[img]http://i.imgur.com/2uDBgEK.png[/img]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/yWeW5Rr.png[/img]

[b][u]Morris: Outskirts[/u][/b]

“I’m not a Guilder, I’m just a simple uncle, that’s all, and… I… wow, she’s pretty energetic and loud, huh? Nothing like my niece…” Eric said, scratching his chin and slurping up the rest of his milk float as he was dragged forwards towards the circus by Trixie’s iron grip, before being released and assaulted with a battery of questions that made Eric’s head spin. He wish he had another milk float. They were tasty. 

But he decided to finally play along and answer the little girl’s questions. Even if her mannerisms were nothing like his niece’s, he had a soft spot for young children like this, and could easily imagine Trixie playing with her. Meeting up with Guilders like this and getting their help was also what he had been after in the first place, so if he could help them help him get his little niece back, then superb!

“Ah, my niece is so precious! She’s so small, super small! About your height, maybe a little smaller. She has the silkiest black hair and the cutest button nose and buck teeth you’ll ever see! She’s wearing a black and white dress, and in her hair she has this cute red ribbon I bought her for her birthday last year and has an even bigger one tied to the back of her waist too! She’s so adorable!” Eric smiled as he reminisced about his missing niece, before his thoughts went sour and his face contorted into a terrible straining grimace, as if he was about to repeat what he had done earlier in the Guild. But the strain wasn’t caught by irritable bowels, more so the painful memories of her disappearance.

“Now, I, er… didn’t say she was kidnapped. I don’t know if she was or wasn’t… gosh I hope she wasn’t… my brother’s going to kill me…” Eric sighed and looked incredibly depressed. “I took her to the circus last night, and we were having a whale of a time and lots of fun and lots of laughter! The circus was really, really amazing, and their shows were incredible, with the magicians and the acrobats and the beast tamers and human cannonballs and all… and the food was super delicious and all the attractions were super amazing! You should definitely try their tasty octopus fritters, I bought so many I could have died and gone to octopus fritter heaven! And their merry go rounds and ferris wheel were cool too, and the animals were also really lively and the ringmaster was something else and-”

“Mr. Coil, sir, please…” Estelle sighed as she soothed her temples, walking beside the rest of her friends. “Can we focus on how your niece became missing?”

“Oh. Well. Yes. It was closing time at the circus, and we were going home. I was talking and laughing so much and so hard because it was just so much fun and… well… I kind of got carried away and distracted. And then, ten minutes after I’d left the circus I noticed my niece had… disappeared. And I couldn’t find her anyway… I’M SO DEPRESSED!”

Eric suddenly span and collapsed to his knees, clutching Estelle’s legs and sobbing as he looked up at the redhead. “Please, miss! Please! You have to help me! She’s so small and young and… and… she has some difficulties, too, so… so she’s going to be so alone and so scared and we have to find her! We just… we have to!!”

“I… ah… calm down, Eric,” Estelle patted the man’s shoulder, smiling down in the way she knew Marcus would to help calm and alleviate her fears. “We’ll find her, no matter what. On behalf of everyone here, I promise.”

“OH THANK YOU!” Eric leapt to his feet and wrapped his arms around Estelle, crushing her in a massive, beary embrace, before smiling and walking even faster towards the circus, his hand holding Estelle’s and swishing it back and forth with great enthusiasm. 

As they carried on, the conversation soon turned to one of weapons, and what to do considering their predicament of being Guilders. Aria suggested her ability to cast illusions as something that might help them, as Moira stroppily refused to budge in her decision not to part from her weapons. Syed pondered whether mentioning they were simply travelling Guilders might help, but Eric had to cut in and intercede on the conversation with a stern shake of his head. 

“Um, weapons are a bad idea. No weapons, whatsoever. You won’t be admitted into the Circus at all if they even catch a whiff of you being a Guilder. I saw it happen yesterday to one passing Guilder. The girl at the gate entrance refused to allow him to enter, and even when he tried to walk through, it was like… poof! Into a portal and straight back out. Doesn’t matter what you try to say or do to convince otherwise… you can’t be ‘Guilders’.”