Avatar of GambolMuse

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7 mos ago
Current Back on my "pining for fictional women" shtick!
7 likes
7 yrs ago
If I owe you a post, it's coming! Been a very busy week but finally settling down!
8 yrs ago
The adult in me says sleep, the kid in me wants to play NieR. The kid's winning D:
3 likes
8 yrs ago
youtube.com/watch?v=7RzA_Oom.. All of my yes. Love this theme <3
1 like
8 yrs ago
If you've not had a chance to watch "Your Name" yet, highly recommend!

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This is a bio, it has bio-like things.

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"S-Still though... You're the first of your kind! Who cares if other people did it? No one else on your world can s-say they did what you did," Haku argued, trying to help build T'charrl up a little bit. He sincerely did think it was cool, how many people could ever claim what his friend could? To someone like him, a Saiyan, it was normal to go to space, everyone did it. To them it was just as normal as people on Earth driving cars, or probably people on Uuonoe flying around in their little shuttles between cities. To them that was all normal but no one on T'charrl's world had ever gone to space, it was the first ever. Come to think of it he had never seen T'charrl's world for himself and now he sort of wanted to. From what he had been told it was a world with some cities both above and underground, the latter being nothing he had ever seen before, and massive trees everywhere. It sounded interesting if nothing else, maybe they could visit once this planet was taken care of.

The first thing Yumi did upon arrival was promptly rush to the building where Viral and Shu were, giving the former a hug and checking on him. Aside from some minor injuries he seemed largely okay and, unsurprisingly, he became flustered and tried moving her away when she hugged him. Already ahead of that she obliged by letting go and going to check on Shu instead, just as worried he may have been injured or something. When she got closer to him it finally occurred to her that he was quite smelly, her face wrinkling up in disgust before she had to pinch her nose with an apologetic smile. "Very smelly is an understatement. Sorry, this new nose makes it really hard to not notice things," she said, reaching with her free hand and giving Shu's head an affectionate pat, "And that's okay, food isn't that big of a problem. I'm just glad everyone is okay, that's what's important. Besides I think these people are going to give us food, isn't that great?" She did hope they weren't imposing or taking more than they had to offer, as goodness knows they could eat quite a lot, but these people seemed dead set on giving them a meal now.

"We have little choice there I suppose, I have no real tools with me. I'm glad you weren't seriously injured though, I was a bit concerned when Takeshi came back. Having to listen to him try and explain it one would think you'd lost a limb or something..." Far be it from Takeshi to accurately describe something, or be reliable in reporting for that matter. There were a lot of things the boy was, articulate or patient were not one of them. Knuckleheads aside there was some doubt as to the effectiveness of their naturalistic medicines here, particularly considering the differences in anatomy between them and the natives. Could they really even treat something as simple as some gashes? Viral didn't seem to be terribly injured nor in discomfort from their treatments and he even went as far to chastise Vegeta for questioning it. Smiling slightly he nodded once, rubbing the back of his head as he closed his eyes. "You're right, I shouldn't be so critical, not when they're doing us a favor. If you do need anything though let me know. I don't doubt they can help but they've also never treated someone like us I'd imagine, there may be things they miss."

After some time of being in the healer's shack a pair of locals finally came to fetch everyone: the food had been gathered and prepared by the central fire for them to enjoy. As the group moved back out and reached the fire they would find that indeed a veritable buffet had been prepared for them with plenty of different types of foods ready for them. Some of them were things most would likely not touch, clearly insectoid in nature and even fewer still were twitching as they lay on the platter. The majority of the foods appeared to be plant material, fruits and small slabs of some kinds of meats, all dark and still smoking from having been roasted over an open flame. It appeared there was too much food even for the lot of them until more of the village showed up, all apparently in attendance to celebrate the arrival of the travelers. They had slain a beast preventing them from hunting after all, and with that gone there was no longer the threat of a potential famine looming overhead, they no longer had to rely solely on crops.

"Family, friends, guests, please enjoy!" the Chieftain declared, raising his arms as a few of his people threw in some discolored logs into the flame, causing them to turn green, then blue and white with audible crackles before turning to its regular hue. "The chilopoda is slain, we are free to hunt! Free to trade, to roam, land is ours again! Tonight celebrate, enjoy freedom! Tomorrow Dark Ones fall as well and world becomes ours once more!" A chorus of clattering and scraping sounded off the celebration and then they began to dig in, signaling it was more than time for the others to do so as well. For his part the Chieftain took a seat on a seat fashioned from an old stump, having been brought a platter of food to enjoy. Grabbing a large slice of a fruit he raised it in a toast to the travelers and, if he could smile he would have, nodding before digging in.
"I have no idea, I haven't had a chance to look into them yet. Being able to scale the building somehow is safer and faster, we just have to figure out how..." Rarely was the front entrance ever ideal, and if the palace was crawling with guards the more they passed the greater a chance their cover would be blown. Then there was that Fiona woman to worry about and Caelan would much rather they didn't cross paths with her at all. Wracking his brain for a plan he looked to Regol as the map was brandished, following his gestures and nodding understandingly at what was being proposed; find the courtyard and scale up there. That made sense, it was little more than a garden he imagined and there would be no real reason for guards to patrol there. That wasn't to say it would be utterly devoid of guards, but it should be far easier than going through the entire palace.

"Just keep the map out a second longer, let me memorize it," Caelan mumbled, his eyes pouring over every detail, every hallway and doorway he could manage to glean from it. Often times when seeking treasure with a group you only had a single map among everyone and, as he'd found, rarely did people share or even provide wholly accurate replications. For his own sake then he had gotten into the habit of memorizing maps as best he could so he could navigate without one, and compared to some labyrinths he'd been in the palace's layout was remarkably simple. A cuple of branching halls that in large circled back around on themselves and for the rest it was like a grid, easy to remember. Gesturing for the map to be stored away he made a mental of note where they were now for future reference, even going as far to look at whatever paintings or plants might be in the corridor, anything for a mental snapshot. "So the courtyard, then up to whatever windows we can reach. Really wish we knew the schedule for the guards, post changes and all that. Would make sneaking around so much easier."
I think you have a legitimate reason though :P
Haku had wondered about that too, how anyone had managed to miss the fact that there were in fact people living here. How would they not have seen the villages or anyone else for that matter? Seemed odd to him but if they had someone to guide them now he couldn't much complain. Plus these people should be someone that T'charrl could make friends with, or even his people could make friends with; Haku didn't want to have to worry about T'charrl making new friends and forgetting him but he did know that was also terribly selfish of him. "O-Oh... Your people don't go into space either... So that... Makes you the first?" That was kind of amazing to be able to claim something like that, it was much more than he'd ever be able to say of himself. Saiyans had been going into space for generations and generations and they had done most everything he could imagine, there wasn't much left for him to do. "Oh w-well... Yeah they should be happy about that. And you never know... M-Maybe they'll want to see more, if we show them? We have some stuff with us, they might want it?" If nothing else Haku figured it would be nice to have some more friends, and maybe someday have some allies for his people. That's something to work forward too right?

"Village just ahead, we land before and walk in," one of the scouts directed back to the group, pointing ahead with their spear. From a distance it appeared as nothing more than a rise off in the distance, the faintest of glows at the base of it. Drawing nearer however revealed that a village indeed rested there, albeit not the largest of villages by any stretch. Just as they had been told the majority of the buildings themselves rested along the wall of the rockface while the ground was largely dedicated to farmlands and a few buildings that couldn't quite be moved so easily. Descending upon the village some might wonder what the foul smell near the gates was, and the remains of the carcass of the beast slain earlier had been brought in: pieces of the creature could be used for medicines, believe it or not, and losing it would be terrible. So unpleasant as the stench may be they would have to deal with it for a brief while, until it was cleaned and the remains stored away anyways.

"See? I told you there was a village here! And uh... Oh jeez..." Takeshi was going to mention where their friends were until the smell hit his nose and made him gag, having to once again cover his mouth and nose to keep from hurling. Seriously why were those people keeping this crap? He really hoped they weren't planning on eating it, no one was that nuts right? Following the scouts as they doubled back towards the healer's shack he blinked once when the Chieftain emerged before them, having forgotten for a second how much bigger the guy was than the others of his kind. "Well here's my friends, uh... Chief. Turns out we weren't too far from the village anyways, probably would have found this place eventually."

So these were the traveler's friends then? They were all so very different, far different than the last visitors they had. One in particular almost seemed as though he belonged more with them than his companions, like they were almost out of place. Then again they knew nothing of the world beyond so perhaps this was normal. "Welcome travelers to our village. Small, but it is home, and we welcome you to it," he said as he placed his hands together before bowing and spreading his arms apart, the two scouts copying this gesture. "We know why you are here, and we help how we can. As we speak food is prepared and will be served, eat by the fire tonight and celebrate and prepare. So please, make yourselves comfortable."

Yumi was already way ahead of the Chieftain there as she walked past him and the scouts, making a beeline straight for the healer's home. Pushing the curtains apart to get inside she glanced around briefly and was relived to see both Shu and Viral there, the latter certainly a bit injured but otherwise unharmed. Sighing to herself she went to Viral first, leaning over and placing her arms around his shoulders in a hug, her head resting on his shoulder. "Thank goodness, I'm glad you're okay," she mumbled, smiling at him as she let go and gave him a pat on the back, "And before you complain I touched you and gave you cooties or whatever, I was worried, people hug when they're worried. Get used to it." If it were anyone else she would probably just keep a hold of them but it would probably give her friend a heart attack if she were to do that. Resisting the urge to hug him again she looked over at Shu, smiling and giving him a little wave before gesturing for him to come over. "Are you okay? You didn't get hurt too did you? Come here, let me see."

"I'm sure he's fine Yumi, otherwise the healer would be working with him too," Vegeta interrupted as he too entered the building, pausing briefly to glance at the containers scattered about the place. Certainly a more traditional medicine man if he'd ever seen one, using nothing but plants and fluids to treat his patients. A lost art form really, there weren't many doctors back on Earth who used wholly natural remedies to treat people anymore. Seeing Viral sat there and partially bandaged up he came over to appraise the damage for himself, relieved that all of the wounds appeared to be surface injuries at most and nothing terribly serious. "How are you feeling? I can perhaps help with those wounds if you want, though I don't doubt these people know what they're doing. Their anatomy is different than yours however, treatment from them may be... Lacking." It was a touch curt and perhaps even rude but it was the truth, treating aliens wasn't easy if you didn't know how their bodies worked. Then again if all Viral had were superficial wounds it would be as easy as causing them to coagulate and seal up on their own.
You take as long as you need to relax and get settled in! We've been around this long and we'll wait a bit longer if we must :)
"Easier to speak than to do, as a warrior you know this," the Chieftain spoke plainly, "No way to contact, no way to reach stars where travelers come from. Last visitors have many brilliant things, things we never could dream of having. Tools to cook food, weaponry excellent at fending off beasts. But we don't possess anything like those, we are too... Too..." He couldn't think of a word beside 'lesser' and that wasn't remotely what he wanted to say. Otherworldly machines and tools didn't make a warrior powerful, it was the way one honed their body, mind and spirit. So they were not lesser, they just didn't live as others did. Hearing their battling the Dark Ones would be moot stung the pride quite a lot, they had never backed down from an enemy. They had even managed to "kill" one of the beasts before, albeit with casualties, so it wasn't as though they were utterly powerless. "Even if we wish to seek help outside, other communities not as open. Others too prideful, some too cautious. We are one of but a few who have had travelers... Or, had travelers and not try to kill. We understand you are not enemy but others will not, may never. It is why we cannot unite, and why we cannot be among the stars."

All things told Takeshi had managed to get out of there relatively unharmed and without Yumi mauling him. Of course that might change when she saw just how banged up Viral was though it wasn't like he had any life threatening injuries. Rather than dart off as quickly as he had this time he slowed himself along with the others, the natives taking the lead to make sure they got back. The sun was now well out of view and with it the dull glow they had used to navigate earlier, nothing but the moon high above giving faint illumination to the expanse beneath them. Good thing they had the guides as otherwise they were in large flying in the dark at the moment. Almost not even seeing T'charrl come up alongside him, jumping slightly in mid-air before smiling sheepishly at his own idiotic reaction. "Not exactly... Know those plateaus we've seen all over the place? Their village is kinda at the bottom of one, and they built on the side of it too. Hard to see from up above, you know? We probably passed over a couple on our way out here." Which had to make him wonder just how many of their kind knew about their arrival? The last thing Takeshi was wanting was for a crowd of these bug people to start showing up, the very idea got his skin crawling.

"H-Hey T'charrl... These people, they're uh... They're like you," Haku pointed out, smiling nervously as he looked at the backs of the scouts. "I mean they're... Bug people, right? Maybe... Maybe your people and theirs should try and uh... I don't know, be friends? Allies?" He had never seen people like T'charrl's until he met his friend and, far as he knew, this was the first time T'charrl had any seen others either. It must be nice seeing someone that was more similar to you though after being surrounded by humans and Saiyans for so long. If these people didn't exist apparently, or no one knew about them, would they be able to do that though? He had been on worlds before where they didn't have space travel and it always seemed odd, it was such a common thing to him all of his life and not having it... Well it was just strange. "M-Maybe... We should try helping these people? I mean wouldn't that be kind of cool? Y-You could... Uh... Kind of be an ambassador or something."
"There are larger settlements, with hundreds of people, many more than our own. But too many ideas, too many worshiping different gods, no agreement. Work together in dire times but ignore others other times. Unless we fight, which not happen for long time thankfully." Peace wasn't that rare a thing but it was often disrupted, which the Chieftain supposed the creatures were a blessing in that regard; no one wanted to fight not knowing what would come next, this unknown enemy had done wonders for uniting them. Shame it took fear to do it, but he couldn't complain about his men not having to go off and battle. "Their own world? They come from another too? Like you?" the alien asked in confusion, tilting his head and giving it a scratch, "No understand... We have those from other world before, still don't understand from where they come. If there is way to kill though... Please, find it. If they attack again we must be ready, cannot allow monsters to drive us from our homes. Will not allow it."

Takeshi didn't know what else to expect when he arrived with the news other than being smacked and told he had been an idiot. Which to be fair he had been, it wasn't up for argument like normally, he'd clearly been the one at fault here. As if it wasn't shameful enough having to tell them about it himself. Picking himself up off the ground he cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing back at the scouts before smiling sheepishly at T'charrl. "Uh... Well we fly, and it's not too far really. Took us a while on foot but I flew here in... I don't know, 3 minutes? Something like that. We gotta pass through the forest and get to the other side is all, not too bad. And uh... I mean we could walk, or we can fly. Flying's faster honestly and we're probably better off. I mean who knows what's in the woods, you know?"

"I would imagine our guides would know," Vegeta pointed out, kicking dirt into their fire to snuff it out. Once he was satisfied it was thoroughly extinguished he looked at Eris and Orion curiously while pointing up to the sky lazily. "Up to you two, we're all capable of flight, you're not. Carrying you would be an easy task for us if you don't mind flying."

"I'm sick of flying, we were crammed in that ship on the way here so I've had my fill. I'll run on the ground after you, thanks," Eris answered with a grin, "Just because I can't use Ki like you doesn't mean I'm hopeless, I'm plenty fast on the ground once I get up to full speed. You won't have to worry about me, and the big oaf here can keep up with me too. He might not seem it but he can be faster than he looks."

Orion rolled his eyes as Eris vouched for his speed, folding his arms and lifting his head a bit proudly. "Patronizing aside she isn't wrong, I'm perfectly capable of running under my own power. I'll remain on foot with Eris, we'll follow close behind. It makes sense to have eyes on the ground anyways, if there are any of those beasts down below it would be impossible to see them over the treetops."

"Fair enough, then it seems like we'll be flying, and you two can be our eyes on the ground. If that's settled we should get moving as soon as possible, the longer we wait the worse the situation could become." They didn't even know the current situation really and wouldn't until they reached the site of the rift, until then it was a mystery. Though with luck the local residents had some news for them, anything to go off of for their search. Rising up into the air he glanced at the others as they did the same, "Everyone keep your eyes open, if we see anything out of the ordinary we should investigate it, even if it means putting off the village. They should be fine there, preventing a calamity takes slight precedence here."
We will wait patiently for your return! O7
What an odd person, that one was. Why was he so eager to leave his comrades behind? The Chieftain assumed it was to alert the others and bring them here but there was a distinct nervousness about him too. Not giving it much of a second thought once Takeshi left he moved into the building and sat his large frame down on a chair, the wood groaning in protest but managing to somehow remain together. "They have been here... Week? And there have been strange things, yes. An entire village vanished, no trace. Not just destroyed, destroyed would make sense. We travel there to investigate and find nothing. Flat land, like it never existed. No survivors, none we've found. Dark Ones seen occasionally but not often, only in certain areas. Don't know why they are here." It appeared as though these people had some inkling as to why that was, or at least had the intention to find out why. While it wasn't fitting to let strangers fight your battles the Chieftain did recognize they were outmatched by these beasts, and having slain one of those wretched chilopadas they seemed more capable than any of his own warriors.

"Medical attention easy. Other villages help too, if need be. Rarely work together but Dark Ones make us, we band together in dire times to survive. You have my village's support, and I will ask others as well. Whatever is needed you will have." He would promise troops as well if he thought it would do any good. Their weapons had been largely ineffective and, loath as he was to admit it, the one they had killed had likely been purely luck. There was the small issue too of the beasts turning to smoke when slain which was something none of them had ever seen, and there was no way of knowing what it meant. "Dark Ones... When they die, they turn to smoke. Does this mean they are dead? Or do they leave? Used to animals bleeding when slain, body remains behind as the spirit passes on. But these... It is like they do not exist. How do you defeat something like this?"

If there was one upside to being the one going back it was Takeshi could fly this time, which meant covering ground was far easier. The aliens were able to fly to and, impressively enough, kept decent pace with him so long as he didn't really push it. He did have to ignore the beating of their wings behind him as the sound made his skin crawl but that wasn't too hard, he just had to stare at the ground to block out the sounds. In what took them maybe an hour to travel on foot he and the scouts had covered in just minutes, and before long he was beginning to see some awfully familiar terrain. Sure enough after 7 minutes had elapsed there was a glow from within the forest and a small tower of smoke, the spot where their camp had been set up. Slowing himself down he dropped towards the ground first with the aliens following suit seconds later, landing just at the edge of the camp. The confused looks he got from everyone hardly instilled confidence in him, and what Yumi said next had him all sorts of nervous.

"Where are Shu and Viral...?" Yumi asked with a frown, getting up from her seat and watching as the two scouts landed as well. Who the heck were they? They were some kind of bugs from the looks of them too which made it all the more confusing to see Takeshi with them. When she didn't get an answer immediately she approached Takeshi, smiling politely when the guards seemed to tense up and putting her hands up as a show of trust. "I just want to ask my friend here where the others are. Three of them left earlier and he's the only one back, I'd like to know why," she explained, looking at Takeshi as her lips flipped into a frown, placing her hands on her hips expectantly.

Takeshi swallowed back nerves before smiling, rubbing at his neck as he glanced towards the others. "Well uh... You see, we were looking for food like we said we would be, but we didn't find anything. While we were looking we sort of ran into this... Thing. It was some centipede thing, and it uh... Well it tried to eat us," he began, and noticing the surprised look on Yumi's face he quickly waved his hands to try and dismiss whatever she was thinking, "We killed it! No one got eaten, we're completely fine. Uh... I mean we're mostly fine. Viral sort of... Well he got some scrapes and cuts, and I kind of screwed up and... It's my fault?" Not exactly how his admission was supposed to go but it was hard to speak with Yumi looking at him like that. Smiling meekly he pressed his fingers together as Shu had often done, wincing when he was smacked over the head and ended up face down in the dirt, the back of his head throbbing dully.

"Viral was hurt and you just left? What are you an idiot?" Yumi snapped, glaring down at Takeshi.

"N-No! I mean yes I'm an idiot, but no, I didn't just leave! He's being taken care of!" Takeshi said quickly, looking up nervously as he expected to be struck again. "The thing we killed was giving these guys trouble, so they're thanking us by helping treat his wounds. But uh... Well I think they know where those things we're chasing are. And they wanted us to kill them too, so I figured we could go back there and uh... Well do it?"

"Chieftain has also promised food, feed all of you for help," one of the scouts chimed in, holding their spear against their shoulder for comfort, "Come with us, feed you and place to rest. Then tomorrow we show where Dark Ones are, where they travel. We cannot fight but we can show, and we do anything else you need."

"So assuming these 'Dark Ones' are the same creatures we're after, you can show us where to find them?" Vegeta asked, making sure he had heard correctly. This seemed a touch unusual as they had been told there was no kind of civilization on this world, yet clearly that information was wrong. They didn't appear to be a hostile sort however if they were promising food and helping Viral, or if they were they were going to painstaking odds to portray otherwise. "Then I guess there's been a change of plans, hasn't there? Unless anyone objects to us going with these people?"

Haku shook his head as soon as the question was asked, placing a hand on his growling stomach. "I just want something to eat, that's all. Fighting on an empty stomach would r-really stink..." Fighting at all was going to stink but he'd committed to doing this, against his better judgment he might add. He was still convinced he was more of a liability by being here than anything but he had to try and man up, otherwise he'd just spend all his time running away and cowering. Though running away did sound awfully nice right now...

"Food and a fight? As if you had to ask!" Eris shouted, grinning toothily as she sprang to her feet.

"The sooner we find these beasts the better. And... I wouldn't hate a meal either," Orion added, getting up and stretching out his heavy frame, "Just lead the way and point us in the right direction, these creatures need to be slain before long."
Stupid Shu, though he was right about the not apologizing part. He'd never really had to do it before in his defense, living alone and whatnot. Plus he hadn't exactly been brought up to apologize now had he? Wasn't his fault. It must have been funny for the younger boy however to recognize Viral needed an apology as well where it hadn't even crossed Takeshi's mind yet, and likely never would. That wasn't to say he didn't feel bad for the ordeal but he didn't think an apology was going to do anything for it. The most he could do at this point was make himself useful and go get the others since it sounded like these people were going to feed them for their efforts. Even with it being an alien world he still knew the general direction from which they had come and, if he was going with some scouts like the big guy had said, it would be even easier to get there and back. He'd kind of prefer to do it without the help of the scouts however if it could be helped as he was still having a little trouble with their being bug people. He was only finally getting used to T'charrl now and suddenly there were more?

"Save planet...? Are the Dark Ones this dangerous?" the Chieftain asked, exchanging a look with the healer before rubbing his head, "I see... Rest tonight, we feed you and mend wounds. Tomorrow your strength recovers, we will show you where beasts come from and do what we can to help. If you can slay them then we will owe you all great debt." If they were travelers he wasn't sure if there was anything they would need or they could offer that would be worthwhile. Food perhaps? Their weapons weren't needed if they had killed that monster without them, and they didn't have many items that would probably considered valuable by an outsider. "Whatever your price, tell me and it is yours. We will be sure to pay for your help, I swear on this."

"We don't gotta be paid for this, don't worry about it," Takeshi interjected with a smirk, squirming slightly when the Chieftain looked at him. Ugh, those beady black eyes... "Er... We came here not thinking there was anyone here, you know? So uh... We'll do it for free, we've fought them before, we know what we're doing. Shouldn't be too hard." Then again they had never had to seal one of the rifts before and who knows what the hell that sort of thing entailed.

Ah, so the meek one did speak, that was good. And hearing they wished for no payment was certainly a touch odd, even more that they had come here to kill the Dark Ones for no reason but simply to do so. It was odd, seeing someone so selfless, and the Chieftain had something of a hard time believing it was completely genuine. "Well... We will try, it is only right to reward, dangerous beasts, the Dark Ones. Fighting them should not be taken lightly." To his two guards the Chieftain spoke in their own tongue, and it made one have to wonder how they had learned the common tongue if they had their own language. He had asked them to prepare to leave with Takeshi, looking at the Saiyan in question. "Show them your camp, they will guide others back. We keep your friends healthy and safe, we wait for your return."

"Seriously, we don't need anything, we're here to kill these things for free," Takeshi repeated, shrugging before looking at the two smaller aliens. Ugh, the way their eyes bore into him when they looked at him, and those freaky mouths... Smiling nervously he rubbed at his neck before glancing at the door, mistakenly conveying he was ready to leave as they exited the building. Blinking once he let out a sigh, smiling at Shu and Viral before giving a small wave and following them out. Seeing the two guards spread their wings made his stomach churn for the second time yet he managed to keep it down this time, groaning before shaking his head and simply rising up into the air. Surely he got some odd looks just then as he lifted off without any wings like them but they were quick to follow suit, Takeshi leading the way out of the village and back towards their friends.
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