Tools of Conquest [Goblin]

[Juno]

She was amused at the color in his cheeks and even moreso by his avoidance of answering the question clearly. Shrugging, she pointed at the hills above. "I'll let you stay in the spare room I have. In the morning I'll take you home, but it's too far to walk right now, obviously.

"Now...what happened at the border?" she wondered.

[GoblinFae]

"I don't need to be taken home in the morning. I still have business that I need to conclude! Have you not been listening? Honestly, you really should get your hearing checked as soon as possible. This is a great concern that you would be losing your hearing at such a young age. Of course you could have been this way since birth in which case I really do feel for you."

Benjamin shook his head in commiseration. "Why do you want to know about the border? Why all these questions? You don't need to know this. It's not going to help you with protecting me. It's over and done with, long since resolved. Believe me, you have nothing to worry about from that whole minor incident."

[Juno]

Remina gritted her teeth as the hair at the nape of her neck bristled at his stubbornness. "I am not hard of hearing, far from it! Very far from it," she told him pointedly. "You should quit going on about this whole business thing... I don't know why you're being so hardheaded about this! I'll be taking you straight home so that your blood isn't on my hands if you decide to go and get yourself killed, understand? I'm not having that.

"And I'm not asking many questions, I was just trying to be conversational. But if you don't want to talk to me, then fine. I'll leave you alone and you can just shut up until you're out of my care."

[GoblinFae]

Benjamin shook his head. "Must be selective hearing then, or stubbornness. Not your doctor so not really my business to try and diagnose it. Oh well. See there you go again!" He threw his hands up into the air, stepping closer to the woman.

"It must be stubbornness because I have told you countless times I am not going home until this whole debacle is cleared tomorrow. Besides come morning I am no longer your responsibility, so you won't be taking me home!"

The nobleman made a sound of exasperation in the back of his throat before turning to head out of the alley. "Let's just go then. There really is no need to continue this conversation anyway."

[Juno]

"There's nothing to clear up, you stubborn brat," she muttered. "Why am I even here? You're just a delusional troublemaker. I can't get anything from you and you only serve to annoy me with this nonsense about going back in the morning. That's crazy talk. Absolute crazy talk. You're going to get yourself killed, you know that, right?

"Fine," she agreed, sighing heavily as she turned to stare at the road ahead and up to the hill where her home sat waiting in darkness. "Just stay close so you don't get lost, there are a lot of weird streets at the edge of town."

[GoblinFae]

The nobleman huffed but otherwise refrained from answering her. It was pointless what she thought of him anyway. She was not his mother nor a suitor. She was just some crazy woman he had the misfortune to meet twice now.

"Everything about this town is weird," he grumbled under his breath, stuffing his hands under his armpits in an attempt to keep them warm.

[Juno]

"I assume you mean even the people?" she asked bitterly, unamused by his sorry display. "Are you sick or something? You have a coat on," she pointed out, rolling her eyes.

[GoblinFae]

"Aye! Between the woman earlier and your accomplice in the jail cell I don't know what to think about Ketra's hospitality. It is all very strange to me."

Benjamin shivered and pressed closer to the Alley wall in attempt to avoid a draft of air. "Yes I know I'm wearing a coat but it's sopping wet from being in that musty cell. They really need to work on their housekeeping in there. Honestly I've never seen anything quite that bad in my whole life! You might want to let them know that if you're ever in town again. A person could catch a cold in die in there from those conditions, I tell you!"

[Juno]

"I see," she sighed, thankful at least that he wasn't insulting her directly again, though she had no idea why he had anything bad to say about Saul. "It would probably be best for me to avoid the jail and all of its...pig guards. I wouldn't exactly be welcome to visit, or treated nicely for that matter. I don't like staying around for long periods of time anyhow. Everyone gets so...flighty," she shrugged as she led him down a side street and out a small door to keep away from the main road.

"Try not to get stuck in the brambles," she told him as she picked up the pace and began ascending the all too familiar hill on her invisible path, never staying in a straight line as she navigated the brush.

[GoblinFae]

His eyebrows raised in surprise but he tried not to comment and ask why. The woman seemed mad enough that he kept talking and he really did not want to worsen his living situation for the night by further irritating her especially since she seemed to become infuriated with him at the drop of a pin.

"Brambles? What brambles?" he queried moments before walking right into said bramble bush. "Oh those brambles," he stated while fighting to extract himself. Try as he would though he could not avoid the bushes. It seemed that every attempt to do so ensured he would be ensnared. By the time he was free of one he was caught in another and watching the woman head onward without him.

[Juno]

The near-constant, rattling sound of him becoming entangled was slowly grating at her nerves. Whenever she glanced back at him, though, it was a truly pitiful sight to see. "Just...try stepping where I step," she encouraged him, slowing down so he might be able to follow along a bit better. "Is there not any woods in Fallial?" she wondered, ignoring the fact that it was quite dark as well and there was low visibility with the trees above blocking most of the moonlight.

[GoblinFae]

When her back was turned he mocked what she said finding it completely unhelpful when he could barely see where he was stepping let alone where she up ahead of him was stepping. "Of course there are woods in Fallial! Why would you think there were not any? Just because it's not Adela or doesn't mean that the provinces of Serendipity are without resources. Are you some kind of elitist or something? Because I can assure you Fallial is every bit as good as your Ketra, perhaps even better."

[Juno]

"Well, you just seem so out of your element," she commented, peering back at him to watch over her shoulder. Her eyebrow shot up at his wondering about supposed elitism. "Hardly," she scoffed. "I was just asking because you don't seem very familiar with them, but Adela is quite full of them... I'm guessing you're not one for the outdoors?" she offered, gesturing at the random thorns stuck to his clothes that she could see despite the dim light.

[GoblinFae]

"Ah well I do go outdoors but not usually in this particular scenery and definitely not in these clothes. Sunday best is hardly appropriate for traipsing around in the woods. If I had know I would be marching all over Ketra I would have at least worn my traveling boots this morning. I am rather unprepared for all of these nature," paused searching for a word while waving at the flora around him, "things."

[Juno]

"Things?" she wondered, looking around to humor him. "Well, what's your typical scenery like?" Remina chose to ignore his comments about clothing and shoes, as if it were normal to have special boots for traveling! "I take it you're fairly wealthy, huh?" she guessed.

[GoblinFae]

Benjamin spread his arms out wide, managing to catch both of them on separate bramble bushes. "Well-ahh, well you see my typical scenery is of big, open spaces with some trees but more lakes and rivers. Umm a little help here?" he begged as he managed to get himself more and more tangled up.

"And I wouldn't say that I am wealthy so much as coming from a family that once had a great fortune. Time changes things though," he added in a quiet voice, his face taking on a brooding expression as he ceased his attempts to free himself.

[Juno]

"Sounds quite the opposite of Ketra... I never did spend much time in Serendipity. The forests are so dense here." She stopped and turned to look at him when he asked for her help, and her eyes widened at the sight as she tried to figure out how someone could become so entangled. "As you've found. Sure," she agreed, carefully making her way back to him and working to unsnare him from the clutches of the brush one arm at a time.

Remina finally started to relax her pout and smile as he showed his first inkling of a human soul in his humbleness. "I see. Rich in blood, not gold," she mused as she was finally able to free him. "I can certainly relate to that." Turning to be on her way again, she carefully wound her way up the hill at a much slower pace to try and accommodate him enough to "show" the way.

"I assume you can be civil around my pet?" she asked as she caught the gleam of a lantern ahead. "No more smushing?"

[GoblinFae]

"Well actually to be honest there really is no such thing as rich blood from what I have been able to tell. From a scientific prospective it all appears to be the same. I mean if you bleed or I bleed regardless of our status does it not still bleed red? Is the viscosity not the same? Blood is blood, at least in that manner we are all the same."

He shrugged in the dark. Benjamin was trying his hardest now to keep up with her, his eyes trained on the uneven ground and her previous footsteps so that he may likewise navigate through the baffling maze of brush.

"Smushing?" he asked startled, halting completely in his paces. "What do you mean?" The nobleman had already forgotten the entire incident that had caused him to meet the woman in the first place or to realize for that matter that the cat that had started it all was her pet.

[Juno]

While his short speech on blood sounded interesting, the topic was unfortunately far and above her comprehension of science. Though, she certainly knew well and agreed with his claims from the findings of her own lifestyle. "I suppose you're right," she agreed. "And yes, smushing."

Continuing on towards the small house Remina couldn't believe he was asking for clarification about something that stood so starkly in her own memory. "My cat," she prompted him. "Caydence. You sat on her in the market. Well, fell, but you sat on her tail because of it.

"I'm sure she'll be quite bitter about it," she shrugged, fully convinced that the cat would recognize him for the negative events of the morning. "I'm sure she would not forget it so easily."

[GoblinFae]

Benjamin hummed in reply, his brows furrowed as he tried to remember this cat that she was talking about. As he traced his memory back he finally recalled the unpleasant screech of what possibly could have been a cat from in the marketplace, although he could not be positive.

"I'm sure if your feline friend remembers the incident she will not come anywhere near me. That is usually the case with cats. They find that hiding under furniture or in high places is amendable to my presence." He shrugged weakly, shaking his head. "I have no idea why."