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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2013 22:37:45 GMT -5
Eight Cups adjusted his bags, trying to gain a bit more comfort out of them. They hadn't started heavy, but after the journey to Bay Lachance that weight felt all the more heavier. The weight of the situation he found himself in seemed to add to the weight of the bag, he was far away from home and his family chasing a rumour about a strange martial arts teacher in the bay, and after what felt like an age of travelling: he was finally there.
He breathed a sigh of relief, if nothing else at least he was at the bay...now to scour for this teacher. Now that he was finally here, though, he was completely stumped. How could he possibly expect to find one particular hippocampi in an entire bay with no proper directions? If nothing else, at least he had prepared enough supplies to make his way home after a day or two of searching. The last thing he wanted was being stranded in the bay.
"Okay...let's start on the west side, then just...go from there?" he heard his own voice speaking to himself, breaking the silence of this part of the bay. Not even wondering as to why he was talking to himself, he simply shrugged and began swimming to the west, confident that he at least had an idea of what to do.
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 11, 2013 15:29:27 GMT -5
As he explored the western side of the village, Eight Cups would find nothing that indicated he was on the right trail. There were houses, and several small businesses, but nothing that resembled some sort of dojo or martial arts school. And if this self-defense teacher lived in one of these houses, is was anyone's guess as to which one it was.
"You look lost." The voice came from a generic-looking, blue-scaled sharcampi, floating a short distance away. The bags Eight Cups was carrying and the way he was scanning all the buildings around him probably made it obvious that the alabaster octocampi wasn't a local. "You're looking for something, aren't you? It's not that big of a village. What is it?"
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Post by Deleted on Oct 11, 2013 23:16:30 GMT -5
Eight Cups grumbled to himself, this search was taking so much longer than he had hoped it would. Admittedly, he had expected that there was a good possibility that he wasn't going to find this teacher, but that didn't make him any more disappointed when after all this searching he couldn't find any sign of this place.
He was more than a little startled when one of the denizens approached him. It was a blue-scaled sharcampi, yet much to his surprise he couldn't entirely discern just exactly what would've brought attention to him. Was it that he was looking about at nearly every building? Shrugging and figuring he must've looked *really* lost, he didn't question why the sharcampi approached and asked those particular questions.
He turned and faced the sharcampi. "Yeah, uhh," he started, trying to compose his sentence as he spoke, "I had heard of an apparently unique martial arts teacher up in the Bay, but didn't exactly get proper directions. This was the first town I tried and, well, it's kind of obvious I haven't found it yet. Don't suppose you can save me some time looking around here?"
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 12, 2013 0:49:15 GMT -5
"Oh," the blue sharcampi responded, giving Eight Cups a blank look for several seconds. He then took a look to his left and right before swimming behind the octocampi. "Short distance that way there's a grocer's," the sharcampi spoke, pointing over Eight Cups' shoulder. "Should find him there."
The blue-scaled hippocampi then leisurely swam off down the street. "Good luck with that," he called. It was strange that he had taken such a sudden disinterest in Eight Cups, but at least the martial arts teacher was here. In fact, Eight Cups had swam by that very store during his search of the village. But why would the instructor be there? And why a grocer's? Was he the owner?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2013 1:52:18 GMT -5
Eight Cups blinked in confusion, looking back curiously towards the sharcampi. Not much of what had transpired made immediate sense to him. Why did the sharcampi seem almost disappointed with him after he mentioned the teacher? Better yet, why the 'Good luck with that' statement? Was this teacher more than what the rumours were saying about him? Or were they all revolving around one grocery store owner that wasn't accurate in the slightest? Whatever the case, at least he had directions now.
Swimming up the street towards the grocer, he found himself pondering just exactly what was in store inside the building. Ideas and 'what-if's continued to form as he made his way up to the door and showed no signs of stopping as he made his way inside, thankful that after all that swimming he may have finally arrived.
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 12, 2013 13:01:01 GMT -5
The only thing peculiar about the grocer's was that there really wasn't anything peculiar about it. It looked like a regular grocery store. A rather small one, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. The shelves were stocked with assorted underwater vegetation, tied together in bundles. Various sizes of fish were individually wrapped and stacked together. Lobsters could be seen in a half-barrel sitting along the wall, pulling each-other back into the container whenever one tried to climb out.
"Can I help you with something?" Another sharcampi, this one with gray scales, was floating behind the counter, giving Eight Cups the sort of welcoming smile you would expect from a cashier. "We've got the freshest seagrass in the bay. Or maybe you wanted to take home some halibut?"
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2013 2:43:15 GMT -5
Eight Cups blinked confusedly upon entering the grocer. This place sure didn't seem like it belonged to a martial arts expert, never mind that the sharcampi at the counter acted more like a cashier than a teacher. Was this the intent? To pass as someone 'normal' in the tiny village whilst teaching his martial arts talents behind closed windows? Was this a place of meditation?
Whatever the actual case was, Eight Cups was more than eager to find out the answer. "I guess I've got the wrong directions," he started, turning to the sharcampi curiously, "Unless you teach self defence or some sort of martial art, I think I'm in the wrong building."
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 14, 2013 16:52:38 GMT -5
The sharcampus's welcoming smile was soon replaced by a look of awkwardness and mild confusion. He opened his mouth, closing it again after half a second as if he wasn't sure what to say. He repeated this another time before finally speaking. "You're... I think you're looking for Tarpon." Several seconds of silence passed between the two, the sharcampi continuing to stare nervously at Eight Cups. "He's in the back," he added, glancing towards a door-frame behind the counter, a short distance away from where he was floating.
The back of the store was filled mostly with various bundles of food, items that would presumably be used to restock the shelves. In the middle of the room was a table with two chairs, on one of which a dark brown catfish was sleeping. More notably, however, was a dusty-yellow octocampus, sleeping on a rope bed in the far corner. He had his back to the rest of the room, but Eight Cups could at least see he had a short, pale-brown mane and some sort of black strap going across the back of his head.
The sleeping hippocampus let out something between a snort and a half-snore as he shifted slightly in his bed, but otherwise seemed fast asleep.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2013 21:57:02 GMT -5
Eight Cups couldn't help but wonder why it was that so far, every campus he had spoken to seemed to be either disappointed, confused, or otherwise just negative when he asked about the teacher. His curiousity kept him anxious and more than willing to stride forth through the door frame the sharcampus was hinting towards, stepping into the back of the store.
He stepped into the room and immediately took in the surroundings. It seemed as though whatever this "Tarpon" did back here, he seemed to have to contend with a good chunk of the grocery supplies that were kept in the same room. Did he live here, though? Judging from how he and a catfish was sleeping in here, it was a possibility...yet he admitted he could easily, easily be wrong. Only way to be sure was to find out.
Eight Cups set down his bags, clearing his throat audibly, "Excuse me, are you Tarpon?" he asked inquisitively.
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 14, 2013 22:24:09 GMT -5
The octocampus let out another snort, having not heard Eight Cups. Deep sleeper it seemed.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2013 15:14:10 GMT -5
Eight Cups blinked a few times before realizing he hadn't quite woken up the octocampus. He swam a little closer towards him and spoke a little louder this time, "Sir? Are you Tarpon?"
He winced as he detected a hint of his own annoyance in his own voice. He was just so eager to meet this campus and learn as much as possible from his teachings, and now that Eight Cups was finally here...the teacher was fast asleep. He reminded himself to keep a better handle on his nerves and at least *try* not to yell to try and wake up Tarpon.
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 15, 2013 19:09:49 GMT -5
The octocampus seemed to have heard Eight Cups that time, groggily stretching before rolling to face the source of the sound. He then took a good at Eight Cups, examining the other hippocampus from head to tentacle. Eight Cups could now see that the black strap belonged to an eye-patch situated over his left eye. He looked somewhat old, old enough to be someone's grandfather. Not that he looked the type to have ever settled down and had kids. Maybe that was the eye-patch, or the fact that he was sleeping in the back of a grocery.
"Who in the deep blue 're you supposed to be?" he asked. The old octocampus craned his neck, trying to see if there was anyone else behind Eight Cups. He then finally took the effort to sit up, taking plenty of time in doing so. "Didn't your parents ever teach you the importance of privacy? Snoopin' around the back of someone's store..." he muttered.
His eye soon landed on Eight Cups' bags, staring at them before turning back to their owner. "Don't tell me Pier's rentin' you space too. Hardly enough room for me as it is." Getting up from the bed, the one-eyed octocampus moved around Eight Cups towards the door frame. "Fool thinks he can run a hotel back here..." he muttered.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 0:25:57 GMT -5
"Oh..." he muttered, his expectations and hopes quickly being dashed by that surprisingly rude start. He swam back towards his bags, slowly picking them back up, "Sorry, seems I was horribly mistaken coming here. I'll just...leave then, sorry for intruding sir," he started, "I'll just show myself out now, sorry for waking you too."
He grumbled to himself, this was the last thing he expected to happen coming in here. He also figured teachers were helpful, if not at least pleasant to speak to. This octocampus, if he really was a 'teacher', sounded more like a drill sergent than a helpful martial arts instructor. If this was really him, it wasn't worth the time.
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Post by King Tidal Wave on Oct 16, 2013 14:21:54 GMT -5
The octocampus stopped half-way from the door-frame. He turned to raise an eyebrow at Eight Cups, but didn't make any attempt to keep him from leaving. Eight Cups could hear him muttering something about being woken up for no good reason as he left the back of the store.
"Did you want any of that seagrass?" the gray sharcampus asked after Eight Cups had re-emerged. "You won't find a better a better value!" he called.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2013 12:34:36 GMT -5
Eight Cups sighed to himself as the door closed behind him. He had made that entire journey just to meet some grumpy old octocampus. So far this trip couldn't have possibly been worth it, having trekked all the way to the Bay for this complete waste of time and effort. Suddenly the journey home felt much to far away to start just yet.
He shrugged in response to the sharcampus' call, "Sure, why not?" he grabbed a few leaves of seagrass and fished the appropriate amount of coins from his bags, setting them on the counter. "Is he always that grumpy?" he asked idly, wondering if the sharcampus knew much about this old coot besides just letting him live there.
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