@SAF @122 Generation @ChocoChicken Aine smiled as the others arrived. "Everyone's here...good. Let's also make sure no spies are present before I read this..."
The Eevee who Blacky had been bragging about had miraculously not spilled any of the boiling hot water as he prepared the coffee. An entire kettle had been poured over the coffee grind to make a delicious brew. The smell of the coffee did partly wake him up, but it still wasn't enough as he halfheartedly poured cups and cups of coffee infused with Rawst and Nomel. Clearly, he was still half-asleep as he passed the cups out. "Thank you for waiting..." he mumbled before turning to pouring a cup of his own. Afterwards he went to grab a seat in the lobby and sat close to his comrades to listen in, or so he tried.
As soon as the last (?) three members of the group entered the inn, the coffee had already been served. Blacky took a seat beside Atelier, Josson on the former's other side, and Celine slunk back to her seat between Swirlix and Bunnelby. The Nomel berries made this particular brew of coffee a little too sour for Josson's liking, but otherwise he could see why his protege loved the stuff. And Blacky himself? He kept lightly elbowing Atelier because dude looked like he was about to pass out. Now that Aine mentioned about potential spies, Celine couldn't help but to try sensing if there were any in the lobby...
As far as Celine was concerned, there were no spying devices in the room. However, her ability to detect spies was limited to the static ones in the same room as her for now -- it could and would develop later in her life. Buizel, meanwhile, looked around in case there was anyone behaving suspiciously at the other tables. But like Celine, he couldn't find any either. They both then nodded to Aine as a sign to start reading.
@SAF @122 Generation @ChocoChicken Aine started reading the letter. "Dear Lady Aine...we too are heartbroken by the many tears we see from Spikeford. No one in Ardamore should have to live under oppression! Therefore, we are honored to lend our wings and our powers to your cause..."
@ChocoChicken @122 Generation @WavePearl Cue relief drawn all over the majority's -- the Kickenham people's -- faces as Aine read the letter. Buizel grinned whisker to whisker (those black parallel marks on his cheeks looked pretty much like whiskers), Mawile nodded in approval for Arceus knew how many times, the other Society members brightened up as well, and Blacky's light nudge on Atelier evolved into a slightly stronger elbowing -- maybe a little too strong for non-warriors. Why, even Josson's barely-there smile already said something!
"Good." Xuehua responded, practically flatly. "Aine, can you get a response to them with the rough date and time of the raid? Once that's wrapped up, we should get going. The Radiant Sky sect is still waiting."
(Braincells about as dead as Atelier's at the moment) Atelier occasionally jumped awake when Blacky nudged him but his senses then declined to a state of tiredness such that he almost drifted asleep like a Snorlax would. When Blacky's nudges turned to elbowing, combined with Josson's reaction, Atelier was jolted awake to a point that he almost spilt his coffee. Very quickly, Atelier downed his coffee in an effort to wake up faster. The coffee definitely leaned more to the acidic side than the bitter side when it came to taste.
(For the record, Josson's reaction was directed more to Aine's letter than Blacky's antics, though seems like Atelier's assumption was fair enough. Also, please take a break.) "Good morning," Blacky's half-relieved half-devious grin didn't falter when Atelier jolted awake. Good thing it wasn't his master's pointy furs that woke the Eevee up -- that would've been hurt. "Crown Tundra's Winged Guardians are willing to help. We just need to tell them when we'll start the raid," the Umbreon reported, never mind that the last sentence was merely Xuehua's suggestion for now.
(Trying to catch a break.... soon. Gosh, I must be passing on my tired state to Atelier. Also, maybe Atelier was too tired to notice what Josson was focused on) "Good morning..." Atelier yawned. "Well, that is good news. If that's the case, we can let them know to be prepared or on standby until we're ready to begin the campaign. I expect maybe... a day? We can't suddenly have everyone come at once to attack without preparation. Maybe we should get them to meet up with us first before anything else, so they should come here today."
@122 Generation Aine folded up the letter, seeing as she didn't need to read more of it. "I'll send word to them as to where to meet us." With that, she settled before a desk to begin writing her reply..
@ChocoChicken (@122 Generation forgetting that time skip is a thing: electric boogaloo. ) "I don't think a day is enough for this one," Josson objected to Atelier's suggestion to launch the raid in a day or so, much to Blacky's surprise given the younger Eeveelutions' track record. "But sir, we've done preps and the ra--" the Umbreon protested only for his master to cut it off with an "Only with the four of you," with "the four of you" referring to Aine and co. And with Blacky shell-shocked now that he didn't have anything to counter that, the Jolteon added, "We have more people now, so preparation within a day may be quite a stretch." @WavePearl "Sammi," Josson then called out to the gang's Charmander guide and asked, "How many more sects do we need to visit?"
@SAF (How many do you think is reasonable? This will affect Sammi's answer--we can skip through most of these offscreen...)
(Let's start from the ones mentioned IC that the gang hasn't visited yet: Radiant Sky Sect (aerial force) Mizu Village (aquatic ninja with ice on the side) Mikazuchi School (luna school with sol on the side) And iirc I had some ideas for more schools: an axe-wielding one and an archery one (if the Gilded Arrow idea was anything to go by with Aine and/or Blacky actually get(s) to learn it), so... maybe at least 5?)
@SAF "We should visit the Radiant Sky Sect first." Sammi suggested. "But we'll hit some other noteworthy locations along the way--including Mizu Village, and the Mikazuchi School."
"Along the way? That implies more after the Radiant Sky Sect if it's first, doesn't it?" Xuehua narrowed her eyes at the Charmander, impatient. "How many schools are we planning to check in with? If any of them are too far off, it'll be faster to just send letters."
@ChocoChicken "Not too many more." Sammi assured Xuehua. "Just visiting all the noble schools around here would be a quest in itself!"
Atelier sighed as his brain started working after the second round of coffee. Seemed the party was out to grab more reinforcements, which wasn't a problem. He hoped that these schools weren't far away, or else it would be a while before the campaign. Even then, it was necessary to allow more preparation time because of the numbers who would be participating. "Shall we head out to visit some, then?" he asked.
"That sounds good to me," Xuehua responded quickly. "Let's get this done as soon as we can. The more time Spikeford has to prepare, the harder our fight will be."
"Agreed," Chief Ampharos said. "The sooner, the better." That said, everyone stood up to grab some breakfast while Chief Ampharos headed to the guest rooms for some reason. Noticing this, Buizel called out, "Chief! Where are you going?" "Oh? Get some breakfast, of course." As expected, Chief Ampharos was heading the wrong way again. This time Josson dragged him to the correct way before anyone could ("Breakfast is this way, you--"). Witnessing this, Blacky sheepishly turned to his teammates with a "See what I mean?" look at them, seemingly implying that not even his liege was immune to the phenomenon. (@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation Ready for the raid?)