Doggo

More of the group had gotten their bearings and began moving about while Aduain had been investigating the fountain which thankfully gave the fish some kind of response to his initial questions. The first girl to answer hadn't been particularly helpful but a rather angry sounding man at least had a name for the place. Prana didn't sound like the place Aduain had been or was trying to get to. In fact it didn't sound like anything he knew about his people. Maybe he misheard and this place was called Piranha. But then there wasn't water everywhere and no sign of the deadly fish to be seen so that theory seemed off the table. With a shout Aduain leapt from the top of the fountain to the ground below, a feet only remotely safe because of the nen bracing his legs for the impact. Still he flopped the landing and ending rolling forward some and through and around the pockets of the others who were slowly drawing closer to one another in most cases. "Magic sounds like fun." the fish said in the middle of rolling overhearing something of a conversation. The motion carried him past a woman speaking to something or someone that couldn't decide what it wanted to look like. "Weird, but maybe kinda cool." Aduain continued his voiced thoughts to himself until he finally found his face in the dirt again. Standing up once more and shaking his head to make sure his brain was still in there he was close to the angry man at this point. Which was just as well because he had a lot of questions and angry man seemed to be the only one who knew anything of their predicament. "Hey mister uhhh...." Aduain started before realizing he had nothing to refer to Cyanthrax by. "Mister Purple works I guess if you like it. You look kinda tough. Kinda like a Hunter tough! A couple of tough guys can get a lot done! Especially since you know the place." the fish continued speaking at Cyan, without care or regard for how much if any of it the man wanted to listen to. "What kind of place is Prana? And how's a bar gonna help?" There was to be no end to stream of curiosity Aduain would unleash if not stopped.

Catriona had whiled away the hours as Elsie went off to make preparations. Nothing much came of the town as she expected. And none of the men who entered the bar struck her fancy. How dreadfully dull just as she thought it would be. That didn't make it any less disappointing of course. Still now that the time of the ritual had come and gone she was feeling particularly invigorated. Perhaps there was something to this witch-witch stuff and not just cat-witch. It was a strange feeling, the connection she now had to Elsie. It was not something she had really experienced. Her mother had been tied to her by blood but rarely had another person made any sort of connection that lasted more than a night. And this was nothing so carnal. It was different and that made it stand out in her mind. Instinctively she sent a shadow cat to hitch a ride on Elsie's broom to keep a closer eye on her. "...What a foolish thing to do." Catriona berated herself with a smile trying to process her concern for another person. Her attention moved to the shouts and fog rolling in. Beings unlike anything she had ever seen, or Jekyll's very scary blurry photo, appeared before her. Beings like wolves and yet like nothing else that walked the land. "Adorable. It would have to be puppies wouldn't it?" She laughed as she readied her staff. With her more-than-cat-like-grace she made her way to the top of a building, not wishing to directly engage the creatures when so many of the group were better suited to the task. With a wave of the staff as if it were a magic wand six more shadow cats appeared and dashed off, two to each of the three primary fahlynn that stood before them. With a wink from their master the cats disappeared, exploding into a burst of shadowy chains looking to restrict the creatures movements.

Estellise did her best to be happy and good natured in most of her interactions. But in the context of the profound rudeness of the church, and now Campbell's comments, an anger took hold of the noblewoman. Campbell no doubt echoed the sentiment many of the older Fereis would offer Gavin. Not one of them viewed the young man as a person, merely a figure head they had to go through to play their games. Yet the fact remained Gavin was Master now, and what he decided was supposed to hold weight. "Gavin and I are both adults in case you have forgotten, and need not ask Mother for permission to do everything. If the Master of House Fereis wishes me present then I shall be." Estelle said with a huff as she looked to take her leave. At the door she paused briefly before turning to her cousin. "Please call on me if you ever need me." she offered meekly. "Thankfully he has plenty of, older and more experienced, advisors to come to for anything he needs." Campbell said with a hint of smugness in his usual stern tone. Contempt flashed across the woman's face as she turned and slammed the door behind her before storming through the Fereis estate in a foul mood. Aids came to her side to invite her to breakfast despite her lateness but she refused. She wanted nothing to do with the place for the moment. And no doubt her mother was on patrol, looking to snatch her away to lecture her once she found her free of Gavin. She didn't want to give the woman the chance, not after all that. So she took her leave into the city. But due to her mood she found her efforts to greet what townsfolk she was familiar with half-hearted and insincere. Without thinking the woman's feet were taking her to where she expected to find her new friends, her only perceived hope for a single happy thing happening this day.

The Fire Chosen was at least somewhat uncomfortable wading through water, not wanting to think too much about what might be in it. But on the upside the presence of water meant Keres would be able to perform some pretty impressive magical feats. That was somewhat comforting. But what was more annoying to Reinaan was the constant sound of six sets of splashing by virtue of the group walking through water. It made it hard to hear around him though it didn't occur to the boy that if something was in front of them the tunnel would likely echo the sound to them long before they ever approached. Thus Reinaan was all the more aggravated at the appearance of the slimes, enemies they may well have been walking through that just now suddenly formed around and in between the group. The boy swore in ancient Draken which amounted to little more than a reptilian hiss to the untrained ear as the larger slime reached out toward him and Ryia. The boy gripped his halberd and swiped the weapon at the approaching appendage. For the most part the weapon passed through with relative ease. Though it got harder to keep pushing through the further in it got. Reinaan followed through with his swing and was able to lop off the arm if one could call it that with some effort. It flopped to the ground before quickly getting absorbed back into the main body though it didn't immediately grow the limb out again. Reinaan turned abruptly back to the slimes that had appeared behind him. There were many more behind the group but the four between the front line and the mages was his first priority. Reinaan swung his halberd down on the slime immediately behind him. Again it passed through easily until it hit something harder. A small dark spot about the size of two clenched fists. This Reinaan had to really exert to cut through but he swung the blade clear through. The slime started shrinking, like it were deflating or melting. But this attack had drawn some attention as the other slimes all seeme to shift focus to the Draken.

Flurry's stomach protested at the sight of another customer appearing as this would inevitably prolong the acquiring of a meal in town. But thankfully Flurry's brain was a lot more interested in what had showed up before him. He hadn't seen a hedgehog like this woman anywhere around town. Make that anywhere for that matter. She looked ready for anything which had the lemur wondering what she was doing out here. Unless she had an interest in supposedly haunted places too but then no amount of gear could really have one ready for ghosts surely. At first, the produced device made Flurry groan internally at what he perceived to be another physical patch job. If thing was any more complicated than the line of broken gadgets from town there wouldn't be a lot he could do about it. But as the hedghog kept talking she mentioned the problem likely lay at the programming of the device to which the lemur's face lit up. Finally, a problem worth his time. His focus was now entirely on the so called Chaos Tracker and he caught it easily. "Pretty slick design." Flurry commented passively before attempting to turn the device on. Sure enough he could tell what she meant by on the fritz. Whatever the readings meant they were inconsistent and the display was less than cooperative. The lemur looked around his set up and realized he didn't actually have anything to program with outside the tent due to the last few requests having been strictly mechanical which prompted a return trip across the sand filled with awkard hop-running in an attempt to spare his bare feet the scorching sand. Making sure to keep the openings on both sides to the makeshift shelter the lemur rummaged through his scanty belongings after slipping into his shoes finally for his soles' sakes. Flurry returned to the hedgehog and her device with a bundle of different cables tied in knots together and a thin tablet device, large enough to function as a display and touch-keyboard. These he sat down on the counter while looking over the Chaos tracker for how best to connect to it to his own device. After disentangling several wires the lemur had a connection established and was perusing the device's code on his own computer. "Well would you look at that..." Flurry started curiously as he began looking over the code. "I have no idea what a lot of this means." A less than encouraging sentiment. But that just meant it was time to get serious. And serious meant goggles on which prompted the lemur to lower the pair resting on his forehead down over his eyes as he began typing away. There was several minutes of simply reading what was there before he started testing different lines of code, eventually getting the device to display "Hello World" as a proof he understood the language. Seeming satisfied he began looking back over the code as provided to begin looking for problems. "You called this a Chaos Tracker right?" The lemur began in curiosity, not wanting the hedghog to be kept in the dark as he worked. "So like, what's chaos exactly and why would you wanna track it?" Several error messages appeared prompting the lemur to quickly take back his last change and continue scanning the code. "Most people I know like their lives nice and quiet. But maybe you're not most people." Flurry teased. Already error messages were becoming less frequent, he was picking up on how the device operated quickly.

The good part about having friends around was how they tended to not want to let one fall to their doom. Even in this case where Reinaan was the entire cause of his own predicament. Being scooped out of the air was a strange sensation but to be back on actual ground was a relief. Madelyn seemed upset but really that just seemed to be the woman's default at this point so the draken didn't pay it much mind. Getting his bearings again the boy turned back to the hole he had created. As the others confirmed it seemed to indeed be an entrance into some sort of secret to the ruins. The Fire Chosen puffed his chest some naturally at the thought that not even the ruins expert knew this was here and his instinct had uncovered it. It sure seemed like an easy enough job anyway. Ryia volunteered as the first to go down to explore the discovery after Madelyn had very vocally demanded she not be first. Reinaan followed soon after Ryia, wanting to be on hand in case something dangerous called the hole home. "Left for sure." Reinaan eventually spoke reaffirming the Earth Chosen's choice once their path finally branched. The left path had more space to move through. Given the size of the group, going through the right single file was asking for someone to get killed if something was actually waiting for them. The Draken took to the front of the group, by Ryia's side. They formed something of a defensive line for the rest of the group. The boy had his weapon as the only real thing he'd taken down with him given the mounts wouldn't be able to come in with them.

That Miyu had relented finally allowed Nanami's a moment's reprieve. A deep sigh let the frustration pass as the shark finally took to sitting back down into the water. This was nice. Volcano boy had run off to go mope somewhere else, the card game was getting underway, video games had been going smoothly. Aside from the general chaos of the conversation, the shark felt like she might actually be able to relax. And in a few minutes she'd be okay to try and really get into the talk of the room without a demon girl attached at the hip. For as barebones as it all was, she could almost see herself enjoying it here. But that little fantasy quickly shattered as the door to the room swung open revealing Seki, the electric boy from earlier at the electronics store. Nanami cracked a single eye open to see as Juryo and Seki bickered some and was ready to mostly tune him out for the next few minutes like the rest of the room until she was abruptly addressed. One may have felt the primal bloodlust of an angered shark fill the room, however briefly, as Nanami rose from the pool once again, this time walking toward Seki. She stared at him, as if sizing him up or pondering where to bite, until she stood not but a few feet away. "Yeah, you got me." the shark admitted as her posture relaxed. "But let's get one thing straight, that wasn't even close to the worst beating I can take. Give me a bit to figure out how to bite electricity and you'll be sorry next time." Nanami continued before a devilish grin exposed her array of pointed teeth. "Not that there's gonna be a next time since you'll be on your best behavior and all that. So, what do you do for fun aside from mess up run down stores? We've got every activity you could ever imagine." Namami spoke, a casual sarcastic tone taking over. Despite the circumstances to their meeting she seemed content to treat Seki like just another member of the local losers club.

This wasn't right. Nothing about this was right. No way in the world did a secret at the bottom of an ocean city look or feel like this. Aduain found himself face down on what felt like grass but that couldn't be right. He was just underwater. But there wasn't any water here as the abrupt flow of nen to his gills at his sides reminded him with a bit of a gasp. Pushing himself to his feet, grateful that his trident was with him at least, the fish took stock of himself and nothing about his body looked out of place. But very clearly he was on land, surrounded by air, and there weren't even water droplets coming off of him or his weapon. He patted himself down a bit, making sure he was real. It was weird to have to confirm that but he hadn't been certain for a moment there. Arms were fine, head seemed on straight, chest was okay, legs working fine, feet floppy as ever. With concern for himself satisfied his eyes now finally looked up and around. There was all too much to look at Aduain soon found. Others in the park near him, an entire city like nothing he'd ever seen surrounding them, and a rather imposing fountain featuring what looked like a dragon. Words weren't readily available as his brain tried to process the information flooding in and so first he fixated on the fountain. It seemed to make the most sense. Water got him here, water would get him out. Though he nearly tripped, the fish was able to take off at a light run toward the structure. With his nen naturally shifting to his legs, Aduain hopped onto the edge of the fountain making sure not to fall in on accident. The dragon was even more imposing this close but for now he wasn't going to inspect the jets of water from the mouth. His focus was on the water pooled below. It looked like water. Cautiously dipping a toe in confirmed it felt like normal water. Nothing about the fountain looked like an entrance to anything. "No way to know out here huh?" Aduain said to himself as he braced himself before hopping into the fountain with a small splash. Definitely water. And definitely no secrets on the floor or walls of the fountain's pool. He moved swiftly through the water, tapping everything he could with either fin or trident but nothing happened. Emerging a moment later he determined to scale the dragon. Sure enough, now standing in the mouth and giggling like a child at the jets lifting the tentacles on his head as he investigated, there was nothing to actually find. "Woooow...." the fish vocalized in a hushed voice as he looked out over the area from this height. In his mind he had felt a pull toward another part of the city but he knew he had never seen the place before. That anything was familiar about it seemed off so he was hesitant to immediately follow the prompt. So his attention instead turned to the group that had been around him upon his realizing where he was. From this high up perch he now had to shout to make sure someone would hear. "Heeeey! Anyone know where this is?!" A simple enough call. Perhaps a bit ridiculous to anyone who actually lived here. But finding out anything was a first important tep.

The Tidal Star Source RP: HxH: 108 Stars of Destiny

"Hello?" A green lemur sat up, still half asleep at the sound of a voice he didn't recognize. "Hellooo?" That voice again. Flurry rubbed his eyes as he looked around. Where was he again? It was so hot. How could he even be sleeping like this- right no blanket to speak of. No clothes for that matter. Things weren't going to be getting much cooler. He was in a tent. It was piecing together in his less than alert brain. "You there or not?!" That was enough to jolt the lemur fully awake. This was his tent. He'd set up shop on the edges of a desert town in the middle of summer. Not the best choice all things considered but given the supposed landmarks to see in the region he was going to have to show up eventually. But the heat had been more oppressive than even a tropic native like him was used to. There was no water anywhere, not even in the air? But now wasn't the time for that. Flurry stood and took stock of his things. Wristbands were put in place out of habit but for now he ignored the shoes. The purple tint to everything he was seeing sparked the realization that he'd fallen asleep with his most recent pair of goggles on. These he shifted up to his forehead for the time being. Truly, dressed for success. Flurry opened the tent flap, the hot desert breeze immediately rising to meet his face. The first step onto the hot sand made foregoing shoes for the moment a regrettable decision. The lemur hurriedly walked and jumped into place behind his makeshift stand some few feet ahead of his temporary lodging which advertised his services. "So sorry sir, I hadn't woken up quite yet." Flurry started as he shifted into customer service mode complete with fake smile and happy tone. Looking at his would be customer the lemur could see an older rabbit, dressed like he'd been doing field work not long ago from the gloves and boots. "Darn near noon boy!" the rabbit replied, seemingly baffled. The timing didn't necessarily surprise Flurry given how late he had stayed up, but still he had to play nicely. "Right you are, sir. Suppose I should stop taking late morning naps." Flurry offered back with a fake laugh. "What can I do for you?" "Folks been talking about this whiz what does repairs and stuff for the last few days. I didn't wanna head back into town but I do need this fixed up right quick." the rabbit spoke as he withdrew what looked like a watch from one of his pockets and placed it on the less than sturdy counter. Flurry's enthusiasm, if he had any for a job that had woken him up, was quickly vanishing as he saw the watch, while digital, was clearly physically broken. Could anyone read? He clearly only advertised his coding skills- strike that this particular sign had been especially lazy and only spoke to technology in general. "It's not really my specialty but I'll see what I can do." Flurry offered as he bent over to his side to reach for what actual tools he had. Despite his claim to do nothing on the hardware side of things, he found himself taking on more and more jobs of the nature so it was best to be prepared. His striped tail shot up into the air for a moment as he fussed with opening latches to things. The old rabbit huffed and muttered something about hippies under his breath. It took some minutes but soon Flurry was set up and had the watch all but entirely disassembled on his makeshift stand. Everything seemed fine with the electronics bar one little tiny connection that had shorted everything which he carefully reconnected before reassembling the watch with more than a few dropped screws. In the end it took him maybe twenty minutes, far too long for this kind of work, but he'd been paid and the rabbit was on his way. Now he could eat breakfast. Or was it lunch at this point? Either way his stomach didn't seem to much care about the semantics. It was a new day. Probably one of the last he was going to be spending here. He'd seen most of what he'd come to see. All that was left was a particularly prominent canyon which was said to be haunted by near every city and village in the region. But that was a night activity so for now Flurry needed to satiate his boredom while the sun shone above.

A month is soonish right? Zoboomafoo

Estelle eyed the agent of the church with a hesitant curiosity as she spoke to her cousin. Long had the Fereis been distrustful of the church. Estellise's own mother had only ever spoken ill of them in front of her, so long as an agent of the church was not also present. Estelle tried not to hold this same view of them without reason. Their views on mages were not incredibly difficult to come across however and that had often been enough to unify the young woman's mind on the matter with that of her family. This particular visit seemed particularly insidious. She wanted very much to believe otherwise, but as Hilda spoke it seemed clear to her what the church's goal was here. They thought the Fereis weak for Gavin's inexperienced leadership and had swept in offering aid as a ploy to take control of the family. Estelle couldn't stand the thought of her cousin being taken advantage of in this way and she naturally stepped between him and Hilda without obscuring Gavin from Hilda's view. "Thank you Miss Theos. The church's concern for our former master's passing is truly touching." Estellise began, feigning a polite kindness for she did not believe the church honestly cared. "As the church's affairs delayed the sending of this message, so too you might expect the family's mourning may delay our drastically altering our state of affairs with the other major families and the church. That our lack of cooperation in the past was at least peaceful suffices us for the moment." She spoke for her cousin. Perhaps this was out of place for her. But as the only aid present she would do her best to advise her master. Hilda raised an eyebrow at the response and looked towards Gavin. "It, well, it's as she says. I dont think I should be... making too many changes right now." Gavin said as he glanced at Estelle for a moment. "I think you should reconsider. Now would be the best time. You could show your strength by forging a bond that your father could not." Hilda interjected. This set Estelle on edge. This comment spoke volumes to the church's intentions here. "You speak out of turn Miss Theos." Estellise started, a bit more serious but keeping in mind not to sound angry. "To say that our master could not forge a bond with the church would imply a failing on his part in an effort he was actively undertaking. That he would not speaks to his convictions as our leader and that the divide was intentional." she said before stepping back to stand by Gavin's side rather than before him. "But you must forgive me. I do not mean to imply any ulterior motive or ill will to you fulfilling your duty. I simply felt it wise to advise you of the particular nature of we mages. One must choose their words carefully lest they impart dishonesty where none was meant." Estelle finished with a more narrow gaze at Hilda. "I know the nature of mages well, make no mistake." Hilda said with narrowed eyes. She sneered at Gavin and shook her head. "I see you are in no state to consider this seriously. Perhaps later, once you're more...experienced, you will understand the benefit." She looked to Estelle. "Perhaps you should speak with your...official advisors about the matter." Estellise's own glare spiked with anger for only a moment, but she controlled herself for Gavin's sake. Gavin had been incredibly passive and for good reason. Hilda Theos departed without further issue, only after Estelle was certain the woman was gone did she turn her attention back to her cousin. "Forgive me Gavin. Perhaps she is right and I should have had mother join you here instead." The mage spoke, somewhat dejected as she reflected on the exchange. "That woman... the church thinks to exert authority over us simply because of your youth. It is not fair to put so much on you! And it is most disgraceful of the church to invoke the memory of your father to get you to agree with them..." She continued, the anger building again in her voice now instead of merely her face.

Thanks to Keres, the minotaurs had not become an issue. Her illusion magic really had its uses when she put her mind to it. Not having to fight at the moment was welcome to Reinaan who was still overly irritated at existing at the moment. It felt like he might have messed something simple up if they had come to blows there. So thankfully he was able to retrieve his jacket to pack away and simply get back to moving along. The group happened upon the set of ruins Madelyn had in mind. The only set left she hadn't been to apparently or that the minotaurs hadn't seen. The boy initially stayed back to keep a look out on the general area as Ryia moved forward to investigate, but at her call decided to move forward. "That is pretty strange huh..." Reinaan mumbled as he approached the dais to confirm Ryia's observation. Sure enough, it looked much older than the surrounding structure but the draken's focus was on the raised nature of the platform. Something in his mind wanted to try and press it down, like a peg in a hole. In a less than graceful motion the boy pulled himself up on top of the dais to investigate. Immediately Reinaan could tell that it didn't feel stable. The stone felt like it was shifting under his feet and was cracked in various places. Putting his idea into motion, the Fire Chosen did a short hop in place as if he could force the dais down into the rest of the building. Cracks spread at the application of his weight but as yet no major shifting occurred. "Hey so what's the trick to this place? There something here or not?" He called back to Madelyn and Keres in particular, assuming either one might just as readily have a secret spell ready that would open the mystery of the ruins up. "I haven't been here before I don't know! I was just about to see if they have any treasure...I mean, see if there's anything important in these buildings." Madelyn shouted back. Keres however approached before commenting, no doubt not wanting to raise her voice. "It doesn't seem the same..." She looked to her side and nodded. "Flux says they can sense something faint. Seems...muffled." "Should I keep jumping?" Reinaan asked fairly innocently and without much thought. His brain had one real idea about this and that was all he was going to do if no one else had something better. Keres tilted her head as Reinaan asked and looked down towards the dais. "Sounds dangerous." "That's the fun part." Reinaan laughed back before squatting some to get ready to really jump on the thing. "You'll save me if something goes wrong anyway." he added nonchalantly back at the witch. In truth, he wasn't sure anyone but Lindow would really put their neck out for him but if he never put the trust out for Keres he could never expect it back. Reinaan then proceeded to really lift himself up off the ground to stamp down into the dais. The stone began really shifting this time but not quite as the boy had intended. The middle had begun sagging down but the edges stood at their normal height. Regaining his balance the boy looked back at Keres. "Did Flux feel that?" Reinaan asked, hoping his method had made some headway on the vague whatever the water spirit had picked up. Keres simply shook her head. "Well, one more for good luck." the draken decided before jumping once more in place. More cracks set into place as the stone started crumbling away. Reinaan seemed very pleased with himself as he stood over what was quickly becoming a hole deeper into the ruins opening up underneath his feet. The look of self-pride shifted very abruptly to one that clearly regretted his recent life choices as the Draken's feet suddenly had nothing left to stand on and he flailed his arms outward getting ready to grab the edge of the new opening he had created.

Catriona listened to Ellie with the same smile that had often occupied her face around the other Jaeger. A veil of interest masking deeper analysis or maybe boredom. It was always hard to tell, even for the woman herself. In this case the point of interest was definitely the bird. Such an expressive familiar was something Catriona found herself somewhat envious of. The point of a witch's birth was also curious. It might have been a point in common between the two of them. But Catriona had never spoken much with her mother surrounding the circumstances of her own birth so it was difficult to compare notes on the subject. The cate jeager was about to cook up some sort of reply to the witch's various points and reintroduction before Lauryn's comments caught her ear. Literally in this case as her cat ears twitched in the direction of the initial whistle as it sounded. "Why, of course. No trouble at all here." Catriona beamed back with perhaps the most fake smile she'd given to date in the company of Jekyll's other recruits. On cue the last remaining shadow cat in the tavern jumped to the floor to nestle up against Alexanrdre's leg. Upon contact the cat poofed from existence like the one before it. But this time it had performed a task. A simple thing really. The effected leg would feel much heavier and more difficult to move than normal. Chances were the Beastly Prince would never realize what she'd done unless he soon tried to move the appendage. She would dismiss the spell in a minute to be safe rather than let it more slowly fade on its own. This brought the cat's attention back to, and for the first time in a few minutes fully, Elly. "A name for my friends to call me hmmmm... it's a good question Ellie. I told the fortune teller Nemain... the last town it was Babd... I wonder, is it time to give Macha a turn?" Catriona mused more to entertain herself than anything. "I suppose between cat witch and witch witch I could stand to be at least a little truthful. Call me Cat. A bit on the nose maybe. It's short for I'm-not-telling-yet but it's part of the real deal." the Jaeger offered with a wink. "I suppose this makes us friends now. I hope you brought a cauldron, it's only right we curse somebody tonight to mark the occasion." Cat offered with a hint of glee in her voice as she pondered who in the town would be the most fun to deliver such an unfortunate fate to.

With Miyu somewhat under control, despite her thrashing of course, Nanami was able to actually take stock of some of what was going on in the room around them. Most of the others seemed to want to just relax, but a select few seemed to have a stick up their ass about something or other. The shark was still fuming herself from not being able to hurt the electric guy but if he was gonna be crashing in some school basement there was always going to be time to beat him up some other day. A calming thought really. Almost anyway. "Hey little devil," the nude shark addressed her still struggling in the headlock acquaintance. "Old maid over at the table. Bet you got some tricks up your..." Nanami stopped as she took stock of the situation. "Well no sleeves between us but you get my point. Why don't you go count cards or some shit, bully them for a few rounds and let the ferocious predator relax a bit. I'll come over in a minute if you're still feeling frisky." the shark offered her deal with a sly smile, or as sly as she could while exerting herself. It was a peaceful enough solution. Of course, if that wasn't what Miyu was feeling up to then this was about to start going places. All over the rest of the rec room kind of places in some vain hope of preserving her pitiful little pool.

The trip was gradually getting easier on the hungover Draken but Reinaan couldn't say he was much enjoying himself for the gradual reprieve from the pain in his head. A large part of that was Madelyn, whose overly high opinion of herself continued to rub the boy wrong. For everything he was having to put up with he certainly hoped she was at least taking them to the gate. If this wasn't the place then they'd have few options left shy of simply running about around every part of the continent they could think to go to. At least Kloqah didn't seem too upset about all the walking thus far but one had to imagine even she had her limits. The general irritation became specific as three minotaurs came into view in the distance. They had weapons ready but at least from what the Draken could tell, none of them seemed quite so angry as disturbed or upset. They certainly weren't enraged like their previous trio of minotaurs had ended up being through that ordeal. Ryia suggested they simply fall back which seemed wise. Reinaan was still undecided in his head if he could actually take one on by himself but that didn't much matter when there were three of them. Still, running presented others problems. "We can't go the way to the ruins or they'll follow or report back. And getting caught from behind could get bad like this..." the lizard boy grunted as he less than gracefully dismounted the larger lizard. He tossed his jacket he hadn't been wearing for some time at Madelyn without much care for aim or force. "Make sure they don't see your face." was all he said, hoping the intention was clear and how his jacket could aid that effort. His focus was sharpening from the situation and pushing the pain out of the forefront of his mind. Enough at least to think of some smarter things to do. "Keres, you and the ruins expert here should get on the mounts. Stick to the front of the group and be ready to bail if they catch us and things go bad." Reinaan spoke, his head not wanting to do much more tactical thinking. He readied his weapon from off of Kloqah's back before clearing the beast up for the mages to ride then tied the mule's leads to Kloqah's so the two animals would stick together. "I really don't wanna fight these guys right now but be ready to." he offered back to Ryia who he assumed would naturally be in the rear of the group with him with how he had this planned out in his head.

Estelle was sad to see work already finding her cousin when they'd barely had a moment together. But then the mage was struck with a frankly brilliant idea. She could just go with him to attend to his duties as the head of house Fereis. It wasn't exactly not her place to help the head of her family after all. Before letting her cousin leave she reached out to him. "Allow me to go with you, Master Gavin." She started in an incredibly formal tone. That was until she called her cousin Master Gavin. She leaned into such that the formality became comical. "I should apologize in person for keeping you from them lest they believe you to be merely making excuses." Estelle offered her excuse to follow her cousin further. She knew the games the family played well however often she broke convention. In any other situation, simply being late to a meeting would be unlikely to cause much issue. But with Gavin's circumstances, and his youth especially, Estellise would not allow anyone any room to doubt her cousin's capabilities. Gavin smiled at her offer as a tired look set into his face as he prepared to get back to work. "That's appreciated." he said. Campell, however, frowned at Estellise. "I would go with myself but I have other duties to attend to. I would have thought you would as well. Ah, to be young again." he said dismissively. Estellise remained composed long enough for Campbell to leave before breaking out giggling over how serious the duo had been for the eternal amount of time that was a minute. But there was business to attend and so the mage abruptly composed herself. This definitely wasn't a game after all. "Do be sure to let me know if I am about to stumble into confidential Fereis matters one ought not repeat to others. I do love secrets but mother has become awfully keen on when I am keeping them from her." Estelle offered while trying to remain collected. It was still clearly a tease. In everything she wanted to lift Gavin's spirits as they seemed in dire need of it. "I sure hope it's not. Believe it or not so far I've not noticed any secrets... well, nothing that is a secret to any of the rest of the family." He paused a moment before continuing on like it was nothing. "It's odd though. I don't think I've seen the Church have this much contact before." Gavin thought aloud. Estelle was troubled but made no direct comment on it. She had several ideas but would leave her judgment until after meeting with this representative of the Church herself. For now, Estelle's focus was on keeping a smile on her cousin's face for what moments were allowed them while they walked through the halls of the estate.

Still in the process of trying to drown his hangover headache, Reinaan did little more than grunt in acknowledgement of Damien's show of concern for him if one could call it that. He wanted to say something more of course. Some comparison of how he wouldn't get into trouble simple because he was stronger. The exact thought got lost somewhere between still being mad at Madelyn the headache still dominating his thought process. Maybe the pain was just dulling from its sheer persistence, but as the group started on their way together the Fire Chosen thought he might have been starting to feel better. At the least he was able to care about the conversation going on around him as Ryia started it up. It was a natural concern that if the Minotaurs had the gate, taking it away from them might lead to less than ideal interactions with the town in the future. LIndow raised a valid point that it wasn't their business to ensure peace between the two civilizations. Just because it was right didn't mean the Draken approved of their actions unleashing a horde of angry bulls into a town that couldn't defend itself. But the Thunder Chosen seemed to doubt it being a real possibility. "Dunno how you consider that food..." The Draken grumbled in response to Lindow's so-called more pleasant note. He could still taste the apple he'd bitten into at the inn on his tongue. The thought was enough to elicit a shudder. Though he still didn't really remember what he had done last night that needed reparations in the first place. None of the girls seemed physically harmed so it couldn't be that. He would have to ask at some point. But of the girls, Ryia seemed like the only one he could safely approach on the subject and asking with Madelyn in earshot sounded like another headache in the making.

The noble Fereis' morning had been normal enough after waking up. But that was about as far as it went. Estellise had been on guard and was less than surprised to see her mother impeding her way to the dining hall. The woman attempted avoiding direct eye contact as much as possible, attempting to play it off like this meeting was nothing more than coincidence. But naturally it wasn't to be. Mother was angry and appalled at her having dined at the tavern with her new friends. She should have supposed that would be the main issue. However much she disapproved, if Estellise's ventures into the Dungeon yielded any clues at all about the Spark she would want to hear every last detail. Thankfully, the woman found an escape. Her eyes lit up at the sight of her dear cousin Gavin, current head of House Fereis. The smile took a bit of a hit at the young man's mentioning his work wasn't yet finished. But regardless he still dismissed Estelle's mother to talk with her in private. Estelle had a suspicion that was quickly confirmed. He had specifically bailed her out from the talking to to come. For a time anyway. Her mother was sure to return soon. Still, she couldn't help but laugh a bit before thanking her cousin for the help. "Oh Gavin, it was wonderful. I only wish you could go with us. I think you would like the others." Estelle started as she began happily describing her three companions in the most recent dungeon adventure. Lana, Sergei and Chris were each described in a very picturesque manner. The mage ascribed only the positive traits she had observed to them and complimented their martial skills liberally for how foreign the use of physical weapons was to a mage. "The Dungeon is as surprising as ever. But I have still yet to find the lightning chicken." Estelle said with a pout. "And we only made it five floors down. I doubt the Dungeon will show its hand unless we manage to go far deeper..." she trailed off before looking back to her cousin. "But what of you? I do hope Mother and the others give you at least some time to yourself" The mage spoke again with a concerned maternal tone.

Damn, that's pretty hot. App here soonish or something probably.

Reinaan was definitely confused as Lindow spoke. What inn had he terrorized? Soon the smell of fish told him he wasn't in the fancy place Madelyn had shown them but the place the group had stayed the night before. So little of the previous evening was clear in his mind. There wasn't much time to try and think about it as something got thrown at him. The boy managed to catch the apple without really registering what it was and instinctively went to take a bite out of it. No sooner did his pointed teeth sink into it than a sweet liquid entered his mouth, causing him to recoil from the bite with disgust. That definitely wasn't meat. "How's a gross plant supposed to help?" the draken questioned in disbelief. As the boy readied himself to leave his first real priority was finding a whole fountain of water to drink as Lindow had mentioned that would help. But the man seemed more intent on finding the others. Reinaan took stock of his belongings, everything he hadn't left on Kloqah anyway. He had his bag and his protective amulet about his neck still as the only article of anything he was wearing so he seemed ready to go. Eventually the group reconnected and the moment Madelyn spoke the already greatly annoyed Fire Chosen got visibly more on edge and attempted to glare the woman down so long as his headache would let him focus on anything. Now was the time for guzzling water he concluded and found what stores he had on his mount to begin the process as the others spoke. Damien had yet to appear but the fake Chosen now showed himself. Reinaan wasn't particular eager to see either in his current state but Ryia at least seemed set on waiting for Damien. What little space his head provided for thinking at the moment processed the idea that traveling with someone like Madelyn who had hardly believed they were the real chosen and someone like Geoff who was pretending to be a Chosen would get incredibly annoying incredibly quickly. "Go save the world without us" Reinaan said dismissively to the Chosen of Buffalo. "Hope Damien's not with another minotaur." he said grumpily to the rest of the group as he resumed consuming all the water he could get his hands on.

The young draken chosen had very little recollection of anything after entering Madelyn's room with Lindow. That he was moved in a half-asleep state he could vaguely recall but how he ended up where he currently was had not been logged into his memories after a night's sleep. For that matter he could barely take in where he actually was because there was a few things overwhelming his senses. These were a splitting headache, an upset stomach, and vague yet intense anger at general existence. Sitting up proved to be a mistake as it only made everything worse but the boy struggled through it until he could actually look at what was around him. He could tell after a bit that he wasn't alone in wherever he was. The longer Reinaan struggled to focus on this other person the more it seemed to be Lindow. That much would make sense anyway. "Lindow? That you? The hell happened?" Reinaan managed to say through various groans as he held a hand to his head. As if such an action could make the pain stop. The question of where the others were would eventually pass through the draken's mind and with it bring another vague irritation. Perhaps it was just Madelyn's everything from the day before but he felt like he had something in particular to be mad at her about but the details were lost to the void.

Chris' story was delightful to Estellise as she listened to the recounting of his experiences at the fair. She was almost enraptured, as if looking for more details about the place and what went on without outright saying as much. There was a form of longing present but she did her best to hide any such thing from her friends. Mother would never approve after all. Fairs were for common folk, not Fereis Mages. At least it was inspiring to hear talk of their next adventure already. The woman wanted to continue this spontaneous adventure of hers for as long as he could and was glad to hear the others talk like they had similar intentions. "The Dungeon knows no end of surprises." Estelle started cheerfully. "I heard from an adventurer my family hired once there was a chicken that could cast lightning magic!" the woman continued, trying to stop herself from laughing as she recounted the experience. No matter how many times she reminded herself of the story, it always made her laugh. "He had the singed eyebrows to back up the claim but no one believed him. I have been on the look out for similar chickens ever since to no avail." she finished and as if the talk of poultry had summoned them, the ducks were brought to the table. Estelle's was captivated at the sight and smell. The presentation was of course unlike anything she'd ever been served at the family estate but similarly it smelled like nothing she'd been served at the family estate. It was a new experience, the best kind of experience. "Indeed I shall." she affirmed Hector's assumption that she, or rather the Fereis family, would be footing the bill for the whole party. Of course something had been on her mind that stopped her from immediately digging in. The Knights of Froura that had entered earlier, and Theresa their captain in particular. The mage knew of the knights well, and had seen and even spoken to Theresa on rare occasion at the Fereis estate. They seemed to not be engaged in any of their duties for the moment but it was still odd to see Theresa in particular. Surely the captain had things to do elsewhere. What could be happening here? Things seemed peaceful enough in the Drooling Dragon. The woman turned her gaze so as to not draw attention to herself from the nights and shifted back to her food. Hopefully it was nothing. If everything the cook of the tavern made tasted as good as this duck looked and smelled the woman could understand the knights simply wishing to eat something. "A toast to future success!" Estelle cheered having turned her focus back to the meal and her friends as she raised her drink to eye level.

The cat jaegar pouted as she watched Lachlan leave the establishment in a hurry. She hadn't even been able to tease him yet. The cat she had summoned lingered behind where it was taken notice of by Elsie, the witch. Oh well, at least she still had the card game to mess with. And for that matter she had a companion to speak with if she desired. Not at least returning the greeting would probably come off as rude. And appearances had to be maintained at the very least, whatever fun she could get out of the interaction aside. "Oh, these dears know plenty of tricks. Some fun and other's less so." Catriona returned the initial inquiry with a wistful smile. The cat that had been intended to play with Lachlan returned to her, standing on the table the two jaegars now shared. She moved a hand over the length of the shadow as if to pet it, only for the creature to fade away as she did so. "You may see them in action if something exciting happens with our friends." she smirked with a subtle motion to the card game about to be under way, another of her shadows sitting by in wait. "But yes, this town is dreadfully boring don't you think?" Catriona next said, offering a question of her own to her fellow jaegar. How entertaining any of them could find the place remained to be seen. But she also had to wonder if proper witches were quite as mischievous by nature as a cat witch like herself. "They have a fortune teller of all things. And don't get me wrong, she's good at what she does. But she just told me a bunch of things I already knew were going to happen to me anyway. And here I was hoping to see the next Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome to come my way." the cat said next with a sigh as she slouched some into her seat. "I don't suppose you were the one who scared the fish out of water back to the nearest river were you dear?" she asked next of Elsie after a pause in reference to Lachlan's abrupt departure.

Estelle did her best to take Lana's compliment in stride. It felt strange to receive a compliment for her craft when she was anything but the most powerful mage even in just this city, never mind the world. But her companion's earnest wonder over the spells in the dungeon and process of learning it now described had the Fereis willing to at least not put herself down. It felt oddly nice to have the positive attention rather than a critique in her technique or form. She smiled in turn as Lana spoke while her attention was soon called to Hector and then Chris arriving at the table. "I am certain it will be marvelous." She beamed at Hector's comment. The honest compliment aside the woman realized she didn't actually know what the establishment served. But her companions seemed to as the mage observed with curiosity. Both had ordered ducks. It seemed like a safe enough bet. "Ducks all around I believe it will be." she said, placing her order. The girl's mind wandered to the various duck dishes she had eaten throughout her life at the Fereis estate. How indeed would this establishment compare she wondered. The thought lingered for only a moment as Lana invited Chris to share some of how he came to be a swordsman. "Yes, do tell Chris! The ease with which you handle a blade must not have come easily." she chimed in to the inquiry.