[En Route to the Frozen Seaway - Genji and Kyra]<br/><br/>Genji might have been a clever man, but sailors spent a good portion of their downtime gambling since dockside dice tables were second only to whorehouses in terms of ubiquity of presence.  There might always be a few easy marks among them of course but he would have to be carry, since every crowd of potential morons was also a crowd of potential card sharks or dice masters.<br/><br/>Then again, there was Kyra's offer to consider instead.  The two of them hadn't separate berths of their own due to the small size of the speedy little airship but they did have one of the two four-bunk cabins intended for hunter teams all to themselves since no other groups were heading north at present.  If Genji or Kyra had a private location in mind, that would be one of the better places to find said privacy...<br/><br/><br/>[The Ancestral Steppes - Sonya]<br/><br/>The sleepy Jaggi perked up at the sudden rustle and clatter of Sonya's arrival and gave their little warning cries as many of them hopped to their feet, bright eyes focusing on the huntress.  The first two rushed her eagerly -expecting an easy fight or perhaps simply overconfident- but they were simple to cut down, quick series of slashes arresting their rushes and making short work of them one after the other, easily throwing them back due to their smaller lighter forms.<br/><br/>Behind it all Sonya could hear Nat's bowgun begin to sound and she caught a flicker of light as bullets flashed from the weapon into a single Jaggia as the monster girl had been trying to make her way out the opposite end of the canyon in the confusion but then her awareness caught the rest of the pack as they rallied around their now-risen forces with hunt-cries and charged en-masse.  It looked like there were more of them than she'd been able to see before even, though it was entirely likely that was a side effect of the pack now being standing rather than laying about sunning themselves lazily...<br/><br/>Still...<br/><br/>No time to worry about that now though, as while Sonya's aggressive tactics took down four front runners in quick succession the rest of the pack arrived in short order, forcing her to adapt to a changing battlefield as their broad line allowed them to make moves towards her sides.  Further confusing things was the fact that out of the six she'd taken down thus far, only one had been Jaggia (the monster girl variant of the male Jaggi).  The smaller more monstrous males were faster, and thus many of them had reached Sonya first, but while the females of the race were slower their more human appearance made their attacks take rather different forms.  They could make quick slashes at Sonya's face and chest more easily where the males had to attempt a more telegraphed bit to reach the same level, and they could take more punishment than their male counterparts too boot, their hides and skin being noticeably tougher and more durable.  It made it harder to cut them down quickly, and every second she focused on one opponent was a chance for another to get around or behind her...<br/><br/><br/>[Glacial Caverns - Kaze]<br/><br/>The caverns were surreal, eerie tunnels of sculpted blue ice and powder white snow reflecting and refracting the pale light that came in from the glacier to paint the entire place in strange shifting tones of pale blue light.  Whitey was in here somewhere, but he could see why the Zinogre-Girl had made her lair here already as he made his way inside, even the softest of snow muffled footsteps seeming to carry ominously far in the space.  Not only were the surroundings perfect camouflage for an albino such as herself, but the moment he made any sound larger than a slight shift he had no doubt it would echo all over the caverns, giving her warning he was coming.<br/><br/>Assuming she wasn't already watching him or something...<br/><br/><br/>[The Port City of Val Habar - Alistair]<br/><br/>Both eyed him a moment longer before Lucas shrugged.  "Well I guess that's better than a flat 'no', I suppose we'll talk to you later then?"  He made to stand up, though Helena remained seated with a curious expression as her eyes wandered over Alistair.<br/><br/>He realized after a second she was eyeing his wounds, or at least, those she could see without taking a look under his clothing.  "You go on ahead, I think I'll stick around, not like he's anyone else to talk to with the bar winding down."  Perhaps to surprise on Alistair's part, Lucas seemed to take the request in stride.  "Well, in that case, a farewell to both of you then.  I suppose I'll see you tomorrow Helena?"  She nodded at that, and after a moment, the two of them were left in relative solitude...<br/><br/>Helena seemed a little more nervous now, fiddling with her cup a little with the low background noise of the bar comfortably surrounding them both before finally she raised an eyebrow, half expectant, half warily curious.  "So...  A Kut-Ku Girl?"<br/><br/><br/>[The Everwood Hunting Ground - Dust]<br/><br/>((Please Delete your double post?))<br/><br/>The rush of adrenaline and fear drove the surging arousal back at the cost of higher functions, as both would make it more difficult for him to fight rationally and tactically.  Of course, he could be a much more dangerous combatant in the way that a caged animal could be, but there would be side effects, and a level head would be much more difficult to keep in such a state.<br/><br/>Still, for the moment he was in control, and the monster girl seemed to notice his resistance to her effects as he made a move to attack.  She leaped away, the strange loops of scaled skin that could have been mistaken for some form of strange clothing unfurling into a pair of wings sprouting from her back.  He heard Vianna gasp at that, and speak in awe something Dust couldn't quite catch...<br/><br/>The main problem was that the monster girl had evaded his traps, and as Dust caught sight of Vianna loading a different set of shells into her bowgun, she tilted her head back and gave a tremendous roar -practically a howl- for someone (or something) so small, loud enough that the very sound of it seemed to knock Dust off balance for a moment and the monster girl's appearance shifted, black scales covering her suddenly as purple fire seemed to sear the space around her, a miasma of dark particles filling the air as she looked at Dust (or at least he thought she did) and<i>grinned</i>...<br/><br/>She looked much<a class="link link--external" href="http://i.imgur.com/uKPRrz9.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc noopener" target="_blank">more monstrous</a>now, and silver flashed past Dust as Vianna fired without hesitation, rounds with wicked points tearing a pair of small but ragged holes in the membranes of the mystery monster's wings before she returned fire with an angry rasp, firing a ball of darkness surrounded by a corona of purple at the scientist before rushing Dust, forcing him to focus on her for the moment as she sped towards him with two powerful beats of her wings (the holes evidently making no appreciable impact to slow her down even if they had certainly seemed to hurt her) slashing furiously with her claws.