Booty Bay (Stranglethorn)

Gipnig pushed at Berny and together they both stumbled to the side and out of the way of the General who came stalking into the tavern. Berny couldn't move much, his size taking up a good deal of the room, but at Gipnig's urging he turned sideways and put his tail to the wall. They ended up next to the drunken barmaid, who at this point was the lesser threat as far as Gipnig was concerned. When he'd seen the red rage filling the troll General's eyes he was afraid his (admittedly ill thought out) shouting and the fortuitous bottle that had brained the troll wasn't enough to shock him out of a rage and he was going to kill Berny anyways. It was with a slightly guilty relief he saw the troll head up the stairs for Taizen and Elsie. He felt bad for them, but Gipnig was staying out of any family quarrels.

Berny whimpered slightly looking after them, and Gipnig slapped him on the nose, snarling,

“Not a sound outta you, ya big lug, you been enough trouble today already,”

Then he turned and looked up at the human. He was about to thank her for tossing the bottle and (perhaps) saving his life (which he thought made up for the scare she'd given him when he first arrived), when he suddenly realized that this was HER bar.... and Berny had left a huge hole in the wall of HER bar. Horrible consequences started piling up in his mind, the very worst which was the thought that she might make him pay for it!

Gipnig saw his life of free trade spiraling away from him into an indefinite future of abject servitude. His features wilted, and his ears drooped.

Both Gear and Clementine flinched when the Troll General shouted.

Clementine was still stuck in the 'throwing girl' pose when the Troll marched through. Her eyes followed him, but she didn't dare breathe. Once he had past, she let out a huge breath. She looked over to Gear.

Gear just shrugged.

She half heartedly turned back to her gaping hole of a door.
"My baaaaarrr!" She walked quietly over to the wreckage and started picking up the fragmented pieces. Her eyes lifted and she spotted the broken bottle.
"My booooze!" She plopped on the ground, lower lip in a pout.
"WHY?!!!"

Gear made an apologetic face to the goblin. He put his hand out in a 'lay low' kind of gesture. He walked over to her, bending down to help pick up the pieces.

"Miss.. don't worry. We needed a bigger door anyway. We'll get it fixed up." He lay a hand on her back.

"Old man's not gonna like this..." She spoke dryly.

Gear let out a hum, and looked to the distance a moment before heaving a sigh.

Juniper watched with wary eyes as Zeno walked into the bar. Her voidwalker even chickened out, squishing into the wall, erking out a "Send me back!"

Her grip loosened on her daughter as Zeno marched up the stairs. He scooped Elsie up, Juniper's arms still half outstretched. She really couldnt' help but feel bad. It was partially her fault for letting them go. But she had given them an inch and they ran a mile. See what happens NEXT time. ..If there was a next time. She reached up and tugged on the towel a little, making sure she was covered where it counted.

With a hand on her hip, she held her hand out to her daughter, who quickly dropped the keys into her hand. She checked out the number on the key and found the according door. A little shoulder was necessary to get it to open, but it soon flung open.

As soon as they were all in the room, she slammed the door behind her. It was a small room, definitely not made for a family of four.

"WHEREHAVEYOUBEEN!? WHERE are your stones!? Do you have ANYIDEA what you put your father and I through?!"

She pointed a finger at Taizen.
"YOU should know better!"
She turned to Elsie, hanging pathetically.
"YOU are NEVERLEAVINGTHEHOUSEAGAIN!!"

She pressed her fingers to her forehead and scrunched her face.
All of it was really giving her a headache.

Dead stood there for a moment, watching the scene quietly. It was heartwarming almost, except...he did fear for everyone around him. He decided he felt better in his armor and walk by the family on the steps..careful, hands held up in the air, his gear on his waist/back.

Once he'd managed to get by, he made way for his room, his hand grabbing the key and unlocking door. He eyed his armor and began to reattach each piece quickly, but securely. After a few moments he stood on the walkway above the group, watching. His yellow glowing goggles on his eyes, doing the wonderful things they did. Dinendal looked a little more menacing, but his weapon and shield were still at their respective locations, the only addition now was the rifle that hung at his back.

He continued to watch the family scene unfold, though much more comfortable, in his skin, if you will.

Zenosi set both of his children down on the bed, and took a few steps behind Juniper. He didn't say anything, he didn't move one muscle, he just stood there, staring at them. He could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest, he was angry, scared, and happy all at the same time. He wished he had time to sit down and sort all the feelings out, but there wasn't any.

In reality all he wanted to do was hug his children, and tell them how happy he was that they were alive. However, he knew his role as a father, and he believed in it. Long ago he may have been a little more jovial, but now he had to set an example.

So he stood there, cold and calculating, letting his wife question their children.

Taizen didn't feel like struggling, and he was pretty sure that it wouldn't matter anyway. His father was ten times stronger than he was, and he didn't feel like getting knocked on the head today. So he let himself get dragged into the room and set on the bed. He knew what would come next.

His mother would do most of the talking, she was almost always the most vocal of the two. The only thing that comforted him was that his mother was angry because she loved them. He knew that it was all worry, he could tell in her voice. And then there was his father, he would stand back and just stare at them, maybe say one or two things. And then simply brood in their general direction.

His mother was scary, no bones about it. But, Taizen could never tell what his father was thinking, he looked over to Elsie, hoping she got some sort of glimpse of what he was really thinking. She always seemed to know what was on his father's mind.

"It wasn't our fault!", he retorted "We had...well we were a little late."

Elsie was about to celebrate her 17th birthday soon. But there she was… A 5 year old again. Being picked up by her father and toted around. Not in the happy piggy back way, either.
“DAD! OHMIGOSH!” She tried her best to sound stunned and humiliated to no avail. All she could really think was ‘what do we say?! ’ She figured a few well placed sobs and a ‘Daddy… I love you’ wasn’t going to cut it this time as she sat on the bed. She twisted at the towel around her, feeling incredibly foolish.

“MOM! THAT’S SO NOT FAIR!!! It’s not even our fault! There was this CRAZY raptor and it like… went NUTS! You don’t even know.” She knew she had a better chance of appealing to her father, she looked around her mother. Elsie was an expert in getting out of trouble, but usually just used diversion techniques to evade punishment.

“Maybe if I knew how to RIDE one it wouldn’t have DUMPED us in the friggin’ jungle. We had to WALK here, Daddy. That’s why it took so long.” Her posture straightened and she gave her dad ‘a look’. It had been a long standing promise between the two of them that just got pushed off and pushed off. She knew it would dig at him, she rarely used it… But these were desperate times. Besides! It was partially true.

“Whatever.. It took off with my suitcase. That’s where my stone is.” She flipped her hair behind her shoulder trying to look nonchalantly at the floor.

Juniper fumed, rolling her eyes at her daughter’s story. Her arms flew down to her sides.
“DON’T you DARE blame your FATHER, Eleanor!! You know how busy he is… saving the.. world or whatever.” It slipped out, she was just mad… mad at everyone.

“What about YOU, mister?! What’s your excuse?!” She glared at her son.
“Where’s your stone?! Did a crazy raptor eat it?! I trusted you! I trusted that you could both be responsible adults. I guess you proved me wrong, didn’t you?” She shook her head, turning back to her husband a little. She gave him a ‘wtf’ face.

“DON’T you just stand there! I WILL NOT be the only bad guy here, Zenosi!”

She didn’t wait for a response. She crossed her arms over her chest, radiating motherly anger, and started to pace. Nodding her head, she pressed her tongue to her cheek.

“And that’s all that happened? You just walked back?”

Din let the family alone, he walked down the steps quietly, moving toward the door. "Good Bear.." He mumbled a bit. He began to clean up the mess of wood. "The cap ain't gonna be happy.." he said softly to no one but himself and walked away, eyeing the place to find a broom.

"I'll be helpin' clean and repair the place if'n I can." He said as he passed by Clem and Gear. He had turned inward on himself and was in a deepish thought process now...

"Aye, and who might ye be?" He looked at the goblin and the Bear, with fireworks, strapped to itself... He was curious of course and not quite used to seeing a goblin anything other then the Cartel ones. He walked toward them slowly, holding his large hand out to the goblin, offering it to shake, if the being so wished.

He knew the could be angry little things, especially when they saw how affiliated one was to the gnomes...

Zenosi stood there, looking calm as ever and at the same time feeling a seething churn of emotions he wasn't sure he could control. Yet he made it look like he was simply standing there, disappointed in his offspring. Zenosi frowned at the mention of the raptor riding, it was true he'd been promising this to his daughter for quite some time now. Something, always came up though. His station didn't leave a lot of time for his family, and a wave of guilt started to wash over him.

He pushed it back, for now. He would address this later, it wasn't the focus of his mission right now. He would have been more affected if he didn't have evidence that was contrary to what Elsie was saying.

"Den if yah walked heah, why did we find ya belongings inah camp filled wid dead bodehs?", he uttered, wondering how exactly they would talk their way out of that. "Ah Troll camp if ah be correct. Burn' to da ground."

He stared pointedly at them waiting for the excuse.

Taizen raised a hand as if to respond, and then it fell to his lap. His mouth was still slightly slacked open, trying to come up with an excuse that wasn't there. How did they find that camp? They left it so long ago it couldn't have been that obvious, could it? He faltered, letting his mouth snap shut.

He could feel their stares as they waited an answer, and suddenly he felt like he was five years old again staring up at the big people who he'd disappointed. The words didn't come to him, and all he could say in the end was:

"I don't know."

Elsie watched her brother struggle with what to say. She herself wasn't sure what to do. Couldn't tell them the truth. At least not the whole truth. She reached out and held her brother's hand, trying to stop him from digging a hole for them.

"He means... Uhm. That... We don't know how we escaped with our lives! Those trolls tried to kill us. BOTH! Savages. They locked us in a cage for some... uhm ritual thingy... but then the goblin came and shot a rocket into camp. So the ritual got all messed up.. Must have burned everything. And..and then we escaped. That's all."

She had been looking at her brother mostly the whole time.

"Right, Tai?" She nodded her head subtley, wide eyed.

Zenosi quirked a brow, and looked at Juniper after stepping up to be even with her. He wasn't sure, something seemed off about the story and the state of their clothes seemed to suggest something else was going on. He kneeled down to look at Elsie and Taizen in the eyes, before turning and heading toward the door.

"So deh Goblin was dere ya?", he opened the door. "Den ah'll ask em wah beh happenin den."

Zenosi left, closing the door behind him. He walked down the stairs calmly and stood at the bottom, looking around the room for the short little green guy. When he spotted him he gestured for him to come approach him.

"Yah mind if ah be talkin' to ya real quick, bruddah?", Zenosi said, seemingly calm and collected. It was a stark contrast to his earlier mood.

Taizen almost blurted out for his father to stop, but instead made a 'bugh' noise. Luckily he didn't and he just continued down the stairs. Taizen looked over at Elsie, then Juniper, and slowly nodded in agreement. He felt like he needed to back it up with words though and her excuse was helping him get some courage.

"Yah, w-we got into trouble and then the Goblin came! I not be our fault, it was just bad luck. And we lost the raptor on the way."

He sat up straight, trying not to seem like he was backing down to his mother. His fake confidence wouldn't last long in front of her, her gaze seemed to bore holes in any lie he tried to tell.

"They WHAT?!" Juniper half shouted. Zenosi soon left her alone with them.
"Elsie... we thought you were dead. We found your clothes.." A hand fluttered to Juniper's mouth. She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes. She looked back to them, and just couldn’t help it. Grabbing them both in a hug she held them both close to her, kissing their heads.

“I was so worried, babies… I thought I’d lost you.” She moved between them, sitting in the middle. She pulled their heads close again, one on each shoulder, arms around them. Her chest heaved as she tried to stifle her tears. Her hand played with Elsie’s hair as she started to rock a little.

“Ohhh my babies…”
She pulled Taizen away from her a little by the shoulder and looked in his face.
“Be honest… What happened? You can tell me...”
She looked to Elsie, who comfortably had her head resting on her shoulder. She didn’t look up at her.
“Tell me…” She tried to pull Elsie up as well, but she struggled. Juniper’s face turned to pure upset. “Why won’t you tell me…?!” Her mouth gaped, she was finding it hard not to go back into hysterics.
“Eleanor! Taizen!... I am your mother… Tell me the truth!”

Elsie felt relieved when her mother held them. She didn’t mind feeling like a child right now. It was such a comfort. Then she started to ask. Why did they have to know?! Wasn’t it enough that they were alive? Why did they have to KNOW!?

She couldn’t bring herself to look at her mother. Elsie could really only lie so much to her. She just wanted to be held… just shut her eyes and fall asleep like she used to. She was so tired.

“Momma….” She whimpered out, wrapping her arms around her mother’s tiny ribcage. Rubbing her cheek on Juniper’s shoulder she avoided the question at all costs. The reality was setting in. She never wanted to tell any one. Ever. It was over, and he was dead. That’s all anyone needed to know. Her brother didn’t know. And that was her saving grace for now.

Whatever she did, she would avoid giving her mom a straight look for as long as she could.

WHY did they have to KNOW?!

Gipnig had tried to follow the Tauren's advice and lay low, but that was a little hard when you had a bear at your shoulder. Grumbling, and wondering about his ominous future, he began slowly picking up the dropped fireworks on the floor and replacing them in Berny's pack.

He hissed a little when the elf approached him, mostly out of surprise. His nerves were taunt and he was jumpy from all the crazy characters running around trying to kill each other. He turned to face the elf and regarded his offered hand for a minute, wary. He liked the look of the goggles, exquisite make. Probably gnome work, he thought, his people could of course have done better but that was no reason not to appreciate fine craftsmanship.

He took the hand and gave it a shake.

“Gipnig. Ah'm Gipnig,” he replied shortly, and scuttled back a foot or so to grab another errant firework. His voice amplifying spell had thankfully worn off.

He started to ask what had happened to the elf, when the troll General came down the stairs. He flinched and tried to duck out of sight, but he must not have been successful because the General saw him anyways and gestured him forward, asking to speak with him.

Gipnig's mental alarm bells started ringing. Although the troll seemed much calmer then before Gipnig wasn't about to trust that. So he approached cautiously, feeling skittish and wishing with all his might they were out in the open so he could have Berny behind him, but inside a closed space Berny was more a liability. The bear had no space to move and could be easily hit. He didn't want the General getting happy with his axes when Berny was near.

“What is't you want,” Gipnig choked, twisting a bright yellow firework nervously in his hands.

Clementine perked up when Dead mentioned 'the captain'. She dropped the pieces she was holding.

"You know the old man?"
She threw a chunk of wood at the Elf to get his attention.
"How do you know my dad, huh? HUH?!"

Gear stood, kicking some wood into a pile. He kept a watchful eye on the troll and goblin. He didn't like to intervene, but the goblin seemed well natured. The troll, he wasn't so sure about.

Dinendal stood slowly and arched a brow, pulling his goggles down to stare at her. "Lass..." he frowned for a moment then just sighed and reached into a pouch. "I was a youngin' back when.." he procured a Bloodsail Tri-corner Hat and threw it to her feet. "I was young and reckless. Your father saved me from myself.." he spoke in his Night elf accent, frowning. "I have two titles under me that I'm not proud of.."

He finished his pile of wood and smiled weakly "Bloodsail Admiral, and The insane.." His smile turned to a sad frown as he began to recount his story. "I was young, angry, and generally.. not a good lad. I met the cap'n and he gave me a chance, he taught me a lot and gave me something to look forward too. He also gave me the knowledge on how to redeem myself in the eyes of the cartel."

He sighed and kneeled down, wrapping the wood pile in his cape. "Where ya be want'in this'in wood?"

Zenosi sat at the bottom of the stairs, looking sort of silly in his hulking suit of armor when sitting. He began to adjust his gauntlets and affix his shoulder pieces. He wasn't trying to seem too intimidating or anything, he knew what he looked like, and didn't care if the Goblin found him intimidating or not. He just wanted some answers, and he hoped he get them from him.

"Tell meh, abou' how ya foun' mah children. Yah know, Elseh an' Tai.", he said while jerking his thumb in the direction of Tai's room.

"Ahn, please don' screw wid meh, ah got no reason not tah respect ya. Don' be givin' meh one.", he added.

Taizen felt quite awkward. He didn't expect his mother to be so close so suddenly. He let himself be hugged and smothered, sitting there with a blank expression on his face as she looked him straight in the face. It was often during these times that he couldn't help but wonder if his mother knew what she was doing. Maybe it was just motherly instinct, or maybe it was her way of getting them to blurt something out stupid.

Either way he felt the lump in his throat rise, and he could only mumble intelligible words that really didn't mean anything as she interrogated them. He valued his freedom, and if she found out anything about what happened he doubted he'd ever see the light of day again.

Elsie sat up a little. She looked at the floor in front of them.

"Mom, that's all... That's all that happened. We were fine. Everything's fine. I changed my clothes when we got to Grom'gol. They probably just fell out of the suitcase."

She ran a hand through her hair and tightened her towel. Her brother's sudden onset of mom induced stupidity was getting to her. She had seen such strength in him, she had nearly respected him. And now? He was hanging her out to dry and she was losing her patience.

"Tai tell her... Tell her that's all that happened.... TAIZEN!"

Juniper knew when she was being lied to. She couldn't bring her mind to imagine what had happened to draw those two close. In their youth, they had never really been close. Elsie never had a shortage of friends, Tai always looked up to Tul'xil.

Elsie prodded Tai to respond. She knew full well he had a hard time lying to her. She just didn't have it in her to plead any more. She looked to the open door. Was Zenosi really interrogating the goblin? She wasn't sure why that was necessary, but she wasn't interested.

Her head was killing her. She even felt a little nauseous. Actually... she felt really sick. Juniper never had much stregnth to begin with, the emotional and partial phsyical upset was really getting to her. She put her hands on their inner shoulders and pulled herself back up. She stood for a moment, realizing her hands were shaking. She let out a weak laugh.

"You see what you do to me?"

Taking a few steps towards the doorway, she felt the room move. She put out a hand and leaned against the doorway. Her head lulled forward and some of her hair fell into her face. The pounding was getting worse, she winced in pain, her free hand pressed against her temple. Her nails dug into the door frame, leaving a few scratch marks.

"Taizen... Get your father."

Gipnig twitched a little at the General's speech. He certainly had no need to 'screw with' the General and any loyalty he felt his children since meeting them did not extend towards lying to daddy. He saw no reason to anyways. So he straightened into an 'at attention' pose an began to succintly report how he'd come upon on the troll camp. He didn't know what had happened before he got there, but he left no detail unexplained about the adventure from the point when he'd arrived. Including the burned out village, the raptors, Taizen's injuries, the firework, Elsie's rage, and the burning of the bodies. Frankly he felt that was good sense. Leaving a mass open grave like that was asking for disease. Although he still felt a little disturbed by the slaughter of the children.

When he was done explaining all he could, his shoulders slumped and he looked wearily back towards Berny. He was suddenly very tired.

“If you won't be killing me then, would ya mind if ah went back to work here. I got's a mess to clean and quota ah ain't gonna meet. And ah'd appreciate it if you didn't take anything out on Berny,” he added hooking a thumb back at his bear. “He just gets a little... enthusiastic, sometimes.”

Taizen stood and walked up to his mother, putting his hand on her back. His brow furrowed, hoping that she was okay. Despite the fact that she was just interrogating them, he still worried about her, he could be cold, but he was not monster. Taizen had spent many many years in their library with his mother, studying the arcane arts. He studied voodoo on the side aswell, unbeknown to her for the most part. Of course they found out at some point and chastised him for it. But, the memories of all those times with his head in a book, and his mother helping him focus energy through the nether helped him become what he was today.

When she ordered him to get his father, he did so. But, before leaving the room he looked back at Elsie giving her an apologetic look. It was hard for him to hide things from someone who knew him as well as his mother did.

Taizen went down the stairs and called to Zenosi, "Faddah! Moddah be wanting you!"