"You smell like gemstones? Do all dwarves smell like gemstones? Or is it just you." Porena looked at Horace oddly. Glancing at Faelin she grinned, an evil plot forming in her mind. She slowly slinked over to a nearby tree and, after climbing up to the top of the sturdy branch mark, tied a large knot with some rope. She put the other end in her mouth, changed into a cat and jumped to a tree across the small clearing. Looking at Faelin she turned back into a human and yelled "FAELIN WATCH THIS!" With that she began to do a handstand/walk across the homemade tightrope sticking her tongue out and concentrating.

"Well, it depends on where they work," Horace said, smiling slightly. He loved talking about his job. "Some work at the coal mines, some mining or refining gold and silver, and people like me work to find -" He trailed off as Porena walked off. "Hey, I was talking!" He called.

Faelin laughed. "Sorry, Horace, maybe you'll find somebody to listen to you eventually." Horace grumbled quietly at that. He then watched as Porena crossed the tightrope on her hands. When she finished, he clapped loudly. "Brava! Brava! Amazing! You could do great at one of the fairs at my home!"

"You liked it Faelin, I learned while I was part of a traveling fair, nyaa." She looked at him excitedly. "That's where I got these." She finished with a twirl, showing off her light blue shirt and flamboyant pink pants.
"Horace, finish what you were saying!" Porena complained turning toward Horace, "I could hear ya you know, these cat ears do work, nyaa." She finished with a pout. "Do you work to find gemstones?" She asked eagerly. "Where do they come from? How do you get them?" She rapid fired the questions, interested in learning about the 'pretty rocks'.

"I loved it!" Faelin replied, grinning eagerly. "And those are amazing, very bright!"

Horace stared at her. "Nyaa?" Shaking himself, he added, "Gemstones come from the earth. They were placed there by Helga, the Goddess of stone and the Earth." His face began to light up and he began to talk more excitedly. "We first foubnd them while mining a large batch of coal, and since that first diamond, we've been training groups of people to find them specifically. I was one of that group for a short time after I left the Army. We found a good lot of stones in that time, and I even managed to obtain a few for myself." He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out three small rubies, a somewhat large emerald and a sapphire. "These are just a few of the many kinds of gemstones. The red ones are rubies, the green one is an emerald, and the blue one is a sapphire. Do you like them? I prefer the opals myself, but these ones are beautiful, too." He held up the shining stones, smiling happily.

"Ohhhhh, pretty!" Porena stood mesmerized, her tail flicking from side to side. She looked up, finally remembering something he had said. "I can go take you to the Tavern, Nyaa, but as long as I have rice, seaweed, and fish I can make you food." She said flicking her tail in the direction of the tavern, "It's too noisy in there, Nyaa, it hurts my ears." She took a long sniff at the gemstones. "Are they elemental gemstones? Cause they smell kinda like it." Ruby smells burnt, emerald smells like elf, blue one smells like fish She started to drool a little. "Why's the blue one smell like fish Nyaa?" She asked Horace looking at him again.

When Porena said she would cook, Horace said, "I don't think we have any fish, and I know we don't have any seaweed or rice."

"Oh..." Faelin said, somewhat disappointed. Then he brightened up. "Well, there's a lake nearby, we just passed it yesterday. We can go get fish there. I'm not sure about the seaweed and rice, though."

Horace frowned. "They aren't elemental as far as I'm aware..." He replied. "If they are, though, the sapphire would be elemental to water, which would explain its fishy smell. Following that line, the rubies would be elemental to fire and the emerald would be earth." He examined the stones more closely, wondering what other secrets they could be holding...

((sory for the late reply, I had to leave, so I saved the reply and didn't have access to it again until now.))

"Well let's get going, Nyaa." Porena said, looking at the dwarf. "I'm sure we'll find something I can cook sooner or later, Nyaa." She began to walk the direction she had come, looking back to see if the others were following, "Let's get going, Nyaa?" She said laughing and walking backwards.


(Don't worry about it! I know people that take longer than you to respond :D Sorry about the short reply. :sweat:)

"Back to the tavern, then? Alright, we can get the fish later. Hey, Porena, I'll race you!" And with that Faelin took off.

Horace grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "crazy elf," then trudged after them, trying his best to keep them in sight at least. He was soon left in the dust, but caught up with them again in the middle of a random tickle fight.

((EDIT))

Porena yelled back "YOU'RE ON!" and changed back to a cat in a flash, and began running, soon catching up to Faelin. She grinned as best she could, turned back into her elf form, tackled Faelin and began the tickle fight. "Ha! Let's see you beat my tickling!" She viciously tickled his sides, laughing and purring. They were almost at the inn, but she decided that tickling was worth waiting to get it.

Faelin laughed and tried to get away, but was laughing too hard to make it out. So he tickled her back, not as well as she was due to his large amounts of laughter, but enough to keep her blocking.

Horace watched them fighting for a moment, then said loudly, "alright, break it up, you two, and let's go eat! I'm starving!"

Porena started laughing even harder and trying to block Faelin as he began to tickle back, until Horace told them to stop. "Ok, ok. Enough, enough. Horace is right, let's get something to eat, Nyaa!" She said, and stopped tickling Faelin, but tried to grab his hands to get him to stop. "Let's go eat, maybe someone caught some fish while I was gone, Nyaa!" she smiled, finally happy with what she was doing. With that she got up and brought Faelin to his feet. "We should really race the next time, who knows, you might even beat me, Nyaa!" She opened the door to the inn and stood to the side, letting Horace and Faelin walk in first.

"No, I don't think I would," Faelin said, walking in. "You're way too fast for me!"

Horace was right behind him. He grinned, seeing the bar and headed straight for it, looking around for the waiter.

Faelin looked around. There was a man telling a group of eager listeners a story and a kid sitting at the bar, but other than that, not many people in there. He followed Horace more slowly, looking around as he walked.

((...And now we're caught up. You can only go so far alone before you meet with the rest of the group you're in... lol))

Porena walked up to the bar, following Faelin, and took a look around her. She walked over to Sardonis saying "Can I have some food for the three of us?" she pointed at Faelin and Horace, "I don't have any money, but I can pay for it with acrobatics, Nyaa." She smiled, still flushed from the tickle fight with Faelin.