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It was a strange thing, but it had happened none the less. Hatmon and Kris had split up for the time being, leaving Hatmon to wander the city by her lonesome. Kris had mentioned something about fun and guild members shortly before her decided to vanish, so for now the chimera would just assume he was in able company that would do him no harm. If they weren’t well, Hatmon would just have to enact some revenge for harming her pay check. Just how Kris continued to get the money to pay for her services continued to baffle her, hopefully it was through legit means. Not that this matter, money was money is Hatmon’s eyes, no matter the source.

She was still in her fox form, finding it much easier to move around the streets in this form compared to her more human one. While she was curiously peeking out from one of the alley ways her nose caught a curious smell. It was familiar, but not one that she was able to place. Hatmon couldn’t just let this curiosity go unanswered and thus she followed the scent which eventually led her to Dan. No, it wasn’t Dan that had caught her interest; rather, it was the girl in his arms.

Having no fear for her safety, not that she needed it, Hatmon was more than agile enough to avoid any attack a human might try to inflict on her; she approached the man before he entered the building. Walking with a sense of dignity, she curled her tail around one of Dan’s legs as she passed by him as a cat might. She was no animal though and she proved this to the man. “You have something interesting there. It smells like me.”

Hatmon blinked a few times at Dan’s response; her blue eyes, a startling contrast against her jet black fur. She wasn’t surprised per say, though she was definitely amused by the lack of a reaction. It wasn’t every day you saw a talking fox with wings, and she looked like no laguz in existence. The fact just proved that the world was full of very strange creatures, and that the man was accustomed to strange things. Hatmon would have smirked if not for the form she was in, and she didn’t really wish to give away too many inner thoughts at the moment either.

Having not been scolded in anyway, the chimera followed the man inside; waltzing in as if she owned the place, her golden claws making a soft clicking noise that she could hide if she so choose. She met no harm after all, so why should they refuse her. Perhaps they would even enjoy her assistance, should she decide to give it. She wasn’t familiar with any of the people around though, and would have to analyze them carefully and avoid making decisions that would put her in a messy situation. But if first impressions mattered at all, she felt she could trust these people.

Goddess, this man was heavy.

Annis was relieved that Ganon was doing better now, and the water had done wonders to help his endurance (not to mention his voice, he could speak now without sounding as if he was trying to push sound through a throat full of gravel), but he was a very, very heavy man, and Annis felt her knees quake just slightly under him. She still had blood all over her clothes, and after pausing at the river to clean out his unhealed wounds with some of the riverwater, she had cold water soaked through her boots, too. But his wounds were cleaner, and though he still desperately needed either a barrel full of Vulneraries or the attention of a healer, he was at least able to speak and walk.

Her wings quivered as she adjusted her arm around his back, keeping him supported on their walk. She couldn't use her other arm for balance or anything, using it to carefully cradle his precious mandolin against her. He had been so keen on getting it, and Annis obliged. He was a bard, so perhaps it was an integral part of his music. Or it's magic or something and that's what made that huge crater... pfffft.

Annis let out a tired little breath and kept going. No matter how tired she might have been with her nicks and cuts from battle and the weight of the snake on her, he was much, much worse. She could keep going. The town gate was easy to get through and keep going. Their footsteps seemed unnaturally loud as she moved deeper into the city. Where was everyone? Had everyone either gotten back to the festival or holed up in their homes?

The raven laguz turned up her green eyes as she reached what seemed to be a hastily-constructed wooden barricade. Had that appeared while she was busy fighting and tending to Ganon? The sounds from within were suspicious, loud and angry and paranoid. Her pointed ears twitched. She folded her wings tight to her back, looked up to Ganon, then to the barricade. "Someone's got to be in there that can help us," she told him. Ignoring the snippets of voices that her sensitive hearing were able to pick up on, Annis started to make her way around the barricade. There had to be a door, or a slot, or something along there that she could get in, right?

When Dan entered, Aran hastily shut the so called entrance. Apparently, Steely Dan had found Ed lying out in an alley and had carried her in, he was lucky to not get harassed.

But again, he heard someone's voice from outside... "Shhh!! Sounds like there are a couple of people outside." Aran couldn't see quite well through the tiny holes, but the voice sounded feminine, but he didn't hear the other one. At any rate, they should probably stay cautious incase it was a trap.

"Energy rings and Talismans?" Aran paused for a while, and remembered that someone was bringing those things along, so she couldn't be that dangerous right? At any rate, he slowly opened the entrance to see a woman carrying a box with blue-ish hair. "Get in" He said while slowly ushering her in. The entrance creaked open a bit more to allow more room as he stepped aside to let the delivery woman in.

Ganon leaned against the wall adjacent to the barricade, his legs still weak from previous exertion. He shifted uncomfortably, listening as Annis knocked around the barricade.

Chickenwire was, as Leena passed by, climbing up to the top of a civilian barricade to test its stability. He and Clang had each been sent out to help civilians secure their own streets. These barricades being constructed by the Watch were not to keep people in or out of the city; they were inside the city, meant to contain and control the riot to keep the rest of the city safe. A lot of people were just barricading their own streets; Clang and Chickenwire were moving along the streets, helping the citizens properly construct their barricades. Since the riot was mostly on Main Street near the West Gate, Chickenwire was going along the south side and Clang was going along the north.

He spotted Leena wandering around and waved. "Oy!" he called, "Leena, what're yeh doin' there?" The Hero quickly made his way down the barricade to approach her, raising a brow as he reached one hand up into his long, shaggy red hair to scratch his scalp.


Back at the Main Street barricade, between the West Gate and the castle, Large looked up from examining the sleeping Ed. A smaller barricade had been piled up in an alley next to them, although one would have to get through another barricade to reach that alley. Or come through the South Gate, of course.

Someone was there, calling for help. With a sigh, Large moved away and clambered up to the top, poking his head over. "Hey, Annis? What're you doin' here? Come on, there's no gate in this one. You gotta come over it-- whoa, dude's in bad shape..."

How long had it been now? Eight, nine months? Yeah, something like that.

A lot had happened since Siegell had whisked her off the field there. Siegell, her man in grotesque, half-face masking armor. Whoo, but she'd wandered off to do her own thing and she really had no clue what he was up to these days. She thought he'd pay him a visit!

But, on this darkening day, she found herself facing the town of Eyris, complete with...unusually empty streets. There seemed to be a few guards pacing around - unsavory fellows Adele would rather avoid. If any of them remembered her from back long ago, it likely wouldn't have ended well.

Something got her attention, though. She heard the distant uproar, and had her interest thoroughly piqued. She skittered through the streets, covertly avoiding any guards posted, and made her way to a hastily-constructed barricade.

Hm, I wonder what that's there for. :o

The sounds inside of it sounded absolutely horrid. Angry townspeople, it sounded like. She wasn't entirely sure what about, though, and her natural curiosity got the best of her. She shot a quick glance around, and once the coast was clear she grabbed an extended plank and hoisted herself up onto a crate. Then she leapt over the barricade, dumping her form onto the other side.

She was immediately noticed. A mob of angry townspeople, complete with pitch and forchtorks, surrounded her. "Hey, it's one of them!" He jabbed a menacing torchfork in her direction.

While the reader paused to consider what the hell exactly a 'torchfork' was, Adele's hand was already migrating towards her back. "Huh...wha? I was just lookin' in here to see what youse guys was all mad about!"

"Don't you lie to me, you crazy wench! You're with those wretched FEFers, those ones fighting our beloved Heroes!"

Wait, what? "Huh, wha?"

"Don't play dumb! Our legendary Heroes! Jyoti, Kyros, Teifi, Castello, Evelyn, Misura, Ledreak, Shento, and Domanova. And that pathetic guild is fighting them, like some kind of bad guys! They wouldn't be called 'Heroes' if they were bad, would they? And if they're not bad, that only means that Fire Emblem Forever is!" He jabbed that torchfork at her again.

Way to logic, generic townsperson #7. Thanks to his overzealous and totally uncalled for explanation, Adele had more than a slight idea what was going on. But if he jabbed that instrument at her one more time...

"Kekeke, you're makin' a mistake. Sees, I'm not with them! I'm just here to visit this guy!"

"She lies!" It was jammed in her face one more time.

The last time.

Adele removed her new toy from her back and gripped it with both hands, holding it in front of her.

It was a pretty little toy, actually. A long handle, probably a yard long. Each end of the handle had a wickedly curved blade attached to it, specially serrated for extra damage. It even curved down far along the hilt, opening on the inside, so if someone was unlucky enough to get caught by it, it wouldn't be pretty. The blades faced opposite directions, made specially for twirling like a death baton. And the weapon itself was light. An enemy couldn't tell, but each blade was filled with a thick, industrial-strength foam. The blades lost a bit of the durability of plain metal, but they gained the advantage of weight.

This was certainly not a weapon anyone wanted to meet headon. And this was exactly why it was Adele's new favored weapon of choice. "Kekeke..." she muttered, twirling the hilt in her left hand.

The townspeople backed off for just a moment, then had their anger incited by the unusual weapon. They charged. What were torchforks going to do, honestly?

The Deathcalibur easily lopped the handle off of one, conveniently still attached to the owner's hand.

They stopped. A wide grin spread across Adele's face. A grin of pure malice. "Kekeke...don'tcha make me angry, now. Yeh wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Of course, generic villagers never listen. They always seem to think that a bunch of homeowners wielding typical houseware items will somehow overcome an insane berserker with a wicked scythe-like axe. Adele proved this wrong very quickly. The Deathcalibur twirled around like art, cleaving through people's heads like hot knives through some delectable dairy-related substance suited for toast. Adele quickly moved through the crowd, mowing down about twenty people on the way.

Everyone froze when a scream echoed from outside the barricade. "Hey, something's going on in there!"

Oh, s**t. Adele took the chance to escape. She strapped the Deathcalibur to her back once again and glanced at the side of the barricade; it was way better constructed from this side, there weren't any handholds she could see! Improvising, she wasted no time in unstrapping one of her hand axes and burying it into one of the crates. She leapt upon the handle, springing herself up onto a more stable hold, then back over the barricade. Yeah, those guards were definitely on their way now.

Adele ran like she'd never run before.

"Hold on!" The watchman clambered down out of sight, then showed up again and called, "Catch!" before letting a bottle of sapphire fluid flip end over end into Annis' arms. "That should get him up and over!"

Ganon raised a brow as Annis inspected the bottle, then reached with his tail and gently took it from her. His hands shook a bit as he fought with the cork, but he removed it quickly enough and raised the bottle to his lips, swallowing a measure. It was the good, expensive kind of Elixir-- battle elixir, the kind you drink, and that works fast. That kind. The potion poured some energy back into him, sealing up wounds that the vulneraries hadn't covered.

His hands, though... nothing seemed to help his hands. Performance itself is a kind of magic, and the practice of Bardsong had made his hands very resistant to all forms of magic-- beneficial and otherwise.

He handed the bottle back to Annis and pushed himself off the wall, taking a long, deep breath. "Ah. Much better. Alright, hold on... coming over!" He turned, stretched, and carefully took his mandolin from Annis. "Thank you!" he murmured, strapping it around himself and attaching his broken violin to the back. Wincing as he grabbed a chair leg and a tabletop, he quickly scaled the barricade and hopped down on the other side.

"... Ed! You found her!" He quickly made his way to the chimera's side, as yet unaware of Hatmon's... abilities. "I'm so sorry, I know I said I'd be right back..."