Well, it had certainly looked as though Andronicus of Erana was on what might have been considered a wild goose chase to some degree. Dionysus, in his infinite wisdom, had said to Andronicus that he was ordered to travel about looking for others of his own kind. Infinite wisdom was something that he seriously had his doubts about. The man was constantly drinking and it was very hard to take anything that he came up with seriously.

There might certainly have been other beast men in the world, and considering the great advances that had come to him in the form of his animal-like senses he would have been able to smell them. Nevertheless, the world was an incredibly vast place, and he wasn't even given the simplest instructions on where to go and look.

For the time being he had taken one of the famous triremes - the ships with three rows of oars that plied the Mediterranean - and gladly volunteered his services to row along with those who had also elected to make the journey. At the moment, his weretiger abilities were considered much of a secret. He hadn't let other people know about them, and no one had asked any embarrassing questions just yet.

Nevertheless, the fact that he never seemed to grow tired of rowing was perhaps unusual to say the least. Something about him seemed to suggest that he had the strength of an animal, and he wasn't about to share the actual reasons behind it. That being said, he had at least made it to the Thracian coastline without any great difficulty, and the moment that he had stepped onto the docks he had found himself in an entirely different world.

Even though he was in the shape of a human, he still found that there was an entire swirling mass of scents that only a predatory creature could ever have found right on the docks before him. Sweat and the odor of countless humans mixed together into an intoxicating cocktail that quickly turned into a sensory explosion.

At the moment, it was hard to make heads or tails out of any of this, in part because of his ability to transform into a powerful organism that did indeed have a tail. Regardless, he stepped forward and allowed his sandals to touch the somewhat wet docks beneath him. It didn't look like he was going to have an opportunity to go against the teachings of a god anytime soon.

That was, of course, no matter how much he would have liked to. It sounded, after all, like it would have been a good idea to violate those drunken instructions as soon as he started out on those docks.

Nothing seemed to suggest that this would be easy. Admittedly nothing ever had, but Dionysus didn't seem to completely appreciate just how complex the task that he had given his 'servant' really was.

Of course, there was very little beyond wine and women that the old letch ever really did seem to appreciate anyway.

Little were the mariners aware that their ship had a stowaway, clinging to the keel like a barnacle.

Iris was searching too, though she knew specifically who she was seeking. The sea god who was her patron had alerted her to his presence on the waves, and had instructed her that they must join forces... for some reason.

She didn't think she'd be able to trust them, but she'd be sure to test them once they crossed paths. She wasn't about to tick off Poseidon. She swum up and grabbed the underbelly of the docks. She was a fan of underbellies. So many secret places to scuttle about, it made her feel comfortable. But she'd have to go topside and confront this guy soon.

She changed back to a human, clutching the edge of the dock with lobster-like grip, and hauled herself up. She had a cloak woven of seaweeds that she drew about her. It was an attempt to keep a low profile. Her normal attire (or near lack thereof) was far to noticeable if she was going to shadow someone.

She spotted the man she thought was the one Poseidon wanted her to search for. It was something in the way he moved... primal, like a stalking jungle cat. She began to follow... at a safe distance, of course.

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I am hunger. I am thirst. Where I bite, I hold until I die, and even in death they must cut out my mouthful from my victim's body and bury it with me.
I can fast a hundred years and not starve. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze. I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show me your enemies.

At the shore-end of the docks, Capros was in the midst of a spirited discussion on the finer points of ownership. "It's my boat," he said as he stood firm, arms crossed and eyes staring out fixedly from beneath his bronze helm. "I'm a fisherman, I fish, that's what I fish with."

"Your boat's been tied in my dock for weeks without any kind of pay, so now it's mine. Same with the nets inside it." The dock's owner looked down on the man before him. "Nothing's free, and you never looked for anyone to pay. If you wanted to keep it you really shouldn't have-"

"-If you want to keep any two planks of wood together in this entire port," Capros interrupted, "it would be wise not to scam me."

The owner laughed. "You're lucky I'm in a forgiving mood, a threat like that could see you in trouble with the militia."

"I AM MILITIA!" Capros shouted, pointing a finger at his helm. "I'm not going to tell you again, I-"

"-Get out of here or I'll have you and that boat of yours sunk together!" Without looking back, the dock's owner walked off, grumbling loudly about the pig before him.

Frustrated as he was, Capros had a slight smile on his lips as he slowly left the dock, ignoring the fact that most there had heard the exchange and were staring at him. He walked towards the nearest building and rested his back against it, pushing his helm up and back a little to let his head literally cool. This was a setback, but in a way Capros had come to be fond of such setbacks. Anything that interfered with the plans Artemis laid for him was her problem, and she either had to fix it herself or give him the permission to do so. One reversed the power in the relationship for a few precious seconds, the other was becoming more and more enjoyable every time.

He's not the one. Harassing fishermen is Poseidon's problem, and he has someone in the area. Capros never liked the way Artemis whispered to him, she spoke on the wind and he would hear as it passed by. Someone else is there too. They're both looking for what they are. Not that it mattered to Capros, Artemis was rarely the sort of team player to include her pawns in joint ventures. This could become a hunt. Stick around. The fisherman slammed his fist into the mud wall behind him. And don't worry about your boat. They probably have transportation across the water.

Great. He wasn't allowed to bring the place down around the owner's ears, nor to leave. He was to wait, absolutely his least favorite command. Of course, directly disobeying Artemis was well out of the question...

Despite his strong sense of powerful smell, Andronicus wasn't even aware of the fact that the ship had a stowaway aboard at all either. Owing to a gap in his own instructions, he also wasn't aware of why it was that they were really supposed to be working together either. Still, just as Iris wasn't going to upset Poseidon, he had no wish to tick off Dionysus either.

Considering that there was some noise on the docks, he decided to continue to follow in the direction of it. Allowing himself to still sniff around, he found that there were certainly some unusual odors, but whether they were actually ocean and shore animals or people who could turn into them wasn't clear to him at the moment.

Ultimately this search had leaded him to look in the direction of Capros. For a time he wasn't sure what was going on. It had more or less looked like there was some kind of debate. Still not knowing that Iris was also looking in the area as well, he decided to go and have a look at the commotion that was going on.

Apparently there was some discussion of what could have been a scam or something of the sort. Still, there was something a little different. There was still a wafting smell of an ocean creature that he couldn't tell anything about just yet, but he decided that if there was one here then perhaps it might realize him as well.

Capros, however, had a sort of powerful stench that suggested to Andronicus that something was up. While he was just standing there with his arms folded, waiting and watching, he figured that Capros would have found out about him soon enough if he was a fellow were-beast.

If not, then, that kind of rage would probably just make him blind to his situation and Andronicus would have simply walked away like nothing happened.

These were the same sorts of skills he had used when he was a municipal slave, collecting information on people without them knowing it, and he hated it.

Iris shuffled her arms out from the cloak. She was wearing a pair of studded cestuses.
She was in a rare mood of impatience and impulse. There was nothing to be gained by watching, and she was supposed to confront the man anyway.

She called out to him. "Drunkard's disciple! I hear you've been touched by the beast!"

She knew not his name nor his animal, but her god had informed her of his divine allegiance.
She assumed a defensive stance, grinding her sandals into the cobblestones of the street that ran along the docks.

A gust of wind full of salt and the scent of fish oil blasted along the street, billowing her cloak vigorously, the air becoming wet with droplets sprayed from the ocean.

A few people eyed the strange, shouting women worriedly and kept their distance. Nobody wanted to deal with a lunatic on such a fine day (or any day really).

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I am hunger. I am thirst. Where I bite, I hold until I die, and even in death they must cut out my mouthful from my victim's body and bury it with me.
I can fast a hundred years and not starve. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze. I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show me your enemies.

Having made a noise that sounded something like that of an animal, albeit a nondescript one, Andronicus turned to focus on Iris who had addressed him as a drunkard's disciple.

"You smell like an animal yourself, and though I serve Dionysus I am no disciple of his! If anyone, then I would gladly fight on behalf of Persephone, but I am a drunkard's slave and not his disciple."

While he had assumed a defensive stance as well, he had a feeling that this fight was going to get called off before it had even started. Honestly that would have been a pity to him, considering that he was looking forward to pretty much anything that could have broken up some of the tedium today.

What he said was true, however. While he hated Dionysus and considered him a drunk, he was at least grateful to Hades for letting him come back from the dead. Persephone, who was sort of a victim of circumstance, seemed the most justice and noble to him, so he wasn't embarrassed to bring up her name. Hades might have shown him kindness, but he didn't like everything that he had learned about that man's history. The Queen of Death, on the other hand, seemed to be a relatively proper soul.

Iris laughed. "Haha! I am slave to no one. I chose the path of the seas and paid honor enough to Poseidon in life. I managed to cast off all chains that had been placed on me. Now I question whether or not I should truly be taking a place alongside you, who remains trapped."

She throw back her hood, letting the cloak whip like a banner in the wind, before loosening its clasp and letting it tear away in the strong breeze. She was still wet from her swim, the glistening moisture highlighting her musculature, her usually chaotic hair soaked with brine.

She chewed on her lip, biting til it bled as her mouth twisted up into a grin.
"I suppose I'll have to test your true worth in a battle to the death."
She clenched her fists and drew up her inner power, her muscles swelling with inhuman strength.

She slowly, but purposefully, began to approach Andronicus, preparing to launch an assault.

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I am hunger. I am thirst. Where I bite, I hold until I die, and even in death they must cut out my mouthful from my victim's body and bury it with me.
I can fast a hundred years and not starve. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze. I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show me your enemies.

Staring out at the two self-proclaimed instruments of the gods, Capros couldn't help but feel an unease within him. It was not, however, the unease of fear. He was not afraid at the apparent dawning of violence, to the contrary he felt a great chafing at the invisible chain that kept him from joining into it. The boar trampled what was about him for the love of it, did he not?

"Are you sure the docksmaster is going to answer to Poseidon's plaything? She seems focused on the Dionysian." Capros mumbled this into the wind Artemis spoke through, hoping for some kind of blessing to proceed forward. He did not get one. So he pushed himself off of the wall he had leaned against and walked toward the impending fray. He hadn't been told not to get a better look, anyway.

"Battles to the death mean a lot more when one of the participants can actually die." Capros didn't want to show his hand - but he totally wanted to show his hand. The indirect, shadowy hunting that Artemis led him towards ill suited the militiaman. Anyway all he needed was the excuse to unleash his inner self, what was the point of discretion? These two might have been big on the posturing but at least both of them spoke directly. "Or at least, can stay dead." He smiled widely at the both of them, a hand on the handle of his hatchet just in case he could get in on the impending bloodbath. "Maybe it's just my problem. But it seems a little... Convenient, that we'd all end up here at the same time."

All of this was quickly whipping Andronicus up into a rage. If she had wanted him to prove his worth, then he wasn't above actually going forward with doing so. Eventually he made a snarling noise that indeed had sounded as though he were turning into a tiger, though he hadn't actually showed any outward sign of this at all. Rather, it seemed that his musculature instead was growing in human proportions, much as Iris' had.

Sniffing the air, he soon realized that Capros had to be the other person that he was looking for. Andronicus didn't like the idea that he was going to have to call off a fight, however. In fact, he couldn't really remember a time when he had willingly called off a fight in the past. Swallowing, he snarled a bit again and stood his ground.

"I take it that all three of us are were-beasts in that case. You two certainly smell like it."

While that might have diffused, to some degree, the rising aggression here, he figured that all that it really had meant was that they could instead take their aggressions and direct them elsewhere. If the three of them could have all found a common opponent, then he thought that would have certainly been great. Swallowing deeply, he looked with another sneer before facing his opponent totally.

"Then again, if you still want to fight, I'm game." He wasn't going to say no to a really good routing, especially if he allowed his own personal aggressions to join with those of his untamed beast form.

Iris eyed Capros. "Well I guess now it's a real party."

"On the contrary, the fact that we have all died before and can be brought back again means we can truly test each other by going all out there is no need to hold back."

People had begun to stop and gawk, and not just because there was a curvy, muscular amazon in a chainmail bikini flexing her muscles. People could feel a fight brewing and they were as yet deciding if it was something to be watched, or something to flee.

One man had stopped with a small oyster cart. Iris glared at him and be backed away, and with her full strain she heaved up the cart and threw it at Andronicus.

_________________

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I am hunger. I am thirst. Where I bite, I hold until I die, and even in death they must cut out my mouthful from my victim's body and bury it with me.
I can fast a hundred years and not starve. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze. I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show me your enemies.

As the cart flew past Capros' head and towards impact with the man who had been speaking earlier, he eyed the Amazon angrily. He liked fighting, he really did, but it looked to him like this was about her ego more than the love of a challenge. He lifted his hatchet up by the blade, shifting his grip to its handle as he readied to use it, it looked like there was not going to be any other way to solve this.

With a laugh, Capros leapt between - then past the two fighting and kicked over the dockmaster as he tried to flee. "Let's talk," he said with a frightening glee before driving the axe down just above the man's shoulder, catching hold of his clothing and for the moment pinning him in place.-

Unfortunately, Capros had missed his target and pinned instead the self-proclaimed slave of Dionysus. Well, there was a hitch. Still, the dockmaster seemed stunned enough by the kick that Capros ignored his blunder and proceeded to lecture the greedy dockmaster anyway.

-"As you can see," Capros nonchalantly motioned behind him, "things on your precious property have taken a bit of a sour turn. I can't speak for the others, but I'm willing to-" a piece of wood broken by one or the other of the two fighting behind him hit Capros in the back of the head, making a somewhat humorous PING noise as it bounced off his helmet. He turned to face them, his breathing oddly deepening as if his body was preparing for something. He heard the dockmaster speaking behind him but it barely registered at all.

"Here we go," he whispered as he felt himself begin to shift. There could still have been a way out of this fight, but the window was closing fast. At least the stupid dock would get demolished in the thick of it.

Without any time to think about what was happening, it had looked like Andronicus was going to have to face against a cart. There wasn't really any way that he could have avoided it, but in this, his initial altered state, he rather took it, and it broke against him with only the creation of bruises. Nevertheless, if this kind of thing kept up, they more than likely could have ended up destroying each other.

That was of course especially true considering the fact that he had a tendency to allow himself to work up into an extremely wild frenzy and he would more than likely get killed in the process. Well, killed a second time anyway, and for that matter Iris could certainly end up taking some damage as well.

Nevertheless, an axe had suddenly pinned him and he let loose a snarl that sounded like that of an animal. "What do you want to talk about? By now I figure that we're the party that was supposed to meet up here and work together, but something about the reactions thus far have seemed to say that we might not exactly be getting the whole working together aspect of this mission down."

Considering the way that Andronicus had said that, it might have actually sounded as though he didn't particularly care if they ended up fighting.

'"Hey," Iris snapped at them. "Less talk and more fight!"

A deep voice rose from the sea at that time.

BLAZE. YOU DISAPPOINT ME. PERHAPS IT IS BEST IF I TAKE YOU BACK AND TEACH YOU A LESSON IN RESPECT.

"P-Poseidon?" Iris gasped.

A wave, unnaturally shaped almost like an octopus arm heaves out of the bay and washes over the docks, drenching everything in saltwater. Iris gives a last gurgle of protest and is swept out into the wine-dark sea.

_________________

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I am hunger. I am thirst. Where I bite, I hold until I die, and even in death they must cut out my mouthful from my victim's body and bury it with me.
I can fast a hundred years and not starve. I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze. I can drink a river of blood and not burst. Show me your enemies.

As Capros started to shift into his beast form, THE VERY HAND OF GOD rose up from the oceans, putting what had been leading up to an incredible fight into perspective as the childish squabbling that it was. Capros' transformation was halted by the sheer shock of the sight before him, and as he fell back into the moment he gave a look at the now-still ocean with an appropriate awe. "Well... Er..." He turned to look back to Andronicus. "THAT just happened. So... Anyway, um..." He reached down and pulled the hatchet that pinned the man back away, slipping it into its place on his uniform.

With a small laugh, Capros looked down on the trembling dockmaster, now a pathetic puddle of a man even if he hadn't been soaked to the skin. "Like I was trying to say before, it's my boat. Don't forget that." Lying utterly, Capros pointed out towards the waves. "I HAVE FRIENDS, AS YOU CAN SEE!" With a dramatic gesture to frighten still further the dockmaster, Capros calmly walked back up toward the shore, motioning for Andronicus to follow after him. "Now then, you're out here disturbing the peace for some reason, I'm sure."

Well, regardless of what had happened with the axe, with the dock master in question and anything else, the most surprising thing to Andronicus was the fact that apparently a deity who was in control of the water had actually elected to completely sweep Iris away. That wasn't something that one saw every day, even if they were someone who was a resurrected individual who could now serve as a beast.

Recoiling from the unusual happening, it didn't look like he was going to transform any more than it had looked like Capros would have at this point. This really did put any squabbling into perspective, but something inside Andronicus still had wanted a fight. He was an individual who had lived a tough life, and that beastly instinct had only added another aggressive streak on top of it.

Once he had gotten everything about himself, he noticed that Capros had wanted him to follow along, so he decided to do just that. "Alright, yes, there is a reason, aren't you one of those that can transform as well? You certainly looked and smelled it back there. If that's the case, then we're supposed to be assigned to some sort of a mission together."

At Andronicus' comment about Capros looking and smelling like someone who could transform, the latter gave an amused chuckle. "Your flattery needs a little work." He kept walking, then ducked his head inside one of the small homes they passed, he'd been staying there. Collecting what little he had for traveling, Capros tossed a spare canteen towards Andronicus as he reemerged from the hovel. "Have you eaten yet today? There's a place somewhere around here. Good stuff, maybe a bit different than you're used to."

At some point you're going to have to stop avoiding the issue. The wind picked up, seeming to wrap itself about Capros for a moment before moving on.

"Over lunch... You could tell me about this mission." Capros had said that last line much like a reluctant child, so that even if Andronicus had not noticed the living, whispering breeze he would likely tell that someone else was influencing the sailor. "You said 'some sort', so I take it you're not getting a lot more information from your source than I have from mine, but you must know something. Dionysus can't be as tight-lipped as-" Capros made a great show off bowing reverently as he concluded "-Lady Artemis."

At some point, the town would return to normal, but in the wake of the ocean stealing the gladiatrix away everyone was still rather cowed and silent - with Capros as the exception, standing stupidly in the street talking to a stranger from a very different way of life.

Considering that Capros had seemed to wish to just continue walking for now, Andronicus did much the same. Since he had just arrived not all that long before, though, he didn't have a place to stay like the other. Nevertheless, he didn't want to just go into Capros' temporary house anyway, and just waited near the doorframe. Once a spare canteen had been thrown from the small place, he caught it effortlessly, no doubt a nod to his feline reflexes.

"What are they serving exactly?" The fact that it might have been a bit different than he was used to sound interesting, but he wasn't so sure about that.

Andronicus didn't pick up whatever whispers Capros could hear in the breeze in the slightest. "Sure, I could fill you in on everything we were supposed to do, or at least what I know of it. Do the Gods ever give anyone all of the instructions all at once?" By that point, though, he realized that something was up. It looked like Capros was being influenced even though no one was around.

"Dionysus is loose-lipped, but I can never trust what he says since he doesn't remember it come morning" Despite the fact that Capros might have been standing stupidly and such, Andronicus secretly wished he served someone who was respectable enough to warrant a bow like that. He never would have offered such a gesture for Dionysus if he could find some way to avoid having to do so.

After Andronicus asked Capros what kind of food was on the menu, the sailor only smiled and started walking again, now with more of a destination in mind. The two men were little by little heading further from the pier, towards the front end of town with its businesses and then the open world beyond it. With the sun shining down on the land before them, it certainly felt like a good day to start on adventure - after they ate, naturally.

The place had a handful of other patrons as Capros slipped under the open awning and waved for service. It would be a short wait before the two were seen to. Sitting down at one of the chairs closest to the edge of the awning, Capros waited until his new companion was seated too before speaking. "I don't claim to understand Artemis," he began, the back of his mind going over the menu of the place from what he could remember. "What I do know is that she is intrigued by your deity's plans, whatever they are. I've been given no direct order beyond participating with you for the time being."

Someone came and asked what the two wanted to eat, and Capros asked for the goat and grape leaves he usually had. "There's lots to choose from, just ask and see if they have it."

The fact that Capros wasn't saying what kind of food was on the menu did little to inspire confidence in him. While it might have meant that the other had a surprise in store for him, it might have also meant that whatever was being served was just embarrassing. One thing that did inspire some confidence, though, was that pleasant weather, because it seemed like the sun shining down like that was a good deal nicer than the water that had swept that gladiatrix away before.

Of course it didn't take Andronicus too long to get seated once they were there, and he was surprised that Capros had gotten service not too long after he waved over for it. Honestly he was more used to being on the other side of that service transaction, as he spent his life as a slave working off a debt that wasn't his. "Originally my orders were to sail here and such, so perhaps it might be a good idea for me to summon my deity and ask about his plans, then we could both make a plan from that."

An adventure did seem to be on its way, but then again just getting here was an adventure in its own right. "I have heard some rumors from the sailors that I was with before that the Golden Fleece had been stolen, and that Zeus' daughter might also be in trouble."

Blinking for a moment once Capros placed an order, Andronicus shrugged and decided to have the same. "That sounds good, I'll have the same. I'm not used to eating that well honestly."

Capros offered a small, rough laugh when Andronicus said that he wasn't one to eat this well. "Food's important," he said with a shrug, "most of my coin ends up going to my stomach." As the food was laid out on the table between them, the sailor dug into his portion, pausing between bites to speak fragments out. It wasn't that he was wholly boorish in his eating habits, he was just hungry. He was usually hungry, though he never seemed to gain weight, his wiry frame a sign that when he so feasted, he was feeding more than just his human body.

"I had heard something about the fleece," he began, "but you know as well as I that there are beasts beyond imagination to guard such divine relics." He paused for a moment, taking a breath before going on. "As for Zeus' daughter... I'm happy to say I've heard nothing. Zeus is best not bothered, I find." Capros leaned back in his chair, trying to fool himself into feeling full. This was an aspect of his curse that he was certainly not pleased with. "So... We can try to figure out what manner of being could make their way to the fleece unharmed... Or we can trifle in the affairs of Zeus, father to all gods." He looked down, weighing his options as empty dishes stared up at him. Eventually... "I say we seek the fleece, or at least its old resting place. I'll take unknown dangers over certain, lightning-y death. What say you?"