Fucking captcha stealing my trip...

Recently I replayed Bayonetta. I remembered that Bayonetta herself is a witch.

I can no longer picture Kiara as looking like anything else.

"The hell pissed in your wheaties this morning oh "Princess of the Hay"?" You gripe as you search around for your scattered clothes, finally finding them on the bathroom floor.

"You did! When you made me spend the last half an hour trying to wake your idiot self up!" Kiara retorts with a scowl.

"Eh? Why? Haven't gotten any calls." You check your phones and confirm you haven't.

"Because, mortal. If we don't go now, we'll miss the afternoon dolphin show."

You pause for a second, Hawaiian shirt half-on, and turn around to look at her.

"You're joking."

"I'm joking, now get dressed. We may not have anything to go on, but we certainly won't do any good sitting around here all day."

"Why? What did you have in mind?"

"Anything other than this. We can hit up the internet or something, or go the The Library perhaps. Anything would be better than letting you sleep more. You've been out for over ten hours." Kiara averts her eyes as you continue dressing.

Well you admit she does bring up a good point. Just because your contacts have yet to dredge anything up for you doesn't mean you can't try to figure things out for yourself a bit.

That just leaves you trying to figure out the next step...

>talk/question/action? To the internet? To the dolphin show?

>>18504703
Never played it but it certainly seemed to have a unique style.

I like this pic that the anon from Finland drew up.

To the dolphin show! With all haste we must attend to our fellow magic users

>>18504721
Made by the same guy who did the Devil May Cry and Viewtaful Joe series. He always has a stated goal for a video game. For DMC it was "Be as cool as possible", for Bayonetta it was "Be as sexy as possible".
Pretty much everything about Bayonetta's character is from some sort of fetish or sexual imagery.

You quickly finish throwing on the rest of your clothes and gathering up the rest of your things. You certainly wouldn't want to leave any of the phones behind.

...Or the AK...

After a triple check to make sure you haven't left behind any traces, anything that could come back to bite you in the ass, you head out of the room.

The halls are already quite busy, lots of tourists from all parts of the world already busying themselves with the stress of vacationing. You see more than one mother berating her children in a foreign language.

Thankfully, it seems none of them can see the ghost-thing... Whatever Kiara is at the moment... Floating along behind you.

"...You know trying to deceive me is quite futile, I can read your thoughts."

"You mean you don't want to go see your magic sea friends?" You think to her.

"No, not particularly."

"Too bad for you, then." You smirk, perhaps feeling it is a bit of revenge after the events of last night.

The dolphin area isn't hard to find, but it certainly isn't easy to get a view of. There are at least a hundred people all gathered around, crowding the wooden rails as they each strain for a view.

You manage to find yourself a nice spot right on the far edge, just a few kids in front of you, too short to block your view.

Sure enough, you see the splashes of the dolphins, and pretty soon several of them breaching.

"So which one is the most powerful wizard of the bunch?" You tease.

"How about I toss you into the water and let you find out for yourself?" Kiara scowls back.

"...The one on the right, there, just came out of the water. He's got the most of the ones here." She adds after a minute.

This location also garners you quite a different view than dolphins, one of the only road in and out of Duck Key.

Which a massive truck is currently and slowly idling down, the word FEMA across the side plainly visible even from here. The same kind of truck you remember tinfoil telling you about...

>action?

>>18504872
"Now aren't you glad we came to see the dolphins?"

Get the fuck out, right the fuck now

Perhaps I picked a bad time

>>18504932

Second this. Can Kiara tell anything about the truck? Probably platinum lined, but hey, you never know.

Empathy link to the dolphins, defend us from FEMA trucks.

Serious action though would be to stay in the crowd, don't leak magic and hope the truck passes and continues further into the key

"We need to go. NOW!" Kiara shouts, already floating back down from above the rail.

"You think I don't know that?!?"

You're already moving fast, as fast as possible through this kind of crowd, at least. You know that truck can detect magic radiation, and if they are just driving them around on the main roads, probably from a decent range.

Several tourists shoot you dirty looks as you push your way past them, but you have more important things on your mind than not pissing people off. Namely, getting the fuck to your car.

You drop the card key at the lobby, nearly sprinting past as you do. Now quite painfully aware at how far away you parked.

"Hurry up, hurry up!!!"

Witch pressing you hard, you break into a full-on run and hope you can make it in time. With any luck the faraday cage you built inside the 'cuda might shield your presence here from the truck, or at least dampen it a bit, give you enough time to escape.

Finally you spot it, a Prius on either side of it. You'd lament about the current state of the automotive industry and substandard, soulless rides... If you weren't currently fearing for your safety.

Fumbling the keys, you shove one into the lock and turn. As soon as the door opens, you're sliding inside, slamming it shut. Half of the cage is already up, but you scramble to place the rest of it over the remaining windows. Normally you would take care so the rough edges of aluminum wouldn't scratch up the insides of your car, but not this time. It just takes you a few seconds to get them all in place, and you hope that few seconds was fast enough.

"Shit, the fuck do we do now?"

The car remains silent for several moments.

"There are souls... In the truck..." Kiara finally speaks up, her eyes unfocused as though in distracted thought.

"What do you want to do about it?"

"Witch souls?"

"Dozens, perhaps more."

"Fucking peachy." You jab the key into the ignition and roll the old engine over. Thankfully it starts without trouble, firing to rumbling life.

"So what do we do now?"

"How would I know? I'm not sure that this cage will shield us from the tracking, but it might. I don't even know if it's range dependent." Kiara bites her thumb, looking quite stressed.

You double-check on the current equipment you've got stashed in the 'cuda. Your Sig, the AK74u, the Mini Draco, the VSS, and lastly the SMAW in the trunk. A small arsenal, but perhaps too little to fight off a kill team if they find you.

That leaves you with a decision to make, and no easy answer as to which is going to work.

You could sit here, a bit off of the main road. The faraday cage is in place, and might shield you from the truck at this range.

At the same time, it might not. You could keep it in place and get the fuck off of this island at the same time, but doing so would bring you closer to the truck, which is moving painfully slow, it will be even with you in a minute.

Or shit, you could do something completely crazy and hit the truck right here, right now. Though it would certainly set off alarms...

>action?

>>18505084

First things first, we're going to need a plan to retrieve the souls from the truck. Doing something drastic now will only tip our hand. Is there any high ground we could watch the truck from from a safe distance? They must be range dependent, otherwise they wouldn't need so many all over the country.

To what extent it's the truck armored? Is the VSS silenced, or at least one of those muzzle flash reducers so we can shot the driver or tires to stall the truck then drive out of the key

>>18505131
Duck key is a small set of islands. Unfortunately there is very little elevation difference throughout the keys, and the only high ground here are a handful of bridges, all part of Duck Key's 1 main road.

>>18505152
It appears to be just a standard semi-truck, with no noticeable armor or armaments. The VSS is fairly quiet but the resort is also quite busy.

>>18505084
Part of me wants to put a HEAA through the truck and say fuck it all.

>>18505131
Why do we need to retrieve them? For all we know they're more of those tracking boxes.

>>18505084
fire a SMAW rocket at the truck and drive the fuck away

>>18505084
Disguise self, get close enough to superpunch the truck. Try to free the witch souls if possible.

It's a public place, if we don't hide our face it's going to be plastered all over the news.

Why can't we just DC sniper this shit from our car in the parking garage? Then drive of like nothing happened. If shit hits the fan we can still shot it with the rocket.

How good a shot is Last? I mean, we've seen him do some stuff, but how good is he really? Is he 'Shoot the wings off an angel dancing on a pinhead' good or what?

>>18505271
Decent enough. Shot out that tire on a moving truck with the VSS a few threads ago.

Diego taught him well, though he isn't some super-human marksman, he is at least competent.

[ ] Punch

[ ] SMAW

[ ] VSS

[ ] Don't attack

Probably lined in platinum so punch isn't gonna be to helpful.

VSS simply because the SMAW is gonna draw to much attention... Unless we can concurrence the whole Key we are shooting aMichael Bay movie

>>18505084
Stay here for now. Hopefully the dolphins will give them enough tracking interference to not pick us out.

>>18505287

Don't attack.

>>18505287
No attack for now.

You think briefly about hitting the truck, taking the fight to them... But now isn't really the time for that. Not here and not now.

Instead, you wait inside the car, behind the grid of the faraday cage.

The truck is visible from your location now, crawling along the cracked, weathered pavement. The cab is blacked out, windows so tinted you can't see through them.

"Don't do anything rash, let them pass..."

You don't respond, instead watching as the FEMA truck draws even with you, still rolling slow. For a moment you expect them to stop, for a SWAT team to come pouring out the back. But they pass by without reaction. Either they didn't detect Kiara's magic, or it isn't registering against the background with the faraday cage in place.

"I'd rather not risk a second pass, as soon as they get by, go."

"I know." You reply, gripping the wheel hard as you watch the truck start to drive past. Finally you think it's close enough to get by without getting any closer to it then you have been.

You make a slow, quiet exit from the parking lot. It isn't easy to blend in with the 'cuda, but you have got to try.

>>18505477
Presumably there are many of these trucks on the road. If one goes missing, the net tightens.

And if a call gets out that includes the word 'Barracuda' it is game over.

After a stress filled minute, you see the truck fade in your rear view mirror and punch it.

A small squeal of the tires and you're back onto the interseas highway, highway 1. You let out a massive sigh of relief, and even notice Kiara sit back in her seat, closing her eyes.

"That was close, way too fucking close."

"We need to be more careful." Kiara agrees.

Back on the only road in and out of the Keys again, you think about your next step. Surely Sarna or tinfoil would call you if they had anything, but your phones have been silent all morning.

Though again, you aren't incapable of doing your own research.

"How would we get to the library?" You glance over at Kiara.

"Fly, I suppose. We certainly can't drive to Italy."

"Aww, you can't magic up the 'cuda into a flying car?"

"..."

You take that as a no.

>action?

>>18505518
Get to Italy somehow, before we leave we might want to make a big noise somewhere to attract their attention to America then get on a boat to Italy, we'll probably end up in Europe anyhow. I'd rather not pull Dad in again and security procedures for boats are a lot laxer and have less Government interference. Also being in a giant hunk of steel in the middle of the ocean might make magic harder to track.

>>18505518
Put on the Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang theme. We gotta have it.

On a more serious note, see about chartering a ship.They know we have access to a plane, so they'll be focusing on the air far more than the sea.

Planes will be a bitch now, but down in the keys we may find a cruise liner heading to Italy we can sneak/buy our way on. Security is a joke on those, I can't even count how much liquor and cigars I've carried through those.

>>18505518

Ask Kiara how she feels about a pleasure cruise, look into bribing or sneaking your a cargo container.

Also, if we stole one of those soul boxes, would it be possible to use it to sniff out Kiara's body? Or other trackers? Though I guess that'd be kind of a two way street.

>>18505566
Kiara presumably is a better detector than the wimpy souls in the boxes.

>>18505590

Whoops! Good point.

"Flying might not even be the best idea. They'll be expecting us to fly, so they'll think we know that and that means they expect us to seek alternate transport. At the same time, they expect us to be thinking about this, so they'll expect us to get on a plane."

"..."

"I'm saying we go by boat. Plenty of them around here that accept passengers, just need to find one to Europe which shouldn't be difficult. It won't be as fast, but it should be safer."

"It could take days by ship, weeks even." Kiara doesn't seem enthused at the idea of spending a week on the water.

"Yeah but that will keep us off of the grid for a while, might make the Order get a bit lax when they don't turn anything up right away." You take a quick look and deem it safe to turn around. Another drive back to Key West is going to be annoying considering how many times you've done it recently, but there isn't a better port nearby.

"Besides, ships have improved since you were last one one."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah, no more scurvy."

The trip down south takes several hours, traffic isn't playing ball and you're stuck doing five under for most of the journey. Which gives you plenty of time to sing along to the speakers to try to take your mind off of things. Kiara stays quiet for the most part.

>>18505539
>>18505561

Boats are slow. Our contacts may end up finding stuff while we are cruisin' plus we have that anniversary coming up.

We met that one sorta former Order guy around here. Maybe we can go break into his place.

>>18505639

Maybe. He was pretty low in the foodchain I think, so unless he was in that Wolf unit and he has files lying around, we might not find much.

Alternatively we could try assaulting...Hoover Dam? I think that was the place that supposedly they kept a lot of their records, though I might be misremembering.

Pulling off into the narrow roads of Key West, you start to make your way toward the pier. There are always a mess of cruise ships, some days more than four. It results in even more packed streets and crowded bars. Judging by the people all mulling about down Duval street, there's at least one ship in port.

Now you just have to pray that one of them is bound for Europe anytime soon.

Unfortunately with the advent of rental cars, cruise ships nowadays don't generally allow passengers to take their rides along. Most lack the capability.

Which means you have to park the 'cuda, again.

This time you head for one of the more upscale parking garages, one catering more toward the high-class clientele, one with a gate guard. If you have to leave your baby behind for maybe a few weeks even, you want to come back to find it intact and not missing most of it's parts or outright stolen.

The guard seems attentive, maybe a bit leery at the state of your ride. When you smack down enough cash in his palm to pay for a good two weeks of parking, though, he raises the gate for you with a curt bow.

"Dad always said that money is the universal lubricant..."

You drive up toward the top and find a nice, quiet space. Right in between a GT500 and a BMW 335i. You figure if someone is going to do a bit of "shopping" here, they won't be going for your car first.

Leaving your 'cuda behind after telling her soothingly that you will most certainly be back, you take the steps down onto the main drag.

"We're going to be gone for a while is my guess..." You figure you should tie up any loose ends that need it before finding passage.

>talk/question/action?

>>18505700
>>18505700
Might as well give some of our contacts a call, let em know we'll be on another trip

>>18505700

Ask Kiara if she needs to "eat" before you head out, do a little recon to see if anything seems out of place.

>>18505700
Well getting on a cruise ship might be annoying, there aren't all that many Transatlantic cruises and they are often booked and take their sweet fucking time.

For this we might want to book passage on a freighter, it's cheaper, more direct and easier. Less passengers as well, usually no more than a dozen passengers not counting the crew. It isn't exactly comfortable nor are they catering to us, but they are unlikely to ask questions and are just getting us from point A to point B.

How long until the anniversary? It's going to be at least two weeks across and we'll be doing stuff there and I'm not sure if we're going to take a plane back.

If Kiara needs to consume something make sure to do it near an airport so it looks like we're catching a snack before a flight.

What weaponry can we bring, call conspiracy bro and give him a heads up that we are going to the lizardmen's information storage, tell our teen witch spy we are going of the grid for a bitbut keep her eyes out for info

Deciding it might be best to let your contacts know you are going to be out for a while, you pull out two cellphones and make a mental note to pick more up in Europe.

You try tinfoil first.

Its a bit out of normal when it goes to voicemail, though its happened before. This time his in-box is empty so you leave a brief and vague message letting him know you're going to be out of contact for a few days, possibly more.

After that, you try Sarna.

"Hey big bro, whats up?!"

"Something, Sarna, something. Going to be out of contact for a few days, maybe a week. Find anything yet?"

"Eh? That long?! Well... I haven't found much, things are locked down pretty tightly now. I have a few other magic users that I'm scoping out to see if they could be brought over, though." She says thoughtfully.

"Great, well don't rush anything. You've got plenty of time until I call you again most likely. Until then, don't do anything stupid."

"You're one to talk..." Sarna giggles.

"Yeah yeah, later."

"Bye~!"

You hang up and look up at Kiara lazily floating on her back above you.

"You need to, uh... Eat? Before we go?"

"I've no need to yet, with my soul I can store significantly more magic. I won't require it, even if I do, the sea is a powerful well of magic for the most part."

Nah, definitely cruise liner. We still deserve some relaxation, and the more time spent off the radar the better.

Well, that's good at least, you don't want to draw any kind of attention to yourself.

Instead, you start walking down toward the harbor, duffel over your shoulder. While you certainly won't be able to send it through any kind of security, you can always dump it if you have to. But first you want to check out your options.

Along the way you stop at a small, hole in the wall crab shack. Service is pretty quick and a few minutes later you are walking again while snacking on a conch sandwich and some fries.

It takes a good twenty minutes to finally reach Mallory square, and from here you can spot two cruise ships. After talking to some of the crew, you find that one of them is headed back to France after a two-day stop in the Bahamas.

"Well that's one option..." You head off toward the freighter docks to chat up some crews.

You find one smaller vessel willing to take you aboard, a refrigerator ship bound for Spain, carrying fresh sea food for fancy, upscale joints.

Just as you're about to go find a trash can, you spot something else. A large eighty foot catamaran yacht, downright impressive.

"We could steal it." Kiara muses, "I could trick the crew into thinking you were the owner..."

You look up at the floating witch.

"Doesn't go against your principles?"

"It would be easily justified." She shrugs.

>wat do?

>>18505873

You have to go through a full customs check to get into a cruiser liner, passport, ID and all. It'd be a hell of a lot safer to find some cargo ship and bribe our way on.

>>18505900
If we were to steal it, we would need to find the owner. Would be incredibly stupid to have the crew think its the owner while he puts out a fucking APB for a missing yacht.

Oh good good yacht! I poped a Boner just thinking of stealing a yacht!

>>18505900

Jack the yacht. Use Mind Voodoo to assuage any suspicion. We'll be able to take our stuff and have a direct ride.

>>18505900
Refrigerator ship, raises the least flags, gets there fast unlike a cruise ship, and is the most under the radar.

People notice yachts and I doubt that the owner wouldn't notice and if we convinced him through magic his social circle would be confused as all fuck, it'd draw attention.

We can probably bring our gear on the refrigerator ship with a few hundred dollar bills, probably won't even have to use magic.

>>18505900

refrigerator ship

Don't want to get any attention from the owner calling the yacht in.

I say go with the refrigerator ship. The yacht is a bad idea since the real owner would notice it gone and someone who owns that has enough money to make things unconfortable for us. The cruise will leave a paper trail even if we use fake ID and names.

Moody people who own 80ft yachts don't use them but once in a blue moon... They probably have several houses to... Chances of the owner realizing his crew sailed off is slim...

Sure seems like we're missing some people tonight.

I think the fridge ship won

Go for the yacht.

>>18505974
Slim, but still a risk, he could want to lend it out to his daughter for her birthday, he could be planning a spring cruise, his mistress could want to go out and have a romantic day out in the middle of the ocean. His personal assistant might notice that his boat left berth for no known reason. The ire of a rich man is something we want to avoid.

We can have a comfortable get away when paranoia isn't the best strategy.

I vote Yacht, magic can get us into trouble, it can get us back out of trouble.

>>18506001
or its tied again...

Why take the ship that smells like fish and probably is full of bait forRa'elmon to resurrect from the pits of the ocean and vore... Wait nm, let's take the vore route over the luxury one

>>18506000
Fridge ship, safe and easy.

Refrigerator ship. I'm favor of less magic the better.

Finally out of calc review and caught up and we've got a tie.

I say yacht. If we run into trouble getting into port we can always pop off the side and do our Pirates of the Caribbean bit again.

The problem with the Yacht is we'd have to use magic to get it, which points the Order in the direction of the port and worst case scenario directly to our boat.

>>18506082
They didn't blow up the hotel when she summoned spiritgoats. I would say their detection methods aren't quite that omnipresent.

Who says they didn't detect the goats? Remember the FEMA truck DID show up the next morning

>>18506096
We had a FEMA truck show up where we were staying within 16 hours.

>>18506093
Or we could buy them off, pretend to be a relative, or just kill them all. I want a damn yacht for last to go all Kennedy on the high seas... Or pretend to be Ahab

>>18506128
Coincidence. The trucks are all over the fuckin place according to our bro

>>18506128
Coincidence, they're covering EVERYWHERE. If they showed up the same night, I'd say you were onto something. But 10 hours is a coincidence.

>>18506146
Coincidence maybe. But do we really want to take the chance?

>>18506154
Fuck yeah it's a fucking yacht dude.

"Well as much fun as it would probably be to have a yacht all to ourselves, besides, magic might set off some undersea sensors or some shit."

You turn to take another look at the fridge ship. It certainly isn't new, or pretty, but it will probably at least do the job.

The captain is an old Portuguese naval man, and despite not speaking a damn word of English, you get on well enough. Speaking through one of the crew that can translate, you find out the rate and pay it up front.

Things get hairy for a moment when you get ready to start loading your bags, however. There are a few crew members speaking rapidly, and finally one approaches and tells you that they want to search your bag. Company policy and all that.

Thankfully nothing says "fuck company policy" like a stack of twenties large enough to ensure that each man of the crew can enjoy a nice few days in some tropical port. They look over the cash hungrily and the captain lets you know through the interpreter that they are excited to be able to afford "the good whores again."

Whatever floats their boat.

"What an awful..."

>>18506131
That's the stupidest thing I've read today, congradulations.

"Yeah yeah, I know." You grumble in your mind as you follow one of the crew toward your bunk.

Thankfully they don't expect you to stay in the regular crew quarters. There's an officer's cabin that isn't being used at the moment, the previous occupant having gone AWOL in the Bahamas.

It certainly isn't the Hilton, but it isn't terrible. You've got a private shower and a clean bed, at least. The crew lets you know when meals are going to be served, and other than that, there is little else to do. They themselves don't have much in the way of duties, everything they needed to do already done, the holds full.

The ship departs rather quickly, the crew eager to get under power and back to Spain so they can get paid. As you watch the shoreline of Key West start to disappear, you try to think of something to do.

>talk/question/action? Timeskip to Spain?

>>18506167
Shit I'd be excited too if I were them.

>>18506174
Exercise montage.

>>18506171
>congradulations

>>18506174
Poker with the crew.

winning *just* enough to make a profit, but not enough for them to toss us overboard

>>18506174
Try to talk to Dolphins off the port bow.

~The hours approaching, just give it your best
You've got to reach your prime.~

You take advantage of the meager gym inside the ship to work out. You aren't quite sure why.

~That's when you need to put yourself to the test,
And show us a passage of time,
We're gonna need a montage (montage)~

Furiously you punch at the bag, having to hold back quite a bit to not just blow through it with your fists, which now pack quite a bit of heat behind them.

~Oh it takes a montage (montage!!!!)~

With one last punch, you underestimate and send your arm right through the bag.


~Anything that we want to go from just a beginner to a pro,
You need a montage (montage)
Oh it takes a montage (montage)~

"Well that certainly was pointless..." Kiara sighs as you towel the sweat off.

"It was fun at least." You shrug

>>18506174
Do they have a library in here, if so get some reading in, Kiara may have missed out on some good literature from the 1600s or so to the present. See if we can find some classics and we can culture ourself and catch her up to date. She may have missed out on Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes among many others. It's not like we have anything better to do.

>>18506295
>Library in fridge ship
More likely than you think.

Eh, I don't see what the fuss over shakespear is.

maybe some 1984? or maybe some Lovecraft?

Heading outside into the cooling evening air, you walk out to the port side of the vessel and peer down into the water.

Surprisingly there are a few dolphins eagerly racing alongside the craft, bouncing happily in the wake.

You lean down as far over the railing as you dare, drawing near one of the porpoises.

"Tell me your secrets, oh magical mammalian friend." You whisper to it.

The dolphin clicks twice in response before spraying you in the face with its blowhole.

"Well fuck you too, jackass." You glare.

Out of the corner of your eye you catch Kiara snigger, before she floats down effortlessly until she's above the dolphins. She reaches out and touches one, and the dolphin leaps in a high arc in response. This triggers the rest of them, and you watch for a few minutes as they keep jumping until falling behind the craft.

"I spotted a few books, I'm going to go read." With a sigh, you head back to the quarters you were given, Kiara floating along behind you.

Along the way you snag up a few classics, tattered pages and nearly unrecognizable covers adorning each one. It took you a few minutes to find any in English, most in either Portuguese, Spanish, or some squiggly lettered nonsense you don't recognize.

With a groan, you lower yourself down onto the bunk and flip open Hamlet. Literature had never been your strong suit, but there is little else to do.

"Mortal, we have a problem here."

You glance up at Kiara.

"This bed... Is too small for the both of us."

>>18506358
Ha Lovecraft... Find out from Kiara that the old ones are real.

>>18506373
This is some kill bill shit going on.

>>18506373
.....Rock paper scissors?

>>18506373
"Well, the way I see it we have a couple options here, few of them pleasant.

1.) We can take shifts sleeping.
2.) You can go back to living inside my mind.
3.) We can spoon - but I warn you, I have no control over my morning wood.

>>18506358
He's a damn good writer, also I just reread King Lear, am starting Don Quixote and also reading Arabian Nights, though that one seemed just a bit our of character.

>>18506373
I'm sleeping on the bed, if you want you can sleep on top or phase through me if that's how your soul works. I'm sorry about this but it looks like we're going to have to squeeze.

>>18506373
The way I see it, beds are meant for those still occupying physical form.

>>18506373
I'm sorry Kiara, but if you want to sleep on a bed we're going to have to do something very strange and completely unheard of ... snuggle.

>>18506373
Are you calling me fat?

Ask why she needs to put up with physical contact in her current form. If the answer means that she actually needs the bed more then us, then it's too bad for her, we still have a body.

You lock eyes with those magnificent purple orbs of hers, the energy between the stare almost crackling in the air around it.

"You can float, I can't. You sleep midair or something. A ghost-thingy doesn't need a bed I don't think."

"Feh, some gentleman you are." Kiara folds her arms and stares harder.

"I never pegged you for being the kind of girl that likes chivalry."

This seems to get her flustered a bit, and she glares which nearly causes you to break eye contact. But you can't do that, it would be a sign of weakness and like a lion she would quickly exploit it.

"Besides, how or why would you even need a bed? Aren't you currently some kind of force ghost, shouldn't you be offering me sagely advice and shit?"

"It gets tiring, maintaining this form without resting. The same as it would for you to work for long periods on your feet. It takes far less energy to lay down on something solid." Kiara tells you pointedly.

"So use the floor, why would it matter what surface you use?"

"Because..." Kiara sighs, "Because it wouldn't be comfortable, and I can feel things in my current form... Somewhat." She shakes her head as though exasperated.

"Well this is quite the quagmire."

"Just move your legs and give me a pillow, I'll make do." She holds out a hand and you give her one of the pillows. This she lays down at the foot of the bed, before floating up and then resting down atop it. It feels a bit strange when she uses you to rest her legs on, though.

"I'm bored." She finally admits.

"Well I guess the question is, than... What are we goona do on the bed?" You smirk.

Kiara kicks you in the chin.

We should introduce Kiara to the literary classic of our generation.....

I, of course, refer to the Twilight series.

>>18506513

>>18506513
If we do that she will be fully within her rights to revoke our license to life. we can't even object at that point.

>>18506508
Sensual foot massage time.

>>18506400
This response is best response

>>18506531
This, minus the sensual.

Aside from the hearty and admittedly quite good meals with the crew, there is little to really do on the ship. The Captain assures you that it won't take but a few days at your current speed, and some of the Tuna is kept fresh, unfrozen, so they have to arrive before it spoils. He also assures you that tonight is lobster night, which sounds good to you.

Most of the time you spend out on the deck, if the weather is clear. There are a few sun-bleached beach chairs, so you lay out and read. Most of the books don't hold your interest for long, if at all. Though Kiara seems to be blazing through them quite easily. Which is fairly annoying when you read out on the decks, because she has to lay next to you to read off of your book. The crew might freak out a bit if they saw a floating book turning it's own pages, after all.

Another day passes, and another. Time seems to go by incredibly slowly aboard the vessel, and you quickly find yourself yearning to be back on solid land. You love the sea, but you weren't cut out to be a sailor with no rum (company policy) and no chance to fish.

>>18506584
Add tickling. She kicks us, we tickle. We already got her mad, CONTINUE ATTACK!

Kiara for her part doesn't complain, well, at anything other than you. The nights have been... Less than comfortable. Several times you've awoken to an angry grunt and quickly had to move your hands off of her legs. Though last night you rubbed the bottom of her foot absent-minded as you read the only Clive Cussler novel on the ship. She didn't say anything... But than again, she didn't tell you to stop, either.

Now again, you're down on the bunk reading. Kiara is most of the way through a collection of Lovecraft and seems to be enjoying it judging by her silence.

You glance up at her a few times before she takes notice.

"Something on your mind, mortal?" She asks, you can tell most of her concentration is still on the story.

>anything to ask?
>"turn off the light I'm going to sleep." (timeskip to Spain)

>>18506643
Would she even tickle?

>>18506649
Three things, how big is this Library of yours, are you ticklish and would you like a massage?

>>18506649
Any truth to those, like with the shoggoths and all?

>>18506649
So just how many mind-rending horrors DO you know?

"Recognize any friends?"

"Hah. There used to be creatures on this world, but nothing like such things as this book goes on about. It seems literature has branched off since I left this world, perhaps there is hope for man after all." She replies from behind her book.

"So nothing from that book, eh?"

"From these? Well, not really. There was a race of aquatic sea creatures, spindly tentacles and whatnot. They were quite dull, certainly no dark force. Stupid enough to be wiped out by over fishing."

"They... Ate them?"

"Fed them to dogs." Kiara tells you.

"So how does it compare to the Library we're heading to?"

"To Alexandria? Pitiful. I've never been one for fictional tales, really. The history unknown to this current world is much more interesting." She sighs and peeks over the book to look at you.

"So we're going to be doing a lot of reading?"

"Hardly. Where we're going, it won't likely be possible for anything to track my magic use. I can search the Library quite quickly with my powers." She puts the book back up again.

Bored with your own story, some love drama you don't even remember the title of, you set the book down on the floor and groan.

Kiara is curling and uncurling her toes as she reads, and you figure you may as well annoy her to pass the time.

Ah, I've finally caught up. Good work, it's quite enjoyable.
Had a couple questions, though. I may have just missed previous explanation since I was reading through rather quickly:

What exactly is Kiara wearing? I assume that we can't change it ourselves like during a dream (though it might be worth trying), but I don't remember seeing anything about it since we got the soul.

Exactly how substantial is she at the moment? As she just explained, she has some physical sensation, and we can clearly touch her, but is that a necessary part of the projection? If we really needed to cram into some tight space, could she go properly immaterial?

You slowly reach out, extending one finger... And attempt to tickle her foot.

As though you were a minor pest, she simply moves her foot away and keeps reading.

That certainly won't do.

It takes a bit of strain, but you go at it once more, lightly tickling the bottom of her foot until...

She sighs, loudly, and picks her legs up. None too gently, setting them back down again on your chest.

"Keep it up and I'll bring the goats back."

"Right..." You abandon the quest to try to get some kind of rise out of her and get back to reading your own book. Which only lasts a few moments before you drift off to sleep. The sound of the waves against the hull does a good job of keeping you out.

***

Light pouring in through the small portcullis, you squint sleepily and debate trying to roll over and nod off again. Unfortunately, your brain is already in gear and you figure you wouldn't be able to even if you tried.

Instead, you attempt to sit up but find yourself blocked. Kiara is sprawled out, snoozing with her mouth open and her legs resting on your abdomen. Despite your moments, she seems quite out. You watch her for a minute or so, thinking about how she's perhaps a bit more human than she cares to let on.

"Anyone ever tell you how creepy you are?" She asks, opening one eye slightly to stare at you.

>>18506814
She can change like she can in the dream sequences. Currently: Hippie dress

She only allows herself to be physical, she can either become ghost-like or return to the confines of your mind if she needs to. But she prefers the open spaces.

>>18506889
Hey, you're the immortal witch sleeping on top of a man with an unhealthy love of his car, most people would call that pretty weird. Anyways, I've only been up for a minute or so.

>>18506889
>Live trough Rome-era
>Someone watching her sleep is creepy
Hokay.jpg

>>18506889
Immortal witch trapped in my brain, on a mission to take down a worldwide conspiracy by a religious cult. I think most everyone would call us creepy.

"Yeah, I'm the creepy one. Never mind you who eats life force from forests and floats around mid-air." You move her legs off so you can stand up and stretch out. Thankfully the ship has a washer and dryer, so you've been enjoying rather clean clothes.

Something is different this morning, however. The ship isn't moving.

"Hey, I think we're here." You tell her, looking outside at the busy port beyond, wondering if and when the crew had planned on waking you up.

"Well lets get going. We still need to make Egypt and that is none too close to here."

She's right, you aren't even close yet. Luckily though, you don't have to go by boat from here if you don't want to. You still have a substantial amount of cash, certainly enough to rent a vehicle and get on the road. Diego had also been thoughtful enough to toss two false passports into your chest rig, which should breeze you through most countries, you hope.

After gathering up the rest of your clothing and equipment, and shoveling it into the duffel, you head out into the bright day beyond the cramped ships quarters.

Most of the crew appear to be gone already, and one lets you know that they have headed out and that the dock workers will handle the unload. After thanking the captain for the ride, you head off into the busy port city.

Thankfully it doesn't take long to find a few places to rent a vehicle, and there are a few choices, some less appealing than others. At the same time, you could likely also secure another boat to take you directly to Egypt.

[ ] Rent a BMW K 1600gt

[ ] Rent a VW Golf GTI

[ ] Rent a very plain Fiat snoremobile

[ ] Find a sea route

>>18507002
>BMW K 1600 GT

doesn't even matter what the other choices are my god that bike

>>18507002
I think a boat's going to be quickest here.

>>18507002
BMW K 1600gt, it's a good adventure/travel bike. It can take bad terrain in stride, can carry our gear if it has goodly sized panniers. It's the only option that can go off road or deal well with the shit roads that we are going to have to deal with. Also BMW does quality work that won't break down on us.

>>18507002
Why not train for a bit. Then BMW K 1600 GT.

Snoremobile

>>18507002
Hell, if we can find another boat, take it. It wouldn't be a long trip, definitely shorter than car. Also keep in mind that the Italy-France-Germany triangle is Order central. And while we might somehow stumble upon clues leading towards her body, we might also put ourselves back on the radar and get swarmed by hunters.

>>18507002
BMW K

Whatever we do, we should head straight for Morocco. The sooner we get out of Europe the better.

VW Golf GTI

>>18507102
I see that you have a point here and I understand your reasoning, but hear me out.

We could be riding this bike.

You quickly ignore the other, less YOU options, and strike a deal for the BMW. Its quite a large bike, and should make for a decent ride. The owner of the place also sets you up with some nice storage, enough to fit everything, even the SMAW when you break it down out of sight.

"We're going to ride this all the way there?" Kiara asks, eying the bike with a bit of trepidation.

"We can make good time on it and it gets pretty good fuel economy, I think... I'm not big into Golfs or econoboxes either." You shrug as you swing up onto the bike, shifting around for a comfortable position.

"..." Kiara folds her arms and stares at you.

"What?" You finally shrug.

"Where am I supposed to ride?" She asks.

"Duh, on the back oh "Destroyer of Tentacle Monsters", where did you think?"

Kiara sighs, resigned, before floating up and then down onto the bike.

"Besides, couldn't you just float along?"

"At the speeds you're likely to be going? Not without using more magic than I would like. I'd rather not draw more attention to ourselves than need be." Kiara grabs you around the middle and you feel her press into your back as you rev the bike to life, "So help me, mortal, so help me if I find you enjoying this..."

>which route do you take to Egypt? Through which countries? Catch a ferry somewhere?

forgot:

>any countries you want to expressly avoid??

>>18507172
Grab a ferry to Morocco, and then just head straight to wherever it is. And make sure to give her a proper introduction to the marvels of modern engineering. If we can take a corner fast enough we might manage to make her clingy.

>>18507172
Countries to avoid: the ones in Yurop.

>>18507225
If we go fast enough she won't be able to hit us for fear of crashing.

>>18507172
Let's hop a ferry across the Gibraltar and run North Africa.

Hope this bike is up for some Dakar action, and also that Libya is more stable in this universe.

>>18507216
Any that enforce speed limits huehuehue

Seriously this bike has more power than my car what the hell

"Say, how are you with... Sand?"

"...Did you happen to SEE when I showed you where I was born? Idiot."

Oh, right.

You take it easy within the city, aside form weaving in and out of traffic. You aren't a squid when it comes to a bike, and normally would be wearing full gear... But with Kiara able to fix you up pretty readily, you don't feel much need for gear.

Instead, you forget all about it. Now you've got...

The itch.

"Shazbot."

"Huh?"

"Gotta go fast." With that, you rip on the throttle and feel the bike instantly respond underneath you. It is a glorious bike, there is simply no other way to aptly describe it. Powerful, sleek, agile... You could go on all day.

You'd hoped the sudden change in driving tactics would have riled Kiara up a bit, but she doesn't mention anything about it. She doesn't even hold on tighter.

Instead of looping around Europe and trying to dodge at least halfway competent Police and likely plenty of Order, you've decided on a different route.

Namely, straight across North Africa.

You just hope that Libya has died down enough for you to cross it without incident. Good thing you worked on your tan aboard the ship, you should blend right in... Yeah, yeah that should work...

>>18507250
Bike through Libya, overthrow Gaddafi.

>>18507250
>Dakar

Someday, someday...

Luckily crossing the straights isn't difficult or overly expensive on a motorcycle. The ferry crews are quite lax and after a few cursory looks, don't even bother searching your bike.

Which is good, because you would have looked pretty damn suspicious suddenly backing out. Not exactly low-key, what you're carrying in those saddlebags...

Along the way you grab some food from the ship's store, stocking up on bottles of water and lightweight, high-calorie chow. Which you figure you might end up needing, you've never been to Africa.

It doesn't take long to enter Morocco, where the crews seem to give even less of a fuck. You breeze past easily, and out on the open roads, you end up making damn good time. Likely because you are clocking along at over a hundred miles an hour.

"See, this is why the bike was the best choice!" You yell back to Kiara. She just stares back, wind whipping up her long hair and trailing it behind the bike.

At your current speed, it doesn't take long to hit Algeria. You get a lot of strange looks, clearly not a local, but you don't mind. You've taken to camping out in the wilderness when there isn't a legit looking hotel around. Though you are packing enough heat and magic to deal with any troublemakers, you don't want no troubrru.

Which brings you to a stop midway through country as you think about the route you want to take...

[ ] Through Libya

[ ] Not through Libya

>>18507367
God if only.

My grandfather has some great stories from the decade he spent in Africa, including stealing an International Scout from an airfield in Nigeria with his coworkers and driving all the way to Tunisia after the government got overthrown.

Once I have some money maybe.

Not trough Libya

Because order is probably there, hunting witches.

>>18507426
Through Libya.

Sudan isn't much better, we can claim journalist or something in Libya and Egypt at least.

>>18507426
Well we're going to want to avoid the major cities, but it'd take way too long to go around the whole country. It's not like we can't fight our way out of whatever the state or the rebels throw at us, if it comes to that. Just keep to the country and go fast.

Nope the fuck away from Libya

>>18507426
Through Libya, stick with central Libya where it's virtually uninhabited, avoid the coast, where 90% of the population is. Also it's a long way around and I don't feel like going through Niger and Chad.

Straight through libya like a bat out of hell. I wonder if She who Play Card Game with Cthulu could super-charge our ride.

>>18507557
Wouldn't want to draw the attention. I am curious if she could just teleport or fly, though. Again, not good for keeping a low profile, but if it's an option in an emergency it'd be good to know about.

As much fun as scooting through the Sahara sounds...

Through Libya but avoid the major cities.

Though you don't fancy entering what it still quite an active hot spot... Going around it doesn't exactly present itself as a superior alternative.

You just hope that your bike and cache of weapons will be enough in case you run into any trouble along the way. For sure the BMW can outrun technicals, but that doesn't mean you fancy actualy doing it.

The border is... Laxly guarded. Twenty dollars US is all it takes to get you past a group of five bored looking men armed with FALs. You'd thought about just trying the passport, but the bribe seemed easier.

Now you're flying full-tilt down the cracked and weathered pavement, the bike doing a magnificent job of putting the power down and staying level. It really is no trouble to keep it pegged past a hundred.

"Say, can you make us fly if we need to?" You turn your head to shout back at Kiara.

"Fly? I suppose, but it would take a great deal of magic, certainly detectable levels." She shrugs.

"How about a teleport? That would certainly make things easy."

"Well tough, because no."

Ah well, you wouldn't exactly want to give up time on the bike, either. As much as you do want to get to the Library... You would by lying if you didn't admit you weren't having a blast.

"Just get us there in one piece. If you wreck the bike too hard I can't just magic it back together, you know." Kiara scolds you.

"Yeah yeah..."

The route takes you past a small town. Well, what USED to be a small town. As you prepare to blaze on past it, you see a convoy of technicals all lined up alongside the road, just off into the sand. They are busily unleashing volley after volley at buildings, which crumble beneath the hail of rockets and shells. As you draw nearer, you see several of the men turning toward you, AKs and FALs at low-ready.

>action?

>>18507658
Keep on riding, keep the speed up, see if Kiara can pull up a sandstorm behind us to at the very least obscure vision.

>>18507658
Wave cheerfully as if nothing was amiss and continue on, hopefully they will either ignore us, or be too confused by our actions to follow.