It's Dangerous to Go Alone!

[Anonymous]

"He says won't take you."

Lucy's eyes went wide at the thug's words, her hand dramatically flinging itself over her heart. She clutched at the delicate fabrics of her bright pink dress, as if it had suddenly given out — and considering such heinous news, it might as well have.

The man before her gave no reaction to her dramatics. He was a short, chubby man with a bald head and a beard that touched the tavern floor — his beady eyes locked on Lucy, restraining thoughts of debauchery in his head. Lazily, he chewed on his piece of tobacco as a cow would on its cud, rolling his eyes at La'marri's one and only beggar princess. Was such news really so surprising?

"Well, why not?" Lucy pleaded, grabbing the thug by the collar and shaking him back and forth. The thug narrowed his eyes at her, his scarred face quickly turning into an unamused frown, but the beggar princess didn't seem to pay his reaction any mind. "Doesn't he realize that he's my only ticket out of here? I've only got one shot to leave and... if I don't leave then... then..."

Oh no, she didn't even want to think about what would happen if she was stuck here forever... What would her poor peasants think, if she never came back to rule over her kingdom again? She was sure that whoever stole her throne from her definitely wasn't a benevolent sort of ruler at all... How could they be, if they had left her to rot in this shady little town? If she was being honest though, she had gotten used to La'marri... but there's no place like home, right?

As the thug sighed, Lucy slowly let go of his collar, before rushing across the tavern to the bar, trying her very hardest not to well up in front of the bartender. It was he who had been keeping good care of Lucy since she ended up here, but now...

"Hey, Randall, what gives?" she demanded, hands on her hips, giving him her very best pout. Randall, a black-haired, clean cut man, knew that it'd be best to let her talk before interjecting... "You-you promised me that you were going to take off this week so you could take me to Serendipity! And I just heard Mac tell me that you weren't going to! That you weren't going to!" Repetition was always the best way to make a point. "I thought you were going to help me! I was going to make you an honorary knight when I got back..."

"Something came up." Lucy waited for more of an explanation, but that was it. Just 'something came up.'

"Well, when will the something that came 'up,' go back 'down'?" He did not respond, but continued to clean the same glass that he was cleaning over and over and over... When the pink-haired one realized that this was all she was going to get, she dug around in her messenger bag, bringing out various maps of their world and holding them out on the table, promptly annoying those who were drinking at the bar. She was tossed the usual looks of annoyance, and calls of 'hey, what do you think you're doing?' and such, but they were all ignored.

"You see, if my kingdom is in this world, then I've narrowed it down to a couple of places where it could be... Hyoite's too cold, I think, and Thantos is too... too weird..." She bit her lip, truly in deep thought. "I don't know about Adela, but it's still a possibility! In the end though, I really think my kingdom is somewhere in Serendipity..."

"Lucy, I can't take you." He spoke yet again, and finally he put down the glass he had been cleaning, looking her dead in the end. "Unless you know for sure, I can't take off from work just to help you find your kingdom... Times are hard. We're not all lost princesses like you are."

"But!" She groped for better words. "But! But! You caaaaan't!" She waved her maps about, utterly shocked. "When I find my kingdom, you'll be an honorary knight and you won't have to worry about money again! It's a good investment of your time, isn't it? A great one! Totally great! You have to help! I can't get there by myself... You know what people do to helpless princesses like myself!"

But after everything, he still would not entertain the idea. Lucy found her eyes welling up, her amethyst gaze still defiant as she turned away from him, putting up her best front. "Fine!" she hissed, turning towards the tavern door. "See if I care!"

As she walked out of the tavern door, however, she ended up bumping smack dab into someone, and as she did, she let out a squeal of fright. Her maps tumbled to the floor, some of them dancing in the wind, others rolling across the floor, as if they were glad to finally be free of the beggar princess. Lucy, however, was more concerned with the innocent person she had almost mauled over.

"Omigosh, I'm sorry!" She patted the person on the shoulders, as if checking to see as if she was till intact. "I'm such a klutz, really, please forgive me!" After all, people couldn't think she was a horrible person! How would that look to her peasants when she finally got back to her kingdom?

[Anonymous]

It was almost inevitable that Kri would have to join up with a company in order to get some semblance of reliable employment. The mercenaries themselves were plentiful. Unfortunately, it was hard to find a group of decent ones. Among spitting, swearing, bloodthirsty, grizzled old bastard companies, Ozel's boys were least likely to brag about how many women they'd slept with in their past respective military careers. It was good enough for Kri.

"Only a mile out now," the pointman shouted back at everyone. Mercenary and merchant alike were relieved. They'd been on the road all the way from Ketra, and were getting unbelievably tired of staring at trees for weeks. Kri was on horseback, flanking one of the wagons in the caravan, her head and upper body slumping forward slightly.

A black-haired, scruffy man trotted up alongside her, then clapped her hard on the back. Kri jolted awake, slightly disoriented. "Mile out, blondie! Wake up!" he shouted, despite being within a few feet of her ears. The woman tossed him a sideways glance, gripping the reigns of her brown mare tighter.

"I hear you," she rumbled, staring forward.

"We're all heading to the first tavern we see and getting shitfaced." He was grinning. "It'll be fuuun!" Kri tossed him another blank stare just as he made a lewd gesture. The woman urged her horse forward a little faster to avoid him.

When they hit town, Ozel -- a big old half-orc, oddly intelligent -- received their payment and distributed it to his exhausted, desperate men. Being new to the company, Kri received the smallest cut of the squad. This didn't phase her; it was much better than the odd jobs she had to do back as a solo merc in Ketra. The black-haired man winked at her as he passed.

When Kri finally reached the tavern entrance, dismounted her horse and tied its reigns to the nearby pole, her other allies had already practically stampeded into the building. She was intentionally dragging her feet. When she finally strode toward the door, a pink blur abruptly shot out. The only thing that had kept the shorter Kri from being knocked over was the weight of her armor; she managed to catch herself. Maps flew every which way.

"It's no problem," she answered as the woman apologized in a frenzy. Really, it wasn't. It was a great excuse to delay her getting "shitfaced" with her "buddies." Upon actual inspection of the klutzy girl, though, Kri was nearly taken aback by the extravagant dress she wore; a bright pink, slightly different in shade from her flowing hair. Why was a noble walking out of a seedy tavern? Why did the world keep throwing such ridiculous things at Kri? "Hey, need help with those?"

While her armor limited her range of movement significantly, Kri was still able to get down on her knees and gather up some of the closest maps. They were of a huge variety, and stunningly detailed; several from parts in Serendipity, one of the slightly more familiar Adela -- oh, here was one of the Hyoite area, a place the ex-soldier had visited a couple times in her life. Kri was curious as to why this strange, high-class girl would want so many maps, but restrained herself. Instead, she said in her usual rough, Connlaothian accent, "You look a little shaken up. It really isn't a big deal."

[Anonymous]

The only thing that seemed to make Lucy cease fretting and fussing  over her own idiocy were the blonde's words, "It's no problem." Just like that, the pink-haired one stopped flailing about in dismay, quiet for a moment, as if taking in this information. It was... no problem? Just like that? Most people around here seemed to be inherently bothered by her (for the life of her, Lucy couldn't understand why), so for something like flying into someone to just... not be a problem, well, she was at a loss of words for a moment. She was going to ask something like, 'are you sure?' but before she could, the blonde was already offering to pick up her maps, somehow managing to do so while still in a full suit of armor.

"Oh yes, thank you! I could definitely use the help..." Lucy exclaimed, still a little hesitant, still not sure if her clumsy act really could be 'no problem'. At least the maps hadn't gone very far, thank goodness, so with the help of this kind stranger, picking them up again would be a snap. At first, she seemed to contemplate just how she should bend down to get the maps; after all, she couldn't have the muddy floor staining up her dress. After all, it was so expensive... Eventually, after a minute of hard thinking, she crouched down, delicate fingers curling around the maps carefully, so as to not crinkle them anymore than they already had been.

The rest of the maps were already collected by the stranger, who was perhaps the nicest person Lucy had ever met, since coming to this town. Besides Randall anyway, but he had lost major niceness points for leaving a poor, banished princess here in this miserable place, just because he didn't want to take a chance... Perhaps the blonde noticed the way her lip trembled at the memory, for she spoke — in an accent that Lucy hadn't the pleasure of hearing before — "You look a little shaken up. It really isn't a big deal."

"Are you sure?" Lucy found herself wondering, straightening herself back on her feet again, hugging the maps to her chest. "Because, well, isn't it horrible for someone like me to be clumsy? It's a horrible word, 'clumsy.' What would by people think, when I get back to them?"

Her eyes suddenly grew wide, as if she was living a nightmare. "They'd say horrible things like—" Her voice suddenly turned gruff, imitating the stereotype of a peasant, "—'There goes Lucy, the clumsy princess. Isn't she so inept at her job?'" And then her voice was normal again, contemplative almost. "Then they'd find some way to have be assassinated, but I'm sure someone's already out to get me anyway..."

As if more important matters had lit up her mind, Lucy shook her head, smiling at the helpful stranger and extending a hand to shake. "My name is Lucy..." A hesitant pause, as if she had forgotten her own last name. "Lucy... Neste, a pleasure to meet you!" The pink one bounced on her toes, genuinely happy to meet someone so nice in this town. Remembering how she was stuck in this town, she bit her lip, drooping her eyes a little.

"What is someone as nice as you doing in a town like this? No on in this town is helpful at all, really... And that bar—" She said the word 'bar' with disgust, motioning to the tavern she had just stepped out of, "—is home to perhaps the most cruel bartender in all history. You'd be best to stay away, really..."

Again, she switched paces, taking in the blonde's kindness, her armor, and blurted out randomly, "Oh! Are you a knight? Is that why you are so kind? And your armor sort of looks like knights armor, but I don't remember what knights are supposed to look like anyway..." Lucy clapped her hands together, certain that if this person was a knight, then maybe all hope hadn't been lost after all.

[Anonymous]

((OOC: Sorry for the delay! And the shortness. Blah.))

So that was it. A princess, huh? Well, the appearance matched -- and by the sound of it, her babbling and paranoia fit Kri's impression of how such a high-ranking noble might act outside the public eye. But she wasn't a princess here; Lucy had mentioned wanting to 'get back to her people.' An interesting idea crossed Kri's mind.

The girl noted how bad the nearby tavern was. "Oh, that sounds horrible. Thanks for letting me know." Kri was humoring her, of course, doubtful that the bartender was as bad as she claimed, but it served its purpose nonetheless. The mercenary took Lucy's hand in a firm grip and shook. "Kri Olifhionn. It's also a pleasure."

Lucy's praise didn't stop there. After a pause, the pink-haired ball of enthusiasm launched into a small tangent, asking if Kri was a knight. This innocent comment affected her more than it perhaps should have. It was nice to be thought of as one of the nicer, more honorable kinds of warriors. Kri resisted the temptation to lie. "Ah, no, sorry. Afraid I'm not." The blond glanced into the tavern, then back at Lucy. "You mentioned that you needed to get somewhere. To your people. Do you have some sort of reliable transportation? Protection? Someone of your birth shouldn't have to navigate the wilderness alone."

Nearing the end of her words, the mercenary took a few steps back to where she had tied her horse just minutes ago. Kri's greatsword was wrapped tightly in cloth, hanging horizontally along one of the mare's flanks, but despite the covering it seemed obvious that the object was some sort of weapon. She patted it, trying to make a point. "If you don't, I would be more than willing to help you."