Comfort; at least, a semblance of it. A home. [center][b]A caretaker.[/b][/center] [right][b][i]A fragment of sanctuary.[/i][/b][/right] Scarlett didn't have any feelings that she could attribute to Shavis that were beyond those of a domesticated feral cat being hosted by someone she didn't want to trust, and be hurt by in the future. She didn't resist Shavis; her touch, her words; her guidance from the halls and the jail of her own existence. Sensing the worst had passed, the vermilion serpent retreated into its nest, and disappeared. Blood followed, the scarlet liquid left in steadied tracks by bare feet, as they retired to their carriage for the long ride. As they traveled, she slept; her body restless, as the iron kept her blood veins clear on her skin, and her eyes shifted miles a minute underneath her eyelids... [hider=Dreamers of a Traveler]...and beheld darkness; above and beneath, as she lay on a shifting sea of iron sand under a cloudless canopy of obsidian sky. "[color=00ccff]Nn...[/color]" Scarlett closed her hands... her left stung from the grit and bite of the grains of iron that made up the desert, but her right hand made no motions. It didn't exist. "[color=00ccff]Mm...[/color]" Rolling into her left side, Scarlett would work herself to her knees, and staggered to her feet. Her eyes shifted without anything to settle on. Aimless, the Alchemist with no barings to travel with took a step forward... ...seconds... ...minutes... ...hours... ...days... ...months... ... years... ...walking, walking, walking, forevermore... {[color=000000]Are you lost, Traveler? Don't have a path anymore, do you?[/color]} Scarlett shifted her body, defensively, and looked around. Her idea caught nothing, except criss-crossing paths of blood-soaked iron sands. How long had she been walking? {[color=000000]All you wanted was a path, but you stepped off. How foolish.[/color]} "[color=00ccff]Leave me alone...[/color]" Scarlett gasped. Her voice was deeper, matured, the youthful, playful lilt traded for a womanly cadence and charm. She had spoken in years, hadn't thought about the action, as she walked without a need to eat, drink, or sleep... {[color=000000]I better set you back on the path you are supposed to travel, little princess.[/color]} Smoothing out, the sea parted and revealed a straight road that gave way to a winding path into the darkness. At the start of it, stood that pompous, blue asshole; he turned his back to her, and made a "let's go," motion with his head. "[color=00ccff]...him...[/color]" {[color=000000]Follow your path.[/color]} Scarlett growled, and clenched her left fist. Follow her path? Follow him? Laughable! Screaming, as the iron sand shook and whipped into a sandstorm, before condensing and shaping into a clawed arm, Scarlett would charge at Ruecian - angling her claws to take out his throat with his back turned to him. However, she caught the brunt of a ice staff to the gut for her recklessness, and was jolted --[/hider] -- awake with a start, as Scarlett's eyes went wide, as she lurched forward, and vomited a slurry of iron and bile onto the floor of the carriage; her cheeks an ironic shade of iron-ore green. Fortunately, the jerking that awakened her was from the carriage stopping, and she was able to stumble out of it to finish evacuating her stomach at the foot of a tall tree. Looking back with a drowsy look, she remarked, "[color=00ccff]Heh, it's toiletry...[/color]"[hr]By time they reached the village, Scarlett's step would be normalized, and her expression hardened anew. As she listened to the village elder ramble on, she would send her temporary snake summon into the trees; however, not before morphing her right arm with numerous alchemical scriptures written upon it, which would shed iron onto her scales, and further add to Nadia's tampering. The inclusion of iron scales would reinforce the flaming nature that had been forced upon her, and evolve her down a natural path. Her technique wasn't as refined as Nadia's, but that brief moment of study had clued her into the Alchemy side of Synergy. "[color=00ccff]Don't take unnecessary risk, Milli,[/color]" Scarlett says, as the iron-clad serpent wound around her shoulders, and flicked her tongue against Scarlett's cheek. "[color=00ccff]Go on, you. Scout for anything Human or Belua. Stay high, and out of sight.[/color]" Milli acknowledged Scarlett, but not before another playful tongue tickling. Slithering inside her cloak, she would hit the ground sliding, and disappear into the brush - only to be seen once more upon a tree, before she was gone into the yawning canopy. "[color=00ccff]As for you, if you wanna offer assistance,[/color]" Scarlett looked at the elder, "[color=00ccff]Two options,[/color]" she ticked a finger, "[color=00ccff]Take up arms and be ready for whatever may come from this, or,[/color]" she ticked up second finger, "[color=00ccff]Piss off inside your houses, and stay out of the way until we're done.[/color]" Scarlett crossed her arms, "[color=00ccff]Little Miss Clown Hat over here is what we call 'a bleeding heart,' but my heart bleeds cold iron.[/color]" Stamping her foot, Scarlett would dig iron into the ground, and spawn a table. Upon it, she would set her collected consumables, and explain what they did. "[color=00ccff]Shavis, Hector, you'll take a Repressant. An ambush attack from either of you will be a capital advantage,[/color]" Scarlett says, before dancing the free one around, "[color=00ccff]Shavis, take the spare. Your combat style exerts more movement than Hector's. Better you have a re-up.[/color]" Scarlett slid the urn to Tilnak. "[color=00ccff]A connection to the earth will fare better with the deployment of this than a connection to the water,[/color]" she says, "[color=00ccff]That said, you and Little Miss Clown Hat will be perfect for defensive measures.[/color]" And, speaking of, "[color=00ccff]I figure, if you have even half the measure of talent you believe your haughty brother has, you and Tilnak can build a half-decent palisade around this place. If the Makara have any elemental powers, they appear to be electric or flame based, so a wall of hardened mud will stand as a defensible deterrent and early warning.[/color]" Turning her attention back to the elder, "[color=00ccff]If you choose to take up arms, confer to Shavis and Hector, and polish your offensive skills with spears and bows,[/color]" she unfastened her cloak, "[color=00ccff]If you choose to hide, offer your assistance to Tilnak and Little Miss Clown Hat with their defensive measures,[/color]" and she left her cloak drop, as she cracked her neck, and raised her right hand, "[color=00ccff]My suggestion: divide and do both, if you really wanna help to the fullest of your abilities.[/color]" [center]"[color=00ccff][b][i]Eosinophil.[/i][/b][/color]"[/center] Scarlett transformed her arm into the spearmorph, and smirked. "[color=00ccff]As for me, I'm going spearfishing. Fucking starving.[/color]" And, she would take off without allowing a word in edgewise - neither of confirmation or objection. She just expected work to be done, and everyone to play their parts to the letter. For her part, she was going to scout the perimeter of the expanded territory for weakness, while "fishing"...