Ethan had agreed to lend a hand - perhaps too readily. Lack of direction notwithstanding, he didn't know what mounting a rescue operation consisted of, or even how he would go about gathering people together. Would his status as a "Hunter" automatically get the support they needed, or would he have to pay? The pouch of coins at his belt was meager at best, he'd never be able to buy much in the way of supplies, never mind everything else they might need.

For a brief moment, someone else stepped in and offered their assistance. Ethan was ecstatic he'd not be left to handle this on his own, grinning even as he was fairly certain he was insulted. His sense of direction was dubious at best - he knew this perfectly well and made no efforts to hide it. Having more help served to ease that burden even further. The captain had relegated a handful of crew to accompany him on the journey to town, and with the other boy rounding up the last few himself, Ethan took a chance to speak to Kent.

Not that it was terribly much of a conversation. Stood over his friend's body - could he call them friends? The senior Magi had been vehemently opposed to such an idea before, making it clear as day that they were not, in even the slightest bit, anything more than associate's. But it was a bit trying, not calling someone who had saved your life a friend. Which made this entire situation all the more confusing - why save him if he'd been nothing but a nuisance, a burden? Kent was a vastly more experience Magi than he was, having managed to completely avert the first wave that nearly toppled the Marigold. Someone capable of that had given their life... For him? It didn't make sense.

"You never made sense, you know that? You kind of seemed like a jerk, but you were always doing nice stuff for people." Breathlessly laughing, Ethan sat down beside Kent's body, looking out at the water. It was much too quiet here, leaving him with all the unpleasant thoughts and feelings that seeped into him like the water from the sea. Using a damp sleeve to wipe at his face he sniffled, forcing a smile as he shook his head. "Guess I was wrong about you, you really were one of the better Hunters." Hearing the crunch of sand beneath feet, Ethan turned his head slightly and looked up, his heart tugging slightly as two members of the crew came over, one carrying a shovel with him.

"We... Need to bury the bodies, before it gets too late. They'll attract beasts," the man pointed out. Ethan nodded his head slowly, glancing once more at Kent. Funny, the Magi seemed more at peace now more than ever. With a sigh, Ethan reached out and pat Kent's shoulder once before getting to his feet, taking a deep breath and nodding gratefully to the crew. Kent should be here right now, not him. He didn't know what to do in a situation like this whatsoever, but he'd do everything in his power to help.

The captain was weary and nearly out of his expertise - he'd dealt with disasters like this before, but with trained people, soldiers. Civilians were another matter entirely, they weren't trained to survive, to handle the stress, to cope. The party being sent out would determine if these people, and likely he himself, would survive. It was of great comfort to have the Ydra woman bring them fresh game, and while not terribly much it would serve to feed everyone present. Without a chance of expressing gratitude, the captain shouted after Yarri, waving alongside the crew beside him. There was much to do before night fell, and few people to help prepare. An inexperienced Hunter, a boy, and an unapproachable Ydra woman. Saints help them if this was their chance of surviving...

Well this was... Nice? Not bad, but then far from what Ethan had imagined he'd be doing today. He didn't even know where to begin with speaking - the other boy hadn't made a great first impression... And the Ydra woman scared him. For a while he was comfortable with the silence, the grief of today's events making it difficult to perk up and speak. After a short time of walking however he found his mind wandering to less than pleasant thoughts, and quickly the preferable silence turned into a torturous one.

"So... What exactly do we do when we reach town...?" It was meant to be his expertise and yet he was abashedly ill-prepared for this. Not meeting the gaze of the others for fear of being ridiculed, Ethan laughed nervously and kept his eyes forward, rubbing at his cheek. "Do we just go to the guard? Or should we... I don't know, hire someone? It's usually the guard's job to handle things like this, but... What if they don't have what we need?"

The Ydra introduced herself as Yarri, though she didn’t introduce her animal companion. Adrianna didn’t mind terribly—the few Ydra he had known were quite introverted individuals. She didn’t pick up on Yarri’s discontent at their other traveling companions, more specifically directed towards the hunter. If she had seen the insignia on the man’s garment, she probably would have declined traveling with them as well.

Adrianna was surprised when Yarri darted off into the trees, but she was somewhat confident that the woman would meet up with them later. She returned to the crew members and directionally challenged hunter, and set off towards the South after telling them that the Ydra would catch up with them, and in fact she did.

They didn’t speak much for a while, keeping a steady pace that the Ydra set. It was a bit faster than Adrianna would have likely set on her own, but it wasn’t so quick that she would tire out before they reached their destination. Everyone looked like they had other things on their mind, and Adrianna wasn’t sure what kind of small talk would be appropriate for this sort of thing.

In the end, it was the white-haired Muran who spoke up, asking the rest of them about the plan. Adrianna turned back towards him upon hearing his voice, wondering for a moment if the lad was a bit dim. The crew didn’t immediately interrupt and answer, and Adrianna thought it over a moment before chiming in with her thoughts.

“When we get to town, we ask to speak with the elders or the guard, whoever is available. We tell them about the shipwreck, the location, and the number of injured and survivors, so that they know the urgency and magnitude of our needs. If you didn’t check, I saw 12 uninjured people on the shore, not including us, 4 with more serious injuries, and another nine or so with small scrapes or bruises.” Since she had helped with those injured, she could also recount the nature of their injuries, and what they would likely need, assuming they made it through the night. Having some crew members with them helped to ensure that the local guard wouldn’t think they were planning to ambush those offering aid…hopefully.

“We ask for their assistance, an escort with doctors, supplies, food, and transportation for us to get the more severely injured to town. They can then send a message onward to Galloway. I’m sure the crew will have a message to pass on to their contacts, and can call in additional support if necessary. As far as funding it, we shouldn’t have to pay for all of this out of our pockets. The guard should be able to handle things, and petition a larger town for supplies if necessary. If they report back appropriately, then they should be reimbursed for whatever they are expending in terms of supplies and wages.” Accidents like this generally fell under the responsibility of the government, and the guards would be taken care of for making sure that the citizens of Adelon were taken care of.

Adrianna knew most of this because her old crew had a brief deal with a guard crew to skim supplies being delivered to a larger city. They were able to pilfer some of the supplies, no hassle, and then kicked back the profits to the guard. Their guard claimed the supplies were used in duty, and they were replenished in a timely manner. Their deal didn’t last very long, though. The guard they had made the deal with wanted to up the cut for the guards, and her group would have barely turned a profit. The guards tried to blackmail Adrianna’s crew, which was not received terribly well. It went without saying that their arrangement fell through quite quickly after that.

“As far as not having what we need, it is possible. But once they know what we need, they can send a request with a runner to another town, while we arrange for the rest of the supplies and help to be brought to the rest of the survivors.” Adrianna didn’t think it was a terribly complicated situation, truth be told.

Yarri walked a bit ahead of the others, looking for the most easily passable way through the vegetation. They weren’t far from the sea, but the beach turned into sharp cliffs, which made travelling along the shore nearly impossible. From time to time, Yarri reached out to Shaela, who was now hunting another small animal. Seemed like she wanted to make up for all the time on the ship where she couldn’t actually hunt and kill anything.

The thought made Yarri smile. She would also like to hunt and kill something now, especially after hearing the young hunter talk. She stayed out of their conversation, she had no intention of going inside the city, let alone talking to guards. It was getting darker, sky covered with thick clouds. One of the crewmembers stumbled over a root and ended up with a bleeding cut on his knee.

Yarri shook her head. “Perhaps we should stop and take a short break.”

“Yea, I agree,” the injured man said and sat down, leaning his back against a tree and hissing quietly when he had to bend his knee.

“Start a fire, I will go look around if we are safe.” She took out her bow and arrows and disappeared into the dense vegetation. Hopefully they can have some fresh meat as well tonight. Carefully observing the tracks on the ground, she circled around the camp. It didn’t seem like anything extremely dangerous regularly passed through this area, but one can never be sure. The last thing Yarri wanted was to get eaten in her sleep. But then again, perhaps it would be the hunter who would get eaten and the world would be a slightly better place.

Though she had to admit, the boy hardly looked like a fearsome hunter, like the ones that were going around arresting people back where she came from. He seemed very poorly trained and overall unprepared, it would be almost a shame to kill him. Almost. But for now, he was focused on actually helping people and so was Yarri, devil knows why.

She got so lost in her thoughts that, for a second, she stopped paying attention to her surroundings, which was almost fatal for her. Quiet growling from behind her was the only warning she was given. Saved by her instincts, she managed to duck and roll to the side, as a long and elegant body flew around her, the sharp claws missing her skin just by inches. Yarri quickly jumped up to face the threat.

The beast was sort of similar to Shaela, but its fur had orange and black stripes. It growled on her. She growled back, reaching out to Shaela, who left her prey lying on the ground and sprinted towards her. But she was far, too far to get to Yarri before this thing tears her to pieces.

Yarri had an arrow prepared, but she had to dodge another attack before she could fire it. The animal didn’t seem injured, more like pissed off. Quickly drawing the bow again, she used her magic, trying not to think about the consequences of doing so this so close to a hunter. The arrow had less effect than she had hoped to, not freezing the beast completely, but at least slowing it down enough so Yarri could escape its attacks. Still, it wouldn’t last long. Yarri knew she had to get back to the others and hope for the best that at least one of her companions was able to build a fire.

She shot another arrow, hitting the animal to the side. It roared in pain and growled on her but didn’t attack. Yarri reached to her quiver and the beast jumped away into the forest. Yarri quickly placed a spell on it so she would be able to track it in case it decides to attack the camp. Unfortunately, the presence of the predator scared all the other animals off, so no fresh meat tonight.

Shaela joined her when she was almost at the camp. “How nice of you to show up,” Yarri told her and scratched her neck. The cougar licked her shoulder and with a sharp sting of pain, Yarri realized that the animal did indeed manage to scratch her a bit. She shrugged. As long as she could move and fight, it hardly mattered.

At least the fire was already burning in the camp. One of the crewmembers ran towards her. “What happened to you?” He pointed at blood, running down her arm.

“There is this large animal lurking around. Big cat, orange and black stripes. Looked hungry.”

The sailor’s eyes widened. “A tiger. There are rarely any around this area. We are doomed.”

Yarri rolled her eyes. “We are not doomed. It ran away for now, we are safe to continue once we have rested a bit and eaten something."

The crewmember didn't look convinced and he ate his food looking around nervously.

If there was one word to describe the world Cecil was in, it would most certainly be ‘quiet’. The way he had managed to get stuck in this world had been interesting so far, but he would’ve rather he had been on the boat. The last thing he remembered was the boat had been hit by a large wave and capsized, then there was black and a sense of great weight. He couldn’t hear anything other than gargling, but he could still move once he felt contact with something soft. It was a weird experience that he didn’t quite know what to make of, but there was a drive to keep going in the only way he suspected he had to go.

This was kind of peaceful, although it was also rather dark and quite strange to walk in. He hadn’t felt this heavy and yet so light at the same time, his footsteps weighing down heavily but his legs strong enough to propel him forward. Just what was going on? He was still functioning, but something was somewhat wrong about this. The only explanation he could think of was this was what it was like in the water, but his eyes weren’t really giving him clear visuals. His vision didn’t work the same way an organic’s might, it had shut down unexpectedly as he received head trauma so he was walking blind.

Perhaps this wasn’t too bad after all, even if he was walking blind and stumbling over various strange things on the seafloor. He would just need to keep on moving until he found the water was becoming much less heavier and hope that his eyes came back online again. He was capable of self-repair to a minor extent so fixing his eyes shouldn’t take too long, although the pressure from the water was definitely making the process much slower. Once he was capable of seeing where he was going he’d be able to rush up in the right direction and get going on to the shore instead of falling over rocks and floating just a little bit before regaining his footing.

About twenty minutes had passed and sure enough his sight came back online, immediately giving him a bit of a startle. He had been walking through a large field of plants that floated upwards yet were well rooted in to the sand. There was some creatures in amongst the plants all floating about minding their own business or trying to avoid his approach. Looking down at himself he could now see that his body had been dragging the plants out from where they once were and had wrapped themselves around his body. He’d have to get those off when he got back to the surface before his joints locked up due to this funny water. He could see the light above, the shore wasn’t too far now.

Walking onwards through the water he was finding it to be a bit of a struggle, the plants dragging along while he couldn’t quite move well enough to get his hands on it. His gauntlets were pretty heavy in the water, his joints were going to be needing a little bit of self-service later on at least. This was just an overall bad time, despite how pretty it was under the water. It was taking a long time to get closer to the surface, but as he clambered over rocks and stomped through the heavy sand he soon managed to push through the weight of the water and emerge from the sea. Pulling the seaweed off his body he continued to stomp forward, only to be startled by the sound of someone yelling.

“W-What??” Cecil gasped, startled by the sudden sound. He didn’t hear what had been said, he wasn’t expecting someone to be nearby; however, as he turned in the direction of the yell he gasped, being met by many eyes looking in his direction with one rather ragged woman pointing right at him.

“That boy walked out of the water! Like some sort of creature!” the woman screeched, as if she had just seen the dead rise up before her.

“Look at him…he’s covered in seaweed!”

“Think he’s one of those magic people…?”

Cecil couldn’t tell who was talking anymore as there was a sudden air of confusion brought on around the scene, startling both the small gathering and him in to a state of worry. These people, they must had been on the boat with him and survived. Did that mean organics floated too like the boat did? While both a scary and relieving thought he didn’t know what to say to defend himself, especially when he did indeed walk out of the water. Looking down at himself he quickly began to pull off the seaweed so that he might be able to leave quickly, but as he looked up a rather large dirtied man was approaching him rather quickly.

“You were on the boat…I wouldn’t forget a boy as strange lookin’ as you…” the man spoke, pulling at Cecil’s clothing to stop him from trying to leave, “You weren’t among the living or the dead…I would’a remembered that! Are you makin’ magic and did that to the ship? Been sneakin’ all underwater after tryin’ to commit murder??”

This was ridiculous, he hadn’t done anything other than survive. Grabbing hold of the man’s arms he started to panic, not being used to such close contact before from another being. “Let go…! Let go!” The man wasn’t letting go and instead insisted on pursuing this attack on him, going back in to the verbal abuse and accusing. He didn’t do anything wrong, all he did was survive. Panicking, he continued to try and pull away as a few other surviving crewmembers moved in, his eyes quickly looking around before something snapped.

“I SAID LET GO!” Yanking the man’s grip off by force he kept a tight grip on the man’s arms who very quickly started showing confusion and regret as Cecil tightened his grip on the man. With little effort the man was thrown off in to the air at least ten feet off from his original position in to the water, landing with a loud splash. Turning to the crewmembers who had attempted to help their fellow man Cecil’s eyes appeared to be glowing slightly as he stared at their confused and angered expressions, the men not looking like they knew what to do. Raising his gauntlets they buzzed momentarily with electricity as he looked prepared to attack, only for his head to twitch and spark, the glow in his eyes flickering before disappearing completely as he wobbled a bit, holding his head.

“…He-h-…i-it’s a Machina??” one of the men spoke as he backed off, pulling at the other man to back off too. The small group of people were immediately rendered afraid and confused, panic immediately arising in both them and in Cecil.

He didn’t mean to act out, but what happened for them to know he was a Machina? Taking a few steps back he looked around in panic, raising his gauntlets up before immediately taking off inland. He was off like a flash, wanting to get as far as possible from these people. Not looking back he simply continued his way forward, hoping he could find a place to go so that maybe he could check his map to find his location all while hoping just maybe it was still intact after all that happened.

It was a bit of a daft question in retrospect. Ethan knew everything that went into disaster relief - how could he not, having had it drilled into his head during training. Help the wounded, make sure people were safe, aid in the efforts of first responders however you could; he really didn't need to ask. They needed to be quick about this, open wounds had risk of getting infected and he doubted they had much in the way of medicine on shore. Maybe it would be a wise idea for him to use his magic, race ahead and get to town. That way they'd have supplies coming.

“Perhaps we should stop and take a short break.”

Come again? A short break was a fine idea. Surviving a shipwreck took a toll on the body, and none of them had really stopped since getting to shore; adrenaline alone drove them forward. But they didn't have the luxury of stopping - or setting up camp, not when people were dying. It stunned Ethan that not only did the Ydran suggest such a thing, but the others agreed to it.

"W-Wait, camp? We need to keep moving! There's people depending on us!" The Ydran woman was already off into the woods and everyone else settled. Unreal, were they not worried about the others? Contemplating going on ahead, Ethan looked down the road and sighed. Even if he got there could he do anything? Besides, his lack of direction made it certain he'd get lost, even if he followed path. Stopping wasn't an option, not when they had barely traveled that far from shore. If someone needed to go back or stay then fine, but the injured weren't going to stop bleeding because they wanted to take a breather.

Ethan didn't want to give orders - he'd never been terribly good at it. "10 minutes, then we need to go." Nowhere near as forceful as he'd hoped, it got the point across. Maybe. Too restless to relax, he began to pace back and forth, watching the forest for the Ydran. When she finally emerged he'd half the mind to say something, only to stop when she mentioned a tiger. Here? In this part of the kingdom? He'd heard of them being further south, sure, but he'd figured it was too... Not hot up here.

"If there's a predator lurking around is it a good idea to be eating...?" Shaela snarled at something just then, and something snarled back in turn. Unfolding his staff and looking into the forest, Ethan's eyes widened seeing a moorcat at the forest's edge. More alarming still was a child beneath it, cowering. His instinct was it had attacked her and he was quick to move, holding his staff out defensively and slowly approaching the animal.

"Are you okay?!" Perhaps a dim question to shout at a child trapped beneath a beast. As he drew nearer, a realization struck; the moorcat wasn't attacking the girl, it was defending her. Dirty but unharmed, perhaps she and it had strayed too close to camp, alerting Shaela. Ethan looked back at the panther and smiled uncertainly, holding a hand back and gesturing for her to settle down. The last thing they needed right now was a fight and more injuries, especially involving large animals.

He could salvage this, no problem. Giving the moorcat an uneasy smile he slowly lowered his staff, holding up his hands. "Hey there buddy, I'm not going to hurt you, okay? I'm your friend, see?" Crap, did he have some way of showing that? Ethan looked around and snatched a strip of meat from a trembling sailor's hands, offering it out to the animal. Tentatively, he took another step, lowering himself and keeping his other hand in view. He sure hoped this meat looked more appetizing than he did.

Ethan placed the meat down on the ground before the animal, glancing at the child beneath him. She looked awful, wearing ragged clothing and appearing in desperate need of a bath; how long had she been out here like that? "Hey uh... Kid? If you can hear me, it's alright. We're good guys, we're not going to hurt you. Come on out, okay? Let me see if we can get you cleaned up." Poor girl must be terrified - as was he, just not of other people. Ethan glanced again at the moorcat and smiled weakly, carefully nudging the piece of meat closer.

The clink of metal on metal was unmistakable, and out of place. It sounded like someone in chain or armor was running towards them, but all the way out here? Ethan frowned and turned his gaze away as the noise grew louder, puzzled to see a boy running towards him. In fact he was running alarmingly fast, and wasn't at all watching where he was going.

"H-Hey! HEY! Watch where you're going!" The only thing Ethan could think to do was hold out his hands to stop the boy, bracing himself. Hells did it feel like he'd been struck by a runaway cart! Before he knew it he found himself sprawled out on his back, stuck beneath the other boy. If everything didn't hurt before then it certainly did now. Dazed, he stared up at the darkening sky, smiling out of his mind. The universe was actually trying to kill him today. What was next? A land shark? "O-Ow..."

Adrianna had nearly the same reaction as Ethan did to the prospect of taking a break. Her eyes grew wide, and she opened her mouth to protest, but heard nearly the same words coming from Ethan. Good, that meant she didn’t have to step up completely and lead this ragtag group. She looked over the others, and saw that one of the crew members was bleeding. Really? He wasn’t missing an arm or anything, it was hardly an injury worth stopping the whole trek.

“Sounds good.” Adrianna agreed to Ethan’s words about only spending ten minutes. He began to pace, and Adrianna turned her attention to the guy with the cut on his leg. She pull out her supplies, a bit annoyed at having to use them for such a minor injury when there were people on the beach who needed it more.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t need stitches or anything.” She replied. She wiped the blood away, careful to wipe away from the wound so as not to risk getting dirt inside. She did a cross wrap above and below the knee to hold the bandage in place, and declared him good. When she finished, Yarri had returned with troubling news. Adrianna completely agreed with Ethan, and gathered up her things to suggest that they get moving now rather than resting, but the giant cat seemed to have something more important to say.

Ethan addressed the intruder, and though Adrianna still didn’t know his name, she was silently grateful that someone was taking control of this situation. She rested her hand on her weapon, ready in case this new beast attacked. She didn’t even notice the kid hiding beneath until Ethan addressed her. Adrianna stepped to the side until she could see the girl, though the moorcat was still standing over her protectively.

A sudden crashing of metal drew her attention to Ethan once more, where she saw him tackled by… a young boy with a fair amount of robotic enhancements. “What is up with these woods? First a tiger and now a bunch of kids…?” Adrianna muttered, though she didn’t make a huge effort to keep her words from being heard. Looking between the children, she saw that the young girl looked injured, having some scrapes and cuts, while the boy looked uninjured. Ethan was probably more hurt by the machinery than the kid himself was.

“You take care of the boy. I’ve got the girl.” Adrianna said. It was a better way to divvy up the work, since the girl was injured and Adrianna was the most qualified (as far as she knew) to deal with this sort of thing.

“Hey there, sweetie.” Adrianna ignored the moorcat for the moment, since it had meat it would eat when it was comfortable, and addressed the girl. “You look like you’ve had a rough time… And I can see you are a little bit hurt. Why don’t you come out and let me take a look. I help fix people up.” She gestured behind her to where the crew member was sitting with his pant-leg still rolled up. “See, I just finished bandaging my friend’s leg because he fell and got it cut. And you don’t want any of those little scrapes to get infected. It would hurt.”

“So if you come out and sit over here with me, I can get you a snack and help clean up those scrapes. And then, if you want to go your own way, you can. Or you can come with us.” She smiled. “It is your choice.”

If her last crew had stumbled across this little lady, they would have likely offered her a chance to show she could hold her own among them, and if she failed they would have left her in the woods with nothing (not that it would have been much worse than her current state). It was strange to be so…nice. She didn’t hate it. But she didn’t like using her supplies on these strangers, either. What had any of them done for her?

The little girl seemed to debate the offer for a short while before crawling out and meeting Adrianna part way. “What do you say we play a little game while I work?” Adrianna asked. She looked up at the girl’s face, and though she didn’t answer aloud, she didn’t seem to abhor the idea either. Adrianna started to look at the little girl’s foot, inspecting the dirt and grime for cuts as she spoke again. “It’s called questions, and the way it works is that we both get to learn new things by asking questions. I’m sure it was scary to come across a big group of us here in the woods, so if you want to know some things, you can ask me, or my friends, any questions you have. BUT… each time you ask a question, I get to ask one, too. Okay?”

Adrianna didn’t let that count as her first question, though, and after a short pause, she asked one she hoped was manageable. “What is your name?”

The little girl answered after a few moments, supplying a name (that was possibly a lie, but Adrianna didn’t think so). “Amuné.” She grew quiet after that as Adrianna cleaned off an area, waiting for a follow-up question from the girl.

“Nice to meet you, Amuné.” Adrianna once again looked at her eyes expectantly, but no question came from the girl. Well…that was one clever way to get out of having to answer any more questions about her own situation. The girl probably wouldn’t make it out here on her own, but if she was stupid enough to ignore help when it was offered, then perhaps she still had some harsh lessons to learn. “Okay then….” She didn’t try to make conversation again to the girl, and looked over her shins. She patched up a few other spots, wiping the dirt away and making sure that nothing was getting infected. She grabbed some of her own rations and handed them to the girl. “Here, like I promised.” Now the kid could run off into the forest with her cat, and hopefully avoid the tiger.

This was awful, completely not to plan. Cecil didn’t mean any of it, he just wanted to defend himself but instead ended up looking like the bad guy. He never understood why people hated the fact that he was a Machina every single time, but that was how he learned to try and keep it low and not to have people knowing he was one. He was ‘unnatural’ compared to them, he wasn’t supposed to exist in their world and he understood that; however, the main issue was he wanted to be a part of their world. He didn’t want to be outcast to the realm of ‘evil’ because he was ‘unnatural’, he just wanted to understand them and to live in their world. He probably should had been more observant when he was coming out of the water, but that was pretty difficult when he couldn’t see beyond the water’s surface. For now though his goal was to get away from the beach as fast as possible, so he was going to keep on running.

He needed to get to the next settlement and according to his map it wasn’t too far away. He recognised a few of the landmarks from the map and just had to make sure he was going to get there in good time. That boat was a terrible idea, it didn’t even make it to the shore so what was the point in that? Such an inconvenient wave, that was, but it certainly wasn’t natural so there was some suspicions to it. He didn’t think someone purposely attacked it, plus how could they when you think about it. He was out in the middle of nowhere and something big smacked the ship completely off course. It was a pain, but maybe he was going to get lucky once he got to the settlement and cleaned himself up a bit. There was no way he would run in to anybody from the ship now, he was too fast for them to catch up to him.

Looking back to make sure nobody was following him, he saw no one. That was relieving, it seemed he had managed to avoid the wrath of those people. Looking back forward as he continued to run he thought he was in the clear, but sure enough there was some other obstacle in his way that he couldn’t stop for. Before he could stop his feet from moving he had crashed in to a person no less, falling on top of them as he crashed to the ground. Where did he come from? Was he really travelling that fast? Letting out a groan he rolled off him, rubbing his head slowly before very quickly standing up. “Ah! S-Sorry! I thought…nobody would be out this far…” he spoke, feeling genuinely confused as to why there was somebody out in the middle of nowhere, “I was just…going to the town…”

Ethan had felt a similar pain before; haphazardly flying from a rope swing with friends and trying to show off, only to flop into the water with an audible smack. The wind had been knocked out of him and he'd been seeing stars for several minutes afterwards. This was akin to that pain, only slightly worse. Wheezing when air finally filled his lungs again he sat up slowly, patting down himself to ensure nothing was broken or out of place.

Blue eyes settled on the strange boy and he smiled. "No harm no foul!" Ethan laughed, cutting himself short as a pain shot across his chest. Nothing was broken but there would definitely be bruises later. "What a coincidence, we're heading to town too!" The boy's appearance was unusual and it had felt like he'd run into a solid wall, not another person. Given the events of the day however he couldn't quite find it in himself to care right now; sinking ships, rogue waves, tigers roaming around and now this. It was just a strange day all around.

Taking a moment to get back to his feet, Ethan peeled a leaf from his cheek and dusted himself down. This wasn't going remotely as he had planned. Setting up camp when they were barely away from the shore already made his head spin, now they had two new arrivals - three if you counted the big cat; having even one tiger in the immediate area spelled danger for the people at the beach. What was he supposed to do? They needed to go to town and get help, and they likely needed a Hunter to vouch for their request of aid. Someone should go back and make sure the survivors were safe too and, if need be, protect it from wildlife. Yet in their group of now five people none were Hunters save himself, and he couldn't send a civilian off on a dangerous task.

"We really need to get moving." Saying that time was of the essence was an understatement. If they didn't get to town and back in time there was a likelihood that more survivors could die; knowing a tiger was nearby made matters worse. Ethan glanced at the girl in rags and smiled sympathetically, approaching her and lowering himself to her eye level. It wasn't that he didn't feel sympathetic - he wanted nothing more than to help her, but there was so much more to do right now.

"Uh... We're going into town soon, if you want to join us you can. We can see about getting you cleaned up if you'd like!" The girl - Amuné as he'd learned, needed much more than a simple wash. But little steps first, then they could figure out where her parents were. "And you're welcome to join us too! I uh... I don't know if we can help you at all, but it's safer to travel as a group, especially with all kinds of animals wandering around at night." He added, smiling awkwardly at the boy who had nearly flattened him. "No hard feelings, huh?"

Adelon's roads were generally safe during the day thanks in large part to regular patrols. All but the most remote settlements had soldiers nearby to ensure the security of travelers; small towns had their own guards that protected the immediate vicinity. At night though people withdrew into their homes, and with it animals became active once more. Ethan's blood chilled thinking of the survivors back at shore, wondering if it had been wise to gather all the able-bodied people for this job.

Everyone at the camp had gone quiet after the new arrivals. Well, nearly everyone. The boy apologized to Ethan, though Adrianna didn’t immediately notice how hurt Ethan was from the collision as she was a bit distracted trying to get the girl to respond, though she wasn’t having much luck on that front.

Adrianna looked up to see Yarri and some of the crew keeping lookout. Good. They couldn’t afford to drop their guard now, especially with these kids to protect. When the kid didn’t continue the ‘game,’ Adrianna decided not to press. She probably could have, but there was a part of her that didn’t want to take on the responsibility of caring for another human being. It took all of her energy to keep herself alive and safe, and this kid was clearly on the run in some direction. Amuné not responding was like a free pass. She could write the kid off, and then—“Who taught you?”

Shit.

Why couldn’t the kid ask for her name like any other normal person? I mean…who replied to an introduction with a question like that? Maybe she knew a bit about healing? Or maybe she was in awe because she was from an area where no one helped others who were injured. There was no telling, given her current state. “Uhh...” Adrianna floundered a bit, her voice seeming to crack as she was caught off-guard.

It’s your own damn fault. You told the kid to ask anything. “Mostly I learned from a guy named Nevyn.” She began. It was the truth, mostly. It was just also true that Nevyn was not a very uncommon name. “But I picked up a lot from books and out of necessity as well. I’ve spent a long time out on the road, or path.” Adrianna answered, gesturing to the path they were currently taking.

As she began to contemplate what she would ask the strange kid next, the white-haired dude chimed in, offering the Amuné the chance to travel with them to town. “He’s got a point.” Adrianna said, looking at the both of them. “Traveling alone isn’t the safe. If you are heading to town, you should come with us. Is everyone ready?” Adrianna looked around at the group.

“And as for your question. Are you running away from something, or towards something?” She asked. There was no point in pretending that the kid wasn’t on the run. Everyone could see that. Well, everyone except the girl herself. Amuné grew pale and rigid at the question, and Adrianna wondered if perhaps she had been too direct.

After just a few moments, though, the girl answered, so quietly that the crew members getting ready to move again probably didn’t hear it over the shuffling of their bags and chewing of their snacks. ”Away.”

Taking a deep breath, Adrianna nodded, and then shifted herself so she was a bit closer to Amuné, so they could converse a bit more quietly. She was about to say something to the girl when another question was asked. “How did you know?”

With a weak smile, Adrianna lowered her voice to a whisper as well and leaned in close to the girl’s ear. “You aren’t the only one who has had to run away.” Placing a hand on Amune’s shoulder, Adrianna gave it a brief squeeze before straightening and speaking up a bit louder. “So, are you coming with us for a while?” She smiled as she asked her own question, albeit a much lighter one than the girl might have been anticipating, with how things had been going.

It was certainly awkward to run in to someone all the way out here, he didn’t expect such a thing to be standing in his way. A tree or maybe a rock, but a person was just a strange find. Staring at the man he was hoping nothing suspicious was coming out of it, but it did appear he hurt him by colliding in to him. From the sounds of it, he suspected nothing; however, Cecil had every reason to remain cautious. He had just ran from a bunch of people who caught him out rather quickly, so it wasn’t as if Machina were rare enough for others to not know what they were or how they could spot one like him. Giving him a nervous smile, he backed off a little bit more as to not touch him again in such a short time if he was to fall over suddenly again.

“Huh? You are? Wha, ‘we’?” He didn’t realise he was with someone, or others at least. He didn’t know the size of the group but did hope it wasn’t anybody who might look like a guard or something. Guards had been an issue before, mostly with them thinking he’s sneaking something in somewhere in his gauntlets, whatever that something may be. Maybe people with metal on them were deemed more suspicious than others, but he couldn’t care about that right now. Feeling a little nervous, he didn’t know whether he should simply run away from this man or stick around briefly to see who the group were. They were all heading to the town too so that was handy enough, he would be safer in a group instead of by himself.

Not really understanding the situation he gasped when he caught eye of the group in question, feeling fairly nervous now. There was animals too, he didn’t like that. Keeping a fair bit behind the man he frowned, looking off in the direction of town briefly. So there was a chance that he would be safe with this group and they were all going to the town too so he could always look like he was friends with them and not get bothered by guards for looking ‘too rich’ to be around, whatever that meant. Whatever it was, it sounded like a bad thing when it attracted men with weapons. He wouldn’t have to think long to make a decision, he was fairly certain it would be best hiding with this group even if they didn’t welcome him.

Luckily enough, the man was quick to welcome him in to joining too, extending an offering out to him once he had finished talking to the other person. Looking quickly between them all he stepped back a little, twiddling his fingers together briefly. “Uhhh, I don’t need help, I’m pretty good…” he spoke lowly, looking awkwardly to the side before gasping, “N-No hard feelings! I’ll go with you all, sure…” So it seemed like the guy didn’t have any suspicions over him, that was good; however, he couldn’t let his guard down. Thinking for a moment he scratched his head, trying to think of a way to ease any underlying worries the man had for him. “I’m uhhh…Cecil, I guess…”

Amuné pressed back against Wyth when the man with the pale hair approached, looking from him to the healer. They offered to let her travel with them into town, which was maybe kind and maybe very dangerous. Wild animals she could understand. Monsters weren't so common. But people -- people were dangerous.

Adrian distracted her by asking another question, and she blanched, fear squeezing the breath right out of her. But she had to answer, that was the rules. She could barely get her answer out, and when she did she knew at once what she'd ask. "Away. ...How did you know?!" Amuné tried to keep her voice quiet, barely a whisper and a shaky one at that. She stiffened when Adrian leaned towards her, but he was just trying not to let anyone else overhear.

You aren't the only one who has had to run away.

The child stared at him, slack-jawed and wide-eyed. Who had he run away from? Why? ...Was he maybe a proper healer instead of just a mundane one, then, a Magi like her mommy? Or had he run away for some other reason? She couldn't ask that, of course -- if nothing else, it'd be rude -- but that didn't stop her from wondering.

She was so caught up in the slew of questions that Adrian's hand on her shoulder made her jump. Was she coming with them?

"I-I...." Amuné looked from one face to another, and she couldn't hide the shudder that ran through her. "I'm not supposed to go places with strangers," she managed, though it wasn't a no. The girl was visibly conflicted, pulling her arms and legs in tighter to her body.

Behind her Wyth made a noise like a cough and lurched to his feet, depriving her of her warm pillow and nearly sending her sprawling. For him things were simple. His girl was no longer near the bad people. This one, the one that smelled like his man's mate, had helped her. Both this one and one of the others had offered food, which the girl needed.

He put his face in the small of her back and pushed, and now Amuné did overbalance, catching herself on her elbow. "Hey!" she protested, and would have said more if he didn't add a rough-tongued lick that left a whole clump of her hair sticking up at odd angles. People could be scary, but Wyth would keep her safe -- and if they needed to run away he was very fast. "...I guess we will. For a little while."

Yarri stayed aside when the situation suddenly became complicated by the appearance of the two children. She half of her mind was focused on a magical mark which she had on the tiger, which was still apparently circling around them. From a large distance, for now, but she didn’t doubt in time it would get much more daring and come closer. That was the reason Yarri neglected all the signals that Shaela was giving her about someone coming. She thought the cougar was just nervous from the dangerous animal lurking around.

The first child looked like she had been in the forest for weeks alone and Yarri wondered how she survived that. Probably her cat keeping her alive, but it must have been very uncomfortable, eating raw meat and sleeping out in the forests. She let the others deal with the girl, Yarri wasn’t good in dealing with normal children, let alone such traumatized ones.

The other child she remembered from the ship. There was something strange about the boy, not just the look of someone who had been in a horrible accident and barely survived, but something else. Yarri couldn’t really put a finger on it. But even Shaela, which seemed to be happy to play with every other child on the ship, always kept her distance from this one, growling quietly whenever she passed by him.

While the girl was talking to Adrian, Shaela walked over to the moorcat, sniffing the air around it carefully. Then she lowered her head, so their muzzles nearly touched. The cats stayed like this for a few seconds, looking into each other’s eyes. Shaela must have been satisfied with what she had seen, because she just turned around and went back to Yarri. “Did you guys have a nice chat?” Yarri whispered to Shaela’s ear, absent-mindedly stroking her soft fur. The cat licked her hand and lied down on the ground, which was a clear sign that there was no immediate danger.

Yarri walked over to the young hunter and tried her best not to sound hostile when talking to him. “We should keep moving if you want to reach the town before dark, especially now with these children to slow us down.”

"Oh, Ethan! Ethan Campbell. Nice to meet you, Cecil!" Under better pretenses, he wished, but at least they had run into nice people; bandits could just as well have found them. Bandits... Another reason for them to keep moving. There was so much risk for those back on the beach and here they were, stood around and chatting casually. Ethan looked around at their group, with two more - three if you counted the moorcat. It was far from a small rescue party now and with how many people they had it made settling down for camp even less practical.

Which made him roll his eyes when Yarri suggested they keep moving. You were the one who suggested stopping in the first place. Ethan let that thought remain as just that: a thought. It wouldn't do any good to start arguing among themselves. "Yeah, we should get moving. And we can help carry the kids if you're so worried they'll 'slow us down'." He suggested, frowning as he glanced sideways towards Yarri. "Or we can take our time. Who knows, we might end up finding more people!" He was kidding but now Ethan worried he'd just jinxed them; no town was going to accept twenty or thirty people out of nowhere; if that were the case then they should have just brought everyone from the ship with them.

"We should keep the kids in the middle of the group. That way they're safe if we get anymore... Uh... Surprises." Somewhere in his oft-hapless mind was the training he'd received from the Church, training which he was now clambering to retrieve. There were protocols for everything and this was no different - at least he didn't think it was. Ethan smiled at Amuné, then Cecil, and clapped his hands together. "Why don't you and... Adrian?" He asked, glancing at their resident healer for confirmation. "Why don't you two walk together? Cecil, you can... Uh... Well walk in the middle of the group! And Yarri, maybe you can take the rear? You and your... Cat, can help make sure nothing's following us!"

One of the privy sailors spoke up about the proposal. "And what will you be doing exactly?"

"Leading, of course! Someone has to!" Ethan's confidence and smile waned under the doubtful look of the sailors. He had asked which direction to travel in right out of the gates, naturally people were going to doubt his navigation skills. And they were right to. With a reserved sigh, he shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Adrian. "How about you lead, then? I can uh... Watch Amuné?" Maybe he was trying to put things in their place that didn't need to be. But any successful escort mission - and that was what this had become, thanks to these two kids, involved forming a perimeter and keeping people safe. A little tricky to do given their group, but this should solve that issue.

Another sailor let out a groan and rubbed at his face. "I should have stayed back at the beach..." Another seconded his complaint, leaving Ethan standing at the front of the group with an awkward smile. Thank goodness for his training, otherwise he'd seem like a total idiot... Instead of just a partial idiot. Maybe he should have stayed at the beach too.

Adrianna had no intention of forcing the kid to join them. Frankly, it would have been a relief if she had decided not to join them. They had a whole ship-ful of hurt people they had to get help for, and a stray kid wasn’t going to make her job any easier. But the girl’s pet seemed to think that joining them was a good idea, as did the boy, so their numbers went up. The white-haired man introduced himself as Ethan, and after a brief back and forth with Yarri, Adrianna perceived a bit of a struggle as to who would proclaim themselves leader of this ragtag group. Fortunately, they would only be together for this walk, so she didn’t imagine things would come to a mutinous end.

Ethan decided, after a bit of back and forth, that Adrian would lead the group, and the children would be in the center. Yarri, with supposedly the keenest senses, would take up the rear and keep an eye out for tigers or stray children, as these forests seemed to be riddled with both. It wasn’t a bad suggestion, but the nature of it reminded her a bit too much of the most basic training done by the Church. Just a coincidence. She told herself. You’re being paranoid and seeing something where there is nothing. But paranoid was what kept her alive, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit more on-edge about being so close to the man.

“Sure.” Adrianna, unlike the sailors, made no fuss about the assigned post, and moved up to the front of the group. She set a somewhat brisk pace, though she slowed when she put too much space between her and the others. With everyone on alert, Adrianna didn’t begin to start up another conversation with the girl or Ethan, and the others were too far away. It was probably better to just stay quiet to not attract unwanted attention.

As they settled in more comfortably, Adrianna’s senses began to wander. She glanced back at Ethan, feeling something…off about the man. They had already been walking together for some time, and she hadn’t picked up anything before. But now… No, she was sure of it, he had gotten hurt. But how? When? All they did was make camp, and…well, he got run over by a child, but surely the boy couldn’t have caused that much damage. Adrianna turned back to see Cecil’s gauntlets. Well, perhaps he had. He clearly had some sort of modifications, and if the blunt ends of those things had smashed against the wrong part…Ethan could have gotten seriously injured. He likely wasn’t, in this case. All she could sense was some blood clotting in his chest. It would probably form a nasty bruise, but it was nothing worth fussing about. What’s more, the injury was not the type she should even be aware of.

"Hey... It's only the right thing to do! Don't even mention it." As if anyone in good conscience could ignore a child on the side of a road. She did have her moorcat with her - Wyth was his name - but Ethan didn't feel comfortable leaving her be. Moving out, he fell in line alongside Amuné and Wyth. He seriously doubted anyone, or anything, would try to cause them harm with a group this size, but precautions never hurt. Silence felt awkward and Ethan was compelled to speak with the child. When he looked down and caught her fending back tears he turned away, rubbing uncomfortably at his neck. "Um... Once we get to town, maybe you can get some clothes...?" Was he addressing the problem? No. Heck, aside from what he could see he hadn't a clue what might be bothering the child. "Oh! I might still have gold on me, we can get you some more food too, if you'd like! For you and for Wyth!"

---

The sky had turned a gentle shade of red when the group arrived at the town's gates. Large doors blocked their entry, and two men stood on either side, pikes in hand. It struck Ethan as odd that the small town was sealed up tight. They were stopped shy of the gates and one of the guards met them in the road. Unlike those in the city who wore polished armor and sported fine weaponry, these men clearly had settled for what they could get. Simple quilted vests, heavy leather gauntlets, padded trousers and boots made up their "uniform"; their weapons looked to be fashioned from farming tools.

It wasn't a wealthy town then. Strange considering Ethan was certain he saw a mill on their way up the road.

"Halt. State your purpose, travelers."

He would like to think that their purpose was fairly clear. A few sailors, a child, filthy and unkempt, a ragtag group if there ever was one. "We're here to get help. A ship capsized in the sea, and there are survivors back towards the shore." The guard looked at Ethan, appraising him. None of them were exactly much to look at, either too young to be of any significance, or too nondescript. Which was precisely why the guard was being wary.

"A ship? The coast is miles from here, boy. You mean to tell me you all walked here?" It was a bit difficult to believe admittedly. They had just survived a shipwreck only to walk for half a day to find aid. Ethan nodded and the guard glanced back at his partner. "How many survivors?"

Ethan cursed mentally, not having had the wherewithal to take count. "Not many... A dozen, maybe two?" The estimate was high for sure and served to color the guard's face in doubt. Ethan stepped forward and smiled uncertainly. "Maybe more like... A dozen and a half. Look, the point is we need supplies. Some of them are okay, but others probably won't last long. Anything you can spare would be a huge help."

The guards shared words in private before one called for the gates to open. Rather than let everyone inside however, one of them disappeared into the walls, and the other joined him. "We're going to speak with the foreman. Wait here." Foreman? Did they mean the one in charge of the mill? That made sense; the town was too small to have a mayor, which likely meant whoever headed the town's main source of income would be in charge.

Ethan watched as the doors sealed shut before them, sighing. "Well... They didn't say no!" He laughed, and he was the only one to do so. Awkwardly settling down, he looked back at the gates, wondering if he should have shown his insignia. These people couldn't possibly turn them down if they knew he was with the Church. He adjusted his cloak, still damp and stiff from being soaked, peering at the faded patch. Maybe he could use it as a negotiating tool later if he needed to.

A few short minutes later the doors were opened, this time granting them access inside. "Foreman's busy at the mill, but he's agreed to hear you out. Come on in." The town itself was small, with little more than a dozen buildings inside the walls. A small group of children stopped in the middle of town when they entered. Ethan smiled and waved to them politely only to watch as they bolted off in between two homes. Why did children hate him?

"Inn's over there if you're wanting a drink. We don't have much left, but we'd appreciate the business." One of the guards motioned towards a two story building. It hardly looked welcoming, with peeling paint, dirty windows and vines growing up the walls. The guards left them be and the doors were sealed once more, leaving the group standing at the entrance by themselves.

Adrianna was a bit surprised they made it to the town before dark. Though she knew the trek was not long or arduous, they had gained a few children along the way, and none of them had a map with which to help them navigate. In any case, “town” was a bit generous of a name for their location. They had passed a mill, and the small cluster of buildings was surrounded by a set of gates, a big investment for such a small place. The men’s armor was far from quality. It was possible the town had been plagued by creatures and bandits, causing them to create their own band of relatively able-bodied guards to protect the women and children inside. But it was also possible these men were mercenaries, exploiting the town’s people. They might also be bandits themselves. The town could have been abandoned, and these men could be using it as a trap to make their targets overly accommodating.

Ethan stepped forward to talk to the men while Adrianna considered her options. If they demanded the groups’ weapons, she would take this for a robbery. Hell, they could be slavers. But they had children with no weapons…sort of, with them. If it were just her, she would have been making a few demands of her own. But in this group, it was better to just follow along. She looked over at the children while Ethan spoke, curious if either of them would step forward and speak colloquially with the guards. She had imagined at least the boy was from here. After all, how many small towns were around to just let their children run off into the wilderness?

The guards critiqued Ethan’s story, and Adrianna was hesitant to provide completely accurate information in his stead. If they were bandits, and they learned of weak people unable to defend themselves nearby, what would they do with that information? Could they go and take what little the survivors had? She could have stepped forward and interrupted the man with the actual numbers of survivors and insights, but the guards walked off to go check in with their foreman. Good. If they went inside and spoke to someone with a bit more authority, perhaps she would feel as if this was more than just a set-up to rob them.

Ethan seemed oblivious to the possibility that this was a big trap. He sat down, and let his guard down completely as they waited. Adrianna stayed standing, hand on the blunt weapon affixed to her waist. Perhaps it was coming from her previous company, but Adrianna tended to focus on the ways people could trick and deceive each other rather than ways in which people could be generous and kind.

When they were invited in, Adrianna wanted to hang back a bit, wait to see if men were going to jump out and attack them, but she caught sight of the group of playing children and relaxed…slightly. One of the buildings was supposed to be an inn with drinks, and while the shipwrecked group likely didn’t have much in the way of spending money, she sensed a bit of…desperation in the man’s voice at the suggestion to go. What had happened here that made them low on supplies, and in need of business? Perhaps they had been raided in the past. The buildings looked in disrepair, though more from neglect than purposeful damage.

She probably should have stayed to keep an eye on the children, but she really didn’t want to be responsible for them. The girl at least had been brought to town, just as she wanted, and would likely wander off anyway. As for the boy…well, Adrianna wasn’t sure who he was or what his plans were. “Well…I’m going to get a drink. Grab me when the foreman gets here.” Adrianna said to one of the crew members standing near Ethan.

“Great! I’ll come with!” The man said. It was the same one who had banged his leg earlier on the trip. Adrianna shrugged her shoulders and turned to go to the inn. She had preferred to go alone, but whatever. The guy, Shay, followed her to the rather deserted inn, and up to the bar area. The barkeep was an older man, a big ragged and unkempt. He was cleaning up some mugs from a group who had left sometime before when the pair walked in. The pair ordered and paid for drinks. When the man returned with the beverages, Adrianna struck up a conversation. “So, what’s been going on here? I’ve only just gotten here and things seem a little…bit troublesome.”

“Business’ been slow.” He said, his voice gravely and accompanied with a bit of a cough. How pleasant.

“What’s made it slow?” She asked.

“Can’t get lumber for the mill. Onna ‘counna tigers showing up in the area.”

So it was true. Adrianna had thought perhaps the Ydran was making that up, or wanting to make them rely on her further because of the threat of an animal attack. But there really were tigers in the area. “I’m not local, but I didn’t think tigers were a local animal.” Adrianna said.

“they ain’t.” The barkeep replied gruffly. “you gunna get food”? He asked.

Adrianna shook her head, and the man walked off, not eager to continue the conversation with the stranger.

Just what was he thinking when agreeing to going with this guy? Cecil didn’t like how the rest of his team consisted of animals and quite tough looking adults, the odd one out being a youngster like him. Maybe it would had been safer to go by himself, he wouldn’t be able to relax around these animals. What if they could sniff him out? Just what was he going to do if they got curious with him? He was certainly worried, but so long as he kept to himself and quiet he should be able to travel without no problem. He didn’t know what he would do if he got discovered. Would he have to destroy them? He couldn’t destroy the people on the beach, he knew that would make it look way too suspicious if there was a bunch of people that had been destroyed lying around looking all broken. He had been right to be more hesitant when doing that, considering these people are heading off to get help for those people. It would had been awkward if they went back and everyone had been destroyed while he was the last person they saw that came from the beach.

Luckily for him, he didn’t need to travel too long while feeling he was under the watchful eye of these people. He already got gazed upon a lot for the way he looked, he didn’t need someone staring him down continuously as they slowly figured out something was strange about him. Instead of eyes on him, they could look at the town and be all interested in that instead. The town didn’t look too interesting to him, he didn’t really feel the need to stay here long at least. He could see if he could find some oil and maybe a new map, but that was it he’d be on his way again. The map he had wasn’t too hard to get, he just had to ask someone one time and they gave him one; however, looking around this place at a first glance once those doors opened, he didn’t think they would be handing out maps so freely. He would have to find somewhere where he could take one then be on his way.

Just what was this place, anyway? He hadn’t seen these kinds of buildings yet, probably something you’d find in a smaller settlement for whatever purpose. It didn’t quite seem like a town to him and was probably a place he should just pass through quickly. He would need to hang around for a little while longer until he figured out what his next moves were supposed to be regarding this place, whether he would be able to find a suitable road to follow towards the cities. He didn’t really know why he was having to go to the cities, he just knew he had to go along in the direction of them to get where he felt he needed to go.

Looking to the others when they declared they were going to get a drink he very quickly looked away again, not wanting to be going along with that group. One of the men from the boat followed, probably someone who was just as willing to ditch the group and go about his own ways now that the news had been reported about the shipwreck. It was fair enough, he didn’t see much of a reason to stick around either. Looking to the others who were left he slowly took a few steps back, making a quick glance to see if there was anywhere of interest to him in this place. “Well…I guess we can split up again, huh? I need to get a map and get going…”