---

Alex thumped to the rhythm of a song in his head as the others deliberated their course of action, his knuckles pausing with every swivel of his neck to listen to what another person had to say. Siegfried was unamused by the idea, but the same could be said of his perception of Alex as a whole. He felt like an older brother, if that older brother had the opposite personality of his actual older brother. Kalie was out of the question too. Sif was more ambiguous, but clearly had other priorities.

Kazuki spoke... and teetered... and drank... and drank..

He answered the bard in earnest regardless. "These disappearances are too specific to be some griefer or troll. Whoever or whatever's behind this is probably a bigger deal than people goofing off too hard, I think." There was more on his mind, but Kazuki's surprise trip to the ground had been a good end to the conversation as any. He watched in morbid fascination as Kazuki's princely demeanor carried over into his drunken slump, giving the movement an almost gentle air.

"Huh." he muttered. At least Kazuki's brother was there to help the guy. A pang of envy made a frown jolt across his face for a split second. "All me and Seele have are papers," he told Graves. "There's no telling what the cause is yet, either. Could be something that doesn't bleed, though I sure hope it does." He sighed. Once again, he didn't want the kaleidescope of bizarre ideas in his head to spill too hard onto everyone else. He'd have to tame his impatience and let people approach this from all sorts of angles to establish a better feedback loop among everyone.

The tavern cleared itself of wayfarers as he ruminated, some having committed to the more domestic and economic problems they were now going to have to deal with. The idea of a powerful adventurer slaying dragons and then dying from not packing enough sandwiches or having too many tears in his gear was kind of funny to him, but it was now a possibility, and something that had probably already happened more than once in this world. It was food for thought.

"I think we before we head out to any of the possible dissapearance spots we should just talk to the people connected to the disappeared. I don't think whatever this is is gonna strike in the same place twice, anyways." He dragged his knuckles through the surface of the wood and raised them to cross his arms. "What do you guys think?"

Location:The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele waited as the group divided itself. There was an instinct to rush over to Kazuki when the ale finally did him in—which seemed to happen…fast—but Benkei got him back to his feet. The two of them, along with Rael and eventually Alja, departed. She heard the words Mystic Prophecy on their way out, and felt just a smidgen of anxiety bubble up for Kazuki. Part of her wanted to follow along, make sure that if they did go there, that he would be okay. But that would be irrational, overbearing, and maybe even a little bit rude; after all they’d talked about, and the progress he’d made, perhaps it was best to simply have faith in him and the people around him.

Besides, she couldn’t just abandon the investigation now. Remaining at the table was Graves, Alex, and the new girl, Artemis. That was more than enough. Half of them had been researching the disappearances already, and she had the utmost confidence in the other half. She listened intently while the waters of the issue were tested, and when questions were asked and there was silence, she spoke up.

“I agree with almost everything you all have said. Whatever’s doing this is doing it with intent, and I’d like to believe that at this point, wayfarers are beyond griefing one another like this.” She thumbed through the stack of missing wayfarers, to a divider she’d placed, and split it into two uneven piles. “The smaller one is the list of missing people who belonged—belong to guilds, the bigger one is solo players. That shouldn’t be too surprising, but that along with the fact that we know they’re mainly targeting spellcasters from Drox tells us that we’re dealing with something that has access to information. But, like Alex said, we really can’t know what’s behind this quite yet and, frankly, I’m not so sure it matters. What’s important is finding these people—we can deal with the why later. That said, actually, we do have a bit more than just papers.”

From her stash on the chair beside her, Seele produced a few rolls of trace-paper, so thin as to be nearly translucent, and cut to the exact size of the sprawled-out map. She unfurled one atop the map, pinned it down, and spent several moments aligning it. Scribbled on it were dozens of red and blue circles, spread out all across the city. Some were clustered together, others were spread way out. It looked as though she had dipped brushes in ink and flicked them at the page. However, inside each circle was a number, and each red circle had a corresponding number in a blue circle.

“These are the solo players. The red circles are wherever the reports listed as their places of residence—some are the fraternity house, some are inns, but plenty are actual houses and tenements. The blue circles are the listed last known locations. Some of those seemed a little redundant though, unless we’re looking at home invasions, and some just weren’t listed at all. So, I stuck my nose back into the files, found out what some of their professions are, and circled some of the most popular hubs for them, depending on what part of the city they live in.”

She unfurled another sheet and pinned it atop the first. Under both, the map was still perfectly legible. The circles on this one were green and purple, and were numbered the same way. Though fewer altogether, the green circles were much more clustered together.

“These are the players in guilds. As you can probably guess, the green circles are the residences, and almost all of them are, unsurprisingly, at registered guildhouses. Same deal with the purple circles as the blue: last known locations and, where I could find them, profession hubs.”

Next, she unfurled a third sheet and settled it on the other two. Even with three sheets pinned over it, the map was still clear, the titles and street names were still easy to make out. This one had no circles on it, only mass of black lines connecting each red circle to its corresponding blue circle, and each green to its purple.

“These are the most-trafficked routes in the city. Biggest roads, most people—safest. There isn’t much to glean from this, honestly, but it’s just for reference. Even at night there are people on these roads, as well as guard patrols. But if we assumed everyone always took the safest routes home, then I doubt we’d have very many missing people at all. If there are three things people like in games, it’s ‘fun,’ ‘winning,’ and ‘efficiency.’ So…”

She removed the third sheet and replaced it with a fourth. This one’s lines were a lighter gray, and like the previous one, connected the various circles together. However, this time there was…almost a pattern. It wasn’t perfect, in fact it was hardly less chaotic than the circles alone, but it was less.

“These,” Seele said. “Are the quickest routes. Smaller, narrower streets, cuts between alleys. If I was going from here to here, and I wanted to save time, this is how I’d do it. As you can see, locations and residencies in the same districts seem to overlap in only a handful of routes. These places are dark, largely unpatrolled, even abandoned in some places. Perish the thought, but, if I was going to…do something like this, take someone, these are the best stretches to do it.”

She stood back from the table, eyes scanning the circles and lines. She’d stared at the thing all night, scratched and scribbling and torn and read and scribbled again and again and again. But did it make sense?

“It’s incomplete, but there was much more here than the fraternity seemed to think. I believe if we turn our attentions towards finding out where these abductions are happening, we could find who’s doing it. More importantly, we could find where they’re taking these people and help them. Which brings me to the plan.”

“We do like Alex suggested: we approach some of the people related to our abductees, we get information on their habits, their work, whatever we can. We solidify this map, and these routes. With the basis we have, I don’t even think it would take us long, but we do need to act before this happens to anyone else. So we do what we can today, and then, tonight, we try to make a move. Or, rather, we provoke whoever or whatever is doing this into making a move…”
cold feet,
Seele looked pointedly to Graves. Bruiser, bounty hunter, bloodknight. Bloodhound. She reached into the manifold layers of her witchy robes, and set a small, glass vial of blood on the table before him. “Then we follow them.”

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

Artemis leaned in as Seele explained the disappearances, noting how pretty much any information that her guild had gathered was already covered by Seele's explanations. The girl remained silent, thinking through the whole situation and imagining how awful it must have been for the friends of these people. At least she knew what happened to her friends, had they just disappeared... Artemis didn't know how she would carry herself. Watching the others around the table, she wondered briefly just what might be going through their minds. How they were handling the disappearance of others, did they find it as terrifying as she did? Artemis shook her head, perishing those thoughts to focus back on the task at hand.

Then an even more haunting realization dawned upon the girl. She was now a solo player, the most common kind of player to disappear, and a spellcaster at that. Fear gripped her heart as once more, she realized once more that she was alone. Sure, this group had welcomed her to sit and help with their issue but... at some point, they'd go home. At some point, she'd be alone heading to her guild house, and risk becoming another point of data on Seele's documents. Panic started to set in, the girl's leg starting to bounce under the table as she tried to desperately reign herself in to keep a calm demeanor. Without thinking, Artemis reached out to rest a hand on Graves' forearm and gripping tightly, reminding herself where she was, that she wasn't alone.

As she calmed, the girl realized slowly that she was still in the Tavern surrounded by others. The color deepened in her cheeks as embarrassment from her outburst rose to the forefront of her mind. She quickly released Graves' forearm, looking away at that moment. "S-sorry, lack of sleep is getting to me..." She whispered in a small voice, taking the next few moments to collect herself, then speaking up. "If solo spellcasters are their most common target, then... we could also bait a trap. After we find the information, I meet both those criteria at the moment. Just... until then I'd prefer not to be alone for... obvious reasons." She said softly, the wavering in her voice betraying that perhaps more had gone on in her head than simply a lack of sleep.

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern-- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Kazuki was running away. Would it be right to just let him walk off, to avoid dealing with Mystic Prophecy? It would be easier than handling that sore wound that both brothers felt, after all. He knew Luci blamed Kazuki for Aag’s death, but he also knew why they’d all done the dungeon in the first place.

To test the waters. To see if Benkei was ready to join Mystic Prophecy.

Kazuki wasn’t the one who failed Aaginim. It was Benkei. It was his fault they were in that dungeon at the time. His single-minded desire to be the best led him down a path that good people died.

And now when you died you never came back.

“Ka-” Before he could even say anything, Alja burst onto the scene. Her words were better than anything he could force down, and he was thankful she’d come to join them as well. ”Alja’s right. We need to meet with Mystic Prophecy, and we all have to work together if we’re going to survive.” He wanted to bite his lip in frustration. Who was left in Mystic Prophecy now?

”Let’s go, everyone. There’s no better time like the present, right?

Location: Laughing Worg Tavern -- City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Graves wasn't much of a thinker, even if he'd never admit it. Seele spoke in an excited rush, days worth of careful research and pondering pouring out like a flood. She was shuffling through stacks upon stacks of documents featuring all sorts of information: missing wayfarers, a map of the city, a second map of the city, then a third and a fourth. It would've been difficult to keep up with her even if Graves wasn't halfway through a sizeable tankard of ale. Still, he did his best to follow her line of thought. People were being taken in some kinda pattern. Certain places in Thorinn where it was easier to nab folks in the dead of night, he figured, were hotspots for these kidnappings. And they were targeted, too, not just at players but specifically mages from Drox. Why would they go after the hippies of all things? Every Drox guildie he'd ever met was obnoxiously nice and obsessively helpful.

'These guys've gotta be real bastards if these are the people they're huntin'.'

Cowards, too, if the only wayfarers they were willing to fight were supports and healers. They'd be easy pickings for somebody like him, if only they could actually find them.

But it seemed Seele had a plan for that, too, as she drew a vial from her robes. A cold prickle climbed up the back of his neck at the sight of blood. His heart beat just a little bit faster, and he had to fight the urge to reach out and snatch it off the table.

He opened his mouth to speak only for the words to catch in his throat, his attention drawn elsewhere. Something was on his arm. He glanced down at it, and even on seeing Artemis's hand gripping his he couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. The idea that someone would dare to touch him seemed so outrageous that his first instinct was to dismiss it out of hand. His eyes were playing tricks on him. Or it was an accident, maybe.

Graves looked up to give Artemis a puzzled look as she released her grip, mumbling out an apology about a lack of sleep. The gears in his head turned hard enough to send smoke trailing out of his ears, but he finally got it. "Oh," he muttered, blood rushing to his cheeks. "No, no! You're, uh, you're okay. Its totally cool. We're cool." Graves assured her everything was okay with a pat on the arm and a thumbs up.

He quickly turned away from her. "You don't have to do that. You're not doing that, actually. We ain't lettin' you out of our sight. Besides," he grabbed the blood vial Seele had placed in front of them, holding it up. He gave Seele a long look, trying to read the intention behind her eyes as he spoke. "Seele already went to all the trouble of drawing this. You sure you're up to this, Missy?"

Location:The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Well, there it was. She’d laid her plan out, winded herself in the process, and blessedly enough had not been struck down by embarrassment, mockery, or divine intervention. If nothing else, she’d managed to get through the whole thing without confusing herself, so she hoped that clarity had translated at least somewhat to the others.

To her relief, it seemed to. At the very least no one was completely lost; in fact it looked like Graves understood her intentions completely. That was good—Seele wasn’t so sure of them herself, and someone probably ought to be.

Artemis lamented her own lack of sleep, which was something that just about everyone at the table, and perhaps in all of Pariah could emphasize with. Seele felt a flutter of panic when the jittery girl volunteered herself, the same kind she felt at the prospect of any of their group putting themselves in danger. Some people might have called that pathetic, being so protective of someone she just met, but she didn’t think so. And, evidently, neither did Graves.

“Graves is right, hun. You’ve been through a lot already, and we’re not about to put you in any more danger. We’re gonna look out for you just like you are for us, alright?”
She turned her attention to Graves, and found the answer stuck just a bit in her throat. Ready? To be honest the thought hadn’t crossed her mind. The plan had come to her in such a manic blur, she’d never stopped to consider the potential…downsides to putting herself out as bait.

But, no, she had to have considered it. She’d drawn blood for it, she’d committed. In the midst of her rabid plotting and scrawling, she must have decided that the risk was worth it. She must have decided she trusted Graves.

Which, of course, she did.

“I am,” she nodded. “I’ll walk whatever route we decide on, and fingers crossed that whoever’s doing this will take the bait. Now, if they do, we’ll want to…oh, jeez, uhm…well, you know, I want to get my hands on these jerks just as much as anyone else, but I think in the interest of finding all the missing folks, it would be better if we followed them back to wherever they go…” She didn’t say ‘after they take me,’ partly because it seemed implied, and partly because, well, being kidnapped was still flat-out scary.

“Thankfully, Graves has a reputation for being a pro at this sort of thing, so you all shouldn’t have any trouble tracking us down.” She shot the bloodknight a wink. “That is if you can smell anything but rat fur and sewer water yet.”

There, a little levity now and then never hurt. Seele had a sinking feeling there might not be too much of that in their immediate future.

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

Artemis turned away from Seele and Graves with a deep blush after both of them seemed to take issue with her suggestion of playing bait. The fact that these strangers were just so willing to accept her into their group, was reassuring in a way. Especially when Graves said that they wouldn't be letting her from their sight. Her poor heart skipped a beat or two, even as she forced herself to look back towards the others and nod lightly. Still, the promises to watch over her like one of their own were more moving to Artemis than she'd like to admit. Odinson would've liked these people, she decided, a small smile gracing her lips. Admittedly, her plan to play bait had scared her beyond belief. A wave of relief washed over her as if a weight had been lifted and she could breathe a bit better. Yet for the moment, she dared not speak. Worried that the tears of relief she was showing might surface if she did.

The vial of the blood being passed to Graves confused Artemis for a second before it slowly clicked that the vial would very likely be used for tracking Seele after she'd been taken. That earned a look of interest from Artemis to be centered on Graves, she wanted to pick up some tracking skills for a while now, might be useful being a bow user and all. Perhaps she'd ask him to teach her at some point? Artemis shook the thought from her head as she turned back towards Seele as another thought slowly popped into her head. She thought back through the previous explanations of the disappearances for a long few moments, trying to figure out if she had missed some detail that made them so certain somebody was behind the disappearances. She couldn't remember anything, that stuck out, and quickly spoke up before she lost her nerve.

"Are we certain that there is something here that can lead us to those who are missing?" Artemis blurted out, looking towards Seele this time. "We live in a world with magic, on top of... well, the Glitch. Are we certain something is kidnapping these people? What if it's some sort of magical accident that's killing them or the likes?" She asked, voice small out of fear she had missed something obvious and was making a fool of herself. Still, she was worried that they could be rushing ahead and risking something so precious as life itself.

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“We don’t know if they are dead. We know they are missing.”

As Sif explained Seele’s investigation was into missing people rather than murdered people, Siegfried could feel a rot in his gut rise up. Siegfried wasn’t the smartest person in the group, no, but he wasn’t a complete idiot; he could do basic math. Seele was talking about using Graves’ bloodhound instincts to track her down once she willingly used herself as bait. It was a risky, stupid move. What if the rest of them couldn’t stop whatever was happening to her by these kidnappers? What if it all went south? His brows narrowed, thinking about how helpless the caster would be for even the most calculated, smallest amount of time.

He pressed his fingers into his caruncle’s, letting a deep sigh out, “Seele, you're out of your damn mind.”

“Volunteering yourself to these assholes? What if Graves is too slow to whatever they are doing? What if they are killing casters? What if this goes south?” He leaned back in his chair anxiously, “What’s your plan if this goes south?”

Location:The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele didn’t like the implications of what Artemis said, but they were fair. She didn’t think it was an accident, personally—it was too targeted, too…intentional—but the idea that they might be looking for a what rather than a who had not escaped her. Part of her hoped for it, even. Some kind of intelligent creature going after mages would ease her conscience over actual people doing this to each other. But this wasn’t about her conscience, and her mind was still set on this being the work of someone awful.

Sif explained it well enough. Clever one, her, good head on her shoulders and a good track record as a player. Probably. Seele had never looked too closely into those things, but she’d made it through that dreadful dungeon at the start so that counted for a lot.

“Seele, you're out of your damn mind.” you sleep too much

Fair point, she probably was, but she listened anyway. Siegfried was a sweet boy, well-intentioned if a bit excitable, and even when he was nervous he still managed to speak sense. What if things went wrong? She didn’t want to think about it, but the hard truth was that they didn’t really know how much time these missing people had. Failure here could mean another day, or week, or month they didn’t have, or worse, it could put whoever was really behind this into a panic. Who knows what they’d do to the victims then.

“If this doesn’t work, you’ll deliver all of this theory to the fraternity, or the queen—someone who can do something about it—and hope they’re fast enough to stop it before anyone else gets taken.”

She’d dodged his real question, and not artfully either. The reality was that she didn’t know what to say. Was she afraid? It was impossible to think of things going wrong without imagining the worst case scenario, and the thought of being tortured to death, or left to rot in a cell, or any number of other terrible things did scare her. But they had to do something, and while it might have been hypocritical of her to insist on putting herself in harms way when she knew that, had anyone else proposed to do it, she would have fought them tooth and nail not to, it also just…made sense. It was practical, in a way she couldn’t explain to them.

After all, who better to take the risk than someone with literally nothing to lose? “I trust Graves,” Seele said, rounding back to Siegfried’s question, and once more she shot the blood hunter a smile. “And we can’t get much more south than Thorinn anyway.”

Location: Laughing Worg Tavern -- City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Graves was quiet for a few moments as he chewed on the protests from the others. Artemis wondered if these disappearances weren’t connected as Seele and Alex’s investigation made them out to be. It was possible, he agreed; the world had changed rapidly beneath them and they still hadn’t caught their footing. If dungeons could spawn under a place like Thorinn then was anything really off the table?

He sighed, rubbing his temple with his knuckle. No, this wasn’t the work of some new monster or unknown anomaly. This was a familiar sort of violence that had followed them to Pariah from the old world: wicked men who preyed on the vulnerable for their own gain. He could feel it in the depths of his gut, in the goosebumps on his arms, and in the hairs on his neck. He was rarely so sure of anything anymore as he was of this.

And then there was the issue Siegfried raised. His reservations were sensible, of course. Graves found himself nodding gently along with his objections despite giving his blessing to Seele just moments ago. If anything went wrong- anything at all- she could get hurt, or worse. Using live bait was risky business yet he couldn’t see any way out of it. Whoever it was that was taking these mages hadn’t been caught yet; hell, the authorities didn’t even know anything was going on, as far as Graves knew. These people, whoever they were, weren’t going to be caught easily.

“There’s no other way.” He looked to Sig, jaw set and eyes narrowed. “It’s a shitty hand but it’s the one we’ve gotta play. I don’t like puttin’ Seele in danger any more’n you do.”

Graves did his best to repress the memory of Enos, Atlas, and Aaginim’s final resting place. He hadn’t been there when they died; he’d be there this time. It’d be different. He was sure of it.

He turned then to meet Seele’s gaze. He couldn’t conjure the strength to match her smile; not with so much at stake. “We’ll stay outta sight but we’ll keep close enough to reach you if anything goes wrong. You’ll be alright. You have my word on that.”

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“Tha—”

This was not the time or the place for Seele to be throwing jokes around. She was gambling with her life and it wasn’t something that Siegfried took particularly lightly. This wasn’t a game. Not anymore, anyway, and throwing caution to the wind was something that just didn’t sit right with him. Graves stood with Seele in her idea, though, and even the impulsive warrior had to admit that made him nearly reconsider. Graves had gotten the group through so much, but… but that didn’t matter. Siegfried’s fists clenched so much the crack of his knuckles could be plainly heard and the expression on his face did not indicate he was okay with the idea despite indicating that they had no better ‘choice’. It was all BS. They didn’t need to play Sherlock Holmes for denizens or wayfarers!

All they needed to do was survive.

But how long could they just survive? It wasn’t particularly brave to just sit on their thumbs and just let what was going to happen happen and while Siegfried detested being called a coward it did not take a genius to see where this story arc was going. Losing Seele by letting her be stupid was a bad gamer move and a bad friend move; Siegfried was neither.

“I won’t allow it.” He grumbled as he looked dead at Graves, shooting back the same look he had given him. “It’s too risky. She might die. Come up with something else.”

Location: Laughing Worg Tavern -- City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

"You won't allow it?" Graves scoffed. The idea that Siegfried had any goddamn say over what they did was laughable. He'd said his piece and they'd out-voted him; that should've been it. But Sig had the gall to stare Graves in the eye and pretend he could, what, intimidate him into changing his mind? As Graves thought about it, in fact, he felt a laugh broil in his throat. It was a harsh thing, one laced with contempt rather than humor.

He felt himself begin to rise to his feet, eye contact never wavering. "She knows the risk- we all do. Last time we discussed this I thought we'd settled on actually doin' somethin' instead of hidin' away in this tavern until it burns down around us." This was a simple thing in Graves's mind: if Thorinn was safe, his people were safe. So long as these assholes were running around there was always a chance Alex or Seele or any of the rest could get nabbed- and there wasn't a thing Graves could do about it. But this gave him agency. Here, he'd be right behind Seele. Here, he'd be able to look those bastards in the eye and give 'em what they deserved.

Emboldened by his own sureness in his beliefs, Graves' choler rose. "You think you get to decide what's allowed? All due respect, you can either get in line or get outta the fuckin' way."

Location:The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Oh, dear.

There was a pattern here, and Seele felt silly for having not anticipated it. Part of her was touched by Siegfried’s concern, another part admired Graves’s conviction—but all of her loathed the idea of them fighting, especially now. There had been time to mend things after Graves and Kazuki butted heads, but if these two fought now they’d be too busy sweeping teeth off the ground to help anyone. Unacceptable. Seele rounded the table and planted herself firmly between them. She shot Graves a halting look that was, frankly, becoming familiar with him, and then gave the same to Siegfried.

“Stop it. Right now. Both of you,” she said sharply, yet paradoxically without edge. “We can’t sit here bickering with each other. We don’t have time for it, and neither do the victims.”
She noticed Siegfried’s hands were wound viciously tight—the poor boy looked like he might snap at any moment. “Siegfried.” Gently, she placed a hand over his fist, and leaned to be at-eyes with him. “I know it’s risky, and I know that risk means more now than ever. But we can’t sit here, and we can’t lose any more time thinking up something else. I’m sorry, we just can’t.”
on the
“Now, I trust Graves, and I trust everyone at this table. I trust them with my life, and that means you, too. I’m not asking you to share that trust, or understand it, or even support it. But you do have to accept it. I want you to be a part of this because I sincerely believe you can help these people, but I’m not going to force you, and I’m not going to judge you for choosing not to, just like I hope you’ll do the same for us.”

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

I’m not keen to play Batman with you guys.

Siegfried’s previous words echoed in his mind as Seele grasped his hands. Her hands were soft but firm, subtly provoking him away from shouting at Graves and telling him exactly how he felt. He looked into Seele, anxiously sighing as he did so. Who did he think he was here? It wasn’t like Seele was his sister, or whatever. She was an adult and she was gonna do what she was gonna do. The only way he could stop her would be to knock her out and tie her up in her room. An idle thought that he was never going to do. The guilt ate at him, but he also refused to accept that she was going to go on an exceptionally dangerous plan.

“No.” He grumbled as he forcibly broke from her hands and stood up from his chair. “Stop it. I won’t be part of this.”

“I’m out of here. Graves can plan for your funeral, because that's where he's sending you. Later.” His voice was rough, annoyed, and standoffish as he stormed out of the tavern. Not even his sister could say anything to stop him.

Location: Laughing Worg Tavern -- City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

There'd been a lot of arguments since the group came back to Thorinn. Tensions were high. Voices were raised. Sometimes shit got broken. But at the end of the day Seele or someone would step in and ensure nobody crossed the line- nobody put their hands on each other, no friendships were broken beyond repair. Graves was ordinarily fine with that. He was fine getting his point across n' letting bygones be bygones afterward. But Siegfried always pushed too far. Always knew just what buttons to press. Was a lot like Kazuki, in that way, except Kazuki always avoided the one thing that'd get his throat wrung:

He never went after Graves' ego.

It didn't take much to shove passed Seele. She was short, maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet. The only reason she'd ever stopped him before was because he allowed it. That last snipe from Sieg took hold of him like a viper. Graves stepped forward, one hand grasping Seele by the arm so she didn't fall on her ass. With determination in his step he followed after Siegfried, headed for the door. "Little goddamn brat. I can't keep 'em safe, is that it? Think you can do my job better n' me? You tell me somethin', Sig, who's party did we bury?"

A hand went down to the knife sheathed at his hip. "You got somethin' to prove. How 'bout we step outside n' fuckin' settle this?"

Location: The Laughing Worg Tavern, The City-State of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“Heh.”

A half-hearted chuckle left him as he smirked, stopping right before the door. He didn’t need to glance over his shoulder to know Graves was ready for what Siegfried was ready for.

“You’re dumber than everyone thinks you are. What a shocker.” He postured as he clenched his fists. It was a word that wasn’t said about Graves by really anyone in the party except for maybe Rael, but Siegfried knew it’d get the blood knight’s blood boiling. Every time people said the same thing about Siegfried it got under his skin so he knew it would work. He didn’t care. It was time to make a point. Back in Kansas, he might’ve squinted, but just like many times before he didn’t care if it was fight he was going to win or lose. Siegfried wasn’t even scared of the people back home, so why would an asshole like Graves bother him in a world where he was the Hero-Blacksmith of Thorinn? There was no chance.

Did he think he was a better man than Enos? Because he got lucky with the easier route in a dungeon? He wanted to roll his eyes.

“But yeah, sure, let’s go outside and settle it like men.” He turned his head with a blankness in his eyes. “You think I’m scared of you? I ain’t. I’ll kick your ass. Gladly.”

Seeing the expression on Graves' face was a sight. It wouldn't long until they were outside.

Location:The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Oh god oh no, never mind, no, this was a nightmare. This was a nightmare but she was awake and that wasn’t fair at all. At least with Kazuki they’d had the good sense not to lay hands on each other, but now it looked like sense was all but out the window.

Graves had caught her by the arm, which was good because she had been bound for the floor had he not. He threw the gauntlet down and Siegfried picked it up without hesitation. Seele looked desperately to Sif for help, hoping his sister might intervene and settle him down, she was the collected one after all. But that was a dead end, the girl didn’t look particularly composed herself, and something in her expression told Seele this was not an unfamiliar situation to her.

Fine, it was a fight then. Her friends were going to fight. They were going to punch each other, with their fists, or worse, and get all bruised and bloody and god why were they being so silly? And why was she resigned to it? No. She wasn’t resigned to it. She wasn’t resigned at all.

When Graves let go of Seele, she didn’t let go of him. He had height and weight on her, but when it came to make-believe worlds, size didn’t count for as much, at least not when magic was involved. A quick Thrill saw her strength buffed enough to hold onto him, and yank hard for his attention.
“Graves, enough, please,” she whispered. “This is not the time, and he is not the enemy. Tonight you get to beat up all the lowlife bozos you can get your hands on, and if you want to imagine they all have Siegfried’s face, you can do that. But so help me god if you do not let him walk out of here right now I will chain you to the floor.”