some place nice and iron free!" The thief smiled and extended
her hand, offering it to Lene.

"Works with me." Lene patted the hand, but didn't take it. She stretched
upwards and took a few steps forward. Grinning back at Elora, she asked,
"Well, aren't you coming?"

"Moh... you're not nice...." The young girl grumbled and skipped past Lene.
"Are you so mean all the time?"

"Depends on who you ask."

"Boyfriend?" Elora turned back, walking backwards with her hands behind.

"Eh?" She shook her head, gaze shifting to a tapestry. "No."

"Oh, who are you not mean to, then?" The girl noted Lene's attention
drifting, but didn't comment on it.

"Other people." She shrugged dismissingly. "I'm not good with specifics."

"Hoh..." Elora turned a corner. Lene followed but had to stop suddenly when
she almost crashed into the girl, who had stopped suddenly. "Sorry;
answering a message. My friend Amuri will be coming soon! You'll like
her... uhm... well, being you, maybe you won't like her... bddddd!"

Elora stuck her tongue out again, but then smiled and resumed walking,
motioning Lene to follow.

"It'll depend if she's like you." She retorted, sticking her pale green
tongue out as well. "She.. isn't like you, is she? I could only deal with
one of you at a time."

"No, no; she's a bladmistress for one, and she likes to have fun, but is
kinda angsty sometimes. I know! I'll use you to make her jealous! Yay!"

"What?" Lene's brows furrowed, adding to her confused expression. "You'll
use me for nothing and... oh." She paused as the realization dawned on her.
"Your sexual orientation is women, eh? This is starting to make sense.
Barely."

"Heeeeh..." Her musing sounded a bit pensive. "It's actually both ways...
I'm still trying to decide which I like best." She gave her the victory
sign. "But you being so hot... heh... heh..."

"I guess... it's uh... good to have your... options open..." Lene ventured
awkwardly.

"And besides!" She wriggled her fingers. "I just like to embarrass the hell
out of cute, sexy girls like you!" She laughed and skipped ahead. "Here we
are! Living quarters! Mostly wood, but you can't avoid the nails being
iron..."

"That's quite alright." It was definately better than the iron-trap
corridors of the ship. Plus the bed looked like a decent place to take a
quick rest and restore some mana.

Speaking of which...

Lene turned to face the girl. "Thank you for your help.. uhm.. Elora?" She
extended a hand.

"That's right!" Elora shrugged cutely and took the nymph's hand... or at
least tried to, as her hand passed through Lene's. The girl looked puzzled
and didn't anticipate Lene's real arm shoving her out of the room and
closing the door.

"Waaaah! Mean! I'll get you!" The voice through the door sounded more
playful than angry, which Lene wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing.
It didn't matter, though. Either way, Elora was interesting.

"I'm sure you will." She snickered from her side of the door. "If it's any
consolation, here's my member address. Feel free to use it to exact your
revenge."
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