Jillian pauses at the village gate, seeming at once interested at their immediate surroundings, but only for a moment. "Farmland? I should have expected as much after coming out of those fields. It's a nice change from all of these forests and caves everywhere else."

Gforte grunts absentmindedly as he runs some quick internal checks on the Lobster's systems. "Yeah, with any luck the people here will have something more substantial than apples or tomatoes to eat. Speaking of which, do you even need to?"

"Of course. I prefer some things to other, but I eat like anyone else." Jillian smiled faintly, her tail loosely wrapping about her midsection. "In fact, it's a shame I didn't grab a couple of those apples to bring with us. I don't condemn their way of living, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with small town cooking."

Jillian thinks for a moment, glancing back toward the lowlands. "It's a habit, maybe. I simply prefer my food... fresh." Her tone gives implication of something, perhaps, but not obviously so.

Kicking the hatch to his mecha open, Gforte climbs out and inhales the fresh air around him greedily. "Woof. Note to self. Get some air scrubbers for in there, gets stale after a while. Come on you, I wanna give the lobster some time to cool down. You and I can go grab some steak. We'll even order yours extra rare."

Jillian grimaces in regard to the steak comments, but only to herself. She doesn't say anything, but nods in agreement to the idea of letting the mech cool down for awhile.

Gforte fishes around inside of the mech, and pulls out a long pole with a jagged and rusty spear tip. Then he slams the hatch shut, and bends over it before doing... something. "There. Now she's all sealed up. Shall we?"

Jillian raises an eyebrow at the makeshift weapon. "Just in case? And yes, let's be on our way."
From somewhere near the center of town, there is a distinctive 'BANG' sound; as if someone managed to blow the top of a cooking pot into the roof of a house and onto the cobblestones outside...Sunflash must already be here.


Jillian looks up without alarm, listening to the clattering of the presumed pot on the presumed cobblestones. "Maybe we found a place to go already? That sounded promising." There isn't any cynicism in here voice. Just... speech.

Gforte scratches at his chin, and wanders further into the village, looking for the source of the noise.

Jillian scans the room silently, her tail occasionally giving a jerk here and there as her vertical irises focus on things here and there.

Sunflash is half-ducked behind the counter along with Doug, who is currently attempting to platacte an obviously angry townswoman. "Now Bertha, it was an /accident/. Please put the frying pan down."

"Let's not stay too long. This place is making me feel claustrophobic." Jillian just comes right out and says it, regardless of who may be listening.

Gforte blinks slowly at the scene before him. "Look you want claustrophobic, try riding in the lobstrocity. I've been hankering for meat for the past few days and it's been hell to catch anything that didn't talk back to me."

Jillian gives a half smirk, partially wondering if this was a reference to her. She's not so haughty as to point it out verbally, however, and she remains complacent about their current situation, not seeming interested or disinterested one way or another.

Bertha seemed intent on hurling her pan at Sunflash anyway before Jill and you interrupt all casually like; twirling around to glare at them. "More strangers in town? What now, are you going to bust my fireplace?" She seemed somewhat upset.

"Maybe. Does it need breaking? We could help, if need be." Jillian's tone is completely innocent and attemptedly-helpful.

Doug gave a loud cough as he came around the counter carefully. "Don't be silly. If you had warned mister Sunflash about the sticky valve the accident wouldn't have happened anyway. He's offered to pay for the repair anyway. PLEASE calm down."

Gforte steps forwards and gives the woman named Bertha a wide and friendly smile. "Excuse me ma'am. We're just a few tired wanderers looking to dine on some good food before we head out onto the road again. Not that we're devoid of payment of course. I don't suppose you'd be likened to oblige us?"

It hung in the air for a moment as Bertha struggled between divine rage and common courtsey. In the end a draw was reached: She gave a stiff nod "I will need a bit to get a new sauce-pan, thanks to HIM." She turned around and attempted to point her frying pan at Sunflash.

The frying pan had other ideas though, and flew out of her grasp. Sunflash, for his part, managed to actually throw his hands up and catch it. "...Send me the bill?" Sheepish grin.

"Thank you kindly. We'll just be over here 'till you're ready for us then." Gforte keeps up his smile and beckons Jillian over to one of the nicer looking tables, settling down to rest at it with apparent glee. From the looks of things his usual seating is not very comfortable.

Jillian follows obediently, removing the hood of her cape from her face as she seats herself; her pale ears have a slight point to them, and the ear stud in the lobe of one of them glints slightly.

With Bertha stormed out and Doug retreated to the counter with a sigh of relief, Sunflash felt now was a good time to slip over to the table with the other two all casual like. "Evening. I'm Sunflash.
Didn't catch your names?" Blunt as always.

"Jillian Maxwell."

Gforte catches Sunflash with a casual grin. "You can call me Haut stranger. Looks like you were in a spot of trouble back there, don't suppose you're the chef though eh?"

Sunflash laughs. "If I was, I'm sure as hell not now! No, just a traveler trying to do a favor that backfired is all." He waved Doug over. "Since I still don't have the keys, I'll take a water and whatever these two want goes on my bill too." With a calm nod, Doug waited paitently for the guests to respond.

Jillian doesn't hesitate. "Do you have a vegetable soup of some kind? Maybe broccoli?" She sounded a little hopeful, perhaps.

Gforte smiles all the more friendly. "And they say the kindness of strangers is dead in this age. I'll take a burger, or barring that, some kind of slab of meat. Either way make it so there's some blood in it. As for a drink, just bring me a stew."

Jillian looks up at you, apparently impressed at his appetite. "You take long periods of time between meals, I take it?"

You say ' Now Jill. There's nothing wrong with a hearty stew. Drinking one up and chewing the lumpiest bits of it before a loud belch is one of my fondest childhood memories.'

Jillian suddenly seems less impressed. Not any less surprised, but definitely less impressed. "I suppose so."


Doug nods, brandishing a notepad and quickly scribbling down some things (almost like he's done this before) before half-bowing, turning about, and ducking back into the kitchen, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on a hanging pot in the process.

Doug shouts, from the kitchen, after a moment. "Will be just a couple of minutes!"

Jillian looks grateful for a moment, but only a moment. Overall, she still doesn't seem fond of the place, or even the area as a whole.

Sunflash winces as he rubs the back of his head real quick. "So what brings you two out to the middle of nowhere, anyway?"

Gforte smiles and reclines in the chair, rubbing at his belly in anticipation. "Man nothing gets you hungrier than realizing how long it's been since a good meal. Me and the lady here are travelling down to Viorar, in looks of a bit of a darker climate." He smiles brilliantly.

Jillian merely keeps her silence, tail winding on and off of the taller parts of her chair a tad restlessly.

Sunflash raises an eyebrow. "Darker climate, huh? Well, depending on how literial you wish to be, I suppose you can't get much darker than Viorar's countryside. Interesting reasoning I suppose."

The sounds of busying can be heard from the kitchen, with the occasional female screech and a thrown piece of dishware; all in all, things seem to be running pretty smoothly.

Sunflash gives a grumble. "REALLY gonna hafta find somewhere else to wander off to, before I end up with a frying pan for a face..."

Jillian pipes up after a moment, lowering her voice with all possibility of not letting the woman in question overhear. "She seems a bit high-strung."

You say ' Who cares as long as she can cook. If you're that desparate you can nip out with us when we're done here. Assuming Jill doesn't mind all that.'

Sunflash gives Gforte a raised eyebrow. "What, exactly, are you two looking into anyway? Just trouble in general, or what?" Curisoity may have killed the cat, but nothing to a wizard.

Jillian looks between them for a moment; her tail unwinds from the chair to lower to the floor. "I'm not exactly sure, myself. He asked for a companion on the way to Truce, which eventually turned into a guide position. I had nothing else to do, so." Her tone is matter-of-fact-ish.

Gforte leans forwards to Sunflash and grins. "What would you say if I told you I was looking for a new and if not highly illegal then extremely morally wrong power source for my giant lobsterman robot?"

Sunflash blinked. Then blinked again. "...I'd say that I'd be curious how a powersource could be morally wrong, but then thinK I probably wouldn't want to know."

You say ' Well I was planning on using bottled fairies. Either that or drafting up a necromancer to put some souls in there. The screams of the damed amuse me.'

Jillian Doesn't seem inclined to be included in this conversation; she isn't acting standoff, but simply maintaining a presence without being vocal about it. If she agrees or disagrees with Gforte's plan, she isn't being obvious about it.

After while, Doug reappears from the kitchen, carrying a tray with decent-sized portions abound. He stops at the table, forcedly-smiling, and sets an overly-juicy-looking hamburger and a large bowl of stew in front of Gforte, and a same-sized bowl of broccoli soup in front of Jillian, plus spoons.

Doug says 'If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to shout!'

Doug nods at the trio, giving a brief glance at Sunflash before making his way back to the counter at the Inn's head, and taking his place. As if on cue, Bertha screams from the kitchen, "WHERE'S MY PAYCHECK, YOU ASSHOLE?"

"Thank ya kindly sir." Gforte hefts the burger and takes a large bite out of it, savoring the juices and the taste. "Cor. It's all a joke. Know how hard it is to run a robot off of souls and fey?"

Sunflash gives a short snicker. "You've never heard of some punk named Jango, have you?" He paused to take a drink of his water. "Then again, I think his thing was he thought robots didn't have any souls, sooo...." He shrugged. "ANYway. I might be interested. Got a better description of where yer headed for me?"

Jillian smiles at the man in thanks for her food, and proceeds to have at her soup; her mannerisms are nothing short of royalty. From the way she holds her spoon to the lack of elbows on the table, she is a prime example of table manners.

Gforte acts in a manner abject of royalty, even more so in comparison to Jillian. Elbows up, hands on his food and food in his face. Every once in a while he forgoes the use of a spoon and siezes the bowl of soup, drinking deeply from it and letting loose loud sighs of satisfaction. "Say what I mean, me. Heading down to Viorar, no real reason because of it, just a place to go."


Sunflash displays all the mannerisms of someone who has delt with both ends of the spectrum, and doesn't seem overly phased. "Viorar's a good place to go if you're looking for ideas, I'll agree there. I don't see why I couldn't come along."

Jillian consumes her soup elegantly, her expression changing a little bit here and there as she eats. She seems more or less content to let the two men talk while she eats, however.

Gforte downs the rest of his stew, and wraps a quarter of his burger up in too many napkins before shoving it into his pocket. "Ugh. Now that was good. Might have hurt myself eating too quick there. I'm assuming from your silence that you're fine with this guy tagging along, eh Jill?"

Jillian looks up, nearly finished. "Of course not. As long as he is content with our destination, I have no qualms with his presence. Thank you for taking my consideration into the bigger picture, however. I appreciate it."

Sunflash finishes off his drink and thumps it down. "Sounds like a plan then. Been meaning to make it back there anyhow. Were you two spending the night, or gonna wander off asap?"

You say ' I think I recall Jill wanting to head on quickish. If that's still right we'll head on once everyone's squared up.'

Jillian says 'Yes. I apologize, but the atmosphere here reinstates unpleasant memories. I am not averse to making camp elsewhere soon, but I do not wish to remain here any longer than mandatorily required.'

You say ' Big words big words, get out of town and make camp. Got it.'

Jillian has finished her soup, pushing the bowl slightly away as she looks up toward Sunflash, studying his face through her vertical irises.

Sunflash matches the look with a raised eyebrow before breaking it with a shrug. "Works for me. Had my fill of this place anyway!" He stood up with a quick motion. "I'll need a few mintues to put things in order here. Shall I meet you two outside of town?"

Jillian nods, and gets to her feet, adjusting her turtleneck to optimization once she does. "Thank you for covering our bill. It was very kind of you." She turns, heading for the door with a quick glance in Doug's direction.

Gforte stands as well, and grins at Sunflash. "You're free to head on up with Jill, I'll be out with you both in a while. I've got to get some gear yet still."