Serious: The adventures of the Demon Blacksmith and the Lightning Beast, Chapter 2: The Sky ship that needed coating ((CLOSED))

"You are my research partner; I shouldn't victimize you like that. I'm really not even sure what comes over me... but I do apologize for my behavior. I have made you terribly uncomfortable."
Her melancholy blue eyes reflected sincere guilt as she gazed harder at the distant glow. It wasn't a constant glow, it was a bit flickering like a dancing fire or a lantern. "You may be right... fire doesn't happen in a wet place like this jungle without help from someone. Can you tell what side of the river it's on?"

Satoshi was now wondering if he had hurt Kianas feeling for reacting like that. He really couldnt help it, he was never very good with girls. It was part of his problems. He then said "Its ok..... i dont think its bad, and its my fault cause im not used to it... so ill just have to get used to it, so please dont feel bad....."

Satoshi then looked for the source of the light "To the left of the river i believe at least that is where i see it...."

"Get used to it?" She glanced over at him, sincerely surprised. She wasn't quite sure how to interpret the comment. Was it a reluctant submission to a torturous fate or an indirect encouragement? He was a very perplexing creature, which was likely a part of his appeal.
"No one should have to get used to abuse. I... I'm sorry, Satoshi."
Her eyes trailed back to the light source, which seemed to bounce off the river, making its true source hard to distinguish. "Are we on the correct side of the river or do we have to cross now?"

Satoshi then spoke with urgency. "No, its not abuse at all, i dont feel abused Kiana... i really dont....please dont be upset about it. " Without realising Satoshi caught up o Kiana and held her hand. He didnt even realise his actions "You make me feel happy.... too happy i think.......its something im not used too , thats all... please dont feel like its wrong....." Satoshi then looked down and saw he was holding her hand, and let go, blushing even harder than before "AHHHHH, SORRY!!!!I didnt mean to!!!"

She bit her lower lip as he grabbed her hand, sincere confusion flickering in her steely blue eyes. His words almost stung, she had never given him permission to mean so much to her and now there was nothing she could do to about it.
"Anubis is really quite lucky to have you... I will be very sad to see you return to him."
She looked quite sad for a moment but could not help but smile at his amusing panic when he finally released her hand. She shook her head in slight amusement and kissed his cheek lightly. "Please don't apologize, Bushido..."

Satoshi was blushing as she kissed his cheek but didnt say anything, then finally he said "Ummmm, anyways... now we should look for the village right, do you want to check the light ? It might be dangerous , or a trap perhaps....." Satoshi did not want to end up in a trap, he would rather they didnt have to fight today.

Her eyes became lucid as she remembered they had a task to accomplish in this place. It made her uneasy that he could make her lose focus so easily without actually trying.
"Aye, it may indeed be a trap... but they have no reason to expect anyone is around and if it is a trap, they're idiots. People who want to sneak up on them would likely avoid the light. It may be dangerous though... if they get startled, they be be most inhospitable... you can stay here, if you like, while I scope it out... I'm afraid I'd have to slaughter them if my key research partner was harmed..."

Satoshi then pondered on this for a bit, on one hand, it was a dishonorable thing to do to send a woman into battle, however he knew how Kiana reacted to these things. Then he came up with a way to keep his mind at ease "How about we flank them at the same time, we can check together that way, you and me are strong enough to back each other up..... So i dont think it will pose any problem..."

She bit her lip a bit nervously as she considered how she would view such an approach from the prospective of those near the light. Her strategy-obsessed thought structure didn't exactly allow her to recognize his chivalrous behavior most of the time.
"If we flank them, they will notice this kind of movement and become suspicious ... it will seem aggressive to encounter them on two fronts. One doesn't flank without the intent of an attack or reconnaissance, so, I think there is a large danger that they will read it as an attack and respond in kind. You can come with me if you like, but I must beg that you don't approach from another direction. Though, you are free to do as you please ..."
She sensed a bit of reluctance, likely triggered from her frequent over reactions, and held out her hand reassuringly.

Satoshi decided to follow along, what she said was correct either way, and he was glad she was not mad at him. He then nodded his head "Ok lets go with your plan Kiana, i will follow you and protect you from behind...." Satoshi had his hands on his God of Lightning and Cloud God katanas, just in case he needed them, he was ready to move now.

"Thank you, Bushido-san." Kiana gave a vague nod, turned, and moved toward the light. Her katana was at her hip but her hand was not near it to avoid any display of aggression; even her attire was more diplomatic and less aggressive than usual. As they neared the light, which seemed to be a rather lager fire, the distinct smell of grilled fish lingered in the air.

Satoshi was ready and alert. He knew he was faster than Kiana, so in cas there was anything wrong, he could immediately stop the attacker. However as they closed into the camp. He could smell fish in the air, they must have been camping and cooking, this meant that either they were aware not aware of Kiana and Satoshi present, or they only recently aware of Kianas and Satoshis presence.

Kiana's steps were carefully chosen but not silent, she wanted anyone around to be alerted to her presence; silence would mean she was up to something. She had notice the sound of deliberately soft foot falls in the brush nearby as they approached the fire. She knew that they were being watched ... stalked. The ship needed to be coated, and if they made enemies, it would happen. She contained her instinctive aggression to allow the unseen hunter to continue his observation.
She could tell by the uneasy shifting in the brush that the person was setting up a poorly planned ambush. She glanced at Satoshi, as if to give him a cryptic warning.
"Every thing is fine..."
She paused for a moment, anticipating the man who abruptly leapt from the brush holding an odd sort of gleaming silver weapon that looked like it was somewhere between a proper spear and a jousting lance.
Kiana deliberately did not move or even vaguely respond as the man held the weapon to her neck. She could destroy this lowly creature in a moment, but she refrained to avoid a diplomatic detriment.
"Greetings. I am seeking a man called Agis; he lives here, does he not?"

As soon as the mans weapon closed in on Kianas neck , Satoshi who had far greater reflex and response time, flared up with anger at the very thought that someone would want to hurt Kiana, he immediately aimed to clash with the mans silver weapon and pointed his God of lightning blade squarely at the mans neck "You will not harm Kiana so long as i draw breath." His eyes were beggining to simmer with animal fury and rage. He was very, very close to killing this man.

She had known the man was planning a poor ambush and she had allowed him to capture her so she wouldn't reflexively injure the young attacker and incite the anger of the village. She snarled with an almost feral rage as Satoshi countered the attempted attack.
"Satoshi, NO!! Leave him be..."
She felt terrible for lashing out at Satoshi, who was only being helpful, but she couldn't risk harming one of the villagers. Her eyes flickered back to the man who was now quivering in fear with his weapon lowered. He didn't look a day over 17. Hurting this young one would certainly irritate the villagers. "I'm sorry about that ... he's very protective... could you just lead us back to your village? We do not intend to stir up trouble. What's your name, sir?"

The boy straightened up a bit, trying desperately to look less like a quivering mess. "I am called Argos... but if you think I'm going to lead you back to my home after you've attacked me, you've lost your mind, you coward. Face me without that pathetic body guard of yours!" He backed away a bit clutching his weapon tightly, but still too shaken to raise it against the swordsman.

Kiana narrowed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath to swallow her rising temper. The hid was flat insufferable and it was taking effort to quell the urge to take his head clear off. "First of all, YOU attacked; secondly... if you try to run home now, all we really have to do is follow you, and third... I don't think you are resourceful enough to survive in the jungle on your own for even 24 hours... hunger will send you to your village soon enough. I've got time. Fourth... if you insult my swordsman again, your time will quickly run out."

Argos backed away, visibly annoyed. "You're wrong!" With that, the boy disappeared into the woods with making as much noise as an injured deer.

Kiana shifted her attention back to Satoshi.
"While that idiot is doubtlessly getting himself lost, determined not to return home in attempt to prove himself to a pair of random strangers, we can just follow his tracks back to the village, unhindered by his stupidity. Satoshi, I'm sorry for yelling at you... I just didn't wish for diplomacy to be hindered by spilled blood. Why do you worry so much, Bushido? I'll be ok. Oh, that reminds me... if anything happens to me on our journey, which I doubt, you can keep my ship if it's useful to you. "

Satoshis breathing calmed down as Kiana told him to stand down. He stopped with his blade and his eyes were easing back to normal, he was now calmer. AS the boy was shouting something, his min was quite blank at the moment, his lingering need to rip something in two was still there so he wanted to clear his mind back to normal. He then heard Kiana say something and then nodded "It will be fine Kiana, i wont let anything happen to you anyway..... so i will not need a ship that does not have you in it.." Satoshi then blushed after realising what he said.

She kept an eye on Satoshi during her dismissal of the boy to make sure his anger didn't surge too much. She found it odd that he seemed much angrier than she was, though it was her neck that was in danger of being skewered, not his.
She glanced back at Satoshi to see if he was ready to continue their journey when his words hit her rather like a bag of bricks she never saw coming; she only managed to murmur faintly. "Satoshi..." She silenced herself as she felt her own face grow warm with a blushing sensation. She quickly grabbed his hand, tugging a bit and turned away toward the path so he wouldn't see her reddened face. "...um... we should... um... we should go ... I think" She winced a bit, noticing that she was a bit of a stammering fool.

Satoshi was wondering why Kiana turned away, but then felt her hand on his, pulling. His breath stolen at her touch, he didnt speak a word. H looked away and then nodded "Erm...yeah, we should go.... im sure the village will be...... quite curious as to our being here...." Satoshi didnt realise it, but he was still holding Kianas hand.

She continued to lightly tug at Satoshi's hand as she scurried along, rather forgetting that she was still nearly dragging him in her lingering panic over hiding her face. A slight rustling caught the attention of her keen hearing, prompting her to abruptly spin on her heel to observe the source of the sound to confront what ever was following them. Because she had forgotten that she was still holding Satoshi's hand, she ended up directly facing him, nearly running into him. She glanced over his shoulder to discover a pair of squirrels leaping across branches, the entirely harmless source of the rustling noise from before. She felt a bit foolish for her overreaction to ... squirrels and tried to pretend that nothing odd had just occurred and softly replied. "Yes, very ... curious."
She suddenly noticed her extremely close proximity to him and bit her lower lip nervously. "Ah... I'm sorry... I thought someone was there... but it was only a pair of bloody squirrels ..." She backed away a bit more until her back was pressed against a nearby tree that she'd forgotten about, though she never actually remembered to release his hand.

Satoshi then felt Kiana panic and then reacted. Her body was incredibly close to his. He himself was burning now, and then said "Oh squirrels, right..... ummm " He then realised he was holding her hand, and didnt then went bright red. He immediately pulled his hands away "WE SHOULD GOOOO, ummm to the village, ok then, which way was it?" Satoshi didn't face Kiana, he just looked foward, his face was too red to face Kiana.

She winced as he pulled away, mortified by the entire situation. She'd done something entirely stupid and careless again. Her clumsiness and foolishness was slowing them down horribly. She saw him turn away... he must be completely furious with and her squirrel-hunting nonsense. It was a good thing this was not a dangerous island or their movements would have been long since tracked. He had a bizarre effect on her that she couldn't quite place, and mostly refused to acknowledge.

She wasn't used to non-volitile environments or being around anyone other than her former crew mates who were content to simply stay the hell out of the trajectory of her her blades and out of her forge. Outside of combat situations, she spent more than 80% of her time in the company of molten metal and fire. Everything was elemental and predictable; the uniform structure of chemistry and thermodynamics kept her world orderly and neat.

Now she was entirely out of her element with an unpredictable, incredibly skillful, yet bizarrely meek swordsman. Despite her inexplicable, uncharacteristic incompetence around him, he was her nakama now and her most trusted ally. Though she knew her time wasting idiocy would possibly keep him around longer via sheer lack of progress, she respected him far too much to keep wasting his time.

She turned and started moving toward the light that they had seen earlier. She spoke quietly. "I'm sorry. You're right. I think it was this way..."

Satoshi then nodded and followed Kiana, he was not blushing as much now at least. He was finally back to normal. It did seem however that Kiana was looking rather down. Satoshi wondered what he should do, maybe he overreacted to the whole situation earlier. He shouldnt keep troubling her like this with his blushing. It was not a manly thing to do. He should be more composed at all times , but it was hard for him. Girls were always a trouble area because of lack of communication.He decided that he would ponder on this later, as they had far more important business to deal with.

She gave a slight glance toward Satoshi,with a nagging feeling somewhere between guilt and regret. They were nearing the village now and her attention shifted accordingly. She was now focused and cold. She paused for a moment to observe the outskirts of the village, not wishing to alarm anyone.

[Presentation Box]
[Agis "Praetorian" Valenz
Old retired shipwright who spent much of his young life moving from various smugglers crews and pirate ships in search of the legendary ruins of the island. During this time he picked up many eclectic and useful skills, including ship coating. Rumors say he's the best in this ocean. After finding the ruins ten years ago, he has lived among the reinstated native population studying them relentlessly.]

[Presentation Box]
[Bacchus "Merlot" Moronia
Villiage patriarch who is very laid back. After his people had finally gained their homeland back after so many years, he felt that he had already seen the worst side of existence and had no use for worry or malcontent any longer. He spends much of his time caring for his small vineyard, making wine, and trying to convince his son to lighten up.]

[Presenttion Box]
[Calix "The Parasite" Olenia
A former blacksmith's apprentice who's lack of attention to thermal detail, impatience, and laziness never allowed him to become a master in the art. Always looking for shortcuts, he would either pull the metals before they were heated enough to make alloys or he would overheat them and make brittle, poor quality blades. After dropping out of apprentice ship, he's been touring around on various ships in search of treasures and rare minerals of blacksmith lore. ]


As they approached the village three men were taking an amiable stroll. The middle one, Bacchus waved and seemed to be marginally intoxicated as he approached.
"Greetings... travelers... why are you dressed that way? What brings you to this dusty, forgotten place? If you're looking for the guys who built those broken stone building, you just missed them by a couple of decades. Mrwahahahaha!"

Kiana raised a brow at the bizarre and jolly man before cautiously speaking.
"I came here in search of a man called Agis. I hear he is the best in the sea for ship coating; do you know of him?"

The other old man from the group stepped forward with a perplexed.
"I am Agis... but how the blazes did you find this place... first that kid Calix and now you... it took me 50 years to find this damn island!!"

Kiana's eyes flickered to the other figure who was much younger than the other two, about her age. Her eyes instantly narrowed with vapid disdain.
"YOU! What the hell are YOU doing here, Calix?"

The young man gave a sly smile. "It's good to see you too, Ki-Ki... it seems these fine folks needed a good blacksmith to help with their excavations... "

Kiana took a step away with narrowed eyes.
"... I fail to see what their need of a blacksmith has to do with you, exactly. You never became a master... your impatience and laziness saw to your failure."

Calix continued to smile, stepping closer to Kiana. "Ouch!... you haven't changed at all... though you seem to have..." He pauses to eye her from head to toe. "...grown up a lot. Well, Master Kiana... are you going to show me how its done, as usual? You can't deny that you were always favored over me; Orphius always told you all of the good secrets. In fact, rumor has it that he found a map to those legendary minerals he was always going on about and if there is any truth to that, I'm sure he gave it to you, oh Chosen One."
Calix took another step toward Kiana, snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her a bit toward him. "What do ya say, Ki... are you going to share your secrets with me? We could make a fortune if that old man's pipe dreams are real... it be nice to have something to show for listening to those boring stories for so long..."

Kiana snarled at him, highly tempted to draw her sword and take his head of in one clean slash, but took great effort to refrain as she was still wary of offending the villagers. "If you would like to keep that slimy arm of yours attached to your miserable body, I suggest you get it the bloody hell away from me! That 'old man' did you an enormous favor, which you squandered, when he took you as a apprentice... it's you're own fault you have nothing to show for that opportunity. There were no secrets, you just never listened. The minerals aren't real... their properties cannot exist in nature... Orphius told those stories to inspire you to care... unlike you, he actually wanted you to succeed, you ASS... and now you're trying to turn those efforts into revenue?! The map he had was of our home island with the natural metal deposits marked, he kept it close because he wrote the melting points of all of the metals he used on the back ... you know, details that you were too lazy to ever use correctly. You haven't changed either; you're still slimy and worthless!"

Orphius never actually believed the minerals were real; and Kiana would never tell Celix they existed because he was not worthy of the information. She knew he would cause trouble, and drag as many people as he could manipulate into his enterprising scam to exploit anything and everyone he could. Even if she didn't care about the minerals, it would bring a drove of annoying idiots to Anubis' island which she only assumed was supposed to be a secret location. She knew Anubis could handle keeping them away but even though she wasn't a crew member, this was a matter of loyalty and she wouldn't give up any information even if her life depended on it.

Satoshi was now very curious about the interaction between Calix and Kiana. The way he was reffering to her made him burn with insane anger. He wasnt going to cut the mans head off, but he felt.. slightly annoyed at the fact that he was talking to so freely to Kiana and calling her pet names. Satoshi then stood in front "Who are you? If you harm Kiana i will not forgive you....."