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"Hello, Sir Paladin," Annabelle replied with apparent surety that 'Paladin' was actually his real name. Letting out a confused little hum, she tilted her head slightly at Vani as they walked. "Shadow beast thing? You mean Carpenter here? I can assure you he is not dangerous. He is quite amicable to other people, in fact!" she said cheerily before pausing.

"Is there something wrong with him? Also..." Annabelle reached out with her free hand to pat upon Vani's pauldrons, "We'll make it out alive. Let's not consider the alternative until it becomes more certain, yea?"

Annabelle's attention suddenly whipped behind at the sound of a frantic shout; she had missed sight of a soldier in the alley. Damn. Turning her sword back upon the Galanonian soldier, she appeared ready for a quick fight against the greatly outnumbered scout. He certainly was brave to flag them down with no backup. She didn't want kill him if she didn't have to, which gave her an idea.

"Carpenter!" she said with an elated whisper to the familiar beside her. The canid blob nodded and broke into a lightning sprint for the soldier before leaping up and morphing once again. His amorphous body aimed right for the soldier's head to latch around it like some kind of sci-fi alien -hopefully Carpenter could at least block his voice long enough for someone to deliver a merciful knock-out strike, and they could continue on their way.