"Kyuu Kyuu Kyuuu~", Tamamo happily said, disregarding all of us, and jumped out of my embrace. I saw the cute little fox speed along the sand, and joined up with Sherryl, Tio, and Ennea. Her two tails happily spun around as she began to dig into the sand in a fervor.
As we saw Tamamo speed off like that, I saw the green-haired girl next to Rutger speak out. She was wearing a two-piece red swimsuit, and was rather appealing if I do say so myself. This woman looks like she has just turned into an adult. She had pale red eyes, and long and wavy dark green hair. She looked at Rutger.
"The kid is paying for our expenses, so it's best to enjoy what we were given, right?", The woman asked, smiling.
"Tch. I couldn't give a shit about the beach. I'm going back to the bar. Thanks kid. The bartender has quite an array of drinks.", The man beside the woman said, and grinned at me. I recognize this guy too. We all saw him disregard us completely, and promptly did a one-eighty, only to turn around and go back up the stairs, quickly vanishing from sight. Seeing this, the green-haired woman sighed.
"Ugh, I swear Killing Bear really irks me sometimes. He needs to learn how to take a load off or two. This is a perfect chance to do so. It ain't even noon yet and he's already considering drinking!?", The woman exclaimed, obviously annoyed.
"Do not let Killing Bear bother you. That is a form of enjoyment as well, even though it is not divulged by many. I myself have not swam in quite some time, so it will do me some good to build up some resistance to the waves again.", Another man said, who appeared even more muscular than Rutger.
"So you'll be swimmin' then, Behemoth.", Rutger said. "Make sure the young'uns don't get swept out to sea, yea?"
"Understood, Boss.", The Behemoth said, and wandered toward the beach. Seeing such a towering figure arrive compared to the rest of us was quite a sight to see. I laughed at their stunned faces. Seeing him do this, I saw the woman look back at me.
"Anyway, the guy you just saw is the Behemoth. The other guy who wandered back inside is Killing Bear. And I'm Firebird. We're all members of Zephyr, as you can see. The man you see before you is the Jaeger King. Our leader.", The woman said, and did a round of introductions.
"Don't forget me.", A girl's voice said, causing us to look at a girl arriving. She seemed around Tio's age, perhaps a year old. My mind stirred seeing the girl arrive. "The name's Fie. Who're you?", The girl asked, introducing herself as Fie.
"Naoto.", I simply answered. I didn't think I'd meet another member of future Class VII here of all places...
Fie Claussell!
"Now that I think about it, this is your first time comin' to a beach, ain't it, Fie?", Rutger asked.
"Yep.", Fie said, keeping her answer short. Now that's the Fie I knew. She rarely spoke in long sentences, and often found it annoying. At least early on in Cold Steel. It took Fie a while to open up to the rest of Class VII. You'd typically just find her lazing around somewhere on a random bench, snoozing in the middle of the day. Finding Fie was like finding a needle in a haystack, haha!
"Why don't ya have some fun then? Just be careful.", Rutger said to Fie.
"'Kay. Let's go, Naoto.", Fie suddenly said, and grabbed a hold of my arm.
"H-Hey, don't I get a say in this!?", I tried to respond, but ended up just letting Fie do her thing. We soon joined up with the others, causing a round of laughter for all. Seeing this, Firebird smiled.
"This is music to my ears~", Firebird happily said, and quickly joined us. We all started to play around in the water, and have some fun. This is such a weird combination.
On one end, you got people like Rufus Albarea and Lechter Arundel just chilling away at the chairs, while you got members of Zephyr strutting along the beach, all having fun at their own accord. I'm pretty sure none of this happened in the games...
But now, you have my presence added. There will be many events like this where they simply don't happen in the games. I do not know if this will change anything in the long run, but these bonding events help develop character, you know? Trailsverse has a lot of characters you can meet throughout its grand epic, and this is just one small event on that grand scope!
I didn't think I'd meet the leader of Zephyr, a man who calls himself the Jaeger King, aka Rutger Claussell, or Fie's adoptive Father, for that matter either. This is a privately owned island out in the middle-of-nowhere Calvard. It didn't take long to see Rufus and Rutger to see them clinking glasses together. Rufus's was non-alcoholic, of course.
It really does beg the question why Zephyr is here on Nemeth Island to begin with. It's a privately owned island and all.
But now, I have met three members of Class VII.
Rean Schwarzer obviously being the first one, my younger brother.
Emma Millstein is the second, to whom I have befriended over the last six years before I went into the shadows.
And now, you got Fie Claussell. Who will be next, I wonder?
Either way, we all had a blast having fun along the ocean, even if it was in the middle of winter. We played around in the ocean waves, and the Behemoth watched over us while Rutger, Lechter, and Rufus chilled around at the resting spots. One thing did rest on my mind during this, something that I would ask the Jaeger King later on. Right now, everyone is having fun getting acquainted with one another. Before we realized it, a few hours passed by!
A few hours later...
The scenery changed once again. It was still the same beach, but most of us retreated into the shade, and started cooling off, or chatting away. Many of us could now be seen gathered around a large table of sorts.
"Kyuu.", Tamamo said. Following that, a sound of some chips clacking against the table echoed around us. Tamamo could be seen seated atop the table itself. Her small paw moved all the chips before her forward, sliding it to the center of the table.
"Goin' all in, eh? You're playin' big, aint'cha, little fox?", Rutger said, smiling at the small two-tailed silver fox before him. "Well, I'll call your little bluff."
Sherryl's group could now be seen resting beside us while the rest of us were now gathered around this table. Well, I was seated on one side of it, since it was Tamamo who was seated on the table itself. Lechter was still doing Lechter things, snoozing away without a care in the world. I saw five cards currently held in Tamamo's paws. Vita had a frown on her lips.
"I can't believe what I'm currently seeing.", Vita said, looking at Tamamo in disbelief.
"That makes two of us.", Van said, also in disbelief seeing Tamamo holding up five cards.
"Well I wasn't the one who taught this to Tama.", I retorted at the two, and had my eyes land on Vita.
"H-Hey! I for one did not teach Tama how to play poker. She probably picked it up exploring the areas we went to during these couple of years. Probably.", Vita said, dodging my eyes. That's right, my Familiar Tamamo was currently playing Five-Card Poker with the infamous Jaeger King. I didn't think this could even be possible!
And for whatever Reason, Rutger actually understands Tamamo during this. Or perhaps he is reading her intent? I'm not sure.
Hearing this, Rufus laughed.
"Haha, this sure is something, though. I did not think a Familiar would be capable of doing something like this. Thank you for broadening my horizons, Naoto.", Rufus said, cupping his chin with great interest at the ongoing scene. We looked at the chips currently placed on the table. It was a pretty even fifty-fifty split, which caused even me some surprise. Who knew Tamamo was so good at playing Poker?
"How confident are you, Boss?", Behemoth asked. He saw Rutger's hand. It was completely turned face down on the table.
"I ain't too sure. This little fox sure is drivin' a hard bargain.", Rutger said, shrugging his arms and acting like he didn't know.
"Kyuu~Kyuu~", Tamamo happily hummed. She spun her two tails around in my lap. Did she really know the rules of Poker? You needed a poker face and all of that. But this is a little silver fox we're speaking of here. Perhaps the rules didn't apply to Tamamo, haha!
Still, I looked at Rutger, and we nodded our heads.
"Guess it's time to lay them down?", I asked, seeing nothing more happen before us.
"Kyuu.", Tamamo responded. Slowly, Tamamo lifted her paws upward, and placed her cards onto the table, which revealed them. In order, it was five black spades. An ace, a two, a three, a four, and a five. Rutger whistled seeing this hand.
"Damn, a straight flush. No wonder you were so confident.", Rutger said, praising Tamamo. She was happy to hear that.
"Kyuu.", Tamamo happily replied.
"I wonder, should I have backed out after all...?", Rutger questioned. With a single flip of his wrist, all five cards were thrown onto the table shortly after Tamamo revealed hers. I sucked in a cold breath once all five came into view. We all did.
Five red hearts. An ace, a king, a queen, a hack, and a ten...
"Woah.", Fie exclaimed in shock seeing this hand appear. It was a royal straight flush!
"You kept your face well, Jaeger King.", Rufus said, praising Rutger. A smile appeared on his lips as he reached forward and grabbed every single chip, sliding them his way.
"Sorry about that little fox. You really drove me into a corner, but I just had a slight edge. Better luck next time.", Rutger said, smiling at Tamamo.
"Kyuuu...", Tamamo replied. Her tails swooned downward, and became sad seeing that she lost.
"So a winner was finally declared huh?", Sherryl's voice called out to us. She could now be seen with a towel wrapped over her body, and was drying off from the fun earlier. The other two next to her also had the same look. I welcomed them, and nodded my head at the outcome.
"Haha, you did well, Tama. I didn't even know you could do this. I'm just as surprised as Rufus is.", I said, ruffling through Tamamo's fur.
"I think we all learned something new today.", Behemoth said.
"Heh. Better luck next time, little fox. You were entertainin', to say the least. Thanks to the fun today, I can answer one or two questions ya might have for us.", Rutger said, only to glance at me. "Ya must be wonderin' why Zephyr is even here to begin with, right? Ya know, with this place being a privately owned resort and all."
"How could I not? I know we were having fun today, but it does beg the question why such a prominent Jaeger corp is on an island this far out in Calvard's borders. Before I proceed with these questions, allow me to ask one of my own. How much do you know about me, or my situation?", I decided to ask. Hearing that, Rutger nodded his head.
"Ya make a fine point, so I guess that is where we will start. It is a pleasure to meet ya, Your Highness.", Rutger said. His tips turned into a wide grin as he declared that. Surprises rolled around, shocking those around them. Not my group of course, but all members of Zephyr became shocked once Rutger said that!