The Palace of Role Play

Hello there, welcome to the board. Sorry about the sidebar glitch on some of the themes. Aside from that, I enjoy having a few options to choose from myself. Always nice to see fellow fans as well. Let me know if you have any questions.

Raphael was beginning to think that things hadn't gone so well while he and Dyna were gone. Louisa seemed relieved to see him--which was a first indeed, and the digimon before them just seemed on edge.

If what he was hearing was right, they'd wanted eight bits for a single piece of fruit. To say that was inflated as an understatement, and given their budget, they could never afford to splurge that much. Louisa was wise to not accept. Yet her tone, as ever, felt wrong to Raphael.

He kept quiet as Dyna approached and threw in her two cents. Her and Louisa both had a temper and he had a nagging feeling that it was going to continue to be an obstacle he would have to get over as time went on.

"We won't be needing the fruit," Raphael stated, still looking out over those gathered. They seemed to be in a tight spot. He pitied them. Pausing, contemplative, he sized up the digimon there. "However . . . we have more meat than we need. If any of you are willing to partake, we would be happy to share what's left."

He glanced briefly toward Dyna, then toward Louisa. Unworried about Datan and Mono, he wondered if the women would have contention with what he'd offered.

A fair ways off from the village, Raphael landed, ceasing flight, and shifted the digimon's body into a more comfortable position to carry. He wasn't sure about it, but he thought he heard voices in the main of the village, and given how they'd reacted to his transformation earlier, he wasn't sure heading straight into their midst was a carcass was the best idea, even if they did know they were going hunting.

"I'm going to go in through the back," Raphael told Dyna. "I'll leave the meat by our hut, then I'm going to go see what the problem is."

Satisfied that he'd explained himself, he started inside the village, taking a back route so that although digimon could still likely see him, they wouldn't be able to see as easily what he was carrying. When he reached their accommodations, he set the body down behind the building. Then he readied himself, and stepped around the side, back into the company of his traveling companions, now his enesmon self once more.

"We've returned," Raphael said softly, aware that there had just been yelling in the clearing. He looked at Louisa, then down at Datan and Mono. "The hunt was successful." His gaze shifted back toward the digimon. They already had permission to use the fire pit, but after the shouting he'd heard, it wouldn't surprise him if they wanted to go back on their offer.

Can you please remove the mention of the digimon seeing Raphael return in your post, Aether? I think that should be my choice and I don't like it being made for me, since I do not think it would be in character for Raphael to let himself be seen knowing he'd be going back into hostile territory.

Ferran whirled toward Lester when he found he was being spoken to, but his giddy mood shattered quickly when Lester essentially scolded him. Ferran leered at him, half growling, "Who are you, my father?"

That was quickly put into place by a glare from Lorcan, who quite evidently was not pleased with Ferran's behavior after all.

He reiterated, voice a half-growl himself, "Don't do that again."

Ferran didn't dare speak, instead shrinking back a bit toward Levana.

"We'll be going to Zhuqiaomon's temple. It will not be a problem." Lorcan stated, addressing Levana, since it seemed there were no more objections or matters to consider about Levana going with them. "When we get there, you'll tell us about this special information you promised us. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," Levana said politely, even going so far as to half-bow.

Lorcan glared at her for this, and spurred Devidramon forward, beyond her. It seemed he was ready to move on.

Levana smiled. "Shall we?" She began to follow along behind Lorcan and Devidramon.

Ferran watched her go, then looked to Lester. "Sorry . . ." He glanced, shamed, between him and the girls. "Guess we'd better follow along."

He glanced back at Thunderbirmon, wondering if he could ride on her too.

"Well, with the threat no longer present, I think I'd prefer to save my energy," Thunderbirmon admitted sheepishly. "So if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you'd all climb down and walk on your own for a while."

"Phooey," Ferran muttered, but his eyes turned toward Lorcan and Levana, who seemed a strange pair together on the horizon.

After a brief walk, and oblivious to the annoying chatter behind him, Nikolai came upon something that caused him pause, and he held out his free hand to keep the others from walking forward, holding the lantern out as he did so to illuminate the gap that had appeared between their current path and the next stretch of it passed the stream. It wasn't very wide, but the rock walls looked a bit jagged, and there were small stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

"Looks like we're going to need to jump," Nikolai said, setting the lantern down on the ground so it would continue to light up the necessary area. "It looks like about three feet, but the other side is a bit higher, so we might need some leverage . . . I could toss some of you across," he said, gazing at Mila and Laura, then at Koda. He wasn't sure he could throw the bird-man over, but he likely would be able to make the jump himself. The last he looked to was Matthias, who could probably make it too, but Nikolai was a bit unsure with how he'd acted on the previous obstacle.

Dyna was thanking Raphael, although it didn't seem like she was particularly happy about it. He rose a brow beneath his mask, but only briefly. It wasn't worth dwelling on. She'd obviously been speaking with her Sangloupmon. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Icedevimon was curiously quiet as Raphael picked up the agumon's dead body and got a good enough grip on it to hold tight while he flew back. Knowing his partner as he did, Raphael was certain it had to do with knowing his time was nearly at an end.

"We ought to get back so the others can thank us for their meals as well," Raphael said, unsure what to do with Dyna and Sangloupomon's gratitude. "Lead the way," he said, smiling.

Laura came across the stones first. Koda seemed to want to chit chat more than he wanted to cross the stream though, and Nikolai stared at him irritably. Mila came across next, seemingly relieved about something. Nikolai gave her a weird look, but thought little more of it, looking back to the others. Finally Koda was coming cross, and seemed to need his wings for balance. Nikolai winced a bit. The wingspan was wide. He hoped the wings wouldn't get caught on any of the sharp edges of the cavern walls. Even though he didn't like Koda, he didn't wish him harm on their journey.

Now though it was time to stare at Matthias. Dramatics, much? The man was literally jumping from stone to stone, despite them being within easy stepping distance from one another. Nikolai shook his head as Matthias made it across. He wasn't having much faith in those assembled anymore. Thankfully for his attitude, Laura--being the child she was--took to gently teasing the man.

"Are you coming?" Nikolai asked of Elister.

Elister clutched his bag, and stepped nimbly into the stream. At its deepest, it went up to his knees, but the fish-man obviously didn't mind. "Feels good," he remarked as he made it to the other side, and stopped beside Nikolai.

"Glad you enjoyed it, but you need to be careful from here on out."

While Nikolai was his usual stuffy self, Elister chuckled slightly, hearing the talk between Matthias and Laura. "Actually, I had an idea." Elister held out his bag for Nikolai to take, then started to take off the bow and quiver. "If you'll just hold on to these for a while, I could head up stream and see what there is to see. Might be helpful to give a head's up of what's out there. Is that all right?"

Nikolai slung the bag over his shoulder, and held at the bow uneasily. "I don't want us splitting up . . ."

"Just keep going, slowly and steadily, and I should be able to catch up to you. Stop if you come to a branch in the path. Otherwise I'll be fine."

Elister was smiling, and it was intoxicating. "Okay," Nikolai said, swallowing dryly. "Be careful. . . ."

"As always." Elister turned, walked back into the water, and started heading up the incline, slowly sinking deeper into the water as he went.

Nikolai turned back to the ground, and holding the lantern more tightly, headed passed them. "Let's go," he said gruffly, his irritation returning now that Elister was actually gone.