The Chosen [IC / Not Accepting / PG-16]

[Doggo 218]

The drunken draken had been mumbling to himself as he approached the inn. It looked right but he really couldn't be sure at this point. Reinaan was preparing a list of things he wanted to shout at Madelyn when he saw her but his tongue kept tripping over the right words as he stumbled through the space around him. He was distracted from, and ultimately forgot, the list of things he'd been rehearsing as the sound of two familiar voices caught his attention. Looking up he could see Damien and LIndow. The Thunder Chosen seemed to be in a good mood if the laughs were anything to go off of. But Damien's question was clearly mocking him. However clouded his mind was at the moment he could tell that much.

"Ssshhut up." He started with an initial slur to his words from the alcohol having set in more entirely to his system. "I didn't get in trouble or anything. I..." he trailed off as Lindow moved in to help him move. "Stop it, I'm fine!" Reinaan declared as he tried to push away from his friend. The next few steps showed clearly he wasn't as he nearly fell before catching himself. It wasn't long before he simply fell back into Linow's support simply by not moving from the spot as if he taking another step might send him falling through the ground.

"Isss, this really the inn?" Reinaan questioned as he looked back up at the building. "We gotta get the others. I needa tell em... what was it again?" He pondered aloud. Without finishing his question he attempted to walk a bit faster toward the inn. He would continue to ramble to Lindow and Damien about needing to get the group together. Something about a secret a huge guy with no hair who made fences told him. He was insistent on finding Keres and Ryia right away, wherever they were or whatever they were doing. One could only hope stopping him from doing so wouldn't prove difficult.

[LordCowCow 839]

Venus group

Keres was focused on the water. It was much easier than worrying about the other people in the spring. She began to move it back and forth. Watching how it interacted with her magic. She could be wrong but she noticed there seemed to be some difference in how it moved. Perhaps because of the heat? Or maybe whatever caused the heat changed the water in some way.

She wondered if she could somehow get a bottle of the water out of here to test that. Would it react differently when cooled or perhaps it would go back to acting like any other water source.

"Sh-she isn't. We're just friends. Is all."

Keres perked up at this and looked over at Ryia. They were friends? That...was news to her. She hadn't had friends before so when was this decided? She didn't remember Ryia ever announcing it to her before. Unless she missed something...She spent some time trying to remember where it had been stated but was drawing a blank.

Then she realized she had been staring at the girl and quickly moved to look away. Causing a bit of noise as she swished through the water in the process.

Drawing the unwanted attention of the third girl of the group, Madelyn, as she did.

"You've been awfully quiet...well, the entire time, but especially right now. What do you think of this place?"

Keres blinked a few times as she lingered in silence for several moments. She hadn't expected such direct questioning. "It's...interesting." She said. She looked down at the water again. "It doesn't seem to be entirely magic in nature but there must be some root of magic to make it last this long away from a natural heat source."

Madelyn groaned. "I meant how it felt. Not...all that."

Keres looked up. "It feels warm." She answered.

"Spirits. You remind me of some of my class...mates..." Madelyn's voice trailed off as she stared at Keres with narrowed eyes. "Say, where are you two from, anyway?" She turned to Ryia at this point, asking her for the both of them.

---

Mars group

“I’ll handle the room arrangements, just be sure that the future Chosen of Hangovers doesn’t relieve himself on the carpet.”

"Oh, good, babysitting." Damien muttered on his way towards Reinaan. Only for Reinaan to reject him and stumble his way for the door. Damien called over to Lindow "Better hurry up, I think there might be trouble pretty quickly." He then followed along beside Reinaan. Not touching nor helping the Draken on his way. Simple walking along with him and watching as the boy eventually made his way through the doorway.

Those inside the inn didn't seem to react much at first. Simply believing it was another person coming to check in. But when they saw the young man gasps could be heard as well as hushed voices. Some phrases like "Did a homeless boy just wander in." and "Was he mugged, dreadful." filtered towards them and Damien couldn't help but smirk at their discomfort.

"Careful!" He called out jokingly. "He might burp and catch something on fire."

Soon a couple of employees were approaching them, more particularly Reinaan, and urging the young man to leave the premises. Rather insistent that he not bother everyone else and walk away quietly.

Through it all Damien didn't leave his place near the boy but nor did he do anything to stop anyone.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia continued to soak in the water, her face partially submerged as she tried to take the light mage's advice and relax a little more. As the woman spoke up again, Ryia looked over and raised her head further out of the water. "I'm um, I'm from Haven. Naporia, uh, specifically."

Madelyn looked surprised "From that big of a city...huh, would not have expected that."

Ryia would give a nervous smile, unsure exactly how to take that saying, "ah, yeah. I uh, I guess I don't seem like a city girl...or something." Tapping her fingers together, Ryia wasn't particularly keen on keeping the current conversation going but she felt it polite to ask the mage in kind. "So um, where uh, where are you from. Madelyn?"

"Actually, from the same place...Well, same CITY at least." She said.

"Oh." Ryia was surprised by this, and clearly more flustered by the knowledge. By how Madelyn acted, there was no way that the two of them were cut from the same cloth. And she wasn't entirely sure how the girl would react to figuring out how different that was, especially given how she treated everything else around her. "Small, uh, small world. I guess."

"It would seem so...and her?" Madelyn's eyes flicked towards Keres.

Ryia looked at Keres, pondering for a moment before looking back to Madelyn. "I uh...I don't know."

"How can you not know? Didn't you say you were friends?"

A bit ashamed, Ryia looked away saying, "I uh...I never...asked..."

"I cannot get a handle on this group of yours." Madelyn muttered.

"Yeah...sorry..." Was all that Ryia managed to say to the girl, before sinking back into the water, letting out a few bubbles as her mouth passed the water. 

[Hollow 21]

Lindow simply smiled and nodded as Reinaan rambled on about finding the girls, the hairless man, and something about fences. It was clear that this was the boy’s first time hitting the bottle, and the best thing they could do for him his dump him in a bed with some water, and prey that Damien wasn’t on to something with his flaming belch joke…

Realizing that Damien had resigned to be the comedic relief, Lindow quickly put himself in between the employees and Reinaan. As he stepped forward with authority, his shadow quickly rose from ground in a humanoid form and took its owner’s place as the boy’s shoulder to lean. The blatant display of magic was intentional, in hopes of distracting from the Fire Chosen's bare hind scales. 

“Please forgive the disturbance. I’m afraid my friend here lost his clothes in wager…” Lindow smiled wolfishly at inn’s employees whilst producing the golden card he had been given by the council and holding it up. “I believe you’re already familiar with associate Madelyn. We’re visiting this town on council business, so if any of you would be kind enough to arrange a room for me and my men… we’ll be out your hair in no time at all I assure you.” 
 

[Doggo 218]

Reinan was growing steadily more irritated as the staff of the inn stirred at the sight of him. Hadn't they ever seen a Draken before he wondered. Nevermind one that looked as good as he did. He was about to snap at them asking him to leave but Lindow spoke first. This added some confusion as he hadn't fallen over despite Lindow being in front of him. A shadow was supporting him. The booze inhibited brain didn't want to process the detail so it simply accepted it. But what it didn't accept was Lindow's explanation for his state. He hadn't lost his clothes. He'd taken them off very intentionally.... how long ago had that been now? Reinaan couldn't remember the last time he hadn't been naked. The confusion was enough to stop him getting angry but he did still have to protest.

"I didn't lose anything..." he muttered in defiance of Lindow's ploy. In any case, the staff seemed ready to be rid of them. At Madelyn's name they cringed and the worker at the desk hurried over to the group.

"Just. Get going, this is the room, go there, she can deal with this." he said. They were being offloaded onto Madelyn as her problem. Reinaan didn't particularly grasp the full details of the situation but happily began stumbling down the hallway. Madelyn's room was a straight shot down to the end of it. But the group wouldn't immediately reach the end of that hall. Reinaan was struggling with how twisty the floor was looking and felt the need to comment on it aloud to no one. Of course, the floor was fine but he had no way of knowing. But then something caught his nose. Something familiar. Keres, or Ryia, or Madelyn had been around there recently. It seemed stronger down this other hall than on the way down to the room. And so Reinaan pushed away from LIndow's support and began staggering down the hall to the hot springs.

"Com on, they're thiz way. I gotta tell 'em." He called back to LIndow. Upon reach the divide between the male baths and the female baths Reinaan would without regard for anything, perhaps because he couldn't read, straight towards the female side of things. It was going to take a very creative solution to stop there being any further trouble.

[LordCowCow 839]

Gurls

Keres sank deeper into the water as she heard the conversation the two others were having. She thought perhaps Madelyn was remembering something and decided it would be best to not say anything that might remind the girl of the days in the tower more than she already had. The path the conversation took was an uncomfortable one. Ryia had said they were friends but Madelyn was now questioning that. Keres herself didn't know the answer to that and it didn't seem that Ryia really had anything to say in response. Serving to make Keres more and more confused.

She was surprised when Madelyn sighed "Well, whatever," and turned towards the water mage. "So, how about it? You don't happen to be from the same city as us do you? That would be far too coincidental."

"Ah, no." Keres said. "I'm...I'm from the Marsh." She said.

"You...surely you mean Izlaton right? The city outside of the Restless Marsh."

Keres shook her head in response. However she didn't say anything more. Even as she shook her head she realized what it was she was telling this girl. For someone to live in the Marsh usually would mean they were either undead, demonic, or...

"That's not possible. If you were from the Marsh itself..." Madelyn said and Keres could tell that the girl was working it out. Suddenly Madelyn stood up with a splash and pointed at Keres. "Witches come from the Marsh. Keres...Yes, now I remember. You were from the Tower! The Witch girl!"

Keres looked away from the girl. Not wanting to further this conversation. Then she heard some voices and noises from outside of the hallway. "I think someone is coming." She said.

"Don't try to change the subject. Why didn't you say this sooner? Surely there's no way you didn't recognize ME." Madelyn looked over towards Ryia. "You have quite the odd one with you. She was chased from the Tower years ago. Some rumors say she tried to curse a Council Member."

---

Bois

Damien whistled nonchalantly as he followed Reinaan and Lindow down the hallway. He raised an eyebrow and smirked at a couple people who looked on in shock at the group. Particularly the naked Draken who was swerving back and forth along the hall. "Wonder what he's so insistent about." Damien said to Lindow. "Doesn't look like he realizes the situation at all does he?"

They got to the room indicated but, before they could go inside, Reinaan continued onward. Searching for the girls it seemed. "That's probably not good, eh? Or maybe it is. Kid could learn a lesson about drinking and privacy at once. I can't imagine our girls would do much but that Madelyn seems like the type to get angry."

He shrugged and looked to Lindow. "I'm going to check out this room. See what all the fuss is about. Maybe sleep a bit before all the mayhem breaks loose cause of our drunk friend."

He waved to Lindow. "Good luck." And started to enter the room.

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan continued stumbling on his way into the women's side of the baths. From voices he was hearing he was fairly certain this had to be where everyone had ended up. He remained incapable of being dissuaded from his task by any words and was not exactly capable of being physically restrained by a single human. And he'd gotten enough of a head start that Lindow hadn't yet caught up to him but it was sure to happen fast. All the more reason to keep moving. But fate was unkind. Just as Reinaan had entered the room to the bath properly, the floor got a lot more twisty than it was supposed to be. As he placed his foot he could feel his balance go.

"Woaaaaaaaah! Hang on!" he shouted out almost laughing as he fell forward and tumbled to the ground. It didn't stop of course. Reinaan kept rolling with the momentum he'd had across the floor until he landed face first into the bath Madelyn, Ryia and Keres had up until that point perhaps been enjoying. It took the drunken Draken a moment to realize what had happened but soon began flailing about in the water at random trying to get above water to breathe again. After a fair bit of struggling and a lot of splashing his head managed to get to hair for him to gasp and shout.

"What the hel-" he started with a moment of clarity through the booze due to the shock to his system. But he hadn't actually found a good grip on anything yet to stay above water and was now fighting to stay above and shout about his confusion as to what was happening. Through it all he thought he saw glimpses of the girls. So he'd found the right place after all. It seemed there were silver linings, even to suddenly fighting not to drown.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia had been as surprised as Madelyn was upon hearing that Keres was from the Restless Marsh. The girl didn't really know that much about the marsh, nor its inhabitants, with the only thing she had known being it was a setting for many a spooky folktale that she had heard. The stuff all manner of unnatural monsters and the like would hang out. As such, Ryia couldn't help but feel worried for Keres - pointlessly so as she was clearly presently not in the Marsh - thinking what kind of terrors the girl must've had to brave through all of her life. Madelyn meanwhile, seemed to recognize the girl as a fellow student from the Mage Tower, calling Keres a witch in the process as well. Ryia was, once again, at a loss for words at this revelation. She didn't know much about witches either, other than that they were practitioners of magic and often of the bad variety. Curses and kinds of foul demonic magics. Keres, however, didn't seem bad in the slightest and she was a Chosen at that. 

Being all out of sorts, the girl didn't really comment on the initial reveal to all of it. She couldn't imagine that Keres actually being bad in any regards, and Madelyn's next comment had left her even more skeptical. Thinking back to the council member they had met, she could only imagine that the one that Keres would try to curse - if she was into cursing magic - would've been that woman. And thinking more about how the woman acted, Ryia couldn't help but just ask, "are - are you sure it wasn't the other way around?" 

Before an answer could come, though, the girls were interrupted by someone coming into the spring. Ryia went wide-eyed in confusion and shock as the person who walked in was absolutely unmistakable. Even turning away from the moment, water splashing into her face, she was still left with nothing but shock. Turning back to face him, as the boy seemed incredibly confused but looked towards all three of the females, the girl started stammering out, "wh-wh-what are you doing!?" Reflexively, as she stammered this out, she stomped her foot on the ground. A wall of earth appeared between the draken and the girls, blocking his sight of them and splashing everyone with water yet again. Looking at the wall, then back to Keres and Madelyn, clearly embarrassed by just about everything, the girl said, "o-oh. Oops. I uh...I'll  - er..." Realizing that the Draken had just been drowning as well, the girl quickly changed topic saying, "R-reinaan are you uh...not drowning?"

[LordCowCow 839]

"are - are you sure it wasn't the other way around?" 

"Oh I doubt that, after all I remember the girl was basically Miss Hannah's..." Madelyn was interrupted by the sounds of someone approaching. As the girls looked there was a large splash of water when Reinaan fell into it and almost sank like a stone before he began to flail about.

In a flash Madelyn was standing and had somehow managed to wrap a towel around her in the same motion. Her face was red and angry and she bristled as she realized who had come crashing, literally, in on them. It seemed she was about to cast a spell but, to her surprise, she saw Ryia casually erect a wall of earth between them. She glanced over at the girl "How did...right, spirits.." She muttered.

Then she looked back to where the Draken was.

"R-reinaan are you uh...not drowning?"

"And so what if he is?" She sputtered. "I should have known he was nothing more than a brutish beast. Trying to force himself upon us like that. I'm sure we'd be safer if he DID drown." She was shaking with anger now, not that Reinaan could see her and somewhat hysteric. He could hear her as she continued "What do you think you're doing here? This is the woman's bath. Men not allowed. Maybe you can't read but that's still no excuse. Now get out of here right this instant! If you have to tell me something tell me in the proper place you...you...savage!"

Keres was frozen, wide-eyed, ever since Reinaan came charging in. She had the irrational fear that he had come in here to kill her when she was least expecting it. It was only through deduction, even Reinaan with his limited knowledge of magic would know ambushing her surrounded by water would be foolish, that she managed to calm herself.

Though she saw that Ryia was panicking and Madelyn was furiously flinging insults in her anger. She moved closer to Ryia, hiding herself behind the girl, as she said "It's not that deep...he probably shouldn't drown."

Thinking perhaps he was having some other sort of issue Keres sighed a bit and placed her hand on top of the water, which was gently rocking back and forth after the disturbance, and concentrated. Flux floated around to the edge of the stone pillar and relayed to the girl where Reinaan was generally located.

Reinaan would feel the water around him wrap itself around his limbs and slowly lift him out of the path and to the edge of it. Letting go as his feet touched the stone floor beyond. Though if he was able to stay standing depending on his own balance.

The girl decided to stay quiet as to not draw the Draken's attention to her. Even with the pillar blocking his view. Just in case her deduction was false.

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan sputtered up the water he'd been in the process of swallowing. More than just the floor, everything seemed to bet twisting now. Or perhaps he had actually been moved. That there was suddenly a wall in the room where he had thought he'd seen the girls was confusing. He touched back down to the floor outside the bath, quickly slipping on the wet floor and falling onto his rear end. His tail wasn't going to appreciate that in the morning. He could still hear Ryia and Madelyn wherever they were at. At this point Ziiyol appeared in the air above her partner. Her hesitance to be around so much water in such a small place didn't stop her from finding humor in the situation.

"Reiny isn't quite himself, other Chosen." she called out to Ryia and Keres. "He drank something called a Dragon Slayer and has been rather hilarious since." she continued giggling while trying to urge her partner out of the room. She couldn't do much in the way of lifting him but her touch did get the confused draken to pay her some attention.

"Ziiyol, what happened? Where'd this wall come from?" he asked still obviously addled by the alcohol as evidenced by his sloppy speech.

"I'm afraid you missed the room. They're back the other way." the fire spirit teased back. Reinaan hadn't seemed to latch on to Madelyn's insults much but the Fire Spirit had not so readily forgiven them. Nothing so beautiful as her partner's scales could be savage she asserted to herself. She hovered over to the other side of the wall briefly to remind herself what this non-chosen woman looked like. As she thought, just like any other human. If only their hair could reflect light light better she might like them more. As she hovered back to her partner she smirked as she summoned a single bit of flame and let it drift onto the water. A harmless prank really. Just a less than mild heating of the bath, starting on Madelyn's side of things. Surely if she were so much more civilized than her dear draken partner she would be able to take it. If not, the spirit could observe water burning things and the concept itself seemed so paradoxical it elicited another laugh.

Reinaan for his part had gotten back up on his feet and taken his spirit's words at face value. He didn't even know why he'd come in here in the first place. Several thuds sounded as the water on the floor and the boy's feet were clearly not doing his already impaired balance any good. But the thumps at least were getting further away from the girls and back towards Lindow and the room he was actually supposed to have gone into. Though the longer this went on the more the Draken seemed to realize he should probably be mad about something. What he couldn't place exactly.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia was generally okay to offer herself as a shield for the others of the team and often put herself in harms way for their sake. She was always willing to take point and bear the brunt of the aggression if it meant her allies were safe. However, in this situation she felt much more awkward about Keres h hiding behind her and using her for cover. Obviously she didn't actually do anything to keep the girl from staying there, but was far more tense and nervous about the situation than she had been not moments ago. Thankfully, it seemed to resolve itself with Ziyol managing to coax the Draken out of the water. Looking with a smile over to the spirit, the girl said, "um, thanks for the help, Ziyol. Um, make sure that he uh, gets some rest." 

With that, the girl let out a sigh of relief as Reinaan had managed to leave. Looking towards Keres, she said, "it seems to be safe now." The girl then looked over to Madelyn, frowning. She hadn't put much thought to it up until this point, but with the Minotaurs Ryia had noticed how much she had talked down to the beastfolk. Of course, at that point they were enemies and Ryia didn't have a positive opinion on them either. Now, however, that same kind of language kept persistent with Reinaan. She was likely as shocked as Ryia was and was certainly angry, so the girl wanted to give Madelyn the slight benefit of the doubt. But still, talking about one of her comrades in such a way had certainly upset Ryia. And so, she said, "um, Madelyn, it's uh, alright now. But, well, I don't think you have to be so harsh to him about it. It seemed like it was just a mistake on his part, so well, could you uh, at least in the future not call him a uh, a savage." 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Skaia

[Hollow 21]

Lindow turned and glared at the door to their room as Damien slipped in and shut it behind him. He felt a small prick of suspicion. It was a little bit strange that the other man wasn’t interested in seeing how the situation with Reinaan would play out after clearly enjoying the spectacle moments prior… 

The Thunder Chosen’s gaze lingered on the door for quite a bit as the supernatural paranoia that he had been trying to suppress prodded and scraped at the walls of his mind. Bringing his hand up to his temple, Lindow closed his eyes and took a long deep breath to clear his mind.

However, it seemed that brief moment it took to shake Lindow’s doubts was more than enough Reinaan to get into some new trouble. "Woaaaaaaaah! Hang on!" The boy’s voice sounded from down the hall, followed by a low rumble and the screams of what he could only assume to the occupancy of whatever room he stumbled into. Sighing, the witch hunter begrudgingly began to make his way towards the all too familiar sound of a disturbance. 

“Oh boy.” With every step Lindow grew increasingly aware of the fact that he was going to have to retrieve his friend from the girl’s side of bath. “Welp, here we go…” Inches from the threshold of the room, Lindow steeled himself for entry, only to come face to face with a soaking wet Reinaan just as the boy stumbled back out into the hallway. Blinking in confusion, Lindow watched the boy clumsily swerve back the direction they came.

"..." 

"I'm sorry about that!" Peaking his head around the corner, Lindow closed his and smiled apologetically into the room. "You see... the lad suffers from a rare condition." Tapping his forehead, Lindow opened his eye slightly to try and sell the story. "He doesn't have much longer to live... and it was his last wish to vi-" Realizing that the bath appeared to completely empty, Lindow paused and stared blankly at the wall of stone in the center of the water. It seemed familiar somehow... and where had the screams heard earlier came from?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Hollow

[LordCowCow 839]

"it seems to be safe now."

Keres let out a breath and released Ryia's arm. She hadn't even realized she had been holding onto it. "I wonder what he wanted..." It was clear that he wasn't in the right mind. Otherwise there was no way he would have been deterred from his goal so easily. Still, it was good that he was gone. Especially with how upset Madelyn had gotten at his intrusion.

The girl was pouting and staring in the direction the Draken had gone. She glanced back as Ryia spoke to her and gave her a confused look. "Would you not call barging into a woman's bath like that savage? Come on, girl, have some self respect." She tossed her head. "Well, anyway, this utterly ruined my relaxation. And don't you think this spring is getting overly hot? I'll have to talk to them about that. And perhaps installing some security..."

The girl started around the wall Ryia had erected when....

"I'm sorry about that!"

Madelyn gasped and moved behind the rock wall Ryia had put up. "Oh for spirits sake." She hissed. Looking over at Keres and Ryia she said venomously. "Do those men you travel with have any manners at all? I swear, I might have to stick around to keep them away from you both..."

Then she called over the wall towards the man "I don't care how long he has to live. If he pulls stunts like that the sooner the better! Just get out of here and take him with you, you ghastly man!"

Keres had shrunk further into the water at Lindow's voice. By now only her eyes were above the water and Ryia could see a few bubbles of air hit the surface as her blank eyes darted to either side of the rock as though expecting someone to come charging around any second.

[Skaia 578]

"Well uh, maybe rude. I don't know if I'd go as far as um...savage...but uh..." The girl mumbled her response to Madelyn, though didn't actually follow up much as the girl started to walk around the stone pillar. It was then that as Ryia was about to begin following the girl that yet another voice had called in. The girl moved with a start as she was surprised by the suddenness of it, and didn't entirely feel calmed when she realized who it belonged to. Letting out a defeated sigh as Lindow continued to talk, only to be magnified as Madelyn had responded to him. The girl looked at the light mage as she mentioned staying in the group for longer with shock on her face, unable to say anything other than, "ah...is uh, is that so?Well uh...they're normally not this..." The girl couldn't finish her sentence though, as she imagined the  future altercations that were bound to happen between her and the others. 

Still feeling awkward about the whole thing, Ryia didn't exactly move from her spot before calling out. "Ah, Lindow we're uh...we're almost done in here so...please leave for now..." The girl could feel a headache coming on trying to sort things out and not quite sure herself why she was being so polite right now. All the same, she looked back to the wall, and then back to Madelyn and Keres. "Um...I think that'll go down by itself. Eventually...probably." 

[Hollow 21]

Lindow’s expression sunk the moment Madelyn’s voice called over from behind the rock. “Ghastly?” He repeated without even realizing it. He finally began putting together the pieces when Ryia spoke up as well, cringing slightly at the implications of him peering into his comrade’s bath before slowly receding back behind the corner. “Right. I’ll be leaving now…” His voice trailed behind him. “Sorry.” He felt slightly daft. Of course, he recognized the stone wall… he had been on both sides of it a few times now.

 His cheeks were warm with embarrassment but there wasn’t much that could be done to remedy the situation. Lindow resigned to simply never talk about this again and hoped the girls would agree that it was a sound plan. Naturally, Reinaan hadn’t gotten far and within a few moments Lindow had caught up with the boy. “I think that’s enough hijinks to last us the evening, lad…” He with said a sigh as he offered the boy his should once more. “let’s get you to bed.” 

After what felt like ages, they finally found themselves in their room. Immediately noticing that Damien was nowhere to be found, Lindow considered going out to search for the other man but ultimately deduced that he would turn up tomorrow at some point regardless. Letting himself fall face first into the inn’s expensive bedding, the Thunder Chosen hurriedly slid off his equipment before burying himself in the silken sheets. 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Hollow

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan had forgotten what it was he had wanted to tell the others in the middle of everything. At this point he was mostly contemplating how he'd gotten wet as water continued to drip from him as he walked down the hallway. Eventually Lindow's shoulder got under him again, again things weren't clear there. Nothing much was by this point. The boy just wanted to sleep and was fighting to stay awake to keep walking. Somehow he managed it though as they got closer to their destination, Lindow was going to end up doing more and more of the worked. Wherever they ended up the boy took to floor rather quickly. His lips were moving but one might simply pass it off as drunken rambling continuing into his dreams. But if one really wanted to focus on it they might make out a single word.

"Ah...mul..." the boy would mutter over and over. Perhaps a name? Likely Draken as he barely knew humans prior to his adventures with the Chosen. Whatever it was, the mumbling stopped after the Draken moved along in the sleep cycle to deeper stages.

[LordCowCow 839]

"Um...I think that'll go down by itself. Eventually...probably." 

"Probably? Wait, how long have you been doing this again? Shouldn't you know...well, I suppose it's not our problem." With that the three girls got out of the hot spring, dried off, and found their clothing cleaned and folded. And in Ryia's case her armor was literally shining and polished. Looking almost brand new if not for the dents and scratches.

"Maybe baths aren't so bad." Keres said to Ryia as they continued on their way. "Usually I have to boil the water first to wash anything so perhaps a hot spring would be less work..."

Madelyn still seemed to be fuming somewhat at the previous events. "I cannot believe how rude those boys are. And you both so calm about it. Honestly I don't know how you put up with it." She sighed as she reached the room. "Well, whatever, at least now I can rest in my room. Away from those perverse scoundrels."

And then she opened the door.

The entire building could hear her shriek of "What do you think you're doing in here?"

Meanwhile a staff worker had just passed out in shock after seeing a large rock formation in the middle of the hot spring.

---

The next day would be different for each of the group. The boys, having been kicked out of the room by Madelyn, had to find a different place to rest for the night. Meanwhile Ryia and Keres, due to there being two beds only, had to share. Thankfully the bed was quite large. Despite this when Ryia woke up she would find that Keres was sleeping at the very edge of the bed. If questioned the girl would simply reply she "didn't want to bother her."

Madelyn was, perhaps surprisingly, already awake and dressed. Brushing her hair while looking into a round mirror and frowning at a couple spots that were sticking up stubbornly. When she noticed the two awake she looked over "About time. You should start getting ready. You wanted to go to the last of the ruins today yes?"

[Skaia 578]

With all the stress and woes that had come from having to deal with the minotaurs and the general lack of privacy she was met with from the males Ryia had been glad to end the day. The girl had slept soundly and felt restored, stretching her arms as she woke up. Looking to the side of her bed, seeing that Keres looked just about ready to fall off the girl looked over to first see if she was awake and when she did asked if she was alright. Upon hearing the answer, Ryia said, "ah, well it's fine if you want to use more of the bed. It won't bother me." The girl certainly appreciated the sentiment, but having grown up as she did, she didn't really have a problem sleeping packed between others. All the same, the girl was next surprised to see Madelyn already full dressed and ready to get going. 

Nodding her head she said, "right, um, sorry. I should uh..." The girl looked around the room, locating her gear before getting out of bed. As she went to start to get her clothing and armor in order, she gave a short bow to Madelyn saying, "and um, thank you. Again, for uh, helping us out. And all." With that, Ryia went to get ready for the day and meet up with the others. 

[Doggo 218]

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.

[LordCowCow 839]

"and um, thank you. Again, for uh, helping us out. And all."

"If you want to really thank me do it with your actions. Though I suppose I don't mind being praised now and then." Madelyn said. She looked the two girls up and down as they both quickly got ready. "Is that it? You're not going to spend ANY time looking more presentable?" She sighed. "There's so much I need to teach you...Ah well I suppose for now it's fine."

Keres lingered behind with Ryia as Madelyn headed out of the room. "You...don't happen to know where the others are, do you? I don't think she does." Keres asked Ryia.

And as she suspected the girl didn't know where the others might be. So their first mission of the day was to find the boys. As they walked Keres noticed that Madelyn had taken an apple from her bag and was eating it as they walked which reminded her of her own hunger. She didn't say anything though Ryia would be able to hear her stomach grumbling.

--

Eventually they did manage, through mysterious and unimportant means, to find the other two. Though Damien was yet to be discovered. Madelyn wrinkled her nose at the two of them and sighed. "I don't particularly want to journey with the two of you but I suppose it's my cross to bear for now. There's one ruins I didn't take those beast-men to and I imagine it just may be what you're looking for. I suppose you want to find your more tactful friend first?"

As if on cue one of their "friends", though not Damien, showed up as well. "Ho!" Called out Geoff from atop his buffalo. "Well met friends! I see you are gearing up to head out on an adventure! I was on my way out as well. I would be willing to help you with whatever task you're setting out on if you're leaving now!"

Madelyn stared at the buffalo, entirely ignoring the man on it, and whispered "How many crazy men do you know?"

Spoiler

So, Hollow, please don't forget to respond to Reinaan first.

Next up is a choice. Either go now/soon (it's fine to eat first and such) with Geoff and leave Damien behind for this or wait and look for Damien (which won't take many rounds or anything like that it's mostly the choice) and not have Geoff join with for this next bit.

So basically which party member do you want with for now Geoff or Damien. Also if there's more interaction stuff between meeting up you wanna do that's okay. I just figured I'd get out more than a few lines and give more options and such.

 

[Hollow 21]

The boy was finally awake. ” Yep it’s me.” Lindow answered the young draken’s call after a brief silence. Having already been up for some time now, the Thunder Chosen was completely geared up and laying lazily across his bed as if he were waiting to leave. In his hand he held a fresh apple that he had been working through as he watched the fire chosen twitch and drool in his sleep. 

“You really made a fool of yourself last night, lad.” His tone started off stern but softened after Lindow picked up on the state Reinaan was in. “Naturally, after you terrorized the other inn, we got kicked out. Then after that, guess which disgruntled mercenary had the pleasure of dragging your soggy scales to this fine establishment…”  He motioned around the room that they had spent the night in.  

The furnishings would probably be rather familiar, but if that wasn’t enough, the stench of fish would be a clear indication that they were in one of the rooms that the party had rented during their first night in town. 
 
“Heads-up,” Reaching down into a brown sack at the foot of his bed, Lindow produced another fruit and tossed it Reinaan’s way. “you’ll need some water in ya at some point, but that might help with how you’re feeling. I even grabbed a few for the others as bribe. I think I like the market a lot better in the morning…” 

After Reinaan had a chance to speak for himself, Lindow would urge the boy to get ready. The girls were certainly looking for them by that point, and he didn’t feel like hearing any lip from Madelyn for causing too much of a delay. 

When the pair finally ran into the rest of the party, Lindow returned Madelyn’s sigh and responded to her comment with is usual chirp. “You know we met your prior employers, right? Even we weren’t paying more, we’re still definitely an upgrade.”  Though before he could make a remark about Damien, Geoff appeared and offered his aid if they were willing to leave right away. Slinging his sack of fruit over his shoulder Lindow looked around the group to see how the reacted to the notion of leaving Damien behind again. 
 

Spoiler

Lindow bought 1x room x10 fruits off screen. 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Hollow

[Skaia 578]

Ryia had sighed as Madelyn had left the room with a comment on their appearance and a lack of direction as to where to go. As a result, the duo followed behind the light mage for a bit in her aimless wandering, before Ryia had a suggestion as to where the two likely had rested for the night. After that, they had managed to meet up with both of the other Chosen without too much a of hassle, with the notable exception of Damien missing. The girl frowned a bit as it seemed that they were going to have to go find him, but before she could say anything more the group was met with the sudden appearance of someone else. The girl let out a sigh as Madelyn made a comment about the type of men they were acquainted with. While Ryia didn't tend to speak for the rest of the group, she opted to walk forward and look towards Geoff with a smile. 

"Ah, well, um we are going out for more...adventure stuff, too. But, well, we have to go find another of our uh, adventuring...companions." Ryia had still felt a bit guilty about leaving Damien behind to aid Geoff before - especially given having asked him to join them on their quest to begin with - and didn't want to do so again. Last time as well, Ryia had a suspicion that whatever it was they had to find was more dangerous then Geoff alone could handle and now telling him to come along with them would simply be putting him near the greatest danger the world had to offer. As such, she simply smiled back and said, "but i um, i wish you safety in your own uh, adventures."

[Doggo 218]

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.

[LordCowCow 839]

“You know we met your prior employers, right? Even we weren’t paying more, we’re still definitely an upgrade.”

"You're not even paying me." Madelyn retorted but with a roll of her eyes waved him off. "At least you smell better than them. Mostly." She looked over at Reinaan who still had a faint scent of alcohol about him.

"Go save the world without us"

Geoff seemed entirely unperturbed by the Draken's dismissive tone. "Yes of course! Never you fear the world is in good hands with me! I shall leave you to whatever mundane but I'm sure still important task you have!"

With a wave Geoff hopped onto his buffalo and the mount made its way towards the city's gate. Leaving the group in a brief silence before Madelyn said "Well he was certainly...unique." Her tone clearly showed her disapproval.

Though Keres couldn't help but think it odd hearing Madelyn call someone that. She didn't say this out loud though instead she said "I hope Damien isn't in jail...again."

"Wait, again?"

---

As it turned out Damien wasn't in jail. He actually wasn't even in the city. After wandering around asking the residents for anyone who had seen him they finally found him right outside of the gate. Having apparently slept outside of the city. "Sorry about that just had to get out in the open air is all. No problems here. I'm guessing you're all ready to get going then?" The man stretched and strolled his way towards the group. "I see you didn't get into too much trouble after I left." Damien said to Reinaan.

"Well, ma'am, I suppose we're following your lead yeah?"

Madelyn smiled and nodded. She turned to the group and placed her hands on her hips. "The location of the ruins should take us a few hours to reach. It will be a bit of a walk but I'm sure you're used to that by now. Keep your eyes out for any wild animals or bandits on the way. I'm helping you out from the kindness of my heart so the least you can do is make sure I don't get attacked."

Keres wondered how the girl had kept herself safe before. Did she always travel in a group? She couldn't imagine that she was the type to hire escorts so what did she do before working with the Minotaurs? She remembered that Madelyn was a talented mage but she couldn't know what she was like in a combat situation.

In the girl's mind she imagined Madelyn running away from monsters and a small noise came out. It wasn't quite a laugh but it was the closest equivalent.

Madelyn seemed to hear and said "What was that? Is there something you want to say?"

Keres shook her head. "No."

The other girl sighed. "Well let us go. If we're lucky we won't run into any of those bulls on the way."

[Skaia 578]

Ryia let out a sigh of relief as Geoff left, giving the man a friendly wave goodbye as he left. With that out of the way, all that was left was the group needing to go and find Damien, which as well didn't take all that long. The girl was glad to see that he hadn't managed to get himself into any trouble, though was somewhat worried about could have happened from sleeping outside. After all, even on the roads the island had proved to be quite dangerous so far. Yet still, the girl didn't voice said concerns to the man as he was both probably used to this and she could feel his relentless teasing of her occur if she did. 

Walking forward, the girl nodded as Madelyn told them to keep their wits about them for any monsters or the like they might find on the road. She knew Madelyn was a mage, and a confident one at that, but she didn't really know what she could do. As a result, Ryia kept herself nearby both of the mages, as she continued to look around. After all, even Keres was a talented mage but she knew that if an enemy got too close to her it would be very, very bad. As Madelyn made her next comment on the Minotaurs, Ryia simply nodded in agreement, thinking how problematic it would be if they had come to stop them. Not only were they strong enough to begin with, but she shuddered to think what would happen if they were too influenced by the demon gate. Yet still, if they didn't see them here, a thought did gnaw at her. "So...once we do this, destroy the gate that is, um...what should we do about them? The uh, Minotaurs, that is?" After all, if they destroyed the demon gate and especially without them knowing about it, it wasn't like the current tensions between them and the other people would just be solved.