Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

[Hakima]

---

The Iron Blade wasn’t a beautiful weapon, but it was sharp, and the distribution of weight was flawless. Link had been through countless battles with it. Even in his injured state, the only adjustment he made to how he held it was to wield it with both hands. He waited calmly for Persimmon to make his next move, not showing any signs that the wound hindered him aside from the occasional ragged breath.

 

It was something the Garou were well-known for. The greatest asset they had on the battlefield was the fear that they inspired in the Pontics, and the hope they gave fellow Galteans, and a lot of that could be attributed to the strict training they endured.

 

Show no fear.

Show no pain.

Don’t let know anyone know we die just as easily as they do.

 

In spite of that, Lincoln wasn’t prepared for what was to come. Tsetseg threw herself onto the back of the fox, whose snout was still painted with his blood. "Stop being a mean fox and listen to the other fluffy tailed foxes!" she shouted.

 

The Galtean soldier wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. A welcome distraction came in the form of one of the foxes behind him snapping at him, and he pivoted on his heel, pushing himself off the ground and narrowly avoiding those powerful jaws by jumping to the side. As he moved he saw Catriona deliver a raking blow across Persimmon’s snout, who snarled in response, but the princess slipped away before he could retaliate. Angry, he reared back like a horse and shook wildly, trying to dislodge the thief.

 

It was a position that left his soft underbelly exposed. Link would have gutted him if this was a true fight. They may have been powerful but it seemed the foxes were not all that well versed in battle. Their movements were predictable, and the openings provided both frequent and large.

 

Link felt a hand on his shoulder and he almost instinctively lashed out. "Link," he said as he set his hand on the soldier's shoulder, "sit down, you need to stop fighting or you'll kill yourself before anyone else can." Edrick was as green as they came, the soldier remembered. Sitting down in a fight wasn’t an option, it was rather naive to think the enemy would just give you a moment to catch your breath, but Link could write that off.

 

What he couldn’t write off was the fact that the boy shoved Cat. His blood-boiled and his eyes narrowed, giving him possibly the first truly obvious facial expression since he had joined the party. Lincoln Harkinian was pissed. It wasn’t just that Edrick had thought it his right to manhandle the heir apparent of the Galtean kingdom, either.

 

Even if there had been an unbridgeable distance between them since he had joined the Night Wolves, Catriona was once his friend. With Anais no longer speaking to him, Rohns dead, and Ilia having moved on with her own life in Galtea, she was probably his oldest friend, brusque mannerisms be damned. There was nothing quite like risking life and limb together to bring people closer.

 

Link fought down the urge to smash the pommel of his sword into the center of Edrick’s skull and listened to his speech, one arm draped over his wound, supporting himself with his blade. Catriona seemed to not have taken a single hit yet, which was reassuring, and his eyes searched for Penelope in the lull.

 

She had been on the porch, with Rufus and Ceila and… Link’s eyesight was sharp, even with the wound that he’d recently suffered to his eye, and even from this distance he could make out the scene. Rufus had attacked, and it was hard to see at first, but the young princess’ arm was clenched in his teeth. The red of the blood flowing from the wound was easy to see even all the way over where he was.

 

If seeing Catriona shoved had made his blood boil, seeing Penelope wounded caused it to freeze. “Cat!” Link said, loud enough to catch the woman’s attention, and gesture to her sister. He already knew what his plan was before he had started to move.

 

Both hands gripped his sword and he swung it in a wide arc in front of him, to force the untransformed protean to dodge to the side. “Go!” he growled, angling himself mid-swing to turn to face the transformed protean to his right before it could even attempt to cut her path off.

 

He couldn’t get to Penelope to help her, but he had just given her sister a clear path. It was up to her to use it.

---

[Yui]

---

"Yet another human who would betray Her."

 

"Her?" Azar had grown curious, but that curiosity didn't last long. Sienna rushed up to the action, begging and pleading for her father to stop this reckless violence. As much as Azar didn't want to fight either, she could tell there was really no getting around this. If Rufus didn't want to fight, he would have stopped by now. As if to prove Azar's mental point, the fox went off and attacked. But it wasn't Azar. Seemed Penelope had come up to fight as well, but hesitated, only to get attacked for it.

 

"If you can't or won't use that sword, you have no business coming this close to a fight!" Azar barked at the girl. Turning her attention back to the enemy at present, the shaman reared back and charged a fist with magic as she continued, "And as for you..."

 

Azar's Flux-infused fist swung forward, aimed at Rufus's side, as she exclaimed "Finish off one enemy before you jump to the next! Your fight's with me, Protean, not someone who hasn't even attacked you yet." Now then. Let's do some research.

---

[Wind Rider]

Sienna's words seemed to get to Rufus, however only slightly. "You don't understand, Sienna," he said. "I have to do this. Please, stand aside."

 

He has to do this? What does that even mean? Who's this "she" he referred to? Maybe Sienna didn't understand, but this was all wrong. Her eyes widened in horror as her father had lunged at Penelope and had bitten down on her arm, almost with enough force to tear it right off.

 

"No! Stop!" she was about to leap at him before Azar stepped in and attacked him with another magic infused fist. That's it... This has to stop now.

 

"Father... Forgive me..." she mumbled quietly as she ran up and leaped onto Rufus's back, digging her claws in and biting down on him.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

One moment Penelope was staring down the beastly fox. Sword in hand. Frightened but with a desire to act. In the next moment her arm was captured between Rufus's teeth. Pierced flesh. Blood. Blood spilling down her arm. From the wound. The wound Rufus inflicted on her through his attack.

 

She knew she should be in pain. Somewhere in her mind that fact registered. She knew about pain. About wounds. She knew what she was experiencing, mentally. But for some reason it wasn't getting through.

Penelope stared at her arm.Her body felt...nothing. She couldn't think anymore. She couldn't act. She could only stand there with her arm in the fox's mouth. Even as her companions rushed to her she didn't even notice. Her sword fell from her hand, even more useless than it already had been, and her mind shut down as it hit the ground.

 

The younger princess had been wounded for the first time.

---

 

Well that had amounted to nothing. Gunther grew nervous. They had to get through. From what the foxes said their companions were all inside. He didn't want to force past them...he wasn't even sure he could. But if they waited too long the frogs would attack without them. "Please." He said. "I only want to make sure they are safe. Surely if one of you came with you could keep an eye on us and make sure there's no trouble. What can two humans do to a whole village of Proteans?" They had to get through somehow. "Wouldn't your leader have kept out the others if they thought it was dangerous?"

[King K. Azo]

Shiro's mind was in a flurry. He didn't know what to do. He owned those humans nothing, right? Then why, why did he feel immense guilt from leaving them? His comrade was injured, hurt by their own hand... but while the methods were harsh, Shiro knew nothing good would come out of Glenn's duel. Darn those humans for filling his friend's mind with concepts such as honor so many years ago. Honor had no place in times of war...

 

He finally got back home, back to the rooftops of his home. He felt exhausted, as he had spent the day on so little sleep, and then making a mad dash away, hoping no fox followed him. It wasn't healthy, he knew this, but it was needed to be done. He thought he could hear someone calling out to him, but he wasn't sure, nor did he really have the strength to answer. 

He dropped out of his frog form, laying Glenn on the roof before sitting, panting to himself. "Guess I just can't stay out of trouble, can I Glenn?" He mused to the unconscious Protein next to him. His body ached some, but it was something some rest would make pass. 

 

"S-Shiro, eh," a stuttering voice caused Shiro to look up. With a relieved sigh, he realized it was Aka, someone he was a little more comfortable around than most people. "Are you all right?" she asked, to which Shiro rubbed the back of his head.

"I'll be fine... some rest is all I need," He said as he stood up. "Glenn took the hilt of a sword to the back of his head... he should be okay, but...," He shook his head. "It seems the situation with the foxes have reached a breaking point... they're denying that a fox attacked Cyrus... and now their chief has turned to attack the humans. More than likely, they'll come for us next," He sighed a bit. "It's been an insane past few days...,"

[Alaina]

 

As their path seemed to be barred by the foxes, not wanting them to move forward and into the village, Alois was a tad bit irritated at this. It wasn't as though this was unexpected, but it made things that much more difficult. All the same, Gunther didn't seem deterred in trying to get past through talking, so Alois figured he'd do his part too. Latching onto a part of what the flower faced knight said, Alois said, "yeah, we can't possibly be that dangerous. And besides, you wouldn't want to tell Sienna that she couldn't see her friends because you two just didn't want to let them in, right?" 

 

 

Tsetseg, while trying her darnedest to hang onto the fox, was not actually all that strong. So, as the fluffy tailed beast was thrashing about, the girl was tossed off and to the side. With a bit of a thud onto the ground, the girl managed to pick herself up, looking at the fox who she was just atop. With a look of determination in her eyes, the girl ran over to the fox, this time shouting, "stoooooop!" Rather than throwing herself onto the fox again, this time she had instead decided to right for the fluffy tail. Grabbing onto its tail, she yanked back saying, "stop trying to eat everyone and listen!" 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Ah..."

 

Ciela let out a breath of relief. Remy was able to recover almost perfectly, and his legs were still working thankfully. Of course, the issue was now how to actually get on top of him. Even after ordering him to lie down, dragging herself towards him, Ciela still struggled to climb him due to her injuries and general fatigue. It took her until the sixth try that she was able to secure a good enough position that would allow her to stay on top while Remy stood back on his feet.

 

Ciela took the moment to catch her breath. Everything was blurry to her right now. Rufus seemed to be attacking someone. Penelope? It was hard to discern just yet. Ciela ordered Remy to move forward, but his steps were still unsteady, and thus she had to order him to stop until both of them managed to be in proper control of themselves.

 

"This is getting ridiculous..."

 

---

[Sethera]

 

Catriona stared impassively as the fox showed his belly. There, perfect, she would slice that beast open from chest to navel with her next slash. The lord made to do just that, when she found herself being shoved backward. She was on the alert immediately. Was it another enemy? Did she miss one? No, it was...her own ally, Edrick.  Had he decided to reveal his true colors here and now? Except...that didn't make sense, did it? And he was...grabbing ahold of one of the fox's legs? The fire of battle cooled from her eyes as she stared at him in confusion.

 

"Listen to me!" He shouted. "Whether you're ready for it or not, you don't have to fight at all! Not us. Not the Frogs. The only ones you might have to fight are the Bandits, and both you and the frogs want them gone! You have the choice, right here, right now to make things the way they used to be! To go back to having your peaceful forest, and not having to worry about the frogs stealing things or killing the frogs!" He stopped to take a breath, and then resumed his shouting. "Not everyone gets that chance! I can't make Pharaon come back, not matter how much I might want to! And if you go to war in this forest, if you decide that you don't want peace, you won't ever be able to put things back how they were! Even if you win," he looked directly at Persimmon this time, "do you really think everyone's gonna make it back? You ready to die because you just couldn't be peaceful? Even better, if you decide you want war right now are you ready for your brother to die? That's somethin' you've gotta make peace with if you're gonna do this." He released his hold on the leg and began speaking to everyone around him. "Are you all ready to die if you decide to fight? You ready for your brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters to die? 'Cause if you got to war, who knows who's comin' back?"

 

His words seemed to convince the foxes who had been held back by their fellow Proteans. Not wanting to push through their own tribesmen, and hearing the sense of the lancer's words, they detransformed back to human form. However, the ones who had already fought remained in their beast form. Persimmon, in particular, seemed determined to keep fighting, as he did nothing more than growl at the Pontic, readying himself to attack him, when he felt a yank on his tail.

 

"Stoooooop!" It was Tsetseg, pulling on his tail, "stop trying to eat everyone and listen!"

 

The orange fox whipped his head around to glare at the bow thief. "Listen to what? More of your lies?" Despite his words, one of his ears flicked up, as if interested in what the girl had to say.
 

Meanwhile, the other two foxes still attacking started to look reluctant. The one that had attacked Edrick made a halfhearted swipe at Catriona, and the one that had missed Link made to attack him again, though he only grazed him, as the mercenary seemed determined to bar his way forward. Now fully seeing the bloody wound the green-clothed man bore, the fox flinched, tail drooping slightly.

 

"Cat! Go!" the swordsman shouted, and, following his eye, Catriona saw something she never expected, nor wanted to see.

 

Her sister, bloodied, arm caught in the fox chieftain's jaws.

 

Her grip tightened on her sword. She would end this, once and for all. Dashing forward, the lord reached the bottom of the hill and started to climb.

 

Above, Azar had scolded Penelope for participating in the fight before aiming a Flux punch at Rufus. "Finish off one enemy before you jump to the next! Your fight's with me, Protean, not someone who hasn't even attacked you yet."

 

The attack caused Rufus's teeth to tear down Penelope's arm before he let go, eyes wild with hate. "You...dare..." he hissed, swiveling his head to face her, jaws open wide to attack.

 

Sienna looked mortified at recent events. "No! Stop!" She then leapt up on Rufus's back. "Father... Forgive me..."

 

"This is getting ridiculous..." Ciela mumbled nearby, frustrated at their lack of movement. Next to her, Licorice said nothing, though she nodded slightly in agreement.

 

Meanwhile, Rufus had flattened himself to the ground in shock. "Wha...Sienna...why?!" he croaked out, seemingly unable to comprehend that his beloved daughter would go against him so directly like this. He lay there, unmoving, his attempt to attack Azar forgotten, eyes flickering between green and blue.

 

--

 

"Please." Gunther said. "I only want to make sure they are safe. Surely if one of you came with you could keep an eye on us and make sure there's no trouble. What can two humans do to a whole village of Proteans?" They had to get through somehow. "Wouldn't your leader have kept out the others if they thought it was dangerous?"

 

"Hmmm, he's got a point," one of the guards mused.

 

"Yeah, but we gotsa watch this place," the other protested.

 

"True, but one of us could go with, right? Surely one of us would be enough to handle two humans."

 

"True, true..."

 

"Yeah, we can't possibly be that dangerous. And besides, you wouldn't want to tell Sienna that she couldn't see her friends because you two just didn't want to let them in, right?"

 

"Well, he has us there."

 

"S'pose I can go with, since yer still recoverin'," the other snickered.

 

"Watch it, I can still tan your hide any day."

 

"I'd like ta see ya try." The fox turned to the duo. "Alrigh', ye made yer point. S'pose I can let youse two in. But I'll be 'companying ya, so no funny business, hear?" At that, the fox led the two through the town. It took a few minutes before they reached the center square, and the two heard the battle long before they saw it.

 

However, it looked like they had reached their friends at the tail end of the conflict. Oddly enough, while most of the fox Proteans seemed to be doing nothing, a few were still attacking, though they looked conflicted and unsure. They would also see a large red fox, spread-eagled underneath a familiar white one, as well as Penelope and Link, who were bleeding heavily. One of the Proteans, who would look slightly familiar, had approached Link despite the look in the soldier's eyes. "You are far too injured to still be standing." He shot the fox in front of the mercenary a sour look, receiving a guilty whine in return. "Drink this," he handed the man a concoction.

 

Their guard gaped at the sight. "Whoa...Chief...waz goin' on?" he looked at the two he was guarding. "I dunno what's happenin', but youse two gotta behave, alrigh'?" the way he trembled in nervousness belied his bravado.

 

--

 

"I'll be fine... some rest is all I need," Shiro said as he stood up. Aka smiled at that, her eyes shining with relief, and a little bit of awe. "Glenn took the hilt of a sword to the back of his head... he should be okay, but...," He shook his head. "It seems the situation with the foxes have reached a breaking point... they're denying that a fox attacked Cyrus... and now their chief has turned to attack the humans. More than likely, they'll come for us next," He sighed a bit. "It's been an insane past few days...,"

 

"Sounds like it, but with your help, I know we'll take care of them. A frog does not know how to fail," Aka replied confidently. She stared up at him for a second longer, pink dusting her cheeks. "I-I'm glad you're okay," she bit out before looking away, embarrassed. "Anyway, lord Sage is waiting for us." She was the only one that called him "lord," an odd mannerism that the Frog Sage had long given up on curbing.

 

Aka leapt down from the house, relating what Shiro had said to the Frog Sage in low tones. The Protean stroked his beard wearily. "I should've known better than to hope that they would be reasonable," he muttered, before continuing in a louder voice. "Aka, watch over Shiro and Glenn. Make sure the two do not come to any harm. They have both suffered enough under the hands of these dastardly foxes." He looked at the gathering of frogs around him. "Get into position. On the count of three, we attack!" He looked at Shiro, a little concerned, "If you are not up to it, then you do not have to come with," he said in a softer voice.

 

Soon after, the frogs swarmed to the roofs, their scents masked with mud. They stared down at the square with cold, anticipatory gazes.

 

OOC: Read the Status Report

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

"Finally" Gunther thought, after listening to the two bicker among themselves. He was anxious to get going. And that anxiousness grew tenfold as they heard what sounded like combat ahead of them. "Surely they didn't attack already?"

 

Nonetheless Gunther tried to quicken the pace but his armor, and not wanting to cause their "guide" to become suspicious, he had to keep pace with the fox they were following instead.

Upon reaching the battle it seemed...unusual. Several were wounded, though only Link badly, and most of the foxes were just standing around unsure of themselves.

 

He glanced at Alois with a look of concern. Only the two of them knew that the frogs were coming and if they attacked while this...whatever it was continued it could be dangerous.

 

It was then that he noticed what was happening on top of the hill. He saw a pair of foxes but...he was mostly focused on Penelope. The girl was injured. Gunther's heart sank with the realization that he had let the princess get hurt. He should have been faster!

 

But what was going on? He could beat himself up later there was something unusual about all this. If the fight only happened now it meant that the group hadn't have been prisoners. But then did Catriona attack them? If that were the case there should be more injured foxes, though...none of it made sense.

 

Taking a deep breath Gunther soldiered onward. "What is the meaning of this?" He called out. "Whatever conflict may have occurred must stop now. There are injured here who need to be attended to." He reached Edrick and gave the young man a confused glance. Shirtless, without weapon, but in the middle of all this...what was he doing?

 

But his goal was farther along. He'd continue along towards Penelope as far as he could. Shouting so that any in his way could here. "I am going to attend to my Lady, and no one is going to stop me!" Though he realized near the end his voice wavered. If they were to attack him while he walked through, their teeth would tear into him and...

 

Still he marched on.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Gunther is going to try and go as far forward in a straight as possible path as he can. Figured I'd leave it to Sethera how far he actually can go with double movement.

 

[King K. Azo]

"Sounds like it, but with your help, I know we'll take care of them. A frog does not know how to fail," Aka replied confidently, which put a small smile on Shiro's face. "I-I'm glad you're okay," Shiro tilted his head as she looked away from him. "Anyway, lord Sage is waiting for us." Shiro never understood why she called him Lord, but she did, and no one could get her to change that. She leapt down, with Shiro picking up Glenn and following, gently leaping to the ground. Aka relayed all the info quickly to the Frog Sage, who stroked his bread.

 

"I should've known better than to hope that they would be reasonable," he muttered, before continuing in a louder voice. "Aka, watch over Shiro and Glenn. Make sure the two do not come to any harm. They have both suffered enough under the hands of these dastardly foxes." He looked at the gathering of frogs around him. "Get into position. On the count of three, we attack!" He looked at Shiro, a little concerned, "If you are not up to it, then you do not have to come with," he said in a softer voice. 

Shiro shook his head. "No, I should be there as well," He said, before gently laying Glenn down and turning to look at Aka. "Watch over him, and make sure he doesn't get into more trouble," He asked gently. "I'm trusting you," he said before he went to get in position with the others. He couldn't believe it... he was willing going back into the den of foxes... for those humans. Why should he? Humans were cruel.. they were... no, they still stood up for him, at least the princess did. It reminded the frog of him... of one kind human he was unable to save...

 

He wouldn't let these humans die to. Except the green one.

[Alaina]

 

As the fox whipped its body around to face Tsetseg, the tail fell from the girl's hand though any sadness that she might've felt from that was replaced with a look of her own confusion at the fluffy tailed creature's accusations of them lying. "But we're not lying!" The girl wasn't even sure what they could be lying about to begin with. "We don't want to eat you, and you shouldn't want to eat us. It's as simple as that. See, I don't want to bite you. He doesn't want to bite you." She pointed to the Pontic boy. "They don't want to bite us." She pointed to the other foxes that were standing around. "So why do you?" As the girl seemed oddly defiant about this, her attention was then turned back as two more of the new human group she met started to appear. 

 

 

"What. The funk. Is going on here." Alois was very clearly unhappy with what was going on. There was clearly chaos going on and it seemed that, somehow, the group had found their way into a full on fight with the foxes. Or something like that? The whole scene itself was something that Alois couldn't really make sense of, but seeing the people around who had been hurt, it was clear that there was a fury to him now. Looking at the fox escort, as if asking him to explain himself, Alois looked back to the usually flower faced knight as he began to declare that he was going to see the younger of the princesses, the boy shouted out after, "you heard the man. We're coming through!" With that, Alois walked alongside the knight, ready to shove aside anything that got in their way. 

[Hakima]

The fox Link was facing off with swiped at him half-heartedly, and with his shield in tatters, the soldier had to make a choice; dodge the attack and let the beast past him—which with both princesses now at his back, was not an option at all—or take the blow and do his best to minimize the damage. His sword hung low to his left, meaning he didn’t have the time to catch the claws, so instead, the soldier raised his right arm up to intercept.

 

The sound of fabric tearing, a dull stinging pain, the warmth of fresh blood spilling onto his forearm. It almost didn’t even register.

 

If the fox’s claws had been a man’s blade, and had the attack had killing intent behind it, the blade would have lodged itself in the bone in his arm and been stuck. Link foggily remembered Marianne referring to the specific bone in question as the ulna? It was fuzzy. The point of the tactic was to provide yourself in an opening to kill your opponent while they tried to free their weapon, at the cost of a nearly useless limb.

 

He had used it before. He had the scar on his arm—plus the ache in his bones on cold days, that no one had even bothered to tell him would come with it—to prove the validity of it. It had worked then, so why hadn’t it worked this time?

 

Oh, yes. Claws, not swords. Giant foxes, not Pontic soldiers. Link blinked a few times to clear his head. He felt lightheaded, and were anyone to look in his direction, they would notice that he was so incredibly pale that he already looked to be among the dead. The blues and greens of the veins beneath his skin were prominent and clearly visible on his neck and wrists.

 

Link bit down on the inside of his cheek as hard as he could. The pain grounded him slightly, gave him enough mental capacity to at least survey his surroundings. Gunther and Alois! They were being escorted by a fox, it seemed. Had they been captured? How? What were they even doing near the fox village?

 

They were shouting something, but Link couldn’t make out what it was over the pounding in his ear. What was that? Who was playing drums? In a better state of mind the soldier would have realized that the noise was not a drum, but the pounding of his own heart, trying desperately to pump blood it didn’t have to the rest of his body in a bid to replace what it had lost.

 

One of the foxes approached him. They held something out, said something to him. Link narrowed his eyes and pulled back his lips in an unspoken threat, displaying his canines to the Protean. His teeth were bloodstained by what he had hacked up, and his eyes were wild.

 

If the protean stepped no closer, Link would do nothing, but were any to approach him—friend or foe, it didn’t matter because he couldn’t tell the difference anymore—he would lash out with a skill that shouldn’t have been possible in his state.

 

The only thing the Galtean knew at that moment was his two charges were behind him, and no matter what, it was his job to protect them.

 

(He moved directly forward three squares and is standing there.)

[Sethera]

Shiro shook his head. "No, I should be there as well," He said, before gently laying Glenn down and turning to look at Aka. "Watch over him, and make sure he doesn't get into more trouble," He asked gently. "I'm trusting you," he said before he turned to get into position with the others.

 

"Wait!" Aka stopped him before he could fully join them. "If you will not go accompanied, then at least take this." She handed him a concoction. "It should help you if you get injured," she added.

 

She walked back to Glenn, looking down in embarrassment. "It should help you if you get injured?" she muttered to herself angrily. "Of course he would know that, now it sounds like I don't think he knows anything. Stupid, stupid Aka," She huffed in exasperation, before settling herself on the ground next to the frog squire. I will watch over Glenn with my life, she thought. It's the least I can do as a fellow frog warrior.

 

--

 

 

"What is the meaning of this?" a voice called out. Catriona recognized that voice. It was Gunther, praise be.

 

"What. The funk. Is going on here." And that was Alois.

 

"Whatever conflict may have occurred must stop now. There are injured here who need to be attended to." The knight reached Edrick and gave the young man a confused glance, but continued forward. "I am going to attend to my Lady, and no one is going to stop me!" his voice started to waver near the end.

 

The fighter shouted out after, "you heard the man. We're coming through!" With that, Alois walked alongside the knight, ready to shove aside anything that got in their way.

 

"Hey, hey wait, wait, youse two!" the guard ran after them, but was stopped by Gamboge. "Wh-what is the meanin' o' dis, Gamboge?" he asked.

 

"It's fine, rather, if you could watch the area and make sure nobody tries to attack and worsen the situation, that would be good," the fox soothed.

 

"All righ', I reckon I can do that, 'least," the guard straightened and attempted to look threatening as he scanned the surroundings. However, he did not think to look up on the roofs.

 

Meanwhile, the two's march went unimpeded. There were a couple foxes that looked as if they considered stopping them, but one look from Gamboge and they quieted down, though they remained in their transformed state, and looked to be following Persimmon's lead. Who did not even notice the duo, distracted as he was with the strange bow thief next to him.

 

"But we're not lying! We don't want to eat you, and you shouldn't want to eat us. It's as simple as that. See, I don't want to bite you. He doesn't want to bite you." Tsetseg pointed to the Pontic boy. "They don't want to bite us." She pointed to the other foxes that were standing around. "So why do you?"

 

Persimmon stared at the girl, the curled lip lowering, tail swishing from side to side curiously. He cocked his head. "If you do not want to...bite us, then why do you attack?" he asked. "We just wish to be left alone, yet constantly, you humans encroach on our lands, stealing from us, attacking us," he started to mumble in agitation. "I became a warrior so that I might stop you from doing so, and yet you claim to be innocent?" He had stopped attacking, but he still seemed ready to fight at a moment's notice.

 

His brother sighed as he looked at another, just as aggressive person. Teeth bared and backing away cagily, Link looked the image of a cornered animal. Or cornered wolf, something about the man brought to mind a wolf, dangerous animal that. The fox looked at Edrick, hoping that the lancer would be able to knock some sense into his companion. "Here, would you give this to him?" he handed the concoction to the boy. "He won't listen to me, so perhaps you'll have better luck."

 

Catriona, meanwhile, had moved up the stairs, lifting Penelope and setting her down with surprising gentleness. Only for the soft look to melt from her eyes, replaced by cold fury as she glared at Rufus. "Out of the--" she paused, remembering who she was talking to, and the girl's relation to the fox in front of her. "He dared to harm my sister," she snapped finally, lifting her sword threateningly. "For that, he must pay."

 

Rufus, meanwhile, looked the very image of helplessness at the moment. "Sienna..." he mumbled pitifully. "Why...?" The fox chieftain's eyes flashed between blue and green, before finally, with a shudder, he seemed to lose all of his energy, eyes fading to their normal lime green before rolling back in his head as he lost consciousness, reverting to his humanoid form in the process.

 

At that, the lord lowered her sword in confusion. "What madness is this?" she demanded in bewilderment.

 

Right afterward, a shockwave would hit all of the Proteans, a wash of power followed by a blinding headache. A few frogs fell from their positions, clutching their heads in pain, and attracting the attention of the human beings present.

 

"Curses," the Frog Sage muttered after he recovered from his spell of pain, "The foxes must have sensed us! We must regain the advantage! Attack!" The sneak attack had not gone nearly as well as the Frog Sage had hoped for. Odd...the foxes look like they were also affected. He hesitated at that. If that's the case, then it could be that...they were not behind the attacks. But it is a little late for such thoughts now. I must look to my people. Shaking his head, the sage transformed into his own frog form. He would not fight, but he would direct the frogs under him so that they would finish this battle as soon as possible, and perhaps get some answers from Chief Rufus himself. The foxes had a lot to answer for, after all.

 

The frogs, still recovering from their headaches, had not moved yet, though the ones who hadn't revealed themselves yet dropped from their positions on the rooftops, legs coiling underneath them as they prepared to strike. Elsewhere, yet more frogs were moving to attack the village.

 

Shiro would find himself faced with a dopey-looking fox. "Hey, hey," he said, waving a fist threateningly, "Go away, yer not s'posed ta be here, okay?" He looked around. "Gamboge asked me ta watch da area, so dat's what I'm doin'."

 

OOC: Read the Status Report

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Penelope had yet to regain herself from the shock of the attack. However somewhere in her mind she was aware of someone gently moving her. She clung to that. Both figuratively and literally. She held onto...whoever it was. Her grip was yet weak. She was only barely in this world at the moment. But she at least was able to do that much.

---

 

Gunther was thankful that he had managed to make it through the...were they a pack? The pack of foxes. Though he was fairly sure it was mostly due to Alois's presence. More so than his own at least. He gave the Fighter a nod. "Thank you, I wasn't sure it would be that easy."

 

Before he advanced more he noticed...Link was also nearby. And he looked close to death. "What in the world happened to you Link?...Stand down, cease, whatever I need to say to get you to stop. You're in no shape to continue and...it seems the fighting has stopped."

 

...Or so he had hoped. After the Proteans experienced...some kind of attack, the frogs sprung into action. Though it seemed they weren't entirely recovered. Gunther knew that he had to get to Penelope but he also couldn't just ignore this. "Wait!" He called out towards them. "Look around you, none of you should be fighting right now. Did you not see what just happened? Something is terribly wrong and both sides are clearly in danger!" That being said he, keeping his eyes on the foxes and frogs who were behind him, Gunther began to make his way towards where Penelope and Catriona were.

[spoiler=OOC]So uh...imma let you decide how far Gunther can go backwards, Sethera, unsure how many spaces I should be moving him.

 

[Hakima]

---

---

Link leveled his sword at the approaching Knight, instinctively, but he allowed it to sag slightly when the man began to speak. He had been given a direct order from someone who—whether he knew it or not—outranked him by leaps and bounds. His sense of duty briefly clashed with his sense of self-preservation, and then, duty won out.

 

“... Gunther.” It would be the first time the Knight had heard the soldier speak his name since their meeting at at the library. His voice was every bit as raspy and dry as before, but it was weaker than it had been when the two had first met. Link tilted his head up so that his ghostly blue eyes captured the younger man’s. “She’ll be in shock. Keep her breathing steady. Catriona will…” He took a deep, wet breath. “Catriona will be able to tell you what to do from there. Keep them safe.”

 

Link turned back to face the foxes after that, allowing Gunther to pass him by. His eyelids felt heavy, drooping, and his knees threatened to buckle beneath his weight. The drums banged relentlessly in his ears. Link wanted nothing more than to allow unconsciousness sweet embrace to take him, but no, they needed him awake for a little longer yet.

 

They were still just children, greener than his tunic (which was actually currently rather red), and the town was slowly beginning to resemble a war zone. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, leave them to brave such things while he took a nap.

 

Link kept his watch at the bottom of the stairs, eyeing the foxes and frogs, now leaning on his sword like a cane to support his weight. He wasn’t the diplomat, the tactician, or the politician; he couldn’t solve this mystery for them. What he was, though, was a soldier. That meant his job was to take their battles, to fight their wars, and by all the Spirits in the afterlife he would at least do that.

 

---

[Yui]

---

"You...dare..."

 

The protean's jaws were wide open, ready to attack Azar. She was not afraid. She was even less afraid after Sienna had rather literally jumped into the fray, landing on Rufus's back, and apparently serving as a distraction for the fox chieftain.

 

"Wha...Sienna...why?!"

 

"What madness is this?"

 

"That's what I'd like to know." Azar had questions - for both sides of this conflict - and she wanted answers. Why was Rufus suddenly taking everyone for traitors? Who was "her"? And this group she'd landed with, how did they tie into all this? It was only a gut feeling, but something told Azar there was something more going on here than just "adventurers happen to stumble into troubled protean politics". There wasn't really any time to get any answers out of either party though, before Rufus slipped into unconsciousness, and numerous frog proteans jumped down into the village.

 

Oh boy.

 

"Hey, sword girl," Azar said. Gesturing to the unconscious Rufus, she said "Don't let him get far, and definitely don't let him get into even more trouble. Looks like we've got company."

 

With that, Azar headed down the hill, grouping up with the other people she loosely recognized as belonging to this ragtag group of adventurers. "Hey, you lot." Gesturing around to the frog proteans, the shaman said "I hope you like fighting. We've got company, and I doubt they're here for fine cuisine."

---

[spoiler=OOC]Azar just moved three tiles down and talked with Alois and Link. Nothing amazing.

 

[Wind Rider]

Sienna's leap onto her father's back seemed to have a significant effect as he completely stopped retaliating. "Sienna..." he mumbled pitifully. "Why...?"

 

Sienna looked sadly into her father's eyes and was interested in the fact that his eyes kept flashing between his normal green color and a strange blue color. She was slightly curious over this fact, but shook it away as Rufus fell unconscious. She got off her father's back and changed back to her humanoid form as he did. "What happened to you, father?" she mumbled quietly to herself.

 

Suddenly, without warning, a sharp pain shot through Sienna's head, just like from last night. Everyone one of the foxes felt the effects too, including the frogs who had dropped down from the rooftops. Wait... Frogs!?!

 

Once the headaches faded away, Sienna looked up from holding her head to see the frogs hopping down from the rooftops, they all looked ready to attack. No no no, this was bad, especially considering that the headaches seemed to have hurt the foxes more than the frogs.

 

Sienna ran down the stairs and stopped at the very bottom. "No, stop! This is all a misunderstanding! Don't attack, please!!" she called out to the frogs.

[King K. Azo]

"Wait!" Aka stopped him before he could fully join them. "If you will not go accompanied, then at least take this." She handed him a concoction. "It should help you if you get injured," she added. 

Shiro nodded as he took the concoction and slipped it into a pouch. "Thank you," He said before he ran off to join the others. It didn't take long, but as soon as he got there, that accursed headache overcame him and he fell to the ground, rolling as he held his head. What was with these accursed headaches? It took a bit, but the pain subsided, and he stood up, looking ahead. He needed to get going. He took a step forward until suddenly he was faced with a dopey-looking fox.

 

"Hey, hey," he said, waving a fist threateningly, "Go away, yer not s'posed ta be here, okay?" He looked around. "Gamboge asked me ta watch da area, so dat's what I'm doin'." Shiro thought to himself. He didn't have time to mess with this fox, the others could need him... however, he couldn't let this thing wander by himself.

 

"Well, I'm not supposed to be here...," he said, his mind racing to figure out a solution. Something clicked in his mind suddenly, something that might help. "I'm not supposed to be here, but neither are you," He said as he held his arms up. "Can you stand it? Staying here, watching the area while your friends fight with all they have to protect your leader and his precious daughter?" he had no idea if this would work, but if he could get this fox to disobey his leader's orders, it might cause some confusion among the foxes, one they could capitalize on. At the very least, if this fox wasn't here, it could be used as an escape route. "What if someone got hurt because you weren't there? You're not supposed to be here. You need to go, make sure everyone is okay!"

What was he doing?

[Alaina]

 

As the fox made his claim, Tsetseg's faced filled with agitation of her own as she said, "that is not true! Sure, there might be some mean bandit people that wander around here and do bad things but I won't let you bad mouth Urvan and the rest of the patrol! We're full of humans who would never cause harm to you fluffy tailed people, the croaky ones, or even the poofy ones! They fight so much to keep your home safe, and I will not let you say that they would bully you like that!" Stomping her foot down, without fear and getting into the foxes's face she looked him dead in the eyes with a surprising amount of resolution in them. "My tribe back home has to deal with other tribes of bandits and mean people trying to steal our stuff and hurt our family. But we don't think everyone in Locris is like that. We don't train to fight every person we see, only the ones that hurt our friends and family! You should be the same, but you hurt my friends first!" 

 

 

As Alois had made his way through the field with his knight comrade at his side, the boy looked warily looked towards Link. It was clear that the man had seen better days, and he was pretty sure that he wasn't even supposed to be standing at this point. All the same, the boy continued to walk forward as the knight said his piece to the red green guy, the irritation across his face becoming clearer and clearer as he moved forward. As the group finally made their way up to the top, the boy bit down on his lip as he saw the bleeding form of Penelope's unconscious body. His gaze turning more into a glare as he looked every which way, at both the members of his party he let go scouting and all the foxes, Alois could feel the pressure rising, feeling like he had something to say but was partially holding himself back...until the frogs fell out from the trees. 

 

The foxes were startled. The humans were startled. The frogs were startled. Things seemed to be reaching a point where both sides would strike against each other, as the Frog Sage himself called for an attack as the rest of the frogs were beginning to recover from whatever headache they had all received. He could barely here what Gunther or Sienna were saying right now, though it seemed they wanted to avoid conflict. He looked to Cat who seemed confused. The boy opened his mouth, about to say something, as the Isaurian they had met not two days ago walk over to them and say that things were about to come to blows .With a look of pure anger directed towards her, Alois snapped, "oh shut the funk up Azar!" 

 

Shouting out, "all of you just shut the funk up! You want to fight so bad huh!? All of you that blood thirsty to get to killing? Then come on! Look at your cunning, devilish and evil adversaries just doubled over in pain on the ground! Helpless! Probably the best time to kill one another really! That sound fun!? Sound like something you all want to do?!" After a brief pause, catching his breath after yelling so much, he continued to shout out, "so come on! You want to act like savages or like actual funking people and shout your problems at one another!?" Looking over to the Frog Sage he shouted, "You! Sage! Walk your ass over here before I make old age not the only thing you have to worry about!" Looking at the black haired fox who had been standing at the top of the hill, he shouted, "you! I don't know who the funk's in charge here but do you have a good enough head on your shoulder to not chomp another person's off? Then come on!" He gestured for her to come over. 

[Asriel Dreemurr]

Things were looking up for them. The foxes had seemingly decided not to fight, at least most of them, and Persimmon, though ready, had stopped attacking for the time being. All in all it was looking like the situation would be turning out in their favor. Gunther and Alois had even made themselves known, and were rejoining the group. Everyone was back together, and now they could actually start discussing a plan of...wait. If Gunther and Alois were here then-

 

As if on cue with his realization, the Proteans around him were suddenly overcome by something, clutching their heads and bowing over. Several Frogs too fell out of their hiding places, and when the pain seemingly passed they stood up in fighting stances, seemingly ready to jump into the fray. On the bright side, if there was ever a time to diffuse this entire situation then right now was the time. Still, there was the matter of the concoction he had been given just moments ago, and the need to tend to their wounded party member. He certainly was not looking very good to be sure. The only good thing about his condition was that he had been conscious enough to speak to Gunther. Slowly, carefully, he stepped over and raised the concoction up under Link's chin. The hope was that the obviously medicinal smell would catch his attention and the man would think to take it of his own accord. The others, it seemed, had finally decided that fighting was not in fact the right answer. Except for Tsegtseg, who had seemed to be against fighting from the start. Gunther tried to get them to see reason, as did Alois though in a much more aggressive way. Even Azar was...sort of on board with it. At least she was talking to the foxes instead of magic-punching them. On the subject of speaking, once things had gone quiet Edrick turned towards who he assumed was the Frog Sage and cleared his throat.

 

"Your excellency," he was not actually sure what the appropriate honorific was, but that was what they called Bishops and such back home. The Frog Sage was...sort of a Bishop. He guessed. "This looks a lot worse than it is...except for Link, he's as bad as he looks. Uh, the point is: we weren't captured. We came here, the Foxes said they'd made a mistake about why we were here, and they reunited us and our friends. We stayed because they asked us to, not because they tied us up and threw us in a cage or anything. With the uh...bandiţi problem and my suggestion to deal with it, it made sense for us to stay. I'm sorry we couldn't get word back to you about the plan changing." If nothing else, he hoped that explanation could get the Frogs to stand down. He also hoped that he wasn't in eminent danger of losing his arm on Link's account. Not that there was anything to be done about that.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Ugh, what can I even do now...?"

 

Ciela was still frozen in her place as she was unsure on what to do. The development of the situation was even weirder than what she usually expected from this group. It seemed that a mass wave of chronic headache had struck the Proteans just as the frogs arrived on the scene, and even Rufus was knocked unconscious. It made Ciela tempted to rush forward so she could heal the ones needing it, but with Rufus blocking the way for her to go down, it's a really risky venture.

 

However, she did was curious on what was up with Rufus. It's strange that he suddenly dropped like that, and while it's something too risky for her to check, it piqued her interest. In the end, Ciela had Remy move forward, hoping to find a way to go down while also checking out on Rufus. She was too confused on what was even going on to be angry right now since she's stuck in her corner for a while, and now Alois over there was already yelling out loud about something. Wait, when did he and Gunther even arrive anyway?

---

[Sethera]

 

This situation was too far from what Catriona was used to. Eyes changing color, personality shifts, and headaches that affected all but human beings. What was going on?

 

"That's what I'd like to know." Azar seemed to feel the same as her. "Hey, sword girl," she said. Gesturing to the unconscious Rufus, she said "Don't let him get far, and definitely don't let him get into even more trouble. Looks like we've got company."

 

The swordswoman nodded in reply, taking the shaman's words seriously. She would guard the fox and make sure he did not do anything too bad. However, she did step aside once Remy made his way down the stairs gingerly, Ciela atop him. While the princess was not an expert in horseflesh, it was obvious at a glance that Remy was a magnificent destrier, one worth his weight in gold.

 

While Ciela glanced at Rufus as she walked around him it was clear that her main goal was Penelope. Catriona gently relocated Penelope a step lower so the healer could work on her, before turning her attention to Rufus once more. The fox chieftain was still unconscious, the steady rise and fall of his chest attesting to that. However...she could not help but feel wary of him. Of the damage he could do, and had already done. He had injured Penelope, and could have killed her. And she, Catriona, would not have been able to stop him.

 

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, her form starting to shake. No, she could not fall apart here. This place was still a battlefield.

 

"Wait! Look around you, none of you should be fighting right now. Did you not see what just happened? Something is terribly wrong and both sides are clearly in danger!"

 

Meanwhile, down below, Gunther had gained both sides' attention with his words. While his voice was normally soft, here, it was raised in agitation. Having been asked by Link to take care of the princess, he began to move forward, till he reached the base of the stairs going uphill. Soon after, Penelope was placed nearby.

 

At the same time, Sienna detransformed and ran downhill, "No, stop! This is all a misunderstanding! Don't attack, please!!" she called out to the frogs.

 

However, the frogs, intent on their goal and in pain, had little patience for listening, especially to a fox. They moved forward, a couple even close to engaging some of the foxes. Surprisingly, the foxes did not fight back, even the transformed ones, reverting back to their humanoid forms, though the headaches that plagued them might have explained it. Persimmon, in particular, was a shock, but it seemed that Tsetseg's heartfelt words and fierce honesty had reached him. "I..." he muttered in his human form, jaw clenched in pain. "I will see...whether you spit lies or speak truths, human," he muttered.

 

The fox Shiro faced looked confused over the frog's words. "Well, I'm not supposed to be here...I'm not supposed to be here, but neither are you. Can you stand it? Staying here, watching the area while your friends fight with all they have to protect your leader and his precious daughter? What if someone got hurt because you weren't there? You're not supposed to be here. You need to go, make sure everyone is okay!"

 

"Yer righ'!" he shouted suddenly, as if hit by an epiphany. "Ah can't just sid 'ere an' do nuffin', I gotta go!" he raced off toward the entrance, where he had last seen his fellow guard. What if his friend got hurt while he was sitting here chatting with a frog? No, he had to help!

 

Soon after he left, Alois exploded.

 

"All of you just shut the funk up! You want to fight so bad huh!? All of you that blood thirsty to get to killing? Then come on! Look at your cunning, devilish and evil adversaries just doubled over in pain on the ground! Helpless! Probably the best time to kill one another really! That sound fun!? Sound like something you all want to do?!" After a brief pause, catching his breath after yelling so much, he continued to shout out, "so come on! You want to act like savages or like actual funking people and shout your problems at one another!?" Looking over to the Frog Sage he shouted, "You! Sage! Walk your ass over here before I make old age not the only thing you have to worry about!" Looking at the black haired fox who had been standing at the top of the hill, he shouted, "you! I don't know who the funk's in charge here but do you have a good enough head on your shoulder to not chomp another person's off? Then come on!" He gestured for her to come over.

 

The area went dead quiet. The frogs, some of which had started to attack the foxes, stopped in their tracks. Even the ones the fighter had addressed directly remained quiet, still processing his words and tone.

 

Edrick, who had walked up to Link by now and waved the concoction under his nose, capitalized on the silence to say some words of his own. "Your excellency," he addressed the Frog Sage, "This looks a lot worse than it is...except for Link, he's as bad as he looks. Uh, the point is: we weren't captured. We came here, the Foxes said they'd made a mistake about why we were here, and they reunited us and our friends. We stayed because they asked us to, not because they tied us up and threw us in a cage or anything. With the uh...bandiţi problem and my suggestion to deal with it, it made sense for us to stay. I'm sorry we couldn't get word back to you about the plan changing."

 

The Frog Sage hummed, hopping forward at a torturously slow pace, until he finally came to a stop near the group. "Ho," he began, face furrowed in thought. "So you believe that threats will work to force us into peace? Tsk tsk," he shook his head. "Much you have to learn, young one," he said. He turned to Edrick, "At least you know how to frame your words. And in a much clearer manner. Emotional outbursts are not the most convincing of arguments." He then gave a single large croak and de-transformed, along with the rest of the frogs. "However, there is a grain of sense in your words, and your friend's explanation is sound, so I will stop the attack for now."

 

At that, Licorice came down as well, casting Penelope a concerned glance as she passed. However, her expression turned warier the closer she walked toward the sage, until she stood in front of him.

 

"Oh," the Frog Sage said, his pleasant smile turning into a frown. "What an honor, the Black Fang herself."

 

The air seemed to tense at that, before Licorice broke the silence, tone flat. "You flatter me."

 

"Do I? You are, after all, Rufus's deputy, and the best fighter in the village, even more so than the chieftain himself," while the words seemed praising, his expression was devoid of any such sentiment. "That was made quite apparent against those bandits."

 

The black fox said nothing, but her eyes grew cold. "They had plenty of time to repent their actions before they pillaged at will."

 

"Oh I agree, but wouldn't you say that's more of a froggish sentiment than a fox's? Perhaps I am growing forgetful in my old age, but I seem to recall Inari's teaching having to do more with forgiveness than judgment."

 

At that, anger bled into the fox's eyes. "Things change, people change."

 

"Perhaps so. But ah, I let myself get distracted. No, we come here to talk of peace, do we not?"

 

"Yes," Licorice regained control of herself with frightening speed. "We did, and we will. From what it sounds like, there is a misunderstanding of sorts."

 

"Yes, I take it you are not the culprit of the headaches we have been receiving, then?"

 

"No," the black fox shook her head. "As you can see, you are not alone in this. Perhaps it is something that affects Proteans only?"

 

"That would be what that implies," the Sage mused. "I wonder why human beings are unaffected?"

 

"Perhaps they cannot sense it?" Licorice guessed.

 

"Or it could be that we are being specifically targeted. You never did have a satisfying answer for why a white fox was found over Cyrus's body, with wounds obviously belonging to it."

 

"There is nothing to say beyond what was already said. We did not do that."

 

"Words are easily said, yet truth not so easily."

 

The two glared at each other.

 

--

 

"Urvan," a voice broke the silence. "Look."

 

A familiar-looking warrior frowned, glancing at the bandit hideout he and a couple others were investigating. "So...nobody's home," he muttered.

 

"What do you think this means?" Erwin, one of the two nearby, asked.

 

"It means they're on the move, but we don't know what for," the man muttered. "We will have to deal with that later, however. For now, Hange, did your scouts find out anything about our captive friends?"

 

"Yes," the person nodded seriously. "Last they saw, they were in the middle of a fight, though it looked to be winding down to peace talks."

 

"Well, that's one piece of good news today," the axe wielder sighed, letting his axe stand against the ground. "Our backup still hasn't come, so we'd be hard-pressed to pry them out of the village with our numbers."

 

"Also, the frogs have staged an attack."

 

"What?!" the man jumped. "Ugh, let's move out, then. We don't need a bloodbath on our hands." He shook his head, groaning. "I really bungled this task, didn't I?"

 

"It's not your fault," Erwin said, eyes alert as he trotted alongside him. "We did not account for a snake, after all."

 

"Yes, and we still don't know who sang," the brunet muttered. "It could be anybody from the city, or even one of us, though I find the latter beggars belief."

 

"It could even be multiple someones," the blond supplied.

 

"Yes, which means we're just going in circles here. It's probably best to just focus on the task--on escorting the group safely through this region. It'll be easier once we get our backup." The warrior glanced at the sky. "Dragonspeed, Adel," he muttered. "We need your wings right about now."

 

OOC: Status Report

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

It...worked? Granted this was likely due to Alois's rather impassioned speech. They were certainly lucky to have him with them on this journey. Gunther found himself wishing that Alois had been with when he was training with the knights. Whatever the case the attacking had stopped for now and Gunther was able to reach Penelope.

 

Seeing her like this...Gunther felt his stomach twist in a knot as he knelt beside her. He knew wounds. That was one thing he made sure to learn. This one looked painful but not deadly. Her reaction was likely due to her not being hurt much before. And Gunther hated himself for letting her get hurt in the first place. Had he been here with her this wouldn't have happened. His only use was acting as a shield to the princesses and...No he had to focus.

 

He attempted to do as Link had suggested. Making sure she was breathing correctly. Catriona was nearby. As was Ciela. "Please, hurry, heal her...and...and Link too, both are...how did this happen?" He asked the girl.

 

Gunther glanced over at Catriona who was standing by the unconscious fox. The chief from what it sounded like. He was glad that, even with their chief unconscious, the foxes were willing to talk peace.

 

Though...that didn't seem to be going so well. "Catriona." Gunther said with some hesitation. She seemed so...focused. "Someone should...mediate between those two lest this start up again. Usually it would be Penelope but..." his eyes drifted back to the girl and he fell silent.

[Alaina]

 

After having made his point in what could only be described as the most eloquent displays of diplomacy, Alois took a few deep breaths to rest his throat. Though he had gotten the two parties to not break out into immediate physical hostilities, there still seemed to be a lot of work to be had before they could reach any sort of peaceful resolution. As the flower faced knight made his comment about needing a mediator for this conversation, the usual cocky smirk appeared on Alois's face as he had managed to outwardly calm himself. "Don't you worry about that. I'm on the case for that. Also," he looked towards Eddy, before sighing and saying, "put a shirt on man, come on." With that, Alois walked after Licorice, joining the conversation between her and the frog Sage.

 

It was very evident from the get go that there was some kind of bad blood between the two, as the air seemed to be just as tense as when everyone was gearing up to kill each other. "Well, I can see how things got to this point," the boy said towards the duo. Regardless, he continued, "alright both of you, let's calm down here for a second. Now let's ask ourselves, why would either side lie when the alternative is war?" Turning to the Frog Sage he said, "so let's assume that it wasn't one of their foxes that did it." He then turned to Licorice. "But let's also assume that a fox did do it." He then looked between the two and said, "now this might sound weird, but if that's the case, then there's at least one conclusion that we can draw from this." Turning towards Sienna he pointed to her saying, "see, that girl over there. For the past...week?" He couldn't really remember how long she had been with them but continued saying, "for the past week or so, she had been traveling with us. Which means, for the past week or so, there was a fox that didn't live in this village, hell even this forest. So you see what I'm getting at here?"

 

After making his point, the gray haired girl that he barely recognized shot her hand up, saying, "oh, oh, oh," she proceeded to point to herself as if she were saying, "pick me, pick me." 

 

With a confused look on his face, Alois said, "yes?" 

 

The girl seemed to have a joyous expression on her face before saying, "well, I was wondering if the croaky ones had anything important stolen from them." The boy raised a curious eyebrow at the girl, but, wasn't exactly sure what to make of her question. Or the girl herself as she seemed to be trying to pet the tail of the fox she had been an argument with not a few second ago.  

[Yui]

---

"Oh shut the funk up Azar! All of you just shut the funk up! You want to fight so bad huh!? All of you that blood thirsty to get to killing? Then come on! Look at your cunning, devilish and evil adversaries just doubled over in pain on the ground! Helpless! Probably the best time to kill one another really! That sound fun!? Sound like something you all want to do?!"

 

Azar was all ready to tell this boy off. This Protean situation was far from being her problem, yet she was suddenly expected to try and help make peace alongside these people she'd only just met a couple days ago. She hardly knew anything about them besides their names, and even then, she didn't remember all of their names. If she wanted to make peace her way - by fighting for it, something that seemed more effective than just words, because those had done such a good job so far - damn straight she was doing it her way. Part of her wanted to fight him instead, but - peace or no peace - that type of infighting was bound to make things harder for this thrown-together group and, more importantly, for Azar herself.

 

By the time she'd turned her attention away from that other boy's mouth and toward the actual problem though, it seemed Edrick had already talked the frogs down. "Look at that, loverboy was right," the shaman muttered to herself. With any luck, he'll understand that this shouldn't be how this would unfold if these were humans like us instead of Proteans. Today was the exception, not the rule. They were the ones who wanted to settle this by talking with the frogs, so Azar figured it best to leave the negotiations and mediation between the chieftain and Licorice in their hands. Besides, Azar had something else on her mind.

 

The chieftain of the foxes, Rufus. Whatever he was trying to do by attacking everyone out of nowhere, Azar wanted to get to the bottom of it. There was also the question of who "Her" was. Urvan had also mentioned a "Her" come to think of it, though that could have easily been anyone else. Azar rather doubted that they were talking about the same person. Even so, as Azar made her way back up the hill she'd just descended from, she knew she had one goal in mind.

 

She wanted to talk to Rufus, and get to the bottom of whatever was happening. And if he tried turning hostile on the frogs, she wanted to be right there to stop him before he ruined everything. Up there were both Catriona and Penelope - though the latter didn't seem to be doing so hot, not that Azar blamed her - as well as... what was his name again? She remembered he was the guy that told her all the other names, but somehow she'd forgotten his.

 

"So, it seems like a couple people back down there are helping make peace. I have to admit, aside from the frogs showing up in the first place, this has gone rather smoothly." The shaman cast a glance in Penelope's direction. "And her getting bitten, of course." Azar's attention then turned to Catriona. Nothing was certain so soon after meeting everyone, but she seemed like the leader here. That meant she'd be the perfect person to ask this next question to. "This may sound random, but what exactly is a group that seems randomly thrown together as yourselves trying to accomplish? Something big, I take it, since there are so many of you."