[center][h2]Kochiya Sanae[/h2][h3]Aventon — Forest Outskirts[/h3][/center]
"Fujiwara no Mokou..."

Sanae mulled over the name that Remilia had provided for a few moments, eyes closed as she dug through her memories, before something fianlly clicked for her.

"Oh! You're the one that, uh... What was it that the rabbit said again? 'Snuck out with the princess for a night on the town' or something?" she said, clapping her hands together at what [i]had[/i] to be correct. After all, why would a resident of Eientei lie to her about something like that, especially when they had been so helpful during that whole lunar invasion incident?

Never mind what the truth was, though, more help was more help, even [i]if[/i] she hadn't been part of any sort of team to pick them up and bring them back home.

It didn't take long for the group to begin to move again, though, and the smell of that decaying corpse hit the young woman's nose [i]well[/i] before she saw it. To say it was nauseating to her was a bit of an understatement, and [i]seeing[/i] the thing was far worse for her psyche.

"That's [i]wretched[/i]," she choked out as she held her nose and mustered up the courage to look at the thing again. "In what world would someone even think of trying to eat that?"

This was, of course, no time for being grossed out—not when Remilia had brought up the possiblity that whatever had poisoned the boar she and Lewa had encountered could have encountered whatever this unfortunate one had.

"...It's not unlikely, though. I'm no expert in stuff like that, but if whatever ate this thing carved through it's stomach, it couldn't have been that strong. The boar we met was pretty durable if a bunch of danmaku didn't leave much of a dent in it's hide."

At this point, though, there was little else to gain from staring at the decaying corpse beyond a growing sense of disgust and physical revulsion. If anything, though, the fact that it was still fresh enough to be rotting meant that they were [i]probably[/i] on the right track...

And that probably explained why the other boars had showed up in the area. Fun.

Moving further into the forest would come with the loss of a lot of the ambient noise they had been dealing with prior. While the leaves still rustled in the wind and plants still crunched beneath their feet, no longer were there any of the bird cries that had come in every so often. It was almost as if anything that could move away already [i]had[/i], which was not exactly the most encouraging of things to notice.

It was then, though, that Remilia would feel [i]something[/i] somewhat sizable fall onto her head from the branches above. The sound of the impact was enough to cause Sanae to turn to look at what had caused that, and seeing what that was...

Well, it was enough to elicit a rather heartfelt scream.

A [i]massive[/i] centipede, at least as long and as thick as her lower arm, had fallen onto the vampire's hat. While that was immediately concerning, of course, it didn't take long for her scream to alert... [i]More[/i] of them.

From the underbrush, more centipedes—some twice as long as the one that Remilia had encountered, began to appear from every nook and cranny of the forest at her accidental provocation.

With a bunch of prey right in front of them, it would have been difficult [i]not[/i] to expect the swarm to lash out at them.

Naturally, Sanae's first reaction was to fly upwards, only for [i]more[/i] centipedes to reveal themselves in the trees above. That only resulted in the secondary response in her arsenal: fire ofuda at anything and [i]everything[/i] in the vicinity to get those massive bugs [i]away[/i] from her as they attempted to attack the group.

Momoyo had been one thing, but she at least looked [i]mostly[/i] human!

[@VitaVitaAR][@EchoWolff][@Izurich][@Lugubrious][@Raineh Daze]
[hr][center][h3]Aventon — Hunter's Lodge[/h3][/center]
With Kendrick having left the pair to go and find Alvin, the uncertainty and confusion that was already peeking through Millie's voice was beginning to show on her face. That much might have been expected, given the situation; the last thing she had remembered was Alvin running away with her in his arms, and everything hurting all over before things went black. Waking up back in town was... Confusing, to say the least.

Hopefully, though, "Uncle Ken" would bring her brother back—and maybe with Papa too, if he was at home.

"Thank you, Miss Anne," Millie said as the unfamiliar woman brought her some water to drink. A small sip would leave her coughing, however, and the young girl would take a few moments to recover before putting the mug to the side for a bit.

Maybe she would try again later.

"Um... Miss Anne?" Millie asked, turning towards Anne with wide eyes, "Uncle Ken said you saved a lot of people. Does that mean you're super strong, like those heroes in the stories Papa told us?"

[@Drifting Pollen]
[hr][center][h3]Aventon — Town Streets[/h3][/center]
As the pair continued their conversation in the middle of the street, a young man—one lucky enough to have survived the chaos with only a few bruises and scrapes to his name—quickly scrambled into the area. There was cause for concern written plainly on his face, and given how out of breath he was it seemed as if he was in more than a bit of a rush.

"S-sorry to bother you, miss!" he said towards Rayne, taking a moment to catch his breath as he held a hand up for a moment, "But there's been a bit of a situation out in the fields, and I heard that you might be able to help? A bunch of livestock got loose and with everyone busy trying to help clean the town up, I've been running around like a headless chicken all morning trying to catch them. Some of the people working near the gates said that you were helping clear the rubble out, and I don't want to impose, but it'd be a real help if you could... Well, help."

Given the state of repairs and what could be done, though, maybe this situation was something worth looking into...?

[@DracoLunaris][@Rezod92]