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--- campaigns:taika-daagru:2026-06-13 [2026-06-14 01:34] – created pinkgothic
+++ campaigns:taika-daagru:2026-06-13 [2026-07-19 01:29] (current) – Today's session pinkgothic
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 **pinkgothic**:
-Past her acknowledging nodding, Kukri pondered aloud: "I don't suppose you could point us to some? As you can tell from the manner you came to be acquainted with us, it's not my field of expertise, and I, too, would prefer not to make a fool of myself and my apprentice a second time, frankly wholly independent of whether the consequences would or would not be any less or more unpleasant." Frankly she still don't know what precisely they had even been doing - she didn't make a habit of looking into people's cargo unprompted, so any smuggled wares were mostly left to her imagination.
+Past her acknowledging nodding, Kukri pondered aloud: "I don't suppose you could point us to some? As you can tell from the manner you came to be acquainted with us, it's not my field of expertise, and I, too, would prefer not to make a fool of myself and my apprentice a second time, frankly wholly independent of whether the consequences would or would not be any less or more unpleasant." Frankly she still didn't know what precisely they had even been doing - she didn't make a habit of looking into people's cargo unprompted, so any smuggled wares were mostly left to her imagination.
 **Concavenator**:
 A shrug. "I suppose one learns to see it. Perhaps this sort of discernment not a common skill in your halls, though I wonder if your discreet apprentice could not have learned it by necessity. Until then, you might want to be content with public transportations and licensed drivers".
+**pinkgothic**:
+So they were far enough back into civilisation that that was an option! Kukri had frankly not had enough of a sense of distance to have assumed as much. Yakak'ratu had given them no choice but to guess blindly, but if this was better-connected to the trade transport network, all the better. "Are there any that would take the word of a philosopher for later payment?" she asked with some crinkled amusement. She still had a bit of money to spend once her belongings were returned to her, but it was certainly the very last of what she had brought, and she had no clear sense of how much it would cost to get back to Grikaa.
+**Concavenator**:
+The sergeant tilted her head in amusement for an instant. "I doubt so", she said, "unless you can get them an official note from the chapterhouse that they could appeal to. If you cannot pay, perhaps you can work it off in the stations, help clean the engine or refill the water tanks or such. It's not really philosopher work, though, is it. Else, there will probably be legitimate freight going to Grikaa, that might or might not take passengers. But I would recommend checking their authorization first, this time".
+**pinkgothic**:
+Kukri chuckled mildly. Their common amusement at the poor luck with travel felt good, even if it was very much at her own expense - the humour defused more of the tension from before. "Well, no time like the present to see how to get myself and my protégé into trouble next," she mused. Her leg complained mildly at her as she shifted her weight, and so she asked, remembering that she would also have to carry her belongings: "How far a walk is it to the next sleds?"
+**Concavenator**:
+"If you insist on sleds, there should be some leaving a day-sixth before dawn", the sergeant replied, using the messy ancient timekeeping system. It was not much later. "You should be in Grikaa before it's dark again. This settlement is not large; just go to the square behind the logging houses. They are not guaranteed to have room, and if they do, you might have to share it with penguin bucks. The noise and smell, I'm told, are less than pleasant. But it will get you back".
+**pinkgothic**:
+"I would much rather insist on something else, but all humour aside, my resources are quite thinned from the expedition," Kukri remarked, a little more seriously this time. She glanced at Giya, her body language trying to encourage her spirit, then glanced back to the sergeant. "Would you lead us to where you've been keeping our belongings?"
+**Concavenator**:
+The sergeant nodded and turned. "Of course. Your baggage, you will understand, has been thoroughly searched, but you should have all your provisions and your philosophical notes returned. Weapons, of course, have been unloaded, and I am afraid we do not return ammunitions; but you will not find yachakri from here to Grikaa".
+**pinkgothic**:
+"And a good thing that's true," Kukri mused. "We had the misfortune of seeing two of them on the expedition and I would rather never see a single one of them again." Mighty creatures they had been, though, but that had involved more stress hormones than she had any desire to be exposed to in the passable future. Either way, she nodded amicably - the lost ammunition hurt a little, but as long as she made it home to Grikaa with Giya, it was simply an inconvenience. "As for the disarray from a search," she commented. "It isn't likely to be worse than the one our belongings started in." Technically that wasn't true, but it was a platitude she was willing to indulge in for the sake of maintaining the levity they had been allowing between themselves.
+**Concavenator**:
+"I'm glad to hear that". They walked across a narrow corridor to a little wooden door, in which the sergeant slid a notched keyplate that had been hanging from her neck. Behind the door all of Kukri's baggage lay in a pile, open but intact; the rifle, conspicuously empty, was propped against a wall; and the notes had been piled on top of a box, crudely bound with twine; out of order, but with no obviously missing part.
+Giya asked: "I take the baggage, now? Are we going to Grikaa?" Her body language was stiff, as if she feared a disappointing answer and was preparing to hide her reaction.
+**pinkgothic**:
+Kukri immediately busied herself with the notes, carefully putting them back into their original order, chiefly to assess if anything had gone missing somehow. It needn't be malice if a note was missing - there had been some haste to work on this on part of the police, so one could have slipped behind something else in the bustle.
+Giya's question shook her out of her immediate concerns, and she glanced back at her. "I would hope there are no more set-backs, yes," Kukri smiled encouragingly at her protégé. "You really look as though you would rather be eaten by a yachakri than be in our current situation," she chuckled fondly. "I think I understand your wariness, but you needn't worry. Your situation is quite different now. Breathe easily."
+**Concavenator**:
+Giya's breathing did steady somewhat, and she too chuckled at the joke, first softly, then slightly louder.
+"Yes, Kukri". There still was a slight waver in her voice; it seemed the more rational part of her brain had been soothed by Kukri's words, while the rest still shivered beneath. "The yachakri only pursue you a little, and then forget all. But I want really to see Grikaa, I do; will I see the city with you?  I can take the baggage, all the way. Your notes, are they good?"
+**pinkgothic**:
+Kukri chuckled along to the observation about the carnivores' behaviour. To the question, she then nodded. "Of course. But there is much city to see, so it will take quite a while, and there will be work to do in between." She straightened out the notes against the edge of her luggage, then rebound them. "And it looks like the notes are all here," she confirmed. "Let's find some transport, shall we?" And so she started hobbling, although not without first glancing at the luggage with an air of embarrassment - it really would be better if she could carry the full weight of it again. For now, the best she could do was to say "Thank you for your help."
+**Concavenator**:
+"I... am pleased to help. Yes, of course, yes, I will do the work with you, always. I do not want to abandon it". She crouched to open the baggage straps and check everything was in its place. Crudely mixed and jumbled up, to be sure, but nothing seemed broken or missing. "All is here, I think. I will put in order for a moment. You will also put inside your notes, yes?"
+**pinkgothic**:
+Kukri nodded. It was certainly best they not be loose for the journey - the last thing they needed was pages fluttering away in the wind, after so much effort had been spent to make them. "Don't worry about putting it into much order, though," she assuaged. "As long as we manage to get everything back to Grikaa, the order can wait."