"Thhhhp!" Chen shouts, bumping and rolling on the suited thief's shoulder with a mixture of fear and almost wild glee. No princess Kikil! No crazy fantasies. She was on some sort of wild adventure instead and Chen could handle wild adventures way better than she could overbearing technomancers and terrifying mask Princesses! (Oh gosh, perish the thought there could be more than one terrifying mask Princess!). 

She's not even protesting as loudly as she could. There's the scarf of course, but also the parts of her that are still covered in only thin and revealing silks from Qiu's little costume change are rubbing against this very nice suit and that is some nice fabric. It's very comfortable and Chen is appreciating that she's dealing with some excellent mischief makers today. Mom (Hestia) always warned her against letting her guard down, but being carried by strong arms and pressing into fine clothing was great! She nuzzled the thief's back with one cheek before being tossed into the car like a sack of (softly bound) potatoes.

She gave the thief a pointed look and a "mmmmmm" that said "ungag me this instant you fiend!" without actually using any words, but he wasn't having it, so she settled into her seat. This was nice enough. Chen had actually ridden in a car before. Mommy Ysel had one in Ys for times she felt like getting around in style. Finding the fuel for one was expensive or time consuming, but that just made it all the more grand. Ysel had painted hers a bright sparkling red because it was her favorite color and would occasionally take it out for show. It had struck Chen how easy it was. It wasn't quite as fast as sword-flight (at least for an expert) but it didn't take focus or concentration really, especially for the passengers. It was really hard to transport people using magic. Not as hard as herding sheep (Chen still couldn't believe Rose had done that!) but definitely something that took training and care and required the passenger to pay some attention and not be a problem. A car ride, you could just relax and look out the window.

So Chen did, looking out at the fields and twisting and squirming to get a little bit of a view behind her. That's when she saw Rose, her fence-mending finished suddenly leap into the air, braids flying behind her, sword hilt gripped in her outstretched arm for all the world like a golden eagle about to swoop upon them. Then the car crested past a little rise and Chen lost sight of Rose and the trees behind them as the incline rose up behind her to fill her view with rolling low grass.

Rose was coming for her! Chen blushed and couldn't help bouncing a little in her seat, wiggling her knees back and forth in excitement. This was so much fun! Her new friend was keeping her word, or at least trying to, she wasn't getting swept up into permanent Princess exile, she got to ride in a car, and she was still confident that they'd find Yue and she could turn this into a win! Never give up, never surrender, right? Right!

Trying to settle her beating heart, Chen glanced forwards, towards the driver, looking to see what they were doing and whether there was any sign of a destination before them. The technomancer had said a fox, right? Chen knew foxes a little. Tricky, but her mothers couldn't keep her from learning about them when they were everybody's informants, spies, and [s]cute little fluffers[/s] wish granters in a pinch. Chen had been carefully supervised when she met her first fox, not allowed to make any wishes but just to help Ysel negotiate some kind of scouting thing, maybe? She didn't remember it that well because she had stumbled through the words while wishing in her heart the entire time that the fox would understand that she just wanted to be whisked away and maybe tied to a wall in the fox's lair (f-for plausible deniability later) while she was brushed and tickled with all four of those big fluffy tails. ...Chen blushed a lot harder thinking through this.

That wasn't going to get her anything though. She needed to get the driver's attention and get him to start talking so she could figure out what the right play was here. "Mmmph!" she shouted into her scarf, twisting and sliding her legs and her butt across the car seat so she made a swishing sound across the fabric. "Mmph, mmphh!" "Mmphm, hmphhh!" [i]hey, pay attention to me back here![/i]