Welcome to Gaia! ::

The guard gave a nod, inwardly thankful that Hakim didn't seem bothered by the news. Sure, the Elder was typically calm and collected... But strangers crossing the desert - let alone finding this oasis - were a very rare commodity. "Yes, Elder."

It was a few minutes before he and another pair of guards returned with the two newcomers in tow. Both were clearly feline, one much more anthropomorphic than the other. Said anthro was huddled close to the other, quaking in fear in the presence of the guards that were easily twice his size or greater. The more humanoid looking of the two... He just looked irritated to have weapons pointed at him.

Once they had stopped in front of the Elder, the tabby cast a glare at his whimpering companion that made him shrink back. "Stop touching me..." He growled, his fingers flexing as though he was resisting the urge to strike.

"Y-yes, Master..." The other squeaked, although he still hovered very close to his side.

The tabby's amber eyes shifted toward Hakim, not seeming the least bit frightened of his predicament. Whether or not it was a facade, it was hard to tell.

"Nice little welcome party you've got here." It was a sarcastic remark, followed by a jerk of his thumb in his companion's direction. "If makin' this p***y soil himself is your goal."

-------

Hitsu and Yuki were walking back to the cottage after a big lunch; not that there was any other kind in this city. Needless to say, the leftovers of their meal were more than enough to share, so they'd been bagged up for them to take home.

Hitsu waved to Mitsu as they passed her and the children playing nearby, gesturing toward the food in her arms in case she wanted to take a break to have something to eat. Continuing on, she plopped down next to Neko to offer him something as well. "Hungry? We've got plenty left over, and if it's not enough for everyone to share I'll go and get more." She smiled up to him, looking amused. "How many times are you going to sharpen those, anyway? I can't remember the last time you had to use them."

Yuki looked from Neko and Hitsu to Poke as she was returning, giving a nod of his head and pleasant smile of acknowledgement. Energetic as always, it seemed. He was one who had taken notice of Poke's dillema of being in a dry climate, but looking at her now she seemed to be faring well. "Hitsu and I just got lunch, you want anything?" As he waited for her to make her approach, he glanced up toward the cottage, assuming that Atticus and Riyo were still inside.

Yuki had to give Atticus credit... With how much he and Riyo seemed to butt heads, he'd still been pretty patient with her. In the eyes of the rest of them, at least. He'd wait for Poke's response, then take whatever was left of the food in to them.

"Where's Blade wandered off to, now?" Yuki asked curiously, noting his absence. He wasn't surprised, though. Since they'd arrived here and relaxed a bit, Blade had been exploring pretty frequently.

[We'll pretend that there's enough food to at least ease hunger for the lot? One full sized dragon lunch equals many normal-sized light lunches, maybe? XD If not, there's always that offer from Hitsu to go and get more.]

As his restlessness grew, Blade often found himself roaming around the city more and more, trying to busy himself. There have been times where he nearly went out on a thieving spree, but he had managed to restrain himself. It wasn't easy to hold back for so long though.

That day, he went and dropped by their little condo, finding that a few of the others had brought in some lunch. It looked pretty sizable, what they had, but then again there were almost always leftovers when it came to the meals here. The dragons were pretty hearty eaters for certain.

"Hey guys," he greeted the lot before passing up Yuki, discreetly attempting to slip a note into his pocket. Sure it had been months, but the thief figured he had let it sit long enough. The outcome could be interesting for that matter. Essentially the note had been written with his left hand and said, 'By the way, Neko banged your sister while she was drunk'.

Glancing over towards the rest, he grinned lightly as he saw Mitsu clinging to the dragon plush. She seemed to really like the thing, and it was fireproof too! From there, he looked more towards Riyo and Atticus, who seemed to be going over some reading and writing stuff. While he was around, he noticed the raven working with her and he was fairly impressed that she had picked up on it fairly quickly. Making his way to the table, he took a peek at what was written and chuckled at what he saw.

"Nice job, Riyo."

---

The two were not quite what the Elder had expected. The one feline seemed to have enough confidence for them both and the timid one's use of 'master' made him wonder if the poor soul was a servant of sorts. It would explain a thing or two.

"Apologies for the wariness; we don't get visitors very often," Hakim started before waving to the guards to be at ease. If these two decided to stir trouble, it should not be too difficult for himself and the guardsmen to subdue them. Or rather.. subdue the confident one. The timid feline looked as if he would pass out if conflict broke out.

"I must ask though, what brings you to our city, travelers?"

--

Branka had been the messenger Hakim had sent for soon arrived to the cottage where their guests had been staying. Looking at the group, she let out a sigh and cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Hakim calls for you lot to his quarters. Apparently two new strangers have showed up and they may be associated with you. Please come with me so we can clear this up"

Hitsu looked up with Mitsu's approach, smiling to her and offering up one of the leftover containers. "There's some chicken and something that tastes like ham... It's really good!" Looking back to Neko when he answered, she chuckled lightly. "Well, you know, if you sharpen them too much you're not going to have anything left of them. That, and I'm sure they'd cut a hair lengthwise at this point." She seemed to think a moment, then offered up somewhat of a solution. "Have you thought about asking if you can go on a hunt or something? That should satisfy your need to stab things, shouldn't it?"

Nodding to Poke as she took some of the food, Yuki grunted in response to her suggestion. "No thanks, I've been molested enough by the dragons; I don't need them trying to break me in half to top it off..."

Yuki and Hitsu looked up to Blade as he approached, almost like he was summoned by the fact they were talking about him. The two offered him smiles of greeting as he passed. Yuki gathered up a couple of the containers and moved into the house behind Blade, aiming to offer food to him along with Riyo and Atticus. "You guys hungry?" He asked softly when he was within earshot, setting the food on the table before awaiting an answer.

Pulled from her thoughts and conversation Hitsu looked up to Brance when she cleared her throat. "Hmm?" Looking a bit confused by the news that the dragon offered, Hitsu was the first to stand, ready to follow. In the back of her mind, the only person she thought it could be was the hound she'd crossed paths with... But, that had been so long ago; surely not. But... Who else did she know that could associate with them? Maybe it was Hanse! It only seemed logical for him to come to a dragons' city. She perked up at the idea of seeing her acquaintance again, convinced that it was he who had come looking for them for some reason or another.

-------

As the guards stepped back, Caleb seemed to remember how to breaths again. He took a very small step back from Deacon, giving him a worried look all the same. The man liked his personal space, after all. The scruffy feline feared that he might not be out of danger for reacting in such a manner just yet. "Why are we here, Master?" He asked for what Deacon figured was the hundredth time. "These people... They look dangerous..." His voice was quiet, no more than a fearful whisper.

Deacon cast a scowl over his shoulder that made the poor boy cringe and step back even further, looking as though he wanted to become invisible... Or, at least make himself even smaller. "For-forgive me..."

Tail lashing in his heightening irritation, Deacon returned his attention to Hakim. "'Fraid it's a matter of business. The lot of them escaped from a town quite a way's back; left a lot of trouble in my lap when they left. I'm here to make sure they pay for... The damages..."

Half-lie aside, he perked a brow at the Elder and lowered his voice a little as though sharing a juicy tidbit of information. "You had any trouble with them, yourself? You're harboring a group of criminals... I'm sure they left that part out when they asked for sanctuary here."

There was a flicker of annoyance in Deacon's eyes, though otherwise he managed to keep himself composed. "Believe what you want, old man, but there'll be trouble for you if they stay here." He probably should have held back that malice in his voice... But he didn't.

Neko chuckled at Poke's enthusiasm for her training. "Training is all well and good but I like to avoid the Captain of the Guard if I can." Neko said Sohki's title with an air of sarcasm. The dragon still wasn't very fond of the group but had done well to keep most of him comments to himself. Though Neko had done his fair amount of egging to entice a few choice comments from the dragon.

That and Neko was still fairly certain the dragons were taking it easy on Poke. These creatures could easily grow to one hundred times their size and were well equipped for this climate.....Poke was not.

When Branka approached Neko turned to her a look of concern on his face. Who would even think to travel all the way out here....that would know them? There were really only so many choices. At least they were safe enough, surely nothing could happen here so it would be easy enough to identify who was here. "Alright," Neko nodded putting his blade's away before he stood to his feet. Once to his feet he moved to stand beside Branka and waited to see if anyone else would join them before they headed to see Hakim.

Mitsu had started to nibble on her sandwich when the dragon guard arrived. When she mentioned someone here that they were associated with Mitsu suddenly looked nervous. There wasn't a whole lot of people outside their group and this city that they met that had been....friendly. So she worried about who it could possibly be. Hugging her stuffed plush a little closer she looked to Neko as he stood wondering if she could just sit out and stay here.

"Awww" poke said to everybody's comments. "You guys are no fun..."

It was then obvious by pokes confused face that she had no idea who the two felines branka was referring to, but since it wasn't shun, then it shouldn't be much of a problem..right?

well, she was ready to meet these guys, so she went to stand by neko and waited for everyone else to get up to go as well

After glancing at the others somewhat, Blade found that the others were either a little comprehensive or excited (in Hitsu's case). Though he couldn't blame her. They had been away from home for awhile now so it must be nice to think that someone might come looking for her. Smiling softly at the thought, he shook his head to himself and went on to follow Branka. It definitely had to be nice to think that someone was searching for you... and not for a reason like wanting to kill or capture you.

As Mitsu watched everyone gather to follow the dragon she stood to her feet, toy in one hand sandwich in the other. "I...I'll just...wait here." She said softly before she went inside. Somehow she had a bad feeling about who it could be.

Taking a seat on the couch Mitsu focused back on her sandwich though eating it seemed to be a low priority. She kept rotating it slowly as if looking for something that it didn't have, her face showing that she was thinking about something else rather than eating.

This was turning into a regular party, almost everyone was going it seemed. Neko turned to Branka once those who wanted to go gathered. "I guess lead the way."