a return

[Joe]

Joe looked back to see his footprints in the light snow that was still falling. He sighed. It had been a long journey, but as he turned back towards his destination, a smile quickly returned to his face. He pushed open the door to the tavern and stepped in, glad to finally be home again. He walked up to the bar and ordered a drink to warm up, then looked around for any familiar faces.

[zipcat]

*zip was sitting in the bar and finishing her cider. Between her cup and cheek, she peeked at the guard beside her. Aku had said it was alright for her to go off if she had a guard with her, but honestly she would have liked to be alone for a day. But her guard had been nice, and, after zip gathered the courage to talk about it, the guard had kept a bit of distance for the walk. It was peaceful, but zip couldn't tell if the guard made her more paranoid or not.*

*For some reason, the Amentan didn't think that a guard was someone you were supposed to be friends with. It just didn't feel like something appropriate. She did know the guard's name though; Judith. The guard wasn't in much armor, but simply by how the sat she appeared to be a good swordsman. Aku must have picked someone he trusted to guard zip, or so she thought. Even if the guard looked skilled, she was pretty, too, with smoky eyes to join her temperate smile.*

*zip was about to turn back to the bar when one of her friends walked in. One she hadn't seen in a long time. Joe. Her own smile blossomed as she passed a wave to her friend, but she didn't know if he'd notice or not. zip's guard simply kept her eye out, half-trusting zip's friends yet checking Joe out to insure herself he was friendly. Had zip not been so obviously pregnant, she would have come alone.*

[Joe]

"Zip! Wow, look at you. So I guess this means you got married. I hope this means you got married anyway. I guess that's why you have the, uh, deadly beauty following you huh? Aku always was overly protective." Joe glanced over at the guard and smiled, "You don't need to worry about me, I'm an ambassador of Titan, or I was anyway. I've, err, been on a sort of sabatacle recently, but who knows, I might pick up that mantle again." Then turning back to zip he said, "So tell me, what did I miss while I was gone?"

[zipcat]

*It took zip a moment to realize what Joe was talking about. When she realized it, she frowned, but she smiled again as he mentioned her marriage and Aku. She didn't think he was overly protective, but he only hoped for her to be safe. The guard relaxed, somewhat, at what Joe had to say, her arm relaxing most of all. When Joe finished talking, zip was done nodding and replied.*

*"Yes, I got married." She thumbed her wedding ring on her lap with a smile. "But.. new things. Lets see... I don't really keep up on those things, sorry Joe. I don't think much has changed however." The only new things she knew about concerned herself, and Joe already noticed both of those. The guard turned in her seat to listen to the starting conversation.*

[Ominous]

I walked into the tavern, after having set fire to...well, that's a different story...and to my surprise, found Joe.

"Joe! How're you! Where've you been? Jeez, it's been a while..."

[Agustus]

..::Gus had been waiting lat least half the day in the rafters of the tavern. He had nothing to do but watch as people entered the tavern and drank. It had been so un eventful for such a long time since many of his companions had departed for sabaticles. He needed a laugh so badly, so Gus had with him an anvil he had ready for When omin would come waltzing in to the tavern. To his surprise Joe walked in, but not wanting to budge from the spot as it would ruin the surprise and laugh of hurtin Ominous he held fast and waited until the opertune moment as Ominous walked in. Gus let go of the anvil hoping it would hit its mark, though it fell short and missed ominous completely. Not one for being caught gus left the rafters as hastely as he could and popped up into his quarters only to walk back down the stairs to complain about the rucus::..

"WHAT IS ALL THE FUSS ABOUT!"
*Glares angrily as if a migrane from binge drinking was tormenting him*
"KEEP IT DOW!....
Joe?!? How ya doin buddy been a long time since you came by..."
*forgets all about having a "Hangover"
"Here have a drink on ole' Brops tab"
*smiles wanely hoping no one noticed he was the one who dropped the anvil*
<_<
>_>

[Joe]

Joe smiled as the anvil fell behind Ominous with a crash. "Some things never change I guess." he said as Omin walked up. "No doubt Gus's handywork there- Ah, speak of the devil." Joe leaned over towards Zip's guard and whispered so both Gus and Ominous could here, "Now these two are the ones you need to watch out for. ... Sure Gus, don't mind if I do." he said as he straightened himself, barely containing his grin at these two clowns.

[Ominous]

The anvil fell behind me, making a large hole in the floor. I jumped, startled, and looked up to see its source. I notice Gus slinking away back to his quarters, but pretended as if I saw nothing. Revenge, after all, was a dish best served cold.

As I was about to respond to Joe, telling him not to let Gus onto the fact that he knew, two awful things happened:

1. Gus walked in, poorly covering his recent murder attempt, and
2. The floor around me fell in. Guess they get unstable when there are giant holes in them.

I indignantly fell into the basement.

[zipcat]

*zip's smile to see Ominious was stolen when the crash of the anvil widened her eyes. But things continued, and after being assured things were safe and that it was only Gus zip giggled at the little thing. Her guard's attention peeked from the commotion, but with friend's meeting up again she pulled back. Joe's comment brought a small chuckle from Judith, taking it more as a joke than she did a warning. Still, she kept her eye out on them.*

*The Amentan smiled her hello to someone who once trained her, Ominious, and then, Gus.*

[Cheshire]

ooc: sorry, not quite in the mood to RP right now but just wanted to say hey to ya joe.

[Agustus]

.::As He watched Ominous fall into the whole Gus almost let out a loud chuckle but held it back and let out a smirk. He hurridly went to the edge of the whole and asked if Ominous was injured hoping he would get a responce... hopefully a good one.::

"Yo! Omin, You OK? need any help?"

.::Gus still pretended to be innocent though he got the feeling that everyone already knew he shook off the sentiments and proceded to help Omin out.::

"Eh.... Don't worry this type of stuff happens all the time...
.::looks toward zip and her body guard then having a surprised look notices zip was pregnant.::

*slurs words*
"whoa zip wh- when that... when did tha haven...."
*composes himself*
"Ahem.... Zip when did that happen?!?.... man i have been gone along time to not have noticed that..."
.::Gus forgot all about Ominous and Joe for a moment and looked only at zip.::

"Well i guess congratulations are in order"

[Zuka Zamamee]

ooc: hey bud, just thought I'd stop by and say hello...I'm not really in the mood to join more RP's at the moment.

[Joe]

ooc: well, I didn't really expect everyone to join ic for this anyway. ... Hi.

"Well, this is quite the return indeed. I'm here for ten minutes and already the tavern floor is destroyed. Well, nothing a little bit of magic can't fix. I'm just curious who leaves an anvil in the rafters to fall danerously close to killing someone though." Joe gave Gus a sideways, knowing look as he helped Omin out of the cellar. He then started to levitate the fallen floorboards back to their spots before he realized he really didn't know any spells to keep them there. "Umm, anyone have some nails or something?"

[Ominous]

Gus was putting on a kind air in trying to help me out, but his surprise at zip's pregnancy caused him to let go of my hand, letting me fall back into the cellar. I shook off the concussion and just climbed up the stairs.

*Ahem,* I started, "as I was saying before that mysterious anvil caused me even more trouble, I-"

Having been foolish, I had placed myself right next to the hole again. Of course, I fell through another five square feet of the floor. "I hate my life," I muttered to myself.

[zipcat]

*zip curled to the side to get a better view of Gus and Ominous, in all the strange things going on. They were weird. Her guard just thought it was funny though. Had her vines not supplied her cheeks, she would have paled when she realized what Gus was talking about. Even so, her cheeks quickly took a heavy blush. She didn't really know how long Gus had been gone, but she hadn't seen him in a long time.*

*"Thank you?" was all she had to say for his questions and congratulations as she watched Ominous fall.*

*The Amentan couldn't think of a way to help Joe, so she just kept her seat to stay out of the way. She wished she could help, though. Instead, she put her glass down to offer Ominous a more steady hand to get out with. But her guard didn't like the idea of zip straining herself, and past her hand over zip's shoulder as Judith offered her hand instead. zip smiled weakly, but understandably, and went back to her cider.*