[M/IC] War of the Hidden (Numbers and Naming)

[Namingtoohard]

Her initial tasks completed, Shivali would withdraw to the fringes of the room whilst Christina went about the task of transforming back into her usual self. The warrior-servant settled for leaning against the nearest empty section of wall she could find, crossing both of her arms across her chest. She watched the entire process with the same strange fascination she had shown when viewing it the first time, despite the sickening sounds and unnatural distortions it caused. The process ended as quickly as it had started, though, and Shivali went back to being nothing more than an idle observer as Christina and her friend exchanged pleasantries.

When the man she now knew to be Alex finally turned his attention her way, Shivali would straighten up, stepping forward to meet the merchant. She eyed his extended hand for a moment, before reaching out and accepting it. Such was not a regular custom amongst her people, but the warrior-servant had been around humans long enough to adopt their social cues. Still, she raised an eyebrow at his strange choice of words, gaze flickering over him critically.

"That's certainly a funny way of introducing yourself. I thought it was customary to start with names amongst your kind. Or have I simply been mistaken all this time?" she would question rather simply, withdrawing her hand after a polite amount of time. The pleasantries concluded, she would retreat to her initial position.

"If you truly believe information to be so valuable, then what are you going to pay me in return for answering such a question? Are you planning on leveraging my place on your wagon, or will you simply try and turn me over to the Nekorian authorities if I refuse? I'm curious" she would question, a toothy grin flickering across her features. This was the sort of playful banter she loved, and Shivali had no intentions of backing down before this stranger's bravado. The Tehnu woman didn't particularly want to start this partnership off on the wrong foot, but she certainly wasn't going to simply lay down and let this human seize such total control of the situation by giving him what he wanted outright.

[Numbers]

"It would depend on your answer. If you meant her harm then I am sure false information might make its way somehow back to your people about how you chose to betray them. Of course, it would be a lie but word of mouth can really be unreliable sometimes. Yet if the answer was a favorable one then I could pay you in favorable information. The location of people of interest, prisoners of war, the usual routes that military convoys take, that sort of stuff." The princess was his first concern and he believed it to be his duty to help her achieve her mission.

Christina was too busy looking out the window at all the people walking by on the road to really notice the exchange between her two friends getting more and more heated. She was curious about which route she should take to get to the future she wanted. She had her tehnu friend and her human friend, both strong people of races that were different from her own. She was hoping that if the three of them could work together well enough then it could be seen as proof that the three races didn't have to be at war and that they could, in fact, coexist peacefully together.

[Namingtoohard]

"And why would you tell me that?" Shivali would answer rather simply, an amused smile turning up the corners of her mouth as she eyed the merchant. While she could respect his attempt at loyalty and bravado, his negotiation tactics seemed somewhat...questionable to her. Was Alex simply playing a deeper game that she was yet to realise, or was he blinded by his friendship with the young lady? Perhaps his affection for her ran deeper than the Tehnu woman had originally assumed. She was somewhat curious to find out, though they had another game to finish playing first.

"Threatening me with consequences seems a funny way to gleam the truth. If I actually did have any sort of ill intentions, revealing your hand like that would only encourage me to lie to you" she pointed out rather simply, folding both of her arms across her chest. The man didn't know the Tehnu as well as he liked to believe, if he thought they would so easily believe lies of her desertion, and there would be very little to stop her from killing him here if she really felt that he posed some threat. Well, except for Christina, perhaps.

Speaking of, Shivali would throw a sideways glance at the Nekorian. Just how was she reacting to this little exchange? Not at all, apparently, with her attention focused so heavily elsewhere. Regardless, they were just wasting time with this playful little exchange. It was time to come to the point of things.

"Regardless, you need not worry your pretty little head, human. I'm here because our mutual friend represents a chance for peace between our races. An end to the war that doesn't involve drenching the earth with blood and pushing at least one side to the brink of extinction...if not further" she would offer simply. At this point she would straighten, taking a few casual steps towards the human, before resting her hands on her hips.

"So, what do you think? Am I lying, or am I telling the truth?" she questioned, grinning playfully while she waited to hear the merchant's assessment.

[Numbers]

"One would expect most people to not show their hand with a threat of what would come to be. As such it can throw someone off and the lie they go to tell gets fumbled as they spend too much time thinking on what the other person said." He continued to watch her and listen to her for now. "I think you have deeper motives than peace, just like the rest of your race. However, it is not my job to trust you, it is my job to trust the princess and if she has decided to trust you for now, then I will follow her." He moved over to a chest that was next to the bed and decided to open it, pulling some smaller journals out of it. He threw one down on the bed for the princess before taking the other one and holding it out for the Tehnu.

"A new identity, at least, your identity while you travel with me. If the two of you are going to be travelling with me you're going to need certain identities. Husband, Wife, Daughter. Easiest way to get past the guards is by bringing a family. They won't look at the princess too much since she would be a child. They would spend more time looking at you, admiring you in whatever way they deem fit as they try to think of how to steal the poor merchant's wife. It also means that I can carry higher priced cargo since they'll be more willing to let me go without charging me a higher tax for the higher items. We'll have to stay in the city for a few days though while we wait for my cargo to move, sell, and be bought."

[Namingtoohard]

Quite curious as to what conclusions he had managed to draw from her playful teasing, Shivali would listen to the human's response in silence. She continued to grin, amusement dancing behind her eyes, before snorting softly when the man finally gave his decision. All that questioning, and he had simply decided to go with Christina's judgement anyway? A tad anticlimactic for the Tehnu woman's taste, though perhaps such an outcome was inevitable. It was impossible to get to know someone beyond a first impression that quickly, after all. Begrudgingly, she did admit that he deserved some sort of credit - the show of loyalty did not go unnoticed, and he had correctly deduced that her words were a half truth - but that alone wasn't enough to sway her budding opinion of him.

She would eye the book curiously as the man offered it to her, before reaching out and taking it. Without hesitating, she would flip the cover open, quickly scanning the contents of the first page. It seemed that their merchant friend hadn't neglected to prepare properly, at the very least. Unsurprising, for one in his profession, but welcome nonetheless.

"Should be simple enough. The guards can leer at me all they like if it means getting through the barrier without any actual trouble" she would offer simply, casually flipping over to the second page as they spoke. Looks and jeers were something that Shivali could put up with, if it meant avoiding any undue attention. If one of the men actually tried to grab her, though...well, that would be an altogether different case. Hopefully they would have the common sense to avoid being quite so forward, and allow the group to slip by unnoticed.

"I chafe at the delay, but I suppose it'll give us a chance to learn our new personas. In the meantime, I do believe our princess has been craving some special pancakes" she would offer, a knowing smile gracing her features as she threw a brief glance back Christina's way.

[Numbers]

"Yes, I have. Food sounds amazing right now. It's been a while since I have been able to have delicious food. Probably since I first left the capital is when I last had a real meal of high quality." She turned around to look at her two companions with a wide smile. "I'm glad to see that my two awesome friends are now friends as well." Alex went to protest but Christina cut him off before he could say anything. "Even if you don't agree with each other yet, you both agree with my methods and wish to see my new kingdom come to fruition. That enough is strong enough to make sure that the two of you won't betray each other. That and you both have seen my pets so you should hopefully know better than to betray me." She said with a sly smile before walking over and grabbing her new identity. She read through it quickly with her eyes before taking it and hiding it on her person.

Alex just watched her before pulling out a satchel from the chest. In it, he kept some basic supplies in case his cart was ever stolen as well as money and other needed items. He put it around his body before pulling out a map of the city from it. He put it on a table in the room and pulled out an ink pen. He made an X on the inn that they were currently in before marking a few other spots on the map. "Here we have the stable, its where my horse is staying as well as my now empty cart. Here is the merchants guild where a lot of my stuff is right now waiting to be sold and bartered for new stuff. Guard checkpoints in and out of the city are here, here, and here." As he talked he motioned to different points on the map. "Now the guards won't know any better when it comes to you two being my wife and child, however, the merchants guild is a different question. I'll be able to get away with the excuse that I rarely bring the two of you on my travels with me but our daughter wanted to see the world so the both of you have started to work my profession with me. Over here." He pointed to a spot with a large circle. "Is the pancake place that Christina would like to eat at. We won't be able to afford it though until after I sell and barter my wares, which will be tomorrow at the soonest."

[Namingtoohard]

Just like the human, Shivali would throw a questioning glance at Christina as she promptly called the two of them friends. She didn't speak up as the human did, but scepticism was written across her features clearly. Still, she accepted the nekorian's explanation rather quickly, even if she didn't say it outright. She could think of the man as an ally, if not a friend. Someone with whom she shared a mutual goal, even if she disliked him. Already, Christina was displaying the sort of diplomacy that she would need if she were to ever achieve her overall goal.

When the map was produced, Shivali would step away from the wall and over to the bed, leaning over the map that Alex had produced with considerably more active interest than she had shown thus far. She watched his scribbling and listened to his explanation with definite interest; this was information that she considered immediately useful, and could very well invest herself into studying. It would be hard to make sense of the marks on the paper until she could actually get outside and orient herself, get her bearings, but it would definitely prove useful information in the days to come.

"So, what is next on our agenda, then?" she would finally question when the man had finished, looking up from his work briefly. "I don't fancy the idea of sitting around here for a couple of days and doing nothing. There must be something productive we can do in the meantime, even whilst we wait for your wares to move" Shivali would mutter simply, straightening up. She could always spend some time scouting around, trying to find out what she could about the Nekorian presence in this city, and perhaps even the general state of alert following Christina's disappearance, at the very least. Perhaps, however, her two companions had something else more pressing that required her attention.

[Numbers]

Alex went to speak up again. "Well ultimately getting out there and moving my merchandise can go faster if we get out there and help work it out. I usually leave that for the guild though since if people knew that I was the owner of the items they are buying, we would have a new problem. Smaller towns love me because I tend to trade more in their favor, where as in larger towns and cities I trade in favor of myself using the power of information. For example, I can tell you that the captain of the guard for this city isn't nekorian but his second in command is. Normally the captains are nekorians but due to the unique features of this city its easier if the second is the agent instead. I also know the captain of the guard has a son, fourteen years old and likes to ditch his personal security to go hit on strange and unique women who come through the city." He rolled up his map and threw it into his satchel that was now around him.

"If you want information, it might be a good pursuit to use your charm to seduce the young boy in order to capture him. Shouldn't be too hard for me to find him for you. Who knows though, he might be more interested in the princess here since she is shorter and appears to be closer to his age. He might even buy her some of that delicious food she has been thinking about." Almost as if on command, her tail and ears perked up as she thought about it. "Yes yes! Let's do that! I want delicious food!" She turned around facing them with a slight squeal as the prospect of the food.

[Namingtoohard]

Shivali would raise an eyebrow at their merchant friend's mention of the Nekorian presence within the city, suddenly intrigued by the change in topic. Any sort of information she could learn about the movements of the Nekorian soldiers would be beneficial, especially if she found a way to pass that knowledge back to the rest of her people. All the more so if she could gain real information from an interrogation. The son would likely know only marginal information, but if he could be used to capture the Nekorian who was actually in control of this district...well, that would be another matter entirely. How would Christina feel about a less-than-friendly interrogation of another member of her race, though?

The Tehnu woman didn't get much further than that, along that line of thought, before Alex outright suggested that the best way to capture the kid in question would be to seduce him. Unable to help herself, she let out a soft groan. Was this some sort of punishment or retribution for the way she had called him out before? Regardless, the idea of having to try and draw in someone so much younger than her - and so well below the legal age - was questionable at best.

"How demeaning" she would answer simply, not even attempting to hide her displeasure as she crossed both of her arms across her chest again. "I'd be surprised if someone so young even knows how to flirt...and if anyone in this city were likely to recognise either of us, it would be a Nekorian" she would point out idly, before being interrupted by an outburst from Christina. Throwing a glance across at her companion, Shivali would scowl briefly. "You're willing to both take a risk like this and lower yourself to such a level just for a hasty bite of those pancakes you mentioned?" she would question. Clearly, Shivali had underestimated just how strong her companion's love of food really was.

"If we're really going to go through with this, then we'll need to do it properly. We'll need to find and secure use of a place where we know that we won't be disturbed or overheard...and one conspicuous enough that we can lead him there without raising his suspicions too much" she would offer simply, glancing away from both of her companions as she tried to work through potential scenarios in her head. "If things go wrong, we'll have the city's entire garrison coming down on our heads well and truly before those goods are sold. Its a significant risk, and for somewhat uncertain gain"

[Numbers]

"Then while we wait for the goods to be sold and for new goods to be bought, we use the time to learn the boys schedule as well as scouting out possible places where the two of them could go. We should have at least a few days before the supplies are done at the earliest, a week at the latest. If we do manage to get the kid, even though he doesn't know that Nekorians exist, we should have no problems finding out troop movements from him. Not to mention I can think of a few uses for him that will allow us to throw the dogs of the king off of our daughter's scent for a while. Naturally, they'll assume that the princess took him and did something with him. If we make it so he reappears somewhere else that is in the opposite direction of where we are going, that should make the dogs waste some time investigating before they figure out what is going on. Especially since they don't currently know that you and I are helping Christina with her plans for the future."

Christina was listening again before speaking up. "My bodies can help with that. They can work to change my appearance, my build, everything about me. If we can find out what the human boy has a taste for then the bodies can change me to fit his tastes perfectly. The only issue we're gonna run into is energy. My bodies consume the energy I have in my body to operate. Things like hiding my tail, ears, changing my eye color, those are all minor things that use close to nothing in terms of energy. Changing my shape to an animal, to different structural appearances of people. That's going to take more energy, and I'll need to make sure to save enough to fight if the need arises for some reason. This means providing my body with tons of energy. In nature that is no issue because the bodies can pull energy from the planets causing them to die without much harm to the world. If we try that though, in a city, it is going to pull energy from people, causing them to die instead which is something we don't want for obvious reasons. This means providing energy in the form of consuming things. Food, plants, nature, meat, or if the need is absolutely there, taking energy from those who are considered to be criminals with a death sentence. I would prefer to avoid that as well, but it is something my father was having me do before I left in order to continue doing the experiments."