Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tentatively reaching out, Mitsu took hold of the bread offered to her and jerked back swiftly when the man started digging in his bag for something. Holding the bread close incase he suddenly would decide to take it back, she cocked her head to the side as he produced a bottle of water. Reaching out again she took hold of that as well, stuffing the bread into her mouth at the same time. Chewing wasn’t a priority on her mind as she inhaled the bread and washed it down with the water.

A content sigh left her lips when she finished and finally she stood to her feet offering the bottle back to the stranger. He was much taller than she was, by almost a foot, but his tall and general frightening demeanor didn’t seem to hinder Mitsu from edging closer to investigate the bag at his side. Maybe he had more food?

“Neko,” He gave himself a short introduction, as he was more intent to get to a bar or pub at the moment. “Now that that’s settled, shall we?” He moved along ahead of the group and entered the town. Apparently he had very little concern for what would be awaiting them there, but he had also been on his own for quite some time before he had come to live in Yuki and Hitsu’s village and traveled the area a bit.

Coming up alongside Yuki, Neko reached out an arm to drape over his shoulder. “What do you say you and I find a pub? We can drink to our hearts content and forget about this crazy night and the girls can go off and get Riyo some clothes. Unless you want to go panty shopping.”

Riyo listened to everyone giving off their names. She thought back to when that Mitsu girl had introduced herself, and she had actually understood. Speaking of her... Where was she? Riyo took a quick look around and realized quickly that the girl was nowhere in sight.. She frowned. Her first friend had disappeared. She really hoped she'd see her again...

That's when something else caught her attention. Her ears focused on the sound that was closer than ever. Her tail began to sway back and fourth as curiosity began to build up. If she had been a little more clumsy, she probably would've fallen over when Yuki tugged them along, but she was able to keep to her feet this time. "Nyuuuu nyuu nyuuuu nyu~" She began humming along to the music again as they walked, though not realizing that was what she was doing.

"Gunnar" The bull spoke up from the back of the group once the last of them had said their name. Even though it had been indirect he had been asked his name, and in his mind it would have been rude to just stand there and ignore it. He had been following along fairly quietly, he didn't seem to have much to say. His expression however always looked a little bit on the grumpy side. Though it may have been starting to become apparent that that is just the way he normally looks.

Mitsu gave a swift nod to the man’s question and replied with a short “Yes”. She could always eat more, she wasn’t going to pass up good food if given the opportunity to get it. Much better than sorting through the garbage for something to eat. Expectantly she waited, gazing up at the stranger wondering what else he might give her.

Neko smiled at Yuki keeping a hold of his shoulder despite his protect to be free. His well laid plans had been set into motion and Hitsu was no trotting off to go shopping with the others. “They’ll be fine,” Neko assured him. “You need to let her grow up and do things on her own for once.” Using his hold on Yuki’s shoulders to his advantage, Neko pulled him along through the crowd until he spotted a pub up in the distance. Yes. That’s what he needed. A nice cold ale, maybe something to eat. “I’ll buy you a drink, come on.” That’s how every trip to the bar started, none of which hardly came out in Yuki’s favor, but that line had worked up until this point.

X smiled at the girl as she replied, offering her his hand he said" Well, I tell you what, you look around, and pick the one thing you want most, and you can have it... ok?" X offered the girl this knowing that if he won her over she may lead him to his next big fight, and that filled him with excitement. He could not however lie to himself and say thiat was the only reason he was helping her out. Ever since before his death he had a soft spot for kids. He figured it was because all the death he has caused was balanced out by every child he helped, or at least thats what he told himself. "Come on, show me what you want."

(Kyo: “Hey M?”

Many-as-One: “Oh for the love of God, what in the hell do you want now?”

Kyo: “What is the longest distance between a joke and a punch-line?”

Many-as-One: “I don’t know…”)

Kyo reached the city without much incident, and made his way through the crowds and vendors, stopping at one to purchase a small gift before arriving at his goal. Finally, he was standing underneath of the familiar sign. “Barnum’s Scroll Shoppe,” Kyo said aloud, pronouncing ‘shoppe’ less like ‘shop’ and more like ‘shop-pee’.

Kyo entered the store with a swagger and a grin, strolled leisurely to the front counter, and leaned against its surface while giving Barnum a friendly wave. Now, Barnum was of a stocky breed, so stocky that most people confused him for a dwarf. Since most of the patrons of his shop were aware of the fighting prowess of dwarves, they were perturbed to see him blanch visibly when he noticed Kyo was at his counter.

“H-hey, Kyo. Old buddy, pal of mine…. pal-o-mine-o…”

“Did you just call me a palomino?” Kyo asked with a ‘wtf’ expression.

“N-no, heh. So, what brings you here on this fine festival eve? I mean… you know, it would be a shame if somebody broke into a fight…with so many witnesses, and all.”

“Just had some business in the area and thought I’d stop in.” Kyo managed to say casually. He looked around the store. It was a large-ish wood structure, packed full of crates and stacks of scrolls. It was, indeed, a fire hazard. Despite this fact, Barnum lived in a room in the back, while the room upstairs was reserved for his daughter.

Suddenly, Barnum’s daughter ran into the room and hugged Kyo’s waist. “I thought that was your voice I heard, Kyo!” she said with a slight bit of crimson on her cheeks. Kyo regarded her, and noticed that she had grown quite a bit since the last time he had seen her. He patted her head and gave her a genuine smile, the first to cross his face in many a weary month. He patted her head again after she let go of him. She went over to a crate where a pad of paper and a pencil lay, and seated her self. She took up the pad and pencil, began to scribble, look up at Kyo, and resume scribbling. This was repeated copiously.

“She’s grown at least an inch or two since I was last here.”

“Yeah, Bailey is just like a weed. She’s also been drawing like a child possessed.” Barnum then gave a general sweeping motion indicating all of the pictures of animals pinned to the walls. Upon further inspection, Kyo noticed that they all seemed to be drawn with the same circus theme.

Kyo had decided it was time for business now that he had exchanged pleasantries with his old acquaintance. “Hey Bailey, c’mere,” Kyo said as he produced the small item he had purchased earlier from his pocket. “I got something for you.”

“Yay!” Bailey exclaimed after putting down her sketchpad. She ran over to Kyo and stopped just in front of him, with her hands behind her back. He knelt down so that he was at eye level with her, and took one of her hands in his. He then placed a small music box onto her upturned palm and opened it. The music box began to play a somber little tune. Kyo almost winced. He hadn’t bothered to listen to its music before he bought it, but when she grinned ear-to-ear he couldn’t help but return her smile. “Are you going to hit daddy now?” She said.

Kyo laughed. She had learned their routine. “Kyo doesn’t hit daddy, pumpkin… we just pretend.” Barnum said, as his pride was obviously hurt.

“Chad says that you sell Kyo shoddy merchandise and that when it blows Kyo up he gets mad and hits you.” She replied.

“What did daddy tell you about Chad?”

Bailey took a deep breath before answering. “You said that Chad doesn’t know his a** from his elbow.”

“That’s right. You go play now.” He said hesitantly, hoping he could calm Kyo down enough with a side conversation so he could get out of a pummeling. As she left, she had a smile on her face that almost seemed wicked. It was strange, Kyo thought, for her to have that expression when she knew without a doubt that her father was about to be beaten to a bloody pulp. Kyo turned and glared directly into Barnum’s face as he laid three scrolls on the counter. Before the color drained from Barnum’s face, Kyo noticed that he had a peculiar look in his eye. It looked almost… hungry.

“I want a refund for four Water-Skim scrolls,” Kyo said “Six silver for these three, and two more for the one that nearly killed me on my way here.” He felt the iciness in his tone was justified.

“Please, Kyo, Follow me.” Barnum said as he was already coming out from behind the counter. “Did you notice the new flourish-work I had added to the window when you purchased those spell scrolls awhile ago?”

“Yeeeeeees.” Kyo said, wondering what this foreshadowing was leading up to as he followed Barnum out of the front door of the establishment.

“Good. Now look really, really close at it.”

“Hey… there’s writing here!” Kyo said once he was close enough to it. The wisps of plant vines twisting around the window were, indeed, actually a long line of words strung together in a pattern resembling flora. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make out what it said. “Well, what does it say?”

Barnum grinned. “It’s our return policy. It says: ‘By entering this establishment I, the quite possibly angry consumer named Kyo, do hereby waive my normal customer right to a refund for purchases and do solemnly swear not to beat the crap out of—“

At this point Kyo had punched Barnum in the face, knocking him to the ground. “I almost died!!” He shouted as he continued to hit him. Townspeople glanced their way with indifference. Kyo was well-liked in this town, and everyone knew that Barnum always tested his experimental scrolls on him, so everyone pretty much gave the two a wide berth when Kyo took to using him as a punching bag.

Out of the corner of his eye Kyo saw tails flitting, catching his attention. He stopped hitting Barnum long enough to look up and see the creatures humans crudely called ‘cat-people’. His gaze drifted from one to the other, letting his gaze rest on Hitsu. ‘His gaze rested on’ was putting it lightly. Gaping was more like it. “Impossible!” He said to himself.

“Kyo… that’s not,” Many-as-One had started, only have the sentence finished by Kyo. “Elsa!?” He was suddenly embarrassed. He blushed furiously and tried to smooth down his still damp, still messy, hair. He dismounted Barnum, who immediately ran into, and began to close up his shop. His face normally resembled something of a rabid animal. Now, however, his face had a softer look to it. His aristocratic upbringing began to show in his posture and form. He then moved toward Hitsu with a grace that was rather uncharacteristic of him as of late. He was completely unaware that by ignoring Many-as-One’s protests his heart would be shattered yet again before the night was over.

(Kyo: “This post!!”
Badum-Tish!
[Cue crickets. Fade to black.])

Looking at the hand offered to her, Mitsu wasn’t sure what to make of the gesture at first, but soon her mind put two and two together and she nervously placed her own hand in his. Once that feat was accomplished, Mitsu took to looking around to see what this town had to offer food-wise, though she had never had the opportunity to buy food before so this was a whole new experience. She spent several minutes gazing around moving from place to place within the festival before she was brought to a halt in wonder. Everywhere there were sticks of fluffy colored cotton which children were carrying off and eating? This made Mitsu curious, she didn’t know you could eat cotton. To her knowledge it didn’t taste very good, but maybe this was different? Pointing at the cotton candy, Mitsu looked up at the stranger with a smile on her face. “Can I have that?”

-------

“Just don’t drink so much and you’ll be fine,” Neko replied. Not that those words would inspire much confidence, but Neko wasn’t worried about that at this point. Once close to the pub, Neko released Yuki from his hold and pushed the door open to step inside. The atmosphere was like any other tavern or pub, the lighting was dim, smoke filled the air, but there was also a heavy aroma of food. Men sat at the bar chatting drunkenly about whatever managed to surface in their mind first. It was apparent a few patrons had already had way too much to drink as they stumbled around from place to place.

Taking a seat at the other end of the bar, Neko smiled up at Yuki as innocently as possible patting the seat beside him. Once that was done he turned his attention to the bartender to get his attention. “Bar keep!” He waved him over. “I’ll have a pint of your strongest and he’ll have?” He looked at Yuki questioningly waiting for him to give the bartender his order. Though he would be sure to change it if he was going to wimp out and get something light.