Soldiers of Light 2 ch.2 "Getting there is half the fun."
 

Takin looked around at the small group.

"I'll go start up the ship. We'll be heading for Kyoto once the propellors have gained enough speed. We have a room prepared for Suzume, but there are more people than I expected. If they need to, there are some blankets up in the cockpit. It'll give them somewhere quiet to sleep later, and I'll be able to keep an eye on them."

Takin gave Koyuki a quick glance, making sure she knew that he hadn't forgotten the many times she had tried to destory the airship, his baby, and then walked down the hall.

The group moved from the small entranceway near the door and into a much larger room. It was quite obviously a relaxation area. Suzume would notice that this room hadn't been in the ship before. Back during the great battle, the airship was wrecked. Takin rebuilt it, with quite a few extras added in, the relaxation area being one of them. The room was rather bright due to the electric lights Takin had created from vials of swamp gas and coursing electricity. There was a large table, many pillows and rugs thrown around, and even two armchairs that Kurama had found while out west.

"May as well get comfortable, people. It's a few hours flight to Kyoto."

Koyuki stood a way away from the rest of the group, leaning against a wall. She really didn't feel she fit in with them, and was already having doubts about tagging along. Still, if they could stop the destruction of magic, it'd be in her best interest to be there.

Still... Koyuki didn't fancy standing around idly. She needed focus, both mentally and physically.

"This contraption wouldn't happen to have a training room, would it?" She asked Kurama, "I'm not tired enough to rest."

Kurama pointed down the hallway on their left.

"Head down there and take the second door on the right. There are some sparring dummies in there, and some other stuff. Have at it."

"Thank you." Koyuki nodded, and walked down the hall to the sparring room.

It was fairly large, much like the relaxation area, although of a notibly different function. A number of sparring dummies stood in the rough center of the room, each made of crossed bamboo poles, a straw sack, and wore a bucket as a helment. Various types of weapons, some familiar, and some unfamiliar, lined the exterior walls. It wasn't perfect, but just what Koyuki was looking for at the time.

Knowing that eventually, magic would disappear, Koyuki began to realize the grim fact that one day, she wasn't going to be herself anymore. While the prospect of becoming a human was detestable, she'd decided to live with it. Facing the fact that her ancestral weapon, the Angetsu Shouten, may one day cease functioning, Koyuki made it a point to remaster her mother's favored tool, the naginata.

Choosing the proper polearm from the training room's wall wasn't an easy task, as generally, a naginata was custom-built to match the wearer's height, the tip of the haft usually stopping eyebrow-level from the floor. While none were perfect, Koyuki soon found a weapon that would suit her purposes for the time being. She gave it a sharp twirl to check balance, and, satisfied, assumed a ready stance agaisnt a nearby target dummy.

Melsis opened her eyes as she slowly came back to consciousnes. Where am I? she thought in sudden fright as she noticed that she was in a strange bed and unknown place. Sitting up quickly she looked around the room and recognized just enough to know that she was on the flying ship, somewhere in it. Slowly she got off the bed and looked around the room thinking They know I am here now, but at least my illusion did not disperse. what should I do?. Not noticing the man on one of the other beds in the room she walked to the door and opened it.

OOC: If i read correctly Garud should be in the same room as Melsis.

OOC: You're right Pyros. Joukei was there too.

Watching the girl rise with more than a little bit of interest, he quickly stood up and followed her. Trying to be as quiet as he could, he avoided attracting her attention directly until she finally tried to exit.

"Hold it right there, missy," Joukei said, clamping hand down on her shoulder. Again, he felt something different from what he had felt, but made no comment on it. Instead, he asked, "What is your name, and what are you doing here?"

Joukei was kind of glad that he hadn't been seen by the little girl at first-at the very least, he was glad that she didn't go try killing people or destroying things the exact moment she woke up; there would have been quite a bit of trouble if she had. Still, he couldn't just leave Melsis to wander around the airship.

Melsis jumped at the sound of Joukei's voice and the touch of his hand. She let out a strangled gasp of surprise turning around and moving backwards making his hand fall off her shoulder to face the man. Melsis knew that they knew she was there but she hadn't seen anyone in the room with her. "M my n name i is M Melsis" She said stuttering in response to his question. "I I ju just wa was s so ama amazed at th this shi ship tha that I climbed aboa aboard to see it." she lied still stuttering.

OOC: Melsis will be like this around most of the humans.

"Is that...so?" Joukei couldn't tell if she was lying, but he was definately skeptical of it being something so simple as that. "Well, you know, it's generally not a good idea to sneak into places...especially when it is someplace as strange as this."

Unless Joukei decided to do some severe interrogation, chances were that she wasn't going to say anything more right now. That left him to decide what to do with her for now. After reasoning that they just wouldn't throw her out of the ship, he decided to take her to the others.

"Okay, come on," he said, picking her up whether she liked it or not. "We're going somewhere."

(OOC: Pyros, I hope you don't mind Youji picking her up; if you do, I'll edit. It's just become a habit for Youji to do that-it's much easier to keep track of people this way for him now.)

OOC: No its fine, I don't mind its funny in any case. Heh Melsis won't stutter right now, she's outraged

"What! Let me down!" Melsis said outraged as she flailed in his grip. "I can walk myself!" she almost yelled as she finally landed a kick into Joukei's thigh, which because she was a half demon, was a lot more powerful then it should have been.

Joukei had been walking calmly down the hall, ignoring the small girl's protests, not worried about her escaping-after all, what could a little (though, admittedly strange) girl do?

Then she kicked him. Hard.

He almosted tripped, but caught himself at the last moment and strengthened his grip so that she couldn't take this moment to escape. Then, after readjusting her position on his shoulder, he took a deep breath and counted to ten. "I must not hit little girls," he chanted to himself, before finally glaring at the girl on his shoulder. "Even if they are strong brats like you."

After what would be no doubt a lot more trouble through the corridor, Joukei finally made it to the relaxation area, where he unceremoniously dropped the girl on the ground. "Here we are. Now introduce yourself, Gaki-chan."