Welcome to Gaia! ::

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It felt good to be going home again. After the mess in Adliana, Abel stayed to help Chieftain Songhua rebuild and recover from the attack on his tribe. He had a great time during his stay there. Songhua's tribe was really nice. They gave Abel a place to stay and plenty of food. It was kind of sad for Abel to eventually leave, but he had someone waiting for his return.

When he made it back to Learania, he stopped in Eyris for a few errands. One of those errands led him into a shady part of the city out of sight. The boy slowly paced around, looking about curiously. "Hellooooo? Mr. Dealerman? Are you here...?"

"Ah, you're back." came a slithering voice. A shady looking man came out and stood before Abel. "I take it you liked the grass, eh? Coming back for more, are you?"

Abel smiled and nodded. "Yeah! You were right, it made me feel great! Whenever I was feeling down, I used the grass like you said, and it made me feel loads better. It's especially good for taking the weariness out of long travel. Thanks for introducing it to me!"

The shady man chuckled softly. "No problem, kid. But you know, I may have let you have the first bit for free, but if you're wanting more you'll have to supply what I talked to you about...."

The boy tilted his head at first, then became bright eyed again. "....Oh, yeah!" He pulled out his pack and rummaged through it and eventually pulled out what the man sought. "Grass from the plains! ....I got the right kind, right?" Abel held it out, offering it to the man.

A gleam appeared in the eyes of the man and hastily took the grass from the boy. He looked it over and smiled. "Oh yeah, this is the right stuff, alright. You did good, kid." The man pulled out a container from within his coat and gave it to the boy. "Now, I don't do this for just anybody, but since I like you, I'm willing to keep giving you some of the finished product, if you keep getting this grass for me. It's such a pain to have to go all the way to Adliana and all that, you know..."

Abel took the container and gave a big toothy smile. "Got it! And don't worry, I will!" He turned to leave. "Thanks Mr. Dealerman!" He began to run off, but then stopped and turned back. "You know, that name sounds really odd. What's it mean?"

".... ....Friend."

"Ah. It suits you! Well, see ya later and thanks again!" Abel took off and made his way back to the main street. His business in Eyris was finished. It was time to go home.

When he was all alone, the man couldn't help but laugh. "Stupid boy..."

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Later in the day, Abel finally reached the village of Vayrin, the place he called home. Just seeing that peaceful village with the lakeside view put him at ease. He had been gone pretty much all spring. But the funds he got would make sure Alihi and Amara would live well.

Abel walked through the village until he eventually reached Alihi's house. He knocked on the door a couple of times, then opened it, not knowing who would be there and what. "Heeeeeey, I'm baaack!"

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"AMARAAA- GAUGH!"

The hero was cut off as the little girl jumped at him, causing him to stumble, though thankfully he didn't lose his balance and fall to the ground like he had done so many times before. Abel laughed at how excited she was. Like any child, she was curious and had loads of questions right off the back. The constant voice was making Abel even dizzier than his current state was. But, she finally stopped after asking if he had brought something for her, of course. It was the adult's job to bring back something for a child, when they go away, right?

"Ahh, did I get you something? Oh man, let's see if I-" He stopped for a second and then clutched his bag. "No! That stuff for me, okay?! For me!" He paused a second and then felt something in his bag. "...Oh wait, here we go, I forgot I got this." Abel got down on a knee and pulled out a red jeweled necklace. "I got it from Chieftain Songhua, the White River's tribe. It's a special talisman that protects the wearer, especially magically gifted people." He put his free hand to his chin, acting like he was pondering. "Hm, now if only I knew a little girl that was learning to read tomes..."

Abel chuckled as the talisman was practically snatched from him, then got back on his feet. He scruffled Amara's hair, propped his sword against the wall, then slowly ventured inside and stretched. "So, where's Alihi?"

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The boy rubbed his cheeck, then chuckled. "Nah, Songhua's tribe treated me really well." Abel replied. "Great guy, that whoever I just said..."

Abel scratched his bloodshot eyes, then looked back to Alihi. "What happened in Adliana was horrible. I was there when one of the tribes was attacked. Not many survived. We were fortunate to stop the attackers when they went for Songhua's tribe. But so many plainsmen died..."

He walked over to a table and set his pack down, then lounged in a chair. It felt good for Abel to be able to relax his muscles. He had traveled a long ways and was worn out. Plus, he had some extra influence in feeling disoriented. "...I'm really glad that guy showed me what to take so that I won't have to feel down anymore." He stretched again, then tilted his head back to look at Alihi and gave an odd smile that looked even odder with it being upside down. "Soooooo... how's it goin'?"

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"Thaaaaat's niiice..." Abel said in almost a sigh, as Alihi finished answering his question. When Alihi then asked him a question, Abel turned over to look at her normally. "Hmmm? Oh, let me get my bag, I'll show you!"

The hero tried to get off the sofa, but ended up rolling off instead. He got to his feet with a chuckle and started to go over to the table where his bag was, but stopped when a sudden knock on the door came. "I'll get it!" Abel, forgetting what he was just doing, went over to the door. Alihi would still want to know what it was he took, and the answer was inside his bag. All she had to do was look, if she would feel no guilt from doing so.

The door opened and outside was a Learanian soldier. "Excuse me, this is the tactician Alihi's home, is it not? We're carrying wounded back to Eyris from Pentheus, but are seeking out some immediate medical supplies. Could you be of any assistance?"

Abel tilted his head. "Wounded? ...What happened in Pentheus?"

The soldier just looked on blankly at the boy with his mouth open in disbelief. "...You're kidding, right? Don't tell you haven't heard anything about the war! You would have had to have been gone for at least a month."

"Guilty!" Abel's cheery demeanor vanished as the news sunk in. "....Wait, war?!" His eyes widened as he turned back inside. "Oh my God! Alihi, we're at war! OH MY GOOOOOD!!"

Outside the house, some familiar feminine voices rang out. "Ah! That voice...! It couldn't be..." The clerics from Pentheus came running up to the doorway. "Abel!"

The boy turned back to see the clerics and smiled widely. "Hey, you guys! You're okay! Oh man, I was so worried for the few seconds I've known about this war!" The clerics, unaware that something was off about Abel, giggled at what he said. To them, he was just being silly.

The soldier, who seemed to be the most focused and aware of the situation, coughed in an attempt to refocus the boy to his request. "As I said, we're in need of some immediate medical supplies, if you have any to spare. We've come here in hopes that Alihi could help us. The soldier tried to peer around Abel and into the house. "Lady Alihi, are you home?"

If there was one thing that the tiger didn't like, it was running away from the battle. In the predator's instinct, they didn't run away from a battle, no matter the number or strength, unless it was danger lurking that made their lives crawled up to their spines. Man, that had just ruffled his fur.

First the retreat from the desert, and then they retreated from the ruined port city to this little dinky village. What's next? They would have to retreat this too? If so, then it would be clear that these beorc were more fragile than he thought they were.

While the others were resting or replenishing their supplies, Rajin looked around the area. Apparently, it seemed that they weren't the only group who arrived to the village to rest. There were those who came from Pentheus earlier too in this village. He could see the wounded people lying on the ground, needed medical service as well as smelling the blood from the tearing flesh and herbal medicine. Were they here to rest too before heading toward Eyris? Man, it looked like these beorc would need dozen of wagons to carry the injures to Eyris. It would be really suck if they had to defend them from the bandits. Thankfully, there were no bandits in sight so far.

Wanting to release his stress and frustration, the tiger walked while pulling out a small thin, wrapped paper. Seeing one of the guards smoking, Rajin asked the guy to light it up for him. The tiger took a small inhale before letting the smoke out as he continued walking before reaching a large, flat rock by the lake. Man, if only he was a cat to take the effect of the catnip. He could really use it right now.

Sitting down, Rajin took another puff of his joint while scanned the area, thinking. How long were they going to stay before moving? Would the bandits and Mordachean bastards follow them? Were they going to fight or flee again?

"Man, this blows." Rajin spoke out, letting the smoke out of his mouth before taking another breathe of the catnip.

((Crap post since I have no idea what did Needle's group do when arriving.))

So they retreated to a small village that wasn't too far from the big puddle. Sunil didn't like the big puddle. Sure, it was nice to look at, but he didn't trust water all that much. Sure, he was fine with rain and rivers, but when a body of water just stayed in one place like ponds, lakes and oceans, he was a little wary. If it stormed, it could probably flood, and flooding was bad. Blame the tidal wave he endured once, back in Tellius, shortly before arriving to this world. Gods, that was horrible. So much water, so little time.

He wandered past the area the injured soldiers were resting. It seemed like they called some healers to treat them. From the scents he was picking up, maybe some herbal medicine users too. Maybe his client was in this bunch. The kitty glanced around the group, the obnoxiously poofy afro making him look incredibly ridiculous. After a few minutes, he found his man. He wandered over to the herbologist once he finished doing what he could for the patient and, after a few minutes of talking (mostly about Sunil's hair. The client was amused), the herbs were delivered. His pay would come in the mail sometime soon (since the client didn't have the cash on him at the moment).

Well, with that delivered, Sunil wandered around, eventually finding the tiger sitting on a rock by the big puddle. He glanced up at the sky to check the weather. Looked clear enough. If a sudden storm came, he'd have more than enough time to get away.

As he got closer, he could see the tiger smoking something. It smelled...familiar.

"Hey there. Looks like we're allowed to rest a bit." he said, taking a seat across from Rajin. He looked at the rolled up paper Rajin was smoking, paused for a moment, then looked up at him. "Wait, isn't that ca--...Nyaaaa..."

It seemed like the cat was feeling the effects of the catnip Rajin had on him. Well, after the fighting and stuff, he was allowed to relax a little, right?

While Rajin was smoking and watching the scene before him, his ears twitched when he heard footsteps approached him. Turning his head around, he noticed the cat laguz from earlier approached...

... Or what he thought was the same cat? Man, what the hell happened to him? He could tell it was the same cat, wearing the same outfit. But man, what with the smell of being roasted and the hairdo? It looked like the cat was wearing his own hairball. Probably it must had happened during the battle. The tiger didn't get a good chance to see that cat after being injured and retreating from battles twice. And although he should be laughing at the cat with that ridiculous hairdo, Rajin was quite grumpy about the retreats.

"Eh, whatever." Rajin commented as he looked back at the lake and smoked, feeling quite stressed out. Although the catnip helped eased his stress little bit, the tiger was still upset about what had happened. Bandits in Pentheus, his artifact was broken, battle in the desert where they were forced to retreat not once but twice. Man, that would leave a beating to the tiger's pride. Speaking of pride, he wondered if that black woman survived. Sure it would be a suicidal to against against hundreds of army, but if that woman had managed to survive during their ambush, it wouldn't surprised him of how strong she was.

As he continued thinking, he heard a strange sound coming from the cat.

"Huh, what were you saying?" Rajin asked as he turned to face the cat. The tiger looked dumbfounded when he saw the cat's goofy expression. What the hell with that face? Did the cat ate something funny while they were resting?

"Hey, are you okay?" Rajin questioned the cat as he waved his hand in front of the cat's face. The smoke from the joint he was holding was weaving left and right from the wave. Really, since when was the cat all goofy all of a sudden? It was like the cat was on- Oh s**t, Rajin suddenly figured out what was wrong with the cat.

Rajin quickly removed his joint from the cat's face and dropped it onto the ground. He could still smell the catnip lingered in the air and from the joint. The tiger stomped the joint and grounded it before moving the soil onto the now wasted joint. Although he shouldn't give a damn of whether he made the cat high or not, the situation they were in was not good. There was no telling when the bandits or Mordachean army planned to attack this town and it would be s**t if the cat dared to attack in that condition. Making sure that the joint was fully buried, the tiger shook the cat while snapping his fingers in his face.

"Hey buddy, you need to snap out of it." Rajin said, trying to see if the cat's sense came back. "This is no place to get all shitface."

He hoped that the cat would snap out of it. Otherwise, he would have to dunk the cat into the lake if the condition get worse.