Running down a corridor, her arms full of linens, Ped ran smack dab into a chest. She didn't fall... but not through any effort of her own. The warlord she ran into grabbed her arms and held her upright. Ped raised her blue eyes to see the man's face... it was not one she recognized. ~But that's not saying much is it Ped? You barely know any of the occupants of the WW.~ She admonished ehrself. She blinked when she realized that the man has said something to her. "What did you say?"
The warlord smirked at the blond priestess before him. "I asked where the fire was."
Ped smiled in that Ped-like way of hers and leisurely looked him up and down. "Well I can definitely tell you... it's source is *not*," she raises her left eyebrow, "Standing before me. Later Hon." Then she walks around him and continues around the corner. She breaks into a flat run when she does so...
That night she is sitting at a table in the temple's main dining room when the same warlord comes to sit next to her. She smirks at him. "So what's a nice man like you, doing in a place like this?" She teases... using that age old pick up line, in reverse.
"Isn't it obvious?"
Ped licks her lips and prepares for this battle of wits... she hadn't gotten into one since her return from Syra. "Well I could answer that question in a variety of ways, but I think I'm going to say... Many things are obvious Hon... that's why being a MOTO isn't very challenging."
"MOTO?"
"Hmmmm, yes. MOTO. See I *could* tell you what it means, but if ya can't figure it out from the context I spoke it in... then I don't think you're even half the tactician I've heard you are." Ped watches as her comments infuriate the warlord sitting next to her.
Etana came into the dining room and saw Ped talking to... Vanquisher?!? And he wasn't trying anything, maybe he had Ped confused with someone else... then again knowing Van like she did... Etana made a beeline for the pair of them. She sat down and looked at Van. "You look a little pale Van, maybe you should get some more sun."
"And maybe you should keep your nose out of stuff that doesn't concern you Etana."
"Maybe... when pigs fly and all the temple virgins are promiscuous." She shot back at him.
Ped entered her two cents at this point. "Hey C'mon Etana, you gotta give the man a least a chance of it happening in this lifetime." Both women start laughing, because the feelings of Fatima, and the majority of the virgins, towards men was that men... were something best left alone and kept far from themselves, one would almost swear they were priestesses of Hestia rather than Ares.
"I suppose that not everyone needing victory's protection is quite as... liberal as..."
"Ped is. I know, but then we all have to possess something aspire to."
Etana noticed that Ped was going with the idea that Van may not know exactly who she was, and played along. "Nope... but then the Keeper of the innuendo gives us all something to acheive to be."
Vanquisher knew he had missed something important. Looking between the two women he suddenly realized that the blond was one of those who helped Etana in "Operation Sunburn". He vowed to discover her identity before the meal was over...
CLIFFHANGER!