Jago soared through the night sky in the form of a brick-dust coloured owl. With his wings spread wide he had ridden the last of the thermals this far, and now with the keen eyes of an owl he picked out the city’s lights ahead. With a slight adjustment to his flight feathers he descended quickly so that he skimmed the tops of the palm forest. It didn’t take him much longer to reach Sularia. As a large owl he soared over the wall and perched on the edge of a shop.  It had taken longer than he had originally planned to get here. Night had truly set in, the bazaar packed up and the library closed. It didn’t matter too much to him – Red Wizard or not, he was Halfling first and foremost. Rushing around was not something he ever did without serious distress. With a flap of his wings he elegantly landed on a fencepost. The owl shifted almost instantly to that of a small humanoid in a very tall wizards’ hat. His ginger beard was long, plaited and tucked into his belt. His cloak was long and flowed more like water than silk. It shifted with changing depictions of the heavens. The short Wizard jumped down and landed on the stone floor without a soft thud. A click of his fingers caused a long smoking pipe to appear in his mouth, lit and producing odd purple and silver smoke. “To the bar!” he said to himself cheerfully. Absent minded he wandered along the stone path into the white district. As he wandered along the street he noticed rather suddenly that he hadn’t seen a single man. The gears inside his brain whirled, he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a barely usable journal. As he flicked through the tattered pages he continued to walk – straight into the back of someone.

OOC:| Not private, but please let Larka post next then join please. :)

Dusk had come and gone and night was now upon the city, the tall woman sighed, time to head back home before her wife started to worry, if she hadn't already. Larka stood at just over six feet tall with an athletic build and long black hair, her left arm was missing at the shoulder as well. On top of that she was also very, very visibly pregnant, her belly stretched out to accommodate the twins she carried, she was just into her ninth month and she was going to be very happy when she finally had the twins. Larka was excited to be a mother again, that was easy to see, but she made a poor patient for any midwives that tried to help, she was just cranky. Celeste, her wife, was able to calm her, along with the daughter they had adopted before, Akira, between the two of them they could always help Larka calm down again when her mood swung one way or another.

Larka had come out to the district to watch as people sparred and fought and to look over the weapons that had been forged. She was known well enough here, her and Celeste both, and people had greeted her as she had walked along, most of them female. With females higher in population than males in Sularia, Larka, a lesbian, was more than happy walking the city and always felt safe, it helped that she was friends with part of the Rose family.

But now it was time to make her way back to her home near the lake and she wasn't alone. In front of Larka walked a full grown female wolf, her fur a midnight blue with streaks of yellow running through it, like lightning, which was fitting since she had a static about her and crackled now and then from that fur. A storm runed wolf named Kyu, raised from a puppy by Larka she was loyal and very protective of the human, even more so now.

So when the short halfling bumped into Larka and the human yelped in surprise as she staggered forward to catch her balance, the wolf turned in a heart beat and snarled at the halfling bearing her teeth. From almost nowhere stepped another beast to one of the halfling, a strange mix of animals; it was the size of a dire wolf with a body akin to a deer, with large almost moose like antlers on its head and horse like legs and hooves and a bushy tail. It snorted and pawed the ground lowering its head, neither beast was happy at the possible threat to their human.

Larka breathed in hard but she hadn't truly caught her balance, as she had staggered forwards thanks to her awkward weight and came to a sudden halt against a stone wall. Thankfully from years of practice she had taken the brunt of the impact on her left side but it had left her winded. She got to full right again and stretched wincing as she felt the babies kick in her, her hand protectively wrapping around her belly. She turned her grey eyes to the short thing that bumped into her and glared. ”Watch it!” She growled, but she didn't call off her companions, not yet anyway.

Jago pushed the brim of his hat out of his eyes.

He very nearly pulled it right back down again. His big nose would still smell the breath anyway. Jago was nose to nose with a snarling storm wolf. As Jago tried to take a step back he felt the un-mistakeable feeling of antler in the back. (Only un-mistakeable to people like Jago who had felt antlers in the back far too many times before.) Then the wizard spotted the woman he had bumped into. His heart raced as he considered the situation he had gotten himself into now.

Pregnant or not – Jago took exception to the threat. Normally he would have just apologised and halfling-ed his way outta there. Tonight, something in the rudeness of this woman provoked something in him. A sly grin spread across his face as he gripped his staff slightly.

With the next gust of wind, the wizard dissipated like he was only ever made of smoke.

For dramatic effect, he gave the woman a moment to wonder what had happened before he appeared before her again. This time he had perched on the shoulders of a huge grizzly bear. Glube (the bear) grumbled as he stood up tall on his hind legs.

“That was a little ru-” The wizard stopped as he finally saw the animal the antlers belonged to. “What are you?” He spoke first to the creature, mostly cause he was polite, but also because he was an elemental wizard that could talk to plants and animals that lived in a halfling burrow in the roots of a tree in Viren forest. “I have never seen a creature like this before, where did you meet?” He asked the woman.

“I am sorry about bumping into you – new in town. I am the Red Wizard, Jago Fleetfoot.”

Larka narrowed her grey eyes at the smile the halfling put on his face after she told him off, in a rather nice manner considering what she could have said, and wanted to say. But she was trying to watch her language now that she had Akira around more and for when the twins came, but oh was it hard sometimes to not swear a blue streak! Like right at the moment.

When he suddenly dissipated into the air Kyu growled and Larka called up her own magic and her missing left arm started to form out of dirt and gravel that she drew from the ground. Larka was a mama bear to a fault, and pregnant or not she'd fight to protect her children. He appeared again, but was now riding on a bear of all things! The bear stood on its hind legs and grumbled at then but Larka was having none of it and stood her ground, Kyu did the same lightning crackling up and down her body while Tsar, the strange antlered animal stood his ground. Larka still had her ace; her earth elemental a dragon of stone and gems, he could be a nasty surprise when he burst from the ground, jaws and claws first.

But that didn't have to happen, since when the halfling saw Tsar he stopped what he was doing and questioned the strange beast on what it was. For his part Tsar just snorted but didn't reply, but the halfling, Jago, turned his attention to Larka instead and spoke to her before introducing himself to her and apologizing for bumping into her.

Larka blinked once, took a deep breath and relaxed, ok, she could calm down, she could. ”Kyu, Tsar.” Larka spoke and both wolf and beast relaxed, Kyu came to Larka's one side while Tsar stepped around Jago to stand at Larka's other side. ”And I am sorry for snapping at you, Jago, uh, you might be able to understand why I am a little on edge.” She chuckled using her real right hand to pat at her belly, but she allowed her earthen left arm to fall apart now that she didn't need it.

”As for Tsar here,” She reached over to scratch the beast's head a little who leaned into it slightly. ”He is in fact a familiar to me, so I don't know anything beyond that, just that he appeared one day to me, protected me and hasn't left my side since then. This was after I became pregnant so it could be linked in a way to that, but my wife also had a familiar appear to her around the same time and our daughter had her own as well appear. So your guess is as good as mine.” She shrugged. ”Oh, and I'm Larka, this is Kyu and Tsar. So, Jago, what brings you to Sularia tonight?”

In a few moments the situation deescalated quickly. Jago patted the bear reassuringly and Glube lowered himself down onto four legs. Larka patted her pregnant belly and Jago smiled. “Makes sense, I am mostly harmless.” Jago took a step towards the woman and her companions, tipping his red wizards’ hat as he did. His emerald eyes studied both animals quickly, they were incredible. He listened, nodding as she told him about Tsar.

“The magic of a familiar never fails to impress me.” He stated, smiling to himself. Jago had encountered a mysterious raven when he’d started training as a wizard. The bird was still his familiar to this day. Jago answered her question simply “Tonight, I thought I would get a drink. See what excitement can be found.”

Jago looked to the bear behind him, with a simple nod the wizard sent his pet bear on its way. “Could I get you a drink to say sorry?” Jago asked, a genuine smile on his face.

”And I'm mostly an over protective mama bear who doesn't yet have full control over her new earth magic.” She replied back with a chuckle and then explain what Tsar was, or at least what she knew anyway. ”I never had a familiar before Tsar, in fact until almost a year ago I didn't have much in the way of magic, just enough to make work the magical tattoo I have on my back. Or at least the inked in ruins that form the spell anyway.” Larka shrugged, talking of the large raven wings tattoo on her back that her shirt was hiding, but if she willed the wings into being they'd still poke through her shirt with no damage to it. The joys of magic!

Jago explained he was here for a drink and possible excitement before asking if he could get Larka a drink by way of apology. She thought a moment, she should get home, but sitting was an idea as well, her ankles were sore, and her back. ”I can't do any booze at the moment, but I'll join you.” She nodded.

After getting to the bar and finding a place to sit, Larka having left Tsar and Kyu outside, Larka sighed as she took her seat. Getting her weight off of her legs and ankles was a blessing! ”Milk please.” She said to the barmaid as Larka took out a journal from the bag at her hip. ”I just need to write a quick note.” She scribbled in it for a moment, her writing appearing in an identical journal that Celeste carried with her, a note to say that she was fine and was stopping for a little bit to rest before walking the rest home.

With that done Larka put the book away and looked to Jago again. ”Not sure what kind of excitement you are looking for, Jago, but this city will possibly have it for you. Just note that it is very much populated by mostly females, given that the locals are mostly Rosenites, if I remember, there is something like one male for every ten females. So if you're looking for that kind of company you're in the right place.” She chuckled. ”Otherwise, if you tell me what you're looking for if not that then I might be able to point you in the right direction.”