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When Blossom entered the Hostess Club, Ganon was packing up his stuff. With much of its staff at war, the place was looking for temporary employees and on reduced hours until it found some.

Ganon had been miserable since Aruna had left to offer her services as a healer to the troops, moping around the club after hours and struggling to work on his... whatever the hell that thing he was working on, always down at the castle library or talking to Lord Zeon. So when Blossom came in while the place was closed, he looked up in a bit of confusion. He hadn't actually told anyone but Loch that he was going; Loch needed to know, and the reptilian bard hadn't wanted to worry anyone. But he couldn't stay home with a war on. It was something he had to chronicle. And... well, his girlfriend was out there.

And that fool with his head screwed on backwards was out there, too. He needed to be brought home. Ganon still felt bad about that one.

The snake had his guitar slung across his back, his mandolin and violin in their cases. The necks of a few elixirs stuck out of a bag resting on his hip, which he hastily covered before looking up at Blossom again, critically examining her clothing, her own pack of supplies.

"... You're heading to Pentheus too, are you?" he asked, wandering toward her with a wry smile. "I was hoping not to wind up making you feel like you had to come along, but... well. If you're going anyway," he murmured, tail waving slowly as he offered the little hero his elbow.

"Hitching a ride on my cart should be a damn sight better than walking."

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Abel turned slightly and glanced at Blossom as she walked off. "...No. Not yet."

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A few hours later, Abel and Dietrich came upon a clearing just outside the village of Vayrin. It was atop a slight hill and had a great view of the village and lake down below. There were a few trees scattered intermittently around the area, very few of them evergreens. The area seemed like it would be beautiful in any season. The clearing was flat and was home to a run-down, abandoned fort. Nearly half of the building had collapsed by the looks of it and what walls were left were coated in vines. As the two walked closer, other figures came into view.

"Hey.. everyone. Sorry for the wait." Abel nodded at the other members of his mercenary group. "If you're wondering why I asked we all gather here before heading out... well, this is it. This is the place I'm looking to transform into our base." He smiled sheepishly. "I've been trying to work out a deal and buy the land, but it... it's just a lot of money. I'm hoping the pay from the Sentrians will be enough." He looked around and sighed slightly as if somehow feeling nostalgic. "But I think it'll be great! It's the perfect location... and once I buy the land, we can work together to rebuild this fort. It'll be nice to have a home... for those of us who want to call it that."

[.a k i h i.]

As a mercenary, Akihi's learned some cold hard truths about the real world -- mainly, that things aren't as clean and beautiful as his imagination likes to suggest. Life is hard and painful, like a constant battle he always has to come out on top of. It's unfair and likes to kick you in the face, and then in the ribs once it gets you down on the ground.

Still, sometimes Akihi can't help but wonder if everything's simply a dream. Maybe, just maybe he'll wake up one day and he'll find himself back in Elibe, with burnt out candles and piles of old, dusty books as his sole company. He'd emerge from his little run-down house and go into the heart of his village, where he'd hear murmurings of his sister's latest victories, and he'd wonder when he'd be free from her shadow.

It could all be a dream. He's had more hyper-realistic delusions in the past. But as he stares at the broken fort overlooking Vayrin, the village his sister and niece now call home, he can't help but hope he'd never lose this.

"Yeah, it's great..." The mage replies with his too soft voice (some things never change), eyes flickering between Abel, his fellow mercenaries, and their (as far as he's concerned) new fort. Their new home. The smallest of smiles comes to his face. "We'll all have a place to return to."

i'll uh. edit this sometime later with a link to akihi's updated appearance,,, hell yeah))

Well, it was about damn time, wasn't it? Annis arrived shortly before Abel, landing neatly in the clearing with a familiar grey-winged man alongside her. She settled on the grass near Blythe, offering the Troubadour a friendly wave before resting her hands on her hips, surveying the area. The view of the lake, especially, was rather nice. "Gotta hand it to the kid," she commented, smiling to herself, "He's pretty good at picking out land."

She rested her weight on one leg, hip jutting to the side, when Abel arrived, and listened in silence. She couldn't help but grin, nodding shortly. "Sounds like a done deal, Boss!" The raven strolled easily over to him, clapping a hand on his shoulder before wrapping an arm around them and tugging him against her in a one-armed hug. "Sounds like you've got a good handle of this situation, and I'm sure you know you can come right to use if y'need any help with the logistics, right? Not to brag, but Loch's pretty damn good with all'a that administrative work, I've seen him do it." She shook his shoulders slightly as she gave him a friendly squeeze, then mussed his hair. "You've got a good head on your shoulders, Boss. I got a feelin' that this is gonna work out juuust fine."

Annis finally released him then, offering Dietrich a grin before looking back at the Hero, fists on her hips. "So! What's the first order of business for work, Boss? We're all here an' ready to go."

[.a k i h i.]

Though he felt his stomach twist slightly from worry (something about the whole "getting hired by a Setrian mercenary leader" thing refused to settle well with him for reasons he didn't quite understand himself), Akihi knew he had to trust Abel's judgement. Even if it meant technically going behind Rath's back in order to throw their weapons in the fray, it'd turn out okay in the end... right?

Akihi sighed under his breath and tugged firmly on the straps of his backpack. The corner of one of his tomes (Elwind? Arcthunder?) dug into his spine, but after a few tries to shift things around through slight jostling movements he decided to leave things be for the moment.

"Abel?" Instead, he walked over to where Abel stood. He didn't have a question, per se, but a request. "Could you... say hi to them for me? I would appreciate it."

To him, it was blatantly obvious where Abel was going next -- he may have no relationship experience to speak of, but he was astute enough to notice something like this. While normally, habitually (and because she would throw a fit otherwise), he would go out of his way to at least give his sister a head's up before leaving, this time she would have to be content with seeing Abel instead. Not that that's a bad thing for her...

He lingered long enough to get a simple response from Abel before leaving him be. No reason to delay him any more, right? Though he had to figure how to pass the time now that he wouldn't be seeing his overly-excited niece.

After a moment of consideration, he approached Blythe with a small wave in greeting. "Did you need to get anything in the village? I've been here a few times, so I... know my way around."