As No-Gae walked through the town, she tried to inquired the people about recent military activities. The locals were suspicious of her, but they immediately talked once No-Gae flashed a silver coin.

So there's a mercenary camp around here. I wonder if they have info. She thought.

Small Town, Adtriyn

"Pretty, handsome, either works." Fel grinned, clearly proud of that fact. "Can't exactly people a reassurin' smile if I'm scaring 'em by being muscular and strong."

Still, Fel couldn't help but admit that Byrn had a point and reluctantly ask for another apple rather than any of the meat on display. Although he did shake his head and look somewhat bewildered at all of the food she'd grabbed but decided to just answer her question.

"...Probably. There's gotta be some sorta town or whatnot in that direction. It ain't like every map you see has everything marked on it, right?"

Some of the townsfolk nearby were content to keep talking among themselves and getting somewhat distracted by the pegasus and the rider for a few moments before they resumed their discussion, either muttering about the sudden increase in taxes and the fact that cowardly mayor hadn't left their home since the autumn harvest...or about some small group of drunkards getting themselves into trouble AGAIN.

...Hold up, that ain't...what's her name, Eve...Evie or whatever. Darn.

Fel turned his attention back to Byrn, hoping neither she or the newcomer hadn't noticed him trying to figure out the latter was.

Alessa, for her part, folded one arm behind her back, the other holding her coffee, and remained silent. She was looking for any signs of dishonesty in Adia. Her glare was intense and scrutinizing, her purple-flecked storm-grey eyes seeming to be attempting to peer into Adia's soul.

Taking another drink of coffee, she gave a sharp exhale. The offer seemed genuine. Now the only matter was how satisfactorily she answered their questions. Well, mostly Hadri's questions. She was, after all, better at this sort of thing. Among the many skills Alessa had learned at court, 'how to conduct a job interview' was not one of them.

Thus, she remained silent for the time being.

No-Gae listened in to the townsfolk gossiping. It seemed like nothing out of the ordinary for a small town. No lo get interested in what they had to say, No-Gae and Sin Rip moved towards the camp.

Edited by RAlexa21th on Feb 6th 2020 at 6:57:38 AM

Alessa will find Adia seems... nervous, but genuine. Her one visible eye gazes back at Alessa in response to the scrutinization. The iris is dark- almost oddly so- to the point that it's hard to make out where it meets her pupil. Adia quickly breaks the eye contact when she realizes Hadri's still waiting on an answer.

"Eh.. I don't have much of a story, but if you need any more details I'll give them to you."

"Breakfast would be nice, yes. I-if that's what we're doing, anyway. I don't really, uh, k-know what people have for food, though, so, uhm..."

She looks around a bit, trying to make sense of everything that's going on.

Mercenary Camp

Seeing someone else come over to her caused Kokoro to bow respectfully

Kokoro: "Greetings, honored Nyx, is there anything you wish to talk about with me?"

While Kokoro still sounded a bit formal, though, given her slight smile, Nyx would likely be able to tell that this didn't stem from a lack of respect or amicability towards the laguz on Kokoro's part but simply from the mechanist's grasp (more preciesely the lack thereof) of all the local etiquette and customs. As such, Kokoro wanted to make sure she wasn't accidentally sounding inappropriate.

Edited by Sergey_Smirnov on Feb 6th 2020 at 11:47:22 AM

"Why? What kind of food do you eat?" Matthew asked Glaci curiously. The young foreign prince was eager for more knowledge, like always.

Small Town, Adtriyn

"Hey now, you ain't sayin' I'm scary, are you?" A look of disingenuous hurt crossed Bryn's face, well aware of how intimidating she could be should the situation call for it.

After that she lapsed into silence, digging into her second piece of meat (her eyes had glittered in triumph when Fel bought his own second serving) and nodding along to Fel's westward plan. The rumours of drunken antics didn't do much to catch her attention- they could be talking about Bryn herself, for all she knew, her memories of last night weren't all there- but her ears pricked as word of the mayor resurfaced.

"They ain't shown up at all..?" Bryn pondered, half to herself, absently watching the flutter of a pegasi's wings as it was led away by its owner. "Almost seems like they're scared of somethin' more than some rankled villagers..."

"I've heard of traders named Anna yes but I'll of course need real proof of credentials." Hadri said, crossing her arms. It might have been harsh, but she really did need to solidify herself as a rules... person. There was too much riding on it to not. "A token from the woman, her signature or mark, maybe something you made with her that carries her signoff? A receipt, even."

Camp

Nyx shakes her head. "Just saying hello. Camp is too active this morning for me."

She sighs and brushes some hair out of her eye. "Want some coffee or something?"

Camp

Riding on her pegasus, No-Gae arrived at the camp. She looked around.

Mercenary Camp

In turn, Kokoro smiled slightly "Not coffee but, if you have tea, I would most appreciate it~ Also, do you wish to come over to the tent of mylord? It's rather calm there."

Small Town, Adtriyn

Mentally cursing for having tripped over his own words into a predicament again where Fel carefully chose his response, trying to keep up the smile.

"...Nah. Just as long as you don't try and give me a bear hug and potentially break most of the bones in my body, ain't really got reason to be afraid." Fel remarked, sounding a little serious as his eyes glanced to the side to notice the Pegasus and the rider had left.

...Aaaaaaand she's gone. Just a courier that ain't good with directions? Got enough to worry 'bout as it is.

Fel decided to keep his mouth shut and folded his arms, thinking. Best to keep his theories to himself for a little longer lest he end up looking up...slightly more foolish. Especially if it was all just talk and the Mayor was simply cowering under their bed until people stopped mentioning it.

Camp

Nyx nods. "I'll make some and meet you there."

She walks away and procures some leaves and a teapot, quietly putting it on to boil.

Small Town, Adtriyn

With a booming laugh, Bryn transferred all food to one hand and used the now free one to aim a hearty slap at Fel's back- while not as crushing as his proposed bear hug, it'd still be enough to rattle a bone or two if it made contact. "Y'got a quick tongue, Fel! Just make sure it don't get you in trouble."

After that she continued to snack on her impromptu breakfast, her ears now pricked for any further mention of the Mayor. She also scanned each stall that they passed, keeping an eye out for any rope that Fel may want to buy. She didn't seem in a particular hurry to buy any resources up for herself.

Adia considers for a moment, then rummages around in her bag again. She produces a slightly battered looking envelope and hands it to Hadri.

"She gave me this introduction letter. Surprised it hasn't needed use before now, but ah well."

The letter inside is fairly standard- it mentions Anna, what she does, her expectations for her student, etc. etc. It actually mentions Adia by name, so it's not likely she took it from someone else.

No-Gae walked towards the person in the campfire. Maybe that's a mercenary member? She had to try out.

"Excuse me. Is this the mercenary camp?"

"I'm not picky... Whatever I get is what I get. J-just please don't ask me to cook, I can't. Last time I tried I b-burned myself a bit..."

She coughs a bit, though by now it's clear she's not intending on abusing the hospitality of those around her.

"Oh, nice." Cooperation and delivery on what she wanted? Wow. Hadri's eyebrows shot up in unguarded surprise at Adia just having what she asked for. Looked legit to her. She passed it to Alessa. Everyone had gaps in their expertise, after all. "Look good to you too?"

"Well, we got our coffee," said Sigmund. "Now what?"

From a fair distance away there is a sharp crack, and some yelling. Sigmund let out an unusually honk-like yelp of surprise.

"What was that?!"

Edited by Umbramatic on Feb 8th 2020 at 11:47:49 AM

Mercenary Camp

Kokoro meanwhile went back to the tent she shared with Roderick, kneeling down near a tree stump she had found made a good table.

Camp

Nyx looks up from her tea. "A whip, maybe? Or a tree snapping?"

She walks over to Kokoro and sets the tea down, frowning. "I'll go check it out."

Nyx sets off in the direction of the sound.

Alessa took the provided letter of introduction, scanning it up and down. It seemed genuine. She nodded to Hadri, handing the letter back to Adia. With the loud crack, her eyes shot in that direction. She would've dropped a hand to her sword, but both were occupied.

She quickly finished her coffee, her mood having gone from guarded to very tense. She kept a wary eye on the direction of the sound, waiting for something to emerge.

"..."

She says nothing for a bit, looking over in the direction the noise came from and sighing.

"Please come with me. We'll be safer that way. Maybe I won't have to fight... Oh, very hopefully so..."

Glaci starts walking over in the direction of the noise. She seems oddly composed in the face of such a sudden occurence.