Arkars

The wyvern was safe. Raki laid his back on the walls of Gaston's house and , finally, allowed his muscles to relax. He had not realized quite how tense the situation had made him not just in the mind, but in the body. Yet, the girl had made it. They all had made it. "It's best if she doesn't put her weight on that side for a bit, but outside of the discomfort it shouldn't be too much of an issue, unless there's another blow in the area..." He murmured, unsure if someone was even listening, with the chatter around there. He stopped. Did he even want someone to listen? If needed, he could just repeat those things to Citron later. The villagers had already gone above and beyond what he could have expected. As for the others... Later, that was what he had thought. As if it was a given. As if there was no doubt that there would have been time, later, despite him having accompanied them almost by chance so far. "I don't know how you got here..." The boy tensed once again, as the older woman unexpectedly turned towards him. "...If you do no harm to Phar, then no harm will come to you here neither." As she finished what she had to say, he scrambled for an answer, he needed to... to... to what? As had happened before, during his excuse for an interrogation, he found himself without a clear goal for his words. To assure her that he wasn't a threat? To say "Actually, I've got another wyvern myself, left her a couple of fields from here"? To reassure the village that he was going to leave soon? As for the woman, she had already lost interest. Raki was nowhere near as high on the list of her current worries as she was on his. She... she was fine. She was fine with him. Raki slumped down, feeling the weight of days of hiding form the village wash away from his shoulders. He felt... maybe not safe, not quite, but he felt nice. Very nice. It was nice feeling nice. Raki felt his eyes close for a moment. He could rest a bit now, let the others handle whatever was left to handle. The he could go and get... ---------- Garinphasia was not pleased. She was also, as it was the case, extremely satisfied. Her rival, while initially defiant, had in the end averted her gaze, recognizing thus her defeat, as far as Garinphasia was concerned. The wyvern let out a celebratory roar, basking in the satisfaction of having brought the challenge to a close. Perhaps, she basked a bit too much. Shots were fired, people screamed and rolled to the ground, and, as she was distracted by her challenge and subsequent jubilation, all of horse, bag and rider sidestepped her presence. In this, all of the humans present seemingly too concerned by whatever they had going on at the moment to care for the presence of the wyvern. Garinphasia was not used to be ignored. And certainly, she was not used to not be in control of her surroundings. The wyvern instinctively folded back her wings tucked her head closer to her body, as tension swelled up in her muscles. The last time she had not been in control, she had been captured. She smelled the air, trying to get a sense of the situation beyond her sight. If they were not worried about her presence, she had learned, it could have meant that either they were hostiles, or that they were aware of a danger greater than... ----------- "Garinphasia!" Raki's eyes opened at once. With the wounded wyvern occupying his thoughts, it had completely escaped his mind. The self proclaimed noble and his pursuer had fled on horseback, possibly out of the town. Garinphasia was out of the town, and if he knew her, she had stayed as close as she could possibly manage. He jolted back up, immediately sprinting into a mad dash through the streets, doing his best to dodge the crowd in the area, more or less in the direction where the two had disappeared. Or at least, he hoped that that was the direction. Sure, it was hardly a guarantee that the escape would've ended up near were he and Phasia had left each other. But Raki really wasn't going to risk it like that, if he could still help it.

The people around them moved to help however they could, Raki barely managing to thank them for their aid before another one came to help with something else. The boy couldn't not remain astonished by the incredible ease with which they relied on each other, everyone working with their fellow villagers with confidence, as if they had been training for this their entire lives. Of course Raki realized, while trying to clarify as best as he could how the wyvern should have been prepared for the operation. That is exactly what they've been doing, in a sense. Well, maybe not quite exactly for this specific situation, but the point still stood. When he deemed the preparations to be adequate, he turned towards Gunther and Citron, who were now talking to each other. "I don't think there's much else we can do. I'll try to be as clear as possible but..." Raki shook his head. "I don't know, if you want Sir Gunther could be the one operating while you keep Peaches calm... but honestly, you're the only one who can truly say what is the best option." Whatever would happen next, Raki would then start by saying where to work the edges of the wound without causing further damage, so that the arrow could be more easily removed later on. ------- The delivery was unexpected, but that wasn't a problem. Garinphasia wasn't sure about the meaning of the fight in front of her, but that was irrelevant. Her dinner was running towards her, and that was what truly mattered. Oblivious to the fury of the green warrior, the wyvern lunged in front of the fleeing horse, blocking its path as to leave the poor beast no recourse but to veer left or right, lest it crash upon the wyvern's scales. Wings spread out to hide the next move, her heavy tail would then curve around, to slam on the ground on whichever side the horse would choose, cutting off the escape. Pleased and famished, Garinphasia stopped form a moment, to decide if she should go for the horse or for the bag. She could do both, to be fair. But she would do neither. A much more pressing threat than hunger had just made herself known to the wyvern. Something- Someone, whom she could not simply ignore. The one who had challenged her was back, armed with a bow, and in company to boot. A confrontation that the need to aid her Far Claw had cut short. But her Far Claw was, indeed, far away from here, now. Garinphasia fixed her gaze on Tsegtseg, a low growl daring her to come closer and steal her food from her.

Raki watched the events unfold in a daze. He had remained as stiff as a piece of wood since the villagers had come out by the dozen all around them. Out of his mind were the knives the boy had brought out, Completely unable to ask assistance to the knight that was speaking to Citron. They had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, all of a sudden, and he was now surrounded on all sides by the people he had been hiding from for the last few days. His eyes darted anxiously around, then fixated down, towards the pain that was rising form his hand. He had been clutching the knife without realizing, and the blade was biting on the side of his finger. "I'm, er... I'm probably going to need one of your knives, or yours," "Uh?" She wasn't asking him. No, that wasn't correct. She was asking to everyone. Raki looked at the knives Edrick had brought out again, one of them now in Citron's hands. Sharp, clean, and carefully kept. The best tools possible for the job, short of purpose-made ones. Raki let go of the one he was holding, which fell to the ground with a metallic sound, as it landed on one of the others still on the ground. That wasn't very smart. That could have been my feet. Citron was now asking about the operation, bandages and vulneraries in hand. "...Gunther? Do you? And Raki, do you know enough about the body of a Wyvern?" "Uh... yes." Raki blinked "Yes, I think so." He looked at the lumberjack and the other villagers, muscles bulging on their biceps. 'the best substitute would be several strong handlers...' He turned towards the knight, Gunther. "I think she's right. Of anyone here, she's probably the one with the best chances of getting the wyvern to cooperate. I know wyverns, but I've never done this kind of operation myself." Also, we now have good knives. And bandages. And medicine. The villagers were still all around them. Citron was near the wound, but she wasn't crying this time. "Still, it's probably better if we get some ropes around the wyvern so that we can keep her still, a sudden movement due to pain would be disastrous." He looked at the villagers, who had just offered their help, then Citron, at the wyvern's side "If you can fix some around her, we should be more than enough to handle it" He closed his eyes, remembering "The main points would be the wings, the jaw, the tail and limbs... Also, we need something to keep the torso still, without pressing on the ribs near the wound..." After that... Gunther was knight. He had remained remarkably calm, even getting near to peaches to comfort Citron. Surely, he had some experience in removing arrowheads, right? Right? "I don't know if explaining how to operate from a distance is feasible, but a good rule is to trust the rider on the wyvern's behavior. Do you think you can guide her? I'll tell everything I know about it as well." _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As a wyvern was laying wounded, another was laying wasting time. Garinphasia had been half asleep under the shade when she heard the approaching horses. After ignoring them for a few seconds, she realized that it wasn't just another passing noise. No, the source was approaching. Lifting her head the minimum needed to not leave her resting position, Garinphasia peeked over the bushes, towards the road. Sure, her far claw had intended for her to wait for his return. But this might as well have been him. It wasn't. Just an incredibly large man with a bag. Though disappointed, the wyvern hesitated still before returning to her nap. After all, had the man continued on his current path, he would have found her,and her far claw wanted to keep her hidden. It was already too late to sneak back deeper into the forest without being seen, not that she would have ever backed down against a single man, even if that wasn't the case. Garinphasia looked again at the man. the bag he was carrying reminded her of the one when she was a prisoner, a feeling that made her unconsciously tense. her far claw used to carry food to her in a bag like that. Oh. But of course. With a conclusion not at all influenced by her stomach, Garinphasia understood that the man must have had been sent by her far claw with the food for her. Of course. She gazed around. No one in sight. With a satisfied growl, accompanied by a cacophony of broken branches and trampled bushes, the scaly beast emerged form the forest's edge, the tail swinging happily against the tree trunks, as she headed towards her meal with heavy but swift step.

The Wyvern was listening to her rider, so far. That was good, such trust was absolutely necessary if an operation such as the one required was to be tried. In the absence of such trust, the best substitute would have been several strong handlers holding down the restraints on the Wyrm. In other words, Raki would have had no possible substitute to speak of at hand. Citron was in tears, but she still had the presence of mind to stop her Wyvern, and she appeared to be somewhat knowledgeable herself about the situation. That was also good, it would have made understanding the situation and communication much smoother. Raki looked up to the Wyvern, hoping that all that goodness could somehow solve the Wyvern in the room- how to go about the operation in practice. As he caught the blonde-haired boy at the edge of his vision, he made to answer Citron, only to swiftly turn his head completely towards the boy. Not so much for what he said, though he found himself agreeing with Citron's answer, but for the physical conditions of the guy. He had not realized when he saw him from the window, but covered in blood and dirt, barely standing and clutching on his lance, it was as if a corpse had just stood up and spoken. A shirtless corpse at that. "I have to agree." He added after Citron had finished speaking "Garinphasia... My Wyvern companion is out of town, if that wasn't the case I would probably be already riding her, to be honest. Besides, you look barely to be in condition to stand, let alone ride. I don't think we can do much else than wait for your friend." He looked at the Wyvern and Edrick's chest in succession. "And not bleed out in the meantime, hopefully." Truly, this guy must be loved by the Goddess to still be standing in these conditions. Raki Looked up at the windows. There had been quite a mess of sounds coming from the upper floors of the house, and his mind went to the two he left inside the house. Had it been a mistake to drop them? Should he go back in? But if he did that, he would be leaving the Wyvern rider alone... Then again, he probably wouldn't have been able to proceed even if he remained there... He closed his eyes, trying to focus. He was doing it again, just like with Hanikap. Too many questions and too little accomplished. Raki put his thoughts in order before speaking again. One thing at a time. You're the only one not losing some kind of liquid here, Raki. You can't just fumble around and just hope that Mom comes to sort you out. He looked at the three people around him, and pointed towards the source of the noise. "I don't know what it is, but two of your friends are still inside." He looked at the blonde guy "Personally I would suggest you sit somewhere, but if you're still raring to go, you could go check what's happening. I think I'd go with you in that case, though." Raki wasn't about to try to order around someone who was apparently capable of standing through sheer refusal to stand down, but he wasn't keen on letting that person go off to bleed on their own either. "But first." He turned towards Citron and Peaches. "You are correct about the arrow, but there is a way to take it out since it doesn't look like it damaged anything too important for now. The best thing for her would be to just wait where she is until we can operate." He fidgeted with the knife in his hand, trying to avoid crossing the gaze of the Wyvern. He could feel her smelling Garinphasia on him, only kept at bay by her rider. He stopped his nervous movements. The last thing he needed was to make her more nervous by playing with a blade so close to her. "We need some clean tools, and... I mean, this kind of wound is not something I've done myself, but I've seen it done many times. I think I could repeat it, but..." He made to gesture toward the Wyvern, then he remembered he had a knife in his hand. He looked down. "Ahem... While having someone with experience in treating wounds could be useful, what I mean to say is that the operation would involve using a knife to work on the wound, and I don't think she's going to let me. Or anyone else that has already done something like this, to whom I could talk." He gazed up, hoping against all odds as he looked towards Citron "Unless you've had to remove arrowheads before?"

Had Raki made a list of all the things he could have expected to see as he neared the window, the spectacle he witnessed would have been as far as possible from qualifying for it, not even if someone had warned him in advance. In fact, even after seeing it with his own eyes, it probably wouldn't have made the cut. When he had entered the kitchen, the woman that had been so focused on her work moments before was nowhere to be found. This didn't catch his attention for more than a few moments. The missing knives, even less so. After all, who was he to know what nobles did with their cutlery. As for the missing woman, even if his... "questioning" from before hadn't been enough of an incentive to move into another room, then it was still no surprise that she had fled after a wyvern roared right out of the kitchen's window. Said window, so carelessly swung open, was much more interesting. It helped that Raki was already approaching it. Despite what some of the stories the people shared around at his uncle's village told, a wyvern's cry wasn't nearly enough to throw open doors and the like. Not even Garinphasia's. But wherever that train of thought was going, it ceased to be an issue as soon as he came close enough to peer down towards the street below. "Impossible..." Raki flinched back as if he had just seen Peaches open maws come in from the window, but even that would have made more sense. People... There was no way for a human to be able to do that, was there? He clenched the window frame, leaning forward as he stared in disbelief, blissfully unaware of the presence of the woman right above him. He had met many a wyvern in his young life. He had met many people who handled said wyverns daily, he himself had been one of them. He had yet to see someone capable of lifting one of those scaly beasts by muscle alone. Let alone throw them after that. Raki remained frozen on the window as the scene unfolded, as Edrick and Link dodged the throw, and the man who performed the deed took a bag near him and rushed towards a couple of horses. His muscles remained unwilling to move when the swordsman who he had met a few minutes before struggled to his feet, while the man made his escape with the sack on horseback. His focus was on the wyvern that he had almost been attacked by, thrashing on the ground in pain after having been made to fly against her will, and the crying rider that had rushed to her partner's side. His mind, however, was on Garinphasia. She is... Well outside the village Just as he had asked her Raki didn't want to assume it would have been impossible for her to come to him had he called. She had done it before. But by sheer distance, it functionally was. He would have had no aid were he to find himself in need. That... that was probably for the best. There was an arrow stuck in Peaches chest. Likely to also be that man's doing. An arrow, with that kind of strength behind it... Garinphasia would have not backed down against such an opponent. She just wasn't the type. Would that man be able to juggle her like that too? Surely... Surely not... "GASTON!" That single scream, as Link launched himself in pursuit, shook Raki out of his paralysis. Gaston. Lord Gaston, Hanikap said. He hadn't paid attention, distracted as he was by the event itself, but if that man who had escaped was the one... Raki's hand went to the handle of his axe. This was no time to be lost in thoughts. The man most responsible for what had happened to Timmy was escaping. that was all that he needed to know. "Where did she go? I believe she may be more dangerous than I had assumed." Almost all that he needed to know. The rest of the interrogation had finished while he was busy doing nothing, it seemed. Raki turned towards Gunther and Penelope. "Who?" It took a moment of watching the girl searching the kitchen with her eyes before Raki could guess of whom she may be talking about "If you're talking about the maid, she wasn't here when I arrived." He turned towards the window "However, That Gaston guy just threw a wyvern at your companions, so I think I'm going to go out." With that said, he jumped out the window, onto the street below. Now that he noticed, there was a conspicuous amount of knives on said street. A wild neigh caught his attention. Link was taming one of the horses, or about to be thrown off by it. It was the first one. The swordsman charged in hot pursuit, Raki did not need to guess of whom. Near him, the rider had finally calmed her wyvern, but she seemed to be in a sorry state herself. Raki could understand. If Garinphasia had been wounded beyond his abilities, he doubted he'd have felt much different. Raki made to pursue Link's trail He looked back to the wyvern. Calm as she was, he dared not to approach one that had already found reason to be hostile on the same day, and now she was wounded to boot. The wyvern didn't seem to have any broken bones, as far as he could tell. No part of the wings was bent the wrong way, and she didn't seem to be avoiding putting her weight on any limb. The only doubt was on the chest, but that was probably the arrow shaft still lodged inside. Besides, the rider was another Isaurian. She seemed a nice girl, and she had saved his behind when he had been so careless with peaches before, but the less he had to do with her the better it would have been for him. The arrow didn't look like it had hit a vital organ, but it went in pretty deep. How was it that they treated the fresh arrivals with arrow wounds again? His recent experience was mostly with wounds caused by Isaurian dark magic. He looked back to where the horses once stood. Gaston had long since left. Link was no longer in sight either. Raki really wanted to catch that guy. That guy on a horse. Raki picked up a knife. Clean knife, do not try to shake out the shaft, enlarge the edges... "She's a wyvern, she'll handle it." Raki closed his eyes, trying to recall the other handlers at work, and his few own works on the more surface-level wounds. How deep was it that one had to go? If the heart is... No, before that, how did you prepare a knife properly? He opened his eyes and looked at the blade, dirtied by the fall on the road. Water, fire... was he forgetting something? "We only need to take out that arrow properly." Still, even if he recalled how to perform the operation, one issue remained he may have not been able to solve. He could try what techniques he knew, but... Unless the wyvern decides to allow someone else to do it, he looked at Citron There is only one person who can get close enough to actually operate.

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.

"Now would be the perfect time for your questions." The invitation wasn't met with an immediate answer. Not because Raki's interest in questioning the man had wanted. Quite the contrary, in fact. Simply, the boy was paying so little attention to the conversation, that it took a few seconds for the meaning of the girl's words to cause a reaction. In the meantime, Raki had been met with a disappointingly vague answer from the new arrival, who did not seem to share his archer companion propensity for long, perhaps exceedingly so, explanations. And before he could ask for clarifications, he had already called the armor knight to talk in private, while the improvised tourist trip made to proceed in another room. He hesitated for a moment, but then his priorities prevailed. He cared more about the reason he had come here, than to intrude in someone else's private conversation. Not to mention, it would have been quite rude. Thus, as he followed into the dining hall, his goal was on his mind, but not the possibility of a chance coming so soon. It was a... nice dining hall, he guessed? As gaudy as the rest of the place, sure, but outside of the questionable bust it was almost restrained. Then again, Raki hardly had any experience in judging this kind of things. 'That bust however', Raki thought as he focused on that particular detail, 'How does it manage to be so unsettling'. While so focused, as Penelope's invitation came, Raki did not react for a few seconds. Perhaps for the best, as it gave Gunther time to reappear in the door frame, sparing Raki the need to do it himself. He gave the two a grateful look before turning towards Hanikap. What to start with? A problem to the unexpected start of the interrogation was the Raki suddenly found himself without a plan on how to approach things, nor did he have Penelope's seemingly hypnotic ability to drag the man into a conversation. "Right, so." He approached the man. If nothing else, he wanted to make sure he had his attention. "I have a couple of things that I really need you to tell me." Hanikap turned to Raki hesitantly. He broke into a nervous grin. "Er, questions, good sir? What sort of, uhh, questions?" "Well, first" Raki opened "I'd like to know what business you have in the forest near the village." Perhaps, someone more skilled with words would have been taken a subtler approach, but Raki wasn't that someone. Besides, he didn't want to lose time when he didn't know how much he had, and he didn't intend to play games when he had seen him with his own eyes there. "B-B-Business, sir? I d-don't know what you mean." As one could expect, the man was even less enthused about the situation, than he had been about his capabilities as a tour guide, moments before. His eyes were shifting between the three, staring nervously as he saw that any escape route was blocked. Hanikap began to gnaw on his lip. Raki did not appreciate the answer. This... this person, was lying to his very face. He... he had to know that Raki knew he was lying... right? He had to, why did he think Raki would be asking such a thing otherwise? Did Hanikap think he was bluffing? Did he hope to convince Raki he was wrong, somehow? Or, more simply, he was just doing his best to lose time? "I saw you. I was there and I saw you with my own eyes." Whatever was the reason, the heart of the matter was that Hanikap wasn't answering. Someone he owed his life to had been, quite literally, thrown into a ditch, and the one who did it refused to even talk about it. Raki closed the distance, speaking again with a note of rage in his voice, before the man could try to answer again. "I found Timmy trapped in a pit, and you threw him in." Now Hanikap was well and truly panicking. "Y-you sure it was me?" Raki had enough. "Yes!" he clawed at the man, grabbing Hanikap and dragging each other as close as the size of the servant allowed, hands clenched in rage on the fabric. "Yes, I'm sure!" Hanikap's eyes widened, expressing every ounce of panic the man felt in an instant. For a moment, it looked as if he was going to tear himself away from Raki's clutches by fright alone. Then, he slumped, looking down. Perhaps it was the sudden bout of aggression, perhaps not, but as the man spoke again, he appeared to have given up on trying to play ignorant. "Sorry. Yer right, ah did--I mean, I did shove poor Timmy down the pit." Hanikap looked back up with a beseeching expression. "But, but it were the only choice. You gotta believe me! Honest!" Admission, at last. "And in what world throwing a boy into a hole is your only choice?" Still incensed, Raki lessened his grip, but still maintained a less than comfortable distance from the man. "I panicked. Wasn't thinking straight. Lord Gaston was fixing to hurt the boy otherwise! Said he didn't want no word to be getting back on what he had--!" Hankap's own hand raised to shut his mouth, cutting short his panicked rumbling. His eyes somehow even wider than before. Raki could've sworn he was able to see his reflection head to toe in those. "Lord Gaston?" 'Oh, that's much easier than Plaia-something' "Of what did he want no word? And were would he be now?" As far as Raki knew, Hanikap could've been still lying. Timmy had told him that If had been Hanikap that had found him,making no mention of the other... but it was true that the owner of this house had been there too. He should have asked Timmy. That didn't change that fact that this... this individual had thrown him into the quarry but... "I shouldn't say, shouldn't say." The momentum of the interrogation had stopped. Hanikap was shaking his head, seemingly more worried about talking than anything else. Raki made a step back, looking at Penelope and Gunther. Exhausted the direct approach, he didn't really know how, and had not been able, to get more answers from the man, if that was even possible.

"well I'm sure the questions don't have to be answered right here and now yes?" "Ah, actually, would you be able to show us around? I'm most curious, what are those rooms for?" To be honest, Raki felt conflicted at that. He didn't want to cause problems to those guys, and they didn't seem very satisfied with his move, but he really would have liked for his questions to be, in fact, answered right here and now. It appeared, however, that he wouldn't have been helping them. He removed his hand form the man while making a step back. "Sure, we're in no hurry. Ahem." He resolved to not lose sight of the man. It wasn't just him and Phasia, he remembered himself. He was working with allies now, he couldn't just act on impulse. And said allies were as interested as him in not letting the man away from their sights, the interrogation was just delayed to a more... convenient time. He made to move away from the base of the stairs, when a furry blur caught his eye, making him turn towards it. Descending from above, accompanied by the terrified scream of Hanikap, a... small dog pup? No, the face was different. Was it a wolf? He had yet to see one in flesh and blood, but from what he knew this should have been it, just... tiny. But size didn't matter a lot to this one, since after a good sniff, it decided that it was time to let everyone know of their presence. Loudly. Adorably, but loudly. And focused as he was on the cub, Raki only noticed the new arrival as he hurried to calm down his pet. “Sorry. He isn’t well-trained… err, yet, that is.” "Don't worry, it's no issue at all." His mind went back to the stare offs with wyverns of that day. To be honest this was a nice change of pace in perspective. And besides. "I'm Raki, I assume you're..." He added waving his finger between Gunther and Penelope and the new arrival. They seemed to have companions scattered across the village, and if what he understood before was correct, one popping out already here wasn't that surprising. Just mildly surprising. And besides... He couldn't say why, but the way the man looked at him reminded him more of those wyverns than of that pup. Then he blinked, and the sensation had vanished “Got room for one more?” Raki looked at the other two. If they had any problem, he didn't know them well enough to tell. "I'm basically tagging along, I don't see why not." Then the tour began, and Raki had to admit, he agreed with Hanikap. The tour was quite the opposite of exciting. Wanting for something to do as the girl talked to their guide, he approached the man with a wolf. He had realized there was something he needed to confirm, before someone else new appeared. "If I can ask... how many are you in your group, exactly?"

Raki's attention was quickly yanked away by the sudden scream coming from the house, and the noise. He hurried to the entrance, half of whose occupants were swiftly going up the stairs, while the knight was aiding a man on the ground, presumably the source of the commotion. Besides the broken door, that is. As he made his way into the building, Raki recognized the corpulent individual. Hard not to notice, once from an angle not covered by Gunther. Unlike the name, his aspect was hardly one hard to remember, after all. He made to reach the stairs, then stopped, looking up where the other two had disappeared to, then towards the man, busy in thanks. They seemed to be keeping him busy, so he probably should have followed the other up the stairs... Then again, the priority of the rest of this group, as he understood it, wasn't the same as his... Then again, he had offered his aid to them... "Huh, did I miss the others? Oh no oh no oh no, that's no good!" Oh, right He was overthinking it Raki interrupted his train of thought. Why had he come here? He moved between the man and the stairs, determined to not let the man pass if it came to that. Right Just focus on what's in front of you, things may well work out "I'm Raki, pleased to meet you. Hanikap, right?" Well, he was quite sure. But it would have been embarrassing if the the man had had a twin or something. "I'd like to ask you a couple of questions."

"Thank, you, name's Raki by the way. And don't worry, I do not plan to end up in any belly." he tried to recall if the tale of the girl had said something about giant foxes, but to be honest, while he didn't recall any such thing, he couldn't bring himself to deny the possibility either. Though, if the girl meant that as a threat, it wasn't exactly... well, threatening. Everybody knew that giant foxes were nothing more than a fairy tale, after all. Heck, even the armored knight, the girl's knight he assumed? Appeared to be embarrassed enough to turn his face away from him. "Ah'll return Icleias tae Amas, An' see if'n I can gather a'body else. Ye take care o' yersel, ye hear? Ye and Gonnafazeya both!" "Will do. Be sure to tell him about their heroic efforts" Raki smiled "I would've arrived much later hadn't it been for them." He waved at the boy, but he was already guiding the dogs away. 'And my introduction with this group would've been even more tense... heck, I probably wouldn't even be here hadn't it been for you guys.' He shook his head and turned back towards the group. Mene was talking about warning the mayor, fine enough, he had already decided that it was pointless to hide further, though a part of him still pointlessly hoped that, if he just never approached anyone directly, the town would somehow forget about him. Meanwhile the other were discussing how to proceed, until the girl with the pelt spoke, something about a missing person. Raki realized that he had never heard her speak before, or maybe she had and he just hadn't heard her. Her voice was incredibly quiet, to the point that he instinctively turned his hear towards her. Immediately after, he was taken aback as the thin voice turned into a shout. A moment later, she was darting away, cloak billowing and tail whipping in trail. Wait "That girl..." That... wasn't a pelt? A worryingly familiar sound from behind him. Raki turned. That, on the other hand, was, indeed, a wyvern. To be exact, the pink wyvern had woken up, and had taken interest in him not unlike Garinphasia had before. Except this time, the wyvern wasn't very interested in a staring contest. The beast flicked her tongue, and realization came crushing down on him as he slowly walked backwards, trying to make himself as unthreatening as possible without turning his back. The smell. The wyvern smelled Garinphasia on him. He would've gladly kicked himself then and there, had the action not been so detrimental in his situation. The worst part, he should really have known. At the stables they had a section for the new arrivals, separate from the main building and with isolated cells, to acclimate the wyverns, without driving them crazy by being locked in place with the smell of dozens of others all around. All well and good until someone had to approach them, soaked in the aroma of their work. Raki knew, many a time that had been his work. "I don't suppose any of you is the partner?" The pink-scaled wyrm seemed content with looming on him for now, but it wasn't of much reassurance. He foolishly thought to be at a safe distance since the wyvern was asleep and the others with him appeared to not worry, and now he would've tested if his practical abilities to work with wyverns were as rusted as his memories. Then, a savior came. Well, the partner of the wyvern, but for Raki it was basically the same. "Don't worry, I should have seen it coming, I was careless." The Isaurian girl kept making sure that his head remained on his shoulders for the rest of the conversation, effort that Raki tried to help by keeping himself as far from the two as possible, background growls notwithstanding. Distance he maintained as the group took to the streets, determined to not be as careless a second time, not until he was reunited with Garinphasia. And... to be honest, a part of him was quite nervous about confronting the Isaurian rider as well. If nothing else, the event helped him not to worry over the looks some of the villagers were giving him. There was something he had meant to ask, he believed, before the whole wyvern thing. If only he could recall... "Right. Looks like trouble never comes in moderation." He lifted up his gaze. In front of the... house, for lack of a better word, stood a girl on a horse. Another of the group. The guy leading them lost little time in presentation, going straight to invite himself into the house. "Ciela, right? I'm Raki." He turned towards her as the group passed by. "Oh would you look at that, we've been invited right in how considerate. But no one to greet us, what kind of a noble is this man, I swear." "Pleased to meet you."

Raki listened to Phai and Timmy as he made his way to the village yet again. Those two individuals, they weren't very popular around here, were they? 'I mean, fine by me' So far, he wasn't finding the thought of them to be filling him with much joy either. What was much more liberating was to, for the first time, approach the village without the fear and tension of having to remain unseen. Even though... He couldn't help but tense for an instant when Timmy waved in the distance. It was but the blink of an eye, but enough to let him know that, no matter how much he relaxed, some part of his mind was still on edge, wondering when someone would have decided he was out of place there. then Tsetseg began to talk, and whatever part of his brain naively though to be able to focus on anything but that, was soon dragged to work overtime, desperately trying to follow the flood of words coming his way. A valiant effort, all said and done. "And then we met all of you guys and that was all today." "Wait, another Isaurian..." He even managed to make it halfway through by the time she was done with her tale. "Yes, that sums it up rather well I'd say." And sum it up was what Raki attempted to do, all the way until they were almost at Mene's house. "So. You arrived, found everyone turned into animals, went to the mayor's house, found a girl named Cora and another Isaurian wyvern rider... wait, is that what you meant by 'another one'?" Raki scratched his head. He was getting sidetracked, and that was the last thing he needed. Adding sand to a desert wasn't going to make it less of a desert. "You found a passage leading to... a magic stone wyvern." He blinked "You smashed it, and that was it, right?" That should've been everything. He hoped it was everything. Either way, they had arrived to Mene's house. Most notably, Raki did not recall the presence of a wyvern, and actual one, not a magic stone one, in the area, but if he understood correctly, he thought as he nodded back to the woman's welcome, that was from the second rider the girl talked about. Then the young man that had been talking to the others spoke to him. "This is third one today." "The... third one?" Oh no It wasn't everything "That Edrick boy an' the girl with the horse jest left recently fer Pylauses's house. Tweren't long afore that an' they were mightily injured." She frowned. She paled. "Dear Dragon… Mayhap the mayor was right 'bout Pylauses. He never did trust 'im. But I never paid him much mind. Fact is, he could do with a little more trustin'." Other people being named, friends of the group, he assumed. And none of them seemed very happy about the news, including the assertive young woman that came out of the house shortly after. Understandable, unless one was to wish to have their friends thrown into a pit. "If it isn't a problem, may I join if you're going to the place of... those two." He gave a longing gaze to the peach-colored wyvern. He really should've brought Phasia with him. "I have some questioning to do myself."

"Pylauses and Hanikap," "Oh, yes, that." Raki dared not to repeat the name himself "You know them well?" Then Timmy revealed what had happened. "He... threw you into the pit?" That certainly explained the situation. All while he was busy getting himself lost, that is. He began to regret not telling Phasia to just follow him directly to the village. He clenched his teeth. Timmy was putting it lightly, but Raki could imagine the results had he hit one of the edges of the quarry, or landed wrong... He didn't even have an helmet! Almost tripping over a nearby root dragged his attention back to the conversation at hand. His arms spinning wildly to regain his balance, least he end up face first on the ground. It sounded like Timmy and Phai had some idea about what the two were referring to. "S-Sorry, this must all sound so strange… U-Unless it's not. Maybe you've seen weirder on your travels?" "I haven't been to many places since I left Locris but this seems just as normal as the last place we went to. Mhm, mhm. People that become lovable fluffy animals and secret passages. All normal, yup! Oh, hm, hm. Maybe all Histian villages have secret passages?" "You don't know the half of it. I might know what they meant by passage in fact...but that's not the problem here. These, er, fellows might be setting a plan in motion as we speak and using all the confusion of the day to get away with it. We'd best get back as soon as we can, I have...friends who might be in trouble if there's foul business afoot. Might it be a good idea to gather some of the others...just in case?" Those two... Where had they been traveling through, exactly? Wherever it was, it didn't prevent them to give nearly opposite answers. Then the girl glanced at him while talking about a defeated wyvern. Was she referring to Garinphasia? He shook his head. If the girl felt like the previous... confrontation, for lack of a better word, had ended with her victory, he wouldn't be the one to reopen that page, but... No, she'd mentioned something about dark magic and rock wyverns before, hadn't she? As they kept moving under the trees, he turned towards the two "For me it's fine, it's not like I have other places to go." Also, didn't the girl mention something about being a patrol member? But they also had just arrived... oh, whatever "And if you guys are really the ones who made me stand on two feet again, I owe you one anyway. Speaking of which, care to tell me exactly what happened? I feel like I'm missing pieces here."

Raki shrugged with a smile "Wouldn't be here if you hadn't rescued us before. And yes." He placed a hand on Garinphasia's neck as she received Gunther and Timmy's praise. He supposed that the comment on not having eaten Timmy also counted as a compliment? Kind of? "Yes she is." Especially since she appeared to have been satisfied with her staring contest. And on the other group's side, the girl had ceased her challenge as well. 'And thank the Goddess they have.' In exchange, she soon began to stare at him. Oh well, can't win 'em all. "Naow… whaddaya says to us all gittin' back to the village? Ah gots sum things to tell Missus Mene. You too, Raki. Ahm thinkin' ye shoold come along this time. I donts want tae leave ye oot 'ere by yerself if'n one of those pair o'baddies comes back." "Oh, oh well let's take you - escort you! there. Especially if there are baddies out. Baddies are no good but we're really good at fighting baddies, mhm, mhm." "Yeah, I suppose..." The boy turned in the direction of the village. He had sneaked around to not be seen until a moment ago, but he had just revealed himself to a bunch more people, there wasn't much point in continuing to hide. "Wait a moment. You mentioned a pair of, er, baddies? What is that all about? Is there someone else out here we should be worried about?" "Uh, yeah." He turned towards Timmy, meaning to ask him... though, thinking about it, the whole reason he sneaked into the village was to find someone whom he could tell what happened. Phai wasn't Amas, but Timmy just told him he could trust her, and if these people were the ones that managed to break the transformation, maybe they could have found it useful. "We can explain while we return, I think? Phasia, follow us, but remain hidden unless I call for you, I don't want to cause panic." The wyvern showed no immediate reaction to his words, but as he turned towards the village, she didn't move to follow, limiting herself to keeping her gaze on his back. "So, me and Timmy were there at the quarry, back to being humans and all." He pointed roughly to the place near the quarry where they were hiding. "And we heard those two guys discussing, I think their names are Hanikap and... Platelets? Pilates? Er... how was the name?" "Anyway, It was mostly Hanikap telling stuff that happened in a secret passage or something to... to that other one. He answered, I think, but I couldn't for my life repeat you what he was saying, something about moving forward plans... probably." He turned towards the others "Anyway, Polases then went away, and I tried to sneak into the village to find someone to tell about it. I, ahem, didn't manage to, so I was coming back when I found you all there."

"Och, it's Gonnafaceya! Raki, ye thinkin' ya both can git me on outta this 'ere hole?." "Ah! Another another one!" "Ah, perhaps the distance wouldn't be so great for you after all. I imagine the two of you could go many places as long as you're together. Either way, I'm glad that everything seemed to have worked out well as she found her way back to you." "Yeah, though honestly I have some doubts she ever stopped shadowing me, despite my instructions. Uhh..." Was the girl... well, one seemed to like Garinphasia, which was great, but the other... yes, she was positively growling back at the wyvern. 'Excuse me?' Not that Raki was in a very good position to criticize, he had had his fair share of recklessness when he first met Garinphasia, but still! He glanced back at her, but she was still locked in the staring contest with the girl. "Ah, er, don't worry, she's just...a bit wary... she won't bite." Quite reassuring, though it wasn't the girl biting the wyvern that Raki was worried about. Well, maybe a little. Anyway, they had some rescuing to do. He nodded back at the knight, then approached the edge of the quarry "Ok, Phasia, I'll need you here." She approached slowly, still turned towards the girl, who now was mumbling something about goats, after Timmy and the guard had talked about their transformation. Now that he thought about it, there had been an awful lot of beavers around. "Don't feel too bad about not discovering me," he addressed Phai in the meantime "Timmy and the others put in quite the effort in keeping us out of sight. Speaking of which." He turned back towards his partner "Phasia, remember Timmy? can you help him out?" The scaly head turned towards the boy trapped in the pit for a moment. Then back towards the people outside. "What... no, no, come on. They're friendly! Hey!" He walked back in front of her and grasped her head, bringing them face to face. She snorted from her nostrils, making him recoil for a moment from the wave of warm air. "Timmy is trapped in there" he pointed towards the pit "we need to help him out." Garinphasia seemed to consider it for a moment. Then she turned yet again towards the four. Raki exhaled. "Oh, fine." Turning back himself, he returned to the edge of the pit. Slowly, ledge by ledge, he began descending to the bottom of the hole. "We'll have it your way then. Hi, Timmy. Hey, Garinpahsia!" He spread his arms up as the wyvern's head peeked out the edge above them. "I'm stuck here, please help us out!" -------- Frustrating. Her far claw kept trying to divert her attention. That was a problem. She recalled the one named Timmy, those who gave food were not so easily forgotten. But as friendly as the other's far claw seemed, despite being clad in metal hide, her opponent herself showed no sign of backing down. Small thing she was, and Garinphasia had no intention to cause problems for Raki. Yet. Still, it was a matter of principle. Then her far claw climbed down the small cavern. She approached the edge, and there they were, requiring her aid. Well, there weren't other options, now, were they? The wyvern launched one last look at her opponent, and with an exasperated growl she spread her wings, carefully making her own descent to bring back the two.

"You have no need to worry. From what I've seen here I understand if you felt a need to, ah, keep in hiding from the others." Perhaps it was just due to the situation or the tone used, but the reassuring voice of the knight felt like a balm to Raki's ears. This person had no more intention of starting a fight than he had. "But I do think I would be remiss if I did not ask what you are doing in these parts. There was some recent...troubles here as of late you see. I don't suppose you know anything about that?" "Thank you, that's good to know." He gave a last look at the quarry, checking for confirmation from Timmy of what the man had just said. Speaking of which "I take it you recently arrived here too? But yeah, troubles would be the word. very, very weird troubles." He shuddered, recalling the sensation of four sand-colored limbs dragging his belly on the ground. He really wasn't used to be the one with scales. "It lasted quite a lot, but all I know is that I'm glad it ended. Couldn't do much while transformed into a lizard. Not that anyone else could do much either." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you do any like weird dark magicy magic stuff? Like making a a biiig flying rocky wyvern - " The boy blinked. Then frowned. "Dark magic? No. no, not in a hundred years. How would a rock wyvern fly anyway? It's rock." Of all the things, to be mistaken as a practitioner of that. Raki scratched his head, as the girl appeared to be reaching some stunning realization. Not that he had any idea what said conclusion was. Irritation left space to confusion as the girl kept her piercing gaze on him, unwavering. Somehow, next to the armored giant, she felt twice as menacing than him and the other two girls combined. Not that he could put his finger on what she was threatening of, but she sure did be threatening. "I just thought she could help because... wait, how do I explain it." It was in that moment he finally heard a crack in the the distance, wood breaking under the strain of a gargantuan mass in movement. "I... think it will be easier to see than to explain. Also, for what I'm doing around here" he blushed slightly as an approaching figure came into view from the forest. "To be honest, we got lost. Would've been in serious trouble if Timmy and Lassie hadn't found us." The wyvern finally emerged out of the trees as Raki approached her, dark blue scales that faded into purple as they reached the chest an then the belly. "But they found us, so all is well that which ends well, right? Anyway this is Garinphasia." But other than coming to a stop and a small tilt of the head as he reached her side, she appeared to have other interests at the moment. Raki followed the gaze of his wyvern to its target, first another tilt towards the two dogs, then fixated on the four people she had no knowledge of. Her jaws were ever so slightly opened, with a low growl coming from within. He swiftly moved between the two. "Oh, come on, they're friends! Er... she's a bit wary, but I assure you, she's really cool." he added, turning back towards the group.

At the very least, it didn't seem like Timmy had suffered any serious injury, as far as Raki could tell. Still, how did he end up in there? it was a decently large hole, not something one would just accidentally walk into. Though to be honest, Raki was sorely lacking in experience in regards to large, rocky pits near home. Maybe it was just something that happened normally. Had he been pushed? slipped? Found something on the bottom? Before he could ask any further question, his attention was yanked away. "Ah! Another one!" "Wha..." Raki turned his head, following the direction the girl was pointing at, all the way behind himself. 'Another what?' “W-Who are you? I-I don’t recognize you, and Tsetseg doesn’t either, which means…are you…” "I..." “…a bad guy?” 'Ok, but what do you mean with "another"?' "Nononono, wait." Raki put his hands forward, as the situation he was in dawned on him. Things were going quite badly with remarkable haste. The man in heavy armor and the girls with the animal pelt had yet to move. But he really didn't want to start a fight. Was this what awaited him had he been found out earlier? Man, this village was scary. Luckily for him, Timmy came to the rescue immediately after, vouching for him to the group. If that wasn't enough, both Icleias and Lassie joined the chorus. Raki knelt to pet the two for a moment. "It's the second time today that you two get me out of trouble." Was he ever so glad that the barking he had followed had indeed been from the two. “Ohhh, s-so you’re not a bad guy then. Sorry, I, uhh, well, can never be too careful, right?” Raki relaxed as well, as the militia girl's hand left her sword. "Well, I'm glad it's all fine now" He stood back up, eyeing the other girl "I... think? Anyway, how did you end up in there Timmy? No, wait. First, how do I get you out of there..." “Eyo Raki, where’s uhh…Gonnafaceya? Cuz ah’m thinkin’ this’d be a mite easier if’n she were ‘ere.” "Gonaf... Oh yeah. I suppose she could help... I hope." The Isaurian lifted his gaze, towards the forest. Nothing in sight. "I did tell her to wait in hiding, away from the village. If I know her..." he brought up his hands around his mouth, facing up. "PHASIA!" Nothing happened. Well, they wouldn't have to wait for too long until she arrived there. Probably. In the meantime, he turned towards the group out of the pit. "Anyway, I've been already introduced, but I'm Raki, nice to meet you. Uhh... Timmy has been helping taking care of me for the last tennight here... Oh." He stopped, as he remembered that it was supposed to be still a secret. Sure, they were Timmy's friends from what he understood, but if they weren't in the group of villagers that already knew about him, maybe he wasn't supposed to say that part. "Er, it's alright if they know, Timmy?"

Truth to be told, the village hadn't looked that big from above. Then again, it might have been the hunger. Or maybe Raki just had a bad sense of direction. He frowned, as he made his way through the farmlands behind Phar. It shouldn't have been that hard, right? Sure, he might not have had much of a chance to accustom himself to the place - or even truly walk around for that matter - but this was just embarrassing. And the idea had been so simple too! Timmy told him to find someone to tell, so he went in search of Amas, thinking it couldn't have been too hard. After sneaking around long enough to find himself back at the start twice, Raki had to conclude that he had lost track of where Amas's house was supposed to be. Then he tried to follow Icleias. Well, he tried to follow a bark that he was quite sure was Icleias. Kind of sure. Mostly because he told himself "If it is Icleias, Then chances are he will lead me to Amas," and if nothing else, following the dog would have meant getting out of the village. Having to worry about anyone noticing him was stressing him out. He then proceeded to lose track of probably-Icleias. So back to the quarry it was. "I'm sorry Timmy." - he'd have to ask him to tell him again how to - Raki froze, the barking from before echoing in front of him. After a moment, he began to run through the forest, mentally offering his thanks to the Goddes for leading him back to what he assumed was the dog he was searching. Was that a thing? Raki wasn't sure. Now, if somehow this meant that Icleias ans Amas were both at the quarry, that would have been perfect. Sure, it would have meant that the past few hours of sneaking around had been a complete waste of time, but he didn't feel like sweating the details right now. “Whooee sure is one big pit I fell inter. But I bet mah good friend Raki can ‘ave me out in two shakes of a wyvern’s tail. ‘E shouldn't be far. I was talkin’ to ‘im shortly afore everythin’ ‘appened an’ all.” "I'm her... wait." Raki slowed down his run as more voices came to him. Their source soon became clear as he came into view of the quarry, a white stone pit wit with Lassie and Icleias looking down into the hole. No Amas however. Also, four people he didn't know. Four armed people he didn't know, though one of them looked like she belonged to the village militia? Lassie and Icleias were with them, should mean they were fine, right? But his attention was more on who was missing in that scene. "Hi... Timmy? I'm sorry, I didn't manage to find Amas," he would then try to approach the pit, as he glanced down with a confused frown. "Are you fine? How... How did you end up in there?"

This seems interesting, is knowledge of the anime beyond the first season required?

Midome listened at Hane's explanation of the rules. Seemed easy enough. "I'm game." He sat down at the table, waiting for the cards to be dealt. "Getting sent here is cursed luck to begin with. We're the rejects of the world, and lady luck sent us here to piss on us even more. Or something like that. You'd think whoever's in charge would have started caring about us sooner, but I guess they wanted to pick an inconvenient time to suddenly force us halfway across the country. Or however far you lot are from." "Hey, hey, c'mon Kiburi, turn that frown upside down. Sure, it ain't the best of places nor the best of timings, but if it weren't for this place, I'd never have met you. I'd just be wasting away in some prison in America for the horrible crime of helping people," "You could see it as a chance." He Interjected. "I'll gratefully take it if I can do something productive with my power and get it under control. It's more than what I dared to hope for before, anyway." But mostly to get this thing under control. "You think I'd really be that tasteless, man? Who knows?" Uh, these vigilante guys seemed indeed far more amicable than their looks implied. Midome felt a pang of guilt at how wary he was of some of his classmates. Better safe than sorry sure, but still. He turned towards Juryo, not sure what to answer. Keika saved him by metaphorically exploding on them, to then storm off. Midome slowly clapped to himself in his head. He wasn't sure if it had been his comment to cause the outburst, but he wasn't keen on asking the others if they thought so. He elected to stay silent, mentally repeating the rules of the game as a discussion began in the wet direction he wasn't absolutely interested in looking towards. "I'd suggest poker, but we're probably not allowed to gamble and two of us are kinda naked already, which..." Nope. Not at all. He took a sip of nutrients form his bottle. Those sensations were clearly nothing but the echoes of his empty belly. "Not too shabby...for a hobo..." What... Hearing the door being swung open, Midome half expected to see a fuming Keika come back. What he didn't expect was... a complete stranger, who began to throw words with Juryo as soon as he came in. His classmate had to make the presentations for him. It wasn't until Nanami and Toshiko spoke to him that the gears clicked on who the guy must have been. "Each of you, grab a pile and put down any pairs you've got. Then we can start the game proper." As he did as he was told, Midome turned towards the newcomer. "So, you're going to stay here?" He couldn't say to be as thrilled as Toshiko seemed to be at the perspective, but he wasn't about to make comments until he had a better picture of the situation. He just hoped this wouldn't cause problems for them in the long run.

"Some hot dinosaur girl that resembled a pickle attacked us. We tried to stop her, but it seemed all our attacks could do was tickle the pickle. Then she passed out from hunger. Sucked to, she didn't respond when I asked her out on a date. Anyways, wanna play Old Maid?" Midome eyed the cards. The guy... Hane, was it? He seemed amicable enough, however... "I'd say yes, but you'll have to teach me how to. Never played it." It wasn't strange that someone his age didn't know how to play it right? Sure he hoped so as he sat down as the rest of his classmates argued, listening while very carefully forcing himself to not turn towards the splashing sounds. "Hey man, not everyone knows how to react in these kinds of situations, alright? She's still learnin' to become a hero. It comes to some of us naturally, but don't go putting blame on her man. Technically, she didn't do anything wrong, if she didn't do anything at all, right? Let's chill out." "What is it with today anyway? here I thought what kind of cursed luck we had and now it turns out everyone's in the same boat." He turned towards Juryo, cocking his head "Also, was that a pun?"

Midome had no idea what kind of "jobs" Miyu intended to have them do, but he wasn't looking forward to finding out. Not that he had any intention to do anything but his best to avoid them, whatever they were. Still, he mechanically went to drop the supplies, much to the relief of his arms. That was done, at least. Now, everyone else seems to be in the recreative room, right? Without haste, he took out his flask as he made his way there, the muffled sound of people talking guiding him as he started drinking, opened the door, and then almost chocked on his beverage. Hot, basically naked girls wrestling in a kiddy pool didn't quite fit what he expected to find. The next couple of seconds didn't help to make more sense of the scene either, as he stared oblivious to anything else, including the splashes of water caused by the two. He had to avert his gaze before the bewilderment passed enough to make space to... other feelings. For the others, his roommate seemed to be the only one interested in the scene. Very interested, it seemed. One was at the tv. The other were... playng card games, or something. Doing his level best keep his gaze away from the splashing sounds, he made his way to the table. Nobody was commenting on the fact, and he sure as heck wasn't going to bring it up first. "So, how did it go to you guys?"

Midome would have really wanted to reply to Miyu. Truly. His fighting spirit, however, decided that it had enough for the day, and as the office lady stormed off the the store, Midome deflated as all the tension left him. "Let's just... go back to school, shall we?" He extended a hand to Yu who was still on the ground, before letting himself be dragged by the girl's orders. "At least it doesn't seem like any customer got hurt." They shouldn't have been in too much trouble. hopefully. After they finished cleaning up the place, Midome felt possibly more relaxed than before. Sure, they just had to work as MIyu provided... moral support, but the police had been called, the supplies had been bought and no crazy lady was flinging shelves around the shop anymore. He wasn't even feeling hungry though that was more due to the drink he took before than anything else. "Alright boys! Shopping time!!!!!" Of course such a state of affairs couldn't last for long. Midome took one of the bags, and staggered a moment under the weight, what were the girl's arms made of to lift them like that? And adjusted his grip to make it more comfortable. "Look, I know I said that if there had been time we could've gone for it, but I think we should get back to the dorms." He pointed towards the building they had just came out of. "Before we find another villain crashing the shop we're in, and we have to buy everything again."

"Do not get into a fistfight" One would have though that Midome's biology would have made him shrug off a blow like that like, well, a slime. But beyond the chance for the opponent's limbs to remain stuck in his body, Midome was still similar enough to a Human to feel the punches, or in this case, the elbow. And among the things that Midome was, sturdy and muscolar was not one of those. Sometimes he felt scammed. "Were you gonna leave Yu here alone, huh!?" I didn't even see he was still there, honestly. "You don't think I can take care of some old hag, huh!?" No. Not this old hag at least. But while his thoughts were listening to Miyu, his mouth was shut. None of those answers would have done anything but lose time. at least she hadn't remained stuck after elbowing him, though he could clearly feel the ripped skin. "Listen, we can't fight here..." Then the exit was crashed by a flying shelving unit. "This lady's obviously off her rocker, and there aren't any heroes around! You know what that means, right?" That we and everyone inside the shop should get the hell out of dodge? Said lady landed before the exit as well "I can't say I approve of attacking out of nowhere like that. Now then, I'd prefer to make this quick. If you're going to fight me, then let's hurry up. If not, the door's right behind me, and I would advise using it right now. But, is this really a fight worth picking?" "MIdome...if you want, take the exit. But I'm gonna make sure she doesn't get away with what she's done today. That's what being a hero means!" She didn't seem interested in avoiding direct confrontation anytime soon. "There are still... look, just don't get hurt, okay?" With those words, he turned towards where he came from and sprinted. He had to count on Miyu being able to handle things at that front. The shopkeeper. The customers. Yu. Then, a hurricane of supplies passed him, going towards the two at the entrance at full speed. Found Yu. The guy... didn't seem well. What had he said at the power demonstration? that bear of his grew more dangerous the more in distress he was... that couldn't be good. Midome clasped his shoulders. He thought about what to say to him, but he felt almost as distressed as him. Midome took a breath. He wasn't in control of the situation. But he could pretend he was. What would have a hero said? "Yu, there are still four civilians or so here including the shopkeeper. Wanted to get everything out of here, but the lady blocked the entrance." At the very least, his endless circles around the shop had been useful for something. "We need to gather them and evacuate before someone gets hurt, can you help me?" He thought for half a second, then added. "Don't worry, things will be fine." I hope Gather everyone, get them away from the danger and calm down Yu, and by consequence, the teddy bear, all while keeping as out of fighting as possible. "Do not get into a fistfight". And then... then something. A worry for later.

One moment, Midome was looking at the shopping cart, searching for a good placement for the stacks of paper that were honestly starting to weight on him. The next, the woman had stomped on the owner's hand, and the man himself was howling in pain. He didn't immediately understand what had happened. Midome had no bones, and his first instinct was to think that the desk had broken. As he passed over that first reflex, however, he put together what had just happened. The realization threw him in internal panic. The woman had just crushed the man's hand. He wasn't sure why, or how, things had gotten this way, but there was no denying the truth in front of his eyes. That was, at the very least, a criminal act. And judging by the absolute calm said woman was displaying, completely deliberate too. In other words, he and his companions, licenseless students two steps away from detention, found themselves right in front of a villain. For the second time in a few seconds, he was then brutally yanked away from his thoughts, this time by Miyu's attack on the woman. He staggered back, while somewhere in the back of his mind a worried thought about the fact that the illegal quirk usage would have caused problems to his plan passed through. If Midome in that moment had had the possibility to notice that thought, he would have found himself surprised that he still managed to be worried about a plan regarding a girl's shopping needs in that moment. then again, he hadn't had much else to occupy his mind since he entered the shop. What the attack did manage to do, however, was to trigger his fight or flight instincts. it wasn't usual for him, he preferred to think things through. Thinking about what he was doing helped him in keeping his quirk under control. That same need, however, had in time pushed his response to threat towards the direction of avoiding said threat, a pattern that had been broken only once in recent times, and that break had been the cause of Midome finding himself at Hairo. It is no surprise, then, that facing his instincts completely unprepared, the though "stay and fight" didn't even cross his mind as a workable first approach to the situation. On a more practical level, Midome spent the whole length of half a second staring at the stacks of papers he was still holding. It was quite a lot, over a feet of A4 sheets, piled on top of each other in comfortable packages of five hundred pages each. He then proceeded to throw them all over the woman. Now much lighter, Midome didn't bother to check the effect his attack with dead trees would produce, and grabbed Miyu. He couldn't see Yu, which worried him quite a bit, but his current priority was different. Priority that, while he tried to drag the demon girl away from the desk, found his way to his lungs as he shouted, he wasn't sure if at the owner, the customers, his classmates, or himself, but in that moment it felt it to be the safest maneuver for everyone that would listen. "GET AWAY!"

Midome walked around the shop, eyes on the list as if he wanted to pierce it with his gave alone. While he was doing his... best, for lack of better word, in order to be as slow as possible, Yu had proved himself very efficient in filling the cart with supplies so far. Midome couldn't blame him, that was the reason why they were here after all, but he was starting to question if his plan had been such a good idea after all. Nonetheless, there was no point in backing down now, even though... In an empty aisle of the shop, the pale young man looked around to see if there was someone looking. Then, as quick as he could, he grabbed his flask and drank, closing his eyes and letting his expression melting in pure bliss as the gnawing hole forming in his "stomach" calmed down. He had to force himself to not down all the bottle in one go. Then he checked again, like a kid worried that his parents might have been watching the whole time. Once it was confirmed that there was no one in line of sight, Midome took the opportunity to renew his skin as well while he was at it. He didn't like anyone to see him like that, much less his own classmates. before leaving leaving the aisle, he checked once again the list before grabbing several stacks of photocopy paper. As much as he would have liked to slow down things more, he couldn't just leave Yu to do all the work. Also, not bringing anything to the cart wouldn't have been easy to explain when he was the one with the list in the first place. He roamed the shop for a while, initially content with not finding the other early, but as he found no trace of Yu a sense of worry began to spread in his chest. Where did he go? It doesn't seem like that bear of his lost control or something... Could we be walking circles round each other? The irritation for not being able to find him quickly faded, however, as he came in view of the desk, where Miyu was still beside the owner and the businesswoman talking... And Yu that now was near her, cart, bear and all. With an unconscious sigh, Midome balanced the stacks of paper on his arms before heading towards the desk as well.