Welcome to Gaia! ::

Misha sauntered right past the others and into the shop. She may have been a big cat but she figured that many of the same tenets of her human life would apply to this moment in time. That is, if you walked into a room like you owned it, no one would object to you being there. It would just be accepted. You could ask your questions, do your thing... Or let the others ask their questions. Misha looked over her shoulder at the others. Her ears flicked impatiently but a faint cat-smile lingered in her expression. Then she shrugged her slim shoulders and slipped around one of the tables to start poking her nose over the shelves of books. Thank goodness she could still read in this form!



WC: 526

Mathilda nodded at Mal, agreeing with the man. She decided to sit back a bit, just for a moment to observe, when a cat popped out of nowhere.

"Katzen!"

She ran up to Mal and the cat, tilting her head as she leaned in more to look at the cat.

"What, are you a Chosen?" She hadn't seen who had changed, so she didn't know who this cat was. However, a man lingering behind them caught her attention, she carefree attitude diminished.

It appeared to be another Chosen, so she relax a little, but kept her eyes on him and the group in front on her. While it seemed most Chosen were worried about the teens, she really couldn't care. The teens could be taken care of afterwards, it was the witches that were a problem. It's hard enough to convince people to switch sides, but add in magic? The teens were a little bit less of a worry in her mind.

In no time, they made it to the shop, and for that Mathilda was grateful. No more swamp. Even after entering and seeing it empty, Mathilda kept her dagger in her hand. Shw was kinda of disappointed this wasn't an actual tea shop,it was more of an -

"Apothecary. Be careful, more so than you usually are. This could be an apothecary and things can get bad if we mess around."

Her gripped tighten on her frame as she kept watch over the few bodies (and cat) in the room.

"I can't complain," he replied, following Sylvia and the other Chosen into the shop. "It's interesting and exciting, just like I wanted." There was something missing too, but again, that wasn't anything he needed to get into here. "Chipmunks would make it less exciting and more annoying. I don't know, they're just..." He shook his head and made a face.

Once inside, Zan pawed over the books with no real regard for their contents, taking a peek at one of the menus too. The curtain received a narrowed glare as it moved, and then it clicked. Misha. He would have given the cat a proper wave had they not been in a suspicious shop with curiously flapping curtains. Instead he just smiled to himself and huffed out an amused, "Hm."

He approached Mal, still browsing, and said, "Want to go in the back and look around? If no one comes out, of course."

Misha's ears flicked at Mathilda's call but she did not otherwise acknowledge it. Her focus was far too taken up with the door and its beaded curtain. She ducked her head slightly and hunched her shoulders forward, a ripple of tension shivering through her body. When nothing immediately burst through the curtain, she eased slightly. She did not relax entirely, however. She sniffed the air and her ears twitched forward. Her tail swiped once from side to side.

Guarded, Misha took a few steps towards the door, stopping a foot and a half away, and crouched a bit again. She glanced over her shoulder. First at Mal, then Zan and Mathilda.



WC: 637

Zan’s response made Sylvia smile. She hadn’t really had a conversation about the new world with a Chosen who hadn’t felt the pressure of their new situation, who hadn’t felt a bit of trepidation about the fact that they would be fighting monsters amongst all the other magic offered to them. It was a bit refreshing, and almost inspiring, to meet someone who was still all-in, excited about all of their responsibilities. She nodded at him, happy that he was content.

His comment about the chipmunks, and the accompanying face, caused a chuckle in her throat that she couldn’t help. She shook her head, “Sorry. I guess that’s… understandable.” Chipmunks were rather mundane, she supposed. She tilted her head a bit, “What would you prefer, then?” She wasn’t sure how she would answer the question herself, and it gave her pause for a moment as she considered – if she had to turn eventually, what might she hope she turned into?

The warning that they may have walked into an apothecary’s shop rather than a simple tea shop made Sylvia turn. She supposed it wasn’t all that far-fetched, though she wasn’t entirely sure what it was about the possibility that made Mathilda so nervous. Wasn’t an apothecary essentially a medicine-man by a different name? The word clearly didn’t have the same connotation for her that it did for the German woman, and it made her curious. For now, however, she would heed the warning and walk with caution, and perhaps ask questions later about the cultural differences.

Sylvia wandered back between some of the tables as Mal made efforts to call someone to the front of the shop. It did seem strange that the door was open but no one appeared to be home. She hummed at Mal’s comment, but her gaze caught the ripple of beads. Though they hardly made a sound and nothing came of it, it was enough to put Sylvia slightly on edge; the ripple was too pronounced for her to entirely shrug it off, though… well, those curtains weren’t the most stable things. Her brows furrowed as she continued to watch the doorway while the others debated investigating beyond the front counter. She gave a nod when Mathilda suggested they not all search the back together.

Misha, however, wasn’t entirely waiting for them to make a plan. The cat moved closer, and Mathilda seemed particularly ready to pounce as well as she silently joined her near the doorway. Sylvia was fine with staying out amongst the tea things – Mathilda was right that someone could come this way, and she was fairly sure that if something did happen, she’d rather have the chance to see it coming than be in the thick of it. Nonetheless, she didn’t dare think she was safe just for staying further back.

Misha bypassed the table with its open book and instead strode through the small kitchen stand at the open back door. She did not step through the portal, though, merely guarded it. She sniffed the air. The sweetness reminded her of something but she could not place it. It made her think of botanical gardens in the hot summer sun. That was nice, she thought. Or would have been in another situation.

She glanced over her shoulder at the others as they entered. A faint "mrrr" sound left her and it sounded almost like a question. Then she turned back towards the door and took one more step to better look outside.

Sylvia gave a humored snort at Zan’s response, though perhaps it wasn’t wholly unexpected. She supposed it was fair to not want to become one of the tiniest, most common, and fairly adorable rodents in the world if you had to be turned into an animal. Though she personally wouldn’t want to turn into a terribly scary animal, especially if hoping that her fellow Chosen might come for her. She wouldn’t want to scare potential rescuers off every time they found her… though there were plenty of brave Chosen who probably would have taken her on anyway.

As Mal prepared to go into the back, Sylvia stuck with her decision to stay put. She watched and adjusted her shield, just in case, as the group prepared to pull back the beading and reveal whatever was in the back room. But there was a surprising lack of reactions as they saw whatever was to be seen. Mal was just watching the room, Misha passed through the doorway unaffected, Zan seemed more curious than anything – though his hand-placement on his dagger showed a bit of wariness as he followed into the room. Since no one seemed to be making a break for the front door, at least, Sylvia figured she might as well see what all the absence of a fuss was about.

She walked back to peek through the doorway, at least satisfied at the cup of tea – someone had been here, they just hadn’t suck around when they’d heard the Chosen enter. This seemed a bit odd to Sylvia – how had they known that the group wasn’t a bunch of customers? She shook off the question as she walked through the door, heading directly for the book. She stood to the side of it, not wanting to encroach on Zan’s territory, cocking her head and trying to at least see what sort of book it was. Finding that it was Greek mythology, she raised her brows.

“Oh good,” she glanced up and grinned at the others, “a history book.” Shaking her head at her own joke, she looked back to try and read more of the myth.

"Yeeeaahh," Zan muttered, examining the margin scrawl for himself. "Probably actually is our history now," he continued, sharing Sylvia's joke. "But those witch kids creeping around town... one of them told me the flowers would help. I didn't take him seriously because every kid I met was worse than the last and I didn't trust any of 'em, but... I agree. We should get this back where everyone can see it."