Venus Provides….<Tag Terrence, all in house>

[Shidare]

“So a silent and observant…protector, that does learn from his mistakes. That’s the makings of a hero. That’s very handy when one needs a hand with situations. Wait here I’ll be right back!”

She quickly jump from the car leaving it running and ran in the door. She was gone about five minutes and came out and called over her shoulder as she came out. “Huna Spirita!”

She jumped back in and looked at Terrence, a small smile grew on her face as held up a small bag.

“This is festival cheese….have you ever had a sharp provolone but with hints of a a good sharp cheddar mixed, try some!”

She placed the bag in his hands and put the car back on the road.

“On how you didn’t ramble earlier please don’t worry. We are just learning about each other. Please don’t worry. I might let slip some of my juicer secrets.”

The drive was again along the local roads and Shidare seemed to be in no hurry.

“I’m glad you’re considering making friends with Amyra. Everyone needs a friend or two.”

She could understand the habits part as they could be very hard to break. She still had one which flared up at inappropriate times.

“Habits are either a stability or something to break. Considering how long you’ve had them the act of breaking them can prove to be tough.”

She passed several slower moving vehicles as she spoke to him. He asking about the festival. Oh he should have a night off coming up. She racked her memory for everyone’s schedule mainly for Terrance’s. Yes! He was off mid-festival when you could feel the energy of the festival or that’s how it felt to her.

“Yes! The festival turns the planet into one big party and well it’s a very impressive feat. They are celebrating in one fashion or another, whether it’s true to the religious origins or what the youth have developed for the religion. Its just a remembrance of our past loved ones and ancestors. The religious leaders say they see the dead walking among us due to our honoring our ancestor charges the ley lines and allows them to visit.”

She slowly peeked her vehicle out to see if she could pass the larger delivery vehicle. Once she knew she could she pulled around him speeding up and then as she came around she took the right fork 7 meters past the truck.

“You can visit one of the larger temples and have glyphs drawn for your ancestors to come see you. I’m sure you’ve noticed the small shrines around the house with some sort of offering. That’s another way to invite your ancestors. I looked into some of the deeper aspects and found it to align with several other death religions have that aren’t fatalistic but teach death is natural and you get your reward or punishment.”

She speed up slightly as the road widen and she started speeding up until she was at a posted limit. They cruised for fifteen minutes and then turned onto a side street and after another five minutes of travel pulled into a parking lot. She backed her car into a spot and shut it off.

“We are here at the Tangs. Old Lady Tang is reasonable. It is her adult son and daughter-in-law who are not reasonable. Oh and they look like Minotaurs of legend, females tend to look female. So if you see a rather large bill eyeing you that’s the son. Let’s go see Old Lady Tang!”

[T.K.]

Terrence smiled slightly at what Shidare called him before taking off into the building, once out of earshot he sighed quietly to himself "Well..its better than being called a monster. Certainly I consider myself a fairly righteous person but just can't envision myself as a hero. Too lofty." he mused quietly as he closed his eyes allowing his mind to go still for a few minutes as he relaxed until he felt Shidare coming out of the building having been tracking her life energy the entire time.

He cracked an eye open as she approached the car then sat upright as she spoke tossing the cheese on his lap prompting him to peer at it curiously when she described the flavor "That sounds fantastic, maybe melt some of this on a chili dog and I'd be golden" he stated without really thinking about it, he did love his melted cheese on foods. "So is this portion for us right now or we savin this for the festival to start?"

As the young woman pulled out into traffic and started to go into more detail about what to expect with the festival his expression softened a bit at the idea of people being able to meet their ancestors "That does seem like a wonderful experience, a chance to meet a great ancestor or maybe a second chance to say goodby to a departed loved one. Its a good thing to lighten ones own regrets like that as well, so long as the spirits are willing to come and not compelled to. I'd certainly take big issue with that had it been the case, I've seen....ugly things that some people with the right skill set can do with a soul...." he trailed off shaking his head. "Sometimes I think i've seen more than someone my age should have by this point" he admitted with a wry smile as they passed the delivery truck and took the fork in the road.

"However this festival sounds like something that I'd like to experience, good culture so to speak honoring the dead. So I look forward to what I can experience during it." he admitted his smile turning more genuine at the thought as he was confident Shidare would make sure he experienced the best the festival had to offer!

Finally as they found their way to the 'Old Lady Tang's' building he subtly extended his life sense to start detecting how may living beings are within the building, already mentally constructing a handful of combat situations in his mind in the chance negotiations turn ugly. He wouldn't throw the first punch or insult.

But he'd certainly make sure he threw the last if need be...

As he walked in step with Shidare he spoke up "I'm familiar with Minotaur, calling them walking hamburgers is a great taunt. But I digress, I'll keep an eye on the siblings so feel confident and comfortable to be... frank with your words when you let Lady Tang know of your displeasure. They caused you considerable trouble so your well within your rights to complain and demand some form of compensation."

[Shidare]

She felt good about having Terrence along on this one. She hadn’t wanted to pull him into this but she wasn’t going to allow someone to take her money and get away with it. Terrence had come up with a fantastic way to each the cheese and after this they would.

“That’s a wonderful idea with the cheese. Let’s do that when we take lunch. Try some before we melt it over lunch. You may not prefer it.”

Terrence was into the idea of trying to see your ancestors. She had thought about it herself and tried to see loved ones. The drugs the priests and priestess had given her to help open her mind or align it were nice but didn’t seem to work.

“Oh a good strong spiritual side. I like that. It says something about a person who believes in something bigger than themselves. Minerva provides as does Venus. They both give me views on things that would be not be openly accepted. Here we accept that we call our ancestors to see us and take pride we remember them.”

That last part said it. He had seen more than his years. She caught that from just the scars on his body. The unknown languages he spoke in his sleep when he first arrived. It spoke warrior and wanderer. The rest came to her as they conversed. He was not the threat the accessories she had removed said he was, at least that’s what her gut told her.

Terrence would feel upon first inspection and usage at least different life forces moving in and out of range. As they walked in he would catch a small cluster of five or six to the east of where they walked.

It would be now that Terrence may have notice Shidare was carrying her parasol and giving it twirls in a playful and carefree manner.

As they traversed they long hall that let out into a warehouse aisle he would feel another two above and west and when he looked he would see a crane moving along the top of the warehouse which was open to the sky. The shelves had roofs but the space was open above and the crane loaded a small transport.

“I can’t thank you enough for coming and offer to watch the siblings. It is appreciated.”

As they moved further away from the door which would be a good 200 meters they will have covered by the time they come what could only be called decorated pavilion. It was a very large and had carpets down inside, chairs for sitting and tables as well. It was for entertaining and seated at one of the larger than normal chairs was what looked to be a female Minotaur dressed very properly. Terrence would feel three other life forces just out of sight directly north and two more directly northwest.

The female Minotaur turned to greet them with an approximation of a smile.

“Ah if it isn’t the lovely Shidare. What brings you around this time dear?”

The female Minotaur motioned for Shidare to sit and it was as they closed with her pavilion that Shidare stopped.

“Madame Tang, this won’t take long. It seems we have a problem with some merchandise you sold me six months ago or rather your son and his wife sold me.”

She said as calmly as she could and it would seem Shidare was very calm.

Old Lady Tang didn’t seem notice or stop her preparation of tea.

“Sit Shidare, let’s talk about this supposed business dealing with my son. He never mentioned it to me.”

Shidare shook her head and twirled her parasol again as she entered the pavilion and stopped.

“No, it’s simple. The mattresses were infest with Tarkvelian bedbugs. I requested documentation that they had been properly sterilized and it was provided. It even had the seal of The Jalleusian Council for Health and Safety.”

At those words Old Lady Tang finished her tea prep and took a seat.

“Sounds like your issue is with your storage methods or perhaps that house of debauchery you run picked up some bugs?”

The barn was evident but Shidare was undeterred.

“Or perhaps your child and his wife cheated me and you don’t want to own up to being a dirty dealing old cow!”

If that had caused any impression it would be frowned out by the angry bellow of an eight and half foot Minotaur with rather impressive horns stepping forward.

“Shut your mouth whore when speaking to my mother or I’ll shut it for you.”

Shidare twirled her parasol again and smiled playfully at Cutter.

“Cutter…or is it cutlet I can’t tell when talking to the cheating side of beef who sold me but infested mattresses. Now refund my money plus 60% of my fumigation costs and I won’t tell the business guilds about this.”

[T.K.]

Walking through the warehouse Terrence rewarded Shidare with a warm smile as she seemed agreeable to his idea for what to have for lunch, now he was rather excited for the thought as it had been a looong time since he got to indulge in some unhealthy chili cheese dogs and frankly he was eager to have some. However that would need to wait a bit as they had matters to attend to here with a small chance of violence breaking out he kept his mind on task as he put mental tabs on every living thing in the building in the chance they could be gunners that could try and snipe them from afar should negotiations break down.

Upon reaching Lady Tang's pavilion he could appreciate how proper the aged bovine woman dressed but that thought was quickly cast aside as he idly glanced around the room, or so it seemed as he looked in the direction where he felt several beings to the north and northwest, he guessed either guards of her own or workers on break or something of the sort.

He didn't miss how Shidare didn't take the elder Tang up on her offer to take a seat and join her for tea, given what he knew of his host thus far it was a sure sign of how displeased she was to skip such pleasantries, he could respect it considering why they were here in the first place. As the two business owners started to converse he let his gaze idle about the room but it was more he was listening to his instincts to try and feel out and locations that stuck out as dangerous that would hint at hidden compartments that might house some kinda hidden turrets, even if he was wrong he wouldn't ignore his caution for danger and his recent...stay with the Cygnarians had greatly refined his ability to accurately gauge non organic threats.

As his lovely host was laying her complaints on the table he was still studying the area, ticking off in his mind what he could grab and throw in the immediate area should trouble break out. However as the insults started to fly between the two his gaze snapped back and he paid real close attention to Lady Tang as she threw the first barb which he could already see as a means to incite the pink haired woman beside him and didn't miss how Shidare took the bait, her anger justified at this point as she bluntly called them out on their bullshit.

His gaze finally snapped directly to the large horned bovine who started to approach in a threatening manner and could practically feel the aggression rolling off of him as he yelled at Shidare, Terrence kept his face impassive but his thoughts were far from 'Must be the son who sold the dirty goods. Applying intimidation tactics but she's not havin any of it. If he gets within potential striking distance of Shidare I'll put him down.' he growled inwardly already gotten a good feel for how these individuals operate now. As far as he was concerned his current boss was too decent of a person to be having to deal with dirt bags like this.

Even as he had that train of thought he took a very slight step forward so he was just ahead of Shidare in a show of simply matching Cutter's step also making sure he was a shorter distance away indicating his purpose here. He was her guard after all and by this point he was fully prepared subtly anchoring himself to the ground so he could stop dead a charge if need be.

[Shidare]

Old Lady Tang sighed as son Cutter made the situation worse. The worse depended on if Cutter could maintain his calm. Which she realized he couldn’t as he hadn’t reached that maturity level.

“Cutter! Step away from Shidare…”, she glanced at Terrence and could nearly sense his disapproval of her son, “I’d hate to escalate this situation.”

Shidare cut eyes to Terrence and realized he had moved ever so slightly ahead of her. She didn’t mind. It showed a readiness of his and it was appreciated.

“Terrence let’s remember to only incapacitate those who attack. I don’t want to try to beat a murder rap.”

Cutter didn’t head his mother’s warning combined with Shidare’s antagonizing words caused him to bellow and fly forward toward Shidare.

[T.K.]

Seeing as Lady Tang seemed to not wish this encounter either Terrence had some level of relief when Shidare requested him to incapacitate rather than kill. While he would have taken lives as needed as he's certainly no stranger to blood on his hands, the fact she wanted non lethal force made him happy to a degree. His head tilted just slightly towards Shidare and she could see a slight smile at her request "As M'lady requests."

Even as Cutter got just within reach Terrence had already decided upon a plan of action, perhaps he could deescalate with an appropriate show of force as with the amount of entities around the warehouse made the idea of Lady Tang calling in help a problematic and potentially messy concern. Stepping within Cutter's reach to intercept, Terrence ducked under an arm and in a show of his own inhuman strength grasped the bull's throat and killed his momentum picking him up off the ground and slammed him down onto the concrete substance taking care to make sure his upper back hit before his neck or head as to knock the wind and stun the aggressive Bovine.

During the momentary lul he released Cutter's throat and raised his foot up to make it look like he was going to slam it down on him but purposely missed and smashed it down on the Dura-crete a short distance by his head causing a small tremor throughout the immediate area and causing a small impact crater to sink in a few inches. With a low breath he took a couple steps back to Shidare's side. "Strike one. Further hostilities will be met with increasing force. Am. I. clear." the way he said it was more of a statement of fact than question.

[Shidare]

Old Lady Tang looked at her son who was now prone as another approached her. She could see that the new person wasn’t as they seemed. His aura was strange. She looked at two young Bobians and shakes her head.

“Go get Cutter and take him to his wife.”

She seats herself. With the tea set. Sighs and thanks her Gods that her son was left alive.

“You’ve got a young war bull with you Shidare. Very well let’s speak compensating your for a loss you wish to assign me. I also want the papers back.”

As it seemed everything was calming down a crowd had formed and out walked a younger bovine woman and as she moved toward Shidare and once close enough hands her a sack that clinks.

“Take your money you lecherous and sinful woman. Take your taint with you.”

Shidare ignored her and counted the money. While she was lectured. It was there and only 30%. That was close enough.

“Terrence I believe we can leave. It’s close enough to the amount requested and I don’t believe we need anymore trouble today. Thank you Cana.”

Cana nodded and turned back to her people and walked off.

“Don’t thank me yet. The assembled crowd believe you’re stealing their wages. You aren’t leaving alive. Perhaps I’ll see your spirits over the festival.”

Shidare looked at Terrence and tossed him the bag. She wasn’t fighting all these people who were just workers. She laughed as she cried out gleefully.

“Race you to the car Terrence! Last one there drives!”

She took off in the opposite of the exit and half the mob followed her. She called out over her shoulder.

“Run Terrence!”

Her amused laugh said it all. She was having fun here.

[T.K.]

Terrence nodded once to Lady Tang as she came to terms with the situation, he really didn't want to separate a mother from her son over something like this as she really did seem to care "For what its worth he should be fine, made sure that his back took the brunt of it." he stated with a surprising gentleness as Shidare was counting the coin. He carefully gauged the gathering crowd and knew this wasn't going to end as cleanly as he'd want but for an entirely different reason.

He arched a brow as the situation played out and realized they'd have to make a break for it even as Shidare gave him the money to hold onto, which he did without question. He couldn't stop the flat eyed glare he gave his boss who seemed entirely too entertained at the situation "..Your going to make this harder for us ain't you?" he said in a resigned tone as his lip tugged up as he had to agree that they have probably overstayed their welcome as he could sense the rising hostility of the gathered workers.

Needless to say he took off in a run after Shidare "If you think I'm going to drive your out of your gourd! Your totally driving regardless if your there first or not!" he called at her as they made a break for it, this woman was a troublesome person but she wasn't a bad person so he couldn't help but humor her as they made their escape. While he could have handled the chasing crowd well enough he really didn't want to cause more harm or damage than he already had, he'd rather keep this incident small enough where both sides world eventually sweep it under the rug!

[Shidare]

As they ran Shidare considered his state earlier and his comments. He wasn’t wrong she wasn’t making this any easier but then again having a mob of workers after wasn’t really her idea of this going badly, it was in fact going way better than she imagined.

“The hard part is done. This is the easy part.”

She called between breaths as she ran. It was then the behind them the mob spilt up and seemed to stop caring or had disappeared into the giant shelves and aisle. She laughed at Terrence’s disdain of driving.

“I’m sure you’d manage just fine. After all they say about old age, have the best stories when your old. This will definitely be one!”

As they round a corner five appeared ahead of her prompting her to stop. When she did and if Terrence was using his ability he would feel four behind him each group about ten meters away.

“Well this is not what I expected, I’d had hoped we’d lost them. I’ll guess we have to handle these guys and gals. I’ve got mine are you ok with yours?”

[T.K.]

Running along with Shidare he snorted and shook his head as she insisted he could drive and be fine, what he wasn't saying was he was still paranoid about his curse. The fact that it had brought him to this planet from the arenas was sign enough that he still had it even if it wasn't acting up recently. That uncertainty of having it or not still made him wary to drive as it would be reaaaaaly bad if he was driving and he suddenly vanished leaving the vehicle to go outta control!

"Lets just say I have my reasons to be reluctant."

He had been mentally tracking the angry mob that had been chasing them down, and not for a moment was he fooled when they seemingly fall back out of sight as he noticed they had been splitting up to cage him and Shidare in. His hunch was proven right as they found themselves between a couple groups of very displeased workers. "Do we even need to fight? I mean we got what we came for." he stated jingling the coin bag before moving in closer to Shidare.

"Speaking of stories to tell..when was the last time you were carried like a princess?" he said in a rather mischievous tone "Although you'll have to forgive me for taking some liberties here with you, do hold onto your parasol though!" he stated before he scooped up the pink haired woman in his arms while maintaining his grip on the coin bag. He looked to the approaching workers "Sorry guys, we've overstayed our welcome. I'll be taking this troublemaker with me!"

With that said before the Bovine workers could get much closer he crouched his legs slightly and with a bit of effort jumped away landing up on one of the racks in the warehouse designed for bigger products so had room for him to easily land on then jumped to another spot and so forth landing down between isles when he saw an open spot making his way towards the first exit he could see.

[Shidare]

Shidare shot Terrence a dark look.

“Never! I do very well on my own two feet. You son of……,” she didn’t finished as she put a death grip on her parasol and swallowed the yelp she was about emit and instead gave Terrence a baleful look as she was forced to throw her free arm around his neck. She had no choice in the leaving which considering things this was nicer.

“Not many match a Bovian male in his first 85 years. That’s when he is still attempting to gather his own herd under the watchful eye of his mother. You did make him think about future attempts with you. At the very least I know you can help move furniture, darling!”

She laughed and shot him a dazzling smile. Terrence was a wonderful mystery wrapped around what she would call a good guy. Whoever he ended up with would be extremely lucky. She pointed toward the exit.

“Down there if you please Terrence.”

She laughed.

[T.K.]

He only took a moment to offer Shidare a slightly apologetic look when she glared at him before grinning "Well I won't tell if you won't tell. I wouldn't want to risk your reputation as a strong independent woman, for now however I'll need you to humor me until we're out of this warehouse!" he mused as his eyes rapidly shifted about mid jump as he spied for another place to land, as his feet touched down he then allowed himself to look in the direction she was pointing and briefly nodded once.

"I highly doubt they'll want us back here anytime soon, and it doesn't matter what Cutter was or how old he was, I wasn't going to let him get away with insulting and threatening you like that. If nothing else he should thank you for being so lenient despite the hostilities." Terrence admitted as he leapt across the isle past the door she pointed out but he had a plan as he descended in a manner that looked like he'd impact with a wide support beam only to twist and land with his legs slightly bending as he continued jumping down towards the door, rather than jumping straight down and causing a more jarring impact for the woman in his arms he chose to bleed off some of the momentum before landing by the door.

Seeing the lock on it he spun as he neared slamming his back into it causing the door to smash open taking some of the frame with it as they got outside "Well now that I've tipped a bit of my hand you now know that I'd be well suited to being a pack mule" he said with a laugh as they circled the lot around to where the car was with him setting Shidare down shortly after they had gotten outside. "I really will have to ask you to drive us back, knowing our luck I'd get us pulled over by some authorities and get you in trouble" he admitted as they neared the car ready to get the hell outta here.

[Shidare]

She laughed at his let’s not tell. It harkened very back to being a kid who played in the back alleys and attended schools. She had been wild and her mother had been her guide.

“One does not speak of activities we were up to period. That would be a definite faux pas considering everything.”

She just hung on while he moved over the shelves. Terrence was rather agile.

“The fact I’m not beating you with my parasol should tell you I’m humoring you. It wasn’t like I was left with much of a choice. It is a nice view though. I believe not many get this topside view.”

He wasn’t wrong she may not be able to meet with Old Lady Tang for a while but then again she may be able to. She didn’t seem mad as her son was left alive and while Terrence was partial right there he always been concessions.

“Pack mule? No! You’re for big stuff like that wardrobe on my bedroom or my bed which fits five. You know things that usually take five people to move.”

The landing was gentle and Jim knocking the small freight door off its jamb and taking some out of wall was impressive. Who was Terence? He certainly fit the bill of meta human who was enhanced as Josephine had theorized. She just wasn’t sure that was it. Josephine said a lot of things that night as well. Most of it she didn’t understand or catch as she floated back and forth incessantly spouting theoretical ideas even Shidare took a moment to give the woman a drink. A good strong one.

“You didn’t see the lack of enforcement on the road but they really don’t bother you because well it’s peaceful and bland here. They know who they are after. I might anonymously suggest a few every few months.”

One didn’t argue when another was carrying them. Once near the act she looked at him as if put me down.

[T.K.]

Having put Shidare down Terrence allowed himself a brief chuckle "My lips are sealed of course. We were never here and our trip was just to check on your suppliers. We shall as one would say 'sweep it under the rug.' and make our merry getaway." As she mentioned about law enforcement he couldn't argue that since he didn't see them but his attention had been focused elsewhere at the time. What he did do however was take the opportunity to quickly step ahead and touch the car first giving Shidare a playful grin 'First."

With that bit of impishness out of the way he waited until they got inside the vehicle before speaking up in regards to furniture "Honestly I don't mind helping with that if I'm not on duty, after all I don't think its part of a security guard's list of duties to pack around furniture. It lets me put these guns to work!" he joked with a broad smile as he playfully flexed one of his well muscled arms.

Buckled in he'd finally get around to an earlier comment as they took off "Well pretty sure those shelves back there are usually not intended for some maniac to jump on them and around in some absurd escape attempt, but hey sometimes ya just gotta do the crazy thing to get results. Necessity is the mother of invention after all and bailing like that was the most efficient way out as I felt like we had completed our objectives and roughing up a bunch more workers wasn't something we needed to do and get more bad blood between you and them y'know?"

He did have the decency to look a bit sheepish "Although I suppose I could have just broke the lock rather than destroy the door on the way out. Hindsight there."

[Librarian Echo]

As they jumped in the car and Terrence bucked in if he did a quick checked out the window as Shidare pulled away he would see a small humanoid figure in what appeared to be well used red dress. The hair hung over the face in a fashion that didn’t allow you a clean look. The moment he scanned on and then back she would be gone.