The day slipped by while Drache and Laurel waited outside near the shifting saddlehorses, both of them keeping an eye out for strangers who might approach them. While both ladies were at risk of becoming targets of the strangely aggressive townspeople, Laurel would have been able to pass much easier than a scaled and winged half-dragon like Drache. 

She kept her hooded head bowed slightly, though an ember-like glow of her eyes flickered now and then as she glanced around. It was difficult to keep her long, snake-like tail from swishing back and forth under the hem of her cloak so she stooped briefly to dig in her bag, coming up with her journal and a pen.

The half-dragon had covered nearly half a page with her observations and was in the middle of sketching a figure in the bottom half when Raffey emerged from his tent. The hybrid hollowed him with her eyes but didn't try to impede him as he approached the guards on the road. The sound of her pencil hissing smoothly across the paper continued, but her attention was mostly on Raffey's interaction with the guards, her ear-frills flexing under the cloth of her hood.

They were too far away to hear what the guards were saying, but the snatches of their tone that floated back over the distance were far from friendly. Drache quickly sketched one of the petal tattoos she had seen, with Laurel helping correct her since she had gotten a better look.

The half-dragon glanced briefly at the tavern, wishing she knew how to mindspeak to her allies so she could find out what was going on inside. When Raffey finally came back and spoke to them, her hidden snout was slow to turn back in his direction. He wasn't the only one who was distracted. 

[color=ed1c24]"Ruins?"[/color] Not only was that right up her alley, it was potentially part of what Peridiath had hired her to find. Wanting to be away from this hostile town, the dragoness agreed eagerly, though she didn't expect Laurel to be so ready to leave the rest of her people behind.

"I was considering striking off on my own anyways, it will be nice to be away from..." there was a subtle wing-motion under her cloak towards the guards and she made a silent hand-motion that technically meant "scavengers" but with a focus on the creepy watchfulness. [color=ed1c24]"They're making my scales itch. Besides, you could do with someone to watch your back."[/color]

It only took a few minutes for Drachiathoryx to secure her belongings and join Raffey, watching the land around them. The monster hunter didn't seem keen on conversation so Drache quashed her inclination to flirt with him. She didn't notice the beetle tracks. Or more accurately, she didn't recognize them for what they were and was resigned to her unfamiliarity with the creatures in this land enough that she didn't bother to mention their strangeness. Knowing now that she could, she let another level of awareness surround her, feeling for things like torches and campfires that might betray the presence of those they might want to avoid. [color=ed1c24]"It occurs to me that if you wanted to escape the kvaren who enslaved you, now might be a good time."[/color] There was simple curiosity in her tone, puzzling out a stranger.

Yet even with the town and guards behind them, she couldn't help but feel watched, and finally dispensed with her cloak in the interest of being unencumbered by it. [color=ed1c24]"Did the guards give you any indication of what kind of ruins they are?"[/color] She asked finally, moving close so that she could keep her voice down. It sounded almost sultry and purring when she did that.

She thought she saw gleaming canine eyes in a bush and paused, her head moving back and forth slowly to try to reproduce the glint.