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Animal Instincts (hal7283 & wolfdog12) (18+, private)


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Ass they walked, Suteneko just focused on walking forward. He attempted to ignore the voices of the others around them and the strange looks they were given. The smaller creature was growing more and more uneasy the farther they seemed to go until they'd finally been stopped by the rat-creatures. At first, Suteneko found himself cowering being Ekichu, but, as the rats grew more persistent, Suteneko gathered up enough confidence to stand in front of his friend with his Kokuei pride truly showing.

 

"My name is Suteneko and we really mean no harm. The two of us are just here to gather some information about me and we'll be gone faster then we came. Please let us through." There was a strength now showing that didn't belong to this nameless prince and yet he was showing it. At the same time he had this confidence to speak, he was also very scared and really just wanted to chance into his smaller form and hide on Ekichu's back.

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The rat men looked at each other, and the one leading them got closer to Ekichu, pointing his spear at the large bag he was carrying: "What's side that bag?"

 

"Preserved meat." Ekichu said as he took the bag off his back and opened it, showing it to the rat man. He reached his nose into the bag and took several good sniff, and immediately his impression brightened. "By the gods, you guys came just in time! We had been short on meat for quite a while! If those are for sell I'm sure the merchants at the market would offer you a good price!" The rat man turned to the others and ordered the them to make way for the two.

 

As they went through the gate the interior of the city was revealed, creatures of different races dressing in colorful clothing or ornaments filled the streets, going in and out of buildings of various sizes, with some small more like a dog house, and other big enough for a pack of elephants to enter simultaneously. Sounds of people chatting, yelling, peddling could be heard everywhere. Ekichu was amazed by all the busyness of the city, and for a moment just stood there in awe. "Was your kingdom like this too?" he asked.

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'What a stroke of luck' Suteneko thought to himself as he backed off behind Ekichu again. He stared out for a bit before rushing to catch up to his friend. The dragon kept his mouth shut even when he was asked a question trying to think about it. Finally, he was able to answer after looking all around at all the other different creatures and stuff. "Ya, my kingdom was fairly similar to this. There were always lots of people of all races and we had a lot going on. It was an extremely open kingdom from what I can remember... I am a little foggy though.."

 

His eyes were still scanning around before he finally focused on moving forward to where they could sell the meat. When no one was paying attention, Suteneko slipped the metal back into his magic bag and had it disappear so no one could try and steal from it. As the transaction was going on, Suteneko laid down behind Ekichu and began listening to the crowd around them to see if he could hear or gain any information from those around them. He wanted to know more about himself and magic but no one seemed to be talking about it. At least not around here they weren't.

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Ekichu and Suteneko went to a few shops to ask the prize they'd offer for their meat, and finally settled down with a shop ran by a creature looked like a monkey with two horns. He handed a bag filled with silver coins to Ekichu as his employees moved the large meat sack to the back of the shop.

 

"Thanks a lot traveler. You have no idea how hard it is to get some meat in this parts." the shop keeper said: "For some reason the forest spirit became very violent recently, attacking any hunter who venture into the forest."

 

" I see..." Ekichu said, not wanting to dwell too much on the subject he asked: "Speaking of head to come by, do you know of any magic shops around here?"

 

’Magic shops? Hmm...." the shop keeper thought for a second and continued: "There are a few stores selling magic trinkets and charms close by, but most of the stuff were just crap fooling those superstitious folks. But you're not looking for those right?"

 

"Right. I'm looking for someone with true knowledge of magic. Preferably someone who knows about curses." Ekicihu answered.

 

"Give me a second..." the shop keeper went behind the counter and grabbed a paper, and began to draw on it. Soon he returned and handed Ekichu with the paper : "There's this wizard living near here who is a frequent customer of mine. Here's the map to his place. I don't know what's your story but I wish you guys good luck."

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As they mentioned the magic shops, Suteneko remembered they hadn't passed a single one since being here, of course he thought he saw something in the back of a different shop but that was another story. The dragon waited patiently and when they were given directions, Suteneko jumped right up and thanked the man. He began to wonder though... He heard of witches and wizards as magic users but that was it. He didn't even know the difference between the two.

 

As they walked from the city following the directions given on the paper, Suteneko just had to ask, "So, what's the difference between a witch and a Wizard? I heard they both used magic. Is one more powerful than the other?" He really didn't know so he sounded a bit stupid but after years of being away from everyone, it was no wonder he seemed sheltered or that he lived under a rock. The dragon looked at his friend eagerly awaiting the answer.

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Ekichu said thanks to the shop keeper before leaving the building, and began began to follow the instructions on the map he just got. The map lead them away from the noisy markets and into the more quiet parts of the city, as the alleys became smaller and smaller it became increasingly difficult for Ekichu to go through. Soon Ekichu resort to use his legs to press against the walls on each side to move above ground. And when the alley became too small even for that he simply began to climb over the roofs.

 

Along the way he thought about Suteneko's questions and answered: "I don't know... I don't really have much knowledge in terms of magic. I assume it's only the difference of gender, males are wizards and females are witches? I don't know. But female body have different features, attributes from the male, and it may affect how the the body reacts to magic powers." Ekichu then took a look at the map and at the house in front of them : "Hmm... this should be the place." he then get down from the roof and walked towards the house, knocking a the door. Hearing no response he knocked on the door again, and still nothing.

 

Ekichu sharpened his senses and focused on the house, and noticed countless lifeforms inside. Most are small like rats and bugs, but there was one creature in particular inside, who by the way it was breathing was likely asleep. Sensing this Ekichu began to knock on the doors again, this time louder, and non-stopping.

 

"Alright! Alright! I'm coming! By the gods can't a wizard get some rest..." Ekichu could hear the creature waking up and coming towards the door. And as the door was slightly opened a large green, semi-transparent ball popped out of the entrance, and a red orb-like eye emerge from it looking at the two at the door.

 

"By the gods.......!" voice came from inside the green sphere and it rushed out of the house revealing it self. It looked like a large floating jellyfish with a red round eye, staring at the two, countless tentacles waved around in excitement. "A Arthroplon! And a Kokuei! Oh my oh my oh my oh my!!!! Please, please come inside!!! Oh the gods this is too good!"

 

The jelly fish looking creature lead the two inside the house, which was filled with countless books and scrolls scattered all around, and all kinds of strange looking instruments. There were also several small cages housing things from rats to birds and lizards.

 

"Allow me to introduce myself." The creature said in excitement, its transparent body now have turned from green to red: "I'm @$%^#$#. My friends call me Bob. A wizard. So to what do I owe the honor of a visit from such... extraordinary guests like you?"

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The Kokuei didn't have to worry about not fitting in any of the alleys since he had a rather slim body, however, he did have to draw his wings in and place them onto his back so they wouldn't scrape the walls. When they got to the house, Suteneko focused on the door as soon as Ekichu knocked feeling something strange building up in him. He waited but then there was no answer. With the next two knocks, the feeling faded bit by bit until the door was actually opened. The dragon watched the jelly fish-like creature peer out and grow excited over seeing the two.

 

At first, Suteneko remained in the back thinking about the answer given to him but he also didn't think it was right to be thinking about something else and to let Ekichu ask the question about Suteneko's situation. He cautiously stepped forward and mumbled, almost inaudibly, "We... er.... were looking for a way to cure a curse. Can you help us?" He really didn't have a heck of a lot of confidence at the moment but Suteneko really didn't do well talking to other creatures. He either came on too strong or had no confidence at all... there really wasn't anything in between.

 

The small dragon glanced up noticing the jelly change color. His curiosity was going to get the best of him so he looked away again. Without realizing it, Suteneko tapped one of the items on the ground with his tail by accident and changed into his smaller form. The item only canceled out his magic for about 30 seconds but it was enough. He used his magic to turn to his larger size quickly before jumping onto Ekichu's back nervously. For the Arthroplon, this size wasn't any harder to carry then his smaller size.

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"Fascinating!" Bob float close to Suteneko and began to observe him closely. "A male Kokuei... but with features of the female... Judging by the aura you have developed your magic glands! Extraordinary! And the transformation you showed earlier, I assume that was the curse you asked about?"

 

Bob extended his tentacles to pick up the magic stone Suteneko tapped on earlier and show it to him: "This stone is a dispel charm I got years ago from a travel merchant, and it was made by a wizard with quite a reputation. Even so it only managed to dispel the magic you used to counter the effects of the curse.... Mind if I do some test on you?" Bob asked as his eye glittered with curiosity, and before Suteneko could answer Bob grabbed a bunch of strange looking instruments with his tentacles and almost surrounded Suteneko with them.

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"I uh.... yikes!!" Suteneko jumped as he was surrounded by tools and he lowered himself onto Ekichu more. The young dragon had no where to run to any he didn't want to stick around if he didn't have any kind of info on the witch and this curse. He looked really nervous sitting there hoping for some help from his larger friend. "My mana lobe is only good thanks to my mom making it stronger..." He was shaking a bit wanting to escape.

 

The young Kokuei wasn't use to getting attention especially like this so he tended to fear it. It doesn't help that he'd never met another with magic to this extent. Everything was practically floating except for the few tools in his tenticles. Purely out of fear, Suteneko couldn't even bring himself to use his magic to get this guy away from him.

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"Suteneko calm down. Let the wizard examine you." Ekichu said to the little creature on his back. "He won't hurt you. Isn't that right, Bob?" Ekichu said as he turned to look at the floating jelly fish with his four glowing red eyes.

 

"Yes.. I mean... No it won't hurt... Well... actually it would hurt just a little bit.. But not too much I swear!" the floating jelly fish turned green , clearly had got the message from the large armored creature. After a moment of hesitation Bob returned to examine Suteneko with his many instruments, shining beams of lights here and there. To wrap off he got a hair or two as well as some blood samples from Suteneko's body. He then floated back to the end of the room and began to run a bunch of tests of the samples he got.

 

After a short while Bob returned, his body color now a mixture of constantly changing colors. He said to the two: "Truly fascinating results! I've never seen a Kokuei like you, well, not that I've seen many Kokuei before, but you are really one of a kind! I mean your magic is really impressive considering the curse inhibiting your growth is very, very strong. Speaking of the curse, oh dear is it a wonder!"

 

Bob took out a small glass box, and inside is a small white rat. The box had a little bottle attached to its lid, and it had a small feeding tube hanging down inside box. Bob poured some water into the little bottle and it began to drip down. The rat immediately came up to the feeding tube and began to drink from it. Seeing this bob added a little drop of a strange liquid into the water bottle, then suddenly the rat's body began to shrink, all the way to the point it reverted to a pink hairless baby. But after a few seconds it popped back to its original size.

 

"I tried to analyze the the spell and recreate its effect with the residual of the magic in your blood. But as you see the effect is only temporary. Which means the curse isn't totally on you. Hmm... that didn't sound right.... !"

 

"Enough with the mumble jumble. So? Can you dispel it?" Ekichu asked impatiently.

 

"Well... what I meant to say is... The curse it's like a puzzle, with only half of it on our friend here, and the other half... I don't know. Could be a magic item, or the caster him/herself. You can't solve the puzzle if you only have half of it."

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Suteneko really wasn't thrilled about the idea but he sat up so he could be examined. All the touching and plucking and the stabbing was making the dragon all the more nervous and confused. He put up with it thanks to Ekichu and waited a long time for the results. When he saw what happened to the rat he was really confused and as the other two talked about a cure, Suteneko just didn't fully understand.

 

"I'm sorry but this curse doesn't make me younger but stop my aging from what age I was cursed... I also don't get how my magic did that... my magic can only make a kind of illusion that makes me appear older... I don't get it... How can I only have one piece!! It's my curse isn't it?! What did that witch do to me?!" As he keep going it was evident that the male was growing more and more stressed. He looked around nervously and was now louder and nearly hyperventilating. Eventually he shook it off and jumped off Ekichu.

 

"Thanks for the help... I know you can't solve it so I'll find the other half of the puzzle... I'll figure it out the best I can..." Suteneko looked like he was going to cry. He wanted to run out of there as fast as he could and let himself change back to his smaller form. He didn't and just walked out slowly holding back his tears.

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"W..Wait a second!" Bob said as he extended his tentacles and tried to stop Suteneko from leaving, and managed to grab on the dragon's tail. "I know I said I can't cure you, but I have learnt something from replicating the spell, even partially." Bob waited fro Suteneko to calm down and continued: " The curse stop you from aging by manipulating time itself. To be frank just thinking about someone with this kind of abilities baffles me. Now the most straightforward solution would be to find the one who cast the spell on you and get the rest of the 'puzzle' from him/her. But I sense that's not an option or you'd have done that already. Then we'll have to work with the half of the puzzle we have, namely the manipulation of time. While this is beyond my ability, I may know a place where you can find some clues. Have you heard of the Shrine of time?"

 

 

Bob floated to the back of the room and took a dusty old book. He opened the book and opened a page, pointing at a paragraph: "According to scriptures the last king of Shamkara was a great ruler at his youth, but as he aged he became more and more paranoid about death. It was then a group of shamans came to the king, and to asked him to fund a shrine dedicated to the goddess of time. In exchange they promised the king prolonged life. The king agreed and the shrine was built in no time, and the reign of the king continued of fifty more years. But the king was not satisfied and wanted more time, even go as far to threaten to kill the shamans. In retaliation the shamans preformed a great ritual and accelerated the time of the entire kingdom, turning everything to dust, creating the Shamkara dessert as we know of today. It was said that the shrine still lies in the middle of the dessert, and if you could find it, it would be your best chance other than to find the caster of the spell."

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Suteneko stopped when his tail was grabbed and looked back. As the other continued a little more, he turned around and sat to hear more. "The Shrine of Time? I've never heard of that." The kokuei tilted his head and listened as the story was told. It was almost hard to believe but there was something about this story that seemed strangely familiar the the dragon. Almost as if he'd heard it before from someone else. Still, he brushed the thought from his mind and listened about the desert and that, that was the only place to find the clue to a cure.

 

"So if I go there I could learn something about the curse? Or was it that you wanted to go there to learn more?" Suteneko tilted his head again though to the other side this time. He wanted to now go to this desert and find the Shrine Bob was talking about. "Please, let me go there and find out what I can!! Ekichu?" He turned to look at his friend. "Will you please go with me? I don't mean to bother you so much with my problem but I feel so much better when I'm around you."

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The jelly fish turned into a dark green color and answered: "Well, yes I'd love to go. But sadly a dessert isn't a place for a jelly fish. I can barely hold my body together here let alone the dessert, I'll die instantly. So you guys will have to go on your own. Sorry for not able to offer more help."

 

"You've done more than I've expected." Ekichu said as he moved closer to Bob and extended his hand tentacles to "shake hands" with the jelly fish. He then turned to look at Suteneko and said: "Of course I'd go with you. I've came along so far might as well I stay with you till the end. Plus it's not like I've anything else to do."

 

Ekichu turned back to Bob and said: "Thank you for your help, we'll set out for find the shrine ourselves. How can we repay your kindness?"

 

"It's okay, I got to see some really rare magic, and even some sample from our Kokuei friend. But...." Bob scratched his head with his tentacle and said: "I do like to take some measurements, perhaps some samples from you too. You don't get to see a Arthroplon every day. Plus it's already late today and you shouldn't try to cross a dessert unprepared. You can stay here for the night, then prepare for the trip tomorrow."

 

Ekichu thought for a second and turned to look at Suteneko: "What do you think? I think it's a good idea to take his offer."

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Suteneko watched wondering if Ekichu really was going to give some of himself for the Jellyfish to study. As he was growing more and more lost in thought, his friend had asked a question of the young Kokuei who jumped a bit because of it. "OH... um... I don't see why not... it is late after all... Er... so... yes?...." Suteneko was panicking again unsure of himself as he spoke. Still, he was trying to make a decision for the group. "I think we should leave in the morning..." He finally decided with a little more confidence in himself.

 

They stayed the night and Suteneko found himself a nice little corner to sleep in near where Ekichu would sleep. He wanted to give his friend a little space as Bob took some samples and did some strange research but it was eating at the Kokuei to find out more. He got up and released his spell hold so he would change into a smaller form. From that he was able to get closer and peak into the room mostly being unseen. The little creature watched everything wanting to know more about Ekichu and his kind almost as much as Bob did.

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Bob's investigation on Ekichu continued as the night went on, starting by measuring here and there while taking notes frequently. All the while Bob was constantly asking questions about the Arthroplon biology and Ekichu was answering them.

 

"So... you could pretty much control your metabolism at will?" the jelly fish asked as he knocked on the Arthroplon's shell lightly.

 

"Yes. We could accelerate our metabolism to grow or heal faster. It comes in handy when we're in a tight spot and need to be able to defend ourselves. Of course it comes with a cost, ranging from deformation to reduce life spam. Vice versa, we could slow down our metabolism to hibernate through tough times with little food."

 

"Impressive! Other animals have similar life cycles but they're mostly responsive to the climate, rarely could a life form could control their body to such extent... And you say you know all these tricks from inheriting memories from your parents?! That means the Arthroplon are pretty much born with a mature mind right?" Bob asked curiously, while taking a small knife trying to scrape off some of Ekichu's armor.

 

"Pretty much. Although difference in personality gradually occur as we grow up, but when we were born we were pretty much the same being, knowing everything our parents knew, and ready to hunt and kill the lesser preys." Ekichu answered.

 

"Wow. Speaking of memories, you said your kind only reproduce when your numbers dwindle right? Why not just, you know, reproduce freely? Is their a reason for your kind to limit your numbers?" Bob asked as he throw away the small knife, which was now chipped. He then took out a drill, which seemed to run on some sort of magic, and it began to spin quickly while creating a high pitch sound. Bob then began to use the drill on Ekichu's shell, sparks began to occur.

 

"That, I don't remember. Even though we inherit our ancestor's memories it only goes back a few generations, and beyond that everything became foggy. All we remembered was that we decided to keep our numbers few, and stay in the misty valleys. To what end I'm not so sure."

 

"But you left the valley didn't you?" Bob said as he threw away the drill, now cracked beyond repair. Bob's color was now completely red and he took out a large hammer and began to slam on Ekichu's shell.

 

"Technically I didn't leave, the earthquake crumbled the valley and a mud slide flushed me into the river and all the way down stream, So it's more like the valley threw me out. Plus since there was no valley left I see little reason to go back."

 

"Didn't even tried to go back and see if other of your kind survived?" Bob asked, throwing the now broken hammer away and collapsed on the table nearby.

 

"...I doubt any of the others survived. We Arhtroplons are strong, but even we can't stand against nature's wrath. I only survived because I was hungry and went into the woods for bugs, and the mud slide carried me away from the worst parts of the calamity. The others were fast asleep when the earthquake happened."

 

"Sorry to hear that." Bob said as he floated back up, his color turned to a dark blue. He went in front of Ekichu and looked him in the eye: "Don't you feel lonely knowing that you're the last one of your kind? "

 

"Even though we lived and hunted as a horde, somehow we were never too attached to one and another. Maybe because all of us were so similar we found the need to know each other redundant. So no, I don't feel much loneliness. Plus I have Suteneko with me right now. Plus I don't intend to be the last of my kind." Ekichu said calmly."

 

"What do you mean you don't intend to be the last? Don't tell me you guys can reproduce asexually." Bob asked.

 

"...........No comment." Ekichu said as he turned his face away from the jelly fish and began to walk out of the room. "Goodnight, Bob."

 

"Hey wait, you can't just throw out something like that and leave me hanging! Hey!" Bob said as he reached his tentacles out trying to stop Ekichu, yet it was in vain.

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Suteneko watched as the two talked and worked. The small cat stayed out of the way and out of sight even after hearing Ekichu talk about losing all of his kind, something Suteneko should be able to relate with but it was still hard to hear. The whole thing was interesting to watch but sad to hear about and when Ekichu said he didn't plan to be the last of his kind, he was just as confused as Bob and wanted to know even more.

 

When the young Kokuei saw Ekichu turn to leave and heard the words "goodnight Bob," the young cat turned and ran off as quickly as he could. He was very quiet when he moved in either state but being small made him harder to see or notice. Suteneko returned to his corner and curled up as if he were there the whole time. He'd forgotten to change himself back into his larger form but he was alright just being like this for the night anyway.

 

"Hey, thanks again for coming with me. I rreally am glad that we can be together..." The small creature spoke only after Ekichu had claimed his sleeping spot a ways away from the kokuei. "I kind of heard what you said earlier..." It seemed that Suteneko had no intention on keeping that he was there spying, a secret. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me what you meant by not being the last of your kind?" He was shy about it and wondered if it was in his place to even be asking something like this.

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"......." Ekichu fell silent for a second, not entirely sure how to answer the question. After a moment he lightly knocked on Suteneko's little head with his claw and laid his belly on the ground. "Get some rest. We'll have lots of preparations to do for the trip." talking about biology is one thing, talking about breeding is quite a different story, especially since the reproduction of Arthroplon can be bizarre, to say the least. Besides...

 

Ekichu took a look at Suteneko before turning away, laying his upper body down and rested his head on his large claws. He closed his four eyes and soon feel asleep.

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"Right," the little Kokuei knew he wasn't going to get an answer so he just placed his head down after being pet and simply fell asleep. The small cat wasn't expecting an answer to begin with so it didn't really matter to him that Ekichu didn't respond. Sure he wanted an aswer, but Suteneko wasn't going to push it.

 

The young Kokuei didn't sleep too well at first. He had dreams that were filled with death and hate so he ended up waking up in the middle of the night. Suteneko coward in the corner for an hour before he got up and walked over to his friend. Silently, the young cat curled up with his friend and fell asleep again. Suteneko was now on Ekichu's back curled up for more sleep, his little claws holding onto a bit of the arthroplon's outer shell for extra comfort. This time suteneko was able to sleep until morning.

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Ekichu was asleep, but not completely unconscious. Even in sleep he has a level of awareness of his surroundings, and he could feel the uneasiness of the small Kokuei beside him. Then he felt the little creature came up to his back and curled up there and somehow it made him more relaxed, and somehow, it made Ekichu more relaxed too. He soon fell into a deep sleep unlike anything he had before.

 

The next morning when Ekichu opened his eyes Suteneko was still curled up on his back. Not wanting to wake him up Ekichu simply stayed still, and he opened the map Bob gave to him last night. The map was of the continent, with countless towns, independent cities, kingdoms and empires scattered all around, and he soon found the vast Shamkara dessert in the middle of the map, hundreds of miles away from the city they were at currently. The direct route there would need to cross vast forests and high mountains, while the indirect road along the trade route would go through many of the continent's major centers. Ekichu wondered which route should they take.

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Suteneko slept for another hour after Ekichu woke up, before he himself woke. The small Kokuei realized his friend was already up and looking at something so he jumped off Ekichu's back and moved away from him a bit. "I'm sorry.... I couldn't sleep well last night so I... moved over here..." The small creature looked away for a moment before his attention was drawn to the large map. "That's the map from Bob, right?" Suteneko took a couple steps forward to get a better view of the large paper and looked it over. Even though he'd been an outcast most of his life, amazingly Suteneko knew hoe to read.

 

His knowledge was limited, however, reading a map was surprisingly easy. It was almost as if the little Kokuei had read a map before even though it was a very long time ago. Suteneko soon changed his body to be larger and looked for the desert. Once he saw it, the now more dragon like creature began thinking about the best route for them to take as well. "It's going to take us 3 weeks to get there the direct route and a month the non direct. That's not including any troubles we might come across on the direct route."

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"It's okay I don't mind. You're so little I barely felt a thing." Ekichu said calmly, hiding the fact that he too had somhow find comfort in the feeling of the other. He lowered the map to Suteneko's level so he could get a better view and pointed at the routes: "You're right there's no telling what challenges awaits us if we take the direct route. But obviously it's going to be faster. While going along the trade route would be safer, and we'll be able to gather more information along the way, but it would take more time, plus attract more attention. Either way it's your choice."

 

 

(So... about the routes, if we go the direct route that means more encounter with wild life, bandits, monsters, that kind of stuff. While if we choose the trade route we could have more encounters with other NPCs, perhaps got dragged into troubles by the “people” we meet along the way. Of course we could still have monster attacks on the trade route and villages along the direct route. Just a matter of narrative. )

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It was clearly a tough choice with a lot to think about. Either route would bring them right into spring which, for Suteneko, was very dangerous. Being around other would be bad but taking the direct route, they could get stuck in a very horrible zone and the dragon would be like a magnet for monsters. He thought for a long time. If he didn't tell Ekichu now then the having it as a surprise later could put them in jeopardy.

 

"Ekichu, I have to warn you now, no matter which route we take, I'm going to slow us down. Spring is mating season and especially at the beginning, my whole body burns up and becomes very useless.... I typically have to hide in a cave or something until I'm able to put a handle on things. I don't know which route would be best for something like this so could you please pick?" Suteneko looked sad and a little desperate. Mating season was hard on him because even though he was a male, many other male's would attack him and he always got really hurt trying to fend them off in such a useless state.

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Ekichu looked at Suteneko and fell silent for a while, as the information was in need of some processing. "I see... we should take the direct route then, or at least should stay out of crowded areas until the spring ends..." Ekichu extended his hand tentacles out and pointed at the map: "If we take this route into the mountains we could likely find a secluded cave for you to hide through the spring, then we could go from there. Don't worry, I'll protect you." Ekichu said as he caressed Suteneko's head gently with his tentacles.

 

"Now come on, let's go to the market. We should buy some supplies for the trip." Ekichu raised from the floor and began to walk out the room. He said farewell to Bob before heading for the market again buying things such like maps, medicines and so on. He didn't buy any food cause Ekichu figured buying back the meat they've just sold is simply bad business, plus they could always hunt on the road.

 

By around noon they've got everything prepared and was standing at the city gate. "Are you ready?’ Ekichu said to the Kokuei beside him.

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Suteneko had to say, he was pretty happy to have such a great and understanding friend. Still nervous about the idea of dealing with the wild creatures, maybe it would be better this year now that he had Ekichu by his side. The dragon/cat rubbed his fuzzy head into the tentacles feeling a lot more confident about this year then any other. Sure there was still nervousness but a lot less. Suteneko was thrilled to go on this trip now.

 

When they were off to town, Suteneko made sure to thank Bob for everything he'd done and headed out. Suteneko understood why the didn't buy food and knew there really was no reason for them to buy any anyway with their... well mostly Ekichu's hunting skills alone. Water was needed since they may or may not be able to find a stream and seeral other things were also bought for the trip. When they reached the gates, Suteneko was more then ready.

 

"Let's go," he said and off they went leaving by noon. Getting onto the path was fairly easy but traveling across it wasn't the best. At some points, the route seemed to get really thin, though most of the time it was pretty wide. They had to travel through a thick forest before reaching the mountain and then at other side, they would have to cross a large river and then more woods before they could get closer to the plains that lead the last stretch before the desert itself. Each area would take them a while though the river and the plain were the easiest to cross, they had to get through the tough stuff first.

 

When night fell, they had made it deep enough into the woods that even the lights from the city were only just barely able to be seen through certain leaves. "This looks like a good place to stay the night. I really doubt we'll run into anything still this close to the city. It will get more dangerous as we get closer to the foot of the mountain and even worse going up it."

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