Backs Against the Wall

It sure didn't take long for the moron that Taori had sent flying to cause everyone's focus to turn on him. Well, it was actually most likely the fact that in the process of being sent flying, he'd taken down a building. The first person to come and yell at Taori was another Saiyan, though, so that was sort of a relief. He felt more comfortable dealing with his own people than having a bunch of angry aliens whose customs and cultures he knew little of come and get up in his face. "Look, he pulled a knife on me, and frankly, I didn't think he'd go flying that hard," he tried to explain himself to the young Saiyan girl, though he was suddenly greeted by an unfamiliar looking, who simply stated that it was 'nice to meet him'. And he was offering a... Handshake?

Taori slowly and cautiously shook the pointy-eared man's hand with a look of suspicion in his eyes, as he replied, "Er, nice to meet you, as well...?" Alpinia wasn't too happy about all this attention they were getting, though. "No, no, no," she said to the Konatsian as she stepped between him and her husband, "Don't praise him. He's totally at fault here." Taori rolled his eyes. "The guy pulled a knife on us, Alps," he protested, though she quickly replied, "And he'd have broken that knife in half if he tried to hit you with it! You saw how low that guy's power level was!" Taori grumbled a bit to himself, but knew she had a point. It'd just been a kneejerk reaction, really. Years of battling the Tuffles had caused him not to take people with low power levels who had weapons lightly.

And to complete the posse arrived a third... Thing down from the air, which, upon closer inspection, looked to be some Demon with her own flying cloud of black mist. That wasn't something you saw every day. And Taori apparently owed her a drink. "Look, if you want someone to buy you a drink, go ask the guy who actually took down the building," Taori stated as he gestured towards the rubble. "I just happened to send him flying in the direction of said building." That guy was still alive, right? Taori hadn't really thought to check, but he hadn't punched the guy hard enough to kill him. Probably, anyway.

TAGS: Haupien | Zuqetta | Rosemary

"This is not the sort of place you want to become familiar with the locals," Alpinia warned the pointy eared man who proved himself more naïve with every word out of his mouth. "That being said, I am Alpinia, and this is my husband, Taori." Taori gave an awkward and half hearted wave towards the Konatsian, then a look towards the other Saiyan, whose name was apparently Zuqetta. Taori, of course, would have spelled that with a 'k' instead of a 'q,' but he most likely would never need to write it out, luckily for him. 

It seemed both her and this... Other woman would not be letting him off the hook so easily. But he certainly hadn't come here to get all chummy with a bunch of strangers, that was one thing for sure. "Look, if you really want some sort of compensation..." he started to say as he reached into his pocket for his wallet. He had a few thousand Zeni on him, he was pretty sure. A drink was, what, probably less than a thousand? He could just give the demon woman a solid grand and leave it be. Alpinia stopped him, though, gently grabbing onto his arm and shushing him. "Come on, let's follow her," she insisted as she dragged Taori along with her.

"Following suspicious people through dark alleyways is a really easy way to get murdered," he warned her, though he followed along with a glance at the elf and Zuqetta. Would they come, too? Luckily for them, they were not murdered, and once they got to the 'bar,' if one could even call it that, Taori and Alpinia took their seats across from the demon. While Alpinia looked keen to make a new friend, Taori had his arms stubbornly crossed, with a frown on his face. "I've never been to a tough bar like this, before!" Alpinia stated with excitement. "I have," Taori sternly replied. "And what happened to you being scared of this town?"

TAGS: Haupien

Taori had to say, this was more than just a slightly awkward situation he'd found himself in. The Saiyan glanced around with a furrowed brow and a frown, and while Alpinia seemed oddly at ease to him, he couldn't say it felt particularly easy for him to relax. Not with all these... Strangers. And they were all strange. The elf was oddly socially unaware, the white haired women had that strange cloud and had made them all come to a bar for one reason or another, and the Saiyan girl... Well, she was actually probably the most normal of the bunch. As far as he could tell so far, anyway.

And the elf asked the question of the hour: what did bring them to town. Zuqetta answered first, and hers was an honest one. Zeni was probably the best reason to have come out to a slum like this. The demon girl, though... What kind of answer was that? "You want to set loose a bunch of Oozaru out in the wild?" Taori asked her in disbelief. He wasn't too concerned about himself, provided he went - he knew how to keep control of himself in the large, apelike form. But Alpinia? She'd have been about as mindless as a goldfish. So they were definitely not - "Ooh, that sounds like fun!" Alpinia chirped up.

"What-" Taori started to complain, but he realized it might be wiser to more subtly decline the offer. He was tired of making a scene, to be frank. "I mean, yes, that does sound great, but you and I have that thing in a few weeks, so we probably can't make it. Yeah?" He hoped Alpinia got the hint, but she just looked at him with a furrowed brow. "Thing? What thing?" "The... Important thing." He glanced awkwardly up at the other guests at the table and hoped that one of them would chime in to save him from having to weave some complex web of lies.

TAGS: Haupien | Zuqetta | Rosemary