[b]“We’re in fucking Agrabah …of all the places….”[/b] Rika muttered under her breath with dissatisfaction. A nice tropical place, or a quiet down forever drowned in a beautiful sunset, were simply too much to ask. She unzipped her jacket to allow some air to hit her chest, and thankfully an ocassional breeze would come by to help keep cool. This humid condition just wasn’t the environment she found herself able to deal with. Maybe if they had a pool she’d settle, and settling was something Rika was fond of doing. Back in that factory, settling for running from that guy and what Rika believed was another approaching enemy was more than fair. Not just anyone could get that close to her without knowing, in fact it served as a motivation to improve herself. The son of a bitch had no heartbeat to listen to – the only way she even knew about the bastard was that creepy feeling of being watched, not to mention he still had to breathe too. What they needed was some Intel. Ace was a man of heart and a lack of mind, and what she needed was to know whom they were going to be dealing with. 

Standing in the middle of what appeared to be a market, their presence had not appeared to alert anyone. As if they were always in the scene and no one noticed, not even Ace or Shizuka seemed to be noticing how strange that was. The girl who emerged from the core went rampant, leaving Shizuka to believe holding out a hand was going to somehow change everything. She needed to stop believing in fairy tales. 

[b]“Hey,”[/b] Lin caught Rika’s attention immediately, handing Rika a ripe apple. In her arm contained six of a kind, and she was managing to hold them all together very well. [b]“We need to keep our strength up, right?”[/b]

Rika blinked. [b]“When did you have time to get that?”[/b]

[b]“Just now. The shopkeeper over there gave me some for free. He said I was adorable, and that he had learned to help others! What a great way to live by, huh?”[/b] Lin smiled joyfully, drawing Rika’s attention towards the market. Everyone did seem content, even when it was known the Empire had a presence here. She expected discontent, but for whatever reason everyone had looked just fine, as if today was great and they weren’t occupied. What was also strange was that she hadn’t found any Imperials around here yet …something was up, something that these people must be in on. Did the Empire not have someone full of shit telling them that they’re best interests were in the Empire’s mind? Things were different here; there was laughter in the face of an occupation they couldn’t have wanted …could they?

[b]“Yeah, that’s good Lin, thank you.”[/b] Rika looked down at the young Chinese girl and took the apple. Biting into it, it was sweet, surprising to the thief. Satisfied, Rika glanced sideways over at the boy Lin must have been talking about before. Red hair, bruised up a little, probably still had a usable tongue for …reasons. All this heat was beginning to work her up, it was best she start working on a plan to give them an advantage here. [b]“Tell you what: Why don’t you help our guest open up and tell us who he is? Be discreet about it, don’t want to make him feel interrogated.”[/b]

[b]“Oh, sure, no problem!”[/b] Lin casually walked over to Gavin, perfectly content in the heated temperature of this land and not weighed down by exhaustion. Thirst would come, but compared to the sheet of heat they all felt against their skin, Lin just thought the temperature was raised by a few degrees. It was nothing she couldn’t handle. This stranger raised himself up against the wall, offering thanks to everyone. Lin took an apple from her small bushel and handed it to him. At least one arm was still okay. [b]“Hi! I don’t know how long you’ve been in that bad, bad place. You’re safe with us though, and maybe we can find someone to take a look at your injuries while we’re at it. Want to stick with us?”[/b] she offered. Lin had no idea what ‘discreet’ would mean here, but if she wanted to learn something she figured the best way was to just be friendly about it. Still, the man she had initially come to save was nowhere to be seen. Where could that odd man have gone off to?

[i]‘Damn it she really is adorable…’[/i] Rika averted her eyes before the childish beauty of Lin blinded her from how serious the situation was. Coriander hadn’t said much of anything, not like the secretive prick deserved to. She made her way over to Shizuka and Ace, huddling in close between them. [b]“We need to get out of here. Is there anywhere we can go to for shelter? I don’t like how exposed we are.”[/b] Surely if this rebellion was big enough, they had some sort of base here.