Match of the Millennium

Description: Her Majesty Queen Cadwallader assembles her royal entourage aboard the TMS Dragon in the port of Miami so that they can set sail for Atlantis Island. What happens when you trap a nue, a pirate Gear, a dragon queen, a cyborg schoolgirl, a shapeshifting Southerner and a pyromaniac Irishman on a boat for twenty-four hours? Ice cream and D&D, of course.

[TANWEN]
The Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami is biggest passenger port in the world and one of the biggest cargo ports in America, known best as the primary hub of some of the world's most successful cruise lines. It even serves as the homeport of the largest cruise ship in the world by gross tonnage, Icon of the Seas.

Surely finding the flagship TMS Dragon of the Royal Atlantean Navy should be of no challenge for those who've been invited to accompany Her Majesty Queen Tanwen Cadwallader I of Atlantis on her journey back to the fabled and (seismically) rebranded land of Isla Zaca.

Okay - it might be a little bit of a challenge, if one were to approach with certain expectations. Just as one might hear 'dragon' and think 'great, terrifying winged reptile that can swallow livestock whole' rather than 'two-foot-long lizard easily mistaken for a large bird when in flight', or one might hear 'dragon queen' and think 'majestic, towering winged monarch in regal attire and wearing a crown' rather than 'five-foot-two teenage ginger girl with a bit of a tan wearing a Welsh flag sundress and flip-flops and happens to have a tail,' hearing 'flagship of the Royal Atlantean Navy' might evoke something other than a private double-decker motor yacht upon which Her Majesty is sitting in a dress designed around a completely different country's flag at a deck table with a pitcher of iced tea and a game of Magic: The Gathering underway.

"Hawksley Moore! Why would you play a spell that blows up everybody's lands when you haven't got any other ways of getting mana? That's not very nice."

Her scowl is clear even behind the sunglasses she's sporting against the early afternoon gleam as she and her companions await the arrival of the rest of the party, who've been given a private terminal location to look for them.

"And I had so many mountains, too," she pouts, shoulders sinking.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley Moore has dressed for their current location. He's wearing a white t-shirt with the word 'Miami' in turquoise lettering and the word 'Vice' in bright pink. He's combined it with blue denim shorts, white sneakers and a turquoise baseball cap covering his dark hair. Squinting in the sunlight, he pulls some mirrored aviators from his shorts pocket.

"This place is feckin' beautiful." He enthuses in his broad Irish brogue. "Look at all the palm trees. You know, a boy from back home once swore he saw palm trees in Scotland, but I think he was full of shite."

He's so distracted by the desirable scenery that he'd almost forgotten he was supposed to be focusing on a card game. The truth is, he hasn't a clue what the feck is going on with it.

"Oh, did I go and blow everything up now?" He asks, his expression not seeming even slightly repentant. "Does that mean we can't play anymore?" He follows up, his tone sounding suspiciously hopeful.

He reaches for the cooler positioned conveniently close to him and pulls out another bottle of beer. Screwing the top off with his bare hand, he takes a satisfying swig and leans back in his deck chair. He can finally feel the tension from their long trip from Oklahoma leaving his body. He still can't get his head around how casually Americans treat road trips.

[MAX]
While Her Highness's Royal Navy might not live up to the mental image such grandiose titles create, at least one of the two figures making a meandering path along the docks towards the TMS Dragon is the spitting image of what one likely imagines when their moniker is called to mind. Now that they are no longer in the heart of NOL territory, Dr. Maeda has ditched her flimsy attempt at disguise and once more donned the attire she's comfortable with. Composed of a dark green dress shirt, puffy khaki shorts, and the hybrid offspring of a lab coat and a yukata, the ensemble somehow manages to be both simple and eclectic at the same time. Her baggage for the trip is likewise a mixture of strange and mundane, a large pair of heavy goggles resting on her forehead and a heavily-laden duffle bag slung over one shoulder.

She takes her time maneuvering through the bustling dock making detours where necessary to avoid getting stuck in a crowd. The faint neon glow of an augmented reality spell glitters over her eyes, a web of sensory spells and navigational augury guiding her towards the unique magical signature possessed by their draconian host.

And, as is often the case, her young ward is the polar opposite in practically every way. Max's usual t-shirt and yoga pants have been replaced by something more suitable for an island adventure - or at least what the bio-weapon's very pop-culture influenced idea of what is suitable for an island adventure happens to be. A quick glance is all it takes to unearth the mystery of her influences. A pair of leather belts criss-crossed over her torso cinch down a long-sleeved linen shirt that looks at least one size too big for the tiny girl. A rough tunic that might have at one point been a burlap sack hangs over the top of her old-timey blouse with another belt wrapped around her waist upon which hangs the scabbard of some kind of saber as well as a number of fanny packs that have been arranged to look like old travel pouches despite their flamboyant colors.

"Avast, ye land lubbers! Heave ho and swab the decks or I'll have ye keel-hauled!"

The Gear's ridiculous barks carry across the decks with ease as she accosts random strangers and workers who regard the very purple child in pirate cosplay with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. But she never lingers in one place long enough to cause a scene, darting about with an almost manic energy. Max's antics carry her back and forth seemingly at random but every so often she scrambles up a piece of cargo netting or scales a street light to get her bearings, homing in on her friend's scent like a bloodhound.

[NAKO]
Nako was not aware that her trip to Isla Zaca would start with a trip to Miami. But honestly, that's not as bad as some places she could have ended up. Like maybe Antarctica. Has anyone scheduled a fight there yet? She sincerely hopes that if they do they leave her out of it!

But, Antarctica is somewhere else. Right now it's Florida. And that means...

"I didn't think it would be this hot already!"

Nako has never lived anywhere but Japan (that she knows of), and while Japan does get pretty hot - last summer was brutal! - it generally isn't in March. It's a good ten or twelve degrees hotter here! Or maybe twenty, given the weird little degrees they use here, but Nako isn't Fahrenheit-fluent either.

How do you dress for an island adventure? Nako wasn't sure, which means she has picked a pair of denim shorts that have been modified for her tail (they've got a hole in the back just below the belt which her snake-ish tail pokes out of, with the gap covered up with a buttoned strap) underneath a grey shirt long enough to nearly count as a skirt - it goes well past her hips, and would make her look shapeless except for the straps she wears like angled belts cinching it in. One of them's around her waist, at least. The other's more around her hips. She has sneakers, and high black socks. No jacket today though. It's too hot for that!

She is also carrying her luggage (an extremely stuffed and bulging duffle bag) and, over her back, a sword, mostly on a shoulder strap, but there's a loop on one of the lower 'belts' to hold it flat against her back. But it's a wooden sword! It looks oak, and solid, but not sharp.

"Hey!" she calls to Max as she pulls ahead. Again. "Wait for me!" Nako hefts her bag - the weight isn't a problem, she's stronger than she looks! But the bulk is getting annoying. Anyway, Nako picks up the pace, her snakelike tail whipping behind her as she tries to look everywhere at once. As usual for when she's travelling, she looks exactly like a tourist!

If, well... an armed tourist with a snake tail and cat ears...

[SIGNI]
Signi on the other hand is wearing a baggy simple white t-shirt with a Denmark flag and a pair of black shorts. It's too hot for her to wear her coat. Her clothes are usually oversized to fit her cybernetics.

She takes a deep breath as her body tries to adjust to the heat. This is both quite a bit different from Denmark and Japan. She nods to her fellow Europeans playing a card game, before joining her fellow teenagers. "Do you need a hand?" She looks at Nako's oversized bag. She's a carrying a couple of cases that read Caution: Delicate Machinery on them herself. There are a few Fye corporation employees moving equipment on to the boat as well. It seems like Signi doesn't travel light. There's quite a bit of equipment needed to keep her alive after all. "Sorry for bringing so much." Her embarrassment shows even underneath her gas mask. This is one of those times she wishes she could be a normal teenager.

[BUCK]
Speaking of individuals that might be able to swallow livestock whole, Buck comes ambling down the docks, thoroughly invested in an ice cream cone he managed to get somewhere on his walk to the boat. He's dressed for the weather in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops, the cowboy hat on his head the only nod to his usual country dress, he learned the last time he was on that particular island.

"Pineapple ice cream should not be this good." He says as he hops from the dock to the boat. His only luggage per se a backpack that looks more packed for hiking and camping than it does a trip to a tropical island. Perhaps another lesson he learned there. He's even got a tent.

"Max! You on this little trip too?" He calls out to the bioweapon, grinning ear to ear before taking a bite out of the cone. "This'll be a flash back, won't it?"

[TANWEN]
"It's more like we are starting over, Hawksley Moore," Tanwen informs Hawksley indignantly of the state of the game. "Because now I've not got enough mana to be casting Fireball on you like I was going to do, which would have meant the game was over because you would be dead and I would be winning."

The sound of a familiar voice shouting like a pirate distracts the young (in dragon years) lass from her indignation, causing her to turn around in her deck chair and perk up, hands on the back of it.

"Max! Max's mum! Hello!" she shouts, raising a hand and waving as her tail flicks behind her excitedly, inadvertently scattering roughly £120 worth of cardboard from the table to the deck. "Winn! Can you help them carry their suitcases?"

"But you're stronger than I am, Tan," a stout bald Welshman in a golf shirt, crewman's cap and khaki shorts comments from his own chaise longue. "And I'm still drinking me cola."

"Yes, but I'm a queen!" Tanwen points out. "It's against the rules for queens to carry heavy things."

"You can make up the rules if you're the queen, Tan," Winn points out.

"I suppose," Tanwen says with an uncertain expression that brightens after a moment as she bounces off the chair and down the gangplank. "Hello, Max's friends! I'm Tanwen, and this is my boat! Well, *our* boat," she introduces herself to Signi and Nako as she bounds up. "I like your outfit, Max! It's very piratey! Can I help anyone carrying anything?"

[MAX]
While Dr. Maeda takes some time to wade her way through the throng, Max's inhuman agility allows her to make the last leg of the journey in just a few moments as she bounds from ships, railings, and cranes like some kind of Olympic parkour expert upon hearing her name called. The final leap sends her plummeting to the dock but a few short feet away from Tanwen whereupon the Gear lands with an unsettling lack of noise considering she just fell from thirty or so feet in the air. The bioweapon drops into a cat-like crouch on impact but quickly springs back up to her feet, hands resting on her hips as if her acrobatic display were the most normal thing in the world.

"Ahoy, yer majesty! And, shiver me timbers, it be Mister Buck as well! We come prepared to brave the briny depths - and with an offering of booty as well!"

Digging around the various fanny packs on her waist, Max eventually withdraws a fistful of miniature candy bars that she pilfered from the pantry while her mother was getting their supplies ready. The silver foil of the wrappers shines like ancient coins as she holds out her gift to deposit in Tanwen's care if she chooses to accept them.

"This be our little secret," she says, leaning forward and lowering her voice conspiratorially, while glancing around in an overtly shady manner. "If'n the warden notices, we'll be walkin the plank fer sure!"

Other than what she has on, it seems all the luggage between Max and the good doctor is being toted by the latter. Now that her precious cargo has been delivered away from prying eyes - well, other than those possessed by everyone else on the boat but they'd never welch on her, if they know what's good for them, arr!! - the Gear finally turns to let Dr. Maeda and their plus one catch up.

"Best work on those sea legs, girlie," Max says to Nako when she finally draws close enough to engage in conversation once again. "Yer naught but dead weight with that sort of performance. And I'll have no laggards on me watch!"

[NAKO]
Nako has never packed for anything longer than a day trip before. She brought everything she thought she'd need! Which is more than she ACTUALLY needs, especially if she can either figure out a way to do laundry or is willing to wear the same shirt two days in a row.

So her bag is very full, and it keeps hitting Nako in the leg when she slings it over her shoulder, but when both Signi and Tanwen (on behalf of someone else...) ask if they can get it for her, she just shakes her head. "I've got it," she insists.

There's a few unusual people here. There's Nako herself, of course! There's Max, who she came with, and Signi with her mechanical arms, but it's Tanwen that gets a longer look. It's the tail! It reminds Nako of her own, though of course they're not the same. (Nako's not a dragon, after all!) Finally, she's not going to stand out quite as much. And maybe she will learn something. This is already worth the trip!

"I'm Nako," Nako introduces herself with a polite bow. "Nako Irie! It's nice to meet you, miss Tanwen." That's a first name, right? She's not sure, but it's the only one she's been given so she has to be polite. "And everybody else too..." She wasn't told either Buck or Hawksley's name, but she recognizes both from NFG videos, so she's trying to be polite. And not stare a little.

Straightening, she looks over at Max. "I'll be fine!" she promises. "...unless I get seasick. I've never been on a boat this small before." She's been on a ferry, but it was a lot bigger than this, and though Nako doesn't know a lot about boats she thinks that means it's more stable.

"...um, permission to come aboard?" That's what you ask, right? It seems proper given Max is acting like she remembers from naval films.

[SIGNI]
"Signi Fye." She introduces herself as well. Of course it's more than just her arms that are mechnical. She looks down at her legs upon hearing Max's comment. Her legs are quite heavy, and as a result she's unable to swim. hearin She knows that Nako took part in the same NFE as well but the two never actually fought. Something seems familar about her even though they've never met more than briefly before. Hearing her comment makes her frown even though it's concealed. Throwing up in her mask would be quite unpleasant. Thankfully, she has built-in stablizers.

One of the Fye Corps reps are come along with them of course. Signi's still a minor, and it's not like she can repair her own cybernetics if something seriously goes wrong with them. She knows that a few others will be on the island as well. "Wait, she's royality?" She looks at Tanwen a bit curiously. she doesn't know much about Wales apart what's she read and seen on TV.

[BUCK]
Buck looks over the assembled group, mostly teens, and Tanwen, who is kind of like a teen even if she is probably the oldest one there, then looks over to Hawksley. "You guys better not be expecting m to chaperone." He says, though mostly jokingly as he takes another bite of ice cream cone.

Once he's aboard the ship, he slings of his backpack and leans it against the gunwale with a sigh and a roll of his shoulders.

"After our last time on that island, I hope this ship is stocked with plenty of food." He says, finally approaching Hawksley and trying to wrap the Irishman into a bro hug whether he wants it or not.

Only then does he turn his attention on to the two he doesn't know, Nako and Signi. "Hmm.. I'm Buck." He greets the two between chomps of ice cream cone, the last finishing it off, which he then brushes the crumbs off his hands with a quick rub of his mitts.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley's head turns towards Max as she calls out her hearty greeting. He responds with a loud laugh, rising to his feet to greet the Gear and the other newcomers. "Have you got yourself enough bum bags there, Max?" He questions, eyeing the colourful pouches.

"It's good to see you all. Max and the Doc I've met of course. Nako and Signi I recognise from watching the streaming of Rivals. I'm Hawksley in case any of you don't know."

The Irishman registers the various weapons carried with interest. Not for the first time he's grateful he fights unarmed. Other than whatever he can grab hold of at the time that is.

"It is pretty feckin' hot." Hawksley sympathises with Nako, though he likely doesn't have the same sensitivity, given his penchant for setting himself on fire.

He returns the nod of greeting to Signi with a warm smile. "You're Danish aren't you? There's some grand craic to be had in Copenhagen. Have you ever been to Charlie's Bar?"

The boxer is distracted from his international relations by the sight of his buddy making his way towards the boat. "Bucky Boy!" He yells out, as if the two lads hadn't seen each other in a lifetime. "Did you get me an ice cream too?"

He grins at the reunion between the Wild Ones, recalling that he hasn't spoken to Henry since the end of season two. Maybe he should give his fellow member of Hollywood Heat a call when he's back from this adventure.

Once Buck is close enough to give a bro hug, Hawksley squeezes him tight, patting him on the back and throwing in a peck on the forehead for good measure.

[TANWEN]
Tanwen takes her share of the candy bars by making a basket of her dress (fortunately, she's wearing her swimsuit underneath) and quickly ferrying them to the leather backpack that's leaning against the table for safekeeping. As she does, she notices that Magic cards in their protective dragon-themed sleeves have been scattered all about by some chaotic miscreant.

"Hawskley Moore!" she says, looking to the likely culprit with a scowl. "If you weren't wanting to play, you could have just surrendered instead of messing the cards everywhere!"

She looks back over her shoulder with a smile toward Nako and the others. "Permission granted! Welcome to Their Majesties' Ship Dragon, flagship of the Royal Navy of Atlantis! I know it's not got many cannons for a flagship, but that's mostly because they wouldn't let us dock it where we like if it did."

"We've got plenty of food," Winn assures the new arrivals and Buck. "Especially if you like seafood and strawberry ice cream. Her Majesty's request."

"Not together, though," Tanwen clarifies. "Not after last time. And it's cooler inside the ship!"

Having finished gathering the cards, Tanwen pushes the last ones into the deck box and stows it away in the bag. Sorting them out will be a fun activity for later.

She finally seems to get a good look at the two newest companions. "Your hands look very smashing, Signi Fye!"

Taking interest in Nako's cat ears, she tilts her head. "Oh! A cat girl? Are you Max's cousin?"

But then she spots Nako's tail and gasps. "Wait - are you a dragon cat girl? Or a... chimera? No, wait, you haven't got a goat's head anywhere, have you?" Immediately, she's digging in her knapsack, fishing out a copy of the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, flipping through it with a pensive expression on her face and looking between Nako and the illustrations.

"I'm used to chaperoning," Winn murmurs to Buck and Hawksley. "Seems nowadays I'm the royal chaperone."

"And the royal chef," Tanwen calls out absentmindedly, apparently having heard.

[MAX]
"Arr... I think so?" Max says, checking her array of pouches.

One of them has all of the condensed seithr pellets that her mother manufactured for the trip - her version of high-octane fuel in the event that trouble rears its ugly head. Then there's the one with her half of the candy and another with a small telescope, a compass, a pocket knife, and a flashlight. She wanted a torch and some tinder but her mother refused to even entertain the concept of allowed her to carry around flammable chemicals on her person. Less so for fear of the harm it would do to the Gear, seeing as she's nigh indestructible to mundane forces, and more so out of concern for the mischief it would enable.

"I was able to fit all the supplies I need and there's an extra one incase we find buried treasure."

With all the new arrivals making the rounds of introductions, Max decides to give Tanwen some space to perform her royal duties. Having paid her way aboard with the proper amount of tribute, she clambers onto the roof of the yacht without waiting for permission. To her dismay, the vessel lacks a mast or a crow's nest to occupy, so instead the Gear instead perches just above the cockpit and stares out into the open sea as the salty breeze washes over her, keeping watch for enemy vessels or rampaging krakens.

Pulling up at the rear of the convoy, Dr. Maeda is the last to arrive. She pauses several feet away from the ever-growing gaggle of newcomers, maintaining the taciturn wariness that those who have met her before would be familiar with. The heavy duffle bag is set down upon the dock but the scientist remains hovering within touching distance of her luggage, unwilling to risk some unsavory dock worker pilfering the important cargo within. She sees little reason to engage in pleasantries. Everyone here already knows who she is and Max has enough social charisma for the both of them.

Instead she just watches, absorbing the interactions with something akin to the quiet focus that her ward is capable of. She lacks the incredible senses that her creation possesses, of course, but most of what Max can do is through magic anyway and she's had plenty of time to shore up on Magic Particle Theory over the past year or two. The faint blue sigils of augury magic continue to flicker over her eyes, almost imperceptible to anyone not looking her in the face from close range. Most of the people here have already been thoroughly scanned and logged over the course of their initial misadventures on the island but it never hurts to have more up-to-date records.

[NAKO]
Nako is probably a teen. Seventeen? Eighteen? She couldn't tell you. But she's in her last year at Taiyo (or at least will be in a few weeks, when the new Japanese school year starts) so that probably counts as teenager!

"I don't really need a chaperone," Nako objects anyway. She smiles, though: "So you don't need to do it for me! Just... don't ask me to drive or anything..." She doesn't have a license! "Actually, can you drive a boat without a license?" That might be fun.

Nako repeats her previous bow to Buck and Hawksley now that they've introduced themselves. "Oh, I hope it's stocked too," Nako says without thinking before adding, hastily, "I mean, the ice cream sounds really good. I love ice cream. What flavor is that?" She's looking at Buck's, curiously. It's kind of an unusual color.

Permission granted! Nako hefts her bag to step onto the ship. She does it a lot more sedately than Max. "I'm not - I mean, I'm not related to Max! I didn't even know her until not that long ago, when - " She glances over at Dr. Maeda, not really wanting to draw her attention. "Anyway, they found me. It's not like I'm all that hard to find!"

Wait, a goat head? "I only have one head!" That would be the weirdest thing ever, having more than one of them. Nako cranes around as if trying to look at her own tail when Tanwen investigates with the aid of the Monster Manual, but every time Nako turns the tail turns too, always getting away from her. She gives it up pretty soon with a sigh.

"I don't know exactly what I am. I mean, I'm a Darkstalker, I know that much..." This is where Nako would ordinarily look over to see if anyone has any objections, but with THIS crew? "I heard a lot of you had connections to, you know, magic and stuff," Nako says, sounding awkward. "I thought maybe I'd figure something out if I came. Or if I couldn't, at least it would be an opportunity to learn! I mean. Like an educational trip...?"

[SIGNI]
"Thank you...strawberry ice cream sounds good." She's assumes what Tanwen said is a compliment. Her attention then turns towards Hawksley, "Sorry...I don't drink." Signi's hardware is delicate after all. The shy girl puts her oversized hands to her face as Rivals is brought up. She didn't do so great there.

She looks at the monster manual a bit curiously as well. "Any robots in there?" There might be a source or two of inspiration. "I don't know any magic." She's about as far away from magic as you can get. She's not sure if would be able to use. Tech and magic tend to be seen as opposite forces often after all.

[BUCK]
"Well, it was pineapple." Buck answers, wiggling his fingers since the cone has now completely vanished, as food tends to do at some point. "Sorry, only grabbed one cone." He adds to Hawksley, "But I brought you some bottles of good stuff." He continues with a wink. Sure, he expects the Irishman to have his own supply, but he's good to his friends that way.

As often as Buck protests his own ability with magic, it is technically what powers him to a degree. In fact if anyone could sense it, he's constantly emanating an aura of it nowadays as he keeps some alterations constantly running.

He finds himself a seat and a place to kick up his feet, pulling his hat down a little to shade his eyes. "Actually, the heat feels real good, once you figure out how to handle it." Knowing Buck, he's probably found some way to cheat the heat. He stretches his arms over his head then folds his hands together behind his neck, watching the others with keen interest, especially those he's unfamiliar with.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley didn't witness Tanwen's tail sweeping the costly cards on to the deck, but he does know he's an innocent man. "I've not done a thing, so I haven't. I mean, other than blowing up your mountains before. I wasn't after making a mess."

Since Tanwen soon seems to cheer up, he makes no more mention of the matter, instead chuckling to himself as the trusty Dungeons and Dragons manual puts in another appearance.

"You do a grand job, fella." He praises Winn. "Do you get paid more now you've got royal in your title?"

Max earns herself a beaming smile. "It's always good to have room for buried treasure. Let's hope the meerkats haven't taken off with it all."

Hawksley hadn't considered whether you need a licence to drive a boat before. "That's a damn good question." He muses to Nako. "Probably not. I might give it a go myself."

He accepts the bow from Nako graciously, giving one back. As for the mention of her being a darkstalker, he doesn't even raise one of his thick dark eyebrows. "I'm sure this trip will be plenty educational. We're bound to get ourselves into all kinds of scrapes and there's no greater school than the school of life."

Hawksley shrugs off Signi's teetotal state. "Ah, they have soft drinks in there too, but I suppose if you're not into booze, you might not be into bars either. I went to the Tivoli Gardens too and saw the statue of the mermaid"

Buck understands Hawksley well, because although he'd welcome a cool and sweet cone, it can't compare to a chilled bottle. "Good man." He praises, still clutching the drink he previously opened. "So what's everyone hoping to get from this trip? Treasure? A bit of a laugh? An escape from their lives? Or something more mysterious?"

[TANWEN]
"This manual helped me lots with understanding what dragons are like," Tanwen explains to Nako, holding it up for her to see. "I don't think that you look like anything that I've found in it before, though. Do you have any supernatural abilities, like breathing fire or trilling? That's where you make a noise that makes people stand still. If you can do that, you might be a frost worm."

Tanwen turns to Max with an appreciative expression. "That's very good thinking, Max. I brought some equipment for spelunking in case we need it, and also Magic cards and all of my Dungeons and Dragons books. Since you're so prepared and Chevy isn't with us, maybe you can be our rogue. How are you at finding traps?"

"I'll go and get some cones. Who all wants strawberry ice cream?" Winn asks the arrivals.

"Me!" Tanwen calls back to Winn, before informing Signi, "There's not robots, but there's Iron Golems. They're sort of like robots, but with magic instead of computer-y bits. They're actually very tough against magic."

"Just remember it'll give you the sneezes if you eat it too fast, Tan," Winn reminds the dragon girl regarding the ice cream. Turning to Hawksley, he says, "Well, no, but since I'm also the royal treasurer, I sort of make do with Tanwen's winnings. And we got a nice settlement with Professional Fighting Worldwide after the Isla Zaca fiasco, we did. That's how we have a royal navy. We even hired me bud Daf and his son Aled to crew the Dragon."

"Treasure, Hawksley Moore, like I said. The Kingdom of Atlantis needs treasure for the treasury. But most importantly, adventure," Tanwen answers the Irishman's question, equal parts practical and enthusiastic.

[NAKO]
"Pineapple ice cream...?"

Nako loves ice cream. She's had pineapple and likes it. But she never even thought about putting them together. "That sounds wonderful," she says, and means it. Though she's not about to run out and get some. But she's at least thinking about it!

"I don't mind the heat, eventually," Nako explains to Buck. "But you have to dress for it! I usually wear a jacket. I had to stuff it in my bag..." Which may be why it's looking so overfull, or at least contributing. She has a lot of things in there!

Nako cranes her head around so she can look at the manual at the same time Tanwen is. Reading English is hard for her sideways but she gives it a shot anyway. At least she can look at the pictures! "I can't breathe fire, or... um, trilling. Trill? But I can do some stuff. Teleport... though maybe that's a sword technique? I'm pretty good with chi." She sounds almost apologetic, as if she was sorry for not being able to explain.

"That's part of why I'm coming, I mean. To learn... but the treasure sounds fun too." SHE didn't get a lot of prize winnings. And the adventure is also fun, if she's being honest. Her ears perk up a little at the thought. Or maybe that's the ice cream! "Yes please," she adds, to Winn. "Thanks!"

She looks at the book again. "Well... I can be pretty sure I'm not a golem at least." She'll leave that to Signi. "I don't have any of that. And I'm not armored against magic either." Some of her fights would have been easier if she was.

[MAX]
From her perch on high, or well on the roof at least, Max turns and peers down at the dragon girl with a curious tilt of the head.

"Traps?"

The bio-weapon quickly scans her memories, sifting through the wealth of data that was implanted in her mind before she was even born. Designed to infiltrate human societies of all sorts, she quickly brings up schematics for a variety of lethal hazards, everything from simple pitfalls and tripwires to more modern dangers like land mines and infrared sensors. Cross-referencing this with what little she knows about D&D and the various fantasy movies she's watched as part of her research on humanity the idea of what a rogue might be begins to congeal in her mind.

"Arr, I suppose that do be within me skill set, yer majesty. No member of the crew'll fall prey to such trickery on me watch!"

The Gear perks up just as quickly as Tanwen at the mention of ice cream. She starts to raise her own hand and call for a cone herself before remembering that she ought to get permission first. Sugar doesn't really affect her like it might a normal child but it is high in calories which means it can overcharge her batteries a bit leading to restlessness. Max turns to look at her mother, hitting the doctor with the full force of her big cute kitty eyes. Dr. Maeda sighs and gives the go-ahead via an idle hand gesture.

"And one for me, matey," she calls out before her mother's arm has even gone back to rest at her side.

[SIGNI]
"Teleporting is warping place to place." Signi explains in as few words as possible as usual. "I can hover and discharge electricity." That's not from any supernatural force though. She didn't make much from NFG Rivals, but it's not like she really needs it. "I'm still getting used to going out..." She removes her mask to eat, it's surprisingly normal under there. She doesn't have a metal jaw or anything. She is breathing a bit deeply though. Her voice is still rather quiet though, but it's not muffled.

[BUCK]
"I'm good on ice cream, need to watch my diet." Buck says with a laugh. "But I wouldn't mind something cold to drink." He adds, resting his hand along the brim of his hat as he looks skyward.

"Hey.. teleporting. That'll be useful in case we get locked in another lab full of zombie monsters." He really shouldn't sound as breezy and flippant about that little problem as he is, still he looks upon his time playing with a rocket launcher fondly.

""Well, fur's not the best for heat either, if you feel yourself getting too warm make sure you drink. A lot." He says perhaps a bit more to Nako, but not excluding the others. "If you haven't been to this island before, tropical heat is a whole other bag of humid gross pea soup." Not that they're not getting a taste of it here in Miami.

"Though if we're taking turns driving the boat, I wouldn't mind a turn at the helm, can't be too much worse than our old tractor, eh?" He chortles at the thought, turning his gaze out over the water. "And probably less structures in danger of being run in to."

[HAWKSLEY]
"I'll take a strawberry cone off your hands." Hawksley replies to Winn. "They go with beer, right?"

He lets out a loud whistle as the Welsh man tells him about the sweet settlement he and Tanwen received from Professional Fighting Worldwide. "I got feck all. I didn't chase it though, so that's on me."

The lad nods his head as Tanwen reveals her reasons for the trip. Neither of them come as a surprise given the conversations the two of them have previously shared. "I won't say no to treasure, but adventure is my main motivation. I've been far too sensible lately."

Nako also gets a nod, both her answers also check out with the fella from Cork.

Edging a little closer to Signi, Hawksley listens with interest as the talk turns to teleporting. "That would make life so much easier if we could all do that. I suppose it might take the satisfaction out of arriving somewhere though, if it all happened too easily."

At the mention of something cold to drink, Hawksley fetches Buck a beer from the cooler. He himself hadn't considered that teleporting could also be used to get out of some fecked up situations. "Yeah, or attacked by some pissed off fire bird." He chimes in. "Although that probably won't happen since Tanwen pushed her into a volcano."

[TANWEN]
"Teleporting is very strong! You probably have a high Cee Arr rating. Do you know where you're going to teleport when you do it, or is it random?" Tanwen converses with Nako. "And do you know what your teleportation range is? Maybe you're doing a Dimension Door."

A gangly fellow in his thirties wearing mostly casual clothing comes down the steps from the upper deck. "Cap's ready to set sail if all's aboard, Tan. I mean, Your Majesty," the man says, doffing his sailor's cap. Nodding to all present, he introduces himself: "I'm Aled, ship's mate. Me da's minding the helm, and he don't speak much English besides, except for cursing."

"Cheers, Aled," Tanwen says brightly before turning back to the other girls of her... well, approximate disposition, if technically not age. "It sounds like we've got a very good party, we have. Lightning and flying is very strong too. It will be good for flanking tactics, in case we find any enemies."

"Are we expecting to be finding any enemies?" Aled asks with some concern, before diverting his attention to more present practicalities of ensuring all luggage and passengers are aboard before untying from the dock and raising anchor. "We'll need to be leaving soon - you've got to mind when you set sail in a busy port like this one," he mentions.

Winn returns from having disappeared into the cabin with a bucket of ice cream, a scoop and a stack of waffle cones to begin the distribution process. "Ice cream's up!"

"Hooray!" Tanwen is first to collect hers - draconic appetite and royal station outweighing her grace as a hostess - and she's soon leaning over the deck rail with it so it doesn't drip on the boat, licking it eagerly. Soon, though, her face scrunches up, the imminent olfactory reaction clear -

"Haachooo!"

The ice cream melts instantly and the cone catches fire as a burst of flame erupts from her mouth along with the sneeze.

"Cachu hwch," Tanwen curses as the ice cream starts running over her hand, and she lets the remains of the cone drop into the bay.

"Language, Tan," Winn calls casually as he scoops the next cone.

"Can I have another ice cream, please?" Tanwen calls back between attempts to lick her hand clean.

"Only after everyone else has had one," Winn chides gently.

[NAKO]
"Well it'll be a long trip," Nako says to Signi, before she thinks about it. "I guess? Boats don't go that fast, do they? So I guess you get to go a long way out!" Nako's excited about that. SHE doesn't get to go out all that much either! Or didn't. She's gotten better about it the last year.

Teleporting to get out of a locked room? Nako's never really considered it before.

"Well, it's not very subtle..." She has to admit it's really the opposite of subtle! Hers is loud. And obvious. "I guess it's more of a dimension door? I always thought it was, you know... sword stuff. I need my sword to do it!" Nako reaches up to pat at the bokken on her back. "Or, well, a sword. I just like this one. And it's hard to do, I can't just always do it..."

She likes katana-shaped weapons, apparently. But not real katanas, because all of Nako's fights have been for sport, pretty much - she doesn't like cutting her opponents. That's why it's blunt!

"But range? Um..." Nako has never really measured. She looks a little embarrassed. Maybe she should have! She has no real good answers for Tanwen! So she asks instead, "Is everything in that book? I always thought it was just a game." But Tanwen seems so confident! "And you put a fire bird into a volcano?"

She still seems a little embarrassed when she explains to Buck, "I don't really have much fur either. I mean... there's my ears, I guess," and they flatten down a little, "but I always think of that as just more hair. And I've only got scales on my tail really..." She's not *that* animal-ish. Maybe she's in disguise. She's thought about that before, but it's kind of weird to think about: what if she's really an animal and not a human at all? "But I know humid! I'm from Japan. It gets pretty humid there too. It's just early in the year for it! It's June and July that are the worst there."

Nako's bag is well aboard and that's all she needs, so she mostly stays out of Aled's way while he does his checks. "Oh! If everybody's here..." It makes sense that they want to start off. She's excited already!

And the excitement extends to ice cream. "Thank you!" Nako loves ice cream and, like about half the crew, she's a big eater, but she tries to look polite and delicate and savor the flavor. Which means *she* doesn't sneeze. And she certainly doesn't sneeze fire! "Oh! Real fire breath!" She's done chi by mistake before but not quite like that!

[MAX]
Despite her lack of a digestive tract, and thus a need for traditional food at all, Max is almost as eager as her majesty to get her hands on the confection being served up. Her tail sprouts from the back of her pirate ensemble, snaking out to wrap around one of the various bits and bobs sticking out of the boats roof. Much as she had when introducing herself to Nako, the bio-weapon drops upside-down from her perch on high, Spider-Man-ing down towards the distracted Winn. Rather than planting a smooch on the old man, however, she deftly snatches the second cone of ice cream from his hand before he has a chance to offer it to someone else and reels her tail in like a fishing line hoisting the tiny Gear back onto the roof.

"Arr, to the bold go the spoils!"

Opening her mouth wide, Max takes a gargantuan bite out of the frozen treat and chews happily, clearly unaffected by the intense temperature that would give most people pause. Her table manners haven't improved in the past year either, it seems, as a decent amount of the sticky strawberry gets smeared on her nose and lips in the process of being consumed. The dessert vanishes almost as quickly as Tanwen's though she at least manages to get most of it on the inside.

"That's a fiery temper, ye've got there, yer majesty," she chimes in at Tanwen's predicament, licking bits of pink sugar from her fingertips. "Twould be most humilatin' ta burn down yer vessel on the ocean! We'd be the laughin' stock of Davy Jones locker, we would!"

Well, it seems like things are starting to move along. Dr. Maeda picks up her duffle bag, her shoulder having enjoyed enough rest to move the heavy luggage onto the boat without complaint. The scientist weaves her way past the group chattering around the ice cream, heading for the hatch that will take her below decks. But before descending, she pauses, and turns her head up towards her ward.

"Just one."

Max blinks and peers down at her caretaker with what appears to be a cute guileless expression but such tactics no longer work on someone who is aware of her antics. Dr. Maeda's neutral mask fades briefly as she frowns, brows furrowing at the Gear.

"You know what happens when you consume too many sweets and we're going to be confined on a small vessel with several people for hours. Just one."

Apparently emboldened by her possession of the high ground - and probably the sugar - Max pops to her feet and draw the saber from her belt. The weapon turns out to be little more than cheap plastic but the girl waves it about with the confidence of a salty seadog being challenged to a duel.

"Arr, ye've no authority aboard this vessel, ye scurvy wench! Any who stand in the way of me victuals'll get the sword, they will!"

Dr. Maeda actually seems taken aback at this rebuke for a brief moment. Then she sets the duffle bag down on the deck, rolls up her sleeves, crosses her arms and glowers up at belligerent bio-weapon with the sort of expression that puts the fear of God into every sane child upon seeing it on their parent's face. Only a single word is said in response.

"Bet."

Max folds like a lawn chair that's been hit by a cannon ball. She drops prone, ducking out of view for several seconds before a pair of feline eyes peer over the edge of the roof.
%t"Y-ye drive a hard bargain, lass. We've an accord then... a-arr..."

The doctor maintains her stern look for several moments of silent terror then picks up her luggage once more and vanishes into the ship's bowels.

[SIGNI]
Signi takes her strawberry ice cream and licks it carefully. She doesn't want to start coughing, she might discharge electricity or have a fit. A boat is a much slower pace then she's used to. "The teleporter's in your sword?" She wonder if she could fit a teleport inside of herself. She can imagine it would be a massive power drain. "I rather not fight here." She can't swim after all. Granted, it would take a fair amount of effort to knock her off the boat.

"Zombie monsters?" Her look of confusion is actually visible with the mask off. "Fire birds those are real?" She's fairly sheletered after all. She's wondering what's she got herself into here. "I don't have any data." Kind of hard to gather information when you never ran into either of those before.

[BUCK]
As everyone is getting ice cream and it is announced the boat is soon going to be underway, Buck hops up out of his seat and wanders over to his backpack. "Well, I hope people don't mind if I entertain myself until Tanwen inevitably ropes us all into an evening game of DnD.." He sounds resigned to this fate, maybe even a little eager, and the smile on his face says he may have been trying to plant the idea if it didn't already exist.

Crouching by his bag he unhooks a hardsided case and lays it on the deck, flipping it open. What's inside? A weapon? A musical instrument?

A couple pieces come out, and he smooshes them together into... a collapsible fishing pole, and then he pulls out a small tackle box as well.

"Maybe I'll catch up some dinner. I've missed good sea food."

[HAWKSLEY]
"Alright, Aled? How's it going, boy?" Hawksley asks the older man. "Don't worry if we run into any trouble, or sail in to it. We'll all look after you. That goes for you too, Signi." He assures her, noticing the look of confusion on her face.

The Irishman is sad to say goodbye to Miami. It seems like his kind of place, but the prospect of their trip beginning properly keeps his spirits high. "I'm not sure how long it will take us." Hawksley admits to Nako. "Have you any idea, Tan?"

His brown eyes go wide at Max's collection of her cone and he lets out another loud laugh at the spectacle. When it's his turn to take an ice cream, he licks it rapidly to avoid the dreaded drip. Once he's worked it down to a more stable circle, he stops to take a sip of beer, before screwing his face up as he goes back to the ice cream. "I don't recommend." He decides, setting his beer aside briefly till he's finished the sweet treat.

For his part, his luggage consists of a large dark green sports bag with the words 'Moore's Gym.' printed on it in large white lettering and 'Cork City' in smaller white lettering beneath. Inside the bag are swimming trunks, a few changes of t-shirts and shorts, a 'Moore's Gym' hoody, his phone charger, basic toiletries, sunscreen and his magic mug. The last of these items is by far the most important.

"You entertain yourself however you like, fella." Hawksley encourages Buck, watching to see exactly what he's planning to do. When he realises it's a fishing pole he quickly loses interest, though he does at least make a request. "Catch me some salmon will you?" Apparently he's not aware that they thrive in cold water.

[TANWEN]
"Well, it's a game as well, but obviously there are real goblins and dragons and dungeons, like, and even real magic!" Tanwen informs Nako, her enthusiasm peaking on the last note. "And I suppose that if you think of Junko as a fire bird, then aye, I did push her into a volcano. But only because she wouldn't have a cup of tea with us."

She starts to fret self-consciously with her hair a bit as attention is drawn to her fire-sneezing. "Would we really? That doesn't sound very nice," she remarks on the subject of Davy Jones' locker's social hierarchy. "But I won't be setting the boat on fire, I promise! I'm not like Junko. Or at least, I try not to be."

With that self-conscious note, she turns to Signi with a reassuring smile. "I thought there was giant rats, but it turned out it was just meerkats! I never saw any monsters, other than that, but they probably all got burned up by the volcano. Anyways, we'll be alright! We've got a full party, and there's an inn next to the island so we can always go back to heal if any zombie monsters attack."

Something in her tone suggests that the young dragon queen is kind of hoping that zombie monsters do attack.

"It's a wee hotel on a separate island," Winn clarifies. "Didn't get any molten magma thereabouts, and there's a fella already runnin' it."

"We'll be there for lunch tomorrow, if the sea's kind," Aled answers on Tanwen's behalf as to the question of the length of the journey. "It's off past Nassau. If the weather turns, there's a few options to make port on the way, but I don't think it'll be a problem. You've all got passports, yeah?"

There's a honk of a ship's horn and a burst of uncouth language from the cabin as a boat that appears to be transporting a floating hen do nearly cuts the Dragon off.

"Da'll be gettin' chopsy. It's nearly his bed time, it is," Aled remarks. "I'll be taking over once we're out to sea."

"So, we'll have plenty of time to play games on the deck, or if it gets too hot, we can all go inside and watch Lord of the Rings," Tanwen suggests. "This is very exciting, it is!"

[NAKO]
Nako grins at Max. She doesn't speak until Dr. Maeda goes, though: "You'll get it next time." The ice cream, or the duel? She's not saying!

When Signi is unsure about the existence of supernatural things, Nako shakes her head. "Lots of things are real," she says. "I believe in fire birds for sure! Though I've never seen a zombie and I hope I never do! Those are scarier." She's not a horror fan.

She watches Buck assemble the fishing rod curiously. "Can you use that when the boat's moving?" she asks, because she doesn't know a lot about fishing. She's never done it! She's more into the 'eat sushi' part of fish catching, but... "I thought you had to be parked for that and I don't know how much longer we're going to be here. Or if there's any fish worth eating in the harbor," she adds, after a moment's more thought. It's busy here!

When Tanwen says she pushed Junko into a volcano 'because she wouldn't have a cup of tea with us', Nako immediately resolves to take Tanwen up on any tea-drinking offers that happen to come her way. For her safety. Maybe she's reconsidering a couple aspects of this...

"I've got a passport," Nako agrees. It's relatively new because she only got it when she might possibly have travelled for NFG - she never had one before that! "A game does sound fun, though... Which game do you want to play?"

She may be dooming herself. Just a little bit.

[MAX]
Max also waits until her guardian has vanished below decks before chiming in again, her wide eyes following the woman's path down into the darkness of the hold. Only once she's sure that Dr. Maeda has retired to the relative comfort of the ship's interior does the Gear regain her previous bravado.

A fuzzy feeling of nostalgia blossoms as the conversation turns to the misadventures of their previous trip to the island. Max didn't get to enjoy the privilege of going wing to claw against the supernatural villain Junko but she did wade hip deep into zombies on more than one occasion. Most people would consider that an unpleasant if not traumatic experience but the little bio-weapon has naught but the fondest memories of the encounter. The opportunity for her to really cut loose has been rare indeed, what with the sorcerous locks on her transformative powers and Dr. Maeda's extreme reluctance to expose the world to what a fully realized magical bio-weapon actually looks like.

"Arr!"

Kicking her legs over the edge of the roof, she plops down onto the deck amongst the chattering youngsters with a soft thud. She leans in uncomfortably close to Signi, the piratey growl still rumbling in her chest.

"Ye'd best believe it, lass! Tis an island of monsters unto which we sail!"

Whipping around with a sudden pivot, the Gear gets right up in Nako's face next, her ice cream stained lips peeling back in a Cheshire-sized grin. Her teeth, normally entirely human in nature, have transformed into twin rows of interlocking jagged triangles all the better to add an element of horror to her creepy grin.

"Tis said that the souls of those who dabbled in the dark arts were sacrificed to appease an ancient primal deity upon that cursed soil," she says conspiratorially, fingers tipped with wicked claws raising up to wiggle ominously in the air. "Leaving naught but an army of shambling corpses, hungry for the flesh of the living, arrr!"

[SIGNI]
Signi looks a bit puzzled as she finishes her ice cream before slipping her mask back on. "Meerkats are normal." Signi's not quite sure what they would be doing next to a volcano. She nods about having a passport, her family does a lot of travelling, and she came here from Denmark after all. "Guess I'm kind of a zombie." She doesn't eat brains or flesh, but she's being kept alive by unnatural means. "Kept alive by tech." She wonders how actual zombies would react. The teenager doesn't have a lot of what they're interested in.

"Isle of monsters?" She hasn't met many, outside of her present company of course. "An inn is good." She needs somewhere safe to stash her emergency technology. Plus it would be easier to keep in contact with her parents there, she's not sure what kind of reception they get on the island.

[BUCK]
"Really?" Buck looks to Hawksley as he seems uninterested. "Not a fan of a sport where you sit around, drink beers, and do almost nothing most of the time?" He asks, sounding genuinely skeptical. "Well, I guess not everyone is a fan." At the request for salmon, he gives a small smile. "I'll try, bud." He's not going to be too much of a know it all and correct Hawksley. "I'll be happy with some grouper."

"Oh no! My passport!" Buck exclaims, then laughs. "Yeah, I'm used to keeping it on me nowadays when not at home. My life has gotten downright international since the NFG."

Nako's question gets a glance to his rod, then another look out towards the ocean and he shrugs. "Ain't no harm in trying. Besides, like I said, it's mostly just sit around and enjoy the weather and some beers." He moves to the side of the boat, finding himself a place to sit and start setting up. He's not going to cast until they are out of the harbor at least. He's more likely to catch a pair of lost trunks from some hapless beach goer than a fish at this point.. Maybe.

"Eh, the zombies weren't so bad. The biological super weapons were less pleasant. Present company excluded." He continues rambling on as if the conversation were the most normal thing in the world. "Met a primal ancient deity once, didn't turn out too badly for me. Still talk once in a while." He says tapping the side of his head. "I think he gets lonely." Maybe Buck is a touch touched?

[HAWKSLEY]
"There's an inn you say?" Hawksley checks with interest as Tanwen mentions it. When Winn corrects that it's a hotel, the boxer adds. "A hotel with a bar though? What's the fella who runs it like?"

Talk turns to their arrival time, which causes the Cork cruiserweight to contemplate the sleeping arrangements on the boat. "Are there enough beds for us all, so?"

He has got a passport in his shorts pocket and he pulls it out to prove it, displaying the burgundy cover with the gold harp on it.

As for the prospect of either games or Lord of the Rings, he'd choose the former as the lesser of two evils.

The zombie talk continues, causing Hawksley to murmur. "Someone thought I was a zombie once. That'll teach me to go to a bar straight from a fight. Although, sometimes I'm already at the bar when the brawl happens, so..."

Despite his lack of interest in fishing, Hawksley wanders over to sit by Buck anyway. Perhaps the American had him at the beers bit. "My granda tried to take me fishing when I was only small. I couldn't keep still long enough and scared the fish off. I'll try and behave myself today but no promises."

[TANWEN]
"Well, I'm thinking that Magic won't be very good for when the boat's moving, especially in case Hawksley Moore goes fecking the cards all about, but we can maybe do some roleplaying," Tanwen suggests as she hefts her bag onto the table, pulling out several outdated (though at least not to each other) and mostly Welsh language Dungeons & Dragons hardback manuals. "At least, everyone can be choosing what sorts of characters they want to be."

Tanwen lets out a small 'eep' as Max lands on the deck next to her at about the same time that the ship starts to push forward in earnest. "Th-there's not any zombies on Atlantis anymore, though! I've looked and I haven't found any! But I suppose there might be some in the caves, like. But that's why we have a whole party!" she reassures (?) everyone. She looks at Signi with a bemused expression at the Danish girl's statement. "You don't seem like a zombie to me, but I'll be careful not to give you any healing potions just in case."

Her expression perks up further when she catches wind of Buck's exploits, and she sidles over to where he's parked as a light breeze starts to blow across the deck. "Mister Buck, what's this about a primal ancient deity that you've been meeting? Do you know which one it is? Did he give you a quest?"

"There's bunk beds for the lasses," Winn informs Hawksley helpfully as he returns from stowing the remaining ice cream and settles down in a chaise longue with a copy of Slam Masters Magazine. "Normally it'd be for crew, if we were fully staffed for service, but Her Majesty thought it would be a bit like a sleepover. Then there's the captain's quarters that Aled and the Cap will be using. You and Bucko will be in the twin guest cabin, and I'll be in the other guest cabin with Tanwen's stuffy collection."

[NAKO]
Nako had been getting pretty comfortable... Until Max drops down in front of her face!

Letting out a little 'eep' of surprise, Nako takes a step back, realizes there's not very far she CAN step back because her tail just brushed a guardrail, and stands her ground against Max's spooky grin! "You don't have to try to scare me like that," she says, "I've seen horror movies and I know when you're making things up!" But she looks more than a little spooked anyway.

She tries to bring up her courage instead of looking bad in front of everyone else... maybe it's a lost cause. "You're pulling my leg," she mumbles, meaning both Max AND Buck. And maybe Signi. She's not a zombie!

Nako brightens afterwards, though. "Oh, bunk beds! I've never seen one for real! Or been on a sleepover. I don't mind a high one," Nako says, before considering a moment and deciding, "Well, unless Max wants it." Max likes to be up high. So does Nako, but not THAT much.

When Tanwen steps away from her books, Nako picks one up. She doesn't read English as well as she reads Japanese so she expects hard going, but she's pretty sure this one isn't English at all, even though it seems to use all the same letters! What is a Llawlyfr anyway? She puts it back down a moment later. No point in holding it if she can't make any sense of it!

"I didn't bring any dice," she says, because she knows that much. "I've never played but I've played some computer games before, so I at least know the classes! Um. Max thought I would be a druid since I have a wood sword, but I think I have to be a fighter or something... like a magus?" That's not making a character at all, though!

[MAX]
About five different conversations are going on all at once now. Between fishing, zombies, board games, and sleeping arrangements, Max isn't quite sure which one to address first. But since she's already up in Nako's grill, that seems like as good a place as any, particularly when her integrity is being called into question! While she is quite capable of lying her little purple butt off, seeing as there aren't any Laws of Sentient Biological Weaponry to get in her way, her tales about the undead are the undead are completely true! Okay, maybe she's making up that stuff about sacrifices to evil gods but honestly that sounds like a way cooler origin than 'someone made it in a lab'. An ironic stance to take, perhaps, but since she was made in a lab with science -and- magic, she's at least got a leg up on those rotting pus bags.

Max's shark-like smile fades as one eye closes, the other going wide to give her fellow feline the stinky fish-eye.

"Arr... ye callin me... a fibber?!"

Taking a step back, the small girl dramatically unsheathes her plastic saber and whips it back and forth in a fancy flourish before aiming its tip at Nako's chest.

"Them's fightin' words, lass!"

Tilting her head to regard Tanwen, she gestures at the miscreant with her blade.

"Yer majesty! Permission to run this blackguard through and toss er to the fishes, yarr!"

Max's tail flicks excitedly as an idea occurs to her.

"Or perhaps we carve er up for bait! What say ye, Mister Buck?"

The Gear's expression goes owlish as talk continues around her, turning towards the topic of who gets to sleep where. She blinks once, peering up at the older cat who graciously offers her the top bunk.

"I actually don't need to sleep. Thanks for the offer though."

Her scowl hardens again a moment later, however, her saber menacing the air.

"Arr, but don't think you'll be sweet talkin' yer way out of this, scoundrel! No one besmirches the good name of One-Eyed Max!"

[SIGNI]
Signi looks at the Dungons and Dragon manuals, "They're not in Danish." She can understand a word here and there but that's about it. She does a know a few different languages but Welsh is not them. "I haven't played many games." There were a few board games in the hospital but Signi hasn't played any roleplaying ones.

"Bottom bunk would be best." Given her weight it would be best not to test the upper one. "You don't sleep? Even I sleep." She wonders what Max is now. She knows cats sleep a lot, but that doesn't seemt to be the case.

[BUCK]
Buck finally pops the beer now that he's settled into his seat, taking a swig as he shoots a grin to Hawksley. He knew his buddy would at least come around on the drinking part. "Nah, fishing is too boring for most kids, I didn't like it until I figured out the pleasure of being able to sit still and do nothing."

He blinks owlishly as Tanwen gets up next to him, staring back at her for a moment. "Where did you think I got my abilities? Not like I was born with them." He taps the beer bottle against the side of his head. "No name though, it's not really talking. It's more sensory, images, feelings, intuitions." He just shrugs, he's had time to get used to the weirdness, and with present company he's definitely not high on the peculiar meter. For some reason a thought of that ranking occurs to him and he shoots Hawksley a sympathetic look. Surrounded by weirdos as the poor boxer is.

"Nope, there were zombies, in a lab." He says to Nako's skepticism. "Cross my heart." Which he does with a quick swipe swipe of his hand, but if Tanwen says the labs got shut down, we should be fine. "Max and I fought them together." He says with a nod to the gear with the plastic saber, to whom he says flatly. "Do you want sharks? That's how you get sharks. I for one, do not want to be trailed all the way to our destination by Jaws. Thanks. With our luck, I'd need to jump in the water and punch it a few times." He laughs, then his laughter turns more contemplative. "Never have fought a shark though..."

[HAWKSLEY]
"What's this about me fecking things about?" Hawksley asks, turning his head to look over his shoulder at his accuser with an amused grin.

"I'm happy to be making Lucky, so. It's about time he came to life. Now I remember you deciding he should be a dwarf because they like drinking, Tan. On the last boat trip we took to the island you said his class should be a paladin, but lately you've been saying barbarian on account of me being chaotic neutral. What's it to be?"

As he talks he eyes the books, hoping that either Tanwen or Winn are going to act as a translator.

Learning he's going to be rooming with Buck, he gives his buddy a nudge. "You better not snore, fella." He teases.

"All this talk of bunk beds has me thinking back to sharing a room with our Shane. He's twelve years older than me, and he wasn't too impressed having me there, cramping his style."

He continues to sit companionably beside Buck, oblivious to the fact his friend is currently judging him the most normal member of their motley crew. "It's true, Coco told me about those lab zombies." He chips in, before starting to hum the 'Jaws' theme.

[TANWEN]
"Really? So you're sort of like a cleric of this deity?" Tanwen is musing with regards to Buck's story. "That's very interesting! I'd like to meet a primal ancient deity myself, I would! Where do you -- now, let's not be running anybody through! We have plenty of prawns if Mister Buck is needing any bait!" Tanwen interjects, hurriedly interposing herself between Nako and Max before plastic arms can be brought to bear.

"I brought extra copies in English and Japanese," Winn informs Hawksley and the others, producing two copies of the Player's Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 - one in English and the other in Japanese - from a bag under his lounger. He turns an apologetic look to Signi. "I didn't get one in Danish, though. Will one of these do, like?"

"Let's try not to be too scary," Tanwen suggests to Max, "at least not about real things. We can have pretend zombies in the game, though, and maybe a scary vampire. What sorts of monsters does everybody like? That might give me some ideas."

[NAKO]
Nako looks at Buck, apparently somewhere between impressed and confused. She knows about his abilities (well, some; she knows what made it onto broadcasted matches) but - "You weren't?" She was, as far as she knows - she never remembers NOT having them, anyway.

Nako was not very believing of the evil god sacrifice. She's a little more uncertain about zombies in general, but - "No! I don't think you're a fibber!" Nako attempts to back up, but there's not really anywhere for her to back up to since she's already up against a railing, so Max can jab her with her sword unless Tanwen interrupts. It doesn't exactly hurt because it's plastic and she's being poked, not stabbed, but it's the principle of the thing!

"I just didn't think there were evil zombies... it's kind of unbelieveable, you know?" But Buck and Hawksley are backing her up! "I mean... maybe it shouldn't be, there are a lot of kinds of Darkstalkers...?" Nako is kind of reaching a little bit. But she doesn't know much about lab-grown zombies. "But don't throw me overboard. We don't need sharks. And I don't want to spend the whole boat trip in soaked clothes!"

Nako decides not to object to Max calling herself One-Eyed Max despite having two eyes. "Really? You don't sleep at all...?" Nako doesn't always need a LOT of sleep, but she can't get by with none! "You don't want a bed anyway? For sleeping over and such."

She has a bit of a 'help me' expression as her snakelike tail flicks and her ears flatten. Nako is happy to seize on talking about the game. "Monsters, huh? I never really thought about it. I guess I can go with anything?" Nako knows more than she's letting on about fantasy, if not tabletop games. "Oh! English or Japanese is fine. I'm better at Japanese," she confirms, which isn't surprising for someone living in Japan.

[MAX]
"Arr, a true pirate ain't afeared of anything what swims in the brine, Mister Buck," Max says confidently, having tussled with a giant fish or two during her time on the beach. "Twould be a right spectacle to watch ye engage in fisticuffs with one'a those monsters, to be sure!"

Tanwen's swift interjection and imposition of herself between the Gear and the foul knave what besmirched her honor makes the small girl wilt, however. She's not about to stab the first real friend she ever made, even if she's standing in the way of proper maritime justice. If the queen wants to pardon Nako for her crimes then that be the law so long as they're aboard her majesty's boat. Doesn't mean she has to like it though.

"Aww... fine."

She makes a show of dramatically sheathing her 'blade' and sniffs derisively at the cat-snake.

"Hmph. Yer lucky her majesty has a soft heart, lass. Let that be a lesson to ya about makin' assumptions!"

It is rather strange that someone would find the idea of zombies far-fetched in the world they now live in. All manner of monster and legend has come wriggling out of the cracks in the past decade or so. Werewolves, vampires, demons, giant soul-eating bee people. Their present company includes a dragon, a shape-shifter, and a purple bio-weapons. It would be more weird if there weren't undead corpses shambling about these days.

The conversation turns away from the awkward incident, more than one person finding Max's claim of being immune to the daily assault of the Sandman worthy of further inquiry. The Gear blinks owlishly at the question, as she tends to do when processing an unexpected variable. Most of the people on the boat were with her when she last visited the island and had plenty of chances to witness her lack of somnolence. Nako and Signi, she reminds herself, are not among that number.

"Oh. Right, you wouldn't know."

Max shrugs nonchalantly and peers out over the water, apparently thinking little of it.

"No, I don't need to sleep. My body doesn't work like a human's does. I don't need to breathe or eat or drink. I mostly do those things to blend in. And because food tastes good," she adds, after a pause. "I can survive deep under water or even in outer space, as long as I have seithr, at least. "

The truth is Max is actually quite proud of all the incredible advantages her body offers over that of a normal human. But her pride had rubbed at least one person the wrong way in the past and since then she's worked more on being less aggressive about flaunting her superiority. The girl's eyes flick sideways in subtle movements to see if either of the two newcomers show any obvious sign of being impressed by her capabilities.

"Suppose it can't hurt to save a spot for me, though," she says, her cheerful demeanor returning quickly. "If you really want to hang out with me that bad. Best not complain if I talk your ears off though."

Turning to regard the proffered rules books, Max shrugs again.

"I'm fine with whatever. I can read most languages. And any old monster will do," she says, putting her hands on her hips as she turns to Tanwen. "Be they goblins or vampires, One-Eyed Max'll run em through!"

[SIGNI]
Somewhere Nixie shudders inexplicably as she works bar. Back on the TMS Dragon Signi's trying to piece together the term that Max mentioned, "Seithr. That's magic right?" She remembers some mentioning that as a solution to her health problems. It's kind of hard to tell if she's impressed or not. The mask conceals much of her face and she doesn't raise her voice often. "English works." She knows some Japanese but she's been studying English longer."I don't know much about the game."

Signi merely shakes her head at the mention of sharks. Those would be bad. She's pretty sure that shocking sharks is a crime. "Someone's making zombies? Why?" She thinks those would be more trouble then they're worth.

[BUCK]
Buck snorts softly at Hawksley's worries. "You snore louder than I do." Nott hat he knows if his friend does or not, it just feels right to lob the accusation back at him.

At least until Tanwen pulls his attention, making his nose wrinkles with her accusations. "Cleric? No.. It's not like I'm going around worshiping him or trying to spread it. I just.." He frowns, not really knowing what the old deity gets out of their deal. "I just like to fight." He settles on eventually turning his attention back out to the sea.

"Would it really be fisticuffs? Sharks don't have fists. It would probably just be a lot of biting, and I'd feel a little bad punching it so would probably just bite back."

Though as the topic of zombies refuses to die, he just makes a sour expression. It's been one of the few times he's gotten truly angry with someone, and the normally chill Buck does not like remembering too much times he's lost his cool. "Because some people suck." He finally says in answer to Signi. "And do crap they shouldn't."

[HAWKSLEY]
"You're a legend, Winn." Hawksley praises the Welsh man. "I'll stick with the English, so I will. I just about managed to greet Ichika correctly after being around her for months, so my Japanese is pretty shite."

Musing over monsters, he finally answers Tanwen with. "Vampires are grand. Or maybe an ogre. I used to have one of those coach me."

He's watching the exchange between Nako and Max with interest, ready to intervene if Nako actually is at risk of going for an unplanned swim. "Are you from Japan then?" He asks the Taiyo schoolgirl. "Or it just somewhere you're studying?"

It seems Hawksley can stand down from guard duty for now, as Tanwen has used her diplomatic power to defuse any potential conflict. "Who are you gonna play in Dungeons and Dragons, Max?" He wonders.

He's glad that Signi asked about Seithr, because it saves him a question. The lad's never had any training in such things, so he's only aware of what he's picked up along the way.

He laughs off Buck's retaliation. He's not sure if he snores or not, since he's asleep when it would happen, but nobody he's shared a room with has complained.

[TANWEN]
Winn busies himself about with distributing copies of the books to the party, a bit out of breath by the time he's finished hefting them all. Once he's done, he settles back down with his Slam Masters magazine.

"Okay. So, goblins, vampires, evil zombies - no, wait, not evil zombies," Tanwen says, starting to take stock of the monsters that people are interested in with pencil and notepad. "I don't think anyone's making zombies anymore, but there was a bad man on the island who was making zombies, I think. Does that mean he was a necromancer? It's too bad that I had to miss fighting the necromancer, it is. Except necromancers are a bit scary."

Tanwen nods along at Buck's explanation, or at least redirection. "So, more like a 'favoured soul,' perhaps. Or a druid, really. Tidy, but a bit mysterious."

She flips to another page and scribbles some notes down before turning back to the one she was on before when Hawksley chimes in. "An ogre, hmm? That should work pretty easily. Oh! I know who you're on about. What is Zog the Hammer like? I tried to understand his Cutie Points system but I didn't really follow because I didn't understand the rule set he was using."

Now that everyone has been offered a book, she passes out character sheets to go with them. "Okay. So, everyone should pick a name for their character, and a race, and a class. It's okay if anyone needs to read a bit to see what the races and classes are, but a name can be whatever you like."

[NAKO]
Zombies are creepy! Shapeshifters aren't. Nako is more likely to accept one than the other. That's her position and she's sticking to it. It's not THAT surprising there are zombies. She's as much surprised that they apparently come from tropical resort islands as anything else! But she does want to drop the whole zombie thing, and she's not alone in that, so she does.

Nako just kind of stands there for a few moments before she relaxes, her tail and ears returning to a more lazy position. "Thanks," she says, quietly. She didn't want to get thrown overboard! She's never tried to swim while fully dressed before, and while floating is easy for her, getting back on the boat might not be.

"Food does taste good," she agrees, though she's still surprised. She thought, even if Max was made in a lab, that she still followed at least SOME of the same rules as everyone else. No food, no breathing, no sleep... Nako's not sure how she'd survive without food, and while she can get by on not a lot of sleep, she really is more comfortable with it. (Can she get along without ANY? She's never tried. But a couple hours does her fine.) She seems at least somewhat impressed!

Seeing as she's not going to be thrown overboard, Nako steps away from the railing to avoid it happening by mistake. "Oh, um..." Nako trails off before she actually answers Hawksley properly. "I don't know if I'm FROM Japan, actually, but that's where I live! I don't remember anything before a couple years ago," she explains. "My parents - I mean, not my actual blood parents, but the people who I live with, and who I think of as my parents - they said they found me on Southtown's beach. And so I'm still there! Southtown, not the beach. I don't know if I lived somewhere else before."

She shrugs. "I might have! I don't remember learning English. Or Japanese actually. I just get more practice in Japanese so that's what I think in. I was actually hoping that, if I came along, I might learn something about Darkstalkers... I've never really talked to anyone who's, um, different like me before for very long." She glances over at Tanwen, including her in that - and Buck, a moment later. And Max, though she's a little different! "See, I've already learned a bit about magic! About seithr."

Nako begins to leaf through the book. She either reads very fast or she's just skimming. (It's a bit of both!) Hmm...

"Cutie Points?" she asks, while looking over the edge of the page.

[MAX]
Seithr.

Not a word that comes up often for the average person, or ever really, even in a world growing ever more accustomed to magic. Only the most advanced studies of the magical arts delve into topics quite that heavy. For most practitioners, magic either comes naturally and thus requires little formal study or is passed down through ancient traditions from societies that had little real understanding of the forces they worked with. Make a certain gesture, say a special phrase, throw fireballs out of your hands. What else is there to know?

Max, however, had the somewhat unique pleasure of being created and raised by a specialist on the topic. And, while her mother has never been one to engage in idle chatter very often, getting her started on a topic she actually has interest in is like breaking a forbidden seal. Once that door is opened it takes an old priest and a new priest to get it closed again.

Max's eyes go wide as the innocent misunderstanding is spoken aloud. Moving like a bolt of purple lightning, the Gear hurls herself at Signi and slaps a hand over her mouth as if she'd just spoken the name of an ancient evil deity aloud and thus risked drawing its gaze. Feline eyes shift sideways towards the stairwell leading down into the ship's bowels, watching with silent tension to see if the dark one stirs.

After several long drawn out moments of uncertainty, Max finally exhales softly and releases her death-grip on Signi's face.

"It's not magic," she says, speaking softly, giving Signi a pointed look. "It's..."

"The fundamental building block of the universe."

The hair on Max's tail ripples into a bushy explosion as if someone had stuffed the end of it into an electrical socket. She moves like quicksilver once again, this time skittering to the far side of the boat and taking up residence behind Buck's deck chair where she makes herself as small as possible.

The owner of the new voice quickly makes herself known as Dr. Maeda emerges back onto the deck. It seems in addition to stowing away their luggage she took the opportunity to change into something more suitable for the journey. Her formal shirt and shorts have been replaced by a simple dark green bikini though the lab coat remains loosely draped around her shoulders.

"More specifically, it's a particle-type program that originates from the Boundary," the scientist continues, quickly slipping into a speech pattern suitable for lectures. "In small concentrations, it is invisible, being both odorless and tasteless. However, in highly concentrated doses, it manifests as a black mist or sometimes a liquid-like substance."

Reaching into the pocket of her coat, Dr. Maeda withdraws a small vial about the size of a AA battery. Within the thick glass, a dark viscous liquid is contained, almost tar-like at first glance but far too fluid in its movements as she tilts the capsule back and forth.

"It's also highly toxic. To humans, at least. Darkstalkers too, most likely, though I've not seen any test data on that." Her gaze flicks over to Nako, her expression remaining deadpan as she adds, "I don't recommend finding out, regardless. Seithr mutation is probably one of the most horrific ways to die that I can think of. Think of it like magical radiation."

Tucking the apparently monstrously toxic sample back into her pocket, the doctor starts to slowly pace her way across the deck, continuing to enlighten the rabble with knowledge as she goes.

"Not all magic utilizes seithr in the same manner. Some mages are capable of channeling it through their own bodies while others, such as the Librarium, use ars to give compatible soldiers access to magical technology. Either way, some sort of medium is required. Tapping into the Boundary directly is impossible for a human, and even if it wasn't, it would be like touching infinite pure potential with your soul. I trust I needn't explain why that is bad."

If any shred of wisdom exists among the assembled crew, no one will contradict her on that.

"On the other hand."

A faint blue glow of magical symbols dances around her wrist for a moment before she bends down and hoists Max up into the air from her hiding spot with one noodly arm as if the Gear somehow weighed no more than a pillow. The small girl blinks in surprise then slumps in her mother's grasp, looking like a kitten that just got pulled out from its hiding spot under the bed.

"Gears, like Max here, are magical creations. While some have foundations as pre-existing entities, the most common being an animal that possesses desirable traits for its function, others have been created whole-cloth from raw DNA infused with Gear Cells. Those cells allow her to tap directly into the Boundary and draw sustenance from its infinite energy. That draw rate is limited, however, to avoid uncontrolled surges of raw potential overwhelming her sense of self, which is why she needs seithr as a supplement to her energy reserves when expending large amounts of magic."

Still dangling from Dr. Maeda's grip, Max stares down at the deck and sighs.

"I... think Tanwen wanted me to handle the traps," she says sheepishly, trying pointedly to pretend like all that didn't just happen. "So I guess that would make me a rogue?"

[SIGNI]
Signi coughs repeatedly once Max removes her hand from her mask. "Don't cover my mask!" She does her best to raise her voice but has difficulty doing so. The cyborg is trying to adjust her breathing tube as her red eyes glare at the cat-girl intently. Before she can try and throw her off her, she scurries off into hiding. "Ugh..." She kneels down for a moment.

"So it's like dark matter..." She tries to compose herself for a moment. Doing her best to remain calm she stands up and grabs one of the books with her oversized hands. She's still trying to take her mind off nearly choking. She uses one of her fingers to carefully flip through the book. "Warforged Monk sounds good." It was something she could relate to. "As for a name, Petrina."

[BUCK]
Well, if Buck is going to be distracted from fishing, and honestly it's probably better done at the island rather than a boat going at full speed, at least it's a group activity. He accepts one of the English language books gratefully and nods along with Hawksley. "Got okay at Japanese during the NFG, but I've made sure to keep practicing. Other than that, I took Spanish in high school." He says, taking a character sheet and a pencil.

"Druid huh.. yeah, we'll go with that." He even writes it in on the character sheet then proceeds to flip through the book. "Elf? No.. definitely not. Gnome? Even worse.."

He barely blinks as Max goes scurrying behind his seat, and even less with the doctor fishes her out from behind him. He's been around the pair more than enough to be used to their dynamic. He just accepts it.

The talk of seithr has his attention pulled away from the buck, his brow knitting. His abilities have been called magic enough for him to be curious about how the scientific side of it works. "Infinite potential sounds about right. Sometimes it's like trying to force playdough through a straw, other times like trying to stop water gushing down a hose." He shakes his head.

"Maybe I'll just go human?" He says looking at the book. "A bonus feat sounds useful. You can never have enough feet." He chuckles at the joke only he probably finds funny.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley opens his copy of the book, browsing through the pages and mostly focusing on the artwork. "I'm not sure how the cutie points worked, Tan. I think women either got extra points for having red hair, or lost points for having red hair. I can't remember which."

Attempting to explain further to Nako, Hawksley continues. "One of my Team Blaze coaches for season one of the en eff gee was an ogre. He awarded female fighters points based on how attractive he thought they were." He has the good grace to grimace as he says this. "I think Ayala was his favourite. He went to find her one night at the Frost headquarters and got his arse kicked by Juri for his trouble."

Looking back towards Tanwen, he tries to summarise his experience of the ogre in simple terms. "Sexist, crude and arrogant. Come to think of it, I've probably been called two of those myself at some point." He admits

"Buck would make a grand druid." Hawksley comments, sounding like he's some sort of expert on the subject. "I suppose he might fancy a change from shapeshifting into animals though. What you gonna call your character, fella? Mines Lucky. There's no danger of me forgetting that one. He'll be a dwarf and a barbarian, who rages out after having a drink. I'm gonna have to put on a performance to play him, obviously."

As Nako explains about her memory loss, the Irishman listens with interest. "No feckin' way. That's mental, to be fair. Have you tried playing detective and digging into your history, like?" He wonders.

Glancing around the gathered group, Hawksley realises that he's the only one of their party of six who'd qualify for being fully human, although far from a regular one. He doesn't know any other lads down the pub who can punch the ground and set it on fire.

Despite this ability and the others he possesses, he's way out of his depth in the presence of those as knowledgeable as Max and Dr. Maeda. He rises rapidly to his feet as the former rushes over to Signi, readying himself in case the robotic girl is at risk.

Satisfied that the situation is steady, he stays silent throughout the whole delivery of the scientist's speech, only opening his mouth to let out. "Easy now." As she lifts Max into the air.

His dark eyes settle on the Gear, and not sure how to react to any of that information about Seithr, he remarks simply. "A rogue. Yeah, that'll be grand."

Buck seems to have decided on being a human druid. Their party seems to be shaping up nicely. "My fellas going to be Irish." Hawksley decides. "I don't fancy having to put an accent on, as well as figuring out my sheet and which dice to roll."

He takes hold of the said sheet and starts to fill in some of the sections.

[TANWEN]
Tanwen is turning her gaze from Nako to Max and back when Max's Mum starts to talk about seithr. If there's one Welsh dragon perfectly predisposed to deep dives on lore that until this very moment she didn't have the requisite awareness to establish interest, it's probably Tanwen Carys Cadwallader.

Her eyes light up as the vial is produced from inside the Isla Zaca-ready scientist's pocket, and she starts to drift closer, fixating on the fluid inside.

Her voice is unusually meek and reverent, but hopeful.

"Is that like a potion, then? Can I try it -"

'...one of the most horrific ways to die...'

"- or, umm, I suppose I shouldn't," she concludes with quiet reluctance. "I wonder if dragons can drink it, though." It's a shame that there are no other dragons about at the moment to do a bit of science.

"Playdough doesn't go through straws very well," Tanwen confirms for those who do not have her extensive history in possessing the mindset of a small child. "And neither does trying to stop water gushing from a hose. At least, not with your mouth."

She smiles as the Dungeons and Dragons party starts to percolate into being. "Very good! So we have a Warforged Monk, a Human Druid, a Dwarf Barbarian, a... Rogue, and whatever Nako wants to play. I think I'll let Tiptup be, since the party is pretty big without her, and sometimes people don't like if the Dungeon Master plays a character too."

Perhaps the young dragon lass has discovered the wonders of Reddit, or one of various roleplaying discussion forums.

"That is, if everyone still wants to play Dungeons and Dragons instead of asking Max's mum if she can teach us how to do magic for real?"

[NAKO]
"...oh," is Nako's response to Hawksley's explanation about cutie points. She's blonde. Is that a plus or a minus? Are the tail and ears and eyes and teeth a plus or a minus? Does any of this matter given Zog is not here? "I guess we don't have to worry about that!" she says, with some false brightness.

"I thought about it! But I don't really know where to start looking," Nako confesses, about playing detective about herself. "I guess that's part of why I'm here...? If I can learn anything about myself. And if I can't, well, at least I came!"

Nako, startled, darts out of Max's way when she darts over to Signi. She wasn't expecting an attack - oh, it wasn't an attack, she just wanted to quiet Signi for some reason?

And she's going to find out that reason right about... now!

Nako had come along to learn - about herself, about other Darkstalkers, about magic maybe, about fighting. She was not expecting an infodump from Dr. Maeda on her first day when she comes back on deck after changing. They haven't even gotten to the island yet! Though that does make one of her parents' push to have her bring a swimsuit 'just in case' seem a little more correct.

Nako's eyes start to glaze over despite herself. She's trying to pay attention, honest! She's just not all that good at book learning and she's very quickly lost. At least she's not alone in that! But the vial looks vaguely familiar... or she saw something like it in a movie, maybe? The memory won't come, but that could be regular 'it didn't seem that important at the time' and not amnesia.

"I'm not going to try drinking it!" she assures Dr. Maeda. She kind of wants a better look at it even if she's not exactly going to try USING it for anything, but she'll ask later. Once she has some time to get her thoughts in order! "...can you put Max down though? I don't think she needs to be, um, scruffed..." Someone tried that on her once. She was mortified.

She's just as interested in Buck and Tanwen's asides, though. Like play-dough through a straw...? Her techniques are never like that. But the firehose, she understands, and she nods along with it. She's sometimes felt like she's trying to hold too much to fit, though thankfully nothing has ever exploded because of it. Though there was that time with the lightning, wasn't there? Surely that doesn't count.

"Oh! It sounds like nobody's playing a wizard, or a sorcerer. I'll do that!" Nako nods again, more satisfied this time. "In RPGs you always need one of those. And in books too!" She pauses, then adds to Dr. Maeda, "In a game. We're not talking about me actually using magic or something like Tanwen says." It seems important to add that!

[MAX]
Mostly everyone pays attention to her lecture which is pleasantly surprising. For a moment it seems as if the scientist intends to continue her lecture. Expounding upon the various applications of seithr in the developing field of magic particle theory is something she's quite familiar with even if her own expertise is contained primarily to biological alterations. However, it quickly becomes clear that her current audience seems more interested in distracting themselves with fantastical pursuits of a more imaginary sort.

Dr. Maeda wrinkles her nose slightly at the book which is passed to Buck, making her feelings about potentially joining in on their game rather obvious without saying a word. Guess she's the wrong type of nerd for this activity.

Nako's request to release her hold on her troublesome ward earns the Darkstalker a quirked eyebrow. She glances at Max, noting her over-dramatic slumped posture, and rolls her eyes.

"Don't worry, she's not in any pain. She's just doing that to get empathy. If I hadn't coded the behavior into her instincts myself I'd be surprised how naturally she takes to it."

Realizing the jig is up, Max's kicked puppy expression shifts into a cheeky grin. She lifts both of her hands up near her face and curls them into little make-shift paws, making a cute cat-like expression as she bats at the air.

"Nya!"

The scientist turns to give Nako a brief look that says 'I told you so' before releasing her grip on the Gear and letting her plop back down onto the boat.

"In any case," she says, tucking her hand back into her coat and turning to walk back towards the stairs. "It's not something you lot need worry about on a technical level. Seithr very rarely manages accumulate in our world in concentrations thick enough to be dangerous. Just avoid any black mist you may happen to come across and don't drink unidentified substances."

The doctor starts to descend back into the depths of the boat but pauses on the first step as something occurs to her.

"Oh and while on the island, if you happen to come across any abandoned laboratories, steer well clear. I never got the chance to run proper tests on whatever it was they were doing in those facilities. There's no telling what sort of dangerous substances were being employed."

[SIGNI]
"Cutie points?" Signi's a cyborg and even she finds judging someone on a scale odd. She doesn't really care much about her appearance beyond being clean and everything function correctly. The teenager's never even been on a date. "You don't look odd." That's her giving reassurance to Nako. Considering she's standing there.

She then looks over at Max, "Don't touch my mask again." She's normally pretty calm but that's one of the few things that upsets her. "I've spent enough time in labs." She turns away as says that. "I'm not sure if I can even use magic." She's not sure how her body would handle it. Can machines cast spells.

[BUCK]
"Crass and arrogant?" Buck confirms for Hawksley, maybe a touch to quickly and with more than his usual toothsome grin. What are guy friends for if not ribbing?

Looking down at his sheet he wrinkles his nose. "Name? um.. Gimme a bit, I'm bad at naming thins."

Though he does grab back onto his straw and hose analogy as others comment on it. "The more familiar I am with something the easier it is for me to manifest it, and then some organs are more complicated than others. Figuring out how dragons work without one was like playing billiards blindfolded, I think I just kind of stumbled into the right answer, even now, I can only do the one thing with it." He looks up and puff out a ring of smoke which swirls over him for a brief moment before the wind and the forward momentum of the boat sweeps it away.

He wiggles his pencil in Tanwen's direction. "Half the reason I came was to see more dragon action up close. Especially after being around Max helped me refine some feline traits." He gives the Gear a smile.

[HAWKSLEY]
"You can always get Buck to turn into a dragon and experiment on him." Hawksley jests to Tanwen. It seems that two can play the ribbing game. It's a sign of affection, right?

"And yeah, I don't think I'm sexist. I'm just as happy to smack a cailin in the face as a fella. Plus, I grew up with four older sisters, so...

Hawksley can only imagine the kind of colourful campaign that will be conjured by the mind of the Welsh woman, but it's sure to be entertaining at least. Nako's selection of a magic user seems to round off their party nicely and Hawksley nods to himself with approval. Perhaps he'll actually have some fun playing this game.

The boxer watches the doctor leave. A part of him is amused by her attire. He thought women only wore lab coats over bikinis in movies. What she's saying is deadly serious though, and he for one isn't going to go messing around in any fecked up looking facilities.

[TANWEN]
It appears that Tanwen's tangential suggestion of an impromptu Wizardry 101 session won't be entertained for the time being - probably for the best, all things considered. It's her turn to make sad kitty eyes at no one in particular - not an externally programmed behaviour as in Max's case, but she has a lot of experience method acting as the cat of the house under the tutelage of Emrys.

(That was Winn's cat, and not the mythical Merlin... presumably.)

However, she apparently also adopted the approximate attention span of a housecat, because her good humour recovers quickly. "Alright. So we've a Wizard or a Sorcerer, a Monk, a Druid, a Barbarian, and a Rogue. That's a pretty balanced party. Now everyone just needs to fill their character sheets with all of the details, and we can get started."

She blinks her eyes a couple of times, looking between Buck and Hawksley. "Hawksley Moore! That's not very nice. Dragons are not for experimenting on! And there will be no face-smacking on the TMS Dragon, either. Now, who wants to hear about the setting for our game? It's called Gwlad y Ddraig, but you can call it Dragon Land if it's easier..."

[NAKO]
"Oh, I know it doesn't hurt!" Nako assures Dr. Maeda. "It's just a little... embarrassing?" Though Max doesn't seem to perturbed by being picked up that way, so maybe it's okay for her. Nako would hate it, though.

Though, does it work on her? She does have the cat ears, and some other traits aren't exactly human, but she's not all cat either! Signi calling her 'not odd' is maybe at least a little reassuring... she smiles, at least.

"I won't," she promises, about drinking unidentified substances. She'd rather drink identified substances, thanks! Even if it's only someone else offering her something she's never tried before, because Nako does like trying new things!

Nako watches Buck's trick with interest. "Oh, smoke! I can do smoke too, but it's a little different. I can't breathe it out like that, but I can draw it out... it's a trick like a lot of fighters use." Chi, she means. Probably? Even Nako isn't quite sure. "It's pretty solid for smoke, though! I mean, after a moment. It's not at first, which is good, because that would make it a lot more awkward to do..." She trails off when she realizes she's rambling, at least!

Nako can't imagine any situation where she would want to wear a lab coat over a bikini. Aren't lab coats to keep you safe from chemicals? Bikinis don't do that at all! But hey, she's not a scientist, mad or otherwise, either. "Oh, you have sisters?" she asks Hawksley, curious. "What's it like?" She's never had any siblings!

"I'll listen," Nako offers to Tanwen. She's still making decisions though. She's not ready to play! And, given her usual indecisiveness, might be making up her mind for a while yet! "Gwlad y Ddraig..." Her pronunciation is actually pretty good. No, she doesn't speak Welsh - she's just a good mimic and Tanwen just said it.

[MAX]
Recovering quite quickly from being casually manhandled, or perhaps scientist-handled in this case, Max lands on all fours and pops back to her feet as Dr. Maeda patters off to leave her final ominous warning. Signi's warning about touching her mask draws the Gear's gaze, though rather than immediately apologize, the girl looks like a five year old that got told not to do something and is battling with a cosmic instinct to do the exact opposite. Fortunately, there are other distractions to pull her attention away from acting on that urge - for now.

"It did?"

Max turns her feline gaze towards Buck, blinking at the unexpected compliment. She didn't do anything particular to teach him how cats work. Not that she'd have much to say on the matter, understanding biology is more her mother's thing; she just chews on stuff until it stops moving. Learning anatomy from a composite magical life form that adheres to few natural laws brings its own set of questions as well. Maybe both of them being artificial shapeshifters makes it easier to understand because she's fake too? Questions for more learned people than she.

"Glad I could... help?"

She ponders something for a moment then puts a hand on her hips and waggles a finger at Buck.

"Just don't you go turning yourself into a purple cat now! That's infringing on my copyright!"

The little menace points two fingers at her eyes then flicks them at Buck, making the universal gesture of 'I'm watching you!' before Tanwen once again redirects her attention by shoving a character sheet at her. Max accepts the paper and finds herself a writing utensil, peering at the various empty fields like a grade schooler staring down a pop quiz in history class.

"Oh... um... either works for me."

She chews on the tip of her pencil, looking thoughtful.

"I guess I'll be... Shadowclaw! The tabaxi rogue. Her claws aren't as sharp as mine but they can probably help with climbing."

[SIGNI]
Signi cringes a bit at the mention of smoke, she clearly doesn't like anything that makes it difficult to breath. "Gwlad y Ddraig." A muffled voice tries to say it, Danish and Welsh aren't really that close in terms of languages but she gives it her best effort. "I can't transform at all." What would she turn into anyway? A giant robot? "I think animals dislike me." She does look rather odd and makes quite a bit of noise.

"I only have a younger brother." Signi is the older sister. She doesn't really have the energy to bully him at all. She does her best to try and fill out her character sheet carefully, She doesn't want to break the pencil with her oversized hands.

[BUCK]
"Can't do a full dragon, yet. Still.." Buck rubs his chin considering as he looks at Tanwen. "Maybe if I tried a smaller dragon.." He shakes his head. "Full body is still a whole lot harder than body parts alone." He's really more rambling at himself as he taps the eraser of his pencil on his character sheet.

"I dunno if I can even do purple..."

After a moment he laughs as the conversation shifts to siblings. "Bet Ma would have liked it if I had some sisters instead of all brothers." He shrugs. "Well, it is what it is." Finally he returns his attention to his sheet. "Sounds like I'm the only one with healing magic." So, he does know something about the game.

[HAWKSLEY]
"Ah, I'm only messing, like." Hawksley grins at Tanwen. "Buck's a big boy, he won't get offended. As for the punching, well I'll behave myself on the boat, but I make no guarantees once we get to the island."

He's happy enough to hear about Dragon Land, and he listens while filling in his sheet, looking back between that and the book to figure out the stats. "It seems I have to roll for some of these." He murmurs.

While he's waiting to do that, he answers Nako. "Five siblings in all. Shane, Sharon, Sinead, Siobhan and Samantha." For some reason it seems the Moores broke their naming pattern by the time they reached their sixth child.

As the former New Fighting Generation stars plan their adventures, both real and roleplayed, the TMS Dragon continues its journey onwards, taking them towards whatever fate lies in store on Atlantis Island.

Log created on 11:37:24 03/22/2026 by Tanwen, and last modified on 09:23:08 04/20/2026.