(Ok, I've finally caught up at work, and am now bored/anxious so  why not go ahead and try summarizing and moving things on right? Can edit or cancel if we decide otherwise. )<br/><br/>There's a saying, 'Like herding cats", because they're known to be notoriously unpredictable and difficult to catch creatures when they want to be. Considering the chaos Wiska released, and the fact she's a CATfish, the saying seemed wholely appropriate to describe the effects of her outburst as the guards tried to control the chaos around them.<br/><br/>Still, a majority of the group actually remained calm and played along with what was expected of them. Spectra, as expected, wasn't hesitant at all about taking advantage of the royal baths. She had her clothes off and feet in the water before anyone else, and wasn't at all shy about helping anybody 'wash their back' or whatever flimsy excuse she wanted to give to get inappropriately close.<br/><br/>Sin did indeed keep one of her throwing knives and some lockpicking tools on her, despite the guards trading out their clothes for some 'clean' outfits while they met the king. She wasn't surprised to hear Spectra make lewd jokes about "where were you hiding those?" when she adjusted to hide them in the new clothes she'd been given.<br/><br/><br/><br/>The meeting with the king was... emotional... for just about everybody. Spectra was calm and cordial, as expected, easily the most courtly of the entire group. Despite her unusual appearance she matched her demeanor perfectly to the room and was actually able to make a quite pleasant, if not slightly unnecessarily sensual, impression on the king and court.<br/><br/>Sin was a bit rougher around the edges, blunt, is a decent word for it. But also managed to remain dignified, for the most part. When the king announced he wanted to keep the crew in Atlantis, as a guarantee that Seydon would return, she was obviously upset and threw around some choice words, she almost threw her knife as well, but the king assured her no harm would come to any of them as long as Seydon returned. But that's actually a little bit ahead, let's skip back a little...<br/><br/><br/>Seydon had the first face to face meeting with his father for a long time and it was fraught with emotion on both sides. Fear, disappointment, anger, resentment, love, the need to make up for lost time, concern... Seydon's fears, unfortunately, were proven true as his father was indeed ill with one of the most dreaded diseases known to their people. All of his fear and concern about taking the throne was now being overridden with the fear and concern that, if he didn't do something, he would lose his father!<br/><br/>Some eyes turned to Spectra. She could do a little for him, ease his pains a bit, give him a bit more energy, but unfortunately her abilities didn't really reach into the realm of healing. A succubus tended to lean more towards the opposite end of the spectrum. As close to godlike as she might be, she still wasn't, so she did still have limits to her capabilities. She figured Seydon and his father wouldn't be interested in the idea of selling his soul to her so that she could exert her full power over him, so she didn't bother to bring up that sort of option.<br/><br/>Seydon couldn't simply sit there and do nothing, he had to do something! There were rumors of an ancient cure out there somewhere. No one had ever found it before, but, damn it all, he had to at least TRY! And so he vowed to do so. He would find the cure, and if he couldn't he would return to take his place on the throne.<br/><br/>The king, while touched at the sentiment, knew this mystical cure was little more than a fairy tale... or so he thought... he considered using Seydon's friends as leverage to force him to remain and take the throne right now, but... his idealism was always one of his better qualities, even if his son was a big goof... He agreed to let them search, on the condition that the crew would be held for collateral, knowing Seydon wouldn't leave others to suffer just to spare himself an 'unpleasant duty'.<br/><br/><br/>While Sin was, expectedly, angry about said decision, she didn't have much to worry about. SarAI stated that she would remain behind to look after the crew.<br/><br/>There was some concern on the behalf of the court about that decision. The metal woman was unusual, an unknown, unassuming in her stature, but frightening in her power and capabilities. Surely she would be better served staying with the rest as they ventured out to protect them? However when pressed to leave with the rest SarAI responded with, "Try and make me." as an open invitation to anyone present to try and force her to leave the crew. If any were bold enough, they would find this was by no means an easy task, in fact, closer to impossible.<br/><br/>Once that was settled, Seydon and the rest were allowed to leave, after a bit of time to repair and replace their gear, and set up with a  decent little sloop, so that they could easily sail to the nearest pier and continue their journey from there.<br/><br/><br/>Poor Valspan would find himself without a permanent meal, yet again. Though he would be able to 'taste' some of those around now that it was fairly clear there was no IMMEDIATE danger of being devoured, like Sin, the king seemed hesitant to embrace the idea of feeding anyone to a moving, talking, tree man, so he would have to settle once again.<br/><br/>It wasn't all bad though, Resla had been so quiet the whole time, most hardly even noticed or remembered she was even there. As a consolation, Sin agreed to let Valspan nibble on her for a while.<br/><br/><br/>Spectra would later explain to Barusa why she overreacted earlier when confronted with a 'fairly obvious' trap. For them, it was mostly the issue that, they would make things harder for the members of the group that didn't have special abilities or immortality. Sure, they could easily escape the guards, but what about those members of Sin's crew who didn't have impossible strength or other enhancements to rely on? Those guards that Barusa upset might be tempted to go harder on those individuals in return. This is why Spectra put up no resistance at all. She knew that no matter what happened, she would be able to handle it, so there was no reason to potentially make things worse. As she mentioned, there can be a certain strength to vulnerability that most fail to notice at first.<br/><br/><br/><br/>(I would attempt to say something about the king meeting Wiska, because, I'm sure that would happen, but there's SO MANY different ways that can go, I'mma just skip it. XP )<br/><br/><br/>Released from the seas once more, now on a proper vessel. The sloop still nowhere near as accommodating as the bloody devil, but a Hell of a lot better than their simple pontoon, Sin proceeded to guide the ship North once again, continuing their original path. Now she was in this just like everyone else, whether she wanted to be or not. Not only did she need to get her ship back, but now she needed to get her crew back as well! So, like it or not, now she was truly in it with this group of weirdos.<br/><br/><br/>The trip from Atlantis to their next port of call was notably quiet, compared to their previous trips. Most likely because of everything that had happened, Seydon and Wiska's misunderstanding, the revelation his dad was dying, the crew being held hostage... it was a quiet and introspective journey, until Sin spoke up.<br/><br/>"You know, among the Felin, the Tigrin are the strongest. We're the guardians, the ones who protect everyone else in the clan, especially the cheetarin. They're fast, but they're little, not particularly strong. So whenever one of them goes out to hunt, or run a message, there's always a tigrin somewhere waiting. The leopardin are sneaky. They jump around between the trees like shadows. There's more, but, between the three of us, the jungle is ours. At least, it was, it seemed like she just stopped paying attention one day, no one knows why...<br/><br/>One day a young Tigrin was accompanying her cheetah friend down the path they would be running once they'd come of age... that's when the hunters appeared, sneaky as leopardin, but clearly not. They tied them up, took them on their boat, sailed away to distant lands without a jungle, places the children had never seen or heard of before. But, even young tigrin are still strong, and this tigrin, well, she was unusually strong, even for a young one. She managed to tear apart two of the hunters and shred the ropes binding her friend, before getting bashed over the head... repeatedly... with an ore and dumped over the side to be left to the whims of the sea." She paused briefly, her expression fluctuating between an, obviously, fake confident smile and an angry scowl. "That Tigrin was strong though... freakishly so, and somehow managed to survive until she was scooped up by a passing ship... a pirate ship called The bloody siren... It actually had other names and other captains before that like the screaming siren... The captain and crew of the bloody siren took this tigrin aboard, she was feisty, angry... they gave her focus, a purpose, made her stronger, more fierce... the captain took her under her wing, said the ship would be hers some day." She paused again, taking a breath, her expression returning to its normal calm, stoic look. "I hate stories about the past. They're always depressing. I'd rather focus on the future. That, I can take, make it mine." She concluded, reaching out her hand and clenching it tight into a fist for emphasis.<br/><br/><br/>Spectra didn't say anything, but she smiled happily after hearing the story, knowing just how much it meant that Sin had actually shared that with everyone present.