It was also the first town that Ranma Saotome entered, testing his luck that the general populace wouldn’t discover him.
Nearly three weeks had passed since he released Trisha and Sylvia from captivity, and those three weeks were spent traveling this new harsh land. Ranma didn't disillusion himself in the belief that now he could take human form his troubles would for the most part simply disappear. It was never that easy.
Still, he had skirted along the edges of Seer's Hamlet, one of the few major cities to be found in this world. He briefly considered entering the city, but thoughts of powerful mages seeing through his form deterred that idea. Better to err on the side of caution and all that.
"Best to take this one tiny step at a time." Ranma thought bitterly.
Leaving Seer's Hamlet, he traveled to the North, stopping only sparingly to hunt and refill his water supply when he had too. He would every now and then stumble on fellow travelers, but they tended to ignore him in favor of being on their way. Not that he blamed them one bit, since the entire continent seemed fearful of the Boogie Man that inhabited it, even if their prejudice and fear were unwarranted.
Back to Trill. After nearly a month of wandering, he decided it was time to 'test' the waters, so to speak. He didn't want to risk entering a big city, such as Seer's Hamlet, least he be discovered. No matter how strong he thought he was, he didn't give himself a snowballs chance in hell of beating down a whole city long enough to escape.
Trill on the other hand consisted of little more than five families or so, not counting the wanderers that pass through to re-supply and rest their tired feet. He still had to be careful however, extremely so, for while the numbers remained low, occasionally he would hear snippets of 'Police Activity' in the area from the more.. shady characters who had tried quiet often to rob him of his wealth.
"Enough of that." Ranma snorted, banishing his thoughts. He took a brief moment to check his inventory. Short Sword. Check. Back pack. Check. Neato Pouch that can hold more than it size suggests. Double Check. He really needed to think of a way to thank all those mercenaries that had come after him this last year. They had some real neat toys, liberated of course after he kicked their ass.
"Lets do this."
***
Grendel wasn't human. Not that this mattered in the common day to day affairs of his Tavern, but to those who had never seen a Forrest Troll owning and operating a Tavern and Inn the sight would be pretty intimidating, if not completely surreal.
"Come on Gren.. one more? Please?" cried the pathetic drunk, shaking his glass in the air. "I promise I'll leave.. just.. give me one more.."
Grendel sighed, grabbing the small human by the back of his tunic, "Nay, Bob! I said nay, and I mean nay!" Bob struggled in vain against the troll's strength, try as he might he couldn't get the big oaf to just let go. "HEY! At least let me leave with my dignity! Come on! Put me down!"
Grendel shrugged, dropping the man at the door. "Go on then, get on outta here till you sober up!"
Bob grumbled something before exiting the bar.
"Ahhh Grendel!" Grendel winced, "Why are you so meeeean to that man!" his overly cheery waitress replied, pouting cutely at the troll that happened to be nearly double her five foot four inches in height.
"Tabitha! He was drunk, I can't be havin drunk people startin things around..." Grendel stuttered at first, his words dying off at the crocodile tears streaming down Tabitha's cheeks. "Ah.. eh.. I'll.. eh.." he stammered. Damn that girl! Can't she ever leave me alone!? AAARRGGGGH
"Ano.. hello." Tabitha stopped crying immediately, her dazzling smile returning in full force as she stepped around the troll. Grendel breathed a sigh of relief; glad her attention had been taken elsewhere.
"HeeeeeLLLLLLLLO!" chirruped Tabitha, snagging the young mans arm before cheerfully giving him a look over. Young, not even in his second decade yet. He had long black as night hair with a few streaks of gray. No wait. Tabitha took a closer look, her expressive purple eyes seeming to eat up all that he was. Silver, it was strands of silver. The rest of him seemed pleasing as well for the poor waitress. Dusky tanned skin, ocean blue eyes and strong able looking body. His clothes on the other hand left much to be desired, their quality poor in both monetary value and fashion sense. He was dirty too.
Conclusion! A poor traveling farmer boy, his only saving grace being that he was remarkably handsome for such.
"Welcome to the Rusty Swallow Tavern!" cheerfully greeted Tabitha, idly pushing some of her blond hair back as she dragged the poor boy inside. "I'll be your hostess for the evening! What can I get a devilishly charming boy like yourself?" she batted her eyelashes, squeezing his arm tightly to her abundant chest, enjoying the feel of his toned muscles.
"Ah.." the boy stuttered, blushing somewhat from the contact, "Ah.. miss.. heh.. ah.."
"Your a cutie!" she suddenly said, zooming up to his face. A nose width apart, she seemed to gaze into his eyes deeply before smiling brightly, "Lets get you seated."
***
Ranma gulped, suppressing a shudder as the overly cheerful girl left him in his seat, "Jesus... what the hell was that about?" he thought, slightly irritated by her cheerful demeanor.
Banishing thoughts about his waitress, Ranma took the peaceful moment to examine the Tavern. A rather large room by his standards, constructed of wood, hay, rope and some kind of plaster. The room itself was filled numerous tables and chairs, as well as a long bar on the opposite side of the room. He eye'ed the huge troll for a moment, before ignoring him out right. The building itself was pretty empty, but it was still the early afternoon and he guessed they wouldn't start filling up until later.
"What can I get for ya cutie?" Ranma startled at the annoying waitresses reappearance. Tabitha was all smiles, leaning towards him in order to inspire rather.. lewd.. thoughts in him. Ranma didn't notice, "Ah.. yeah.. what kind of food you servin?"
"Well.." Tabitha commented, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "It's too early for the main course to be prepared." she hmmed, some more before giggling, "If you don't mind cold soup, I can rustle up some of last nights dinner."
"That's fine. Gimme five servins then." replied Ranma with a shrug, "Oh, and somethin refreshin to drink."
"Righty-o!" she chirruped walking away.
Ranma watched her leave for a moment, and then snorted. "Cheery obliviousness.. how.. depressing." he grumbled, thoughts of Kasumi bubbling to the forefront.
***
"What the HELL!" Thought Ranma with a snarl on his face as he stared at a bulletin board. It was a simple thing, only a five by five foot board with numerous pictures tacked across it surface. Lets rephrase that; Numerous WANTED posters tacked across its surface.
When he had first noticed the board he had simply gone to examine it out of curiosity. Boy, now he wish he hadn't.
The Board held the Ten most wanted fugitives in all of Jade. Aside from various pirates, bandit leaders and the like, Ranma had only found his attention drawn to four posters in particular.
The first two pictures were actually a pair of thieves wanted for numerous thefts, robberies, and in some cases assault as they made their escape. The picture themselves weren't very defined, just a shadowy picture of a monstrous man and some dark skinned elf.
Ranma shook his head, wondering what it was about the two that had grabbed his attention in the first place.
The top two most wanted were... of him. More importantly, they had managed to draw a very credible likeness to his male Hybrid form "Shit." he thought irritably. He shouldn't have expected anything less, but it still pissed him off for being hunted simply because he was born.
Ranma growled at the last picture. It held a very credible likeness to his female human form, and he had no doubt this was Trisha and Sylvia's fault. He really shouldn't have transformed to his human female form in front of them, he had just been so damn excited though.
"It figures." he grumbled irritably before returning to his table.
Lets look towards:
See other episodes by Matdeception
(Posted Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:28)
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