Stood in the center of The Cham, the boy did his best to mask his being lost. As a general rule, he never made his way into the poorer areas. The guards had much more pressing issues to deal with than a missing coin purse or stolen sword, especially in the aftermath of the war; sure, he could deal with bandits for the most part, but when he did, things tended to spiral out of control. Setting fire to parts of the city wasn’t what he would refer to as “keeping his head down”, and since “keeping his head down” was a primary goal at the moment, his current predicament was far from ideal.

Of course, being a cat demihuman with his ears and tail in full view of everyone around him didn't do him many favours. Lost in The Cham and unable to ask for directions back to The Golden District, that was where he stood. Having barely visited The Cham in his time in Priestella, his knowledge on it was limited at best. A left here, and a right there, followed by a few back alleys, or at least he thought it was a few, and now he was lost. Absolutely lost. Royally lost. Scanning around, spinning on a dime in the hopes of finding something to do, he certainly looked out of place. The purple hair was the least of the issues - he hardly looked like a commoner, nor a poor person, and as such his presence in The Cham was strange at best.

It was times like these when he wished Mousey was more lenient on their journeys. If she was, he wouldn’t have to run off, and if he didn’t have to run off, he wouldn’t have gotten lost. It was her fault! Or maybe not. At least a small part of him missed having her around for directions, but their outings were never any fun. She didn’t even let him free! It was her fault after all! To no one in particular, the cat boy seemed to pout, his tail swishing out from beneath his shirt in the day air. It really was Mousey’s fault. That was it, he was never going back! He would go around the districts and make his own fun!

That said, it required escaping The Cham first, but there was nothing wrong with foreword thinking. Baby steps, then super long springy jumps. As he stood there, spinning in the middle of the street in the hopes of figuring out where to go, a few people ran past, seemingly scared. He was meant to be finding a way out, but… there were fun things afoot! In a difference of barely even a second, he took of down the street in the opposite direction of the fleeing civilians, his sword, sheathed at his side, alongside his varying other pouches and chains, swinging and rattling against the speed. Maybe he wasn’t necessarily the fastest, but he had speed to him - as a cat demihuman, that was one of the perks.

Coming to a stop in the street, the pout that had since dissipated returned with a vengeance. There was no one around! Well, no one interesting; mulling around were civilians with mildly worried expressions plastered across their faces, and a few guards scouting about nearby locations, but otherwise, everything was as bland as he had just experienced. This was pointless! Now he was marginally out of breath, with no more a fun encounter to partake in, and to top it all off he was even more lost that in the first place. Hopeless! Pointless! Stupid! He was too annoyed to even continue the list! In his frustrated state, he marched off in an arbitrary direction, something that resembled the way he came, kicking pebbles as he went. Where was Mousey when he needed her…

But as he was walking, he came across a crowd of people, gathered around some of another scuffle. It wasn’t too big, but as he approached, he could tell things were getting interesting, if only by the increased density of civilian onlookers. Mid-stride, about to kick another stone down the street, he paused. A crowd of people? In the middle of The Cham? At this time of day? Maybe he wasn’t a regular visitor to this part of the city, but in his mind, that only meant one thing, and one thing alone. Every thought of being bored, and lost, and frustrated, and miserable and lonely that Mousey wasn’t around vanished, replaced by one, singular concept - the thing he had escaped for, and the thing he was searching for.

As quickly as he had frozen, he scampered up to the crowd, utilising his lithe form and relatively small frame to weave between the civilians to the front, his eyes locking onto the strange device one of the people held. From his place, he easily watched the four people engage, and got a clear view of the strange object, much like many of the other onlookers. It was certainly strange… were there really things in the world that could produce such an effect? If there were, the boy was far from aware of them, which meant there was something new to learn, and he was always a stickler for new things. He was prepared to leap head first into the conversation to talk about the thing, when the words hit his ears.



A smile spread across the boys lips, as he took a step into the circle, encroaching on the group rapidly. This was where the fun started.
”Uuuum, hello!” was his go to icebreaker, as he placed himself between the red robed woman and the three oddities, ”Hi, hi, I’m Wisp! And I’m super lost - super lost - but I heard you talking and missy here - hiya Miss! - said you were Cultists?” he continued, looking, smiling, and waving towards Aer, entirely ignorant of the weapon she held, ”I don’t really care that much, but, but, I wanna see that magic object, the, the one with the people in it! I wanna buy it!”

Whether he was serious or otherwise was up in the air, but his expression seemed genuine enough. Without delay, Wisp reached down and pulled from his hip a pouch of money, by the sounds of it.
”I’m not really supposed to have this, but what Mousey doesn’t know won’t kill her~! Oh, um, don’t tell her or anything? But, I really wanna buy it. I didn’t know Cultists had such cool stuff…” he trailed off, looking towards Ashton with a beaming smile, utterly ignorant of the situation, and its severity.

Middle of Alley, Suttling's Basin, Priestella
@Crusader Lord@Ryofu@Althiel@BrokenPromise
Deaths: 1

---

Receiving an answer she liked, Chieko dropped the subject for now, quickly returning to Aerith's and Hiro's side. She felt safer near them despite the other twos obvious strengths. She couldn't quite explain it, but for now she kept quiet, eager to get moving. They couldn't stay here at a place like this, and the memory of them being brutally killed was still fresh in her mind. At least with the bandits dead they had some hope of living this time. There really was no guarantee that whatever happened would happen again, was there? Rationally speaking, it was illogical even if she wanted to believe otherwise. At least they were safe...at least until some obviously suspicious wolf girl showed up.

The girl caused Chieko to pause, heart skipping a beat, causing her to narrow her eyes at the girl. Suspicious. She almost wanted to say something to her, but she shouldn't stick out so much. Not when she had just narrowly escaped death with the help of Irene and Vasilis. She'd remember her for later though, definitely. She got the feeling this wouldn't be the last she saw of that girl as she disappeared back into the building she had appeared from.

"...yes, we should move before something happens."


Vertti household
@Tenma Tendo

---

Casually strolling into the dining hall, Mie made no effort to slow down or give Grisaia a moment to catch his breath. Instead she moved swiftly on, deflecting an protests with a quiet quip or a dismissive wave of her tail as she continued on through the large household. Whew, impressive as always, wasn't it? Ah, she was rather jealous. If only she could have a traveling store this great, heh, but that'd be impossible. Soon enough she found herself in a small living space with a rather comfortable looking couch that she decided to commandeer, flopping down on it and resting her head on her arms.

"Say, little rabbit." She continued. "I'm your guest, so you should fix me something to drink, yes? Or are you a bad host?" She offered Grisaia a playful grin.

---

Hiro, Chieko and Aerith. Their outlandish names truly harmonized with their unorthodox getup. Briefly reckoning which kingdom they hailed from, Irene's thoughts were interjected by a woman's voice, echoing from the nearby window. A wolf girl demi-human, with a playful, mischievous air. Though as soon as she appeared, she had already parted from them, leaving only the minor proposal of vacating the area immediately. "Hm... Let us be off then." She pondered once more on where they should go, heading rearward.

After a brief bit of travel, the group have arrived at the main road. In contrast to the gloomy, tenebrous atmosphere that was the Suttlings Basin, people were out and about here with their business, various Earth Dragon carriages passing by left-to-right and vice-versa. Turning to her partner, Irene adjured. "Vasilis, fetch us a ride to the Golden Quarter."

With nary a word yet a smile, the knight began waving his hand to draw the attention of an Earth Dragon carriage towards them, his booming voice prevalent. A sigh escaping her lips, she spoke with the outlanders as they waited.

"This may seem impudent of me, but your choice of clothing.. erm, stand out.. for lack of a better word." Irene articulated, a mix of affability and pensiveness in her tone; akin to a friend giving advice. "You may not have realized, but outside this area, Priestella's forces are stationed on key districts, and with heavy circumspect. It is imperative that we find you an apt change of attire promptly to avoid unnecessary suspicion."

It wasn't long until a rather homespun Earth Dragon-drawn carriage stopped by in front of them. With how rudimentary their ride appeared however, they most certainly made up for it with accommodating kindness. The dragon itself was less a means of conveyance and more a pet. "Don't worry, she don't bite." The friendly coachman said, and indeed the dragon let herself be pet by Irene, nuzzling her hand. "Ahahaha~! Who's a good girl? You wanna try petting her, miss Chieko?"

A warm, brief respite like this after the recent peril they underwent was very welcome, and so she spared a minute or two for them to recover their musings.

"So, where to, fellas?" The coachman inquired. "The Golden Quarter, pops. A'ight then, laaaadies first!" Vasilis gestured with a gentlemanly bow. As he assisted the other two, Irene spoke to Hiro. "This way, we wouldn't have to proceed on foot and avoid risky encounters. Catch my drift?" With a smile, Irene closed her parasol and proceeded to climb on the back of the carriage.

@Tenma Tendo

The dove winged girl waited as patiently as she could for some kind of response to come from the brown haired woman clearly in distress over something. Heck, it seemed like she even left her comrades behind in the process too… However before she had a chance to speak up again in case she wasn’t heard in the first place, Eiko was slightly startled by the sound of a female voice coming from behind her. Turning around a bit too quickly for her liking, Eiko was greeted by a splash of pink brightening up the dreary browns around them and on herself. The scared voiced was definitely coming from this rather…familiar girl but that didn’t stop her from shaking her head vigorously at her.
"No, I really don’t think that would be...necessary.” Aki nodded in scared motion as the light of broad daylight still shone upon her face. Aki softly took a step forward into the darkened alleyway as her entire being trembled as if she had seen a ghost army, the dim light slowly enveloping over her body. As she was a few steps into the alley the sudden guard appearing behind her definitely caught her off guard. So much off guard that she hadn’t noticed the Demi-Human’s words slow down to a halt as the one thing she wanted not to come was right in front of them; asking if they had seen any cultist running around or not. The reactions were like night and day, Eiko remained mostly calm while Aki let out an audible shriek as she heard the booming voice of the guard right behind her. The later quickly turned towards the guard and stepped back against the wall, flashing a terrified look towards the guard but as soon as she noticed that it was a person she quickly calmed down to her usual scared self. That was a bit unexpected for a guard to show up when she just requested to get one for them. In Eiko’s case, her first instinct was to say ‘no’, but before there was a chance for either of the girls to say anything, the brown haired woman from earlier bounded off, taking the soldier with her and leaving the two younger girls together. Aki was somewhat tempted to see what Hilda was up too but was deeply terrified to move at all in the alley right now, while Eiko didn’t want to get involved in anymore silly business tat didn’t involve her. Nothing they could do about it now...

A confused smile graced Eiko’s lips as she brought her attention to Aki, walking up to the frozen in place girl slowly.
"Sorry if this sounds weird, but have I seen you somewhere before? Are you a worshipper of Od Laguna? Or maybe we’ve met somewhere else before?” She questioned with a tilted head as she left her staff rest at her side. Aki turned her blank eyed gaze towards the priestess. As she replied with a trembling voice.

“N-no I-I'm not a w-worshipper. W-we might h-have met before t-though. W-what makes y-you think t-that though?” Eiko arched her eyebrows slightly before halting in place. Anyone with common sense could see that the other was in some form for distress, so Eiko kept her distance and put her free hand up innocently, an action that was appreciated by Aki despite her not really caring so long as she could get back into the warm daylight again..

"Oh i see, well you aren’t exactly dressed for the part.” She joked before continuing. "I’m not quite sure myself honestly...maybe...hmmm…” The brunette trailed off as Aki gave a short nod before the former suddenly perking up, a rather loud ‘oh’ escaping her lips. "You’re that street performer! I’ve walked past some of your performances to get back home! Yeah that has to be you! Oh, what’s your name... Aiko? Akari? Aoi? Something like that? Right? Or does it sound like I’m just speaking straight gibberish?”

At last she did guess that Aki was a street performer. Was it from pure guessing or from the sign on the side of her knapsack? Nobody knew but at least Aki was somewhat amazed she did get recognized from her shows. Aki softly blushed from the way she got recognized and started to clear up from the terrified thoughts a little. However the name guessing was proving to be more difficult however as numerous tries passed almost getting it right each time.

“A-Aki.”

"Oh, right right! Aki! That’s what it was!”

Aki tugged the knapsack towards the front of her body slowly undoing it from one shoulder to show Eiko the sign of the show she held everyday. It was a wooden sign that was decorated with cute drawings of her own face and flowers and rainbows. In the middle of the sign was the grand name of ‘Aki the great’ written quite terribly. No wonder Eiko couldn’t get her name right if she wrote the I almost like an O. Aki shyly let go of the sign again putting the knapsack properly on her back again as Eiko let out a faint laugh at how adorable the whole sign was.

“T-thank you f-for knowing a-about my p-performance.” Despites Aki’s irrational fear of the dark she still tried her hardest to appreciate her ‘supporters?’ Eiko only knew lightly of her shows but at least she had seen them once or twice which made her quite happy.

“C-can I know your name a-as well.” The question didn’t surprise her at all, as Aki had given her own name it was time for her to do the same.

"Oh, I’m Eiko Tachibana! I work down the street from this alley. It’s a pleasure to meet you!” She grinned, walking a bit closer before holding out her free hand in the process. "Hey, mind if we get out of this place? It’d definitely be a lot better if we could talk somewhere else... I even got some spare change on me, maybe we could go somewhere else to try and forget whatever the heck we just bumped into...what do you say?”

Eiko Tachibananna, Aki should remember that. Eiko worked somewhere in the busy shopping street as well as Aki did her shows. It was a given she would have seen one of her shows, it was the same street after all. Aki wondered what kind of work she would be doing then, she did look modestly dressed so maybe a somewhat small store that she set up on her own or a bigger store with an owner and everything. Aki shyly bowed towards the girl as she introduced herself.

”Y-yes, nice to m-meet you as well.”

She eagerly said as she got hold of Eiko her hand. The priestess mentioned getting out of the alley since they had nothing to do here anymore. Aki hastily shook her head up and down as she already began tugging on the girl her hand to move back to the street again.

”Y-yes, I don’t like dark places a lot. Oh, where do you work Eiko? Can you show me? I’d like to see.”

Getting out on the street immediately brightened the pink head her attitude drastically. It was way more cheery and hyperactive then the shy angsty girl in the alley.

@Ryofu@Rune_Alchemist@Althiel@BrokenPromise

---

Avoiding unnecessary suspicion, getting a fitting set of clothes...yes, this was an idea that Aerith felt she could easily get behind right now. Especially with the anecdote that the city's forces, if "Priestella" was the proper name and she assumed things rightly, were on alert for anything strange or suspicious. Even a group of three stranger that, unbeknownst to Irene and Vasilis to her knowledge, were from another world and had no idea about anything here. Death, a least by guards, was something she wanted to avoid....actually, avoiding the dying altogether was the real desire if she were to be frank. Though whether she or they all could avoid death again or not, just not having to start again at the same position, if they even LIVED again after another death at that, would be preferable. She....wanted to try to be hopeful, at least a bit, even if in the end it was silly to do so.

Though a coach pulled by an earth-like dragon approaching quickly snapped her out of those thoughts for the moment being. At first it was almost a bit jarring, yet keeping tabs on Irene and Vasilis' reactions she allowed herself to finally relax a bit. Even to coachman was friendly to them, petting the "steed" drawing the carriage who seemed very nice and friendly. Walking over, Aerith gently petted the dragon as well, feeling the sensation of its hide as the fact "this is a real thing here" set into her mind and a small smile came to her face. Then after a moment, though, she walked over to the open carriage door.

She let Vasilis help her into the carriage, taking a seat to the side and giving Chieko and Vasilis room to sit. Some of the nerves began to arise again, a small tingle going up her back as if to remind her of things. Ah. Perhaps once they made it to the "Golden Quarter" they could swiftly get better clothes and get better acquainted to this place. At least, if naught else, to get their bearings in a potentially "safer" locale.

At least the trip wasn't bad in getting there. Rather, smooth, actually, making it easier on the teen's nerves at least.

Though now she was looking forward to what clothes they could/would get a bit, if she had to be honest about things.

---

@BrokenPromise@Letter Bee@ERode
Weaving through sidestreets casting paranoid glances to ensure they weren't followed, Aaron gritted his teeth. There were too many people staring at them! Could they really escape their fate? Or did far worse await the group? The question seemed to instantly answer itself as a heavily accessorized woman in red spoke to them "Excuse me." Every hair stood up on Aaron’s body as he froze in place. ’Oh shit, not this again!!!’ he wanted to run, to get away from it all…. But his body just wouldn’t move.

"I must apologize if you're not from around here, but I'm looking for a Mistress Vertti. Have you seen her recently?" ’Thank god.’ it seemed; that at least for the moment, that someone in this hellish city didn’t consider them cultists. As he breathed a small sigh of relief, tea-boy decided to speak up, “That’s unlikely,” the Japanese boy replied, glancing towards Ashton, “Our circumstances aren’t exactly the same, after all…but yeah, we could certainly help. Could you give us an idea of what your mistress looks like, Miss…?”

Thankfully, she seemed to be willing to even HELP the boys, at first…. "Yes, I figured you weren't local. I'm actually a stranger here myself." To demonstrate this, she waved her arm along the visible trinkets they could see. "My name is Aer Pacifica. I'm an adventurer who's task is currently locating Mistress Vertti. She is no one I have personally met, and she has been gone for over a week." She sighed before extending her hand to the side. "If you're new to the area, you probably won't be of much help. Though the offer is appreciated." Aer was about to walk off, but she suddenly froze in place. "Oh, right." she turned to look at the three boys. "This city is sealed off. It's surrounded by bandits and the only people allowed to go in or out are licensed adventurers and merchants." She squint her eyes. "If you were kidnapped, then you're walking around in the open now because...?" Aer closed her eyes. "I don't have time for this. But it's not safe to walk around here. You're clearly not locals, and if you don't have a passport that allows you entry, the punishment can be very harsh." The cloaked woman fixed her eyes on Aaron and reached behind her back with one arm."I'm going to take you to the authorities. What they do to you will not be pleasant, but at least you'll have a chance to prove you're not in league with the bandits."

’FUCK.’ Not only was she going to straight up deliver them to the people trying to kill them, but a crowd was beginning to gather around them. Then Ashton decided it was smart to PULL OUT HIS FUCKING PHONE. "Alright, I can see I was wrong to suspect you might be bandits." Aer declared as her eyes shot open, the smile having vanished from her face. "You're cultists!" She pulled something off of her back and held it in both of her hands. It was still covered in cloth, but at this point it was very evident it was a pole weapon of some kind. "No self respecting bandit would let you walk around with such a powerful magical device!"

Thankfully, it appeared that she may have still doubted her accusation. "Even if you're innocent, it's too dangerous for you to walk around without any sort of documentation." There was no mistaking it, she just slid her feet into a stance. "I'm not going to ask a third time, you will come with me. Now."

Then some random catgirl decided to show up and offer to buy the ‘magic item’. At this rate, they were all going to end up dead AGAIN. Fearfully, Aaron placed his hands behind his head as if he was being arrested, ”P-P-Please don’t kill us Ma’am…. W-we’re innocent! Please just take us in! Th-that item doesn’t even use magic! We didn’t even really know magic was even real until today! Just don’t kill us.” he fearfully pleaded, tears streaming down his face.

This was a lot of trouble.

Yup, Yuuki could feel it already. Ashton pulling out his phone had consequences that were simply not worth the trouble to begin with, and the fact that the action both made this 'Aer' super aggressive AND brought the attention of another fellow who seemed to be a total fan of cultist chic AND triggered the backpack-stealer's PTSD or whatever meant that there were now more than just a few folks who were looking at their general directions. Awesome. Great. This felt like a goddamn repeat of their time at that main road, huh?

He flashed a quick look in Ashton's direction, half-accusatory and half-dismissive, before raising his own hands up in a sign of surrender. "I don't know about these people, cause we all just met like...less than a half hour ago, but I'm personally grateful for you telling us about this, Miss Pacifica. Let's just ignore the crazies and head to the authorities, yeah? Don't wanna be an illegal, after all."

Fucking hell, this was a mess that he just didn't want to have to fucking deal with right now, but apparently his dad's gods were real and were conspiring to fuck him over and over and over again.

Hiding a grimace, Yuuki uncorked the thermos that he held in his hand and took a quick slurp of tea. Definitely never again.
@BrokenPromise

Ashton Andrews

Ashton froze, realizing that he screwed up badly. Flashes of being ran through by Mono's troops filled his memory, and he knew he was going to die again. On second thought, bad idea to be a control freak. Very bad idea. I should not have done that. And now I endanger the people around me -

Then, opportunity came as a Cat Demi-Human went up to him and offered to buy his 'magical device', and the young man said quickly, "Here's the deal; get us away from here and onto a safe place, and you can have it! What do you think?"

He was gambling on whether the Cat had fighting skills well as money, gambling that said fighting skills matched that adventurer, gambling that that cat didn't actually care about 'Cultists'. Ashton Andrews was also gambling that he was in the right this time.

And yes, he had noticed Aaron's renewed attempt to plead for mercy. On seeing that, Ashton really wanted to take back his offer to the Catboy and change his course of action. But then he remembered how pleading for clemency had failed before, and this memory was coupled with the practical realization that the small adventurer would never believe that the device didn't run on Magic; science was hard to explain to people who didn't have that as part of their curriculum. That said, at least there was a curriculum and literacy was reasonably widespread, judging from the many shop signs in the city. Enough tangents; time to see if his plan worked.

He faced Kimura, admiring the other boy's bravery in trusting the authorities. He then turned again to the Catboy, "Make sure to take my friends as well and I'll teach you how to use it."

---

Alistair Archibald was determined to plunge his little piece of glass into the throat of any of these "dire wolf" things as soon as he got the chance, were they to attack him or his posse. Or so he had believed. The truth was, he wasn't expecting the reality that he found himself facing -- that there was one giant monster before them. Big enough that he had his doubts as to the effectiveness of the small glass shank he held.

He had not attempted to call out to the odd, shadow-maid before she had disappeared. The situation was too foreign, too strange for him to instantly make heads or tails of, so he lost his chance. But the -- as far as Alistair was concerned -- arrogant wave she gave to them as she disappeared probably meant she wasn't going to answer any questions even had he asked. She was might've even been relishing their suffering. So all that was left was for Alistair and his gang to deal with the beast in the room. Or more accurately, for Alistair to do it. The kid seemed to have absolute faith in his ability. Not that that'd be a bad thing in a normal situation, mind you.

His, "Alistair, do what you have to do. Ask me whatever is needed and I will do it." line had thrown all responsibility upon the Archibald. How cruel. Was he doing this intentionally? Even a genius such as himself was bound to be caught up in all this random, supernatural bullshit. He wasn't given any time to make sense of it all! Well, whatever. He would much rather die by his own actions than because of someone else.

You can't be serious. Is this all some sort of test? Does he really want me to bed his daughter that bad? Usually, it's the exact opposite!

Everything was going to be this way, wasn't it? Diamond chins, wolves, bigger wolves, and if they made it through this, there was probably going to be a giant wolf with a diamond chin. If he wasn't so determined to break that chin from earlier, he might've cursed his existence and fallen into an uncharacteristic despair. But he did not. For this was only the start of his journey, and no matter what this cruel deity threw at him, he was determined to smash. Smash that chin, that is.

Even with such determination, he still needed a way past this wolf. Given the growling, it was only a matter of time before it set upon them and tore them to shreds, and sadly, his pathetic shank wasn't going to change that outcome. A beast that size would need a hell of a lot more what they currently have, yet there were no better weapons just lying around. And actually retreating was not a luxury they could afford, either. To turn back now would likely land them right back to square one, and having experienced the Knight's might, Alistair would rather take his chances with the wolf.

Telling was Alistair's expression. It betrayed the difficulty he was having with figuring out a solution, as his lips were forming a frown. But still, he turned to Flame. "We will not turn back," he said, though he spoke in a softer tone so as not to cause the wolf to immediately aggro, if such a thing was possible. "We'll run it down mid lure it over here, and then make a break for the room over there and either escape further in or arm ourselves better. If it's a kitchen, like I think, then it ought to have a spare knife or two."

The giant wolf was on the move. Its movements were slow, with several seconds passed between each step. There was no doubt about it, this thing was hunting them. The wolf's growling got louder with every word the group spoke. Even at their distance, they could see black saliva drip out of the beast's mouth. It had circled around the side of the table that was closest to the kitchen, but furthest away from the hallway. It's eyes were locked with theirs. A single movement could send the beast into a sprint.

---

The ride was fairly quiet, as everyone was still a bit shaken up over what happened. Of course, that didn't stop Vasilis from speaking.

”So Yea, magic is...” He rubbed his chin. ”Really hard to explain. It actually took me a long time to get to the point where I could make explosions. But with fire as your element, do you need any other spells?” He sighed. ”I wonder if there's someone out there, in any world, who feels the same way I do about explosions...”

It did not take long for everyone to get to the Golden Quarter. Vasilis stepped out of the cab first, and helped Irene, Chieko, Aerith, and Hiro down in that order.

”Whoa! Foreigners!” A wolf girl who looked strangely familiar was standing behind a vendor 's counter. To her left were several fruits and vegetables, and to her right were some modest clothes. ”Woops! That slipped out! Let me try that again.” She puffed out her chest and placed her hands on her hips. ”Welcome to Miles' Emporium, where we sell everything you need to enrich your life!” She gestured to the items to either side of her. ”And what's more important than a full stomach and the clothes on your back?” The wolf girl's chest deflated with a cough. ”You guys mind if we aren't so formal with each other?” She folded her hands behind her head.
”I'm Fritzi. if you need anything, I can get it for you. Even if it's just directions.

Eiko and Aki Came out of the dead end ally not too far away from Miles' Emporium. There was no sign of Helga or the guard.

---

Aer Fully expected the situation to get out of hand, but not like this. The three cultists/bandits/foreigners in front of her were all reacting differently, which confused her greatly. One seemed to be eager to get taken to the authorities, while another begged to remain, and the third one (their leader?) was conversing with a demi human who invited himself into this gathering. He was by no means a tall person, but it didn't take much to stand above Aer's head. She shifted side to side to try and look past the feline demi-human.

"Um." Aer flicked her eyebrows up before leaning to her left. "Sir?" She leaned to her right. "Wisp?" She waved her hand in an attempt to get his attention. "We do not have proof at the time that the magical device he holds is even his." Aer leaned to her left once again. Her brow furrowed once more. "You could be in danger. Cultists or not, this could turn into a hostage situation very quickly. I need to ask you to stand back."

At the mention of hostages, the crowd forming around the group seemed to recede a bit.

Outside Suttlings Basin, Main Road, Priestella -> Golden Quarter, Center Road, Priestella
@Crusader Lord@Ryofu@Althiel@BrokenPromise
Deaths: 1

---

What was this? Chieko followed the others to the main road, for the most part staying quiet until they arrived at the main road. Look at them! Those were...actual fantasy creatures!? They looked like some sort of small lizard! Oooh, she wanted to ride one! They were so cute, too! As Vasilis went off to fetch them a ride, Chieko simply watched them pass by. The trauma of earlier was slowly leaving at the sight of such relative mundane events. It was rather calming, wasn't it? But that left the question of what even happened. Somehow, they managed to escape death.

Irene bought her out of her thoughts as she mentioned their clothing. Ah, yes. It made sense they stood out a bit. In fact, now that she thought about it...standing out so much was rather embarrassing. Not arousing suspicion would be good, then. Though at the same time, standing out was something any good hero such as herself should do. Hm.

"...!" When the carriage finally arrived, Chieko had to resist going and petting it, physically refraining from doing so as Irene and Aerith both did it. Of course, she couldn't do it! Even if she wanted too! Who did they think she was? Someone that went around petting cute things? Hmph, no of course not. So regrettably, she refrained from petting the dragon even though it was clear as day she wanted too. Instead she shook her head no, doing her best not to make eye contact and got in the carriage as she fell back into her mildly Chunni tendencies.

The ride was fairly peaceful. It was a good time to collect her thoughts. Vasilis even decided to talk a little about magic! Though, he didn't seem like he'd be the best teacher. He seemed really into explosions, which she could sympathize with. Explosions were cool, and anyone who could do one was certifiably also cool, but it didn't take them long to reach their destination. She exited the carriage after the others, hopping down and tightening her scarf slightly as she observed the shopkeeper speaking to them.

...

Oh what the hell. It was the totally suspicious fox girl from earlier. Who, while adorable, was also someone she was incredibly suspicious of. Chieko didn't reply, merely gave Fritzi a completely neutral stare as she glanced over to her companions then to the clothes. Hm...what should she buy? She didn't exactly have any money on her.

---

It didn't take a lot of waiting before Vasilis came back with their ride. When it arrived, Hiro stood. Impassive. The look on his face was unchanging, as though he had seen such a sight a thousand times before, and no longer had his childlike excitement over the ground dragons.

On the inside however, this was not the case.

"Oh god. Oh god. What. The. Fuck. Is. THAT!?!?!?"

His indifference was actually just Hiro being stiff with fear. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to react. Irene said it was fine, and the driver seemed to treat it like any horse or whatever. . . . But was that really okay!? That thing. Was. A dragon! What if it suddenly turned on them? Vasilis seemed extremely strong, but could he fight a dragon? Hiro seriously doubted it.

Still, he needed to man up. Man up and get in the box. Let the dragon pull him.

He didn't pet it.

Anyway, while they were seated in the carriage, Hiro mostly just sat back and listened. Obviously it took every ounce of his self control to not pour sweat while he sat there, pulled by a dragon. It really didn't bother him. Not at all. He could totally focus on the conversations going on around him.

About halfway through the trip, Hiro started to loosen up. In fact, a small smile crossed his lips when he saw the little Chieko next to him acting all aloof. While no one else was paying attention, he reached his hand over and pat her head.

"You did good earlier."

Eventually, they arrived at their destination. Hiro was only a little bit panicked as he got off the carriage. This panic only vanished when the cute wolf girl entered his site once more. Even though technically he was surrounded by a cute girls right now, there was nothing to be done. Animal girls were a man's justice after all. He couldn't be held accountable for the beliefs that he held deep down.

Regardless, he stepped forward to "discuss business" with the animal eared beauty.

"I don't believe we mind speaking informally. I personally am looking to purchase some clothing more in line with this country's customs."

It was then, that after patting around his pockets, the smile fell from his face.

"Ah. . . I seem to have left my money this morning. Haaaaaaa. I have no idea where it could be. Well. It seems that instead, I need information. Is there any thing that I could trade or somewhere I could earn money in this area?" He believed that he could probably trade a good number of things, including what he had on. He had been getting ready for a press interview before he was transported after all. That meant that he was wearing very high quality materials, some of which were probably considered such even in this world. At the very least, he had to ask.

Regardless of what happened, he could stay around Irene and Vasilis until they were no longer interested in having him around.

Flame Brooks

"As good a plan as any," Flame replied. "I am to be the bait, I suppose?" A note of the old cynicism entered his voice, soon suppressed. "Because I can do it if needed."

The wolf growled, stalking towards them. The time for talking was over. Flame suddenly whirled towards the wolf, shouting: "Hey, beast! Over here's some dinner!"

He would then prepare to sprint, sprint forwards in whatever direction Alistair ordered...

No doubt Wisp must have come off a strange character, even to the locals. Some had been backing off before his arrival, but the new spark to the encounter had drawn some more of the nearby humans and demi-humans and the sorts into the crowd, waiting and watching to see what would occur next. Of course the concept of Cultists concerned them, and the idea that the three, oddly dressed human individuals could be aligned with such a group would be more than enough to turn a few tails - but it was human nature to stand by and watch the action go down, instead of run for ones own life.

Not that the cat boy paid attention to any of that, mind. He had bigger, more important, and more magical things to attend to. Namely, that device. Wisp was a mage - he had spent a lot of time looking into different parts of magic, and attempting to learn as much as he could. It was his call - at least, that's what it felt like. But as he stood in the middle of the crowd, tilting his head and body at different angles to get a look at the thing, everything he had seen in the past went out the proverbial window; he couldn't think of anything. In all the years he had spent researching magic and learning its practices, he had never come across something like the thing he saw in front of him.

And that was more than just exciting. It was exhilarating. Or perhaps that was an exaggeration? He wasn't really certain any more. The weight of the money in the bag he held seemed to disappear almost completely as he watched the three - no doubt whatever the object was would hold a vast amount of value, and if the three didn't understand its worth, then even better. He might have been able to get a good deal out of it if he tried, no matter how dishonourable such a thing sounded. Mousey would be annoyed if he spent money, sure, but if he spent all of it, she would be furious. He could almost see it happening. He would need to keep as much money as possible, on the off chance she found him!

His attention was drawn by the boy talking to him, no doubt about to take him up on the offer. And boy, could he have not have gotten a better deal.
"You'll give it to me? Like, for free? Really!? Absolu-" even more so than before he had begun talking, his face lit up with a joyous expression, only to have his sentence cut off by a hand waving in front of his face. Zoning back into the rest of the people talking, he spun around quickly, coming into eye contact with the woman from earlier. With the spin, he took in the rest of the people, and the crowd, noting the crying boy, as well as the worried expressions of the onlookers. With the mention of a hostage situation, they were only getting more worried. What if somebody called a guard..?!

"Oh, hi, that's me!" once again, he lifted his hand and waved, while simultaneously placing the coin pouch back onto his belt, "What do you mean, dangerous? I bet they're harmless! I'm just really, really interested in the magic box." he tilted his head over towards the two, "You are harmless, right? He's even crying! They're fine." he turned back to face Aer, "Oh, you should come with us! We can go find some fun things to do, and stuff like that!"

When he finished talking to Aer, he span back around, addressing the three.
"You can come with me! The guards shouldn't stop us or anything, I think? As long as I get the box, we can go anywhere, 'kay?" he smiled, and went to start making his way out of the circle, prepared to lead the group onward, but for a moment, he paused, "You're not going to do anything mean, right? I hope you're good people..." as he spoke, he lifted his hand, letting everyone see his palm, "Goa." with the single word, a small ball of flames lit up in his hand, about the size of an apple, "I don't like hurting people, but I will do. Now! Who's ready for some adventure~?!"

---

It had been a fairly short and quiet ride, with Vasilis breaking the ice and discussing, albeit poorly, how magic is possible along with his love for explosions. Strange they were for not having any inkling on what land they stepped on, and perceiving magic as a picturesque concept when it is in fact, a common concept. And the aura they emitted was certainly not something to brush off easily, despite their genuine innocence and sheepishness.

Finally arriving at the bustling merchant district, Irene took off the carriage first, accompanied by Vasilis. She had paid the coachman with a few coins and waved them goodbye. Not even a minute has passed, and the group was greeted by the same demi-human that they encountered back at the Basin, divulging her identity as Fritzi, a merchant in this town of commerce. Figures. As Hiro began negotiating with the wolf girl, Irene approached the two girls gawking at the variety of clothing that the emporium offered.

"Pick yourselves a nice wear, hm~? I highly advise you consider subtlety when deciding on your clothing, though." She gave Aerith a small, though loaded, bag of coins. The weight of the pouch gave her the notion that it was most likely sufficient to cover for the three of them. A cheerful paint on her countenance, she continued. "I won't take no for an answer. Consider it a gift from a friend and just take it~!"

Dangerous. This was definitely dangerous now, and Yuuki didn’t understand why they were dealing with someone who was so willing, so eager to interact with them. In a world where the term ‘cultists’ made everyone else freeze up or disappear, where foreigners where looked upon with suspicion and distrust, why the hell would this particular cat boy be totally down with being friendly with them? Because of their optimism? Because they were giving these strangers the benefit of the doubt? Or because…

A flash of light, and a flickering ball of flame. Yuuki’s hand instantly pressed against his chest, wondering if it would be internal combustion that ended him this time. There was definitely no trust now, definitely no reason at all to follow someone like that. In a world where it was apparently completely fine to kill strangers on the street, this smiling, fireballing cat boy was definitely dangerous. With the accusation of being cultists alone, he could kill them all.

So Yuuki took the more rational path. “Hey,” he said, turning to Aaron, “Mind giving my backpack back?” There wasn’t much of a response from the tear-stained boy, and Yuuki ended up having to awkwardly pull it off from the shoulders instead. No resistance or response, but that was disturbing in its own right, especially with how animated Aaron had been earlier. He cast a concerned glance at the crouched boy, but shook off any sympathy as he hitched up his pack once again.

“Count me out, buddy,” Yuuki said, “I’ll just stick with Miss Pacifica in this case. Good luck with your adventures and all though.”

Seriously, it sounded like they’d need it, if they were going to continue to play hide and seek with that gas mask cockwad.
@Vocab@Letter Bee@BrokenPromise@Guy0fV4lor

Ashton Andrews

Ashton looked on in fascination as a ball of fire appeared in Mist's hand; relief washing over his face as he knew he was right: This was their rescue. He had to talk fast in order to ensure said rescue, though, as Mist appeared willing to reconsider plus the rest of his group might not want to go with himself and the Catboy. The young man breathed in and out and said to the Catboy and the little adventurer, "We're harmless people who got taken away from our far-away land and put here. Yes, we have a magical device, but it was a gift, a gift that we don't know the value of in this Kingdom."

A smile, "And sure; we'd be up for some adventure! So take us wherever you want -"

Then the Japanese boy spoke. Turning to Kimura in shock, Ashton registered the other boy's words before saying, "You can't do that! You'll be tortured, then killed, or be just killed! Do you really want to suffer?!"

Flame wouldn't be so trusting, Ashton thought. Neither of this adventurer lady or the fireball-wielding Catboy. Ashton froze, trying to make a decision... Before handing over his phone to the Catboy, placing it in his free hand.

His next words were, "Here's the device, keep it; we won't need it where we're going."

He walked back to Kimura, saying, "I'm not abandoning you; I'm not a coward. If you want to hand yourself over to the authorities, I'll hand myself over as well."

Turning to Aer, Ashton said, "We're ready, Miss Pacifica. I am sorry for giving you such trouble by trying to bust myself out. Just... If the authorities don't look too kindly on us, ask that the youngest of us be executed as painlessly as possible."

Tears fell from his eyes. I'll never see Flame again, or Pidgey II, or my parents...

A thought. Unless the timeline resets once more. But can we count on it?

Daylight tickled her skin as Eiko and Aki had finally emerged back out of the alleyway. Aki was holding tightly onto Eiko her hand as the two of them briefly paced out of the alleyway while Aki panicky glared behind her every two seconds to spot any monsters hiding behind them ready to just jump out. Yet they were safe once more now. Aki stretched her arms as she happily put a smile towards the sky. She was so happy to be back into the daylight again.



Aki was partially trying to hug to sun with full knowledge of the fact she didn't have the skill or talent to do so. Cheerfully she turned back towards her newly made friend. She must have been quite happy as well to be out of that dreadful smelling alleyway. Aki didn't pay much attention to something like that anymore but she could imagine the other girl having quite some emotions for that.



Aki didn't have much to do apart from her daily tasks and performances but she did always like to look around even though not everyone appreciated it as much for a homeless girl to only look around their store. Some already knew her but some didn't, her relationships could be great with everyone. It would often end up into a beating but she was sure of it that she would keep her eyes out today for any bad scenarios.



In Aki her excitement she tried to drag Eiko along by her hand as she strolled further into the shopping district. Aki wasn't so strong so letting go would be easy.

When she was close to some shops she wanted to approach one of them but was quickly held back in her tracks when she spotted a group of fancy dressed people. They were shopping? Some of them seemed rather dazed and amazed. Foreigners? They did have strange clothing so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. One did seem somewhat from the snowlands with the clothes she wore. Were they all from the snowlands? Aki pondered longer and longer but eventually came to the realisation that she probably shouldn't approach these types of people. She had encounters before where they would want her away if they were dressed really fancy. Apparently she was smelly sometimes. Aki could believe that, she did live partially in the dumps.



Aki cheerfully went on as she hopped over towards the closest shop near them occasionally peeking her head up to spy on them. They were still interesting people to see and watch. They were however somewhat odd but that was fine. She expected no less from foreigners. Aki simply browsed the shop glacing over a serious amount of goodluck charms all handcrafted and made from something different. These were nice.

Aki matched them with her clothes and bag to see if they fitted nicely. She even got as far to look for one that would fit Eiko and show it to her. While she was busy browsing she missstepped and fell over to the side bumping against Chieko as she fell down. Shockingly she shot her head towards the girl and instantly raised her hands by the side of her head clear to see. She softly stood raised back up to her feet without moving her hands from position. She gave a deep bow almost spilling all the contents from her knapsack out on the street as she deeply apologised.



Eagerly she looked back up with fear in her eyes if the lady would be nice to her or not. Her promise to herself had already been broken so she was afraid that something bad would happen.

Grisaia followed silently after the fox Demi-Human. Despite his expression being a bit clenched, his mind was completely elsewhere, as he was much more worried about other things. Things he'd rather forget about but couldn't for the life of him do. He only returned back to reality upon seeing his small companion relaxing on the living area's couch as if she owned it herself. It was amusing to say the least, especially with how small other other looked on the much larger couch, enough to make him want to smile, along with what she said next, but he remained emotionless.

"Of course, apologies for my rudeness, Lady Mie. I'll return with an appa spice blend. Now, if you'll excuse me." He hummed clearly before turning and walking towards the door on the left, opening it and passing through the hall which lead to the cellar. The cellar itself was stocked with bottles and bottles of different favors and time periods. It didn't take long for the blonde to grab their most popular blend from the rack, collect a glass cup and straw, and make his way back to Mie hopefully before she did anything weird.

Placing the cup down on the coffee table next to the couch, Grisais proceeded to prepare the drink, his eyes slowly wandering to the other in the process.
"Might I ask you a question, Lady Mie?" He questioned, ears drooping slightly before he continued. "Did...did you have any plans tonight? Or maybe tomorrow? Before the Mistress went missing, she said I was being 'antisocial' and 'needed to get some sun'. I don't know how to spend my time outside of this house, so..." Saia trailed of with furrowed brows as he handed the flavored drink over, tilting his head curiously in the process.

---

Finally making their way out of the smelly alley, Eiko let out a sigh of relief. She probably would have brought a hand to wipe her brow if it hadn't been for Aki holding her only free hand, not that it mattered that much; just being out of that place had her feeling so much better. She took note of the other girl's nervousness and smiled faintly at her demeanor. Eiko remembered a time when she use to be like that, but now she could look out for Aki. If there even was something in there waiting to come after them, she would have noticed long before entering the alleyway and would have been more cautious about the pinkette coming any closer.

A sweet smile tugged at Eiko's lips as she saw Aki reach up to the sky and for the sun.
"It does feel great to be out here though..." She mused happily as she walked towards Aki, hands behind her back and clutching her staff loosely. "Hm, I've got a bit of spare change on me, so maybe we can buy something?" Eiko then suggested, tilting her head curiously as she wondered what the other had in mind. And while yes, the money she had with her was originally meant for herself, Od Laguna cherished those who were selfless and caring, and that's what she hoped to be.

Not receiving so much as a 'yes' or 'no', probably because Aki was far too excited to get going, Eiko allowed herself to be pulled around by said girl, an action that would usually annoy her, but strangely didn't this time around. Regardless, she didn't want to see Aki almost cry again, so that might be the reason? Once they were closer to the shops, Eiko felt herself become much more chipper at the idea of doing some shopping. She almost didn't notice the people, natives and foreigners with interesting and somewhat familiar clothing alike, standing in front of a particular shop she wanted to go into until Aki had to physically stop her. Sharing a curious glance with Aki, Eiko furrowed her brows slightly at what she had to say next. Her first instinct was to question who would hate someone like Aki, but clearly knowing better, and being biased, Eiko changed her statement quickly before speaking up.
"You think so? You wouldn't know unless you went to see for yourself. Plus, Od Laguna is on your side, so there's nothing to worry about!" She smiled encouragingly before continuing. "But we could always look somewhere else, of course. There's lots of great shops here!" She concluded as she then moved along with Aki to the closest shop to them.

Eiko had been far too engrossed in what was in front of her to take note of the other people nearby. She instead focused on the charms and specific fabrics in her line of sight. Aki got her attention a few times, showing her charms that she thought looked best on her and she even thought about buying two charms for herself and two for Aki, but as she was looking elsewhere, Aki's especially loud apology had her look up, now alert. Withing seconds, she was at the pinkette's side, dove wings spreading slightly as she bowed with Aki.
"Please accept this apology, Od Laguna. Sorry about that, might I ask if your alright?" The priestess questioned with slightly worried emerald eyes, her pink staff now in front of her, in case any of these people decided to get hostile.

The wolf was still struggling, seemingly realized that fighting against the herculean shortie was probably not gonna work. It didn’t have much elsewhere to go anyway, so why even bother? With the threat disabled, Anyon’s face slightly softened in expression. Softened in the sense that it went from “radiating bloody murder” to “radiating the possibility of bloody murder.” She walked past where the girl and the wolf were positioned as she looked down the hallway, seemingly contemplating where to go after her...unfortunate arrival to the fight. All she did was stare down the hallway after all. Her hand extended, open palm, towards the wolf’s torso, making it clear what she actually was thinking.

”El Huma.

A spike of ice shot forward and impaled the wolf through its body, finishing it off for good. With a satisfied sigh and a dust of her hands, her face finally relaxed. Anger management was different for every person, wasn’t it? For her, this worked very well. Walking forward and putting her hat back on, she remembered that, of course, there that group, for all intents and purposes, did give her a helping hand. Assumptions or not, they at least deserved some recognition for the assist. She turned over to them. ”Oy, thanks for holding the fort there, blonde one. But keep a closer eye on any actual weak ones. The giant water-magic woman is a sturdy fucker." She said as she pointed to herself with her thumb. She wasn’t all that surprised by the girl’s seeming super human strength. It could’ve been anything, so why give it a glance? Yang incantations, a divine protection...Probably the former if she was a betting woman. Now, time to set a course for whatever spawned that wolf, which would hopefully kill some time.

She made a hand wave towards the others as she walked, staff used as a walking stick even though she didn’t have a limp. ”Keep up. Whatever’s here has an ass that definitely needs a kicking.” As she went further into the building, a mental eyebrow rose up as she thought about something. Would going back and getting Mirt be a good move? Probably, but it seemed unnecessary. A bunch of knights and herself to fight some devil creature? She’s had that same sort of scenario more times than she can count. Besides, part of her wanted some quick fun. It was in her blood after all. This little adventure was probably gonna be a pretty penny for the two of them too, what with the apparent giant wolves, so why waste time running over? Light slowly started to fill more and more until she was near a room’s entrance.

Immediately, she shifted back a bit, as quietly as possible. She took cursory glances around to see what was nearest around. Nothing was stirring...Nothing was breathing from the sound of it...Safe from the looks of it. At least it seemed that way. A misplaced foot nearly stepped on...a glass shard. Picking up the shard carefully, Anyon looked at it before looking around the room some more. Empty dressers and chests, though it was hard to tell how long. Shattered mirrors too...The beasts doing? Maybe, but the chests...possibly it was whoever brought the beasts in here. Great, now they had to watch out for people too. Throwing the shard to the side, she went further in. Mental questions aren’t gonna get them any further. Just make them wonder is all.

As she descended, there was even more growls, though thankfully far away. ”Figures as much.” Light finally started to filter in again as her eyes squinted. With that light, came far more audible growls. She inched back a bit. Thank the gods she didn’t enter the room and set it off by accident. She kept close to the entrance, trying to not let it know she was here. She glanced around again. Dining hall...though pretty big for one, and most certainly no people eating. Big chandelier too...But then came the most important detail. The even more giant wolf that was standing at the other end of the hall. A soundless “shit” escaped her lips as she put her right arm behind her, an effort to make sure no one accidentally walked further than they needed to. It was far bigger than the last one, it was obvious just looking at it. But then came the most bizarre thing of all in the dining hall...3 men?

Well, she could most certainly tell that they were most likely men, but what was with their clothes? The tallest one seemed to wear something somewhat familiar looking but still oddly distinct. As for the other two, it seemed like they were wearing decidedly more strange clothes than any of them. She would say they were just foreign, but even then? They didn’t look like any country’s wears she’s ever seen before. A strange hooded outfit on one of them and a long sleeved shirt of some kind on the other. The appearances would already be unorthodox, but that wasn’t just it. You would think people in this sort of situation would have spells prepared, battle formations, or at least weapons. It didn’t seem like they had...anything from the looks of it, except for something in their hands that was hard for Anyon to even make out. What the hell was any of this?

A thought then approached. What if these are the people responsible for these wolves? They’re certainly suspicious enough and all of this wouldn’t be a terribly bad ruse. She’s seen plenty of people use trickery before, so it was an easy assumption. Though, to help possibly understand exactly what was going on, she moved a tad further back into the shadows as she gave a quizzical look over at the knights, specifically the strong one, while she pointed towards the 3 men. It was a bit obvious from her face that she was basically asking “They with you guys?” or “You know those 3?”

@BrokenPromise @Letter Bee @Cu Chulainn @FamishedPants @Red Alice @Phonic