The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World [IC]

[Taerinn]

Fenaru Guild

“The south group will be Thunderhawk and Lisette,” Estelle said, smiling at Lisette as she nuzzled Kapi. “Oh, and Kapi, too, of course. If we can, I’d like Amy to go with you guys too."

"Yay!" Lisette exclaimed, pleased with her assigned group (even though she hadn't actually spoken to either of them).

Estelle left shortly after, although she had no idea where she was heading off to. Everyone began dividing into groups, but Estelle's "friend" Marcus had made a beeline for her instead. “Thank you Lisette, for wanting to help us. We all appreciate it,” he said, petting Kapi. Kapi's mouth formed a tight little smile and he closed his eyes.

"Well, yeah, of course! I'm happy to help, you all seem super nice," she said with a grin. "And if there's one thing I love more than Kapi, it's catching criminals! Erm, wait, I don't love anything more than Kapi... hehe... Sorry Kapi..."

“It might seem like a bit of a… mood killjoy at the moment after our 'serious' planning, but would you like me to fix your toy? It wasn’t much trouble repairing Estelle’s.”

Lisette's eyes sparkled. Wow, Estelle was soooo lucky! Even Kapi seemed happier than usual. "Ah, thanks Marcus! You're so sweet!" she blurted out, smiling cheerfully. She stood up to dig in her pockets, only to realize that the toy had apparently fallen out on the way to the Guild... along with half of her Gald.

"U-um... Hang on..." she said, whirling around to dig in her other pocket (the 180 turn being completely unnecessary), then turning around again to pat the pocket-less fabric covering her stomach and chest. "I... I don't think I have it. Renalt, nooooo, where did you go!?" she mumbled, looking quite depressed. "I would have loved to have gotten him fixed... I hope he turns up while we're out looking for the thief..."

[Rexaura]

"Well if you didn't want me to touch your thing, all ya hadta do was say no! D'geeez!" Trixie dropped her tone of voice on the final word. She rolled her eyes along with her hands in mocking imitation as she turned her back to him. Whatever, she didn't wanna touch it anymore anyway. She might even catch his nasty-attitude cooties if she got anywhere closer to him - yuck. "What a crybaby! Huh, Yam? That's what he is. A cwybaby." She turned her attention from Yam to the room and the remaining guilders in the room. "Now, whooo's in our group again? It was... oh right!"

Once she caught sight of Selan and her pretty clothes and her pretty hair, she definitely remembered Supersis' orders. With a beaming smile, Trixie made her way over to the songstress, hands and Yam held behind her back. "Hiya Miss Pretty! Guess I'm with ya again!" she said, rocking back and forth on her feet once she stood beside the ever-so-graceful lady. "Maybe we can team up together without almost dying this time, yeah? Eheheheh..."

---

Outside Amy sat, idly tapping the air with her staff in one hand and resting her chin in another. Whereas one would've expected a well-kept, well-dressed woman of her figure to maintain something of an elegant posture, her slouched back and glowering expression said otherwise. Despite whatever wolf whistles and crude compliments were tossed her way in the meantime, Amy kept her blank focus on the stalls across her - also not even noticing whatever strange looks the fellow within one of those stalls kept returning to her.

Hmm. Sitting alone where she didn't have to listen to everyone speaking out of turn about irrelevant nonsense allowed her to better sort through her clustered thoughts. She figured Trixie would probably drag her back inside eventually, but oh well; it was nice to have things relatively quiet and solitary for once. She just wished she could have some more time where she could think and mentally prepare herself alone without someone yapping about something or other every couple of minutes - but she was sure she'd get her time as this mission continued to unfurl. Keeping her brat safe and content was her priority - and whether she liked everyone with them or not, the Pride was her best bet at both. Hopefully another Gaoh didn't pop up along the way in the meantime, though.

Some voice had thrown her thought train off course. "Hi Amy." Her head, still resting in her palm, casually turned to see a certain redhead taking a seat beside her. How curious - she hadn't expected anyone to bother so soon. Especially someone who wasn't Trixie. Perhaps their next mission would finally start soon.

Sensing her nervousness, Amy smirked and leaned back into the bench, dropping her other hand into her lap. What, was she really that scary? "Drop the nervousness, hun."

Amy couldn't help but chuckle as Estelle did her best to explain - or rather, apologize for Trent's recent actions. As well as unveil what may very well be the rascal's weakness - his nose? Though the cleric was admittedly curious as to just why and how Estelle figured that out, she dropped the question for now. Naturally Amy would've been irked over someone else worrying that a few simple words spouted by some mere simpleton had "gotten" to her - but not with how Estelle had approached her. Estelle's leaderly yet naive attitude exuded a sort of charm, one that Trixie on the other hand was completely devoid of; the more the swordswoman bounced from fiery determination to naivete and back, the more Amy wanted to pinch her cheeks and tell her to stop. She just wasn't someone Amy could get mad at. ...despite her running off-radar with Trixie not even a week ago, though that was something she would like to forget, among pretty much everything else.

"Are you okay, Amy?"

"Hah, if you're worried over whatever boorish remarks the smartass said, don't be. I'm fine. Just felt a little ache coming on and thought I'd step out a minute to clear it up." She leaned forward once again, this time massaging her forehead with her fingers. "I can only imagine what that secretary must be feeling."

Estelle shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Perhaps it was because the others were being a nuisance to her? Or was it that the mission was beyond her interests? Or was it from something entirely different? ...what if she was making the whole thing up?

Amy couldn't read minds, but it was obvious Estelle didn't like the vague answer she received too much. Amy sighed, more so out of reassurance than from frustration. "I'm fine, Estelle. But I appreciate you coming out for me anyway. Now," she rose to her feet, her expression much softer now than moments before, "have you all figured out what to do about this cat thief? Or is the smartass inside still giving everyone a hard time?"

[Pachamac]

Estelle breathed a deep sigh of relief when Amy admitted she was okay. Maybe Estelle was just being a worrywart or not, but she understood how hard it could be sometimes to be around Trent, or how difficult it could be to look after Trixie all the time. Estelle loved Trixie; she was adorable and her enthusiastic energy always brought a smile to her face, but she also couldn’t deny how sometimes the little prankster might be difficult, especially after seeing that scene earlier in the day when Trixie helped herself to the various market stalls cheeses, believing she was sharing them, seemed any indication.

"I'm fine, Estelle. But I appreciate you coming out for me anyway. Now," Amy rose to her feet, her expression much softer now than moments before, "have you all figured out what to do about this cat thief? Or is the smartass inside still giving everyone a hard time?"

“Okay, Amy,” Estelle smiled back in response, and followed the cleric’s movements with standing up.

“Yeah, I think we’ve got a plan. It’s not much, but I suppose it’s the best we’ve got. The plan is to split up into five groups and stake out the town tonight, keeping our eyes peeled to see if we can spot anyone breaking in… and when we do, to alert the others with, er, fireworks.” Estelle scratched the back of her head. The more she thought about it, the weirder the plan sounded. They’d be lucky if they managed to spot anyone within the darkness but so far, they didn’t have many other options. “Um, if you want to help, would you mind being in Thunderhawk and Lisette’s group, over in the south side of town?”

Amy shot back Estelle a particular glare at a certain man being namedropped.

“Yeeeah, I can understand how that might be awkward. It’s just… I want someone to help watch over Lisette there too. To help protect against the thief and Thunderhawk if he tries any funny business... not that I don't trust him but er... I… er… I trust you more, Amy." Estelle fidgeted. She thought about all the ways Amy had helped their group. She might have been quiet or distant, not one to jump first into initiating conversation or joke amongst others, but Estelle could sense she had a warm heart. Back in the castle fight with Gaoh, she had gone out of her way to heal Estelle. She had even used her magic to heal Don's wounds when Lisette caused him to stumble and fall, despite how she might obviously feel about such a 'pig'. And there was all the ways in which she watched after Trixie. Even now, with the way in which she eased Estelle's worries. She might appeared standoffish or scary, but in truth she was a good person.

"Lisette’s a great person so you’ll get on well with her, and Kapi's adorable! But… I also need someone with a clear head like you to help watch over the pair of them… if that’s alright?” Estelle fidgeted. Maybe she hadn’t thought these groups through so well after all, or had she?

[Bunanigans]

Fenaru Guild
Estelle took charge of the group once more to seperate them all into small groups, seemingly taking care to take people's wishes into consideration. Syed appreciated that. She certainly had it in her to be a great leader.

“The north group will be Syed, Moira and Don.”

He glanced over towards the man. Ah. He wasn't quite sure how to handle Don anymore. As much as he had jumped to his defence earlier, he still wasn't certain they could trust him. He closed his eyes with a light sigh. Don was trying, and it was only fair that they did their best to help him back.

Still, a few of the other group choices sounded quite interesting. Thunderhawk with the new girl with the cool staff. Since the man seemed to go for anything with two legs and boobs he hoped Lisette could handle him. There was Marcus and Nikki too, although he didn't really know either of them well enough to judge on that one other that Marcus tended to keep to himself and Nikki... didn't so much. He thought Estelle would want to stick by Marcus, but oddly enough she chose to pair up with lil'Mari. He didn't quite get that one. Still, as much as lil'Mari was a copy, she was a copy of a Rank C Guilder after all... if Estelle got in trouble she could always invoke a full sized copy.

Moira just yawned in disinterest. Where was the nearest liquor store around here? Still, at least it was Don they had been paired with, and not someone boring. Just as long as he weren't gonna sit around moping or whatever. She wasn't entirely sure why they needed someone else to help rescue some cats though.

Pretty much immediately after Estelle left, Don shot out from under his table towards the pair of them. Well, mainly for Syed.

“Bro! Bro! We’re going to be on the same team together, bro! How awesome is this?! I won’t let you down!”

Syed locked up in fear as his eyes widened, his mouth thinning considerably in suprise. However Don only went to lightly punch his shoulder, and unlike Moira he seemed to actually be in control of his strength. Syed laughed awkwardly. "...Yeah. Awesome, yeah." Recovering a little, he made eye contact with the man with a smile. Thinking about it, Don was an ideal addition to their team. If they found this theif and had to make persuit he was fast and agile and could possibly catch them. It was quite the contrast to Moira and her general slow and lumbering manner, and since Syed was stuck with her then he was really only as fast as she was. Not that either of them really had the stamina to run for long. "I'm glad we can count on you. Hope your eyes are go-OOF"

He was cut off as he instinctively went to step backwards, only to trip over a chair and stumble, knocking it over in the process.

Moira looked at him with a somewhat contemptuous expression, not moving even an inch. "Sorry, sorry!" he cringed, pulling the chair back upright. He had flushed again somewhat spectacularly, looking around himself uncomfortably. "A... anyway! Don't you think... what was his name... Trent? Don't you think he's being kind of vague about all this?" He looked to Don in particular, bringing a bent finger to his lips thoughtfully. "I mean, what else were they stealing other than cats? There's got to be more than just cats in common, else they'd only be stealing the cats, right?"

Moira finally seemed to catch on what this was all about. "What you on about? This is a theft thing?"

Syed gave her a somewhat exasperated look. "Yes! And not just cats, other stuff too."

Moira leaned back in her chair and theatrically swung one leg over the other to cross them. "Well, maybe then. Or maybe they're stealing the cats so they can make a nice coat, and the other stuff is to throw people like you off the scent."

Syed stared. "Is there even enough fur on a cat to make it worth trying to make a coat?"

"That's why they're stealing lots of them, duh." She pulled a somewhat mean silly face, which caused Syed to scowl back quite intensely. "But anyway it's an open and shut case if you ask me. I bet if you did want to ask the little brat what else they stole, they'll be high value. They'll be selling on the other stuff for a profit, that's all. Cats just got scared and legged it."

He groaned. "If that was the case, don't you think they would have figured that out already?"

"Not everyone is as observant as me, Sy."

Syed couldn't look at her anymore without bursting out into laughter, so he just made an odd snorting noise and fixed his gaze on Don instead. It would be interesting to hear the ex-bandit's opinion. "...anyway Don! What do you think?"

[Pachamac]

A bead of sweat dropped down Marcus’ cheek once he saw Lisette fidget around her person for her missing Renalt. Marcus didn’t intend to pass off any confusion to the girl, but he had to wonder how spacey she really was. After all, it wasn’t but ten minutes ago when she, Estelle and Trixie burst through the Guild doors, demanding their toys to be taken to a hospital that Marcus had offered to repair her’s and Estelle’s toys. Marcus had just now newly fixed Estelle’s ‘Moira Jr’ and returned it to his partner. He had come up to Lisette to greet her and make conversation, to make her feel more welcome amidst the group as well as see how desperate she was for Renalt to be fixed soon which, from her evident desperation it was quite clear that she was. Marcus felt a wave of guilt pass through him for inadvertently causing the girl’s confusion and worry.

“N-no, Lisette, I have Renalt right here, I-”

“Oh my gods you found him!” Lisette screeched happily. Even if Marcus hadn’t managed to find her gald at least Renalt had been discovered! She could always get more money later... probably, but Renalt was irreplaceable! Almost as irreplaceable as Kapi! Okay maybe not almost nothing could come close to Kapi... but Estelle’s boyfriend was good!

“Ah… yes. I’ll… er, go fix him now.” Marcus rubbed his forehead. At least this miniature crisis had been ended before it had the chance to escalate. With two people on the team already having dabbled their hands in thievery today, not to mention another two who enjoyed prior lifestyles dedicated to the act, it wouldn’t do the group any good if they started to question or believe that they were stealing from each other.

“Have you met Thunderhawk before?” Marcus asked, suddenly shifting gears to get Lisette’s mind off the worrisome panic he had given to her just now, pacing back to the bench and beginning to work on restoring Renalt. After fixing Moira Jr and knowing the insides of these little toys better, repairing this one would only take a couple of minutes… not that their shoddy build really warranted a fix, but if it brought a smile to Lisette and Estelle’s faces, then so be it. “He’s the man you’ll be working with. He’s a C rank guilder, so you’ll be in good hands.”

---

"...anyway Don! What do you think?"

There was no reply from the pompadour haired man, who instead had his gaze transfixed on Selan, who had been grouped alongside Trixie and Trent. Even now she was across the room, talking to the two. The little missy sounded good, his two favourite ladies being grouped together was fine, but Trent? That guy who went around slapping people’s rears and insulting them with carefree abandon? Don hoped the guy didn’t mean anything serious by the insults, in fact he probably didn't, Trent reminded him a lot of his sister Josette, and her unique vocabulary with how often she dropped f-bombs and other curses, as well as the rear slapping being similar to Josette's dropkicking him in the face… ah, dear sister, where could you be now? And all my other bros? I hope you’re all out there doing fine and-

“Don!” Syed’s voice became a little louder, snapping Don’s attention back towards him and Moira.

“Bro! Er, what’s up?”

“…what do you think?” Syed asked.

Don just blinked back at him, at a loss as to what Syed was asking. Think? About what?

Wait, was this the first time someone ever actually asked him what he thought?!

“Er, about what, bro?” Don asked.

Syed sighed. Maybe he wasn’t quite as lucky as he thought. “The robberies! And why the thief’s doing it. They’ve got to be targeting more than just cats, don’t you think? Stealing other things that are valuable?”

Don’s lips twisted awkwardly as he strained his brain to think. “Yeah, it does sound kinda strange. I mean, back when I was a bandit I wouldn’t go around stealing cats, that sounds kind of weird, y’know? I mean, if you’re stealing something you go after something that's worth a lot, I think, an-”

Don suddenly stopped and froze in fear. “N-n-not that I would know anything like that or think there’s a right or wrong way to be stealing! Stealing’s wrong, bro fullstop! So, I don’t think anything! I mean, it’s a crime right, and we don’t commit crimes, do we bro?! I mean…” Don searched around frantically, before spotting Thunderhawk in the corner, and remembering his Thunderbro’s words earlier in the day. “We’re… we’re Guilders! We don’t lie, steal or cheat! So… so I don’t know anything! Honest! You don't think I did it, do you?! I’ve been with Magebro all day! Ask him! I've learnt my lesson, honest! It wasn't meeeeeeeeee~!”

[Bunanigans]

“Yeah, it does sound kinda strange. I mean, back when I was a bandit I wouldn’t go around stealing cats, that sounds kind of weird, y’know?"

Syed nodded as he listened, frowning at thin air as he did so. Don seemed to agree with Moira in that people would target things of value which... well, made a lot of sense. Why would anyone steal a cat anyway, he thought they always tried to head home if they could.

Only then Don seemed to catch himself and panic, backtracking so fast he probably could have broke the sound barrier. He didn't know anything about stealing. Even though he was an ex-bandit. Sure.

Moira and Syed exchanged glances, before looking back to Don with varying what-the-hell expressions.

"What." They both said in perfect unison.

There was really no reason to constantly feel the need to assure everyone around you that you're ok. It was almost suspicious in itself. While Syed knew that it wouldn't have been Don who commited these particular crimes - for one thing the way Gray and Trent were talking it sounded like it had been going on at least a little while - he did find himself wondering if he had done something else while here.

"Look love," Moira drawled as she glanced at her nails, "you've got a lot to learn about us if you believe that."

Syed elbowed her shoulder with a scowl, before placing a hand on Don's shoulder. "Calm down I believe you ok?" he said reassuringly as he made a mental note to check with Marcus later. In case. "Unless you secretly have have the power to bend time then it couldn't have been you." He laughed somewhat uncomfortably, looking around the Guild as he did so. "I'm gonna ask this Trent a couple of things if that's alright?"

The question was aimed mostly towards Moira than it was Don, as really if she wasn't going to move then he couldn't get to Trent to ask him anything. She huffed as she pulled herself up from her chair. "Fine."

With a nod to Don they both made their way over to the Boarder, Syed holding his hand out for a shake when they reached him. "Hey, you got a minute? I'm Syed and this is Moira," he thumbed towards Moira, who stood next to him with the clear look of someone who would rather be anywhere else. Like a nice beach with a good book of the top shelf variety. And a beer. Getting a burn, cause she sure as well weren't gonna get a tan with how fair she was. "We were just wondering what the other stolen stuff was. Might be a connection somewhere?"

[Rapidfire]

---

Normally, I'd get a little louder about not wanting to go somewhere, especially under the direction of a brat, but hey, I'm teamed up with Amy. What's not to like about that?

Such was Thunderhawk's quiet justification for taking this mission without much in the way of comment. He rubbed his chin and then looked over at Lisette. She had a look of such natural sweetness that she may well have been entirely saccharine. When she started panicking in her search for her toy, which apparently Marcus had had for some time to reconstruct, only for her to assert that Marcus had found the toy, Thunderhawk cocked his head to one side.

I must be missing something. She can't possibly be this much of a...what's even a word for someone like this? This is a touch beyond simple ditziness.

The sound of Syed knocking a chair over at around the time he completed this thought made the ranger smirk. He sidled up to Gray's desk and winked at him.

"You're going to give yourself more headaches if you respond to moments like this by banging your head against your little table here. Can I ask you something, though? How many cats you say have gone missing?"