As the newcomer leaped off her horse and greeted Vesta and the others, Zin listened in on the conversation from the shrub she was hiding from, With what the dragon woman learned the newcomer was someone that knew the Celestia family and oddly enough for the first time Zin heard Vesta in a different tone, a tone that sounded as if she was happy. The stench of the humans began to make her nose burn, or the fertilizer in the dirt made it burn, throwing away her cloak once again Zin stood up outside of the shrub before noticing the humans and looking to the newcomer and even walking over and getting into Maria's personal space with the slight smell of brimstone coming off her.

She got so close to Maria that she pressed her breast up against the woman's armor, unintentionally, and looked her in the eye, wondering what Vesta saw in the woman before speaking."[color=00a651] You're a shinier human than these others." She spoke openly." You're probably tougher than some of them here as well. Probably tougher than the small human sucking up to you." She glanced over to Alexander before looking Maria. She stared the knight down as if she was gonna attack her set her aflame." With what you said earlier." Zin shook her wings for a second before stepping back with smoke coming from her nose." You say Vesta is making an army or some kind of Harem, she still hasn't beaten me in combat for me to willingly join a harem of her choice, and what if she is shiny?" Zin looked down at the woman's sword."Are you going to stop her or are you going to join it?"

With all the time she used learning to fly, Zin never bothered pestering Vivi into a fight or any of the staff, she was not only itching for one from lack of one for such a long time, but she wanted to fight something that wouldn't be a quick fight and something that would actually give it's all. Henrich would likely stop if he got a good number of blows in even if Zin asked for him to give his all he did seem like he would be a good fight. Alexander looked like a strong whip of her tail or some hot breath from Zin would drop him quickly so any idea of a fight with him would be over in an instant. Vesta just got back and probably wasn't in the best condition or didn't feel like fighting or fighting anymore right now, plus with that rock slab thing Alexander gave her, she'll probably be busy. That mostly left the shiny armor in front of her. She didn't care who would get in the way of it or if it was wrong by whatever rules or traditions of these people, she had wanted a fight.

"Does that armor look as tough as it is shiny and clean?" She didn't outright ask the knight for a fight, not yet at least."Because it looks like it wouldn't last in a true fight" She examined her claws before looking back to Maria. She looked at the armored woman wondering what her response would be.

@Lunarlors34
@FamishedPants
@Spriggs27
@Letter Bee

The first thing Maria noticed of the interjecting individual’s appearance was that it seemed rather peculiar, even for demihuman standards.Perhaps it wasn’t ill to say that the woman before Maria was stunning, her presence clearly demanding to any spectators around. The word “modesty” seemed completely lacking from this demihuman’s vocabulary

Maria might have been a “beauty” by many standards, but it tended to come from the way she presented herself to others. Especially in her armour, which concealed her femininity, her regal-like appearance and demeanor seemed to display more to an appeal of image, rather than an appeal of appearance, and more slender a figure.Not to say that Maria didn’t have charm, but merely in comparison, the taller, more well endowed Lizard before Maria clearly was blessed with certain curves Maria would by lying to say she didn’t have a bit of jealously over.

“Well, you’re a crude one, aren’t you; skulking the scene like a wolf until now? If I were to have to guess, you must be this “Miss Zin Parallex.”

But would Maria have accepted an offer so lucidious as the one proposed by Zin? She couldn’t answer that herself, clearly flustered by the statement, yet trying to conceal this from others to a moderate success aside from a slight blush appearing upon her face. After all, Vesta was Maria’s greatest ally. The two had known one another since youth, and though they might have changed greatly since their childhood, the two still had an inseparable connection to one another that Maria would fight tooth and nail to preserve. Maria would have been nothing if not for Vesta’s encouragement.

“O... Onee-san’’s business is her own. Though I consider her my dearest friend, in the end if she were to make a choice I would have to accept it. But if she asked I guess I woul-”

“....”

Trailing off for a moment, Maria realized the gravity of the question, stopping herself and getting more and more flustered

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH---”

Maria's scream trailed off as she closed her eyes, and took a deep, calming breath, wishing to overcome her embarrassment. As she opened her eyes, she peered sharply at Zin.

… But in this moment, the air itself seemed to collapse in on itself, leaving nothing for the spectators to breath. A chill feeling like the embrace of thorns fills the courtyard.

Maria was still the woman of “strength, beauty, and intellect” within her, however, something appeared to have been snapped, breaking the perception of the knightess as infallible. Her eyes still shone with the optimism expected of Maria, but there was still the fact Zin appeared to be an enemy.

No, it was more than that. Maria felt almost humiliated by the other’s previous statement even before the provocation to fight, combined with a bit of jealousy over certain features the dragon-lady held before her.

“Ha---- are you trying to tick me off, you oversized lizard? Who the hell do you think you are?”

As she said that, Maria grabbed the hilt of her sabre, parting it slightly from the sheath so that the dulled lower section of her blade could be visible, never really taking the blade out more than a few inches from the scabbard.

Maria’s eyes seemed to dart from s left to right, ever vigilant in watching Zin’s motions. Whilst she had insulted Maria, it was clear by her tone that she utilizes her claws to fight. Perhaps that was the advantage that Demihumans tended to have upon normal humans; positioned to deal with threats without the human reliance of tools and weapons and the like.

But if there were something that humanity had over the races, it was the elusive, yet ever-present “love”.

“I’ll have you know I’ve slain monsters much scarier than you, so if you would like to prove you’re little ‘theory’ about my skills in battle, perhaps you would wish to test them out yourself, you fat chested, big-titted lizard?”

The person before Maria had claimed to have never lost to Vesta, but even if this was the case, Maria, despite her best efforts, tended to fall towards provocation. However, even while being provoked, it was not like Maria to run into any situation without a plan. But considering the clearly hostile words said by Zin, it would likely take outside forces to intervene in order to stop any conflict that would arise.

Aya quietly stared at the tavern her adventure had started in. Thinking back on it she didn't have much good memories of this place. She disliked most people that she met here since they were either rude or annoying to her point of view but thinking back on it now after everything she had gone through she might have had it the best here at this place. A warm room, a soft bed, proper food, people she could talk to in normal manner. Would they still remember her? Would they still accept her there now that she had tried shoving everyone away from her when she needed them the most.

Aya took another bite from her apple while deep in thought of the tavern. She let out a soft shriek when she saw someone jump from the second story to the street. She looked in terror at the sight of someone dropping from the building almost dropping her apple herself from seeing such a thing happening in front of her. Aya was doing the first thing that came up in her head and that was trying to help the possible victim but at a closer look she saw the people from 4 weeks ago on the building the person had just fallen off of.

Still, Aya got in a bit closer to see if the person was okay though. When she got around the same place the person was suppose to be she didn't see anyone on the ground or hurt. She was sure she wasn't going mad. At the same place of her illusional fallen person was something way more interesting. It was the person she probably despised the most in this world. Aya gave a sneer at the sight of him and made an immediate turn to walk away from this place again. Him falling off the building made her care even less.

Avery had long seen Aya come close to the tavern wanting to reunite with her soon as possible already. Avery had sent out a small puppy to catch Aya, she didn't know the reason but a dog chasing you wasn't a nice or good thing. Aya let out another short shriek looking somewhat terrified and tried speeding up to escape the thing, pushing her way past and through others as fast as she could. The smallness of the pup made it way faster however not needing to dodge everything. Aya turned back for a moment opening her eyes wider seeing how close the dog was.

Aya tried kicking the pup but she didn't manage to kick it but was instead jumped on by the dog. She stumbled from the sudden weight shift and fell front over onto the street. She landed with her head on one of the stones making quite a tud. Aya was still fine, there was a big sore spot on her chin. Aya turned onto her back trying to get the pup off of her but it was too late. The pup was standing on her torso keeping her down on the ground while viciously licking her face.



And Aya wasn't happy with it. She was kicking and swinging her arms but eventually it faded giving in to the fact she was caught. Aya gave a mad, sad glare at the puppy.

"So did Scooby Doo there just jump off the balcony like I think she did?” Ease inquired a bit rhetorically "Hmm. I guess that answers my question."

"Yeah, Avery just kinda... does that." Duncan replied without missing a beat as he caught sight of Ease coming out of his peripheral "You get used to it after a while."

"...What are you two up to?"

Reasonable question, I mean out of all the people in this fucked-up fantasy land, Duncan and Avery weren't exactly (to the casual observer, at least) the most likely to casually hang out. So, heaving himself up off the railing, picking all of his and Avery's crap and giving Ease a friendly rap on the shoulder, the bald man motioned for the Alaskan to follow him as he gave the abridged version of the increasingly insane series of events that had led him to this moment as he headed for the stairs like a normal person.

"Long story short, we got ambushed by a bunch of idiots calling themselves the 'Red Fang Raiders' on the way back from Laab and Vesta was having none of their shit." Duncan began, turning the corner as he reached the bottom and stopping for a second as he heard a commotion in the alley beside the tavern, but continuing unabated as he made his way over to the counter "Soooo... blood and bodyparts. Everywhere. That woman does not fuck around."

Placing a few coins on the counter, the baldy grabbed a pint and handed it to Ease before snagging one up for himself, continuing to talk as he headed for the side door.

"Buuuut, among the many, many bits of bloodied dumbass covering the road, we found a map to... something. Not sure what it is, but me 'n Avery figured we may as well go check it out..."

And with that, the Canuck opened the door only to find... some kid. Under attack by the world's cuddliest assassin.

"GET OFF ME YOU STUPID ANIMAL!" Said kid shrieked, trying desperately to break free from her incredibly affectionate, incredibly tiny canine assailant. "I hate you!"

'Aaaaand, the Universe keeps fucking me dry...'

"...Or, at least we would be, but apparently we're ambushing random people in dark alleyways with fuzzy puppies now." Duncan finished, brow raised but honestly, not all that surprised after the events of the past month as he calmly gulped down his pint and turned his head slightly to the younger, much more fashionable man. "What the fuck, Avery?"

@Letter Bee

Mithril and the sentient will of the sword listened intently on the words coming from the filthy moth of the slave-lord as details surfaced, talk of his revolution and how without him it would not come to pass. Every word hit home one way or another as desires welled up to boiling point at the potential.

All out war.. a manhunt.. fresh blood.

The talk of an idiot swordman elicited a hissing sigh from behind the face concealing mask. This was sounding like a convenient murder for Myst and not the gleaming gem of potential the sword hoped to crush.. or control.

Many minutes of silent conversation played between sword and wielder, the rare times when Mithrils seasoned years as a traveler served the sword.
At laat the decision was made; A killing, a lesson, and a new thrill.
The golden sword thrust forward into Mysts shoulder until it blossomed out his back. Nothing vital had been targeted but fresh blood was dripping from the wound.
Not bothering to remove the sword he went to work on the lesson as instructed by the sword. As Myst dropped to his knees, no doubt in great pain, Mithril began.

"This world, this city, your life, none of it has true value on the bargaining table. We are not equals here and now: We are executioners, axe raised to strike off the head of whoever we please,"

His hand struck the handle of the sword sticking from the mans shoulder.

"You are a are no pawn but neither are you the king on this board. We will find this swordsmam, no doubt, and deliver your justice upon it. But make no mistake it is notnfor your benefit.."

Grasping the handle he slid the blood coated blade out of the wound in one clean motion, flicking it to the side deftly to remove the red stain from its gleaming surface before returning to the strap upon his back.

"For another benefit, you will leave this rooftop in agony to remember this moment forever. Consider it the fee for eliminating your problem.." the masked assailant gave a chilling laugh as he reached out ever so slowly.

---

What followed had been an hour of unbridled cruelty inflicted upon Myst.
Fingers had been broken one by one as Mithril bent them until at last they snapped with an audible pop. The edge of his blade had been out to cruel use as it cut through flesh with ease, slicing his wrists and hamstring.

When the need to bloody him was sated it turned to brutish violence as Mithril, empowered by the sadistic urges of the sword, took his time pummeling the wounded man relentlessly. Heavy punches to the ribs shattered the bone without remorse.

When the final strike dropped the bleeding form of the tortured nobleman to the ground half-conscious, Mithril heard the final command of the sword. Left untended his wounds would indeed be fatal..
The golden swords pommel was placed reverently in the noblemans twisted fingers..
New life billowed into his soul as the swords will threw down what little mental protection the man had left and invaded his mind. Like locusts it devoured useful information as it saw fit, stealing names and plans for its own, until it found the description of this mysterious killer.

Sated for knowledge, it returned the favor. The same hellish energy that has mended the wounds upon Mithrils own flesh coursed through Myst. Wounds closed and function returned to his limbs, even the bones had begun to partially heal.
All at once it stopped.
Golden sword returned to Mithril he cupoed Mysts chin in his own.

"Your mind is bound to us. Should you need to talk.. we will find you, but until then.."

Mithrils right hand immolated as he whispered his incantation, the flame increasing in intensity with every second; then pressed it against Mysts chest. All consuning fire ate through cloth in an instant until hitting bare flesh, burning the skin black within moments to leave a hideous burned scar of Mithrils hand upon his flesh.

"We'll be in touch again."

The voice of the sword echoed through the metal mask as it cackled, leaving the rooftops and into the city. It would find this swordsman.. in time.

Alexander Sky

Alexander watched as the situation deteriorated around him. He could think of nothing to do except wait for Vesta to interfere. Wait, he had something, but it would be risky. Scooting over to Vesta, he would whisper to her and exposit:

"This Zin person is no ordinary Demi-Human; Demi-humans, though evidently magical, do not shine as brightly as she does. A green glowing color permeates her entire body, but unlike Mana, it is...translucent, like fog. I've seen this color and gradient - if that is the right word - in recently magically altered items. So I am presuming that she has been magically changed, and judging from how you two act; forgive me for any disrespect, you remember her being originally...not Demi."

A moment of musing. "Either way, perhaps letting them fight would be best, though not for the grounds."

@Lunarlors34@Spriggs27@ADamnFiddle

Myst Neumann

On the one hand, he had been tortured and his mind harrowed and no longer entirely his own. Myst Neumann had spent an entire hour in the most excruciating agony, an agony that gave him further insight into what he wanted to inflict on the frauds and liars who ruled Lugnica right now. On the other hand...he lived. The Demonic Swordsman had seen potential in him and his words, and Myst lived!

His fingers had been broken temporarily, he had been pummeled to within an inch of his life, his ribs broken. He had felt what it was like to feel being crushed by the power of someone else, the hate and resentment coming from such treatment, and it made him strong. His mind had been broken into and violated, forced to see the chaos and madness underneath life's veneer, but the hopelessness of that had made him better, though he didn't know how.

Myst traced the still-burning handprint, a short laugh escaping him at the pain. This was a mark that showed how he had passed through suffering that, though brief, already rivaled that which the oppressed masses of Lugnica suffered.

"I identify with them now! I now know what they know, what they feel!" the old man shouted. "I have been welded by the crucible of fire and thorns, of chaos and madness, and I have not been found wanting! I know I am right more than ever, I now know that all will be equal under suffering!"

His loud tirade triggered a short moan of pain from where his companion and second-in-command lay, knocked unconscious by Mithril. The one he loved, the one who shared his desire to destroy the world of lies. And also the one who embodied true beauty to him, beauty of heart that had been ruined by the hypocritical wickedness of Humanity.

He walked towards Asmira, a touch of concern filling him, more welcome than ever as he conjured up two globes of water and murmured half-remembered incantations of healing.

The brown-skinned elf would wake up, blinking as her pain was soothed by Myst's globes of magical water. "What happened?" she would ask.

Myst gave a sigh of relief. "Pain. Madness. A feeling that all our efforts are worthless in the very long run. But this gives me the strength to continue, to continue with my quest to make sure that all, regardless of race, are crushed equally in an iron fist. Wicked hypocrites and frauds will suffer...as I have suffered."

Asmira took his hand, and pressed her other palm onto the burn on his chest, feeling the pain of the seared flesh, inhaling the scent of the cooked skin. "Myst...that is all I ever wanted. Ever since we met in the ruins of my village, that is all I ever wanted."

Myst smiled. "Asmira, we will have our revenge on a world that has hated you, hated me. We will rule together, as equals, with everyone else under our heels."

@Zelosse@Noodles@Sir Lurksalot (as second active GM)

The moment that Zin stepped out into sight, Maria couldn't exactly take her eyes off the dragon woman, the knight drunk in her complete form looking over every part of her body that she could, Zin began to wonder if the knight even heard her and if she was looking at the more fleshy parts of the dragon woman or if she was looking at her scales and wings, the dragon had half a mind to knock the Knight's eyes out for a response from them. Then finally the woman said something 'Skulking like a wolf' She said then said her name, Zin crossed her arms and told her."No, I'm clearly Vivi." She spoke in a semi condescending tone." Of course I'm Zin."

Suddenly the knight began to answer Zin's question about wanting to join them and was flustered by it; she then began calling Vesta a strange epithet before getting red in the face and getting close to answering the question." Quit dancing around the question human!" She yelled."It's an easy yes or no question; You must be afraid of your own feelings or something." she considered. Then, right before she could truly give her answer, the knight began screaming like a crazy person, as if someone wounded her with an attack; each day she spent around humans, the more she was beginning to think they were all deranged, save for a few good eggs." Goodness, whatever you're the captain of I hope you don't give out life changing orders, with how you handle my question I couldn't see how you'd handle someone questioning your orders."

The knight soon started to get it, she spoke aloud, saying that Zin was attempting to tick her off and make her angry, the shining knight began slowly showing off her blade and began looking Zin over once more almost annoying the dragon woman with her long stare before she would speak once again boasting about battling scarier monsters than she was." Getting up at sunrise and looking yourself in the mirror shouldn't be considered a scary battle." She insulted the knight, once she noticed a hand on the woman's blade, Zin cocked her head back looking down on the knight." So you would rather cheat in a fight with me by using a blade, perhaps you'd like to stab me in the belly like a coward in order to end the fight early."

Zin curled her fingers into fist by her side as the woman attempted to insult Zin's form and call her fat chested." Unlike you, I have been graced with larger boobs unlike your pancakes that you have attached to your chest." Zin's spiny fin like ear wiggled as Alexander spoke of her." If I never heard you spoke, I'd consider you a man." She further insulted the human.

She then turned her glance over to Alexander, not bothering to look the human in the face or even turn her head to look at them." Alexander, you're a rude and weak human being. Speaking of someone secretly while in their presence, I'd burn you to a crisp if I didn't want to waste my energy." She then turned around to him." I have been oggled at by this knight once already, if you think about looking upon my scales, you better ask and hope to whatever gods, you believe in that I say yes." She then turned her back to him and looked Maria in the eye." Fight me with some honor, I have hands like you do, but carry no sword."

Vesta Celestia and Avery Ackbar Celestia

@FamishedPants@demonspade64@noodles@Letter Bee@Sir Lurksalot@liferusher@Seirei No Hai@ADamnFiddle@ZekariVoblis
It didn't take long for Vesta's mood to evaporate as the situation unfolded before her. They were talking about her like she wasn't even here, and arguing over some of the most pointless, trivial nonsense she had ever heard in her life. She also couldn't remember from recent memory ever since Maria so...mad before.
Rubbing her sore eardrums, having copped a it full on since she was standing right next to Mari as she screamed for yet again no good reason. She was honestly over this past month, today was no improvement.
"Both of you. Shut. Up." Despite the cold, intimidating atmosphere that had been growing and the air being so thick with tension one could scoop it up with a spoon, Vesta had fearlessly leapt straight out of the pan and into the fire.
"Honestly. Miss Parrallex, I would greatly appreciate it if you stopped picking fights on these grounds. You're starting to become more of a hassle than you are useful." Shaking her head, she turned to face Maria.
"And Maria, I don't know what's wrong with you today but you should honestly know better." The disappointment in Vesta's tone was more than enough of a message than her brief lecture. Letting out a irritated groan, she threw her hands up in the air to express her frustration at this scenario.
"If you two wish to fight so badly, fine. Take it elsewhere, I don't care." Turning on her heels, Vesta stormed off towards the mansion. She didn't come home for this melodramatic garbage. If Zin had wanted a fight so badly, Vesta would've gladly entertained her at a later time once she had caught up with her childhood friend she hadn't seen for months.
But now she didn't care about any of that, she just wanted to sit down and relax. If these two wanted to fight, let them. So long as neither killed the other, Vesta honestly couldn't care less.

---

To be honest, Avery hadn't expected the capture to go so....smoothly. She didn't seem to notice the little pup till it was too late, I mean whoever looked for small quick animals anyway, and soon enough it had pounced on her and began to do what puppies do.
Ferociously lick you like their lives depended on it, wag their little tails excitedly and then let out an excited bark while having the happiest, drooliest face of all time. Avery actually felt kinda jealous, but that was an issue for another time.
Rubbing the the bottom of his feet, because they were sore from dropping two story's, he walked over to her just as Duncan came out the side door of the inn with...wasn't that the other guy from earth from about a month ago?
He was still alive? Huh.
Now what was his name? Rocking his head side to side, as if to just tumble the name out of his brain, he soon make a 'oh' face and accompanying gasp.
"Hey, you're Fease or whatever aren't you? Long time no see." Avery asked before turning to Duncan as he inquired about his current activities in the most civilized, well educated way possible.
"What the fuck, Avery?" Ah he always had such a way with words. He should be a poet.

"Oh? Me? Nooothing." The trap gave Duncan a beaming innocent smile that completely contradicted the fact he was standing right next to the girl he had sicked a puppy on and was screaming at the top of her lungs.
Looking down he let out a fake gasp of shock, as if he hadn't noticed it before.
"Oooh. You mean this?" He had realised how bad his acting was, but hey he was in too deep to back out now.
"This uhh, this is...hmm how do I put this?" Avery looked to Ease, then back to Duncan.
"You see, I know this girl." Avery began, looking back towards Ease. The trap seemed to be looking for support, or maybe it was confirmation?
"And she's from earth as well, isn't that right Fease?" Flashing the two a cheesy grin, he continued.
"And I just got a little...overexcited."

---

Having had the supplies from the trip removed and put into their proper and respective storage, the carriage was given fresh land dragons with which to pull it towards it's next designation from the mansion.
All the while the unsuspecting Blanc was sound asleep, having for some reason fallen asleep in the carriage without a single person noticing her. It wasn't like she was asleep in some hidden compartment either, simply just on the backseat in plain and clear sight of everyone.
It was a miracle she wasn't sat on to be honest.
The carriage soon came to a stop at the an undisclosed location where the servant currently directing the dragons was to pick up the lady of the household, Summer Celestia. Upon opening the carriage door, she paused for a moment, clearly dumbfounded by the sight of finding a white haired *elf* in the backseat of her carriage.
It wasn't a thing somebody saw too often, an elf that is.
"Is everything right madam?" The driver asked, noticing that his mistress had yet to enter the carriage.
"Oh everything's fine Geeves, just noticed that...the uh carriage is cleaner than normal. Do thank whoever did it for me." The woman said with a slight pause before sliding into the carriage. Without having noticed the strange twinkle in his lady's eyes, the man simply shrugged.
"Of course m'lady."
With that little exchange finished and Summer in the carriage, it soon was on the move once more. Unable to contain herself, Summer scooted close to the elf and placed her head on her lap. She began to stroke her hair gently, so as to not wake her.
"Fascinating indeed...who knew elven hair was so soft?"

Alexander Sky

Alexander nodded, saying, "All right, I won't look. Problem settled."

Part of him rankled at being called weak...but he was not going to lie to himself; he was weak. He might and will grow stronger in time, but being weak and ignoring it was dishonest to himself and also preventing him from becoming strong. So he should back down. But as he prepared to do so, Vesta intervened, clearly pissed off at Zin and her torrent of arrogance and abuse. The young man noticed that she hadn't said anything negative to him, potentially because he, in his bumbling way, actually did try to help. Or it could be that Vesta had a lecture for him as well, only for later.

As Vesta had not forbidden it, he would follow her deferentially into the mansion, his body still tense as he half-expected the clash of combat to begin. He was still angry at Zin for seemingly being a ball of unrestrained hatred towards anyone who was not Vesta and/or looked at her the wrong way. Petty, but so me, he thought to himself.

@Lunarlors34@Spriggs27@ADamnFiddle

@Lunarlors34@ZekariVoblis@liferusher@Sir Lurksalot
Eh? Even a less sober man like Kurokono would be startled by the commotion of some girl outside screaming at a dog. He turned to look, and the first thing he saw was a very cute dog, who seemed to be having fun with a stranger that he'd never seen before.

"Relax girl, dogs are harmless, he's just playing with you. They only bite bad people,"

Kurokono exited from the inn and patted the dog on the head, seemingly unaware that his right hand is still clenched on his emptied beer jug. "Good boy~ All girls back in my village loves dogs. No man would marry you if you're afraid of something as friendly as a puppy."

He made that old-fashioned statement with a cheeky smirk. Apparently he had spent too much time of his life living side-to-side with a grumpy old man.

"Earth? The one from the solar system? I failed in that topic in highschool, Geography is a really tough subject..."

From that red-haired girl's conversation with Ease, Kurokono overheard a mention of a word that he never heard in a very long time. Though, it was hard to see if he was really sober or not, but one thing for sure is that he isn't still well aware of his current situation.

@liferusher @Noodles @Lunarlors34 @Sir Lurksalot




Ease followed Duncan down the stairs cause balcony jumping was...well, leg breaking usually. If you didn’t do it right. And Ease didn’t feel like doing it wrong. As they walked down to meet up with Avery, Duncan regaled him with the stories of his past 3 weeks adventuring. And by regale, he means told him how a familiar sounding woman basically went on a rampage. To be more exact, how she made divided a group of raiders by death rocks. Or subtracted. Take your pick. All Ease did was shrug though.“Ease: I would be more shocked, but dude. First time I met her, the woman started a fight with a guy just cause the guy might have said she was weaker than him. Fucking around is the last thing I’d assume she’d do.” Before he knew it, Duncan had gotten him a nice pint to drink from. Note to self, pay him back. And apparently talked about a map...Probably nothing important, but then again, Ease made a lot of assumptions 4 weeks ago. And nearly every single one got uprooted in what? 36 hours? Assumptions are dead to him.

The two exited to where Avery was and near immediately Ease took note of the most notable person-the girl from earlier who was pinned under a puppy. Not some large dog or wolf, but a puppy. And it just had to be the exact same girl from not even 20 minutes ago. He just closed his eyes and softly put his face in his hand “Ease: Of course it’s her because why wouldn’t it be?”

“Avery: Hey you’re Fease right?”

Ease just gave a deadpanned look at the girl before sighing. “Ease: Yeah, let's just go with Fease for now. If you say Feast or Lease next though, I’m flipping shit.” He really hoped that she caught on to the sarcasm. He really did. Though now that he had another look at the brown haired girl, she seemed even more familiar. Meanwhile Avery was trying to play coy as if she was actually lost on why a girl was trapped under a puppy. “Ease: Wow, someone must hang at the farm cause that’s bull shit.”

“Avery: And she’s from Earth as well. Isn’t that right Fease?”

“Ease: God dammit, I was kidding about the-Wait what?” Looking down at the girl one last time, he could practically hear the gears that were his memories click into place. First day everyone was here...The bar, the maid. Christ, she wasn’t kidding. They finally found her huh? That...was way easier than he would’ve thought. Aaaand he also walked right into her and didn’t even notice who she was….Time to mentally suppress and deny that fact. “Ease: Okay, first off the name is Ease. *turns to Duncan* Second off, she ain’t wrong. You know the Japanese maid we were trying to find the first day you got here? Aya I think? Well…” He pointed towards the Japanese girl formerly known as a maid. “Ease: Officially found.”

He walked over to where the girl was lying down and sat down not too far from her. “Ease: Sorry about the lack of tact here. First off, all 3 of us are from Earth. Considering Scooby Doo over there *points to Avery* kinda spoiled it already, no pointing in hiding it.” He pointed over to Duncan. “Ease: He’s the mountie.” Then to Avery. “Ease: She’s the puppy maker.” And finally to himself “Ease: And I’m the one with the glasses. Best ways to remember this.” He finally also kinda realized something pretty strange. She’s trapped...under a small puppy. What? “Ease: Um...you doing alright there?” He asked with an eyebrow raised.

Without missing a beat, another all too familiar face popped in as a certain swordsman drunkenly came over with a beer jug in his hand. His first instinct would usually be to tell the drunk to leave because they were having a two for one sale on ale nearby. You know, lie. But considering this was that penguin suit asshole...Really weird phrase to say there. Anyway, considering that this was the asshole from a few days back, he had far different words to say. Well, until he mentioned Earth. Then he remember that, oh yeah, this guy was transported here too. Shit. Hold off on any cursing or ass kickings for now.

"Ease: Okay, Mr. Sucks At Space, step back a bit alright? Your beer breathe is bothering the puppy and probably the girl." He stood up and pointed a bit further from where the swordsman was. Ease was just not having this shit today. "Ease: We have shit to talk about. You don't need to leave but sit further away, got it?" He said in a tone that made it obvious this wasn't up for debate. He knew that the guy was from Earth too so he couldn't have him wandering around drunk, but he was also, ya know, drunk.

Double post

Once Vesta told them both to shut up, Zin turned to the silver haired woman, this time giving her a different look than she would normally, she shot the Celestia with a glare staring at her with a look of disdain, but what came from her mouth was different." You shouldn't yell at the one you consider a close friend." She glanced back to Maria." Your friend travelled far from where she was in order to meet you." The dragon woman spoke calmly despite her constant glare, looking back on how Maria handled herself when Zin asked to join Vesta's growing army or harem, Zin somewhat understood that there was more to their friendship.

The moment Vesta mentioned that Zin was more of a hassle than she was useful, Zin put a scaly hand on her chin before pointing to Vesta."If I am such a problem within your service then perhaps you rather I left it in order for you to have less of them." The dragon woman suggested to the Celestia." If I only cause problems and make you uncomfortable, then how about I leave your service to end the problems? You can replace me with your close friend so they won't be harmed as you go out on adventures, it wouldn't be a loss on your part as you never brought me along with you for any missions after I joined up with you." She didn't break her calm tone as she spoke, but the glare she was sporting didn't change a single bit, she still looked as if she wanted to set both Vesta and Maria a flame."So then I won't be terrorizing your family or your." She glanced back to Maria." Close friends."

Walking to the gates as Vesta began storming off." Your cold formality, it was. Un-welcoming." Zin walked past Maria and through the gates at a stroll obviously not in a hurry to get too far, as she continued she wondered what she would do next, she felt that she would meet Vesta once again maybe.

It had been awhile since the Elk demi had left the forest. Primarily because she got lost in it.. Not that she could truly get lost when she has no destination whatsoever. She spent a lot of time bumping into various travelers that hiked through the forest, but didn't really get much from them outside of pity and a fruit or two. Not that it bothered the little girl very much. Being given a fruit was like being given a pile of candy, except she didn't know what candy was so the entire simile was lost already. Most travelers were worried that such a young child was in the 'dangerous' forest all by herself, but due to her generally neutral, innocent aura, most animals seemed pretty docile around her, if not disinterested in her. Some travelers were upset at the mere sight of her; needless to say, she left those people alone with haste. Mean people were mean.

After a few days of walking, a big gate caught Elanil's eyes. It was unlike anything she had ever seen in her.. relatively short life. The sound of bickering from the group that stood past the gates were completely shut out by the child's fascination with the mansion that stood beyond them. Elanil began to walk toward it as if she had been hypnotized, her eyes wide in awe of the structure. So much so that she didn't even notice anyone in the vicinity. The dragon-lady, the knight on a horse, the muscled guy. Such oddities weren't.. odd enough to take her attention away from the structure, her gaze seeming to look passed them.

Her bare feet softly patted against the cobblestone road as she walked ever closer to the mansion. It wasn't long before she just.. walked into the mansion. She stood in shock for a moment as the scenery seemed to suddenly change. It was all different. Everything so shiny too. She liked it. Her eyes wandered around the place as she started moving forward once more, not actually looking where she was going... 'Thump.' She bumped into something.. Or someone? Elanil broke out of her trance as her buttocks met the ground in a comical fashion. A taller lady with short white hair and red eyes stood before her. The demihuman looked at the tall woman in confusion. Where did this person come from? Were they there the whole time?

---

---

The woman in armor had been revealed to be a close friend of Vesta Celestia's. The warm greeting between the two surprised Heinrich, as he was confident he had yet to have seen Vesta show a range of emotions beyond apathy or irritation, or anger. Most of the time she did not appear able to express herself in a positive way, although given the people around her, he could not blame her for this. Still, it was almost like watching someone win the lottery -- he didn't expect it to happen too often. They must be extremely close.

...especially since she just suggested the gathering around her was a harem of Vesta's. Heinrich wondered if they had the kind of relationship that could only be obtained through being united in the "experimentation" phase of college.

...wait, shit. I'm the fanservice in this reverse harem, aren't I?

Heinrich almost sighed. What had become of his life? He went from NEET to people throwing themselves at him (in some cases literally) to this. What would his parents think of him?

Well, considering how I WAS... they might see this as some kind of positive.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH---”

I have a bad habit of spacing out, so it seems.

When Heinrich snapped back to the real world he was greeted with a hostile air. It had seemed that the dragon chick was yet again instigating a fight between somebody just because that was apparently what she wanted to do. Honestly, what a hassle she was. Enough so to tick off the knight. Things always seemed to turn sour around Vesta, didn't they? Well, at least it kept people off of Heinrich himself. He had enough of the swooning masses to last him a lifetime. Irritating as this all was, it still was preferable, but that did not mean Heinrich cared to experience either if he had a choice.

"Both of you. Shut. Up."

There it was.

Vesta, rightfully so, had had enough of this and went off on the two of them. It was obviously draining on her to experience some sort of fight virtually every minute she was around this dragon, and while he only had this short experience with Maria, it seemed this sort of behavior was not exactly common with her, so perhaps Vesta was also disappointed in her friend? Who knew. He wasn't some social expert. All he knew is that there were two people pissed-off, and that pissed-off another person who happened to decide it was no longer worth their time.

What a... rational thing to do. Heinrich also decided against staying out here. He cared not to watch the squabble between the dragon and the knight. Those were so cliche, after all. So, he began to head towards the mansion with Vesta when...

...what?

Where did this... loli come from?

Perhaps he wasn't being vigilant, due to all of the commotion, but some little girl had gotten very close without his notice. She did not seem to be paying any heed to the dragon or the knight, nor anybody else for that matter. She was focused entirely on one thing. Heinrich turned his head to see what it was, but only saw Vesta, and the mansion she was headed towards.

Is it really that surprising?

He turned back to her, but she was gone.

Huh, but she was just ther----

*Pomf*

Heinrich Ford turned his head back to where Vesta had been and noticed the little one had not noticed the woman in time to stop herself from walking into her. He actually looked to see if Vesta herself was alright before approaching the little girl. He didn't think that a little girl walking into her, even if she somehow hadn't noticed either would harm her, he simply wanted to make sure they weren't dealing with the world's most adorable assassin. Vesta did not seem to be injured upon first glance so he took this for a mere accident and nothing more.

"Hey." he dropped to one knee and gently offered a hand to the small child. "Are you lost, little one?"

What other reason could this young girl have for being here? Did the crowd draw her in, he wondered.

@Lunarlors34
@FamishedPants
@Spriggs27
@Letter Bee
@Rekaigan

Maria understood that on a conceptual level that Zin was right. Insubordination was something that Maria refused to tolerate. If things were not to go to her specifications, she tended to punish harshly. But, at least from Maria’s perspective, her orders were absolute.

The chain of command was something that should be followed to a letter. As a noble, her actions rippled more than that of the rabble. And although Maria did not place too much stock in her inherited titles, she believed in using anything to her disposal in order to get oneself ahead, whether this be in position in life, or in a fight.

“Call it cowardice or me a coward, but I’d call your proclamation foolish. Asking a Knight to throw away their weapon is like asking a fisherman to throw away his rod. And even then, the Fisherman shall not worry about his method, so long as he is able to take home his tithe. Those who pick up the blade understand they will meet their end by the blade.”

Perhaps it was just a justification for her actions, but Maria did believe that within a fight, one should always use any tools at hand for their actions. Taking advantage of an opponent’s actions, or lack thereof, is something that should always be pressed within the confines of a fight. In a fight for life and death, the person with the sword in their gut tends to be the dead one, so in a fight one should always be on their toes to use the surroundings to the advantage of the fighter.

Of course, that didn’t mean Maria was an individual without empathy for others. Killing those who had not warranted their death according to morality was a grave mistake. But underestimating an opponent is the same way.

“Just as your claws are a part of yourself, the blade has become a part of myself. The blade has been my discipline since childhood. My father was a most excellent teacher. To throw down my weapon would be to say my years of training meant nothing.”

Maria was not the worst fighter in unarmed combat, but it was not like she was an expert on it. Unfortunately, unarmed combat in close quarters tended to rely more upon the weight of a person rather than true strength, though it was a factor, in order to overpower an opponent. Momentum in a fight was worth more than a kingdom. On the battlefield, a kingdom could lose value to be equal in worth to a common horse.

In it’s conception, the blade is a force multiplier. Sure, an individual could train their entire life in the martial arts of unarmed combat, however, it would be much more effective to give an individual a moderate understanding of a blade and their lethality would trump the man who had trained his entire life. Force multiplication was the name of the game. However, one could perhaps wonder the prowess of an individual who had trained their entire life in the sophisticated swordsmanship of their family …

"Both of you. Shut. Up."

...No.

Vesta was right. There was no reason to fight here. Even if the overgrown lizard seemed to want to irritate Maria, through and through she was a knight.

After all, ever since her fighting of the mabeast skulking the lands of the trade routes near the capital, Maria had felt that something was wrong with her. The way she thought seemed … muddied. She had visions of something she wished to forget. A pain that was scared into her being that was completely incomparable to anything she had faced in her life. But she was still here.

She was still standing.

The medicus called must've been skilled, considering she was not dead, right?

She couldn’t have die, right?

…

Jumping down from her horse, Maria realised what had occurred. Her mistakes and her folly. Falling too quickly to anger was unbecoming of the image of Knight she wished to display to others. The Knight she had romanticized many times before in her novels would have never acted in such a manner.

Regardless of her position, Maria was using her blade as if some sort of weapon.

The sword is a weapon, but a weapon to defend rather than a weapon to harm. Maria’’s provocation, or perhaps to her own mind acting upon the provocation of Zin, was something unbecoming of a knight like herself. Though try as she might, she was still inexperienced. Trained by the best, but even the best lose themselves.

“M-my apologies, Onee-san. I know not what came over me. Perhaps I was too easily swayed by words. No, perhaps I have always been too easily swayed by words.”

“Y-you as well, Miss Zin Parallex. My actions were unbecoming of a knight. Unbecoming response to someone who was just asking a question. I-it might not mean much after the fact, and I won't ask you to stay if you do not want to, but I truly regret my actions and would like to make amends.

Maria gave a light bow towards Zin as she said this. Though Maria still felt herself somewhat justified for disliking the direct methods of questioning that Zin accomplished towards insinuating relationships between herself and her friends, but perhaps that was not such an awful offense. Maria, at the time of her challenge, was simply flustered over the other’s actions; not that she would admit that. And for that, she felt somewhat bad about her action.

But that was when another strange individual entered the scene, already crammed with rather strange people. A young girl, couldn’t have even been in her preteens.

“A young girl? She doesn’t have shoes. And those horns on her head ... she isn't a human,” Maria said to herself, observing the whole situation as it unfolded.

“Are you alright, young girl?” Maria asked the child who had landed upon herself, as Heinrich offered a hand to help the child back upon their feet. Maria tended to have a bit of a soft spot to children or other cute things in general. After all, she wished to be a mother, so it should be expected that she would not mind children.

"My name is Maria ... what is yours?"

At the very least, she could offer the girl a friendly, yet soft smile, as the little girl seemed almost in her own little world.

“What are you doing in a place like this? Are you lost? Where are your parents?” Maria asked the girl a few more questions, getting on a knee to seem less large in front of the child, perhaps to see better eye to eye, despite the fact she was knocked to the ground by Vesta unintentionally. Though Maria seemed genuinely concerned over the well being of this child.

"Blanc, awaken. Someone has taken notice of you." Tundo's voice rang through the snow elf's long ears. This caused the young elf to shake about on the mysterious woman's lap. Her hair in turn might tickle her if she is even ticklish at this point.

She opened her eyes, met with the familiar color of bronze and red around her. She blinked for a couple of minutes before copping a feel of the woman's with her stray hand. "Soft... fleshy... human-ish..." she spoke and turned her head to meet the gaze of her "pillow".

This white-haired woman with reddish eyes. Just toying with her hair while asleep. She blushed immediately, jumped out of her spot in the carriage and bowed on the carpeted floor of the mobile vehicle. "W-was this your spot?! I am so terribly sorry. I just thought this place was the comfiest for me. It's been many nights since I've actually slept wonderfully. I wonder how long has it been since I slept so peacefully instead of cheap beds?

She also didn't realize she had been rambling to a complete stranger. "A-ah! Please excuse my rants. Perhaps I should go.".

It wouldn't end well if the woman didn't stop her from exiting the door off a moving vehicle.

@Lunarlors34

As the Celestia mansion disappeared behind her, Zin kept going to where the wind was taking her, both metaphorically and quite literally. She didn't keep track of the time or how long she kept walking, but soon it began to feel like hours to her, and during the travel she found another cloak from an abandoned camp, wrapping herself up in the thick, almost wool like material covered the dragon woman from head to toe, it would be useful for the village she was coming up on, if nobody bothered to look at her feet and she let the cloth cover her hands she wouldn't draw too much attention to herself.

The first couple seconds she walked through the town, she found herself stopping hearing a commotion in an alleyway. Zin tried to stop herself, but she knew that doing that would just make her angry with herself, going against herself, she held her fist by her sides as she walked down the alleyway to hear the commotion better, getting more of an idea of the situation. From what Zin could put together, she could see a small dog biting at some young girl, then could could see a bald guy and a man with eye glasses attempting to stop a guy who smelled like alcohol and from the bespectacled man, the drunkard was messing with the group and they could use a hand with dealing with him.

Instead of listening to the voice telling her to just ignore the situation and move on, Zin decided to step in and handle it, she was already in the alleyway and they probably saw her, moving in quickly, the dragon woman grabbed Kurokono and threw him up against the alley's wall and punched him a couple times, only giving him a couple light jabs to the chest and guts something to sober the man up a bit so he doesn't keep harassing the group while they were in the alleyway. Then thinking more on the situation, Zin began thinking about what these guys were doing in an alley way with two girls, one of them looking kinda familiar. As she delivered the punches the sleeves on her cloak began to ride up showing her scaled fist and clawed fingers.

The wool like brown cloak began to feel a bit more loose on the Dragon woman and as she was thinking, the thing began to slip off her body, when it began to fall off and wrap around her tail, when Zin grabbed the drunkard by his shirt her cloak was just hanging off her tail and half in the dirt.

Duncan, eloquent as ever, had only one thing to say to say to his bespectacled compatriot's announcement;

"...You're shitting me, right?" The bald man deadpanned with a cocked brow, clearly somewhere between annoyed and amused, as he stepped clear of the door and set down his things "We spend an entire night running around like idiots looking for this kid because we think she's in trouble, and a month later she just waltzes into an alley, very much not dead, beside our drinking hole? That's the kinda shit some lonely preteen writes about while hopped up on Mountain Dew and anime while scrolling through all the weird places on the internet."

Taking a brief pause to calmly exhale and swallow how stupid that all sounded, Duncan raised his other arm and deftly handed Avery his travel kit and staff, before dusting him off quickly with the same and very subtly giving him a once-over to make sure the lad hadn't smacked his head off of something without him noticing and given himself a concussion.

One day, the baldy hoped, he'd be able to attribute the young trap's antics to a smack on the noggin.

But today was clearly not that day.

"Ok, Fancypants..." The Canuck began with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and completely (hilariously) oblivious to the 'Tired Dad' tone of his own voice as he enunciated his point with a slight chopping motion of his free hand "...There's 'Excited', and then there's 'jumping off the roof of a building and attacking someone with an overly-affectionate puppy.' Do you just... hate stairs or something?"

Before Duncan could get any more digs in at said Lad of the Pants Most Fancy, some drunk guy showed up and started babbling about Earth. And hovering just a liiitle bit close to their lost and found Japanese Schoolgirl and petting the puppy as it doubled-down on it's saliva-and-joy filled assault on her face.

That got his attention, and he took a step forward as Ease told the man to back up, hand raised in a placating gesture; as a Mountie, a surprisingly significant part of the bald man's career had revolved around handling drunks, so this wasn't exactly untrodden ground for him.

"Alright, Bud. Gonna need ya ta back up just a bi-"

And he was immediately cut off as some... cloaked figure suddenly came out of nowhere, wordlessly grabbed said drunk, pinned him to a wall and started filling him with body shots.

'Okay... what?'

Wordlessly raising a brow at that and shooting a glance at both Avery and Ease, before quietly walking over to the still-pinned Aya, picking the dog off her and plucking her off the ground while still keeping an eye on... whatever the fuck it was that was happening right now.

The cloak slipped a little; apparently our mystery beating-dispenser was some kind of lizard... person...

'What?'

Looking away to give Aya a once-over to make sure she didn't hurt herself falling or something as he placed her back down on her feet and handing her back a pair of (now slightly dusty) apples he'd assumed she'd dropped, he looked back again as he put the pupper down and found... a lot of exposed skin... and a tail... and wings...

And jiggling.

Lots of jiggling.

Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball levels of jiggling.

'What?'

Eyes darting between the rest of the alley's occupants as if to silently make sure he wasn't the only one seeing this half-naked dragon-lady beating on a drunk, the former Mountie brought his hand up to his mouth and loudly cleared his throat, making sure he was standing between this buxom, scaly boxer and Aya as he did so.

"Uhh... Ma'am? I think ye've got 'im. Hell, I think you had him five minutes ago." Duncan finally stated, tone neutral, though a tiny edge of humour shone through as he spoke "...You could probably stop now."

The most fierce part of the fight with the puppy had ended. The vicious licking and hyperactive wagging of the tail had stopped. The puppy was just towering over her, its tongue was hanging from its mouth as the two pearls of eyes were staring deeply into hers. Aya stared back at it in annoying fashion with small tears forming in her eyes while she softly sobbed. She brushed the tears away with one of the sleeves as the one with the glasses came over to speak to her about the situation.

She knew these two already from before, the trap from her very first day that tried to trap her in his mansion and the drunkard that went crazy about the fact they came from earth too. At the time Aya thought it wouldn't be hard at all to survive here or to get back to her world but she was too persistent and worked herself into this gutter of a life for about a month now. It was smart to listen if she ever wanted to get back to her family again. There was also a third human, he was bald and looked quite trained, Ease said he was a mountie back on earth which was believable.

For some reason the alley started becoming quite busy, another man had entered presumably also from earth? And got close to aya petting the dog on top of her without much of a hassle, Aya turned her head away from him a little uncomfortably. Ease told the guy to get his distance which Aya found quite helpful not having the words of her own against him.

Duncan picked the puppy up from her chest and grabbed Aya by the hand too getting herself up as well giving Aya a small scare by the sudden contact of skin. She let out a soft gasp but let the picking up happen without much care. Aya used the silent treatment to the glasses after he had asked if she was okay. Aya still didn't look at the four directly or spoke since she still felt troubled by the fact she looked so disgraceful just a moment ago. She didn't run away however knowing she wouldn't be hurt and perhaps they had something interesting to say too.

As last a woman with a cloak stopped at the entrance of the alley to, the face had some resemblance to someone she had seen before but it did not evoke any memories to her mind. She did look quite powerful however making her cover herself behind Duncan a little bit as she pulled down the hood of her own cloak a little with the tips of her own fingers.