Macey stood with her feet rooted to the ground, completely awestruck and dumbfounded. While being assaulted with so many questions at once, she froze up and found herself being completely unable to answer any of them. This close to her face, the bird’s sombre mask looked every bit as daunting under this man’s (was [i]“man” [/i]the right word?) hood, and his voice didn’t give much away as to whether he was a friend or a foe. Still, she wondered what sort of person would intentionally blow up a building while he was still inside it, but then again, a few patients did turn up at her hospital after an accident with a stray firework. “For the banter”, apparently. 

She couldn’t supress a wince when the mask came in closer, and Macey shut her eyes fast. She had assumed that [i]“Payment”[/i] meant something like [i]“Punishment”[/i] in this place, so the soft prod in her cheek wasn’t quite what she expected.[color=a2d39c][color=c4df9b] “You’re… you’re m-”[/color][/color] she murmured through closed eyes, just falling short of saying the dreaded “m” word before deciding against it. Maybe he wasn’t a foe after all. 

When she opened her eyes again, for a moment she’d lost all sight and presence of the strange man. Once again, all that surrounded her was an endless midnight, dreary wooden buildings, a starless sky and an unreal sense of foreboding that felt like…

[i]Oh.[b] No.[/b] I’m not staying here alone. [/i]

Macey caught just a glimpse of his trench coat disappearing into the streets again – her eyes were slowly getting used to the darkness, she was pleased to notice. [color=a2d39c]“Wait! Please, wait! You’re not a villager either. I mean, you’re not miserable at all, and I didn’t see you at the temple!”[/color] Macey paused for a minute, trying to figure the most useful question to ask. [color=c4df9b]“Are you from out there?” [/color]She asked, pointing to the pair of gates leading out of the city. [color=a2d39c]“Are you from beyond the walls, travelled in from another land? I mean, is there something outside this place?”[/color]