"Oh for the love of Pete." I release a sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, the exasperation in my voice clear.

By the looks of it, I'm not the only one experiencing that particular emotion. Ellian, Captain Raven, the guardsman wagon driver, Kryst, well she was always antsy so no surprise there, even Alec looks a bit perturbed.

The trouble apparently started mere moments after the wagon had arrived, before Cinni and I had even walked back. Presented with the parchments to recognize delivery Captain Raven had still refused to sign the receipt until the fairys were delivered back to her ship.

"As I have already said I have much more important and pressing matters to attend." Ellian angrily dabs a cloth over a forehead damp with sweat from her run to the guardhouse. "I have honored your wishes and retrieved your fairys, and in doing so put myself behind schedule I may add. You cannot expect me to now further abandon my other duties simply to go traipsing down to the docks."

"What is important for you is not my concern." Her feathers ruffled Captain Raven crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, growing more obstinate by the minute.

"Captain! You are being completely unreasonable." Ellian smoothes the paperwork out on the table once more as if that would somehow convince the airship captain to sign.

"You have your responsibilities as do I. Mine is to ship and crew. Should I sign that and then anything happen to my fairys while transporting them back. What then, ey? I would have no leg on which to stand for legal compensation."

"So what is it that we're doing?" The wagon driver asks, looking between the two as they bicker. "Because I thought we were just coming over here to drop these things off. I wasn't told anything about going over to Cragcliff."

"Even worse!" Ravens eyes go wide and she focuses her venom toward Ellian. "How am I supposed to move them, ey? Leave them here on the street while I wander off to hire transport?"

"Whispered Words is right there." Ellian points to the business that Cinnamon and I had just visited. "They do courier service and goods delivery."

"At my expense, ey? Do me a favor." Captain Raven scoffs.

"If you get a receipt you can submit through Lady Civata's office and…" Ellian continues on and I tune out.

The entire situation stirs recollections of similar cases in game where players would argue over the silliest of details. We once discussed for over an hour who was carrying the blankets in preparation of heading to a dungeon that was a day and a half away from town. It later became a long running gag in our group, 'Alright last thing before we go guys. Who has the blankets? ha-ha, chuckle, guffaws all around.'

Sure it was funny later but at the time it was anything but humorous. Exactly like now.

"Guys! This ain't rocket surgery!" I raise my voice to silence the back and forth jibes and growing arguments. I'm not sure if its the volume or the surgery comment but for a moment they do go quiet.

"Ellian, Captain Raven. This whole form thing is to show that the shipment was released by the guard and received by you, right? Well, give the forms to Alec. He is a Corporal after all, and he has to go back to the docks anyway. I'm assuming this is a polic-- guardwagon? I'm sure you could ask… err what was your name?"

The guardsman standing in the driver seat of the wagon starts for a moment when I address him.

"Damir." He replies.

"I'm sure you could ask, or no offence," I nod politely at the guard, "order Damir to give you a lift to the dock." I thumb at Captain Raven, "You drop Raven and the fairys off at her ship and she can then sign the forms. In the presence of two guards even." I give a raised brow to both Raven and Ellian. "Would you be fine with that, Captain? Ellian?"

General Skill: Persuasion vs Captain Raven: Success!

General Skill: Persuasion vs Ellian: Success!

"I would." Captain Raven gives a nod.

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"If it is witnessed by the guard…" Ellian chews her lip for a moment then nods. "Yes. That would be fine."

"Great." I give a glance to the parchment on the table. I'd racked up plenty of time behind registers and in the warehouse to know how things worked when it came to bookkeeping. "I'm assuming one is like a customer copy and the other a sort of administration copy, correct?"

"Yes." Ellian nods and thumbs through the various forms indicating each, she then separates a page and holds it up. "Damir can take the release, this one, back to the guard house."

"If the Corporal covers my butt as to why I didn't return right away, I've got no issue with any of that." Damir says.

"Problem is," Alec shrugs, "I do have orders, Brian. I'm supposed to see you to the guest--"

"That's fine." Refusing to get caught up with more inconsequential reasons, I cut him off, "Look we all climb on the wagon. Go back to Citadel that's like, what? A two or three minute ride away, if that? We get dropped off." I indicate Cinnamon, Kryst, Ellian and myself. "Ellian you can show us where we need to go for these guestrooms or whatever. Alec you did your escort thing. Raven you are a getting your fairys. Biggidy, bang, boom. Problems all solved."

In order to remove any more possible debate I reach over the table and slide the papers toward Alec. After a moment of confusion he looks to Ellian, who nods. Alec then gathers up the parchments and packs them into a large belt pouch.

"Now ladies and gentlemen? We're burning daylight here." I make a motion to the wagon and in the direction of the Sliverstone Citadel.

Perception: Success!

"He's so assertive." To my left Cinnamon quietly coo swoons and Kryst, perched on her shoulder, rolls her eyes.

Cinnamon's reaction makes my ego swell with elation. She was right. But then, the thought gives me pause.

The back and forth conflict was easy enough to step forward and take charge in. Yet, I had never done similar in my normal day to day. I'd been witness to many disagreements in the workplace between co-workers with conflicting personalities that could have been just as easily solved if I had had the intestinal fortitude to simply step up. Why was this different? Was it because I was still thinking of this as a game?

Decisions had consequences here just as much as in my real life so I really shouldn't be. This was as immersive as things got.

Sight, sounds, scents, touch, pain, pleasure, excitement and fear. Everything felt as real and as natural as it always had; with these enhanced Drow senses, sometimes even more so.

When I recover from my personal reflection zone out I notice that the group has packed up. I manage to grab up my change from the coin I'd left with Kryst and barely snatch a Danish looking pastry from the table before she rips a chunk out of it.

One by one the others clamber up onto the wagon. Ellian steps up to take a seat next to the driver while Alec hoists himself into the back with an conveniently placed ladder-like rung. Cinnamons ears stiffen and she lets out an adorable squeak of surprise as, holding my pastry in my mouth, I take her by the waist and lift her up. It was a silly gesture, the woman could leap tall buildings in a single bound after all, but Cinni seems to like it and she giggles out a 'Thank you, Brian' and her ears fold cutely.

I turn and start to offer Raven a hand up but she deftly spin-hops to sit on the edge of the wagon in a pose that wouldn't be out of place on a advertising billboard. Leaving me to be the last to climb on.

"If you are done slippering up Lepuri loins with your foolishness, think you can hustle it along?" Kryst flutters about my head then alights onto my shoulder.

"You're always in such a rush." I pull the Danish from my mouth and point to her with it. "You know, some things are better when you take your time." I waggle my brows with a grin but don't wait for her inevitable biting comeback and instead parkour bounce up onto the wagon using one of the hanging-light lamp posts lining the sidewalk. Showing off Legolas style I add way more flourish than needed by balancing effortlessly on the wagons sideboards.

Inside the back of the wagon long, hinged wooden benches run almost the entire length of the flatbed. One is still folded up against the side while on the other Cinnamon has chosen a spot near the center and is in the midst of removing her gear and knapsack in order to get more comfortable.

Stepping down into the wagon I notice the sidewall on which I'd been standing has notched groves and odd bars placed at equidistant intervals.

General Skill: Deduction: Fail!

"Hey, Alec?" Unsure what they are my curiosity gets the better of me. I motion to the side walls and the groves. "What are those for?"

"Shield racks." Alec fiddles with a catch on the opposite side and lowers the second bench which locks into place with a click. "Clears up space in the back and offers protection for the occupants in the event of civil unrest and the like." Alec takes a seat at the end of the bench, closer to where Raven is perched on what would be the tailgate.

"Oh, yeah I get you. Sort of like a Viking boat. Makes the wagon a medieval A.P.C." I nod and take a bite from my snack.

"A what?" Alec glances at me curiously.

"Armored Personnel Carrier." I say around a mouthful of jam and buttery pastry. Alec gives me another odd look and Kryst smacks me just behind the ear.

"Stop being weird!"

The wagon starts moving and Kryst leaves my shoulder and flutters over to get in on Raven and Alec's conversation, continuing on with whatever topic they had been talking about before Ellian an the wagon had arrived. I sidle over to take a seat across from Cinnamon, removing my pack as well. I offer the Danish to her and she takes a dainty nibble while I turn my attention to what all the fuss is about.

A cage full of fairys.