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"Oh, how rude of me!" Elyssa blinked,"I'm Elyssa, it's a pleasure Dris." Elyssa rifled through her bag and pulled out some dried meat and bread,"Here you can have this," Elyssa held out the food to Dris,"You and your little companion are safe." Elyssa told Dris, as she felt as though the Veira was a tad frightened.

Elyssa noticed the moogle had vanished,"Oh. Where did the moogle go?" Elyssa asked herself. She hadn't even noticed when the moogle left, it had been rather careless of her really.

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Running his hand through the tufty flame-coloured tips of the otherwise white fur upon his head, Solas weighed in his options. He took a quick glance back at the girls, then casually strolled toward the bushes, humming to himself. He wondered to himself how Dris would react to seeing the vehicle emerge. Her words back in the jungle made him believe she had no experience with such things.

Approaching the foliage, Solas brushed a few branches aside to peer within. Still nestled within the bushes was the same hoverbike he had hidden days before. Not bothering to check if the others knew where he was, he slipped into the bush and climbed atop the vehicle.
“Thank you but I’m alright. I brought some food with me.” Dris placed a hand into her leaf and moss like outfit. Within an expandable bundle of moss by her hip was a strip of dried Malboro jerky. She pulled out the jerky and bit into it with gusto. As soon as Elyssa mentioned her little companion, she nearly dropped the jerky.

“Solas? Where are you?!” Dris tried to stand to her feet, nearly dropping the strip of jerky. She was unsteady on her feet and fell back on her fluffy Viera tail, a bit of dust from the plains billowed around her.
"Oh, are you alright," Elyssa had called in alarm at seeing Dris's little fall. Elyssa looked around,"The little moogle, Solas was it? Can't have gone far, he was rather tired, nor do I think he would have left you without saying anything. He's nearby., he has to be."

Elyssa had put the food back in her bag before saying to Dris,"I'll check around, I'll find him, you rest a while more."

Without waiting for an answer Elyssa moved to search, as she does, she gently called the moogles name, and told him Dris was worried.
Solas began fiddling with the controls for his hoverbike, causing the vehicle to spring to life, emitting a cold blue light from amongst the bushes. The hum of the skystone-powered engine filled the air as the bike rose up a couple of feet from the ground, before the small moogle eased it out from its hiding place.

The sleek hoverbike's wheel-shaped nose first exited concealment, followed by the moogle-sized seat - little more than a thick slab of padding directly attached to the vehicle's slender hull - the entirety of which was painted in a livery of purple, cyan and white to be distinguishable during races. Practically lying atop said seat with his goggles pulled over his eyes, the moogle gently sent the vehicle into the air, swooping around toward Dris and the hume, the twin diagonal wings at the rear of the hoverbike cutting through the air gracefully.

Upon nearing the position of the two females, Solas eased the bike back down toward the ground and edged it closer, slowing to a stop a few feet away. Letting the vehicle come to a rest back on the ground, he clambered off the front seat and climbed the elegant hume-sized passenger's seat until he was perched on top of the headrest. Folding his arms triumphantly, Solas nudged his goggles onto his forehead with his thumb and looked the girls over with an expression of pride, showing off like a typical youth. He expectantly awaited comments, particularly focusing his attention on Dris.
Fearful as a loud sound of what she assumed was some sort of approaching monster, Dris stood to her feet again. ‘Just what I needed another monster to spring out of no where and attack me.’ The Viera thought to herself sarcastically. Gripping her fists in her Magick Gloves, the Viera was ready to defend herself from whatever creature was making those ghastly, loud rumbling sounds that was quickly approaching her.

“Ack~!” The Viera let out a scream as suddenly Solas appeared riding on the noisy, metallic looking thing. Suddenly Dris remembered what they had discussed in Eruyt Village and realized this must be one of the “hoverbikes” the moogle had told her about. She stared in astonishment, wonder filling her eyes as she stared at the metallic floating object, upon which Solas was sitting with a look of pride upon his face.

“So awesome!” Dris said loudly up at Solas, longing to get closer though the sounds of the bike still were jarring and loud to her sensitive ears.
Elyssa hadn't been far as she saw the hoverbike being driven into the clearing, she jogged back to Dris and quietly admired the hoverbike. After a couple seconds Elyssa had said,"So where was this being hidden, oh and I'm Elyssa, I heard from Dris your name is Solas?"

Elyssa quietly waited for the moogles response, seemingly relieved the little creature was safe and sound.
Solas clambered back down onto the front seat and shut off the hoverbike's engine. Adjusting his goggles so that they were back into a position where they wouldn't potentially fall back onto his eyes, he gave Elyssa a thoughtful glance.

Still not entirely sure what had transpired in the jungle after he had fled, he wasn't sure what had occurred to bring Dris and Elyssa together. Still... if Dris trusted her, he figured he should too.

Swinging his legs over the side of the hoverbike to sit side-on as he joined the dialogue, he casually let out his reply, a bragging expression still on his face as he propped himself up with one arm, palm upon the seat as he leaned upon the limb, other arm on his hip. "In the bushes," he replied to the first question as though it was obvious. "Yeah, I'm Solas, kupo. It's nice to meet you, bhadra." he glanced back at the passenger seat for a moment, but stopped himself short of speaking the next set of words coming into his mind. A more important question had taken precedence. "So... what is the plan...? I was hoping to head back to Rabanastre, but..." his eyes shifted to Dris. The impression she gave that she was a stranger to the outside world... "If you need my help for anything, I can stick around, kupo."
Still watching in awe and now cupping her hands over her sensitive ears, the Viera watched as Solas rode the metallic beast and suddenly the loud sound and rumbling it made stopped. “What is that thing Solas?!” Dris asked moving closer to the contraption, a little afraid that the beast would awaken and make that loud sound again.

She watched as Solas clambered down from the now silent beast, and approached Elyssa to confidently introduce himself to her. Smiling at both of them, the Viera hoped that they would get along well. She had heard so many strange things about Humes in her village that for all she knew, Humes might not look kindly upon the cute little creatures known as moogles. But, Elyssa was clearly not like that, after all she had saved a Viera when she could have easily ran away and left the Malboro’s to devour Dris as she slept.

“Rabanastre?” Dris said the new word experimentally, still looking at Solas’s contraption with awe. She was so happy that the little moogle had gotten out of the Golmore Jungle safely; and that she had as well, thanks to Elyssa. Surmising that Rabanastre was the name of a village, Dris nodded her head toward the moogle in reply, her long fluffy ears bobbing toward him. “I’d like to see another village, that is what this place called Rabanastre is, correct? How far is it? What is it like there?” She looked around curiously at Elyssa and Solas, wondering what knowledge they each possessed about the location.
“Rabanastre? Oh, I stopped there for a bit to restock on some stuff. Didn't stay long though. " Elyssa told Dris,"The East End had great shops. Though...now I do wish I'd gotten a item to help for sleep states. I figured I wouldn't need it because I was traveling alone...and well if I got put to sleep..." Elyssa shrugged,"that would have been bad to say the least. Anyhow, Dris, Rabanastre is the Capital city of Dalmasca, it's the closest city to here I believe, being just beyond the Giza plains. It's a really big city home to humes mostly, but there are also some Baanga I saw, moogles like Solas over here and...seeq." Elyssa sighs, thinking back to how she'd ended up being chased across the two plains and into the jungle.

"Anyways...I'm not quite sure how to describe the city to you, because I grew up in a city like it so it's normal to me....so Solas? How would you explain it?" Elyssa asked.
Solas stood up proudly on the seat with his hands on his hips and head held high. He could get quite cocky when around vehicles... especially when it was his own. Any opportunity to show off, even with knowledge, was enough to bolster such feelings.

"It's like... a big ol' forest of buildings, kupo!" He declared, gesturing grandly to provide a visual element to his description. "All made of carved stone, towering above your head - entirely made by people, even though it looks like that would have been impossible. And standing above everything to the north - the royal palace, where the people in charge live... made up of a bunch of huge pointy towers, beautifully sculpted arches and echoing corridors filled with gold, marble and priceless rugs and tapestries. Underneath the ground is a whole other city where the poor people live - Lowtown, it's called - filling up the gaps in the foundations that aren't taken up by the huge waterway - Garamsythe, a massive sewer so large that you can get lost in there even more easily than up on the surface!"

Solas hopped up into the air, spun around ninety degrees and landed seated upon the hoverbike, in a position as if pretending to fly it. "I recently took part in a race around Rabanastre, kupo. They closed off some streets around the palace and set up huge stands for people to sit and watch... it's probably all been cleaned up by now though. I lost the race, but... I still think I did well. The city has all sorts of other parades and events, too, if you stick around long enough to be there when something important happens."
Listening intently as her two companions told her about Rabanastre, Dris was wide eyed with fascination. The Viera’s long, furry ears twitched when Elyssa mentioned Seeqs, she almost felt like interrupting but held back. A silent sadness still dwelt in Dris’s heart about everything that taken place in Eruyt Village, and a longing to find Lilis. She surmised that it wouldn’t easy to find one Viera in such a large, open world like Ivalice. How would she even go about finding out where they were, she didn’t have a map to guide her. Feeling thankful for Solas and Elyssa, Dris smiled sweetly at them as they both spoke to her. ‘I don’t want to be a burden to them, but I must also admit that I don’t want to be all alone.’ The Viera thought as Elyssa asked Solas about how he would describe Rabanastre’s city.

When Solas told her about the city being like a forest of buildings she couldn’t help but attempt to imagine the sight in her mind’s eye. There must be so many living there, once she had overheard Lilis saying that she had encountered a few rogue Viera in Rabanastre, though she had reassured Jote that, she would always ignore any rogue Viera that approached her. Dris felt her heart sink a bit further than it already had been. ’Even if I can find Lilis, what if she doesn’t want me to save her when she figures out that I’ve been banished by Jote.’

As Solas did a cute hop and spin into the air and landed on his hoverbike a smile graced Dris’s lips. She decided that she would still try her best to find Lilis and help her return to Eruyt Village. “I would like to see Rabanastre and many more places in the future.” Dris said to both of her party members. “B-but it’s up to both of you if you’d like to go with me. Also, is there a faster way to travel? I can run quite fast, but if we’re traveling together I wouldn’t want to get lost or leave you two vulnerable to attack…”
Elyssa considered a response to give the Veirra,"Well Solas does have a hoverbike, but...can it carry us? In any case, if you'd like to travel with me Dris, I'd gladly have you. It sorta sucked to be on my own...I missed companionship I confess."

Elyssa looked at Solas, and smiled,"And I'd love to travel with you as well Solas. Though...the hoverbike..."
Solas thought to himself for a moment before speaking. "It's not safe to try to carry more than one passenger, but... if I go slowly, kupo..." He took another pause, then nodded to himself. "I can stay low and go maybe a little faster than running speed... it'd still be quicker than on foot, unless you can both run full speed all the way back to Rabanastre... it does mean someone will have to hang onto the side... I don't think that would be too comfortable..." An amused expression overtook his face. "Unless one of you wants to sit on the other's lap..."
“It’s alright. I can run and you two can ride on the hoverbike.” Dris told her companions emphatically, her cheeks growing a red with odd embarrassment at the idea of the Hume sitting on her lap. “I’ll try my best to dodge any monsters I encounter, and I can attempt to cast sleep on them if they attempt to follow us.” She reassured them.

The Viera looked down at her hands, feeling that her thankfulness to Stra for the Magick Gloves would never dissipate. Pulling herself away from getting lost in thoughts of missing her lavender bed in the village, Dris shook her heard slightly, her fluffy ears bobbing as she did so. She turned to her party members and asked “Shall we go now then?”
Elyssa nodded, and smiled at the two,"Yes, I think we should, though, I confess, I've never ridden on a hoverbike before, so this will be quite...interesting."

Elyssa looked at Dris,"are you sure it will be alright? I'd hate for you to be hurt." Elyssa looked quite concerned,"Though if needed, I'd jump off the hoverbike to help fight...I mean, we could still do the lap plan, though, it probably me me sitting on you Dris, because you are really tall. I'm actually kind of jealous."
"Uh..." Solas hovered a few feet into the air to glance in the general direction of Dalmasca. Naturally, he couldn't see much from here. "Are you sure you can run all that way, kupo?" He asked Dris. "I mean... Rabanastre is technically on another continent... We'd have to travel uh..." He glanced back at the jungle. It was hard to tell just where the Viera village was positioned within it, but it couldn't have been too deep. "Maybe... twice... three times the distance the village is from here just to get to the other side of the Ozmone Plain... then we have to cross the Giza plains... I don't know anyone who can run that entire distance."

Dropping back onto his seat, the moogle jabbed at his chin in thought. "You can probably get a good foothold on the wing of the hoverbike, kupo. If you don't want to share the seat. If I stay low and don't go too much faster than running speed, you wouldn't have to worry about safety. Besides, without having to take as many breaks, and being able to fly over obstacles, it'd be a lot quicker than running, kupo."
Taking both of her party members comments into consideration, Dris nodded, her ears twitch a bit in slight embarrassment. “You’re both right. It makes much more sense for all of us to ride on Solas’s hoverbike…If it’s alright with you then Elyssa, you can sit on my lap.” The Viera looked up at the seat behind Solas, and tried her best to climb up and sit behind him. Her long legs took up a far bit of the space around the hoverbike, and she felt oddly self conscious about it. Among the Viera she was average height, still not as tall in stature as Lilis or Jote, yet a bit taller than Mijrn. Dris wondered how rogue Viera dealt with standing out, or rather literally standing much taller in stature, among the other races of Ivalice. Offering her large hand out to Elyssa, to help her mount the hoverbike, Dris gave the Hume a bashful smile.
Elyssa took Dris's hand, the veirra's embarrassment was rubbing off on her,"Y-yeah it's fine by me," Elyssa stated as she smiled back. Elyssa hoped none of her slight embarrassment showed through when she had carefully sat on Dris's lap. Elyssa had always been rather short, even among her peers. It was something that didn't bother her much, and that would be her response no matter what you said.

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Elyssa reported as when she was sure she wouldn't fall.
The back seat of the hoverbike had a harness attached to it, but it couldn't be stretched across to fit over two people. With the lack of safety in mind, Solas started up the engine and lifted the bike to only a few feet off the ground. He gently accelerated to a little above running speed and steered off along the fastest safe route he knew to the Giza Plains and therefore Dalmasca.

Moderators: Dris (played by LunaVox)