[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VpPMa7B.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/wd6I9yK.png[/img][h3][color=a36209][b]Group 1[/b][/color]
[color=a36209]Location:[/color] Outside || [color=a36209]Action:[/color] Not Devouring It || [color=a36209]Mood:[/color] Much Ragrets [/h3][color=a36209]Interacting with:[/color] Kaleo 🔪 [@Tenma Tendo], Targilde 🔪 [@Mae], Ignatus 🔪 [@Paddiecake][/center]

They barely filled half an hour of walking along the tracks before another problem showed itself.

This one, he didn’t even notice- to be fair, Kain was busy keeping an eye on the horizon [i]and[/i] the twitchy wreck who had reached for the spear at the first opportunity. Look, it wasn’t on his agenda to get skewered by his own craft right after saving a bunch of casuals and the man kept staring whenever he thought nobody was watching, so Kain thought it would be better to trail him the most. Just in case he did some crazy shit.

Of course, if he knew that the unassuming blondie would suddenly give off a pseudo-spirit mist… thing like she had just stepped out of a hot bath, he would have had reconsidered what passed for a threat in his eyes.

Damn, the Gods just loved pissing on him today, didn’t they?

The creep spoke- somehow, he understood, and at the back of everything else he heard the butler-type call out to him. It was difficult to compartmentalize his tension and play it off; there was the constant threat of those things coming back for them, which he [i]had[/i] to spot since he was the only one with a damn longbow, and now this spooky fuckface was attempting to up the ante with some nonconsensual vore shit. Still, he had enough of his wits to respond almost immediately- by covering his nose and his mouth with a hand.

[color=a36209]“I’d prefer not to; I don’t swallow until the second date,”[/color] Kain joked, his response coming out muffled from under his fingers. He turned his head to the side, to look at Targilde and avoid the spectre’s eyeless- yet unerring- gaze. [color=a36209]“Tuxedo man, where did this thing come from again?”[/color] And while he waited for an answer as to how in the everliving shit something like [i]this[/i] snuck up on them, the mercenary swayed from side to side as if to urge the presence to go away. That didn’t work, so he resorted to wiggling. Again, didn’t work; if anything, the weight on his abdomen grew heavier.

[color=a36209]“Oh come on, you shadowy bugger. Shoo,”[/color] Kain complained under his breath, managing to sound both exasperated and half-hearted at the same time.

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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/u9WS2qY.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/9upNyBY.png[/img][h3][color=F6CCDA][b]Group 5[/b][/color]
[color=F6CCDA]Location:[/color] Aether || [color=F6CCDA]Action:[/color] Schmoozing || [color=F6CCDA]Mood:[/color] Satisfied[/h3][color=F6CCDA]Interacting with:[/color] Druuk [@Duskshine749], Michael [@Burthstone], and Regulus [@Mae][/center]

Seona was victim to a rising sensation of alarm when she clued in that the astral king may or may not have been flirting with her during the entire encounter. Thankfully, she was far more adept with suppressing her thoughts, and none of her inner turmoil broke through the gentle smile she wore on her face. 

When the exchange concluded, the noblewoman did as Regulus bade and noted with a slight frisson of surprise the star on her hand, surpassed only in brilliance by the golden imprint on Michael’s forehead. The mark on her hand felt like a… piece of this place, as if she had brought a bucket with her and scooped out the essence of the Aether. She wondered if its effects would come into play once they left the glittering city, and admitted to herself that she was quite curious to see what it was meant to do. 

[color=F6CCDA]“Thank you, Your Majesty. It would serve as a reminder of our fleeting, yet memorable time here in your wondrous domain. Would that we could repay your kindness,”[/color]  Sinéad dipped into a deep curtsy to show her utmost gratitude. It was quite a challenge, as the monarch still held her other hand in his own, and for a moment there her initial worries about that last bit she said bubbled. Not allowing those thoughts any leeway lest they fester, Seona stomped them down and focused on the socializing at hand. When she rose, she cast a quick glance towards her companions, as if to cue them to speak. Michael remained silent, and Druuk…