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Tea.

Maximos wondered in all sincerity how many times tea had saved him. Not just the magical sort Life Leaf, but the regular herbal sort. Just a few sips and the world slowly began to fall back into place like puzzle being shattered, but in reverse.

He turned away from the counter and then leaned back against it. An elbow propping him up, then he turned and gave Raven a bright smile. She was looking a bit more sturdy. But he would hold her to that conversation. And he hadnt hid or moved the note from her sight when she peered over.

Lucind had been quite silent. And considering her situation it was troublesome. Max closed his eyes, reaching to the communication enchantment and spoke. Silently again, lips moving with no sound.

Is everything alright there? Any luck with our new "frie--

He was cut short as a scream tore from the hallway and nearly caused him to drop his tea. A few rather curious steps brought him to the edge of the stairway looking upwards and down the hall. His right eye ignited in a faint glow, and he saw deep red swirling around swarmy blacks. That was fear. Inside that cloud were leylines reaching up from the ground to a scared earth attuned individual. Nothing no other such formations in any of the visible rooms, he made an assumption, and called out down the hall.

Damion? Is everything alright?

Rae had been a moment behind Max, delayed by the fact that she was feeling far too comfortable in the bar and had stupidly let her guard down sweatdrop funny how that always happened when she was trying to sort things out in her mind xp

She slipped past Maxi as Damion responded that he was alright, giving her former teammate a comforting hug as he left the room again..."No worries, this sort of situation is liable to have nightmares running rampant all over the place...it is one of the main reasons why I sleep as rarely as I can get away with!" wink

Groggily, a room to a second door would open as Damion would begin his descent back down toward the bar.

"Okay, what's all the yelling about? Can't a guy get some rest?" a voice called, and heavy footsteps, uneven from a slight limp, would near the top of the stairs.

A dishevelled mess from his white and blue hair down to his shoulders and sticking up every which way, and his clothes wrinkled from sleeping in them, Rain Yupa looked down at the bar, rubbing one side of his face with his palm. From his current perspective, he could see a woman he recognized from HoH, a teammate of the second person he recognized, Damion; a young man casting spells, and...

"... Maximos."

He'd also hear someone begin to snore, then start awake.

"...Huh?"

Yeah... he was about to snore so loudly that he woke himself up.

"Oh... we're still here..."

Lazenca rubbed his face. The hadn't left... this was good and bad. What if Teira was in trouble? But then again, they hadn't left HIM while he had fallen asleep, so that was nice. The powernap was nice too... it cleared his mind, and had him thinking better. Now, to see what all he'd missed with that...

Maximos stared blankly for a moment. He still had concern on his face, but something of an emptiness in his mind, like it was currently elsewhere or like something was distracting it.

And something was. A voice. Lucind's voice. She seemed to have quite alot to talk about and yet not much to say.

For instance, Maximos now knew she needed a new staff. And where she was headed, which he summized on his own by the increasing strength of the transmission. He also knew the mans mind could not be messed with...not that he was able to do so to begin with. And that the person, was wierd.

But.

He did not know who the name of the individual following her, which may be able to tell him what they were dealing with, if not from his own memory than by asking the denizens of the tavern. He did know why there was a pinky bone in the helicopter. He did not know if that would effect its flight. He did not know why the individual wanted a whale or a person to eat, though that seemed a most pertinent peace of information. Though Lucind seemed to have left out a good portion of the pertinent information. Maximos was left with...nothing, to strategise on. Nothing to expect. Nothing to plan for. Only that "something" was coming with her in 10 minutes.

The Shadow thought to inform her of this, but instead his only response was.

Yes. Well.

Followed by an automatic adjustment of his glasses. Needless to say, Rae, and Cecil had the time to speak first before Maximos chimed in.

Maybe its that.

He said, gesturing to the book Damion had gone back to retrieve.

In my youth, I've read things that have kept me up for several nights.

He reached out an open hand, and said with a small smile.

May I?

He would take the book of course, Maximos was no thief, he offered the hand so Damion could offer it freely, if he wished. If he did, Maximos would take it, and turn it about in his hands. He'd spent a good time with books, and had learned to tell quite a few things from their cover. Age. Origin. Even sometimes subject. If Damion kept it, Maximos would simply withdraw his hand. Either way, half way through whatever process he had begun, Rain's voice struck his ears.

"Okay, what's all the yelling about? Can't a guy get some rest?"

Of course Maximos wasnt surprised, Lucind mentioned Mr. Yupa earlier. And he had no misconceptions about the idea that the business between them was even almost finished. Or rather, that Rain was finished with it. Maximos had played his part. So, he simply looked up the stairs. His mismatched eyes, and foremost his white and faintly glowing right eye seeking to meet Rain's. And then he'd offer a grin. A grin soon followed by a small wave. And followed yet again, by nothing, as Maximos turned back to Damion.

Scarker hadn't been sleeping too heavily. He just needed a little rest to get his stamina back from using so much magic so intently today (gods only knew what he'd been up to before hitting the Firebrand), so the quiet snooze he'd taken had been enough.

With Rain getting up, he figured that it must be morning or something, so he got out of bed, threw his coat over his shoulder with his swords tied up in the sleeves. He gave brief consideration to those that were there and unconsciously locked the spell pattern Cecil had used away in his memory. Sliding out through the same door Rain had just come from (he did buy the room for two after all), he stretched a bit for show and turned to face Rain.

"Well, looks like you're feeling better. I believe we get food included in the cost of the room if you're hungry. I'm off to make use of that offer myself, I think."

With that, the mage half-bounces down the stairs, freshly cleaned hair waving behind him while the tapered steel slabs he calls swords slap against his back, not cutting into him only by the grace of the good leather of his coat.

Malice would continue following Lucind, the only sound coming from him besides his footprints was a tightening on the grip of his blade.

Gradually, ever so gradually, be would begin quickening his pace just slightly, closing the distance between himself and the singing lady as they travelled. Every minute of travel would yield a few feet closer. Was it paranoia? Was it impatience? Was it hunger?

Otherwise, as they closed the distance to the Firebrand, he wouldn't make a sound.