If there had ever been a point where Michael Keahi regretted having principles, it was right now. It seemed not even a crying little girl was off limits to Prince Stabitty, who was determined to be as creepy and bothersome as he could be in her moment of grief. Michael was sincerely regretting not having just stomped on his neck back at the beginning. He would have done something about him right there and then, but as if right on cue, Kate showed up to make everything worse. Michael was starting to think he was something of a clairvoyant. In truth, it was not unreasonable to come to the conclusion that the masks might be a problem, nor was it to try and keep Anni from getting wrapped up in all this. However, this was the worst time to be making a scene of it, and that was proven by Anni's immediate and hostile reaction to her attempt to take the mask. Kate had fucked it up. Michael had a feeling that most of it was a product of her emotions being at their peak, but that only made it clear why this was the absolute worst time to try and sort this out. With Anni in this state, Michael decided it was best he just let her be. There was no need to give Kate an earful either, as he was sure she was kicking herself enough for this already, and he wasn't so petty as to give her a tongue lashing for being slightly foolish.

He had no qualms about turning and smacking Oedipus right in his disgusting, monstrous face, however. [color=fdc68a]"Fuck you and your subhuman bullshit, motherfucker. Now start walking."[/color] With that, he turned and marched off alongside the others who were all making tracks for the Magician. Right now, Michael planned to march at such a pace that Oedipus would have to work hard to keep up with him or face being dragged along.

Finally, they all came face to face with the much awaited Magician and his cadre. They were weird, they were wacky, and Michael couldn't give less of a shit. They'd been dragged through this weird and wacky world long enough, and all he had a mind for was some answers. In particular, he had a deep desire to answer the question 'Why should I even give a shit?'. As agitated as he was, however, he didn't exactly want to launch into a hostile barrage of questions. He still wasn't so sure how mercurial these alien hosts of theirs might prove to be. They would have to approach this with some degree of tact.

Tact was swiftly thrown out the window by Ascot proving true to his quick tempered nature, swiftly accusing the Magician of having brainwashed the villagers. Michael started to remember that it was his plan to attack the Magician when he thought he had the chance. He hoped to God that wasn't still the case. Fortunately, the Magician didn't take offense to his question or anything, and instead just answered him. Michael couldn't suss out what he meant by his answer entirely, but from what he could gather he meant that Ellard wasn't even real, or his memories weren't real at least. It would be better if it were true in a manner of speaking, but still, they really weren't in a position to decide what was true here by a long shot. The Magician invited them inside to explain further. While thoughts of conspiracy and traps played at the back of Michael's mind, he had honestly had enough of having to second guess every tiny detail and worry if he was getting the full story. He was going to go along with this, and if it all turned out to be a big deception to fuck with them, then so be it. It wasn't as though they had much chance of succeeding at anything else anyway.

[color=fdc68a]"Come on guys, let's go."[/color] He spoke aloud. The sooner they all got to the point of this, the better. He gave Oedipus a harsh tug to signify that he needed to keep up. As he passed by Ascot, he said to him, [color=fdc68a]"Remember what I told you before."[/color] He was referring to his telling him not to jump the gun with the Magician, whether it be to attack him or assume he was Ellard in disguise or whatever the fuck was going through his mind. Hopefully a satisfying explanation lay inside this little keep of theirs.

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