Tianlan Se Long better known as Di, stood in the pouring rain a recently purchased umbrella warding off the worst of the downpour. It would be rather an understatement to say that Di came from a prestigious family. Di's grandfather Bailong was the Dragon King of the West oceans and was worshiped as a god by many people all throughout all the great ninja countries. Di's mother and father were themselves highly respectable nobles embodying each virtue that a dragon could aspire to. They would doubtlessly be horrified to know that their son was standing outside a human brothel waiting to escort a young man to a no less seedy strip club. Di sneezed as around him hookers puffed on hookahs letting trails of opium permeate the air.

During his wait Di had been being pestered by a ratty looking pimp with what the detective could glean was exactly 2.7 teeth still in his mouth , an Inuzuka asking Di if he could point him in the direction of 'hot bitches', and a woman trying to sell him some undergarments purportedly worn by Ayakashi , Nozomi and even the notorious serpentine seductress Lamya. By their pungent scent alone Di could assume that SOMEONE had worn the panties but it didn't take a great detective to guess that it sure as hell wasn't any of the aforementioned celebrities.  

The initial event that had gotten Di into this situation had seemed innocuous enough. One morning while going through his mail Di had happened upon a letter from a one Mokuzai Senju. The young ninja had previously assisted Di with some work involving a cemetery full of restless spirits and Di owed Mokuzai one for his willingness to brave such danger. Opening the envelope and reading the enclosed letter Di had been shocked at it's contents. It seemed that the young senju was having thoughts about his own mortality. That wasn't too unusual as Ninja work was dangerous at the best of times but what he was doing about it hadn't really occurred to Di.

Mokuzai wanted Di to accompany him to a strip club so he could witness the carnal delights of the flesh in case he died in field of battle. Di didn't exactly consider himself a prude but the entire venture was something so far outside his normal state of affairs he had to sit and think for a while. Eventually he came to the conclusion that yes he would go! There were two reasons behind this – first was the fact that Mokuzai had done him a good turn and it would only be fair to assist him as well. Second was the fact that as a detective he needed to learn all he could about the underground and it's seedy workings. What better place to do this than a den of sin and debauchery?

It was not like Di would enjoy the trip or anything... Hell he wasn't even human. What fascination could human women have for him? Totally for research purposes. Yes that was right and to make sure that Mokuzai didn't fall into trouble of course. Kiri could be a dangerous place for a young impressionable Senju. Many in Kiri believed the clan to be all bark and no bite. Di had arrived at the meeting place , hopefully the young man would be there soon. Much to Di's misfortune he had attracted the eye of a 380 pound Akimichi whore who was waddling towards him. Either she had once been a man or Akimichi girls were some of the most hairy in the ninja world.

Much to Di's horror the great behemoth opened her mouth and began to speak to him

“Hi there detective boy. I seem to have lost something valuable and I think it might be somewhere on my person. How about you come into the alley with me and you can have a poke around to find it? I think it's buried pretty deep though so you are going to have to search pretty hard. And for you dearie I won't even charge a finders fee.

Di's normally pale color was beginning to turn slightly greenish. He needed a distraction of some sort. Anything, anyone be it Mokuzai or anyone else. Just something to use to get him away from this terrifying figure now towering before him.

(721 words)

The clock on the wall ticked away as the mixed  sound of items being shuffled around the room could be heard from the outside while the time read eight forty five as the noise persisted while Mokuzai was preparing to leave in a few minutes to undertake the  the most important mission in his life, the pursuit of seeing the female body in all it's miracle's. A couple of days ago while the young Senju had gotten out of the shower during his usual morning routine he had taken a good  look at himself and noticed something was different, when he had arrived at Kirigakure No Sato he was just a little ninja squirt who looked like he still belonged in the academy but now he had the appearance of a young male with defined muscle's and looked taller and more masculine then he had before meaning that while he had been busy with his life puberty made a unexpected visit and changed his body for what seemed like the better.

Upon realization of his new outlook on life from getting older came something unexpected.The young Senju had always shared a interest in female's but never bothered to pursue them directly, but with his new outlook on life came new sensations as he now though about how his life could end with just a flick of a more powerful shinobi's hands as the fact was made clear during the battles at death camp, with that though in  mind Mokuzai became frantic about his own mortality and with it a switch came on within his mind. If he was going to die at any day  then he would at least have one night satisfying his carnal desire's to lay eye's on a  women's body and to  touch their mysteriously beautiful bodies  by going to the local strip club of the village.

But there was a dilemma as Mokuzai did not want to pursue this all to important mission of his life alone so he called in the favor of a older male he had meant in one of his job's named Di, Di owned Mokuzai a favor as he had been hired without pay to protect him as well as two others while on a investigative mission to find out if his client was being truly haunted by a malice filled spirit. Two days prior the young Senju has sent a letter to him describing what he wanted to achieve by going there and the man sent back a letter agreed, that seemed to lack enthusiasm about looking at the other half of the human species but this was of no concern to him as he was going to do everything he could to make the night a memory that would never die.

The clock read nine o' clock meaning Mokuzai was now late to meet the elderly man, he rush into his bathroom to change into a white v-cut shirt with black lining at the top over a short-sleeved red open faced shirt that had it's collar neatly curled while his father's necklace was placed right in the middle before  sporting black pants and sandy brown sandle's, tonight Mokuai wasn't a ninja but a young man so he decided to leave all his weapons behind and simply tied his blue bandanna over his head to keep his hair up while it fell gently to his right side and he would take a quick look and decide he was ready to go as he walked out grabbing his wallet with tons of ready to spend cash for the events of tonight.

When Mokuzai arrived to the entrance of the strip club he could immediately notice Di even from the distance as his demeanor caused him to stick out like a sore thumb, this reigned true as before he got close enough a obsessively large prostitute had locked their sights on him and showed no shame in confronting the elderly man. He would sit back and watch from a distance with a amused look  as he somewhat enjoyed the frantic look of his escort as he had no idea on how to deal with these type of situations, after several seconds he decided enough was enough and slipped into a small alley way before casting a hand seal to create a water clone.

As he hid in the alleyway his clone would approach the Akimichi women while ignoring Di completely and say, "Hey fatty! He doesn't want your disease's so scram and bang some fatty Akimichi guy!" Needless to say, the word's of  his clone gotten the prostitute complete attention as they turned red with pure anger coursing through them before they said simply, "Ill crush you, you little insect!!!" In which the clone made a stupid face before sprinting off at full speed while the Akimichi started chasing them, Mokuzai then walked out of the alleyway approaching Di from behind before putting a hand on him and as he turned around or looked his way Mokuzai would hold his left fist in the air while his right eye was closed as he gave him a smirk, "Let's go inside before she comes back and tries to kill us both!"

And with that Mokuzai started walking towards the entrance which to him was like a secret door to a world that he has never known...

WC:922

The room was a sea of bosoms, brassieres and buttocks. Raucous tunes flowed from the live band and forms on catwalks gyrated and writhed to the music. Truth be told Di was beginning to somewhat regret his decision to come this evening. Motioning to a serving girl he ordered himself a glass of sake to steel his nerves wetting his throat in the process. That scenario with the Akimichi had been disturbing to say the least and a little drink might help calm him down. The woman happily obliged and he downed the glass with uncharacteristic haste before paying the girl and turning to his comrades.

As it turned out the new arrival was Nova, a young woman he had met on the sinister expanse known as spider island. She was dressed ....differently than she had been when he had seen her last. For a few instants Di though that she might even have been working here part time which would have been embarrassing to say the least. But there were small signs of being flustered about her person - the way that she constantly fiddled with her hems keeping them from riding high and the slight traces of a blush playing on her features. Not the demeanour of a working girl. It wasn't the Nova wasn't attractive enough for the position – she was quite cute in her own fashion but seeing someone you have had acquaintance with before stripping seemed to Di to be quite a flustering occasion.

“My thanks for the save you pulled back there Mokuzai. And welcome to you Nova , before you had arrived on the scene I had attracted the attention of a rather ….. masculine and to be blunt morbidly obese prostitute. Being unaccustomed to this sort of courtship I was at something of a loss  of what to do. With some quick thinking and a shadow clone Mokuzai here distracted the giant and lured her away.”

It really was getting very hot in here. Did they have some kind of hidden fires operating behind concealing screens? Di's throat was already dry again and to his delight the serving girl was already there with another glass of sake for him. Paying her and downing the glass in a swift motion Di continued.

“I hope you don't mind but what brings you here Nova? I hope the master of the island hasn't got you looking to bring him back companions. That would be rather a crass thing to ask a lady. Oh and before I forget.”

Di pulled out a handful of ryo notes from his coat and passed them over to Mokuzai.

“I have read that it is customary to give one of the girls here money in exchange for whatever services that they provide. Somewhat lurid but I did read the laws and in Kirigakure it is perfectly legal. So hopefully this will let you enjoy yourself tonight.”

While speaking Di was looking around the room. There were strippers and dancing girls of all shapes and sizes. Some petite some curvy and even some downright bizarre specimens. The first of these to catch the detective's eye was something he assumed to be an Aburame. As she moved up and down the pole it appeared that insects were flying out of various places doing aerial manoeuvres and then flying back into those very same places. It was at once disgusting and strangely mesmerising and Di had to force himself to look away.

Next was a woman with bright orange hair. Her form was far more muscular than the rest of the dancers lending her an almost oni esque quality. What was truly bizarre though was the way that her 'assets' grew and shifted as she moved as if she could control the very flesh beneath them. Little horns sprouted on her head and as she motioned to a patron a fingernail morphed into wicked yet seductive talon. Jugo clan. This had to be a Jugo clans-member, Di was fascinated with both of the unusual bloodlines and would greatly love to study them more if the circumstances weren't quite so embarrassing.

The heat was really getting to him now. It was like they were in an onsen steam room. The deva serving girl was still there though and another drink disappeared down the detectives digestive ducts.  


(722 Words , 1443 words total)

The moment the young Senju and his companion for the night Di stepped into the club their ear's were assaulted with the booming sound of music produced by a musician band playing in the club while there eye's took in the sights of  bosoms, brassieres and buttocks walking up and down a sleek black catwalk. When he was younger he often heard the stories of the older male's experiences of a night hooting and hollering at fine women in the club and had even at one point became able to vividly imagine the scene within his mind but all that paled light in comparison to actually being within the buildings confine's, he turned to his friend Di to only see him already starting the night with a cup of sake that he downed as if he was dieing of thirst and then proceeded to pay for the drink as he turned to Mokuzai and he whistled for his friend and smiled as he egged his friend on, "Way to go Di! This is already a great night!!~"

Suddenly a new arrival to the night of debauchery would arrive wearing a very beautiful dress while her auburn wavy long hair with teal ends fluttered about causing Mokuzai to at first not to recognize her until closer inspection revealed that it was actually Nova which was also a participant at the training camp started by two powerful ninja from Kirigakure, Di felt the urge to thank Mokuzai for what he did earlier and to welcome Nova to our little get together as well in which he simply responded while chuckling, "No problem man! I wouldn't want you to get caught up in all that mess anyway, and it's nice too you  again Nova but perhaps you don't recognize me but we go to the same training camp runned by Nozomi and Sero although i look different these days im still that same squirt!!"

Once again Di ordered another drink after looking like he was getting hot and dying of thirst and Mokuzai would cue a waitress to bring two drinks, one Bourbon for him and another drink of whatever  Nova wanted on the house  since Di had already downed two and he would simply say while putting his drink in the air, "To new friends, and to new journey's wherever they may take us!" And with a swift motion he downed his drink and it wouldn't take even a second before he felt a strong heat in his stomach.

While Mokuzai focused on the liquor induced heat traveling through his system whilst Nova and Di had a conversation his friend suddenly pulled out a handful of ryo bills before passing them to him before speaking," I have read that it is customary to give one of the girls here money in exchange for whatever services that they provide. Somewhat lurid but I did read the laws and in Kirigakure it is perfectly legal. So hopefully this will let you enjoy yourself tonight.” The young Senju knew he didn't need the money as he had saved up tons of cash just for this very night, but due to his own lack of resistance to the fluid currently in his system he felt his mental though process had been disturbed and all he was able to muster to say was. "Wow thanks brother!! I'll make sure i give a fine woman good money without offending her more than this place already does!!" With that Mokuzai slipped out of his chair into the area's where the ladies of various village's and clans displayed their dancing and seduction talents in hopes of pleasing the man enough to throw there money at them.

Among the females he saw many that caught his eye, some were from konaha such as the aburame and akimichi while others were less known to him but not one women seemed to display a air about her that indicated she was forced to do this but yet again Mokuzai was just a customer and they may have been poker facing this. Suddenly the young Senju caught a whiff of a beautiful perfume different from the others drifting in the air, like a bee to honey he followed his noise to where the scent took him only to find the most beautiful women he has ever seen in his own entire life bent over and even looking his way seductively that caused his young male heart to practically jump from it's location and without even a though found himself walking to her like a moth to a flame.

Dancer:

WC:790

Total WC:1,712

Di had never been in one of the houses where they burned charcoal but he was pretty sure that it would feel about as hot as this room. This was not some insinuation about the attractiveness of the girls either though they were pretty enough in their own right. Both Mokuzai and Nova had found 'subjects' that had caught their attention. Mabey he could go ask the Jugo to show him some of her transforming skills...

Wait would she take that the wrong way? Di wanted to literally see her transform but not in some sexual manner. He didn't need her growing a second set of genitalia or breasts though he supposed that would be educational in it's own right. By Kohryu he was parched again. That was one of the things he missed about living under water. You never really got thirsty. Sake was just as good as seawater right? Probably better.

Another glass vanished and more ryo changed hands. Wait was Di breathing? That would be kinda bad if he stopped - humans breathed a lot like not like dragons at all. Di made sure to take a big breath loud enough for those around him to hear. This earned him some funny looks from the patrons (could he have overdone it?) but it seemed that something else had drawn the patrons attention. Figures in orange robes with shaved heads were entering the building carrying signs bearing the legend 'Resist sin and reach enlightenment' , 'Meditation not degradation' and finally 'What would Amida do?' It looked to be a group of Buddhist monks who had come to protest the spiritual bankrupcy that was afflicting Kirigakure.

It seemed that many of the patrons and the workers were not too happy about this and some began to argue with the monks. Taking it pretty calmly the monks simply replied in an infuriatingly polite and courteous manner.  Things got a bit hazy at this point – the room was spinning and Di thought he may have had another drink or two. When some small level of clarity returned Di was telling the Jugo stripper how he was actually a dragon prince of an underwater kingdom and that he lived in a palace made of perls and was waited on by a bunch of shark men.

Surprisingly enough she seemed to be taking it pretty well though for some reason he seemed to have given her some ryo. What was that for again? Oh yeah he had brough them both drinks which she was sipping on greedily. Before he could continue regaling his life story there was a commotion over by the Buddhist protesters. A group of angry looking teenagers wearing ninja headbands imprinted with the kanji for fedora. It had to be the 'Konoha Atheist Association For Logic and Reason and the Disproving of Buddha , Susanoo , Amaterasu , Dragons , Yokai and Other Fairy Tales' abbreviated as KAAFLRDBSADYOFT. Here to stop the Buddhists from their protest.

Damn if they found out that Di was a dragon things could get nasty. Di made sure to stay quiet even as he ordered another drink.

(522 Words)

As the young Senju was trapped in the clutch's of the dancer's seductive glare he would glance back at the small party he had arrived with in order to sway him out of his decision but there would be no luck as Nova had found her own dancer to follow and Di remained at the bar as if he was the chaperone of this get-together, With nothing on his side to distract him from the incredibly sexy dancer Mokuzai had been all too hooked into her performance as he slumped back near the pole she was performing with  while his gaze was locked solely to her and the way she swayed her hips with each careful movement of her body.

Now helpless under her gaze he would simply watched as she continued to dance about with her unmatched beauty putting him in a love struck trance like no other, even as he watched he noticed that he had not been the only male captivated by her raw beauty as the seats around her pole kept filling up one by one as her performance went on. Mokuzai without even meaning too had begun to pull out his wallet and dropped one thousand and five hundred ryo right at her feet as if she was a queen of the highest order, the other admirers would do just the same with whatever money they had to spare.

But with the arrival of a new group from the distance that Mokuzai tried to glance at something was obviously wrong, originally he though the seductive hold over him was a prison of his own making but now that he honestly wanted to break away he now found that he wasn't able too. As time passed the seductive gaze felt like it was dropping in temperature as his skin begun to feel more similar to a ice cube then the usual warmth he was used to putting out, it wasn't just his skin neither as he watched the air around them get colder by the second as her gaze was focused on him. It would be the unexpected arrival of a few visitors that would cause the dancer to finally look away and Mokuzai felt like he was no longer stuck in her trance as he quickly shaked his head and jumped out of the chair crossing the bar to be back at his side before ordering a drink and swigging it down like it was water as he spoke to Di, "I was just seduced by a god damn Yokai..."

The young Senju would look over to the gathering groups of what appeared to be cleanly shaved monks arguing with the strippers of the bar, "Im i actually seeing this or have i had one too many?" After watching them argue another group came into play, this group looked like shinobi Mokuzai's age who were also from konaha and were known as 'Konoha Atheist Association For Logic and Reason and the Disproving of Buddha , Susanoo , Amaterasu , Dragons , Yokai and Other Fairy Tales' abbreviated as KAAFLRDBSADYOFT.

Mokuzai would order his third drink of the night before proceeding to swig it down swiftly then put the glass down and straightened up his clothing, "I dont know about you Di but i think a bar fight is what i need right now." The young Senju would walk into the back of the crowd of the KAAFLRDBSADYOFT , taking the shot of brandy from a waiter that walked near him and swinging it down as he approached one of the members and with his free hand slipped down their headband in front of their eyes while kicking them forward with one leg and using his free arm to chug the shot of glass from the back of the crowd before it collided into one of the Buddhists.


WC:626

Total WC:2,342

Through the haze of the alcoholic sea he had imbibed Di heard Mokuzai mention that he had had a run in with one of the dancers who just so happened to be a yokai. That could be bad depending on what sort but as Di's attention went to the stripper he felt blessed coolness radiating from her skin. Phew - Yuki Onna they could be deadly when encountered alone on a mountain top but they were smart enough to blend in with the normal residents of Kiri. Probably just here to make herself a few ryo like all the other girls working here. Before Di could reply properly Mokuzai had decided that he wanted to rouse of bit of hell with Konoha's resident skeptic community and had put a boot square into their guts.

Nova had also come over to sit on the bar next to him. The Jugo girl he was with seemed to be more focused on the drink than his talk so he turned his attention. Nova seemed to be almost as drunk has he was and her wooden leg wasn't doing any flavors for her balance while inebriated. In the melee things were getting heated - or in some circumstances quite frigid. Several monks had busted out their kung fu skills and were using highly practiced martial arts talent to fight off members of the KAAFLRDBSADYOFT as well as drunk and angry patrons.

The KAAFLRDBSADYOFT were tapping into their own neckbeard rage and were lashing out at A the fundie monks and B the strippers who wouldn't date them even though they were all highly qualified in ninja science. For their own part the strippers were putting their talents to use. It turned out that pole dancing was good cardio and that many of the working girls had gotten some degree of self defense training out on the mean streets of Kiri.

Di watched as the Jugo girl who was previously sitting net to him had assumed a beast form and was jumping onto a surprised monk. The Yuki Onna had been struck with a "Buddha isn't real" sign before freezing an ice cube around her attackers legs. Behind this a monk roundhouse kicked a stripper and a skeptic into the wall. In short things were devolving into utter madness. Mokuzai was in the thick of things beset upon on all sides by all three factions. What made matters worse was the fact that the Kirigakure police force would probably arrive in somewhere around 5- 10 minutes time. Kiri's justice meant that all those who were found causing this sort of behaviour would receive public whippings for their trouble.

Shit, Di was too damn drunk for this. He was also a detective and didn't want his reputation besmirched by being involved with such an incident. Trying not to slur his words too much Di bent down to where Nova was lying.

“Nova – we are getting out of here. I'm going to grab ahold of you and then we need to get to Mokuzai before the authorities show up. We can be pretty sure that it will take them a little while to arrive but we don't need to be here when that happens. When we get to Mokuzai just hang on tight to me okay? I can get us out.”

Putting an arm under Nova's shoulder Di took the girls weight onto himself and began the treacherous journey across the room towards Mokuzai. Avoiding a thrown punch from a stripper Di instead connected with a thrown bottle which stung quite a bit but clenching his teeth he powered through the insanity. Raising his voice over the chaos Di called out to Mokuzai

“Things are getting a bit hot to handle here. I think it's about time to make our exit. If you can get to me and grab my shoulder I have a way out.....”

With but a single glass thrown the young Senju had instigated a brawl within the strip club whilst three parties of different value's begun to fight each other in the midst of the loud music of the club, The thrown object had hit the top of one of the Buddhists but not just any of the devoted followers as it seemed the one he struck was one of the leading members of the party and in his confusion automatically assumed that one of the other parties did it and quickly shed his passive nature as he swung the stick in his hand towards one of the members of the  KAAFLRDBSADYOFT which also lead to them hitting one of the strippers causing a war within the club to start.

Mokuzai earlier mood of depression had been utterly destroyed and replaced with the intense emotions of combat albeit not as intense as the missions he had taken but it reminded him of how he loved being a ninja, whilst in his drunken stupor he was suddenly hit over the head with a stick from a Buddhist but didn't feel anything as his training had made him practically immune to such damage on top of his sense of pain being dulled by the liquor flowing through his system. Eager to join the brawl now the young Senju grabbed the stick quickly before he had a chance to pull back and elbowed the faithful monk right in the middle of his face, Although usually Mokuzai would control his strength as to not harm a citizen but today was different as his opponent was a trained fighter in their own right and the amount of liquor he consumed throw off his ability to hold back and he ended up using a little more power than necessary accidentally breaking the monk's nose.

It seemed he had gathered the attention of the other groups as well as a two of the KAAFLRDBSADYOFT members started to rush him together, the young Senju let out a hiccup before one fist collided on the left side of his cheek and was followed by a gut punch by another. Mokuzai once the hits struck would hold his stomach and cover his mouth, although his cheek and gut now held bruises it wasn't the pain that caused this but the drinks he had now catching up to him as vomited on the floor whilst both of the members rushed him as they begun to slip and eventually run themselves straight into the sharp side of the bar and they both fell holding their bodies where the bar had did some damage, he quickly grabbed one of the member's hats that had fallen off and wiped the vomit from his mouth area before throwing it away.

Now one of the strippers came at him and Mokuzai was not one to hit ladies, so as she approached with a left hook he would move out of the way and grab her arm and push her away from him with sluggish movements compared to his usual but enough to get the job done.  After all this he was starting to feel sick from all the booze he had consumed and starting sweating as his body heat rose and he tried to fan himself off before hearing a voice and once he turned he saw Di, “Things are getting a bit hot to handle here. I think it's about time to make our exit. If you can get to me and grab my shoulder I have a way out.....” Di didn't know just how hot it was for the young Senju and he give a weak smile, "Yeah...i think it's time to fly the coop." Mokuzai would grab onto Di's shoulder and let him lead the way.

Letting Di take the helm Mokuzai lightly held his stomach where he had been hit earlier, he would think to himself that even though he could not feel it's pain currently in the slightest by morning all the damage he had received would swing back in full force along with the fabled "hangover". He glanced at Nova and saw that she was completely unharmed which was a good thing as he didn't want any of his pals to get hurt over something he started however when he inspected Di he would see he had a mark on his head as if he was hit by glass and he would say lightly, "Hey Di looks like  you got a nasty shiner their, my apologies..."

-Exit Thread-

WC:775

Total WC:3,117


Stats

Perception:
C ~> C-1, 575 words and 100 Ryo. (2,542 Words Left)
C-1 ~> C-2, 600 words and 125 Ryo. (1,942 Words Left)
C-2 ~> C-3, 700 words and 150 Ryo. 1,242 Words Left)

Reaction Time:
C ~> C-1, 575 words and 100 Ryo.(667 Words Left)
C-1 ~> C-2, 600 words and 125 Ryo.(67 Words Wasted)

Di was relieved when Mokuzai acquiesced to his desire for evacuating the premises. It was best that they got out of there with all haste and didn't get picked up by the authorities for some kind of drunken disorderly charge. It seemed that Nova needed to get home however though and Di only had one real idea on how to accomplish that.

In a more sober state Di would simply have called a rickshaw driver over so that they could be taken in relative comfort for a thrifty fare. However alcohol had addled his normally sharp thought process and thus all he could think about was taking his true form for a bit and catching the breeze. Motioning the pair towards an alleyway Di looked about to make sure that there was a good amount of the mist that Kirigakure was famous for.

As it turned out there was and thus speaking in a low tone as to not be overheard Di explained to his two companions that they didn't need to panic and when they saw something strange in the next few seconds it was totally fine and nothing bad would happen. A few minute later a somewhat shaky dragon rose up out of the alley on a gust of night wind. He stank of alcoholic fumes and looked a little worse for wear – something that could also be said for his two passengers. The ride was not exactly what one could call smooth and there were a couple of near misses involving several buildings and even the occasional tree.

Somewhat miraculously Nova managed to guide Di to the manor with only a few minor detours caused by double vision. The landing could generously be described as smooth – if only due to the fact that when the detective landed face first into a patch of shrubbery no limbs were broken and there was only minor bruising.

All in all Di considered it a success. The location was pretty remote so Di thought he may as well just catch some sleep where he was. Nova could explain why there was a dragon in the yard and things would all be A-Okay. Well after he threw up a couple of times anyway. That was what rose-beds were for right?

(378 words)