Miletus Roleplay

First topic message reminder :

Chazz recovered quickly from the fairly light hit and was able to balance himself easily. His reaction was to swiftly drive his elbow into Makari's chest.

"Why do ya think they got lost in the woods? Responsible adults wouldn't be drunk out in the woods ta begin with!" Darast replied. "And ya make it sound like yer father is in the next city over. How do ya even know where he is? Listen, Cas, I dunno what they've been tellin' ya, but this ain't a good idea. Who knows what you'll be gettin' into."

While the discussion went on, Nadina stood there uncomfortably. She looked at Elyse and asked, "Must we stand here and listen to this?"

Chazz's eyes went wide at what Makari said. He reminded himself that the guy had been drugged and was just saying whatever, so it wasn't like he had to respond. Makari went right to sleep afterward, anyway. However, Chazz couldn't help but wonder if Makari actually did care about him that much. They had always been best friends, or maybe more like brothers, so Chazz was pretty happy to see him again. He then realized that he was just standing there and looking at him, so he turned and left the room.

As Chazz walked down the hall, he saw most of the group assembled not far down the hallway. He was there just in time to hear Darast's latest response for Casimir, and he knew what was going on. Chazz walked right up to the guy, clearly not happy. "Hey, paladin," he said, folding his arms. "Just what are you trying to do here? I don't care what your opinion of me is, I'm getting this kid to his father if it's the last thing I do. We already know roughly where we need to go and locating the guy will take no time at all."

Casimir was absolutely crestfallen by what Darast was saying. "Well... maybe they learned from this and won't get drunk this time," he insisted. "And Chazz said they could find him. I know there are only a few places he could be because of his job and I need to go somewhere. Where else am I supposed to go?" He looked at the man imploringly.

Elyse glanced at Nadina. She wasn't sure how she felt about what was going on, but she agreed that they didn't need an audience, especially when Chazz showed up. "No... we should probably get Yuki his breakfast, anyway," she said.

Casimir glanced at Chazz as he spoke, looking relieved at his words. The man was determined to get him to his father and it wasn't like Darast was really in a position to stop him.

Nadina watched as Chazz showed up and immediately threw himself into the debate. She was so relieved when Elyse suggested they go get some food for Yuki. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

She reached down and rubbed the wolf on the head, then set off to see what she could get for him.

"This's crazy!" Darast insisted. However, he didn't get anything else in before Chazz showed up and gave his two cents worth. Darast frowned and replied, "The only place ya know how ta get to is the bar! How do ya plan on keepin' Cas safe while lookin' fer some guy out of thousands of guys when ya can't even look after yerself?! Talkin' 'bout doin' it is a lot easier than actually doin' it!"

What Darast said only made Chazz angrier. "Keep your self-righteous shit to yourself! For one thing, the focus of my job for the last ten years was locating one guy out of thousands! I am not going to abandon this kid after what..." Chazz stopped himself from saying what he was going to say. "Look, this is what we're doing, and you can't tell Casimir what he can and can't do." He looked at Casimir. "You want to do this, right?"

Elyse walked after Nadina. She felt bad that Darast had to deal with this on his own, but she knew there was nothing that she could say that wouldn't add fuel to the fire. Both Chazz and Casimir seemed determined about this. "I think there's still some of the meat he liked last night left."

Darast's adamance was upsetting Casimir a bit. He knew logically that the paladin couldn't stop him from going, but he was still afraid that somehow he'd manage. Chazz then firmly told Darast that he wasn't going to abandon Casimir and the boy smiled in spite of himself. It was a nice thing to hear. He nodded at what Chazz said next. "I really want to do this. I mean... what would I do once I got to elven territory? I don't even speak their language..."

"Ah, yes, that is perfect," Nadina replied. She hoped those three could get their mess sorted out before they had to leave; she didn't want them holding things up with their squabbling.

Darast took a step closer to Chazz. "Who said anythin' 'bout abandonin' him?! We'll all do what's best fer him, which don't happen to be what you wanna do!"

Casimir agreed with Chazz and said his part. The kid was too naive to know that this was a bad idea; Chazz had said all the right things to win Casimir over, all the things he wanted to hear. Darast shook his head. "Cas, I was gonna help ya. Did ya think I was just gonna dump ya there all by yerself? What Chazz is sayin' sounds good now, but ya just don't see..."

He trailed off, and realized how defeated he sounded at the end. He knew this was going to go badly for Casimir, but he probably wouldn't realize it until he was living it. Darast looked back at Chazz and said, "If somethin' happens to him 'cause of you and yer asshole friend, may Bahamut strike you down."

Chazz knew that he was doing the right thing for Casimir. Even back when they first met, the kid wanted to go to his father. It was infuriating to hear Darast still trying win over Casimir. All that paladin wanted to do was please his deity; he didn't know anything about what Casimir really wanted. When Darast spoke to him again, condescending to him and insulting Makari, Chazz glared at him. "I'd like to see that son of a bitch try." With that, he walked away and went straight to his room.

Elyse smiled and walked to the kitchen with Nadina. "Oh, yeah, there's plenty left." She put it on a plate and lowered it to the floor. "He'll be thrilled, I'm sure."

Casimir listened to the conversation between the two men. It was actually surprising to him how strongly Chazz felt about this. It made him feel a lot more secure. Darast was surprising him too; he'd floundered a bit with how he felt about the paladin. For the most part, he'd trusted the guy but then the man would say or do something that made it seem like he only cared about pleasing Bahamut or doing the 'right' thing. Apparently, that wasn't his only priority.

The conversation was getting heated and it culminated with Darast making an angry remark and Chazz storming off. Casimir watched Chazz leave and turned to Darast. "I'm sorry..." He hadn't expected the two to go at each other's throats like that. "I know that you'd want to help, but what would happen if Bahamut told you to go somewhere else? You'd have to go--and..." He inhaled; he knew he'd been being unfair about Darast's devotion to the deity lately, largely as a result of his sleep deprivation and irritability, "and I'd understand that and I don't think it's a bad thing; it's your job and it's really important. I just think the best place to be is with my father."

Yuki flew into the meat as soon as Elyse put it on the floor. He definitely did seem to be enjoying it, which made Nadina happy; he was the only thing that made her happy out on this excursion. She sighed and looked at nothing in particular without saying anything.

Darast watched Chazz leave and could only hope that even one thing he'd said would stick in the other man's mind. Even if he would find himself doubting his crazy plans just a little would be fine.

He then turned to Casimir and listened as he spoke. The kid had valid concerns, though he spoke as if his father was in the next house over and he was going to live with him now. He sighed and said, "It's okay, I get where yer comin' from. I just want ya to know that I think the reason why I was sent out and stuff was to look after ya, make sure ya made it through okay. I don't think Bahamut would send me off somewhere else without makin' sure ya were good and secure first, y'know? Anyways, maybe now is that time. Yer a good kid, and I wish we coulda had more time together. Maybe if Bahamut wills it we'll meet again."

Casimir listened to Darast as he spoke. He knew that the paladin wouldn't want to leave him alone, but the boy didn't exactly trust Bahamut to have his best interests in mind. Assuming the deity existed, why would he care about some random person from Orios? Still, he really appreciated the paladin's sentiment.

"I'd really like that," he said, and it was true; he'd like to see Darast again. He suddenly seemed shy. "Um... I really appreciate everything you've done to help me... and I'm sorry for before. Things were... hard." He felt bad for doubting the paladin's intentions toward him back there, but was glad that they had since moved past it. Overall, he'd enjoyed the man's company more than he'd expected to. He gave Darast a sincere smile. "Thanks. And don't worry; we'll be fine. I hope you guys will too..." He supposed there weren't any rogues out here, at least.

The group spent a couple more weeks in town resting and regaining their strength. Chazz would have liked to stay until Makari had fully healed, but it seemed he had some lasting side effects and the guy was never the type to stay put too long. His condition had improved greatly, though, so Chazz decided it was finally time to take Casimir home.

Chazz awoke from his trance bright and early and was ready to go before long. He was feeling so much better than when he had first arrived, so traveling the great distance they had to cover seemed like it wouldn't be a problem. After leaving his room, Chazz went and knocked on Casimir and Makari's doors, calling each of their names as he did so. He didn't know if they'd be up yet, but he hoped they were. He was tired of hanging around that place.

Raphael had woken up even before Chazz and had gone to the kitchen. He enjoyed trying to learn to cook, even though he was pretty bad at it. Over the last couple of weeks, Raphael had looked after Makari and even volunteered in his spare time to help the doctor with some of his other patients. However, as much as he'd enjoyed that work, he knew that they needed to head into elven territory soon. Darast needed somewhere to go, and Raphael wanted to see his parents.

After their good bye, Darast never really talked to Casimir, or Chazz and Makari either. He spent quite a bit of the few weeks they stayed there alone, thinking about the journey thus far and trying to talk with Bahamut. He found himself thinking about his parents and his aunt and he wished Nadina was easier to talk to. He'd like to learn more about his family.

He also wished that Bahamut would speak to him. The deity had been completely silent to him for quite some time now, and he wanted to know what he thought. However, Darast thought that maybe the silence meant that he wanted him to continue on with Nadina for now. She needed his help, so it was only natural.

Nadina spent most of her time with Yuki; she wasn't really interested in what the others were up to. However, she did find herself chatting with Elyse from time to time. She actually found Elyse tolerable, much better than any of the others, except maybe her cousin. Though Darast's speech was just so bad that she couldn't stand to talk to him very long.

She began to think that they were never going to leave and she would never see her father. She got up and went through the same routine she'd gone through so many days now. It made her want to cry, really. Nadina decided maybe it would be helpful to go and talk to Elyse, so she and Yuki went to her room. She hesitated a moment, then knocked on the door.

Makari found the next couple of weeks to be an exercise in tedium. He got up every so often to walk around, but was always made to go back to bed. He thought he was going to go stir crazy. The elf was too straight laced to be interesting company, though Makari appreciated his help. Chazz and Casimir visiting was about the only thing that kept him sane. He always liked to see Chazz and it was interesting trying to get to know his nephew. The kid was a bit dense, but he still had something endearing about him. His condition continued to improve and finally it was time to get out of there. When Chazz knocked on his door, he emerged with a big grin on his face. "Are we finally ditching these losers?"

Casimir enjoyed spending time with Chazz and Makari over the next few weeks, even if they were weird sometimes. He felt like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders; he was finally going home. The days passed by more easily for him than they had in a long time. He'd already been up for ages by the time Chazz knocked on his door, too excited to sleep in. When Chazz called his name, he came out of his room already dressed and with everything packed up. "Good morning," he said. "Is it almost time to go?"

Elyse was relieved that the two groups had mostly stuck to themselves; she could have seen potential for conflict between Darast and Chazz or Makari. However, the days generally passed amicably. Not long after she'd woken up, she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and was a bit surprised to see Nadina. "Good morning. Do you need something?"

"Yeah, finally," Chazz replied. He looked at Makari; the guy definitely looked eager. "So, you sure you're feeling up to this?" Casimir then emerged from his room much earlier than Chazz had expected. He looked to the boy. "You're up early. Yeah, I guess we're leaving... well, now. You ready?" It seemed like everyone was ready, so there was nothing stopping them. He knew how excited Casimir must have been about this.

"Good morning," Nadina replied when Elyse opened the door and greeted her. "Yes. Well, what I need is to talk. We have been sitting around wasting time that could be better spent doing something productive. I know Makari is recovering, but how are we helping? If this goes on any longer I may ask Darast to take me to my father himself. As far as I know he spends most of his day in his room or wandering around the area anyway."

"Of course I'm feeling up to this," Makari replied. "If I have to stay in bed for another minute, my legs will shrivel up and fall off and then you'd have to carry me. Or drag me. And I know which one you'd choose." He watched Casimir emerge, also surprised by how early the kid was up. He hadn't been that eager to start making omelettes, Makari recalled.

"Oh... yeah, I woke up early and just started getting ready." Casimir smiled, nodding. "We're leaving now? Yeah, I'm ready. Are we going to the boat?" He was pretty nervous about that part, but he knew it would be worth it.

Elyse couldn't blame Nadina for being impatient. "Actually, Raphael told me that Makari's been doing a lot better. I don't think he needs to stay here to take care of him much longer at all; I think we'll be leaving the day after tomorrow at the very latest, and it will probably be sooner than that."

"Of course they would," Chazz said sarcastically in response to Makari. He knew that the guy was just dying to be up and about, but he had to worry a little about Makari wearing himself out. Chazz wouldn't be surprised if he had to carry his friend at some point. He turned his attention to Casimir. "Since you're not holding us up this time, we can go right away. We'll go straight to the dock." He started to go, but paused for a moment to look down the hall at the others' rooms, thinking about how he didn't say goodbye. Elyse was probably the only one he'd want to say it to, but she probably didn't care anyway. Chazz continued on until he had left the building.

Chazz led the two to the docks and looked over the boats that were there. "I guess we should try to find one that doesn't seem like a cargo ship." He hoped money wouldn't be a huge issue, since he didn't have a single coin on him.

"That is good to hear," Nadina replied, obviously quite relieved.

Darast opened his door just as Elyse was giving the explanation. He'd figured that they would be probably be leaving soon, but he still felt nervous at the thought of leaving Casimir with Chazz and Makari. He hesitated in his doorway for a moment, then approached Nadina and Elyse.

"Mornin' ya three," he said, scratching Yuki's head. Nadina noticed he looked troubled, but didn't say anything.

Casimir frowned when Chazz made the remark about him not holding them up, but he was in too good of a mood to say anything in response. "Okay," he said, nodding happily when Chazz said they could go straight to the docks. He felt a bit bad about leaving without saying good bye to anyone, but he supposed the others hadn't been talking to the three of them lately so it would probably be awkward.

"All righty, let's get out of here," Makari said, wasting no time at all in starting down the hall.

Soon, they made it to the docks. Makari nodded at Chazz's suggestion but Casimir asked, "How can you tell the difference?"

Makari left Chazz to field the question as he wandered around examining the boats. "Hey, Chazzy! I think this one should get us from A to B." He glanced between Chazz and Casimir. He was wondering what to do about money when he realized that Chazz was the one who'd spent all of his gambling winnings on booze; Makari still had a little bit left. "Hopefully this'll be enough... well, I'll just give him the bag. It makes it seem like more than it is. Hey, sir!" he approached the boat's captain. "Have any space on your boat?"

Casimir just looked to Chazz; watching Makari felt like being caught in a tornado sometimes.

Elyse smiled at Darast as he entered the room. "Good morning," she replied. "How are you?" Something seemed off about his manner.

Chazz sighed at Casimir's question; he couldn't figure anything out for himself. "Well, you look at it, and if the boat has a lot of cargo on it, it's probably a cargo ship." Makari then seemed to find a suitable boat. "Looks good, Makari."

He watched as his friend took what money he had left to the captain and came to an unpleasant realization. They had no money at all. Of course, as rogues, they could just steal more, but Makari wasn't in much shape to do that. Also, if they got in trouble for it, Chazz didn't know what would happen to Casimir. He decided to wait and cross that bridge when they came to it.

The captain looked over the three briefly, choosing to focus more attention on Makari's bag of money. "Yeah, should be room for you three. Where you headed?"

Chazz moved closer upon hearing the captain's question. "We need to get to Malar Kingdom."

"Oh yeah, I'll be going by there," the captain assured him. "Welcome aboard."

Chazz nodded and glanced at Casimir before boarding the boat to make sure he knew to follow.

"Ah, I'm okay..." Darast said, debating whether he should tell them what he was thinking. He decided it would make him feel better if he did say something. "All right, it's been botherin' me since Cas said he was leavin' with Chazz and Makari. I just don't think it's right or safe fer him, and I don't want him to get into trouble 'cause of them. Ya know how he is, and how they are."

Nadina knew that Chazz and Makari would probably be the last people in the world she would want to live with, but it could be good for Casimir. "You know, maybe living with those two would teach him about the world. He is a snotty brat who needs to learn a thing or two."

Casimir frowned at Chazz's explanation; when he put it that way it was so obvious. "Well... all boats have some cargo," he muttered, trying to save face.

Makari tossed the bag of money at the captain as he boarded. "Thank you muchly!"

Casimir had never been on a boat before. He tried not to look at the small waves on the ocean's surface as he boarded, following closely behind Chazz.

"This is working out pretty well so far," Makari mused, walking around the deck appraisingly. "Hopefully we don't get attacked by pirates or sharks."

Casimir stuck by Chazz, looking a bit bothered by what Makari said. "Sharks can't get on a boat, right?" he asked as the boat began to move. He really wasn't sure.

Elyse nodded understandingly; it was easy to see where Darast's concern came from. She was a bit worried herself. She then glanced at Nadina, choosing not to address the insult as the girl and Casimir had never gotten along. She supposed she might have even had a bit of a point. "Yeah... I know how they are. The only person Chazz is more responsible than lately is Makari and Casimir doesn't understand that. But maybe Nadina's right; he could learn from traveling with them and maybe they could learn a thing or two from being in charge of his wellbeing. I don't know about Makari but before this, Chazz did seem to have a sense of responsibility when it came to Cas."

Chazz wandered around the deck with Makari, rolling his eyes at what the man said. Saying those things would just freak out the kid, which was the last thing they needed. "Makari, that won't happen." He wanted to get that out there before Casimir got any ideas, but it was too late. The kid's question made Chazz sigh exasperatedly. "Only if someone went down there and got one, and no, that wouldn't happen either." Sometimes he couldn't believe how dumb Casimir could be.

Darast looked down and thought about what the other two were saying. He had been so worried about Casimir's well-being that he hadn't really thought about what he could learn from this. He looked back up and nodded. "I get what yer sayin'. Maybe Chazz'll be responsible again now that he's got someone to look after. And maybe Cas'll learn some sense."

He stood there awkwardly after that, then said, "So, uh, where's Raphie? Did he go check on Makari or somethin'?"