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All Tiki could do was just look forward, mouth agape. What else could she do as some angry looking man ran forth out of nowhere, knocked out the friendly fellow she had been talking with, and called him a dirty rotten thief? Come to think of it, he had been wearing oddly concealing clothing... but she was wearing travel clothing too, over her little pink dress. It was only concealed somewhat, though. The hooded man seemed like a decent character, and he seemed to want to help. But what did Tiki know? It was all so confusing.

Tiki could help but wince uncomfortably as the man pat her on the head. After all, he had just assaulted her company with a shovel. She felt a shiver run down her spine. Why did he leave her alone again? He said he would come back for her once the man was dealt with, but why couldn't Tiki go with him? Why did she have to stay in this old gross house alone? He put her own hand to her head as she tried to calm herself down again. He would be back... Or at least Tiki hoped. He said Tiki should be glad he came, but she didn't feel glad. No one was helping her, and everyone was leaving as quickly as they appeared.

She decided to stay where she was anyway, though. If worst came to worst, at least she would have a roof above her head. This new man was the only one she knew about right now. And any direction Tiki could go in would probably lead into a forest or canyon or somewhere else, where she would be even more lost then she was now. She walked a foot or so back into the small house and sat on a clear part of the floor. She tucked in her knees and tried to rest her swirling unease as she waited. Someone would come to find her eventually. This was the safest place to be.

Tiki jumped up at the sound of Ziaram's voice. After that display, she had almost resigned herself to remaining by herself for a while more. She wasn't expecting a new person to find her so soon. Why was his weapon drawn? Was he a mercenary or something? Tiki didn't know. But he was talking about the hooded man. Did he know him? If the hooded man actually was a thief... than going with this man could mean a lot of trouble.

But then again, he also mentioned the other man. And he introduced himself. Perhaps this man was sent by the other one to pick her up and bring her to a group or town, and she could finally ask for help!

Tiki wasn't sure of either of these.

But what she was sure of was that he was a person. He seemed kind and polite enough. And he promised that he would keep her safe, which was all she wanted right now. If he wanted to attack her, he probably would have done so already. And how else would he know that she was looking for a group if he hadn't been sent to get her by the man from before?

It was in Tiki's best interest to go with whoever she could. At least, it made sense to Tiki that way.

"Ziaram?" That was a weird name. "Please take me to wherever your group is."

Come to think of it... this was all pretty frustrating. Surely this man would stay around, and help her find out where she was!

"Please help me!"

(( Damn right, Joshua. And because I just wrote a massive textwall, you're going to just have to suck it up and deal with the utter s**t I'm putting here. We were going to get Tiki immediately after you all got in the darn carriage anyway, so it's no huge deal. And the shovel to Sunil is working out well, since Roy had to duck out anyhow!

...also, Nommy, you made Ziaram run off on an entirely starship-quality leap. The Mayor of Falboro, who is not named Falboro, went back into town before walking out through another part of town and stumbling upon Sunil. So if "backwards" and "that other direction" are the same thing to him, then by all means, they went the same direction... sweatdrop But, it's just a speed bump that sends us flying past the intended path of the plot. No biggie.))

Sephas was not exactly stupid. Maybe he was a little on the naive side, but he was hardly reckless or incapable of using common sense or blind to the obvious. The group was meant to go and defeat a bunch of thieves, and they could not do that with two people. The infuriating alley cat had ran off, and the plain swordsman followed almost immediately after. So, all they were left with were simply a mage who was still learning the ropes and a swordsman who seemed to have bad luck and pain follow him. Two people were hardly capable of storming a thieves' den, regardless of how skilled the man with the red hair was.

And of course, thieves fought dirty. Traps, poison, all sorts of trickery could await them inside wherever they were going, and they'd need as many able-bodied people as they could get! For all Sephas knew, the thieves could have feral laguz or some sort of terrible hellspawned devilbeasts like the ones he'd seen in Adliana. Sure, zombies weren't something a thief would keep around, but if those could exist, he had no clue what a bunch of cutthroats may come across!

So it was with good intentions but sheer irritation as he ordered Jerry the Carriage Driver to follow the swordsman who ran off. And it goes without saying that horses go faster and farther than humans, so the gap was easily shortened, and Jerry, Sephas and Joshua soon found themselves outside the dilapidated shack that Ziaram had just entered likely moments ago.

Jerry quickly turned the carriage around, preparing to venture off towards the thieves' den the moment the group was ready. After all, they didn't know where it was, only he did, and it would be quite treacherous to walk all the way there. So, he was forced babysitting these teenagers and full-grown adults.

"Hey Ziaram..." he said, in a rather singsongy voice as he took a few steps towards the shack. "Where'd you go? We've got a job to do, we don't have time for these detours!" As Joshua would likely be getting out of the carriage any moment now, if he wasn't already, Sephas was more than willing to send the scarlet-haired-swordsman into the shack first, in case Ziaram ended up attacked or injured or something. Really, the mage was already at his wit's end, and he was quickly regretting taking this job. If everyone was as flighty and spontaneous as this, he'd rather just stay home and read...

Oh, and as Joshua was getting out of the carriage (something I'm sure he'd do, knowing him) Jerry wasted no time in using gravity as a distraction to swipe the hat back off of Joshua's head, taking it with a light pinch of the top, so there'd be nothing tugging on the man's hair to tip him off. If he wanted to have a war of immaturity over Jerry's hat, then let the war commence!

...after Tiki gets on the carriage, please.

First off, running off after some people is not always the best idea...however, when stumbling across someone who seemed scared, and having no idea where they are, what would someone do? So...being the person he is, it is a natural reaction of Ziaram to help out the young Tiki.

Now, after letting her know he was no harm, Sephas and the others showed up, calling out for him. So, after getting out of the shack after Tiki, and showing no harm done to him, he replied to the strange mage. "Yeah, I get there is a job. The way the mayor ran after the other guy made this seem strange, so...well the details don't matter. The girl needs assisstance, so I am glad to lend that to her."

Now that the part there was done, he moved into the carriage, keeping an eye on Joshua, since that one wasn't always someone you could trust...and of course he ended up making a fool of himself earlier. Oh well...as long as he did nothing to scare Tiki, things would end out well. Besides, if he did try anything, then he would be able to taste something...a good part of magic from his Light Brand. This trip will be a strange one, yet at least there is something I can do...help this young girl out...hang on a sec. Since they couldn't go on calling her a young girl, this was something that would be important. Looking at Tiki, Ziaram asked, "What is your name?"

((Yeah sorry Rei...though that is the general way I am...something strange going on, and...ok I am a fool that way...and you know I totally meant the mayor, and not to call him Falboro. Anyways...yeah.))

(That'd be me! Here goes my first FEF RP. :3 )

Sloppy. Might as well be an avalanche for all the subtly they're using.

Moving as he was, the cutthroat failed to notice the slow shifting of the figure's body, lifting onto its haunches under the cloak. He hit the ground; two steps out of range, one... Knife held out at arms length, he watched the body sway and slip to the side, a leg trailing behind to bend and kick in a circle, slamming into the backs of his knees. The figure darted away from the struggling wretch.

The thief's shock gave way to an indigent, humiliated fury. The hell was this?! When he was done, this sonovabitch would be leather for his boots, be scraps for the wyverns, be--

He turned on his knees and jerked backward, sucking in his breath to avoid the sword point at his neck. His eyes flickered upward, first eying the spade-shaped amulet laying on the chest. But, upon taking in the figure's face, he sputtered a verbal vomit of astonishment.

Ace wrinkled her snub of a nose at his revulsion, but let it pass. She moved her head toward the knife in his hand, then jerked it in a throwing motion.

Disarm yourself. Now

For a while of the trip, Ziaram was just looking off into the distance, enjoying nature, and also...thinking back to those in Impersus. As nice as it would be to see them again, he knew that he wouldn't be going back by now...it had been far too long for this to just be a little side trip.

Of course with nature comes the beauty of the land...I mean, watching the mountains go, you can think of how nice some views of the land are...going by trees show how some life has flourished. These thoughts were running through his mind until his arm was nudged by Tiki.

I could be wrong, but... I thought that the village would be nearer by than this. We're not going the wrong way, are we?" "Well...we just left Falboro. That was the village, where the three of us...Sephas, Joshua and myself...learned more about an object stolen by some thieves."

Now something was making a bit of sense to Ziaram. If she came from Falboro, she would have known about that stolen object...so then... "This will be confusing news...but you aren't in your homeland anymore. This is a different land...Learania. Don't get me wrong, it is confusing...but even though you are in a different land, you are still safe with us. I will remain as a guard for you."

This was going to be a long trip for sure...and having to explain about the entire, you were doing your own thing, then for some reason, a force came up and took you to here thing, wasn't going to be easy.

"As soon as we get the item stolen from the thieves, we will be going back to Falboro. However, in the meantime, we will keep you safe." Sure, it seemed easy for others to understand this concept...they had been there long enough to understand and accept this as their new home.

"I figure you wouldn't have heard of Learania because...well this is a different world than all the other places. None of us understand how we got here. You say you are supposed to be in Pales...well, whatever happened there lead you to Falboro where we managed to find you, and then get you to be here with us." It was going to be a long trip for sure...both for Ziaram and for Tiki. New info would have to sink in for Tiki, and Ziaram was the one that would be guarding her. One crazy trip all right.