He's Right Behind Me, Isn't He [Cheesigator]

[Arocraes]

Arocraes took his time getting some firewood. Although his little trip so far involved one too many basilisks and wasp nest chucking people, he quite enjoyed the scenery. The critters that didn't want to kill him were quite adorable, and he enjoyed the smell and feel of clean air, remarkably different from the city like he was used to.

Once he gathered a few pieces of broken off bark and branches, he returned to the site, wincing in pain each step of the way. Thud. The sound of a fresh, floppy fish striking a hollow head at full force sounded exactly like Arocraes thought it would sound like. "Rule number one of fishing; avoid smacking innocent bystanders with stray flying fish." He set the logs down gently, still being mindful of his wound, heading for the pile of fish. He took one into his hands and examined it, while thinking about the fragility of life and the peculiarity of having to consume something so precious in order sustain oneself. "Heads up." He flung the fish towards Ain, aiming for her head.

He immediately jogged back to his bundle of wood without seeing her reaction. He wanted to get the fire going as soon as possible. He planned to head straight for Ketra at the break of dawn, where he could search for healing magic to be worked on him, as well as more information regarding the shape shifter and the suspicious symbol. Whether Ain would accompany him or not was up to her, however his plan was set in stone regardless of her decision.

[Cheesigator]

Well, he certainly had taken his sweet time. She smirked when the fish hit him in the face. It wasn't like she had any malice towards him, she just thought it was funny.

She watched him gingerly set the pile of wood down, raising her eyes a bit before turning back to the water, blatantly ignoring his comment. She didn't have a retort, because she thought that was a stupid rule. A no-fun-allowed kind of rule.

He called her attention and she heard the wind whistle; with lightning-fast reflexes she reached up and caught the fish before it neared her face. She held it there a minute before slowly looking over her shoulder at the man again.

"... You really wanna play this game, boy?!" She pulled her hand from where she'd dunked it in the water again, flinging a new fresh fish at him, before following that with throwing the first.

"I will win every time so don't even try!" She jeered, a wide, toothy grin on her face as she got up and walked over to the wood, smirking at him.

"So what, are you just gonna hide there all night or are you gonna light that fire like you said you would?" Of course she could totally light it if she wanted, but that would give things away. Too soon.

She went and grabbed some chunks of wood and set them down to start the fire pit, sitting down by their items, eyeing him with interest. "We've come to a few conclusions I suppose, so what now? Any plans there, Mastermind Sir?"

[Arocraes]

As he knelt down to pick up the wood, he felt two slimy, floppy objects strike his face in succession. He dropped the firewood and wiped his face. "How childish of you, I can't believe you'd disrespect such a peaceful creature by throwing it around." He enjoyed teasing her, and hoped it would ease the mood and break the ice considering they met like literally a few hours ago.

"If only I were a dragon, lighting these would be so much easier." He felt a breeze run through his scalp once again. That darn wind. He proceeded to unsheathed his katana and angle it on top of several pieces of firewood. He took one deep breath, before rapidly pushing his sword back and forth, creating enough friction to generate heat and rapidly oxidize the air to make, well, fire. He had always trained to have superior quickness and endurance, so this task did not have too much of a toll on his body. As he lit the fire he looked to Ain, expecting a batch of fish to roast.

"I kinda wanna rest and find someone with potent healing magic. Unfortunately, I have to head to the city for that so more traveling with this lame wound for me." He grabbed one of the poor fish that was flung towards him. It was only right if he ate that fish, right? They shared a special bond ever since the moment its gills swept across Arocraes' scruff. "I can ask around about that symbol and old man there, too. You're welcome to come along if you're interested."

[Cheesigator]

Ain didn't bother trying to hold back the hearty laugh at his comment. Peaceful creatures? "Fish are assholes, they probably did something to deserve it." She said in between snickers.

He made a comment about how easy it must be to light fires as a dragon, and she just smirked as she watched him toil away. After all, she'd already done her fair share of helping his ass, so he could make the fire himself.

"It sure would." Oh if only he knew. Maybe if he was really nice he just might find out. Maybe. Don't hold her to that, though.

Finally sparks caught and the fire was lit. She peered a little at it, blowing on it to help it grow in size a bit, so it wasn't so puny. For his sake more than her own, really.

Spreading out her leather belt, she unbuckled the largest pouch and set the fish down on it; she pulled out her knife and started to cut off the thin layer its scales clung to, and slicing it open down the middle, throwing its guts out onto the grass somewhere over her shoulder. She listened intently as she did the same to the other fish, and started stacking them on sticks and set up a little roast ocer the open flames. She'd learned the trick many years before after watching other humans do it. Made it taste different. Not necessarily nicer perse, because she personally loved the taste of fresh blood, but it was still pleasant.

"Well," She said with a light sigh. "Sure I'll come with. It's not like I have much of anything else going on right now." She smiled at him, handing him a cooked and kebab'd fish.

If anything, she mostly just wanted to come along to make sure he made it to the city all in one piece, because it seemed like this forest had some kind of a grudge against him that it wasn't about to give up any time soon.

As she bit down into her own fish, her brows furrowed in thought. Just what could this kid have done to piss off an entire forest? It definitely seemed like something bigger was afoot here. A quick glance over at Arocraes just confirmed her feelings; he was as clueless as a baby in this situation. He really didn't seem to think he had done anything wrong... And yet how had he managed to piss off a sorcerer?

That was really the only logical conclusion she could come to for now; only a sorcerer or other highly magical person could make an entire forest turn against him. And then there was the connection of the armor... Perhaps they weren't after him, but his father?

She sincerely doubted that if she asked Arocraes about it that he would have an answer. Clueless and naive as could be; if his dad was any kind of a clever man then he would know better than to tell his son ALL of his secrets.

She leaned back, setting the cleaned fish carcass to the side and looked up at the moon, the silver light making her golden eyes look so pale and yellow. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Arocraes]

He watched intently as she prepared the poor fish. It wasn't like he was grossed out by blood and guts and stuff, but seeing a defenseless creature be taken apart and exposed to the world always put him on edge. He tried to avoid all types of fish and meat as much as he could, but these were special circumstances.

He nodded and gently smiled back as she agreed to come with him and handed him a cooked fish. "Considering all of the shapeshifters and angry animals in this forest, I hope your cooking isn't what ends up killing me." He took a large bite out of the fish. Jokes aside, he wouldn't care even if the fish was somehow poisonous or tasted terrible--he was starving. "Wow look at that, you're not an awful cook!" He finished the fish quickly, disposing its bones into a shallow hole he dug into the ground beside him.

As the thin clouds occasionally lightly covered the moon and its light, Arocraes sat back as he let his meal digest. Around him were several suitable locations to set up his bed. He had no idea what hour of the night it could have been, but he was tired regardless. He got up to gather some twigs and leaves from nearby, setting them up several feet from the fire, but obviously not too close. He wasn't a fan of being burned alive as he slept.

As he created a makeshift, surprisingly comfortable bed, he lied down and stared at the night sky. Just gotta get to Ketra. As he remembered the events of the day, and how he nearly died, he chuckled to himself. A muscular, pretty woman fell out of the sky and saved his life after he fought a basilisk and some shapeshifting old man who had armor that likely was made by his family. Surely this was a play of some sort he had seen in Thanatos. He turned over to his side so that his wound was elevated. It still bothered him, but he could tough it out. The prospect of having healing magic restore it the next day excited him. Overall he had quite an exciting day, but could definitely use fewer near death experiences.

As he shut his eyes he began to hum a tune his mother would often sing to him. He couldn't remember all of the words, but it involved "Until this flower has blossomed, this heart won't be at peace." How corny. He thought of his family and home as he trailed the melody, incorporating ragas and soft, warm falsettos as his own twist to his mother's song. He displayed his vocal range with tiny hums that dissolved into the wind, rocking himself to sleep.

[Cheesigator]

Ain couldn't be bothered by tearing apart the body of a creature who had ceased to be. She'd done it for so many thousands of years now, she saw it as nothing more than what it really was--a circle of life. It died so she could live, and perhaps one day she might do the same for another creature in return. Besides, it wasn't like its soul was still there--that had already moved on. All they were eating now was a husk; completely meaningless, as much so as it was lifeless.

She gave him a narrow side glance as he took a bite of the fish. "Keep talking like that and the fish won't be what kills you." She said, only half joking. Rude.

But, unsurprisingly he complimented her cooking, which she merely responded with with a simple eyebrow raise and slight nod, as a silent Bitch I know my own cooking.

The rest of their meal was spent mostly in silence, and once all the fish were gone, Ain stretched and yawned, while Arocraes was more inclined to a polite sitting back and enjoying the stars. She glanced up at them as well for a moment, almost looking for something that maybe he saw that she didn't. But she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

The sound of his movement caught her attention, and she watched for a moment as he made a little bed and decided that it was time to sleep. Because he kept silent, so did she. After a few moments of her just watching him, she decided to follow by simply flopping onto her side and nestling into the pouches on her belt as a makeshift pillow. She opened a golden eye to look back over at her human companion, watching as he looked at the stars and serenaded himself to sleep. He was definitely out before she was.

She watched him for a long time, after his humming eventually stopped and his breaths grew deeper and more rhythmic in time. How he was able to sleep so comfortably around a strange beast of a woman like herself kind of surprised her, honestly. Although, she did suppose he'd saved his life before, so what would be the point of her killing or harming him now?

Ain rolled over onto her back and stared up at the stars. It was one thing that she and Kirkley usually did together, and it felt odd not to have the man's hulk of a presence lying next to her, drabbling on about the mystic forces of the universe or some such. Almost a little empty.

She rolled onto her other side, facing away from Arocraes, and finally quieted her thoughts down enough for her to drift into a half sleep. One ear was still kept open however, listening for any trouble, though no more would come that night.



By the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, Ain was already up and putzing around their sad excuse for a makeshift camp.

At first she considered waking him up immediately, and found herself hovering over Arocraes, index finger mere inches away from his cheek, before she'd remind herself that humans needed sleep--she hibernated occasionally, fuck regular sleep schedules.

Then she thought about taking another bath, but she didn't need another bath, and the water was too cold.

After that she thought about lying on a rock and soaking up the sun, but the rays weren't quite strong enough, and the last thing she needed was Arocraes waking up to her naked again thinking she was trying to hint at something.

Finally, she decided to settle on doing a dragony thing and hunting. So she stripped off her clothes, changed, and took off--as gently as she could, mind you. She didn't want to wake the sleeping baby.

Thankfully, it doesn't take a dragon long to hunt. All one must do is swoop down quickly enough and grab a deer while it's still running, and that was exactly what she did. She crushed it in her massive talons and brought it back to camp, dropping it a ways away, changing, grabbing her clothes, and dragging it the rest of the way back to drop it down by the stream to start cutting. This time though, she was nice, and used a bit of her own flames to restart the fire. They were going to have cooked venison for breakfast, what a lucky man Arocraes was.

[Arocraes]

Arocraes awoke to the shrieks of the morning birds that began their day. As he inched upwards, stretching his arms and yawning, he looked at his surroundings, still drowsy from his slumber. He rubbed his eyes as he watched Ain cut a recently killed deer. "Early bird catches the deer, I suppose." He got up and stretched his arms once more before equipping his armor piece and attaching his sheathed katana to his side. He walked over to the stream to gaze upon his reflection, adjusting his hair and washing his face and hands before returning to his makeshift bed. He looked around for the bag containing the shapeshifter's loose gear in silence. He was quite comfortable with silence, even in someone else's company.

When he found the bag, he gripped it tightly and started making his way to the fire. "I'll be setting off now, I'm sure you can catch up if you'd like." He wasn't particularly hungry, and preferred berries and vegetables over meat, although this was readily available. Who knows, maybe more angry animals will attack him, and if he gets hungry he can just eat them. Arocraes dictated his direction by looking at the sun that had not reached its apex yet, and headed towards it. Ketra was east, and should not be so far away from their current location.

As he reached the edge of the campsite, he heard the shrieks of the morning birds once more--only louder. They seem quite active today. As he looked upwards, shielding his eyes from the light of the sun, two foreign objects began heading towards Arocraes at a great velocity. As the objects grew closer, Arocraes could see they were two birds--but they looked different. Bigger, white, with green eyes twinkling off the reflection of the sun. They both shrieked as they drew near, where the slightly larger one dove to glide deeper into the camp, likely to Ain.

The second of the two birds attempted to clutch Arocraes with their talons, but Arocraes was feeling much better about his wound--given that it had only been a day since he received it. He tossed the bag he was clutching to the bird to hinder its movement, and jumped forward while unsheathing his katana at the same time, giving the bird a quick slash across the entire length of one of its wings. As it shrieked and Arocraes returned to the surface of the earth, he immediately dashed forward once more, delivering a decisive stab through the right center of the bird's torso, causing it to fall down. As he sheathed his blade and grabbed the bag once more, the body of the bird began to shine. Particles of golden light began to take form of the body, as he vaguely remembered with the previous shapeshifter, and floated into the sky as human features began to reveal itself. When all the golden particles dispersed, all that was left was a small human girl that was at least Arocraes' age, if not slightly younger. A slash wound appeared on her arm as she gripped the right center of her torso and began to bleed out. The fact that he was able to dispatch this shapeshifter so quickly and without having any hits land on him was likely because of her inexperience. He could only wonder what the other bird--who must also be a shapeshifter--was like, but perhaps Ain would make easy work of it considering it was only slightly bigger than what turned out to be this human girl.

[Cheesigator]

Ah, finally, the human was awake. He made a comment about catching a deer; she just grunted in response, as she was kind of busy. She was literally elbows-deep in deer guts when he came to, so she couldn't really give him the witty banter he might be accustomed to; skinning and gutting an animal took a kind of focus that took away from your communication skills.

However, it did catch her attention when he said that he would be off without eating anything. She paused in the middle of putting a slab of meat over the fire, furrowing her brows. What? That was weird. Any other human would jump at the chance to eat fresh meat--this was almost guaranteed to not even have any worms in it. Was there something wrong with this kid?

Maybe it was his sense of morals; apparently a lot of cities now were starting to outlaw destruction of the forests and the creatures within, reserving that privilege for the lords who governed the territories. Silly, she thought, but the idea was catching like wildfire.* Either way, she couldn't help but take a little offense to the fact that he was refusing to eat food that she'd mostly caught for him.

"Alright, fine then. More for me." Because she could definitely eat an entire deer by herself; she was a dragon, it wasn't really that big a feat.

She just nodded and shooed him away, deciding that once he was far enough away she might just change to enjoy a bit of the sun on her scales before catching up, but it seemed like a little time to herself just wasn't in the cards for today.

To be honest, she really should've seen this coming sooner. She noticed the birds as they circled above, and rolled her eyes, her human companion meanwhile remaining completely oblivious until one swooped down to try and claw his face off.

She stood up, pulling her arms out of the deer carcass, and licking the blood off her hands as she watched another bird swoop towards her between her fingers. She glanced at Arocraes, who was very artfully in the middle of dodging and battling his own bird.

"Do really want to try me, shitbird?!" She growled as her arm shot up.

Her fingers curled around a fistful of feathers; talons barely scrapped the bandages on her arm, ripping them off to reveal a complete lack of wound. All she had to do was tug; it was yanked towards her, and she used her other hand to punch it in the eye, and then threw it onto the ground.

She really was in no mood to deal with this garbage so early in the day.

She pulled a sharp branch from the fire, holding onto the flaming, fresh wood like it was nothing, and stabbed the bird while it was down--through the eyeball.

There was an ear-splitting shriek as the bird wretched violently and then died almost instantly, though its limbs still twitched and spasmed. By the time Arocraes was looking back, she was dusting the charcoal and soot off her hands, miraculously unburned, as the scent of roasting flesh and feathers started to permeate the air. The bird started to change, and revealed that it had been a young man. Blood ran into the grass and dirt, and she grabbed onto the flaming branch, yanking it from his skull and tossing it back to the campfire.

She turned back to look at Arocraes, golden eyes lit by the flames as she stared him down for a brief moment.

"Weren't you heading somewhere?" Was all she asked before she turned back and went back to her work with the deer, completely ignoring the burning human body not a few feet from herself. She'd catch up to him later, because now she was hungry AND irritated.


*OOC: Fun fact, this was actually a common law for most towns and cities in medieval times. You could be arrested and tried for hunting in a forest or chopping down trees, etc. :'D

[Arocraes]

Arocraes flexed his brow as he brushed off the unsightly scene--a burning corpse several feet from a woman preparing a deer for breakfast. Whether Ain was a foe or not, he did not know. Sure, she must've been the one to save him earlier, but her apathy towards the enemy that attacked her had him a little worried. However, now was not the time to ponder that. As long as this girl was still breathing, he had to do his best to help her recover. He needed answers--with regards to the shape shifting, the aggressive animals, and the change in the mood of the forest--as long as she was alive she surely knew something.

He dropped to his knees and removed his bloodied shirt, that was already covered in blood stains from his own wounds. He wrapped it tightly around the girl's waist as she attempted to resist, but was too weak. She kept muttering syllables, and looked at the burning corpse in between tears. But hey, maybe they shouldn't have tried to sink their bird feet into Arocraes and Ain.

As soon as the girl's wound was tightly bounded, Arocraes hoisted her up over his shoulder and paced back to the camp swiftly. He could feel light hits coming from the girl against his back, who still had some energy left to try and attack him. He gently placed her on his makeshift bed and looked at the still burning body of the other shape shifter. He didn't seem too experienced, either. Not nearly as strong as the wild cat shape shifter from earlier for sure. Perhaps they were exacting revenge for Arocraes killing their companion?

Arocraes turned to walk to the nearby stream to gather water for the girl. "I need your medical skills once more" he said to Ain without making eye contact, heading straight for the stream. He took on a more serious tone as he was deep in thought. He knelt next to the stream and drew water into his sheath. It was a good thing his blade was resistant to rust, since he had no other method to carry water. He looked behind him to analyze the girl, since he did not get a good look of her yet. Her hair was curly and a reddish brown, while she wore a simple, ripped beige light cloth as a top, and similar colored trousers. She had a scar across her eye, but could not see the color of her eyes or more detailed characteristics because of how far away he was.

[Cheesigator]

Ain glanced up occasionally as she worked on the deer, and found that Arocraes was stubborn enough to not only ignore her, but was also so brazen as to start attempting to help the girl who just tried to kill him. She withheld the urge to snort; he was a strange one, it was a wonder he hadn't been murdered yet.

She took off the rest of the deer meat as he worked and carried her over to their camp, laying her down on his previous night's bed. Ain put the meat up to roast, taking the cooked slabs down and chewing on one as he asked her for medical help.

She raised her eyebrows, and spoke around a mouthful of food. "Oh good, yes let's drag around some dead weight that will try to kill us again as soon as she's strong enough, what a grand idea."

Fucking moron.

Yet despite her harsh words, she stood up and dusted herself off, picking the burning body up by the neck and hoisting him up, tossing him away and watching as it started to roll down a gentle hill until it rested far enough away from them that the stench wouldn't be such a nuisance anymore.

She pulled her dagger from the sheath on her belt, spinning it in her hand as she stepped to the fire and thrust out the metal blade directly into the flames, along with her own fist curled around its hilt. Completely unaffected by the flames that failed to devour her skin, she used her free hand to hold her piece of meat as she tore off a chunk and happily munched away. Like hell she was going to let this hold up her breakfast any longer than it already had.

While his efforts to stop the bleeding were valiant, she knew that they weren't going to work. A gut wound wasn't something to sneeze at, particularly when he'd run her through. Why was it that all of her efforts to take care of wounds these past two days was via burning? Made her look like a savage, it did. She knelt down next to the girl, set her breakfast down and ripped off Arocraes' ruined shirt, casually tossing it over her shoulder where it promptly landed on the fire. Whoops. Without warning she thrust the blade down onto the girl's wounds, ignoring her ear-piercing shrieks and screams. She retracted her arm, and shoved the girl over onto her stomach, so she could then repeat the process on the wound on the shifter's backside.

Once the smell of burning flesh once more permeated the air, she sighed and set down the cooling blade, grabbing hold of the girl's arm and examining the slash on it. Luckily it missed major veins, and she found herself wishing that she hadn't tossed Arocraes' shirt just yet. Oh well. Grabbing the girl's pants, she tore a good chunk of fabric from a pantleg and used it as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

With that she stood up, grabbing her meat and taking another bite after dusting off some dirt and grass. "Well, maybe at least she'll appreciate my cooking a little more." She said with a shrug.

Ain picked up her dagger, sliding it back into its sheath and looking over at Arocraes. "You can wash her wounds and deal with her, because she's your problem."

[Arocraes]

"No wait!" he frantically exclaimed as he watched his shirt slowly descend into the pit of fire. "I looked so cute in that." Disappointed, he stood up and walked over to Ain and the girl. He watched as Ain gruesomely patched the girl up, who fell unconscious as a result. Wash her wounds, huh. He knelt over to her and began dripping the water he gathered in his sheath over her wounds. It wasn't much, but it should prevent infection from occurring for a short amount of time at least. He then woke her up and attempted to give her the remaining water in his sheath to drink, which--despite her grogginess and pain--attempted to resist, but eventually gave in. As she lied back down he looked over to Ain, where his stomach growled at the sight of the chunks of meat. Berries and plants. Berries and plants. Berries and plants. He did his best to stave off his hunger at the moment, but he still wanted to reach Ketra as soon as possible. If the girl knew anything about the necklace and the armor piece, as well as the first shape shifter, there would likely be someone in the nearby city who knew something too. The issue, however, was bringing an unconscious, wounded girl he carried over his shoulder into the city. Most people would look down upon that.

Arocraes ventured into the woods, a few feet from the camp site in search of vines to bound the girl's limbs. After acquiring several feet of suitable vines, he returned to the girl once again and tied her ankles and wrists. She clearly still wanted to kill Arocraes, so whenever she did regain her strength, he needed to be ready. He flung her up his shirtless body and onto his shoulder, as he took in the scent that was a mixture of cooked venison, burning flesh, and blood from several different creatures. Just like momma's cooking. He clutched the bag containing the valuables from the deceased shape shifter, and continued forward.

He walked to the edge of the campsite, in the original direction he was headed before he was attacked, with the girl over his shoulder and the sweat from both of their bodies mixing together, while being only slightly grossed out. However, he had a long way to go and was officially done with the forest and all the strange creatures that wanted to kill him. "Not my worst Monday" he said inaudibly, underneath his breath. He felt the hulking presence of Ain fade as he walked further away from her. She grew a lot scarier in his eyes since they had first met, but was not yet at the point of questioning her and whatever motives and aspirations she might have. Although with all her strengths and talents, he still felt an odd sense of wanting to help her in any way possible. Clearly her being able to kill a deer in the waning moments of the early morning showed that protecting her was not necessary, but he maintained that everyone could use someone to watch over them and aid them--or at the very least a friend.

OOC: Would you like to do like a little time skip to when they get to the city, or play it out?

[Cheesigator]

OOC: Timeskip it is! :D


Ain just sat and watched as Arocraes refused to say much more after she threw his shirt into the fire, tying up the girl, hoisting her over his shoulder and starting to walk away. As he went, Ain couldn't resist the urge to yell out "Kinky!" as she watched him go.

Well, more food for her. She continued her breakfast, and once she was finished and full, gathered her things and went to go catch up.


It wasn't really like Arocraes had gotten that far by the time she was done with her food; he had been easy enough to track down, considering he had a dead weight on his shoulders. Though she had to admit, looking at his shirtless body, gleaming in the sunlight with sweat was kind of hot. Kind of. Just a lil bit. She felt bad for the girl though; the sun beating down on her, and being carried with his shoulder most likely digging into her wounds was probably nothing short of hellish misery.

Boy, and Arocraes thought Ain was the asshole. At least she'd given her shifter a swift and mostly painless death. What he was doing could be considered torture.

Finally, after a while of traveling the sight of Ketra came into view, and Ain glanced over at Arocraes, stopping him before they got too much closer to the city. "Look buddy, if we're gonna go into the city and not get arrested, then why don't you hand the girl over to me?"

Regardless of whether or not he responded, she grabbed the girl from him instead, holding the shifter bridal-style. "Oh, look at what has happened to my poor sister! We must find an inn to rest at immediately!" She said, putting on a shitty act of an overly-dramatic woman caring far too much about a young girl who looked absolutely nothing like her. Still, they would be far more likely to believe her than they would him.

Regardless of how Arocraes might have protested, she continued to carry the girl until they reached the city--not once breaking into a sweat, despite the weight of a fully grown human completely (or mostly) limp in her arms. They got a few looks, but Ain seemed to do a good job of passing off their concerns with her sincere acting abilities: looking extremely concerned, holding her ""sister"" close and begging Arocraes to find them an inn soon before her ""sister"" went completely mad from lack of rest.

Weird, but passable. Humans saw much stranger things in these cities and times.

[Arocraes]

"Bravo." Arocraes sarcastically clapped after Ain's little performance. Perhaps she was right; it would be quite suspicious if a bandaged, shirtless man carried an unconscious girl throughout the city over his shoulder.

As they approached the western city gate, they encountered a small line where several people were attempting to go through the rudimentary customs system in order to enter the city. A couple guards dealt with the line, checking carts and suspicious behavior, before allowing or turning away a hopeful visitor. One of the guards who was hanging back and monitoring the surrounding area approached Arocraes and Ain.

"Please help us, we need to get our sister some medical attention." Arocraes pleaded his case unconvincingly even before the guard opened his mouth. The guard stood there in silence for a couple of seconds, before shifting his body while maintaining his head in the same direction, making direct eye contact with Arocraes. "Go on." Arocraes breathed a sigh of relief, as he trudged on forward.

The massive iron gate was already open, making it difficult to see the impressive craftsmanship of it. It seemed to be made of a type of iron, perhaps steel or cast iron, almost jet black and gilded with another metal that was likely painted reddish. The metal was designed to depict a dragon in flight, however the age of the door showed, as the heraldry was chipped and weather worn. As Arocraes passed through the gate, he felt a light, chilling breeze dance over his back. He looked to Ain to see if she was doing something weird, since he wouldn't really put it past her, but felt the breeze once more, only weaker, as both feet landed inside Ketra. Maybe it's in my head.

Although they were at the outskirts of the city, it was still bustling with trade. Since it was midday, shops were reaching their peak hours of business. Several stalls and carts were laid out against the edges of buildings before them. Amidst the crowds and chaos, Arocraes' rugged appearance--and current hygeine--blended in the background. His companions, even the unconscious one, might have disagreed, however.

Arocraes began to feel nauseous, as massive crowds often made him uncomfortable. Next to him, at the edge of the columns of shops, a woman and what seemed to be her husband tried to court Arocraes and Ain into buying their wares, completely ignoring the knocked out girl with them. "We have Essyrni clothes for sale, authentic and passed down by the Shahs themselves!" the woman boldly claimed. Arocraes could have used a shirt at the moment, but his main concern was getting to an inn of some sort so they can rest. He tried to politely deny them, but the woman latched onto his arm to draw him forward. "Our fine silks would fit nice around your tight body." The man creepily smiled at Ain while he scratched his chin, with the woman next to him glaringly staring at him.

[Cheesigator]

The city gates were indeed massive, but the splendor and beauty that might have awed Arocraes was old hat for Ain; she'd been to this city so many hundreds of times, she didn't even bat an eyelash. She was pretty sure one of the other guards noticed and recognized her; it would be hard not to, she was a rather easy face to recognize. The hair color was what really made the difference.

It was amazing to her at all that the guards bought his shitty sob story--implying that they were all siblings? They really didn't look that much alike, or at least she thought they didn't--but they got in and that was all that mattered, so she kept her smartass mouth shut and would save making fun of him for later once they reached true safety. Which would be never. She had a feeling Arocraes would never be safe until they got down to the bottom of this.

And speaking of Arocraes, it looked like his near-fatal politeness was getting him into trouble once again; a vendor they were passing by literally latched onto him, and when she stopped and turned to look, murder was clearly written all over her face. The creepy man lost his smile and paled a little bit; she gave him a silent snarl, her eyes almost glowing as a thin plume of smoke curled up from her mouth--just enough to be noticeable, but not so much as to snag the attention of her companion.

Literally slapping the woman's hand away she grabbed Arocraes around the waist and yanked him away, giving the shopkeepers a smile that would poison if looks could kill. "Thank you but I think I have something I'd rather sell to you instead: How about a nice big mug of Fuck Off? My special homemade brew." And with that she dragged Arocraes away before they got into too much trouble.

She cast a quick glance to him however, not letting go of him, and no, not because he was shirtless and pretty--he looked a shade or two paler, and she couldn't tell if it was the harsh sunlight or because he was about to be sick. Either way they needed to find an inn, and quickly.

Thankfully, she spotted one up ahead, because it was difficult carrying a girl in one arm and dragging a full-grown man with the other. She shoved him inside and quickly followed, making sure the door shut behind them.

The noise of the busy market was immediately cut out and she let out a slight sigh of relief, looking over at Arocraes, whom she had relinquished from her grasp; he definitely didn't look too good.

The innkeeper hastily greeted them, and after digging around in one of her pouches, Ain pulled out a handful of coin and set it on the table to cover for their room. The innkeeper oggled the shiny metals for a second before quickly grabbing a key and leading the way, keeping them on the second floor.

Once in the room, the girl was set down on the bed. Ain shut the door to give them privacy and looked over at Arocraes.

"You okay little buddy?"

[Arocraes]

Amidst the confrontation, Arocraes managed to latch onto a beige, oversized shirt. The stall owners normally would pursue a thief, but they weren't really the type to be messed with. Being tugged by two people and jostling his insides made him feel even more sick, but luckily they were able to find a nearby inn relatively quickly. Ketra did have quite a few taverns and inns, it seemed as if every sector of the city had multiple ones dispersed evenly. This was very convenient, as Arocraes felt on the verge of purging his guts.

Arocraes was antsy as they entered the inn. He followed the innkeeper closely until they finally entered their room. He looked to Ain, who expressed her concern over his sickly behavior. "Yeah I'm fi--" Arocraes' eyes widened as the complexion in his face grew even more lighter. His cheeks puffed up while he gripped his stomach, perching forward and exuding a chunky, green concoction that filled the room with its stench. He had no idea where the trajectory of his vomit would end up, but any hope of the floorboards in front of him surviving this brutal attack was misguided.

He straightened his back and wiped his mouth with his fist. "Yeah I'm fine." He cleared his throat and spit the remaining chunks laced with stomach acid that hugged his teeth and gums onto the floor, right in front of Ain. He lightly sighed as he put on the beige shirt, which seemed to be a half sleeve meant for persons of bigger persuasions. The length of the sleeves cut off halfway down Arocraes' forearms, and the length of the torso ended about three quarters down his thighs. The collar revealed his collarbones, which were more pronounced than usual, and the laces that were meant to hover over the sternum laid relaxed at an angle.

"We need to find a healer and ask this girl about everything that's been going on as soon as possible." He wiped his mouth once more as the heaviness of his eyelids started to reveal itself. Puking did usually make him tired.

[Cheesigator]

For a second she had started to relax, and then he cut himself off--no he was definitely not fine.

Her eyes widened and she scrambled back on the bed, scooting as far away from the projectile vomit as possible. It landed on the floor and splattered, bits of it getting on the legs of the bed, dresser, and inevitably, on a good portion of Arocraes' shoes. She counted her lucky stars that she hadn't taken off her own boots yet, or she would have been very upset.

He finished his sentence and tugged on a shirt he must've snagged from who knows where, only to look like an absolute buffoon in it, and then went on so far as to boldly state that their next plan of attack should be to find a healer and start questioning their captive.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? No, you call for the innkeeper to bring a spare rag and you mop this shit up first. No nap time for you mister, because I am sure as fuck not doing it for you."

If he'd had some kind of problem or allergic reaction, he should have said something so they could have prevented this from happening, but no. He kept quiet about it and threw up all over the room that SHE had just purchased with HER own money, and then was so rude as to completely ignore it, nay, even suggest by lack of addressing the subject that they LEAVE the mess because he apparently thought he had more important matters to attend to.

Either way, she was not sticking around to have this kind of shit literally thrown in her face.

"You take care of this mess, I'll be back in an hour." She growled, gingerly stepping around the mess and quickly leaving the room. It wasn't even midday and she was already this fed up with how the day was going? She needed to do something to relax--like shop. So that was exactly what she was going to do. She was going shopping.

[Arocraes]

"Why are you so uppity?" Arocraes shouted to the door as Ain swiftly exited. He looked down at the floor and to the unconscious girl on the bed.

"Rough night, huh?" Another patron at the inn peeped his head into the room briefly before continuing his way down the stairs.

"No, it's not wh--" before Arocraes could try to explain the ghastly seen, the man was gone. He sighed as he began rolling his sleeves up so that they would cover half of his upper arms. He turned around and headed downstairs, explaining that he had made a mess in his room to the innkeeper--without giving specifics--and that he needed some cleaning material. After the innkeepers' insistence on having one of his employees clean the room, Arocraes managed to argue his way into the innkeeper allowing him to do it himself. He didn't want anyone else to see the room and make even more assumptions.

He headed upstairs with a mop and a bucket in hand, returning to the room to find the girl holding her wounds and breathing heavily. She angrily looked over to Arocraes and scrunched her brow, before relaxing her face muscles to analyze her surroundings. "Where did you take me?" Her voice was faint, but she appeared to have more energy than before. "Why didn't you kill me?" This time her voice grew louder, and she was able to support herself with more ease.

"Ah good you're awake." Arocraes tiptoed around the vomit with the cleaning materials extended outwards. "Our other companion went for a walk. You see she's a bit of a pansy, and large crowds make her quite ill." He grinned as he realized Ain wasn't around to defend herself. "She made this nasty mess, and I decided not to kill you so you could clean it up." Well played Arocraes, well played.

The girl looked downward at the trail of puke. She quickly covered her face and only began sensing the odor and sight of it all. He tossed the mop to her and slid the bucket over the ground in her direction. "Well get to it, afterwards we can go to a hospital and get ourselves patched up proper." Arocraes closed the door behind him and leaned against it. It wasn't like she had a choice in cleaning up the puke or not; most living creatures don't crave death. This girl was no exception. If she was, she could have continued her assault on him, but she seemed a lot more restrained and aggressive now--with the biggest factor likely being her injuries. However, he was not worried about her, at least not yet.

[Cheesigator]

The air outside wasn't exactly as fresh as she would have hoped, however it was certainly better than the acidic tang of vomit, so she supposed she could be thankful for the little she did have. A quick glance back up at the inn they were staying at, and she assessed that it would be easy enough to get back into without the usage of the front door.

Time to carry on and do some shopping.

She sidled through the crowds, eyeballing the stalls and the various wares for sale, on a few more missions than just finding pretty new things to wear. She kept an eye out for anything relating to those symbols they saw, as well as anything she could buy up and make a profit on at her own shop back home.

Unfortunately, the former part of her search turned up entry, which didn't really surprise her; so she ended up paying for the latter, buying a few nice stones from vendors who didn't understand the value of what they had, as well as other things, and right as she was walking back to the inn, her nose itched and she sneezed.

She stopped in the middle of the road, thinking immediately That little shit is talking about me, isn't he? before shaking it off and moving on.

She slipped into a back alley and jumped, catching hold of a lip in the stones and hoisting herself up, climbing from a windowsill up onto the roof of the building, which she walked across until she got to their room and swung herself down, kicking open the window with a calculated movement and sliding right inside, just in time to see their poor captured girl mopping up the final remains of the mess on the floor.

She took one look from the girl and drove her stare into Arocraes; if looks could kill, he would have been stabbed to death instantly on the spot.

"So you think slave labor will get her to loosen her tongue?" She growled, sitting down on the bed, eyes glowing in the lack of light in the room. What a loathsome person Arocraes could be. She understood that the girl tried to kill him, sure, but making her wipe up his own vomit while she was so seriously wounded? Truly, he was reaching a new kind of low, here. But the girl wasn't Ain's prisoner, so really she didn't have much of a say.

She leaned back against the wall that the bed butted up against, crossing her legs, golden eyes tinged with strange orange light where she sat in the shadows just out of the sun's rays' reach.

"Didn't turn up anything else in the square while I was out; nobody else has those strange amulets here, or at least if they do, they're keeping them hidden. Which leads me to believe that whatever that thing is, it's something worth being kept a secret."

[Arocraes]

Arocraes motioned to the lone chair in the room as he sat down and relaxed. He put his hand behind his head and was about to take a sip of water when Ain suddenly popped in the room through the window. In a knee jerk reaction, he spit out his drink and fell backwards, as he nervously stared back, trying to win her over with a cheeky smile.

The girl was startled too, who winced in pain when she turned her body to look at Ain. "Maybe if you didn't throw up all over the place..." she muttered. Arocraes quickly picked himself up and dusted his clothes off. He wanted to change the subject before he found himself butt first on the ground again. "Well she does owe us her life." He put his hands on his hips as he listened to Ain. At the same time, he made sure to pay attention to the girl, too, to see if she would react to anything Ain would say. The girl. I don't even know her name.

When Ain mentioned the amulet, he noticed the girl twitch a bit before setting the mop in the bucket and moving it across the room. He shifted his eyes to her neck, to see if she possessed one of those necklaces too. However, he needed to do it in the most coy and non-pervy way possible. As he repeatedly looked around her neck, he found no indication of a necklace being worn--but that did not mean necessarily that she didn't have one in possession. Patting her down, however, would be a lot more weird than what he was already doing.

"If the amulet is something worth investigating, we should talk to the street urchins. If anyone would know anything, it's them. At least that's what it's like in Suna." Suna, right. He totally forgot about his main mission--to gather black iron. Instead he was doing detective work with a badly injured girl that tried to kill him and a strong, muscular woman that could probably kill him if she wanted to. "We should go around town and get as much information as we can when the sun settles." He looked to the girl. "We should also get you to a healer, whatever your name is."

[Cheesigator]

Arocraes' spit take was quite comedically timed, and Ain would have been laughing if she wasn't already so sorely unimpressed by his handling of their prisoner so far.

She caught the girl's words with her sharp dragon ears and turned her gold gaze to the young man, with a look so frosty it might have made Hell freeze over. Really? Had he really done what she thought he had?

She rolled her eyes, finding it too petty to comment on right now as they had bigger things to tend to. She did notice, however, that he had been paying a good deal of attention to their young prisoner as she spoke, and Ain knew exactly what he was looking for. Of course if the girl had an amulet she'd be hiding it, but there was no reason for them to be so secretive or coy with her--she knew as well as they did that she possessed one.

Ain stood up from the bed, going over to the girl and pushing her down until she was sitting on the mattress, the dragonness towering over her, golden eyes glinting dangerously.

"Come on sweetheart, cough it up, we all know you have one. If you tell us what's going on now then we won't have to go down to the square, and Skippy over there won't vomit all over you because of his fear of crowds." She said the last part quite firmly, an audible growl in her voice as she threw a dirty glare over her shoulder in Arocraes' direction, before looking back to the girl.

"Aren't you a little young to be sacrificing your life for some cult, anyways?" The tone of her voice softened, just a tad. This one was pretty young after all, which Ain also found a little peculiar. Her and Arocraes both, they were little more than children.