[b]Southe-western streets of Orario:[/b]

"Hm? The way ba- Oh, you must mean the home of the Familia where you met my br-err... [i]Kids[/i], yes? That isn't where we're going, sir. Athena's Familia lives over in the south-west." The woman explained, hefting the basket of laundry up - only to have it snagged by the giant. She at first looked perplexed, but soon came to realize he was only being considerate. "T-thank you." She gratefully stated with a small smile.

The two were then off, navigating the streets of Orario, passing by other pedestrians and adventurers. As they walked, the impoverished laundry-lady would take ceaselessly about most anything and everything, being sure to both complain about her disobediant rascal-children, how hard it was to walk all over Orario to do her job, how some Familia were miserly and stingy with the pay and how the Athena Familia was always fair and apparently a bright light of unquestionable integrity. At least according to her, that is. The woman didn't seem so inclined to ask much about the boaz though, or why he wanted to join a Familia, far too occupied with her one-sided middle-aged gossip-chatter to even let him have a say in their [i]conversation.[/i]

Still, she did as she had promied, and within a short amount of time - far less so than the time Torran had spent following the little boy back home to the Daedalus street, the pair arrived at the street outside of Warrior's Rest. The woman breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Well, here we are." She said, turning her head to look at Torran's face. "Thank you again for bringing my miscreants home, and even more thanks for carrying all that by yourself." She nodded to the laundry-basket. "Your a good soul, sir. I'm sure that Lady Athena will be happy to welcome you." The mother said, confidence brimming from her expression. Still, there was one last matter to settle before going in.

"So, uhm... Is there anything I can give you as payment for all you've done? We don't have much but... I can give you some of the pay I'll get here, if you want." She asked, looking a bit uncomfortable and reluctant. It wasn't that she didn't want to give the man his just reward, but rather that she could scarcely afford to do so in the first place...

[b]inside Warrior's Rest:[/b]

"[b]MRAAAARGH!?[/b]"

The scene was... complicated, to say the least. On one hand, you had a dwarf with a now burning beard yelling and flailing his arms about in a panic. You had a pallum standing next to said dwarf, extending his arm trying to greet the poor fellow who was now sat on fire. And then you had the pallum girl over by the table who was tearing up and going into a fetal position on the floor, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. To top it off, the grumpy old chienthrope awoke due to the cacaphony of noise and turmoil and had nothing but a blank stare to give as he watched the scene and events unfold before his lone eye. Meanwhile, the Goddess of the home stood stupified, before being snagged and pulled away by a girl who had just set one of her children on fire... Today really was an unusual day.

Eventually though, with enough palm-patting and dunking a jug of water over his own head - obtained from one of the nearby tables in the dining room - Brozar's beard was finally safe. Singed and slightly darker in color now, but mostly saved. The dwarf let out a sigh of relief, rubbed his chin, then burst into laughter.

"That's a lively one, huh?" He bellowed, surprisingly merry considering he almost had his face incinerated. However, he soon quieted down as he seemed to remember something. Turning his head back to the pallum-boy who had come to greet him - during his state of distress - the dwarf wandered back over to the lad, smiling broadly and clasping the little one's hand in his own.

"Nice to meet ya, boy! I'm Brozar, resident smith of the Familia. After you been down in the dungeon and get your gear all banged up from monster-squashin', you come see me and I'll fix it right up!" Th man boassted, thumping his own, broad chest with his other hand. Releasing the pallum, the dwarf gave the youngster a look-over, before going on. "You don't look like an Orario-bred. Come from far away, eh?" He asked, in a friendly enough manner.

Meanwhile, Tira was still on the floor, in tears and cheeks bright and rosy from all the laughing.

[i]Meanwhile, upstairs...[/i]

"Ah, uh... Yes..." Athena seemed a bit overwhelmed by the butterfly-effect that had just swept her home, easily being pulled along by the renard. She soon composed herself again though, and took over leading the way - showing the renard the way up to the third floor and into her room.

Once inside, and with the door shut behind them, she asked the renard - just like with Dahlia - to go over and sit down on the bed. She herself did the same, just as before, sitting down on her knees upon the covers of the relatively sturdy, but still soft-enough, bed.

"I apologize for Brozar." She said as she looked at Ayame, her face serious. "I hope you weren't offended. He can be a bit [i]forward[/i] with attractive young women, but he doesn't mean any ill." She said, looking partly apologetic and partly embarrassed. "Now then, please sit down here infront of me, after you've taken off your clothes so your back is fully exposed." She then explained, seemingly having brushed the incident aside with relative, and likely practiced, ease.