Author's Note: Hello again, and thanks for reading this far! So the fun bunch has finally assembled, and I have to say, it feels strange writing so many characters at once. I'm so used to roleplays where each person could just write a few detailed paragraphs focusing solely their own character's thoughts and actions, but now there's eight characters to worry about! It's definitely not going to be easy giving everyone character depth, especially if I want to have consistent chapter lengths. There's also the threat of slipping up and accidentally making Gaet into a Mary-Sue(or just a really boring character), and the story needs to stay interesting, and then there's pacing, keeping the cannons in character...yep, this will be a challenge.
Anyways, let me know if I'm doing anything wrong here. Seven cannon characters in one place is pretty tough to work with, so I'm gonna need a bit of help catching mistakes. Well, enjoy!
As always, Tales of Legendia isn't mine.
Gaet gazed in wonder at everything she and Jay passed, surprised to see just how much bigger the world looked from her new perspective. She may have been human before, but now it felt like she was in a town of giants! Oddly enough, the townspeople didn't seem to be alarmed by the Oresoren, either. Maybe they were common on the Legacy.
"Hurry up," Jay said, growing impatient.
"Huh? Oh, right!" She had been staring off towards the fountain plaza where two strange people in white capes were singing and dancing, but quickly ran to catch up to Jay when he called. "Hey, is something going on over there?"
Jay took one glance toward the plaza, sighed, then kept walking, almost eager to distance himself from the commotion. "No, nothing at all. They do this often."
"This seems like a lively town." Up ahead, a house with a beautiful lawn full of flowers caught Gaet's attention, and her tail moved back and fourth happily. She began to wander over to the flowers, but then stopped herself before Jay could get annoyed and go back to hurling death threats. He had been pretty calm for a while now, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "Right, so...are we almost there?"
The boy stopped in front of the very lawn she was just looking at. "Yes, here it is."
"JJ, it's been a while! What's up?" A female voice interrupted. Soon its owner, a girl in all yellow with short brown hair, reached them.
'JJ'? Gaet tilted her head. Do they know each other?
"Norma, do you know if Will is home?" Jay didn't seem the slightest bit bothered by the nickname.
"What, no 'hello'? That hurts, JJ!" Norma pretended to pout for a moment before shaking her head. "Teach left a little while ago to talk to Madame Musette about something. He might be back in—oh, hey! Who's this little guy? He's not one of the scallop brothers."
Gaet stared up at the girl, but folded her ears when Norma called her a guy. "Hey! I'm—"
Sensing an upcoming verbal war that he really didn't want to deal with, Jay cut in. "Actually, that's why we're here. She has amnesia, and I was hoping to talk with you all to find a solution. I'll explain in full when everyone's he—"
"Woah, Oresoren can be girls, too?" Norma stared at the otter with curiosity.
"Why would you think otherwise?" Jay asked calmly.
"Huh, good point." The girl turned to Gaet and held out a hand. "Sorry about that! I'm Norma Beatty, what's your name?"
Gaet looked up at her for a while, then placed her paw on the girl's hand to return the handshake. She didn't even look human, so it was silly to get all offended over that little mistake. "It's alright. My name's...Gaet," she answered hesitantly, still unused to using a name that wasn't even her own. The name earned a confused look from Norma.
"Poppo named her," Jay explained quickly. It only raised more questions, but his answer did explain the strange name's origin.
"What, why? JJ, now you have to tell me what's up!"
"It will be easier to just tell everyone at once."
"Ooooh, fine. C'mon then, let's go find them!" The girl grabbed Jay's wrist and Gaet's paw before they could object, then dragged them away. "C just got back from helping Elsa find herbs, Red should still be at the lighthouse, and Shirl just left to wake Senny up. I'm not sure where they're going, though."
Jay immediately pulled his hand away, but he still followed along nonetheless. "Then we'll start with Senel and Shirley. There's no telling how long it will take to find them if we wait."
"What? Who...?" Gaet looked from Norma to Jay in confusion, just barely stumbling along to keep up with them while her paw was being pulled. There were way too many names for her to keep track of all of a sudden, and the girl's nicknames only added to the confusion.
"You'll meet them soon enough," Jay answered as they walked up to a house.
Norma marched right up to the door and started knocking. "Senny, Shirl! I know you're in the middle of a steamy, passionate, love-filled exchange, but this is important!"
There was a quiet pause before the door opened and a white-haired boy stepped out, followed by a blonde girl with long hair. The former looked annoyed, the latter hid shyly behind him, and both were blushing at Norma's comment. "We were not! What is it, Norma?" The boy asked grumpily.
Hmm? She looks familiar. Gaet stared up at the blonde girl for a while before it hit her. Oh! She looks kind of like those people from my dream! Ferines, I think... Now that she got a good look at her, the girl only needed blue clothes and she would look exactly like them. This definitely wasn't the exact same person from her dream, though. She narrowed her eyes momentarily, but then shook her head. Probably a coincidence. Yeah...
"...t? Gaet?" Jay looked to the Oresoren, who seemed to be staring intently at Shirley. He and the others shared a worried glance while Senel moved to stand in front of the blonde protectively.
"Ow!" Feeling a tug on her ear, Gaet snapped out of it and whirled around to face the culprit. "Norma, what was that for?"
"Are you okay? You've been staring at Shirl for a while now."
"Huh? I was?" Gaet looked around at everyone and bowed her head apologetically. They seemed really on edge now for some reason. "S-sorry. I guess I spaced out."
"Oh, that's alright," Shirley answered in a quiet voice before walking up to the Oresoren. "So you're Gaet?" Apparently Jay had given a brief introduction while she was spacing out. "My name's Shirley Fennes, and this is Sennel Coolidge. It's nice to meet you." She gestured to the white-haired boy, who just narrowed his eyes at Gaet. He was suspicious of her, much like Jay had been earlier, but he seemed just slightly less bloodthirsty about it. Regardless, it seemed she had gotten off to a bad start with this group.
"Nice to meet you, too. I'm really sorry about that," Gaet answered, relieved to see that the others were relaxing a bit more.
"Don't worry about it! You're probably just tired," Shirley insisted with a friendly smile.
Gaet could already tell that this girl and Norma were going to be much easier to get along with than Senel and Jay.
"Since that's all settled, let's go get C and Red!" Norma excitedly pulled the Oresoren away while the rest of the group went after her.
"She's certainly eager to hear your story, Gaet," Jay observed as they neared the hospital.
"Y-yeah..."
When they entered the building, there was a man and a girl with brown hair sitting at a counter with a black-haired girl dressed in dark blue. The three of them seemed to be hard at work sorting herbs, and the girl dressed in blue suddenly hesitated a bit.
The brown-haired girl looked up at her. "Chloe, that herb goes over there."
"O-oh, right. I'm still not used to this. Thanks, Elsa." Chloe adjusted her hat before returning to her work.
It wasn't until the man sitting with them looked up that the two girls noticed the newcomers. Elsa's face lit up at the sight of the cute little Oresoren, but Chloe spoke up before the girl could say anything. "Jay?" She seemed a bit surprised that most of the group was gathered, especially since Jay didn't visit often unless something was wrong. "What is it?"
"We need to talk about something. Jay says he'll explain when everyone's together," Senel answered.
Chloe glanced briefly at Gaet, then nodded and turned to the man at the counter. "Alcott, I'll have to go for now. Elsa, take care." With that, she stood up and joined the group, no questions asked. Clearly this was something important, so she didn't want to waste any time. "Let's get going, then. We'll talk on the way."
"Alright, now we just need to find Red and wait for Teach to come back!" Norma marched on ahead while everyone struggled to keep up.
"I've never seen you before. What's your name?" While they walked, Chloe looked down to greet the Oresoren. It only took a few seconds of looking at the little otter before the serious expression on her face faded.
"Gaet," she answered, starting to get used to her temporary name after having to introduce herself so often. Luckily it looked like this girl wasn't going to be all suspicious of her. "And you?"
"Chloe Valens. So, why are you here?"
"I brought her." Jay, who had been quiet up until now, answered before Gaet had the chance. "It'll be a long story, so I plan on waiting until we're all at Will's house."
"I see." Chloe held back the urge to ask more.
"Isn't it frustrating, C? JJ's teasing us by not telling us anything!" Norma called over her shoulder.
"We'll just have to be patient," Chloe responded.
"Fine...Ooh, I know! Scallop girl can tell us."
"Scallop girl?" Gaet repeated, less than pleased with the nickname.
"Oh, c'mon. Gaet's not an easy name to work with, you know. Let's see...how about Mi, then?"
"Why Mi?"
"Oresoren call gaets 'Mighty Ones', so Mi. Short for Mighty One," Norma explained.
"I guess that's a little better—wait, when did this turn into a conversation about nicknames?"
"I give nicknames to everyone I meet. But never mind that, tell us what's up!"
Jay suddenly interrupted Gaet's exchange with Norma. "Gaet. You remember what you promised, right?" He glanced back and Gaet momentarily spotted a menacing glint in the boy's eye.
"R-right. Norma, I think it's better if Jay explains it." She wasn't sure why the boy didn't want her to tell the others, but it wasn't worth finding out the hard way.
"Aww..." Norma whined.
"We won't have to wait that long," Shirley offered, trying to console her. "See? Moses is right up ahead."
"It's about time! Hey, Red, get over here!" The girl immediately became lively again and waved to the red-haired bandit ahead of them.
"Hey Bubbles. Somethin' up?" He reached the group with a puzzled expression. "Oh look, Jay's back! Haven't grown a bit, I see!" At this, the man ruffled Jay's hair.
"Get your hand off me, you stupid bandit!" Jay growled, stepping back to free himself.
"Aww, what kinda greetin' was that?" He grinned.
"It wasn't one, you idiot."
"Oh come on! You been gone so long, and now you come back and yer callin' me an idiot?"
"Cut it out, you two," Senel stepped in between them. "This isn't the time to be messing around."
"Senny, you're starting to sound just like Teach! Soon you're gonna be an old man." Norma teased.
"Don't blame me. Moses started it." Jay cut in.
"Look, you...never mind, whatever." Senel placed a hand on his forehead and gave up saying anything more.
"So, who's this little fella?" Moses pointed to the Oresoren.
"I'm Gaet," she answered. This one seemed...friendly, to say the least. Oh yeah, he must be the one Jay was talking about earlier.
"Hah! Ya don't look like a Gaet, that's fer sure! The name's Moses," he said cheerfully, patting Gaet on the head. "So, what're y'all up to?"
"JJ wanted to tell us something when we all got together," Norma explained before running off. "Now let's get to Teach's house!"
"Norma, hurrying won't make Will get home faster," Chloe called after the girl to no avail. Soon everyone was running to catch up to her.
Exhausted, everyone except Norma fell to the floor when they finally reached Will's house. "Did...did you really have to...sprint the...whole way...there?" Gaet asked between gasps for air. The others recovered quickly, but running on stubby otter feet had taken a lot out of her.
"Yep!" Norma sat down and beckoned for the group to join her. "Now, let's talk while we wait."
With a sigh, everyone complied and moved to sit in a circle.
"So, anyone have something interesting to talk about, since JJ doesn't want to tell us anything?"
After a short conversation about how Chloe's herb-gathering trip went, everyone slowly began to get tired from running around town all morning. Before long, the entire group had fallen into a light nap in front of Will's house.
When the owner of the house approached, he naturally looked confused. "Everyone...and an Oresoren?" Will shook his head and proceeded to smack each of them to wake them up. "What are you doing sleeping on someone's lawn? If this were anyone else's house, they would have called the authorities on you by now!" He lectured.
"Urrgh..." Groaning, Gaet looked up at the man and immediately widened her eyes in surprise. Everyone so far had easily reached twice her height, but this person was like a tower! She looked up at the bespectacled man in orange with a mixture of fear and amazement.
"Will..." Jay sat up and joined the others in rubbing his sore head. "I have something important to tell you all."
"I assume it has something to do with your little friend, here," Will said, already unlocking the front door. "Very well. Come inside, everyone."
"It's about time, Teach!" Norma shouted impatiently.