"I'll drink with you, and too you!", he says, throwing back a shot.

"May the gods smile upon you in the ring tomorrow, and may they not laugh out loud!"

Prankster is looking around at the other contestents, and pulls out a deck of cards.

"Anyone for a game?" she says to the crowd.

Tragedy is still eating...

Freya crosses her legs, cocks her shoulder to one side, raises an eyebrow.
"And to you. May your victory be..." she smiles and licks her lips, "...fruitfull." She now picks up her other drink, a tall foamy mixed drink, and sips it from her straw.

Annika looks around, sipping an ale.

The girls of Team Lahrien hang back from the others momentarily, talking amongst themselves.

"There's something not quite right about this...." Ageha purrs, leaning close to Serendice.

Nienna clutches her bow as the servants approach the team. She and the others reluctantly hand over their weapons and sit down at a table.

"Good God, Nienna! Look at all this grub!" Lila shrieks like a child in excitement and begins to stuff her plump, dimpled face.

Nienna, Serendice, and Ageha whisper in solemn conversation, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the teams around them.

"Team Light seems to be a bit on the dull side, if you follow me. Their strength far exceeds their wit," Ageha hisses, glaring at Team Light, who are seated nearby.

"And it seems to me that Team Disgrace are too self-possessed for their own good. Fem-nazis on a mission to prove the strength of women, but that could be their downfall," sighs Serendice.

"Team Ohtar and the Dragoons seem to have their wits about them," Nienna granted, "but I can't help but be suspiscious of any team with familial ties or close friendships."

Lila interrupted abruptly, bread crumbs and turkey skin spewing from her mouth. "I like those silly jesters! They look funny!"

Ageha stares at Lila in disbelief, then turns back to Serendice and Nienna.
"I say we go get our weapons back."

The other girls nod in agreement and they begin to look for opportunities to slip away unnoticed.

Jeriyu looked around at the rest of them teams after another swig of water. "Look at Team Lahrien, Tarrae. They look a bit pre-occupied. They might be planning something."

"What could they be planning, besides to get thier weapons back?" The thought snapped in both thier heads at the same time "That's just what thier planning." Said Jeriyu calm as ever.

"They seem to be waiting for an opportunity. I say we make our own. Got a piece of flint on you?" Tarrae asked Jeiryu, knowing he would, the prepared person he is. Tarrae went to the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and took the flint and picked up a small rock. He dumped the whiskey on the ground making sure no one was looking. "I'm gunna light this place up, when everyone is confused its our time to make a run for our weapons." Jeriyu nodded in agreement.

*Shinck shinck* The whiskey lit up just as planned and Jeriyu and Tarrae made a jolt pretending they had caught flame on themselves. They noticed the girls from Team Lahrien run off to the right of them. "Well one of us is bound to find the gear." Tarrae said confidently. "Let's stick together so we don't get lost, Jeriyu. Jeriyu?" But he had already disapeared on his own. "Well we both still have our hidden knives, we will be okay." Tarrae hadn't walked for ten minutes before he ran into two of the girls from Team Lahrien.


*Bump* "Owwww" Said Ageha having run into Tarrae's well built chest, neither of them looking where they were going. "Here lemme help you up." Tarrae extended a hand, Ageha accepted it. She dusted herself off and said "Hey, looks like you guys were the trouble makers." Ageha stated. "Uhh uhm..." Tarrae stuttered at the beautiful ladies before him. "Good job, we were waiting for a distraction!" Serendice piped up "Yeah, we wanted to look for our weapons. What's your name? We didn't happen to catch your bout." Serendice seemed a bit like an interrogater and a confused child at once. "I'm Tarrae. Maybe It's better you didn't see Jeriyu and my match. We shed some blood." Tarrae seeming a bit embarrassed. "Oh so those were the screams we heard." Ageha and Serendice didn't seem bothered by the bloodshed at all. "Lets get looking for our gear." Tarrae said pulling out knives from his greaves and tossing one to each of the ladies. "You sure are prepared aren't you?" Ageha questioned...

-With Jeryiu Now-

Jeriyu had been discovered by the other two ladies of team Lahrien. But Jeriyu had heard Lila and Nienna coming. They had exchanged introductions and decided to work together.

"Sooooo Jeriyu who's your partner?" Lila quizzed in her child-like way.

"Did you see the large man wearing greaves and gauntlets? His name is Tarrae. He is my partner and one of my oldest friends."

"Do you have a lot of friends." Lila continued the questioning.

"Not many. Neither of us do. But Tarrae is much more social than I."

Lila taking a bit of a hint stopped the questions.

"Jeriyu, why did you and Tarrae come to this tournament?" Asked Nienna in a much more intelligent fashion.

"We wanted to test our skills. We hadn't entered into any fights in quite a while. Since...We we're 15 and 16 respectively. We commanded armies under a king. Many of our troops didn't like getting orders from some so young and our king was a monstrous tyrant. However we took over many lands together. But one day that evil tyrant snapped us, and we killed him and left the kingdom forever. After that we spent five years honing our skills and learning new techniques and styles. We came here to test out our new strengths. We were not concerned with any prize being offered or anything like that."

"Do either of you have families, or wifes, or girlfriends?" Lila asked being chilidish again.

"I'd rather you two didn't pry that far into our personal lives." Jeriyu let out a yell after that statement, in an attempt to find Tarrae. He waited for a few moments and recieved nothing back. "He must be out of our range. Let's keep moving"...

Lila bounded on ahead, humming a song, not at all phased by the shouts of confusion and crackling flames they had left behind.

Nienna stuck close to Jeriyu, taking in every aspect of his mannerisms in the hopes of gaining an advantage. She was slightly embarassed by her young teammate's raging curiosity, but she couldn't help feeling a tad curious herself. Shaking off her interest in Jeriyu and Tarrae, she utilized her acute vision to examine their surroundings and better guess where her precious bow and quiver might be, as she was feeling increasingly more vulnerable with every passing minute.

Meanwhile, Serendice and Ageha picked through the brush, careful to keep Tarrae between them.

Serendice was lost in thoughts of what traps could possibly lie waiting for them and her suspiscion of Tarrae was increasing as she pondered it. Serendice didn't trust nice people and the fact that Ageha seemed to be taken with Tarrae only made her discomfort grow.

Ageha fondled the knife Tarrae had given her and stared blankly ahead. She had maintained her cold exterior for so long, but she was having difficulty disguising the fact that it had been ages since she had been this close to a man that she wasn't trying to kill.

Matt and Amarth had both gotten thoroughly drunk and full by this point. There were mountains of plates on their tables from all the food they put away. I say their tables, because the sheer amount of food wouldn't fit on one, so they each moved to one of their own, then got seconds, thirds... anyway, you get the idea. Eldaire had eaten just a normal meal and drank conservitavely, keeping his wits about him. Heero ate nothing. He merely sat at the table with Eldaire half making conversation and half thinking about his fighting. He instantly noticed the disappearance of the other teams, but said nothing. He considered warning his teammates about getting their weapons, but decided they were well enough trained to win with no weapons anyway. After the fires had burnt out, shouting broke out a little ways away from them. Heero and Eldaire knew who it was immediately. They were a drunken Matt and Amarth... again.

Amarth - "I'm tired of this. I am a prince and I do not have to deal with your orders!"

Matt - "I'm not givig you any orners you phhhhhhhukin' jerk."

Matt had obviously had a drink or two more than Amarth. Regardless, the situation continued to Escalate. Eldaire moved to intervene but was caught by Heero, whom Eldaire had thought was not paying attention till now.

Heero - "You remember what happened last time."

Eldaire - "It doesn't matter. I should still at least try to stop them."

Heero - "It's your life."

Eldaire walked over and attempted to pull Amarth away but suddenly noticed himself flying through the air. Damn he thought as he crashed into one of the tables. After a moment or two of being stunned he crawled out of the wreckage, stood, brushed himself off, and let out a big sigh.

Eldaire - "Don't know why I try. I can't stop them."

Suddenly, Amarth was behind Matt. His speed was obviously superior, but Matt dodged the oncoming kick by leaning forwards, not even looking behind. The lean, however, proved too much where the kick hadn't and he leaned his way straight into the dirt. Amarth tried to come down with a series of punches, but Matt began rolling on the ground, dodging them. Matt continued his momentum to his feet, but saw a flying kick coming his way. He jumped over Amarth, who went crashing through the table ahead. Amarth quickly turned and sent the debris flying with a series of punches and kicks. Matt gracefully dodged the oncoming cups, spoons, knives, chairs, and pieces of the table, but one of them flew over and knocked over the drinks of Team Disgrace. Matt, who up till this point had a huge drunken grin on his face, suddenly became aware of how terrible a mistake that had been and jolted into attention. Even Amarth calmed down enough to stop fighting for a moment. As they looked around, they realized there wasn't a ton left standing after their little brawl. Team Disgrace looked fuming mad to them, but then, they were both drunk and their judgement was skewed. Matt leaned over and whispered, "You've done it now Amarth."

Amarth - "It was your fault!"

Matt - "Regardless..."

Amarth - "Should we run?"

Matt - "Absolutely."

With that, both Matt and Amarth began speeding off into the woods. Amarth was much faster, but Matt was definately not slow and they had both covered a lot of ground in seconds. Neither stopped to look and see if they were being chased. Their run was stopped though as Amarth found himself colliding with a large group of people. A few seconds later Matt arrived on the scene.

Matt - "Crap Amarth! We haven't gotten away yet!"

Amarth - "You drunken fool. We're many miles away by now. These teams had already left."

Matt - "Oh. Uh, hi."

Matt extended a hand to the man, or woman, (he was too drunk to tell) standing in front of him.

Amarth - "That's me you idiot! They're over there."

Matt - "Oh."

Matt turned and extended the same blind handshake. They had both temporarily forgotten about the womanly fury that may or may not be on their ass.

(OOC just to help keep things striaght at this point I'll note what story we're following at the time by noting -Tarrae's Party- or -Jeriyu's Party-)

-Tarrae's Party-

No one had said anything for at least 10 minutes. Suddenly Serendice stopped walking. "What's up Serendice?" Ageha and Tarrae asked at almost the same time. "I think i see something shining up ahead. It might be some of our gear!" With that she bounded on ahead leaving Tarrae and Ageha a bit behind. "Come on. We don't wanna get left behind, Ageha." Tarrae grabbed her hand she looked up a blushed a bit. They ran after Serendice.

Only a few moments later they found her. In a rope net. Tarrae stifled a laugh at how foolish someone could be to get caught in such a primitive trap. Ageha let out a little giggle as well. "Hey Serendice, how did you not notice that a trap was lying there?" Tarrae letting out a laughing sigh. "Does it matter, you jerks! Just get me down!" Lila yelled agitatedly. "Hey I gave you a knife don't you remember?" Tarrae yelled back. "Oh yeah...heh heh." Serendice giggled and cut the rope falling down hard. "Ow, help me up!" Tarrae and Ageha both gave her a hand.

"Someone must have set this trap for us." Tarrae took a good look around and then made a howling cry. Ageha looked confused. "Are you mourning someone, Tarrae?" "I'm trying to call Jeriyu, my partner. If he heard me he'll answer back with another call." They waited a moment and heard a faint reply. "They must be very far, let's get moving in that direction." Tarrae pointed east.

"You and your partner sure are together. Extra weapons, flints, callls, everything. We aren't quite that organized. As you can see." Ageha said motioning towards Lila who was staring at the sun. "We've got aot of ground to cover. Let's get moving you two." Tarrae smiled at them both but more warmly at Ageha. She put her head down a little so he wouldn't notice that she was blushing. Serendice just kept her same blank expression. Tarrae could tell she wasn't fond of him.

-With Jeriyu's Party-

The three of them had been silent except for Lila who was a bit ahead and happily and obliviously humming. Jeriyu broke the silence. "Did you hear that? Tarrae just called. Let's head in the direction of the call." He pointed west. "We should be able to reach them soon if we're all traveling in the right direction." Jeriyu started to move that way. "Just hold on. How do I know you're not trying to trick us and trap us." Nienna butted in. "Well here are two reasons I'm not tricking you. One, I'd have little to gain out of it because I'm an honorable fighter, if I intended to fight you I'd do it in the ring, and two neither I nor my partner Tarrae have been into this forest up til now. So you'll just have to trust me. You've have no better options." She begrudingly follows Jeriyu and Lila happily skips along. "Oh and one more reason you should trust me." He reached under his shirt and pulled three knives. He tossed one to Lila and one ot Nienna. I've armed you, if I was trying something you'd outnumber me." Nienna seemed appeased and went along.

Team Disgrace had fled at the beginning of the fire, in the direction of the two drunken idiots who had knocked over their table. Freya and Annika seemed to be the only two of them who were effected at all by the alcohol they had all drank, but then again they were the only two who had continued drinking after the rounds of vodka.

They stumbled into the clearing, and Freya spotted the two lads and clasped her hands together. "Look, Annika! Boys!" Annika laughed, grabbed Freya's shoulder and peered in to get a closer look.
"Gentlemen!" She said, stepping forward, graceful though drunk.
"They're the ones who knocked over our stuff!" Claudia said, mad. "I bet they started that damn fire, too!"
The two lads stood drunkenly staring at the four girls, surprised that they weren't at all mad. Well, as surprised as they could be with their impaired judgement.
Freya stepped forward.
"Well starting a fire if they did start it was a clever way to get me...err...us...*giggle* into the woods. Hahahaaha." She laughed so hard at her drunken wit that she stumbled, falling right into the arms of one of them, which one, she couldn't yet tell.

Serendice caught a glance of the warm smile that Tarrae shot Ageha and shuddered. She was surprised at the resentment she felt for him. It was something more than just a dislike of an opponent, it reeked of jealousy. Serendice had always been possessive of Ageha since they were children. She knew that Ageha was the better fighter, but rather than envy her, Serendice had always admired and nurtured her young friend. She couldn't bear the thought of anyone coming between them, especially a man.

Serendice grabbed Ageha's arm and hissed into her ear. "Remember, Ageha, he's the enemy. Only one team can win."
Ageha pulled free of Serendice's grasp and smiled lovingly at her. "Don't worry, Serendice, you know I'd never let my defenses down, especially not in battle."

Ageha, doubting her own words as soon as they had left her lips, consciously kept her distance from Tarrae as they moved toward Jeriyu's call.

---

Nienna, feeling slightly less defenseless with the knife in hand, followed Jeriyu through the dense woods. She was impatient to find Serendice and Ageha, but reluctant to be in the company of both Jeriyu and Tarrae.
Unknown to Jeriyu, Nienna slipped silently through the brush until she was alongside Lila. Placing her hand gently over the child's mouth to keep her from betraying their conspiring, Nienna whispered low to Lila to be on her guard.
Lila was naive and childish, but she was incomparably skilled in battle and she knew when to play and when to fight.

"Lila, listen," Nienna cooed, "I don't trust these guys any farther than I could throw them. I say when we find Serendice and Ageha we ditch the duo and get our weapons back as a team."

Lila pouted a bit, sad to lose her new friend so soon, but she readily accepted Nienna's plan and went back to her humming.

-Jeriyu's Party-
Jeriyu let out another call to find if they had gotten much closer to the other three. He got a response this time. He seemed somewhat close. Maybe a mile and a half at most. But the darkness was gathering quickly. "The night will be coming soon and who knows what creatures may prowl these woods in the dark." Jeriyu looked back at the two ladies they both nodded. "We'll need to make a fire. I have another piece of flint. We need some dead leaves and logs to start a fire." Jeriyu started picking up rocks to keep the fire contained when it burned. Lila reached into a pocket and pulled out a small bottle of liquer. "Hey will this help start the fire? I did plan on drinking it but the fire is a bit more important, right?" Lila seemed pleased with herself. "Hahahaah! You're great Lila." Said Jeriyu happily.

"That's the first time I've seen a smile cross your face. I was beggining to wonder if you knew how to, Jeriyu." Nienna seemed a bit more relaxed after the laughter of her very solemn travel companion. They gather up logs and poured the liquer over it and started a fire. The party laid down over rocks and moss beds and went to sleep.

-Tarrae's Party-

"Another call from Jeriyu." Tarrae looked back at Serendice and Ageha who were a couple of yards behind. "It's getting late, we should set up a camp." Serendice said expressing her concern to the rest of the party. "You're right, Serendice. We'll be able to find Jeriyu in the morning. They made a fire and small camp. Ageha fell to sleep quite quickly. Tarrae and Serendice were awake staring into the warming flames.

"Serendice, may I ask you a question?"

"You just did, Tarrae, so I guess so."

"Why do you seem to resent me and feel obviously protective of Ageha?"

"You're a lot more perceptive than I thought you were. Ageha is almost like my little sister. I've always looked out for her. I trained her to be an even better fighter than I. You seem to be playing her heart and I won't let you hurt her." Serendice snapped to Tarrae.

Tarrae sat up, looking offended at Serendice's comments. Tarrae said in his warmest voice "I don't think you fully trust her. She may have needed protection and guidance when she was younger, but she is now an adult. She can make her own choices and if you are truly a good team you must trust every decision your partners make. It can become conflicted when there are many people on your team. That's why I choose to have few friends and even fewer people I can have as partners in battle. Mine and Jeriyu's past is much like yours and Ageha's. We have been friends and partners since childhood. He the powerful and very tactical fighter, and I the strong willed, minded, and defensive person. He chooses not to show his kindness very often unlike me. If you think I seem over friendly you should have seen me before I was betrayed by a king I used to serve..."

Serendice seemed to be cut deep by Tarrae's words. As if she knew exactly what he meant and where he was coming from. But she still didn't like him for his obvious interest in Ageha. "You've asked your question now I have one for you. Why did you enter this tournament with Jeriyu?"

He smiled and laughed a little "It's quite simple. We're always training. This is just another training session. Perhaps one more violent than our tastes generally are. But we didn't come to win, we came to learn. Can you say the same for yourself?"

"Guh...Hmph...Perhaps you have a good mindset afterall." Serendice lightened up a bit. "But I still don't like you taking such interest in Ageha. She kills men like you for a living. She's taken many a life and has chosen to not get romantically entangled with anyone for a long time. Until you prove yourself a truly honorable and worthy person I don't fully accept you."

"That's fair enough. You are being a good big sister to her. It's always nice to have someone to look up to. I wish I did" Tarrae layed down and closed his eyes.

"Hey, what do you mean?" Serendice seemed sympathetic for the first time.

"Let's save it for another time."

(OOC: i clearly remember saying "unknown to jeriyu.")

(OOC Fine I'll fix it just for you)

:)

OOC: gracias, querido

[OOC: Seems I've missed quite a bit and that Team Ohtar is quite the bunch of squares. Suppose I'll have to remdy that. O yeah, just a question for you all, but why all the suspicion and such? The feast was just to get to know one another, you didn't have to give up your weapons, the servants only offered to take them. Al lot easier to sit down and eat with out a huge axe or sowrd by your side right? Not that I'm displeased with where this has gone, but just curious.]

Throughout the course of the evening, Team Ohtar had witnessed quite an array of spectatcles, from the arsen of Team Enishi to the drunken fighting of Amarth and Matt. None of the team's members had taken part in the alcohol being served; settling for tea instead. Although, Elrohir and Aranel had begged for it.

"Come on!" they both pleaded together, trying to sway the only voice of reason on the team, Amras. "Just one shot, Please?"

"No." Amras said coolely. " You know what happens when you two drink....I have to stay up all night listening to it and you both are a wreck in the morning. Settle for some cider or tea and shut up."

When the fire was lit by Team Enishi, Team Ohatr had opted to stay back at their seats. However, considering the fact that they were ina forest, they were eventualy forced to get out of their seats and help the servants put out the fire. It was pitch black by the time that the fire was put out.

"What do you make of the scattering of the other team?" Elrohir asked Amras and Aranel "Do you think they just wanted their weapons."

"Who knows," Amras replied "If they had really wanted to keep their weapons and such, they could have. I mean..we did, but then again we all have relatively small weapons. I ccouldn't say exactly why they went."

"I imagine that they suspect whoever put this tournment together of foul play or somthing." Aranel projected.

"Well, however they feel is their problem. We have to keep our focus on ourselves and the tournament. Now let's say we get some sleep."

By then, the servants had replaced the tables with tents and the bar with basins of warm water. They had provded everything needed to accomodate the fighters as promsied.

Team Ohtar made their way to a tent on the outskirts of the clearing and lay down to go to sleep, weapons still at their sides.

(OOC: i think perhaps the intention was to turn it into something more than a simple tournament... think of it as plot development.)

"Till later then, " Harliquin tells Freya and makes his way back to the rest of the team.

"Prank, what do you make of this mess these other teams have started?"

"Well, there was some strange betting going on today, and we didn't cause it for a change. Maybe there is someone behind the scenes."

"Maybe it's those teams that caused the problems. They are a lot more paranoid than most?" pipes up Comedy.

Tragedy nods in agreement.

"We'll watch how the betting goes tomorrow. Till then, keep your extra toys around, in case someone decides we need to lose before we get to fight." says Harliqui. "At least we didn't have to pay to feed Tragedy tonight. That's a good amount of cash we saved" he says with a smile.

Tragedy just burps in agreement.

The Jesters go to sleep, after setting making preperations for uninvited guests.

Amarth's face instantly turned red. He stood stunned for a moment with the beautiful woman in his arms. The trance was broken by Matt's chuckling. When he heard it, he snapped to and forcefully (so as to still look tough) brought her back to her feet.

Amarth - "Stay off me you foolish woman!"

With that he stormed off feeling a burning rage fuelled by his embarrasment.

Matt - "Aw. Cmoln Amarth. I thot you made a cewte cupple."

Matt was hit square in the forehead by a rock travelling with the speed of a bullet. The blow sent him to the ground.

Matt - "Ouch."

Matt sat up and fingered the spot where Amarth had hit him and chuckled a little. With a lot of effort he managed to return to his feet (though it was a shakey return, he looked as though he may fall again at any moment between the alcohol and the blow to the head). He saw Amarth still stomping off into the dark woods. Matt turned to the beatiful warriors next to him.

Matt - "Fergut hm. Any of you betful gals can fll into my arrrrrms any time."

With that, he held out his arms with a stupid drunken grin on his face. A moment later, he began to teeter and started to fall forwards.

Meanwhile Eldaire and Heero were sleeping peacefully in their tent. That is, until they were awoken by a fumingly angry Amarth stomping outside their tent. That was not unusual though, and they both returned to sleep. Amarth made his way to his own tent and went to sleep himself. The forest was only a few trees short after his stress relieving workout before bed.

After being shoved rather forcefully [and MEANLY] back to her feet, Freya widens her eyes and sets her mouth, trying to look mean, but she is really too drunk to care. She turns to Matt, pushing on his chest with one finger so that he is upright again.
"Wow you're friend seems to be kind of shy around girls!" She giggles incessantly and Annika joins her.
Claudia steps forward, playing with the hem of her dress. She speaks in a small, little girl voice.
"Oh, sir, we seem to be lost! We are so TERRIBLY afraid! After that fire and all..." She walks up to him and holds up her arms to be picked up [she is a little child, about 7 to the eye, after all].
The drunken warrior does so, somehow unable to resist the adorable little girl.
She begins to weep softly, and buries her face in his neck. "Oh sir, we are so scared..." she opens her mouth, fangs bared...
"CLAUDIA!" The other three cry, and all lunge forward to pull her off of him. She screams in fury and wallops dara across the face. dara seems used to this and picks her up and carries her, kicking and screaming, off to one side. "I'm so hungry!!! I haven't had HUMAN blood..."
"calm yourself down!!! you agreed you wouldn't feed on humans during this tournament. we PROMISED we'd give you someone AFTER the tournament is completely finished! so just calm down!"
Claudia did, making a pouty face.
"Come on, dara, lets go find somewhere to sleep. I'm tired."
dara takes Claudia's hand and the wander off to where they had set up their camp before the feast, and fall asleep.
Meanwhile, the force of three women pulling a child off of Matt had caused him to fall over, as well as Freya and Annika, who were really too drunk to deal with Claudia. Both of them land on top of him.
The situation is really just TOO funny, and they erupt into a fit of laughter that they cannot seem to stop, barely realizing that there is a whole person underneath them both.

Oh... THAT'S what it was. I knew there was something not quite right about that team. They didn't seem the helpless type, but they sure did act it a lot. Oh well. Not the first beautiful woman who's tried to kill me. I wonder if the two above me....

At that point, Matt's thoughts faded away as he passed out with his face in the dirt.

[OOC: Okay, all my characters are asleep now. I'm ready to wake up just in time for the tournament tomorrow! (Matt may be a little late :-P)]

Thomas walks silently through the masses of sleeping fighters. He steps carefully, and thoughtfully, not waking any of them. He pulls on a long pipe he won playing dice years ago, and looks around. So many powerfull fighters, so many differing strategies and goals. Perhaps there would be a few to hire when the day was done.. Stepping over two obviously drunk fighters snoring heavily he chuckles. Not them unfortunatly. Looking across the field to two tourney guards he thinks.. Why have guards guarding so many well abled people.. Pulling on his pipe again he watches the players sleep....

Freya and Annika try to be quiet as they struggle to get off the sleeping Matt below them.
"let sleeping drunks lie!" freya whispers, and they both collapse into a fit of giggles, passing out next to him on the ground.

[OOC: okay we're all asleep too. :) hope the light's not too bright tomorrow aaggg!]

-Jeriyu's Party-

Dawn broke over the forest and it became only a little more lit. The dense canopy provided a goodly amount of shade. Lila awoke smelling something cooking. She looked at the fire pit to find it blazing again and to see Jeriyu rotissere cooking a piece of meat. "Hey you really are resourceful. Is it...almost done?" Lila asked, her stomach asking with her. "Heh heh, you are an interesting fighter. It will be done cooking in a few minutes. Wake up Nienna, I don't want to, she might bite my head off." Jeriyu joked with Lila.

"Hey Nienna *poke poke* wake up, Jeriyu is making some food!" Nienna sounding like a child poking her parents on Christmas morning.

Nienna rolled over groggily as her eyes focused on her first sight of Lila smiling and giggling as usual. "Did he now, what is it?" Nienna asking a bit incoherently.

"Uhm...Hey, Jeriyu, what kind of meat are you cooking?"

"It's a wild boar, I went hunting this morning." Jeriyu turned back to the cooking meat.

Nienna sat up "You killed a full grown boar with that little knife?" She seemed nearly shocked.

Jeriyu made no comment, just took the finished meat of the stake and started slicing it. He put slices onto flat rocks that had clearly been washed using his personal water supply.

Nienna looked at the food pushed in front of her, "How do I know you didn't do anything to it?" Nienna 's suspicious side showing again.

"I'm eating it too, and Lila seems to be enjoying hers."
Lila looked up from her piece and gave a thumbs up to Nienna.

Nienna seemed relaxed and started eating. "Hmm, very nicely done, Jeriyu. You are a good cook, if your fighting is even half as good as your cooking then you should be a fun battle."

Jeriyu laughed again "Hmm and you two as well." He let out a cry, to both awaken Tarrae and see how near he was.

-Tarrae's Party-

*Howl is heard* *Poke poke* "Whauh?" Tarrae managed to get out opening his eyes and seeing Ageha poking him in the chest. "What's up Ageha?"

"I think I heard another cry from Jeriyu. It seemed pretty close. I bet there no more than a mile right now." Ageha seemed confident in her estimates.

"Is Serendice awake yet?" Tarrae wondered outloud

"No she sleeps pretty deep once she does go down."
Ageha laughed a bit at her companions sleeping habits. "That's good, because I want you to tell me more about yourself."

"Hmm. That's a bit of a tricky request. But I'll tell you the least sensitive stuff. I met Jeriyu when I was still very young. I had no parents and his family graciously took me in. We were raised almost as brothers. We got along great, we had very similar interests in fighting, but very different logics on it. We trained together for a long time but diverging in the way we trained. He honed in on his instincts and agility, I more on my strength and defense. When we were both very young, 12 or 11 we got drafted to fight in a war. We were both good, really good. We arose to be generals until we usurped power from our ruler. We didn't take power though, just took him away from it. We left our home forever and trained for 5 years, and here we are today." Tarrae somehow smiled after sharing his grim history with Ageha. "What about you?"

"Uhm, I don't really wanna share. I find it too depressing. Not to belittle your past, I'm just more sensitive about mine." Ageha seemed a bit embarassed and blushed. "Let's wake Serendice and move out to find your partner. Maybe he found the Nienna and Lila!" Ageha changed back to her stony face and just focused ahead. Going back to fondling the knife.

[OOC: You shouldn't control other people's characters so much Terresque. It's not such a big deal right now, but when the fights start you can't do that (and right now it's still rude since people may not want their characters to react the way you're making them).]

Eldaire awoke to find Heero already awake meditating next to him.

Eldaire - "Still thinking about today's fight? Team Gryffindor looks like a bunch of pushovers. I wouldn't worry."

Heero - ...

Eldaire smelt some good food and his stomach began to grumble. He saw Amarth sitting in front of all of their weapons and behind some freshly cooking meat. Eldaire didn't care what it was, he was starving. His mouth began to drool a little. He was at once distracted though when he noticed they were one mand down.

Eldaire - "Have you seen Matt?"

Amarth - "Last I saw of him he was trying to get his neck bitten off. He didn't realize there was anything special about the girl, but I could smell her tainted blood a mile away. I don't know how that turned out, but let's just say I hope the girl had a good meal." *Smirk.*

Eldaire - *Sigh* "So Amarth, are you going to share some of that meat?"

Amarth - "Get your own damn food you stupid child!"

With that Amarth took what he was eating and walked away, but he (intentionally?) left behind almost half of what he had killed. Eldaire took the hint and carved a small share for himself.

-=Meanwhile =-

Matt awoke to find his mouth was full of dirt. He spit it out and attempted to sit up but found that he couldn't.

Where am...

He passed out once again.

Nienna and Lila finished their meals and stood up, stretching. As they did so, a call was heard piercing through the woods.
Jeriyu had gathered his things and was ready to move off in the direction of the call. Lila and Nienna followed suit and soon the three were moving through the woods.

Nienna had decided in the night to use Jeriyu to find Serendice and Ageha, but, as soon as they were found, the team would split.

----

Ageha turned over what Tarrae had said in her mind. There were so many questions left to ask, but how could she pry into the life of an opponent? Still, he seemed willing to share and Ageha decided to find a more suitable time later in the day to converse with him. She knew it would only be fair to share her own horrifying past, but maybe she could keep the details to a minimum. No doubt he had heard of her, only by another name, and it would only be necessary for that name to pass her lips and he would understand.

Ageha shook Serendice gently and she awoke with a start.
"C'mon, love, we're moving out," Ageha beamed down at her "big sister."
Serendice snapped up abruptly and began to gather her things. Out of the corner of her eye, Serendice saw that Ageha looked pensive and she could only guess the reason.

Freya and Annika both stir at the same time. Freya opens her eyes first and looks around.
"Oh NO! Annika!" She shakes Annika.
"I'm up! I'm up!" annika sits up quickly. "oh NO!"
They look at eachother and laugh.
"So much for being ladies of charm and elegance..." Annika says, brushing leaves out of her hair and off of her dress.
Freya laughs. "At least i didnt get mud on my clothes."
They look over at the still-passed-out Matt.
"Uh oh. thats not good. We better get him up."
Freya stands and walks over to him, turning him over.
"Um...excuse me honey. Hello? Wake up...."
He sleeps on.
"Hey...sir?! hello?! wake up!"
he snores a little.
"Oh for the love of..." drawing her hand back, she slaps him hard across the face and yells. "WAKE UP, YOU!"
That finally got him up.
"The tournament is today. You better go find your team...don't want to be late!"
And with that, they run back to their camp, leaving him there watching after them, a bright red handprint on his face.

Matt - "AIIEEEEEE! Thanks ladies goodbye!"

Matt took off through the woods with all of his speed. Leavs and dust flying up to either side of him as he ran.

Matt - Awe man, I did it again. Amarth's never gonna let me hear the end of this.

Matt began to feel a creeping nausea rising inside of him. He stopped a moment, puked, and continued his running.

Matt - I feel like crap. Man.

-=Meanwhile=-

Amarth - "Why are we here so early again?"

Eldaire - "Heero wanted to do some training on the ring."

Amarth - "The stands are still empty!"

Eldaire - "I know you would be training anyway, you just want to complain."

Amarth grumbled a little but didn't speak any more.

Heero - "Are you ready?"

Eldaire - "Yeah, we're both ready."

Heero and Amarth instantly went at it. This worked perfectly for Eldarie. He drew his bow and fired several arrows into the brawl. Eventually he realized they were just too fast, so he drew his sword and joined the melee as well. They were all carful not to cut each other too deeply (though Amarth was perhaps less cautious than he should have been). After an hour or so, they finally stopped. Eldaire was exhausted, but Amarth and Heero seemed as though they had barely broken a sweat. They had definately fought hard, but Amarth was too prideful to show anything that could be interpereted as weakness and Heero never showed emotion. He always said it was too big a risk. They looked around to see if anyone else had been watching them.

[OOC: Just to let you guys know, I'm putting this one in when the tournament starts timewise, but that doesn't mean everyone else can't stay back wherever they are in time and work their way up to tournament time. I'm just bored cause nobody's posted in a while.]

When Matt finally arrived at the tournament, his teams match was just about to start. He folded over, his hands on his knees, breathing hard from his drunken run. He would have been here much sooner, but in his drunken state, he had initially started running in the opposite direction of the tournament. Now that he was here, his team seemed very disappointed, but not suprised at all. He wished strongly that he had not consumed so much alcohol the night before that he would still be drunk today. He threw up again. Eldaire came over and comforted him and made sure he was okay. Matt wen't over to the water supply and drank a large quantity. His stomache didn't completely agree, but he knew he needed it for the fight. He didn't want to be dehydrated. He looked around for something to eat as well. Eldaire pulled a loaf of bread out of his pack and Matt devoured it without even thanking him. When he was done, he expressed his gratitude. When the cat lady called for Team Light's first competitor, Matt volunteered... to go last.

-Tarrae's Party and Jeriyu's party converge-


(OOC: To avoid extraneous quotes I will do speech in this part as Tarrae - etc.)
After a little over 10 minutes of walking the two parties met and exchanged names and greetings.

Tarrae - So, Jeriyu. How's it been with those two?

Jeriyu - They allowed me to learn much about them as opponents and as people. They are not to underestimated in any respect.

Tarrae - Neither are Serendice or Ageha. They seem to have a strong sisterly bond. Serendice is quite protective of Ageha. It's kind of sweet but a bit distressing at the same time.

The four girls were over to the other side of Tarrae and Jeriyu talking quietly about what they learned and observed. Tarrae and Jeriyu didn't care too much what they said for the most part. Tarrae wanted to catch a few bits from Ageha but failed.

Tarrae to the girls - Hey shouldn't we get moving to find our gear?

Ageha seemed to be in contemplation wanting to say something but not sure how to express it. Tarrae stood there for a moment.

Tarrae - Well?...

Nienna stepped forward, levelled her eyes at Tarrae and spoke coldly.
"We can manage on our own from here."
As she said this she turned to reveal the bow and quiver slung over her shoulder. The other girls revealed their weapons in turn, much to the amazement of Tarrae and Jeriyu.
"You'll find your things somewhere in that direction," Nienna stretched one gorgeous slender finger toward a cropping of trees to their right.
Nienna nodded to her team solemnly and began to move off toward where her elfish senses told her the tournament was located.
Ageha looked mortified at the events that had just taken place and risked one glance back at Tarrae as Serendice pulled her away.

Jeriyu looked stunned. Tarrae looked like a hurt kitten. He felt like it too, he didn't let it rise to his exterioir though. The ladies walked off into the distance towards the tournament. As they disapeared Jeriyu began to speak "Let's go get our stuff and anyone elses that is lying there, Tarrae" As he finished that sentance Tarrae dropped to his knees. *gulp, heavy breathing* "She's gone...Serendice...Nienna...they'll never let me get close to her. Serendice said she didn't trust me as an honorable man...I must show her...That I am...I can't lose Ageha..." A solemn tear dropped from Tarrae's eye.

"Look at what they are. They are warriors. The only way you are going to prove yourself is on the battlefield. Let us gather our gear and head back to the tournament. If there is something more sinister behind this we will find out after we are through there."

Tarrae picked himself up and composed himself. "Allright, let's do it. Not just to prove ourselves as warriors, but as honorable men. I'm not going to lose the first woman in my life since my mother..." Tarrae trailed off at that mention.

"It's okay, I understand about your family. But I am here for you, Brother." They walked a few dozen paces to grab thier gear and few other sordid weapons, they tossed on and sheathed their armor and weapons and grabbed everything else and started walking to the tournament grounds. The noon sun was rising, it would be time to start the fights soon.

(OOC: C'mon guys! This is the toughest part of a developed RP, the middle, people start to lose interest and it dies....Don't let it happen!)

[OOC: Yeah! SSJWrestler will be back by sunday so don't wait on him. Get all the characters to the tournament so we can start fighting again!]

The arena was starting to fill up again with the varying spectrum of spectators tat had crammed themselves into the stands for yesterdays bouts.

Team Ohtar stood at the entrance of the exit door on the ground floor, looking on at the filling arena. The team had come early to get a feel for the fighting conditions, since they were the first bout . However, upon coming into the arena and seeing Team Light training, they put their training aside to watch the team.

" Whoa!" Elrohir said as he had watched Amarth move quick as lightning. Aranel, simply stared with a hint of lusti n here eyes after the teams members. Amras stood looking on at the two amused at their reactions to the fighters skills and physiques."Some team huh?" he finaly added. "Let's say we go introduce ourselves."

With this, Team Ohtar's three members beganto walk o the ring, where Team Light stood.

Tarrae and Jeriyu reached the end of the forest and were nearing the arena. They had secured their weapons and Tarrae had slipped on his layers of armor. They had little other gear from other teams. Maybe they had managed to keep most of thier equiptment or maybe it was in another spot. IN either case they had done thier best.

"We'll be there soon." Jeriyu seemed straightforward.

Tarrae seemed very focused. Thinking, how could he earn the right to be called 'Honorable' by Serendice. By a knights code honor was brought from brave and selfless defense of the ones you love. "But when would Ageha need defending? She's so capable and self-sufficient." Tarrae mused to himself.

They arrived at the arena in a few more minutes, and found out what the day would flow like.

(OOC: I'm not so sure what team I'm fighting when, if anyone cares to clue me in I'd be appreciative.)

[OOC: You have team Disgrace next.]

Team Light (Less one Matt) saw team Ohtar watching them. Heero considered this an unexpected benifit. They had been fighting in the style of Team Griffindor to train better for their upcoming cometition. Now that team Ohtar had seen them, they had seen a different style and this could eventually work to their advantage.

Eldaire - "Hey guys! Hows it goin? Ready for the fights?"

Eldaire walked over to greet the other team. Heero followed, but Amarth would have nothing to do with them, letting out a "Hmph!" and walking the other way. To him, competition was competition.

Im here, just not sure when Dragoons are up

the girls of team disgrace arrive, and go over to their corner of the ring. they await their turn.

[ooc:could i please like...not go first? im not prepared.-_-]

[OOC: Long time no hear! I'm sure SSJ will let you go not first. :-P]

[OOC: For reference, Team Ohtar and Team Dragoon are fighting first, unless anyone else wants to be first. Losthellhound, I'm ready when you are.]


"That was some impressive fighting Team Light." Amras said as he stopped a few feet away from the group. " But oddly...your style seems quite different from yesterdays bout against Team Gryfindor. It may just be my eyes playing tricks on me, but it's not like it really matters. I am Amras of Team Ohtar." with this, he held out a hand to Heero.

Next Aranel stepped forward. "Hmm...I'm Aranel. It's a pleasure to meet you. Whose that dark looking character who stayed behind....he's cute."

" You guys are awesome!" Elrohir said, not holding back any of his feeling. "O yeah...I', Elrohir."

Eldiare greeted team Ohtar warmly, while Heero gave the obligitory hellos.

Eldaire - "Yeah, we were just preparing for our meat against Team Griffindor..."

[[OOC: I fight Griffindor today, not yesterday.]]

Heero gave Eldaire a quick punch.

Eldaire - "Aww. What does it matter? We're all very adept at..."

Another punch.

Eldaire - "OUCH! That one hurt. You don't have to be so violent. Anyway. Sorry Aranel. That guy is Amarth. He's not the type to speak with the competition. Y'know, 'they are the enemy' and all that. I understand his logic, but I prefer to think of this as an honorable competition more than an all out deathmatch. Sorry Matt's not here to meet you. He ran off last night and we haven't seen him since."

"Fighters from Team Dragoon and Team Ohtar, please enter the ring now. You're quarterfinal match is about to begin." the fox lady was heard yelling.

"Well" Amras said looking towards the ring. "It seems as if its our turn that it does. It has been a pleasure meeting you Team Light. Good luck in the tournament, I'm sure your skills will take you far. Aranel. Elrohir. Let's go."

"Seeya guys!" Elrohir said before he bounded off to the ring.

"Bye Amarth..." Aranel said with a slgiht hint of lust in her voice.

Team Ohtar now stood at the base of the raised ring waiting for Team Dragoon to show up.

"This could be a tough one that it could." thought Armas as he stood in his regular poised state, looking around blindly at the crowd.

[OOC: Not sure what really happened. Tourney just kinda died. If noone has an interest anymore that's cool. I just thought that the creator should at least have the last post.]