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Penelope and Gunther “Y-you really won’t toss me outside?” Hanikap whimpered. “It’s so scary out there. Lord Gaston, the scary flying thing, the wolfydog…” He held his head. “I just… Just wanted to be better, is all. In a better situation. I thought, if I followed Lord Gaston, some of what he had would rub off on me.” He licked his lips, slipping back into his accent. “I ain’t meant for things to get this bad. And now I… I just…” The man sniffled. “I jes’ wanna forget this e’er happened!” He glanced between both Penelope and Gunther. “If’n you can promise to protect me afterward, ‘specially from that angry-lookin’ boy just now. I’ll tell ye everyfing I know. But it ain’t much, I tells ya.” Alois First, Edrick ran out of the room and entered the master bedroom to climb down the window there. Then Citron clambered out of the window in the smaller bedroom they stood in, landing on the roof of the dovecote below and leaving Alois alone up top. Edrick’s way was safer. Citron’s way was faster. It did not take a sage to guess which way Alois would choose. He vaulted out of the window to drop directly onto the roof below. Before the fighter could finish the leap to the ground; he saw another person near the roof he stood on. An unfamiliar young woman with her hair tied up in a bonnet climbed up the side of the wall, arms and legs spread wide like a spider. She held up a hand with several kitchen knives fanning out like silver claws before she threw them all at once down on the ground. A brief flash of satisfaction crossed her face when Link shielded his own face, but she spared no further time to gloat. Instead, she took that opportunity to climb directly below where Alois was standing. The woman cast the boy a quick glance but said nothing, swinging into the window like a trapeze artist and closing the door. Raki The first thing Raki saw upon entering the kitchen was the notable lack of the woman, Dille, who was here before. Next was the knife rack lying on its side, empty of knives. Lastly was the window to his left, swung ajar and shaking slightly from the vibrations caused by the motions outside. Were he to look out and up, he might glimpse the same woman Alois had seen, and perhaps recognize her. But the kerfuffle outside the window was more likely to seize his attention. Edrick, Link, and Citron Miscreant (Intro) - Fire Emblem Awakening Edrick was fast catching up with Pylauses Gaston, but the man did not have the look of a wounded deer fleeing from the hounds. He did not snort in fear, his eyes did not roll backward, he did not even gasp for breath. No, instead his eyes were dark and glittering with anticipation. He was the hound. Perhaps that should have been the first sign that something was off. But his blustery demeanor had thrown everybody off. A fool is a fool, and not to be taken seriously. That is what everybody says. He reached Peaches, but instead of balking, he pivoted to let her stand between him and his pursuers, dropping both bow and sack. And then, he grabbed each of her legs, one giant hand per leg, and lifted. Miscreant - Fire Emblem Awakening For a second, the man stopped. It looked as if the weight of the wyvern would be too much. But then he clenched his teeth, his muscles bulging with the effort. Peaches ascended into the air outside of her own volition. Pylauses’s eyes turned bloodshot from the effort as, with one last roar, he held the wyvern above his head, shirt ripping open and falling from his torso in tatters. The group then beheld the full extent of Gaston's strength. He was built like a boulder, his waist showing off a six-pack. The man’s body shook from the effort of holding Peaches up. He roared again, spittle flying from his mouth as his muscles bunched in anticipation. And then, with a savage heave, he threw the wyvern at both Link and Edrick. Even if the two avoided the throw, they would lose precious time in doing so. Time enough for Pylauses to surge forward in this game of hunter and hunted. Gaston did not stop to look and see if Peaches smashed into either of the two. The man, now gasping for breath, picked up both bow and sack and continued to run. It didn’t take long before he reached one of his horses—the lighter, cream-colored one. The silver bay snorted and stepped away as soon as it saw its owner, hoof kicking out. The man growled and bound the sack to the other horse. He vaulted over the side and clumsily planted himself in the saddle. Pylauses backed the horse out of the open stable and whipped the reins forward with one hand, the other still holding the bow. The horse whinnied and raced forward like the wind given physical form. Gaston was getting away. Tsetseg (and Cora) Acantha hurried into her house, and for a long, tense minute, it was just Cora and Tsetseg standing outside. And then the girl exited, a scowl on her face, before hurrying to the back. A few minutes later, she returned atop a handsome chestnut stallion. “Let’s go. Phai will catch up soon.” The redhead matched the others’ speed, and her hands loosely gripped the reins, but the crease in her brows bespoke her impatience. Eventually, Cora’s house came into view again. Only her father, Posostro, stood in front of them now. “Heyo, I see you found Acantha!” He smiled. “The missus went off to gather the rest of the militia. They’ll be guardin’ the other way, in case this is a ruse or summat. So you can have no worries. The village’ll be well-protected.” “Well, I suppose that’s the least she could do, as head of the militia,” Acantha muttered. Posostro laughed. “As sharp-tongued as ever. Yer mother chose well in namin’ ye.” Acantha flushed. “That’s…” She glared. “Never mind. Just hurry and get Abel!” The man chuckled and left, returning soon after with Abel in hand. “Here,” he held her reins out to Cora. “He’s all yours.” “Yeah, yeah, let’s get going already,” Acantha snapped, then turned to Tsetseg. “You’ll slow us down if you remain on foot for much longer. Get on a horse with one of us. Pick whichever!” OOC I'm back!

Things moved fast, a little faster than Edrick had been prepared to deal with. He was expecting the man to do the sensible thing and surrender when he was caught between an armed man and a Wyvern, and yet... well even if this Gaston figure wasn't much of a noble he was certainly tasty in a fight. A shot to the Wyvern's chest, a headbutt to the underside of her jaw, and apparently he had help from somewhere. Someone throwing kitchen knives after them before the "noble" started running. Well at least this was something he could act on! Before Link had even finished shouting for him he was running. Boot-clad feet pounding against the ground as all the complications of the past week melted away from his mind. The fresh wounds on his chest? He might as well not have had them. The stress over being far from home? He forgot it in the moment. Questions about his faith and his place in it? None of that mattered in the face of what was happening right now. He'd been too slow to keep a thief from stealing Elba off his farm. He was not going to be too slow to stop Catriona being kidnapped. "Rapscallion, huh?!" He shouted afterwards as he bolted down the street after the maroon-clad bastard. "I guess you're as bad at judging character as you are with language!" He didn't think that was going to do much, but even the slightest distraction one way or another was hopefully enough for him. And as soon as he managed to get in reach of the older man? Well then he was just going to keep things simple. No stabbing, no sweeping, nothing with the lance at all actually. He just planned to run up and tackle him to the ground.

Raki was just slightly less startled than Hanikap as the roar echoed inside the dining hall, even if his reaction was much more subdued in comparison. Less of a "we'll all die" run and more a "who in Inera's name let a new arrival out" turn of the head. Not that he was very happy about being nearby an angry wyvern, especially after what had happened that day, but at the very least the scream wasn't Garinphasia's. Of that much, he was sure. On the other hand, he thought while Hanikap darted away beyond his ability to react, 'I know of only another wyvern in the area.' Worse yet, the roar had sounded... pained. "We should see what's the matter, this could be trouble." Raki was inclined to agree, but... His eyes fixated on the trembling figure of Hanikap, under the kitchen's table. Between Raki's own assault before, and then this, it made for quite the pitiful spectacle. And yet. Raki felt his anger swell again, after the shock of Peaches roar. And yet, this same frightened man was the one responsible fro putting Timmy in danger. By his own admission, and by his own hand. He couldn't just leave. "You two go on then. I...wish to remain here for a bit. I'll be fine on my own don't worry." "I won't leave you here on your own." Raki made to open his mouth. He couldn't go, he had to... to... What did he mean to do? Sure, he had obtained a confession... and that was it. Even without the man hiding under a table, he had not known how to proceed from there. But still, that didn't feel right... there had to be something he could do. What had he come here for? In the end, his plan had begun and ended with confronting the one who hurt Timmy. What then? Tell others? Tell Timmy? Arrest him, somehow? "Very well then, I'll try and make this quick." He wasn't alone in thinking things weren't yet over. He looked at the girl, now going towards the table, and followed behind her knight. One planned to keep up the questioning, and judging from her calm tone and gentle words, she had much clearer ideas on how to go about it, compared to Raki's emotion-driven attempt. The knight, for his part, had no intention of leaving his companion alone. Raki... Raki had little to do in there, but to listen. And he wanted to listen. Looking at the bizarre scene, a young girl talking to a man hidden under a table, it felt wrong to simply leave. He wanted to hear what was said, even though he didn't really know what he wanted, just that he was furious with the man. But even Raki knew that he could only contribute in scaring the man more. He had personally attacked him. Not very helpful with what was being attempted at the moment. "I'll..." He lowered his voice as the turned to Gunther. "I'll go check out what's happening" He then proceeded to see if there was a window in the kitchen, from which he could get a good view of what was outside, before he moved out of the house. The roars seemed to have come from this side of the house, and he wasn't very keen on getting a surprise greeting from the same wyvern, twice in a day.

Penelope hadn't expected the young man to be so aggressive. But she couldn't help but approve in this situation. She didn't like violence particularly but, as he hadn't actually hurt him, she figured he could get a pass. Plus it had worked to loosen the man up decently well. He had been close to spilling some secrets it felt. Right before she was about to press for more she heard the noise. A wyvern. As far as she knew the only wyverns belonged to her new companions so this almost certainly boded ill for them. "It's that flying thing again!" he shouted. "It's gonna eat us all!" Hanikap seemed to not react well to the noise and at first Penelope thought any further questioning would be in vain but then a thought came to mind and she almost smiled. "We should see what's the matter, this could be trouble." Gunther said suddenly and she glanced back at him. He wore a worried expression which Penelope wasn't sure was for them or for the wyvern itself. - Gunther hadn't expected the young man to be so aggressive. But he couldn't help but disapprove in this situation. He didn't think that being so violent with the clearly weak-willed man was, well, fair. As silly as that might sound as he knew that the man had been ready to hurt a child.... His conflict ended suddenly as he heard the wyvern. He realized almost immediately it was Peaches and could only imagine it meant there was something going on out there. It was possible someone was attacking the wyvern. In which case.... "We should see what's the matter, this could be trouble." Penelope looked at him and he realized what she was about to say before she said it. "You two go on then. I...wish to remain here for a bit. I'll be fine on my own don't worry." There was no way that Gunther would leave the younger princess in the home of the man who may have already harmed the elder. While he wanted to see what was happening he even more wanted to be sure no harm came to her. Especially after that conversation with Link. He wasn't about to let both of them be endangered in the same day. "I won't leave you here on your own." - Penelope had expected Gunther to protest and protest he did. "I won't leave you here on your own." She wasn't about to leave when she was so close to learning the truth of the situation. Yet she also knew that whatever was happening out there must be important. So she was about to insist that he go but one look at the grim expression that Gunther very likely didn't know he was even wearing stopped her. "Very well then, I'll try and make this quick." She turned back to Hanikap and followed him to the kitchen. Crouching down to get closer to his level she said, "no no don't you worry, I'm sure it won't get inside. And it's not like we would, say, toss you out to it just because you didn't answer our question. On another note, are you sure you can't tell us?"