A Little Worn And Well-Traveled. (Cheese and Iridescent)

[Wrathwyrm]

It's not uncommon for men and women of Ketra to walk in and out of the forest.  Occasionally, though, more walk out than in - or vice versa - on account of the travelers involved.  Of course, those who are IN Adela might find a willing ride on a dragon if they can secure it, thus getting back on their way faster than the norm.  Nevertheless, you get people walking in from the forest on their own two feet.

Occasionally, they fly in, but this one did it without a dragon.

Now, that is not to say that he had some sort of alternate flying mount or wings or was even flapping his arms.  No.  He seemed to have merely been thrown, hurled by some force, and then suddenly came to land on the ground.  He was wearing dark clothes, black torso armor with metal bracers and shin guards to match, and had on a black mantle with silver trim that'd been torn in the back.  He was a bit out of sorts, looking a little tired, but managed...

"Made it!"

...as the sun was going down.  Well, first thing was first.  No, not living accommodations.  He needed to get this damn mantle fixed.  It was a gift and some evil bird-man had ripped it!

[Cheesigator]

Ketra was one place Spike never found himself in very often. The entire area of Adela didn't particularly interest him, as dragons were creatures that one would do well to stay out of the way of. It wasn't because he was afraid of them--more or less because they were usually just giant pains in the ass.

Nevertheless, in his endless wandering this continent he found himself there more than once, and he found himself there yet again. He tugged the white fur-lined hood of his cloak up a little better over his head as he stepped through the streets; truth be told, he hadn't been here all that long ago. He'd come looking for some supplies, which he couldn't remember now, for a little quest he'd inserted himself on a few weeks ago, with one other companion. They'd made a decent bit of money, but to Spike all it was was a way to spend his copious amounts of free time.

Yet it seemed he hadn't exactly been forgotten about from his last trip here. After all, he was kind of hard to miss, even if he was rather short.

"You!!"

There was a certain tone to the screech behind him that made his spine tingle, and he turned to see a woman in her late thirties approaching him looking quite furious. "You--you're that foul temptress I found in bed with my husband two months ago!"

He raised his eyebrows. Temptress, he was not. He had a penis, after all. But she did look familiar.

"My good lady I've no idea what you're speaking of, perhaps you've mistaken--"

She stormed up to him and grabbed a fistful of the white fur of his hood, yanking it back and pointing her finger in his face, dirt under her nails and the fiery depths of hell burning in her eyes.

"OH NO I REMEMBER YOUR SMUG LITTLE FACE WHEN I WENT AFTER MY HUSBAND WITH MY COOKING PAN, YOU RUINED OUR MARRIAGE!"

Yep. Time to go. He quickly ducked away, some of the fur of his cloak ripping from where her grubby hand had still been clutching the expensive fabric.

"Sorry sweetie I sincerely doubt I'm the first boy he's had adventures with, I think I did you a favor!" He called over his shoulder as he darted into a crowd of people, with her furious yelling following close behind.

It was as he just got through the other side of the crowd, sprinting into open streets that he noticed some man falling from the sky to land not-so gracefully in the dirt street, making him hesitate just enough out of confusion for Angry Wife #587 to break through the confused and angry people as well.

He quickly turned and with a movement of his hand ice shot out, coating the ground in front of her as her foot fell and slipped from underneath, making her land on her face as the wind was knocked from her lungs, still undoubtedly burning with rage. As she lay there gasping like a fish out of water for air, he did another quick one-two wave of his fingers and the ice grew over her ankles.

"No offense lady but I think you need to cool down so I'll help you do just that; it'll wear off in an hour or two." He said while she angrily scrabbled at him in vain before he took a look at the man in dark clothes who was standing up from being hurled from some unseen force.

He heard guards being called and jumped at his chance, heading over to the man, attempting to grab him by the arm and hopefully get him to walk away with him so the city guards wouldn't see Spike and immediately start questioning why he was slinging magic around at unsuspecting angry women.

"Hey sir I saw you fall from the sky earlier, you look a little roughed up and I think I know just the place that is NOT here and NOT swarming with guards to take you to to help you feel better!" He said with an absolutely endearing smile and a pointed glance behind him suggesting that it'd probably be best this stranger got far away from the scene too lest he wanted to be wrapped up in it.

[Iridescent]

Alandria was not a conventionally attractive woman. She had the kind of face you either found weirdly attractive or not at all. It was the prominent nose that turned people off, but the heavy-lidded eyes and high cheekbones that made other people disagree with the first group. There wasn't really much of an in-between with this woman, and in that the reactions to her appearance reflected her own personality fairly well.
However, right now most of that appearance was obscured from view by a hood. Dressed in commoners clothes and wearing a long, dark cloak, Alandria made her way through the streets, the cape flapping behind her.

She wasn't too pleased with the situation. For one, she was in Ketra. With good reason, but she was still in Ketra and getting recognized here was going to have consequences she was not ready to face. Secondly, she wasn't in armor, as that would've stood out even more than a hood, which could at least be attributed to not wanting the sun in her eyes. But without armor she felt vulnerable, and that was one of those things she hated with the passion of a thousand burning suns.

Still, a woman had to do what a woman had to do and so she was on her way to the house of an old friend. Said friend was not yet aware of this, but sending a message would've been tricky.
She left a rather narrow street, into a much crowdier one. She involuntarily tensed up. It went against every instinct and every bit of pride she had, but she kept her head down.
It was because of that that when she heard someone shriek, the man falling from the sky had already hit the ground.
Confused and curious, she moved forward. Somewhere in the mass of people a woman was screaming in anger. Guards were called. Alandria had lost track of most of the situation, mostly because the hood ruined most of her peripheral vision, but she knew this was a bad time for a deserter to be around.

Then she caught sight of the fallen man, and another guy, one with black and grey hair, had rushed in, gesturing towards some place behind him.
She decided to go wherever it was they were going. She wanted to know more, felt like the guy stepping in was a tad shady, yet wanted to get out of here just as badly as he did.
A guard was making his way towards the scene. Soldier was a better description, as she recognized him from the time she had been one as well.
She moved towards the two strangers.
"The man coming your way is a pitbull in human form. Move. Now," she urged, every muscle in her body tense.

[Wrathwyrm]

So, it could be said...that Sano had no idea what Adelan hospitality was like.  That would be a fair statement.  Coming in, he'd known that it was militaristic and had an army of dragon riders who could tear you apart into little bits for use as fire-lighters, but he had no idea how people in general hear acted.  And then again, he was a visitor in Ketra and did not need to know more than 'Don't do anything particularly stupid' and things would go well.

He hoped.

Keefe had told him of Adela's soldiers and dragons, how protective they were of their lands, and how it was that they seemed to maintain high trade with the likes of Serendipity in order to maintain their food stocks, with only certain amounts of self-sufficiency...maybe.  Keefe's information tended to be about the dangers of a place more than how things were on a day-to-day basis, since she was - after all - an assassin.

Today, however, was taking a turn for the unexpected.  After leaving a dragon patrol to kill some kind of hybrid phoenix creature, he'd flown into this place and not thirty seconds later had someone at his side, trying to lead him somewhere,   The man seemed quite anxious and, of course, Sano had not seen why, so this was curious behavior, but so far harmless.  He did somewhat allow himself to be led, on the grounds that he didn't know where to go anyway.

"Well, that's awfully kind of you, and I am kind of winded, though what I'd really like-"

Before he could finish his sentence, there was somebody else in his midst.  Now, he was being escorted from both sides and equally confused vis-a-vis the pair of them.  The latter of the two had reported that there was a guard coming who was basically horrible.  That seemed as good a reason as any to leave, though he had to question the motivations of the two people ushering him along.  Were they a pair or was this just his lucky day for good samaritans?  As they were going along, he decided that some answers needed to be gained.  First thing's first, though...

"Can I just ask...if we're going anywhere near a tailor, or to a mage that fixes clothing?"

[Cheesigator]

It looked like Spike wasn't the only one who had been looking at this man like a piece of meat labeled "SCAPEGOAT". He did a double-take when someone swooped in on the other side, a woman by the sounds of it, though her hood was pulled up and obscured her face. She mentioned a guard and he threw a glance over his shoulder and yep mhm that was one big, scary-looking dude alright.

"Yep okay time to go." He quipped, and the three of them took a few side streets with hurried steps to get away from the strange situation.

They lost the guard easily enough and once they were distanced away from the commotion Spike relaxed a little, letting go of the man and stretching his arms over his head. Goodness, he hadn't been prepared for so much excitement so early on in the day, but he supposed it couldn't be helped.

Oh, right, innocent guy had asked a question.

"A tailor?" He asked, finally turning to actually look at the guy, not half bad looking, and noticing his mantle. He raised his eyebrows. "You came flying from gods-know-where dead center in a commotion in a big city and the first thing you ask is 'where can I get my outfit fixed'? Wow."

And Spike thought he was a prissy one. He glanced down at his own outfit, tugging at the silver brocade tunic and his laced-up gray leather leggings. Yeah okay maybe if he'd been wearing a mantle he'd have looked cooler too but whatever he still looked fine, petty mortal. His cloak looked cooler. Nyeh.

He shook his head though, now casting his gaze on the woman who had approached them, pointing to her and then to Mantle Guy.

"You with him?"

Because he sure wasn't.