“Most adults have more fortitude than a child, that’s how people drink it,” Nymira answered, rolling her eyes as Ethan once again attempted to drink it, “Seven hells… If you don’t like it then don’t drink it!” Honestly was it that difficult? She’d assumed he had some taste for alcohol, it seemed like every other bloody Muran in these parts did. If he was so sensitive to the liquor then he could get water, or some milk, something that wouldn’t upset his sensitive palate.

“I don’t want to waste it though, I mean you did buy it for me,” Ethan responded, grimacing as he forced himself to take another swig.

“I’m more offended by your idiotic expressions than I would be your turning down the drink!”

That may be, but he still wasn’t going to waste it. As silly as it might be it was in a way a gift, he wasn’t going to turn away a gift. Even if that gift was probably what a horse’s rear end tasted like. Sloshing around the liquid in his glass he frowned, pinching his nose and tossing back the remainder of the glass, which was quite a bit. Letting out a gasp as it all went down he burped, groaning and laying his head on the table.

“Idiot…” Was all Nymira could muster, shaking her head in disbelief. Why force yourself to do something you disliked? “And you may travel with us Geoffrey, having a guide who knows where we’re going is invaluable. I’ll be sure you’re paid properly.”

Everyone went quiet for Amuné’s recital of the story, mostly out of respect more than anything. Nymira hadn’t heard the tale and could care less for it, yet she found it adorable how enraptured the girl was in her own tale. Ethan for the most part had heard a variation of it but wasn’t completely paying attention, trying to keep down the burning liquor assaulting his stomach.

Cecil, on the other hand, was not at all impressed. He didn’t even give Amuné a glance as she told the story, instead going quiet and staring at the floor. Being a Machina he had no reason to care about the Saints or their exploits. The Saints was something for those of flesh, not one of metal and circuits.

“We’re all out for our own thing I guess…” Ethan muttered, pausing to belch again and rub at his stomach, “I met Amuné and Cecil a while back, and we found Nymira back in Galloway with a guy named Norman, well kind of…”

“Found isn’t what I would call it. You poked your nose in business that wasn’t yours,” Nymira retorted with a frown, admonishing Ethan’s state before looking at Geoffrey, “That’s the gist of it though. We’re simply traveling together because it’s easy, traveling alone is a hassle.” 

[color=f7941d]Nymira’s words hit Cecil particularly hard, even if she didn’t mean for them to. With all the praise he had received it had been primarily from Nymira and hearing her speak of the journey as one of simple convenience made him wonder if any of the praise was real. It most likely wasn’t real, she was just speaking in the sense of a warrior out of thanks that they didn’t die. Traveling alone was a hassle because it left you vulnerable, but she didn’t have to worry about that anymore when she had so many around her that could do the same job he did. She didn’t appreciate the fact that Norman had asked for them to check up on her and they never would had met her if he didn’t lose so much power and need a new battery. In Cecil’s mind the conclusion was she saw what he did and thought it was convenient that he was with them, but every other aspect she didn’t care about.[/color]

"Oh come on, that's not true!" Ethan said, smiling as he finally lifted his head from the table, “Maybe that’s why we started traveling together, but we’re all friends now, right? We’re having fun.” Well perhaps [i]fun[/i] wasn’t the best fit here. Being attacked by Magi was far from fun, as was witnessing a manor be overrun by homicidal Machina. Still though, he wouldn’t say this was a terrible time. Meeting new people was always nice and the circumstances around that shouldn’t ruin the experience.

“Friends? You could call it that. I don’t know if I typically consider my retainers to be my friends,” Nymira stated indifferently, taking a sip of her ale, “Besides…” she continued, pausing as she wiped her mouth with a napkin, “We may travel together now, but as soon as we find what we are looking for we’ll go our separate ways. The way I see it we’re traveling together purely for convenience. Whether you agree with me or not isn’t my concern.”

[color=f7941d]Cecil didn’t need to assume anymore; Nymira had instead outright said it. Staring at the floor for a moment he glanced over to the others, seeing them completely occupied with each other before his eyes moved to the door. Maybe this was as good a time as any, somebody would need his chair eventually. Making a side glance to the group again he soon slowly stood up, going quite blank in the face as he made his way silently towards the door. If what he did was simply a convenient outcome then there was no reason for him to continue being around and scaring everyone. Quietly opening the front door Cecil quickly exited, not giving so much as a glance back.[/color]

Now how could anyone think like that? They had been through quite a lot in the past few days, how could anyone say they weren’t friends after that? Ethan was beside himself, not sure what at all to say in reply to Nymira. Instead he could only stare at her silently before he tore his attention away when Cecil got up from his seat. Giving the Machina a quizzical look he frowned when their friend left the room, glancing once at the Dimuran before getting up.
 
"Oh no... Amuné, wait here." He was really upset if he was just getting up and leaving like that. “Cecil, wait a second!” Ethan called, stumbling slightly before hurrying after his friend. Stupid ale, had him all out of sorts.
 
Nymira watched the pair leave before simply dismissing it with a shrug, not terribly concerned that Cecil had left. Was he thinking they were friends here? She commended him as a warrior, this much was true, and they were certainly indebted to him for saving their lives. Yet they knew nothing of each other, how could they be friends? They had completely separate goals and traveled purely for convenience sake, not for pleasure. She had a difficult time understanding why that was so hard to accept, it was the truth. 
 
“Alright you lot, here’s yer food!” one of the cooks called, leading the way with two trays in hand and two barmaids at his heels. In all there were six trays of food, one for every member of the group including Wyth to enjoy. “Hope it’s to yer liking, rare that we get a dignitary like yerself through here miss,” he spoke to Nymira, setting down her tray first and taking a small bow before handing over Amuné’s next. “Please, if there’s anything else you need…” he began again, pausing noticing two seats were now empty, “Er… Weren’t there others with you?”
 
“They’ll be back, don’t mind them,” Nymira answered as she examined her food, prodding a rather hefty looking steak with her fork before slicing into it, “That’ll be all for now sir, thank you.”