<strong>Location:</strong>Hephaestus' Workshop inside Redbeard's Pirate Vessel<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Clio<br/><br/>Hephaestus nodded agreement to have letters sent, and said regarding crafting, "The hard part there is balancing the time.  I have a bit of an excuse," he tapped his wheelchair, "but it's very doable to handle both crafting and adventures if you don't mind losing a bit of your social life."  He did his best to bow as she left.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Location:</strong>The beach near Kiele Street<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>All<br/><br/>From the direction of the island - one never could seem to have an easy time seeing Onogoro-Jima from Honolulu - came the sight of what looked in the distance like a miniature jet, complete with a rocket.<br/><br/>Old Redbeard took off his pirate hat and bowed with a smile to Clio, "A pleasure to see you again, lass."  Once she'd disembarked, he started to sail away.<br/><br/>A bulldozer drove into view being driven by an honest-to-goodness succubus, and she grinned as she looked over everyone before she picked up a giftwrapped box and got out, gesturing to Namira that the machine was up and running.  "Hi!  And yes, I'm Serafiel," she introduced herself, shifting from her winged form to her human demeanor in front of all the Band and giving a curtsy despite her too-short skirt.  "I'm not much in a fight, but I'll be glad to<em>be of service</em>however I can."<br/><br/>Her eyes danced over the assembled before she remembered, "Oh, here, let me give you this.  Your mother didn't want them to get wet by the rain."  She had a way of oozing bubbly sexuality and flirting just by staring, and asked Namira, "Is anyone off limits?  May I call you Mistress?"<br/><br/>The jetlike thing flew up closer for the group to see: a beautifully-crafted mechanical owl, with the rocket turning off to allow the artificial bird to circle overhead and keep sight on the Band.  An engraving<strong>Bubo Mk. CXLIX</strong>could be seen by the astute of vision.<br/><br/>(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/1/14/Night_owl_by_meganerid_da1vssh-350t.jpg)<br/><br/>Sarge’s voice came from it, no doubt from some difficult-to-spot loudspeaker, and she was furious.  “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but I already know that the volcano from Onogoro-Jima won’t explode today.  I have an oracle from Delphi -<em>Delphi</em>- and she’s never wrong.  I don’t know who or what you-”<br/><br/>Then her voice froze for a split second, shifting from anger to horror.  “Oh, fuck me, you said Gilbert…”  Her commanding tone returned as her voice shifted away, as if turning the phone away from her.  “Kimo, go!  Kiele street!”  Then she took a breath to explain.<br/><br/>“I know Gilbert Garfield.  I’ve seen his strategy at work.  The way Gilbert thinks, tactically, is through feints.  He’ll set everyone up for expecting one solid attack only to bring another out of nowhere while all your defenses are in the wrong place.  It’s similar with dating: he’ll mock women’s flaws just to trick them into trying to prove themselves to him, so he can get them to do whatever he wants.”  Of course, Namira wasn’t the type to beg a man to give her a chance.<br/><br/>“His target is not Onogoro-Jima Volcao.  It<em>can’t</em>be.  I already know how and why it’ll go off, if it ever does.  There are<em>fifteen</em>other volcanoes across the eight main islands, and he’ll pick one at random just to make sure we can’t deduce it.  Kimo’s on his way, but there’s no way he’ll run through the bones of the universe and make it there in time.”<br/><br/>Her tactical side was going through.  “Just in case, we’ll ensure Onogoro-Jima is ready for evacuation.  There are multiple freighters we have available that aren’t readily known.”  No doubt she had other cards to play if it came to it to protect her island, her tone said, but it wasn’t necessary to show them all.  “Don’t worry about us here.”<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>Location:</strong>The shoreline of Oahu<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>Clio<br/><br/>There were several things Clio couldn’t help but notice, thoughts that popped to mind.  First and foremost was that it was her father’s handiwork, but anyone would be able to recognize it as Bubo mark 149.<br/><br/>Besides that was the rocket.  It was hard to believe Hephaestus would choose to add a rocket to an owl, well known as the silent predator of the night.  Most likely someone had made a custom request for pure speed in the event of an emergency.  Nothing was perfect, so whatever he might add would always mean it took up room and left out other options, so she’d have to figure out what she wanted if she would like to get modifications done.<br/><br/>The loudspeaker, though, that was easy.  It wouldn’t surprise her if her cat had a similar feature; she just had to take it apart and find out how to work it.  No doubt he’d left other tricks for her to discover as well.  After all, what fun was a manual when you could take something apart yourself and learn how it worked that way?<br/><br/>Finally, no matter how many iterations her father might have made of Bubo throughout the millennia, a cat was always going to be better than a silly owl.