Mabel looks up as Kovu joins the group. There's something about those eyes and what little of his face she can see, it's alluring. She finds herself stealing further glances as the Huntsman talks with him.

The food doesn't bother Mabel much. The orange juice is real and the meat is about on par with the broxy her cheapskate great uncle buys. The roly-polys however, she pushes away from herself after the waitress wanders off.
(*Broxy is meat from an animal that died of disease.)

She notices the sketchy guys, but doesn't think much of them, except that they're creepy, until Ariel starts to sing a song making fun of them. She laughs like the tween she is, “Ooo, she got you!”

The men however don't take it well and pull out weapons. The Huntsman rises to confront them.

“Okay, we're doing this?” asks Mabel rhetorically. Obviously they're doing this, she reaches back and pulls her crossbow around (which she has because her great uncle wanted to make sure she was safe while in the woods around town). She aims for the weapon hand of the guy on the left, “Hey creepos! I think you ought to leave her alone! She's with us!”

She pulls the trigger. Her primary goal being to disarm or at least warn the guy, so non-lethal damage.

The bandits were not happy, that Ariel made the first move, and immediately brandished their weapons. Of course they did, sharks were quick to retaliate when they felt threatened. They moved towards Ariel. She prepared to respond, but then the Huntsman and Mabel stepped in and defended her.

Ariel smiled. The fact that these humans would defend someone they had only met today confirms what she already knew, and showed that her father was wrong. “Thank you so much!” She said to her new companions as she played another insulting song aimed at the other bandit she didn’t harm the first time, on her lyre.

Then, she played another song. This was one a more uplifting melody for the white haired woman who was closest to her.

The second bandit winces as Ariel's singing pierces his mind as well. He angrily speaks to the Huntsman in response, "Maybe harm wouldn't come ta her if she just left well enough alone!"

He swings his blade at the Huntsman...only for the blade to miss the Huntsman. The bandit's movements are clumsy. They are clearly untrained when it comes to any kind of combat, or any fighting whatsoever.

Kida wasn't sure how it had happened. One moment she was looking around the place with the intention of relaying her unease to the table, the next Ariel takes the spring on two people approaching a peasant. Kida is quick to reason that Ariel had a similar intuition as she did and had identified these two as the cause for the change of air. But this was a strange place, a new place, and it was unwise to jump head-first into a fight with people of unknown origin and unknown capabilities, so Kida hesitated. But it seemed not everyone at her table agreed with her hesitation as two others sprung to action after Ariel.

Ariel's insulting song was nothing but confusing to Kida but she figured there was ample time to question the woman about the customs of this place - or whatever place she might be from. Kida was getting the idea that none of the people at this table were actually from here. Maybe that made their sudden attack on the assumably local people even worse. Strangers were often not regarded kindly. They sure weren't in Atlantis. They'd be killed on sight.

Kida made a mental note that one of the name's was apparently Geeves as the Huntsman hurled himself towards the two, seemingly to attempt to shut the one up who let out a whistle. No doubt a secret signal. Perhaps to call for backup or deploy a secret weapon. Mable, this shipper child, revealed to be carrying a sort of ranged weapon. It seemed a strange mechanism but easy enough. Pull back a string, shoot an arrow-like projectile. She wondered briefly why she chose this weapon over a bow and arrow but perhaps it was just the custom where she came from. Ariel seemed to show a tendency to insult people by song - Kida couldn't help but feel even more confused at the strange woman. It was certainly an unknown way of interaction, let alone during the outbreak of a fight, to keep throwing insults. But it seemed to have some sort of effect on the foes they had chosen to fight so there must be a reasonable explanation for Ariel's choice of attack.

One of the two humans retaliated against the Huntsman but their blade swung wide and this was the moment Kida's feet carried her across the room. While she was closing the gap between them, her fingers produced a single dart from under her garments and the blade flew through the air target bound, hitting the one who had just attempted to attack the Huntsman. The blade sunk deep into the flesh of his lower arm causing blood to trickle out of the wound.

Not turning her attention from the two figures in black, Kida spoke to the civilians in this place. "Leave this establishment now." In any fight, leaving the enemy to a wide range of innocent hostages to grab at was not a good idea. Besides, a single strike not aimed true could be fatal to a bystander. This was not acceptable. Any of of these people could also choose a side at any point for any reason. She did not want to consider people at her sides and in her back as potential hurdles or, worse, enemies to keep in mind.

But what were they really hoping to achieve with this fight... She would not kill a stranger in a strange land where the rules and customs were unfamiliar to her. They had already drawn too much attention to themselves.

"My thanks." said Shang with a bow when his meal was brought to him. He was not expecting some of the meat in question to be in the form of a bug of all things. Of course he knew complaining would be rude to this kingdom's culture, so he kept his opinions to himself. Besides, for all he knew the bug was more delicious than it looked. The only way to know for sure was to try eating it. But he decided to save that for a bit later and instead start with the steak. That was something he was little more familiar with. Granted, he wasn't used to steak being served as a slab of this size, being more accustomed to it being served in smaller chunks within soup or noodles. But either way, it smelled tasty enough so complaints there.

The first thing he did was enjoy a drink of the tea he was given. Certainly not brewed the same way it was back home in Wuhou, and the specific leaves used for it gave it an unfamiliar flavor. But it was pleasant nonetheless, and the former captain exhaled a breath of satisfaction after his first sip. But before he could really begin his meal in earnest, some commotion began to disrupt the diner.

One of the ladies at a nearby table suddenly broke into a song that sounded like it was intended to insult a pair of men who had just entered moments earlier. Why anyone would do that was beyond him, but Shang was at least quick to notice the weapons the strangers brandished. Sure, being insulted was never pleasant but brandishing weapons definitely seemed like an overreaction. The second thing Shang noticed was the other strangers nearby who were quick to come to the singer's defense. First the child with her strange bow weapon, then the light-haired woman with her dart. The burly man at least seemed hesitant to start a fight in a public place.

And then one of the men tried to attack the man with their weapon.

Shang shook his head. This wasn't going to end peacefully, was it? He sighed, lamenting that his meal was likely to get cold by the time he was afforded a chance to actually eat it. But if people were going to attack with weapons, then he couldn't ignore it. And in a flash, Shang was on the move. He sprang up from his seat and dashed along the tables to the opposite end of the fighting, a good fifty feet by his estimation. Remarkably, Shang was able to seemingly skip along the tabletops with no difficulty whatsoever. Then when his feet was back on the floor properly he turned himself around and faced the men who had drawn their weapons.

"I'm only going to say this once," he said, widening his legs into a martial arts stance, "Put. Your weapons. Away. Take this outside if you have to, but anyone who wants to keep fighting inside of this establishment... will answer to me."

For Shi Long, free food tasted best. He would have to make it a point to thank whoever ordered this meal, assuming that they did so out of kindness and not some sort of treachery. The bugs were strange, but what Shi Long was more curious about was these sort of... Meat buns. Meat and vegetables betwixt slices of bread. Very curious. As Shi Long was enjoying the food however, one of their members stood up and began to poetically berate someone. He didn't know the initial context so the small spirit stood up to try and quell the redhead's strange fury, when the ruffians drew knives! Now things were getting out of hand.

Everyone at the table jumped in at the girl's defense, moving into attack the hooded folks. Shi Long was uncertain and honestly wanted nothing to do with this, but also understood that regardless of what would happen here, he was already implicated. He ate their food, and thus would be forced to share their burdens, guilt by association. And so Shi Long moved to get around the main bulk of the conflict, subtly grabbing his tools from his belt. "I don't rightly know what's going on, but why don't we all settle down? Surely this is just one big understanding! No need for anymore violence today, yeah?"

Though he says this, Shi Long was ready for a fight. Should any of the hooded folks continue hostilities by attacking the group, he would immediately lash out with a Thorn Whip, hopefully pulling them away and preventing them from hurting anyone. But if any of them simply runs or drops their weapons to flee, then Shi Long won't harm them.

Kovu completely devour his steak and was licking his paws clean when he realize some kind of conflict was happening around him. It seems to be centering around two humans dressed in black who had pulled out their weapons. The large human leader dashed off with swords in hand, then an arrow was shot off by another. From what Kovu could understand these humans were trying to intimidated the dark cloak troublemakers with force or persuade them from continuing their actions. Narrowing his eyes he left the remainder of his food behind and dash forward. Close enough range to get a good view of cloaked human, but too far for close combat.

Kovu leaned forward and let out a ferocious roar that filled the air of the area. The lion's eyes sharp glared pointed toward them and bore his sharp fangs to appear more intimidating. Yet they remained unaffected by his threatening roar. "Fearless one I see. It best to handle troublemakers like this by roughing them up and showing them who's stronger." There was a gravelly growl along with his words.

This was something Kovu was very familiar with. Scrambling for the limited amount of food in the Outland, skirmishing for available shelter, and asserting one's strength against those who were against him or the pride when intimidation didn't work. This meant one must fight until one dominated the other. This seems to be something that he had in common with humans. With the smooth motion of a trained predator about to kill its prey, Kovu pulled out a short bow and shot it at one of the bandits... it was a hit though he did aim for a non-fatal spot. He got in a rather animalistic fighting stance ready to fight back.

Thanks to blows from Kida's dart and Kovu's arrow, along with the vicious mocking from Ariel, the two bandits already look like they're in bad shape. The arrow and dart find purchase in a leg and an arm respectively.

The first bandit who received mockery from Ariel answered Shang, pointing at the peasant, "Look, our problem ain't with you! We just want to talk to that fella and ask him fer somethin'!" He then tries to slash at Shang in irritation, only to find that the Captain deftly blocked them.

The two bandits look to the entrance, expecting to see help arrive.

However, Kida's words reached the other diners before hand. Instead, they see the diners all screaming and scrambling to get out of the diner. The only one who hasn't left was the large peasant. He grabbed the scroll and puts it back in a satchel, but he finds that he can't leave his booth while everyone else is running past.

The party would be able to see that there are other figures in black coming their way, but they were blocked by the crowd. By the time the crowd dashed out and are out of the diner, the other bandits come in looking just as beat up as the first two.

The two bandits look to each other and they talk amongst themselves,

"What should we do?"
"....DAGNABBIT! The chance to see the Emperor ain't worth our lives!"

They then address the party, "We surrender! We'll back off! Just leave us alone!"

In all the suddenness of the situation, in how much it had caught him off guard, and in seeing someone that reminded him so much of Snow White in danger, the Huntsman had allowed himself to be caught up in the situation. And as the men in black explained themselves and eventually surrendered, the Huntsman remembered that despite the violent reaction from the men, Ariel had been the one to strike first. "Ariel?" The Huntsman asked as he began to lower his weapons. "Why did you attack these men?"

Ariel was proud of herself. Those men ran away in defeat. She had saved the man. Her moment of triumph did not last long. As soon as the Huntsman asked her why she had attacked those men, she was instantly reminded of her father. Was he going to reprimand her for something? “Those men were going to do something to that man.” She said defensively while gesturing to the peasant. “I was sure of it! I had to do something!”

The Huntsman nodded before addressing the surrendered men in black. "What were your intentions here?" The Huntsman questioned them. "You said you wanted to ask this man about a chance to see the Emperor, but my companion here seems to doubt that." As the men answered his question, the Huntsman studied them carefully to see if there was any truth to their answers and the true nature of their intentions if they were lying.

One of the attacked men answered the Huntsman, nodding to the peasant in question, "Yeah, that man has summons from Emperor Kuzco! That's a guaranteed ticket to speak with the Emperor himself. We wanted to ask that man for the summons, so we can see him,"

The other bandit continued the answer, "There's literally no other way for us to see him without a summons! We have to talk to him about the fact that we, and our families, are starving! We can't buy food honestly like this!"



The peasant in question is still in the diner, seeing and listening to all of this. Suffice to say, he looks shocked, and he is realizing that he was in danger just now.

After his intervention, the two people decided to surrender and Kovu cease what he was doing. He got the main goal of stopping whatever trouble they were causing. Without hesitation, he put his weapons away and stood in a less threatening stance. He remained alert for any sudden dangers. He glances over at the other humans stampeding out of the area in a somewhat panic blocking the exit before listening to the human's words towards the group leader huntsmen. He simply tilted their head at the notion of their family starving, it didn't make sense to him.

"There seems to be plenty of animals in the forest. Why not just eat that?" Kovu half wondered and half suggested. It wasn't like they were living in a place nearly devoid of life like the Outlands. The forest was brimming with life, so it was strange for them to be unable to get food in such ideal conditions.

The bandits look to Kovu when he asks them about simply hunting there. One of the bandits asked skeptically, “You’re kidding, right?”

The other bandit answered, “The jungle’s too dangerous! We’re not capable hunters, we’re just peasants! Cobblers, Weavers, Carpenters…!”

The first bandit finished, “We would die if we tried going into the jungles! There are jaguars, quicksand, and a great deal of other dangers in there,”

Mabel looked between the members of her group and the bandits in sight confusion, as some of her group demanded they stop the fight and the bandits ultimately gave up. Slowly she reattached her crossbow to her pack, still listening as the bandits explained their plight and their fears that they would die if they went into the forest. Mabel blinked, “Everyone says I'm just a little girl and I came here through the forest on my own."

When the commotion finally died and tensions finally began to fall, Shang straightened himself and relaxed... somewhat. One of the men questioned why the red-haired girl started all of this, and her answer was... facepalm-inducing. From Shang's interpretation it essentially boiled down to her having a hunch and deciding to act on it. And while he might have had something to say about that, a different conversation also caught his ear.

This time it was between the lion man and the two "bandits" who turned out to just be peasants. The lion man seemed to think they could just venture out into the jungle and hunt for food. And when the two men rightfully pointed out that they weren't trained hunters, the little girl piped up with a response of her own. This... was also facepalm-inducing. Plus Shang had to fight the urge to notice that it was two young women making such naive-sounding remarks.

"Ahem, excuse me..." Shang finally spoke up, "...do kids your age commonly carry hand-held projectile weapons where you're from?" he asked, hoping he wasn't sounding too patronizing, "Because where I'm from, they don't. And I'm willing to bet that is true for most places. You can't just assume that everyone around you is as skilled or well-armed as you yourself are."

"And, Miss?" He said, now facing the red-haired lass, "What exactly did you find suspicious? Their weapons? I carry a sword myself, does that make me suspicious as well? Well, never mind that I suppose." he turned his gaze to the direction of the original peasant. In all of this he was now realizing that no one had bothered to ask what he thought of all this.

"Please forgive the sudden interruption your meal, sir." Shang said to the man with a polite bow, "But I must admit that I'm curious to know. Have you truly been summoned by your Emperor?"

The disgruntled peasants stare at Mabel in disbelief after she made her comment that she went through the jungle just fine. They look at each other and they answered, reasoning out her words, "Well, yeah! If you stuck to the roads through the jungles, then of course you would have been fine. Going off of the road is what will kill you,"

Then Shang spoke up and spoke to both Mabel and Ariel. After he finished, the disgruntled peasants gestured to Shang with all of their arms as if to silently exclaim, "THANK YOU! Somebody understands! What he said!"

The peasant who had the summons, is now standing as Shang approached him, apologized, and asked his question. He answered Shang, while awkwardly trying to do the bow as well in return, "Ah, yes. Yes, I was summoned by Emperor Kuzco. I'm not sure why, though. Especially on his Birthday!"

He then looks to the disgruntled peasants, and he asks, "So, you wanted my summons to ask the Emperor for help?" After getting an affirmative nod from them, the peasant sighed, before digging through a coin purse, "The emperor's messenger provided this in case I was planning on staying in the city for the night. But, I'm planning to head home after I'm done with the meeting, so please use this,"

He pulls out a single gold piece and gives it to the disgruntled peasant bandits.

They looked shocked before the bandit answered, "Thank you! You're so kind!"
Another bandit spoke up, "But...that won't be enough for all of us..."

The kind peasant apologized, "I'm sorry. That's all I can spare...

“Well sure, I found the road eventually,” commented Mabel as the bandits claimed that was the only way to survive the jungle. Shang jumped in, and Mabel looked a little disgruntled at his questioning, though the bandits seemed to appreciate it. As he moved onto questioning Ariel, she sat back and mumbled to herself, “What's wrong with my crossbow?”

Interestingly, the peasant they'd been stalking took this all with compassion and offered the men a gold coin. They expressed dissatisfaction at the small amount, though in Mabel's opinion guilt tactics might work better if they hadn't been ready to throw down their fellowmen or gut Ariel at the slightest provocation. But on the other hand, it was true that Ariel had started it. She tried to shove that thought aside, “It's more than you came here with though, and maybe he'd be willing to bring your message to the emperor? It seems like there might be a few issues around here.” She glances at the bowl of Rolly-Pollys.

Ariel did not appreciate Shang’s questioning. She could admit that she acted impulsively, but what was she supposed to do? Leave an innocent man in potential danger? “If what they say is true, then why did they need to arm themselves in the first place? Let alone have their weapons concealed.” Humans were definitely strange creatures for sure. Then she walked up to the men. “Um… I’m sorry for hurting you…”

The bandits look ashamed when Mabel pointed out that receiving the gold coin was more than what they came in to begin with. Upon hearing her suggestion about the green poncho wearing peasant relaying the message, he answered, "Of course. I'm willing to bring the message to the Emperor,"

When Ariel asked about why they were armed, the disgruntled peasants abashedly hid their weapons and started whistling innocently. When Ariel apologized for attacking them, they looked surprised for a moment before they waved if off,

"Ah, it's fine. Your senses were actually on point, anyways,"
"Yeah, and it wasn't as bad as what we could have gotten from the Emperor,"

At this, the green poncho wearing peasant looks surprised and simply asks, "What?"