HoH Field Trip 2 Electric Boogaloo part 2 (1-year anniversary special)

“So, what would you like to order?” the very kind waiter asked, having made it around to Ray. The others had already ordered except for Jacky, who was talking to the second waiter. Ray had tried really hard to read the English menu but was struggling to say the least. Luckily she was sitting next to Saph, who was quite good at reading the stuff. There was just so much to choose from though.

“I have no idea… What is a… burger?” Ray questioned, looking up apologetically. The guy looked rather taken aback, clearly considering his response to that one. ‘Oh no, now I look like an idiot,’ Ray cursed as she felt her ears lower a bit.

“A burger is two slices of bread with a ground beef patty, various greens, dressings, and sometimes bacon and cheese inside.”

“I like cheese and bacon… Can I have one with both?” Ray questioned hopefully, looking up at the waiter.

“Of course. What would you like to drink with your cheese and bacon burger? We have a selection of wines, beer, and hot drinks.”

“Something warm and sweet please. If you have it.”

“I could get you a hot chocolate,” the man asked leadingly.

“Yes please.”

“Would you like whipped cream and sprinkles on it?” he asked again, even more leadingly this time. Ray pondered that for a second before nodding excitedly. She was sure he knew best what was good here. He did work here after all. She didn’t even know what sprinkles were.

“Very well, one hot chocolate with all the garnishings. I’ll be right back.”

The waiter bowed slightly and walked off to the kitchen with their orders, Ray letting out a breath looking over to Jacky who had also finished ordering. “What did you get?”

“Large beer and a bearnaise steak with fries. Tom said I had to try this bearnaise thing.”

“Second best sauce in the world,” Tom replied happily as he continued inspecting the menu. “They don’t have half-bad desserts here either by the looks of it.”

“Do they have cake?” Ray questioned, looking over at the human.

“Sure do. Quite a few types too.”

“Hope there’s room then… Is a burger a large meal?”

“I mean… I don’t know this place, maybe. Just leave a bit to make room for dessert. Things aren’t rationed here.”

“Some habits die hard,” Ray chuckled, looking over to Sapphire, who had moved to the dessert section of the menu too. “Found anything that sounds good?”

It didn’t take long for their food to arrive, at least not by Ray’s reckoning. Then again, it had been a long time since she had last ordered food anywhere.

It certainly looked delicious, and the smell was heavenly as she sniffed her meal. They had given her utensils, but it looked more like a tall sandwich and really rather unstable. “Is it okay if I use my hands?” she questioned, looking to Tom.

“Of course, have at it.”

Ray shrugged, opening wide as she took a bite of the tall burger. The bread was so soft and the lettuce fresh and crunchy. She had no clue what the red disks were, but they had a very nice delicate taste. The crunchy bacon and savory beef patty took the cake though. This was food fit for celebrations, and they were just on a little trip. And with the money Tom had given her, she would be able to afford so many burgers. ‘I love this place.’

The sounds of approval were universal, going down the table. Jacky’s shoulders sagged as she looked at the sky, her face one of pure bliss. “Your steak is better than ours. No arguing that,” she let out once she finished savoring her bite, going for another right away.

For once, Tom seemed to be reveling in the food just as much as in their reactions. Ray guessed it had been awhile since he had gotten meals like this after all. “Do all humans eat like this?” she had questioned once she finished chewing.

“No… Not everyday at least. But we do tend to eat very well around these parts,” Tom replied, chewing away on his steak.

“But you could if you wanted to?” Essy questioned from further down the table.

“Sure. A little expensive, but not impossible,” Tom shrugged.

Ray took a delicate sip of her hot chocolate, the smooth and almost soft feeling liquid running down into her mouth as her eyes went wide. “I wouldn’t mind living here,” she let out as she put down the glass with reverence, catching Saph looking at her funny. “What?”

“You got something around your mouth,” Saph chuckled, gesturing for Ray to wipe her snout.

“Oh!” Ray squeaked, quickly licking the whipped cream from around her mouth. “Even the cream is sweet,” she sighed in delight as she took another sip of the hot chocolate, Saph starting to giggle again. She was gonna need more than one of these.

“Well, if the portal works as well as we hope, we might just be able to order takeaway,” Tom chuckled, taking another bite of his steak and chewing away. “No, even better. Jarix is going through a drive through… Oh hell yeah, we need to do that,” the human laughed out, prompting some curious glances from around the table. “Shame he wouldn’t fit in a car wash either. That would be funny as hell.”

That had triggered a fresh round of questions for the human as they chatted away over the delicious meal. When time had come for dessert, Ray had chosen something called a bleeding heart chocolate cake. It sounded almost sad, but the server was adamant it was the best chocolate dessert they had and it was cake so it had to be good. It was certainly not disappointing, that was for sure. She had her doubts it would fit in her stomach when she got it and after she was done she believed she might have been right. It had tasted so good though.

They had all ordered dessert, and every last one of them looked like they regretted it when they were done, Fengi actually letting her head dangle over the back of the chair, tongue hanging out. Tom though, was of course just laughing at their expense.

“Waiter, I think I could use another soda. It’s gonna take a bit before they can move again.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Holy shit,” Jacky let out as her eyes beheld the largest armory she had ever seen. And it was all for sale.

She only just about managed to rip away her eyes to look at her mother, who to Jacky’s extreme delight was for once awestruck too. “They are certainly productive. I will give them that,” the smith got out as Jacky rubbed her hands together, looking for an employee. If there was anything she had learned on this trip, it was that the people working in stores were incredibly helpful.

“You,” she went, pointing at a guy. “I need assistance.”

“Certainly… Miss?” the designated helpful individual questioned, looking her over, seeming almost concerned.

“Jacky will do. Now, I want to see as much of your inventory as possible. Starting with the biggest rifles you are allowed to sell me.”

“Of course, Jacky,” the guy replied. “I’m Jesper. We do have a catalogue if you would like.”

“I came to see real guns, not pictures. And I have plenty of time.” She swore she could see him swallow as she did her best not to start cackling.

“Okay then. Right this way.”

He led her deeper into the store, Tom and Shiva following along. The rest of the girls had prefered staying back downtown to keep shopping. It had taken some convincing to let them go off on their own, but Tom had eventually yielded and gone with Jacky and Shiva. Luckily for them, Jarix had rather quickly gotten tired of ducking out of the way of signs and constantly being careful not to step on someone or swipe a kid with his tail, so he had happily taken them to the store, which was out on what must be the outskirts of the city.

Her mother was quick to start inspecting some of the weapons on display as Jacky waited for her helper to bring out the good stuff. “Hey, Tom, do they sell cannons here? I know you said no machineguns.” she questioned as they walked deeper into the store.

“I’m afraid not. It must be able to be classified as a rifle. I think they might be able to get close though,” he went with a knowing smile. She knew that expression; this was gonna be good.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh, by Ishan. You look amazing!” Essy preened as Ray came out of the changing room. The fact humans were down two limbs and a tail had made this clothes shopping thing a lot harder than anticipated, but the tenacity of the small flock of women that had come together to help them was to be commended.

Ray all but froze, looking in the mirror as she turned around to look at herself from behind. “It’s beautiful,” she let out, sounding almost like she was going to call a bluff on something. The combination of a low cut back and loose skirt worked beautifully, even if finding something that accommodated their larger rib cage had been problematic. They had done it though. The dress fit perfectly, and with a very pretty silver necklace and gold earrings Ray looked more like a noble at a gala than a frontier keeps woman, let alone a street beggar.

“Yes, she likes it!” one of the women that had helped them let out, cheers ringing out from the rest of the humans as high fives were had. “I wonder if we can find some sunglasses that would fit her?”

“I’m fetching some armbands. What’s her size again?”

“Girls, we need to pick a perfume for her… Darling, what scent would you like?”

Ray just looked around at them flabbergasted, not sure what to do. “Uhm… I like flowers.”

“I will bring them all,” the older woman declared, hurrying off as fast as the strange shoes would let her.

“Damn, you girls better do me next,” Fengi laughed, taking off her crown and comparing it to some of the jewelry on display.

“Well of course, darling. I simply have to ask: those tiaras you are wearing, Do they mean something, or are they just fashion?” One of the other younger women asked, walking up to Sapphire and looking at her crown.

Saph obliged, taking it off and handing it over to the woman, who took it with extreme care, looking it over.

“Is this all handmade?” The woman asked appraisingly as she studied it.

“Of course. It symbolizes my rank as Silvered Huntress along with my armor,” Saph clarified.

“Armor?” the woman questioned, a touch confused.

“Well yes. I like living after all,” Saph chuckled, Fengi letting out a snicker too.

“Like knight armor?”

“No, I’m no knight. Dakota will inherit her mother’s plate armor when the time comes. So I guess she’s a knight of sorts, being a noble.”

“You're a noble?” another of the women questioned, turning to Dakota, who had been busy looking at a rack of scarves.

“Yes. Dakota Bizmati, of Bizmati Keep.” Saph heard a few of the women start whispering at the sound of Bizmati, it only made sense with the portal and everything. It did make her wonder just how much weight that name might carry around here.

“Is that what the gold means?”

“No, that just means I’m in charge of this merry band. So if they misbehave just let me know,” Dakota went with a warm smile, Fengi looking at Saph with a less confident expression.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“This is so exciting. A noble alien and a whole group of warrior women in our store.”

“Please, ma’am. We are dragonettes,” Dakota corrected.

“Oh, my apologies. Dragonettes,” the woman went with a slight bow. “Oh, we simply have to get a picture when you are all done. Is there anything that strikes your fancy?” she questioned, gesturing to the rack of scarves.

“Yes, I would quite like to try some of these. How good are they with water?”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“You want all of them?”

“Yes, how much would that cost?”

“The old Krieghoff is probably one of the most expensive guns we have.”

“Yes, yes, how much?”

“That alone would be one hundred and twenty thousand.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jacky had to ask, hoping she had misheard.

“This is why you look at price tags,” Tom chuckled sarcastically.

“I can’t afford that…” she replied, still trying to process that number. “What about the others?”

“The Marlin is fourteen thousand. The Sako is twenty-nine; the Browning semi-auto was thirty.”

“Holy shit,” Jacky let out, shoulders sagging.

“Weapons are expensive. Well, if you want the flashy ones. What about this?” he went, holding up a still very nice looking gun, though it lacked much of the engraving and other things she had kinda wanted. “If fires 458 Win Mag,” Tom went, as if trying to convince her. “And it’s only nine thousand.”

“Sold,” Jacky went, taking the gun. One thing was for sure, she wanted a rifle that was bigger than Tom’s. It was only right. “What about the browning?” She questioned hoping he had a cheaper way of getting her a semi auto shotgun. She couldn’t think of a better weapon for air to air combat.

“We do have cheaper options available. Maybe something good for very rugged terrain.” The attendant asked very helpfully. He had been rather quick to catch on to what sort of requirements Jackalope had for a gun. Mainly big, loud, pretty, and built to last for decades at minimum.

“Yup. I don’t want no pussy gun that’s gonna fall apart,” Jacky went with a nod.

“A Baikal then. I’ll go fetch some,” their attendant said with a nod before jogging off.

“What about scopes? They are really expensive too, right?”

“Don’t worry about that. I have an idea for that,” Tom smiled. Jacky looked at him curiously before shrugging, going back to inspecting the CZ rifle. “Don’t you think this would be better for hunting? Shiva has already made you the fifty?”

“I guess. I really liked the Krighoos… The double barreled one. Think I can still get to shoot it?”

“Maybe. We need to get everyone to a range one day. And an airshow, that’s for sure.”

“Those both sound sweet. I guess Dakota will get to have her wish of going to a museum though.”

“Oh come on, can’t be that bad if there are guns on display.”

“But you don’t get to shoot any of them,” she protested. “That’s the whole point of guns.”

“I know. We’ll figure something out.”

With the selection modified to better fit her budget of nearly all the money she had been given and a deal stuck with Tom to exchange a bit of gold from back home for her, she had what she wanted and a decent amount of ammunition to boot. She had paid the prerequisite sum, though the guy behind the counter had looked quite confused when she started counting out bills for it. “Don’t have a money card yet,” she had just stated, plonking down the cash.

“Might need some help carrying all this to the dragon in the carpark.”

“Dragon… Right, of course, Jacky,” the cashier replied, going to call for more people to help her. ‘This is amazing. I need to come here more often,’ she mused, turning to look at Tom, who was standing behind her. “How do you think Jarix is doing?”

“No clue, guessing he’s just dozing in the sun,” Tom said as an excited attendant ran in, shouting something in Lego to one of his friends, both of them and another customer rushing outside.

“Or maybe not,” Tom sighed with a smile. “I think you want to see this Jacky.”

-

“Go Jarix! Put your back into it!” Jacky shouted as the dragon dug into the soft grass, holding his ground as the pickup truck spun its tires, making a marvelous cloud of white and black smoke. “Woo hoo!”

“He’s doing better than I expected,” Tom observed, watching the display next to her as the dragon started slowly gaining ground, straining against the chain one slow step at a time.

“Jarix or the truck thing?”

“The truck,” Tom mused. “I’m surprised they aren't mad about their lawn though.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Shut up about the lawn and cheer!” Jacky ordered as she scooted between his legs, standing up with him on her shoulders. “Fuck him up Jarix!” Tom yielded, cheering out loudly too, cupping his hands in front of his mouth and shouting away.

Jarix looked back at them, stopping in place, the edges of his mouth creeping into an evil grin before he continued his advance with a nasty sounding snarl, claws digging in deep and digging up the pretty lawn.

It would seem the guy in the truck finally had enough, as he came off the throttle, the truck rolling backwards in defeat.

“Whooo!” Jacky shouted out, doing a little jump in place.

“Right... Who’s next?” the dragon questioned as he stood head hanging a little low, breathing heavily.

“I think you’ve shown them up pretty good, big guy,” Tom chuckled, leaning on Jacky’s head.

“Oi, I’m not a table,” she laughed out, adjusting him a litte. “And you are really heavy here.”

“Yeah yeah. You were the one that picked me up, remember?”

“I do seem to recall,'' Jacky replied, turning to her left as a human came jogging up to them shouting excitedly in Lego. He seemed kinda fat, bald but with a pretty big beard, and there was definitely oil on his shirt. Taking a sniff, he smelled of something different too. a Harsh chemical smell she didn’t know. She could make out Tractor though, so this was probably something she wanted to hear.

“English please, for their sake,” Tom replied in English, beating her to it. The guy looked a touch apologetic, bowing his head as he took off a really rather dirty looking cap.

“You are with that thing, right?” the man asked, pointing at Jarix, clearly trying to contain his excitement.

‘Oh, he is fucking addorable,’ Jacky mused as she nodded.

“You need to come to the pull tomorrow. Never had a dragon in front of the sled before... it would be a world first!”

“I heard pull?” Jarix questioned, walking up behind the man, who turned looking up at the dragon wide-eyed and getting a little smaller. Jarix just gave the man a nod, awaiting clarification.

“Tractor pull, Jarix. A sport about pulling a big heavy sled as far as you can.”

“I’m in,” the dragon replied with a grin. “You got to choose all the places today. I’m pulling my card.” Tom just shrugged, seemingly quite happy to let this happen.

“Oh sweet mother in heaven,” the guy replied, nodding frantically at the dragon. “I’ll deal with the paperwork and all that. You won't have to worry about anything. What’s your name?”

“Jarix.”

“Yes, good. Brande Arena, you know where that is?” the guy questioned, looking up at Tom, who was still leaning on Jacky’s head.

“I do… What are they running?”

“Championship round,” the guy replied with a big nod still clutching his cap.

“Fuck yeah,” Jacky let out. She had been worried it would be some little pissy event. This sounded important though. “Could use some reinforcenents though, Jarix being a lightweight and all.”

“Light-Lightweight!?” the guy questioned, seeming a touch flabbergasted.

“I’m not skinny, I’m lean,” Jarix protested, sitting down pointedly, slapping the ground with his tail.

“But you’re only an eight tonner,” Jacky protested. “Imagine what Baron could pull.”

“How big is this Baron?” the human questioned, looking to Jacky.

“Thirty six if I… rene... think right,” Jacky replied with a smile. “Yo Tom, could you make that happen?”

“You want me to see if I can get diplomatic papers of some kind to get a warhero who is also a walking tank and flamethrower… to a tractor pull?”

“The army will be swinging round to show off if that helps,” the man added hopefully, Jacky deciding that she liked this guy.

“Yeah, see. It’s clearly some kind of trial. They need to evalu… you know the word. Baron to see how awesome he is.”

“I’m right here you know,” Jarix grumbled looking down at them.

“Fucking hell, fine. I’ll make some calls, if only because I wanna see that too.”

“Thanks sweety, you’re the best.”

“So… Do I add this Baron to the team lists too?”

“Maybe just leave the name blank for now. I have no clue” Tom interjected.

“Oh maybe Glira would be up for it,” Jacky replied happily, looking to the front of the store and seeing two of the attendants coming out with her guns. Shiva was trailing behind.

“Sweet,” she went, jogging over as she felt Tom hang onto her horns with one hand, phone likely already out in the other. “Hey Jarix, look what I bought!” The dragon swung his head around to look at the two guys approaching.

“I guess I’m the pack oxen then. Fine. Find a place to stow it,” he went, laying down, shuffling his shoulders a little and stretching out, letting out a satisfied grunt. The two human attendants just stood there gawking, holding the bags with the guns and the boxes of ammo. “Well come on, haven't got all day. I don’t bite.”

“Much,” Jacky added as she heard Tom let out a low chuckle. “Just don’t drop my guns though.”

The two guys slowly and carefully advanced, one of them seeming a bit braver as he climbed up onto Jarix’s forleg, though he seemed stumped at what to do after that. “Oh look, he’s thinking,” Jacky muttered under her breath in draconic, trying not to laugh. Jarix wasn’t doing them any favors either, not having lowered a wing for them or even held out a leg to make it easy, and he was also wearing a shit eating grin as he looked down at the two, looming over them.

“It would seem your tales of your people’s bravery were exaggerated,” Shiva went, Tom looking down at her for a rare change. “Slightly,” she amended, though not seeming terribly sincere.

“Mom, you missed the truck pull with Jarix,” Jacky protested, shoulders sagging a little.

“And I acquired a fine blade instead,” she went, holding up a wicked looking knife.

“Sick.”

“Indeed. It’s not metal.”

“What?”

“They claim it’s made from coal spun into a fiber. I will have to learn more. It weighs nothing,” Shiva went, handing Jacky the blade.

“Fuck...” was all Jacky got out as she held it. ‘It’s like it’s made of feathers?’

“Mind your language, and at least swear in draconic so they won’t know what you said,” Shiva went as she took back the knife. “Those two need help,” the smith continued, nodding at the two shop attendants. One of whom had climbed Jarix’s harness by now and was reaching down to grab the boxes of ammunition from the other one, Jarix having rolled over just far enough that they couldn’t reach.

“Nah. This is quality entertainment.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

“Who would have thought nice smells in a bottle could be that expensive?” Fengi questioned as they landed at the next location, Ray getting off a slightly exhausted Essy’s back. The whole taking flight thing was very handy when it came to avoiding the constantly increasing size of crowds that tended to form around them, but it had worked better when they had Jarix with them. Attention was good and all, but it could quickly get too much, and all the bags were heavy too. At least it wasn’t Tom Essy had been asked to carry.

“It was still very cheap compared to back home, I can assure you of that,” Essy replied, She had been very pleased with her purchases thus far. They had to be some of the most wonderful perfumes she had ever smelled, and she had a whole bag of them.

“And they gave us quite the discount,” Dakota added. “Never thought someone would be that up in arms about meeting a noble.”

“I still maintain you should have gone with royalty. How were they ever going to know?” Fengi chuckled. “Maybe I could get away with saying I was a noble too. Almost no other dragonettes could just come here and walk around. Should be an easy sell.”

“We don’t lie, Fengi,” Dakota scolded, looking back at the younger huntress. “Besides, I don’t think we need to. We have gotten plenty of nice things as it is.”

Essy had to admit the scarves she and Dakota had bought did look great. They felt nice too. So soft and silky. She was a bit envious of Fengi, who had a way easier time finding clothes that fit since she was the smallest of them. Human women really were smaller than the men, just like Tom had said. Essy was not as strongly built as the others, so she had found a very fetching cobalt blue dress, open back obviously, that actually fit her quite snugly.

The fabric was so stretchy too, she had almost been able to move like it wasn’t there when she tried it on, and it weighed next to nothing, unlike the armor and thick leather clothes she was used to. Fengi had really wanted a set of those sweatpants they had in the mens department, but short of a tail amputation that was not going to happen with what the stores had. Fengi luckily hadn’t noticed Essy buying a few pairs anyway, hoping it would be possible to modify them back home.

“Where are we headed anyway?” Essy questioned, looking around for which building was the destination.

“We are meeting them at some place called ‘street food’ in English, then we are looking for Arkaden. Whatever that is,” Dakota replied with a shrug.

“Food first, then some games as far as I’ve understood. No Jarix though. Guess we’re early,” Saph went, looking around the place as they rounded the corner. There were a few people milling about, a lot of heads obviously turning to look at them immediately.

“Aww, I wanted to hand off some of all these bags… Do you think they would steal them if we put some at a table?” Fengi questioned, eyeing the crowd suspiciously. Essy knew she would never consider something like that in a city back home. This was rather different though… and they did all have quite a few bags.

“Do we even have a table like that last place?” Esmeralda questioned as they approached the building. It looked like some big old warehouse, quite run down even, and it was right up against the water, which certainly took some getting used to.

“I don’t know,” Dakota admitted, stopping in her tracks to look around for someone they knew.

“I’ll just text Tom real quick,” Saph went, pulling out her new phone. “Anyone got his number?”

“I have Jacky,” Fengi went, getting out her phone too.

“A gold says we won't get an answer,” Saph chuckeld, holding out her hand to Fengi.

“Deal,” Fengi replied, shaking it with a confident smile on her face.

Essy just chuckled, feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket. ‘Tom’s in the group chat too, Saph.’

They had taken to walking around a little, inspecting the place. There were a lot of tables, both inside and out, and people were sitting here and there. The inside of the building was filled with little food stands making all kinds of delicacies. A quick walk around was more than enough to make their mouths water. The selection was truly staggering, with many of the vendors almost fighting for their attention to give them little tasters of what they sold. They had agreed not to buy anything until the others got here. It was only courteous after all, but a little snack wouldn’t hurt.

Essy had been trying to read some of the signs when the rather large amount of commotion outside alerted them of their big blue friend’s arrival. “Sweet, dinner time,” Fengi let out happily as she and Saph trotted back to their table to get their bags, Essy taking a more leisurely speed. They weren’t in any rush after all. Not with this much food to try.

“Am I supposed to go in there?” the dragon questioned, eyeing the building aftér his passengers had gotten off.

“Yup. Don’t worry, they were told to expect you. A perk of calling ahead and coming here on a relatively quiet day. Might have been problematic on the weekends,” Tom had replied, waving the dragon along towards the warehouse.

“Hey Jarix, mind if we stow some stuff?” Saph questioned.

“Couldn’t you take some off instead? I’ll lug it around later, but I would quite like to get this stuff off for a little bit. Don’t wanna roll over and smash something,” Jarix replied in a hopeful tone.

“Oh… right,” Saph replied. Fengi just got to it, handing her own bags to Saph then started unloading the dragon. Essy went over to help, the older huntress of course having a look at what was being unloaded when she had the chance. ‘The hell is all this?

“Tom… Is this legal?”

“Diplomatic immunity,” Tom had replied, walking over to them. “But maybe don’t show them off too much.”

“Bottom of the pile, got it,” Esmeralda replied, seeing to it that what she assumed was Jacky’s shopping spree was hidden beneath the more innocuous items.

Some people that seemingly worked here had come out and started setting up tables inside the big warehouse so Jarix could rest his head next to the conversation while they all ate. When they had set about making preparations for the dragon's meal though, Jarix had seemed rather surprised to say the least.

“Wait, I’m eating here?”

“yup, thought what better way to find out what you might like than try as much as possible in one go?”

“Oh, this should be quite good,” Essy chuckled with a wide smile at the dragon’s bewildered expression.