Hello readers! It is I, your host; the Moonfox greets you. When you last left me, I had run into Kiara Alchesy, one of my favorite OCs I ever created. She may visit this section up here at some point, but not for now! No, for now, let's see how my other party members did on their adventures!

Chapter 10: Outings; Tales of Rabanastre

POV: Silver Foxx

[Music theme: Mt. Coronet Dubstep Remix, Glitch City (YouTube)]

After the Sandsea bar, I headed over to the man who asked for the Thextera mark's demise. He sat against the wall by the door of the bar. As Grypinh headed out to deal with some creature called a Flowering Cactoid, I found I had to deal with a mutant wolf creature. Grey Steele, being a part of my mind, emanated a sense of anticipation on hearing that we were to kill a creature. I was glad too; when Grey got bored, I tended to find my psionic powers become more spontaneous and I slowly began to feel less energetic as well.

"Say, what exactly are you, anyway? You don't look like any creature I know." I blinked with surprise. I had not faced this question before, having worn my cloak with the hood up most of the time. Of course, I was fully unprepared for such a question.

"Well, uh- that is to say- uh… I don't know, really." The man, Gatsly he said his name was, looked rather doubtful at that. However, he didn't press further, thankfully. Grey and I then got all the info on the Thextera and beat a hasty retreat to the Westersands where he said it lurked.

Outside the gate, a sandstorm raged in the western desert commonly known as the Westersands. Hanging a left and following the canyon wall, we found the beast I had come for. It was large enough to be ridden on, and really quite a beauty, with fur of all kinds of colors and holding a force of authority few creatures possess. I shook my head sadly, thinking of what a shame it was that such a beautiful creature must die to protect hume trade and commerce.

It is not relevant. The reward is needed by Grypinh to allow him to complete his quest. That is all there is needed to know for me. Grey obviously had no qualms to the killing himself, so I allowed him to take the reins for our shared body. Soon my limbs were moving under his direction, and I was the watcher, much as he was but a few seconds ago. As we approached Thextera, its ears perked up and it whirled around to face us. It growled menacingly at us, and Grey charged, hoping to end it quickly for my sake. For an emotionless program, Grey was really beginning to warm up to others' feelings; perhaps I am also becoming more willing to do what needed to be done, though, and had a larger sense of logic thanks to him…

The beast before us survived Grey's first strike, a psionic blast meant to pierce its heart, and it howled loudly, which was answered by five nearby wolves, which proceeded to leap down into the area and attack us. These wolves had red pelts, indicating they were the worgen from the eastern side of the Nebra River and Mosphoran Highwaste, unusual to this location. They were stronger than normal wolves, though, and in such numbers might actually pose a threat to us, so I immediately joined my force to his and we focused on them to reduce the danger. Two fell to a one-two slash from me, while Grey painted the walls with two more of them using his psionic blasts. The last one growled defiantly, and I ended its life mercifully quick, phasing out of normal eyesight and slicing it to ribbons for an instantaneous death. Grey showed mild surprise (indeed, he was gaining emotions) at such an action from me.

I thought you held an aversion to such violent methods, due to their link to our past.
He was right, I didn't like performing such brutal kills as that, but at least I could console myself with the fact that death was instantaneous and painless. I understand. You do not like it, but it must be done, and so you make it as quick as possible. He had it spot on; though I wished he did not read my idle reflections so openly. They were there; I rather had no choice, since we are of one mind. Enough on our internal conflicts, we had given chase to Thextera, who appeared to be making for an entrance to some cave, perhaps where its den resided.

We reached it right in front of the entrance. It seemed to know that escape was impossible, and so it turned and prepared to face us in a final stand. Before it could as much as snarl, Grey psychically grabbed it, and rushed in, piercing it with our psionic blades through its heart. It gave a final whine before going still for the last time. I felt a lingering sadness yet again that such beauty had to die, but it was as Grey had said; it must be done to help Grypinh on his quest. As we turned to leave though, a sound caught our attention.

It was a high pitched yipping noise. From out of the cave entrance came a little wolf pup. Apparently the Thextera had simply been out hunting for its one pup when we assaulted it and it had rushed back hoping to ensure the safety of its youngling. Feeling pity for having killed its mother, I decided to keep it, to which Grey had no objections. It may actually be of some help to us, should we be able to tame it. That's Grey for you, always thinking logically as to how something may be of some use. We quickly returned to the Sandsea, our new companion at our heels.

POV: Ace Matrix

[Music theme: Prelude, FFX]

I headed for the famous Muthru Bazaar, hoping to find some decent deals there for food and new gear. Why Griffin, uh sorry, Grypinh (yeah, his name didn't change much, kinda sad really), wore that ridiculous trench coat in this heat was beyond me, but I was simply dying in my leather jacket and various other clothing; I needed more outfits to choose from…

On my way down the stairs, I ran across this strange woman who looked like a mad experiment from the Playboy Mansion back at home on Earth. Grypinh said that these were viera, and that I would do well to show them respect since there was no way to tell how old exactly they were. This one looked about 25, and lost as all get out. She sat on the side of the stairs, looking as if she didn't know what to do with herself in this crowd, so I decided to help her out.

"Excuse me, are you lost?" She looked up at me, and I noticed her eyes were an unnerving shade of almost Sith red. Oh, yeah, sorry again, I am a major Star Wars fan, so bear with me if I make references to the series. Anyway, she looks at me with those Sith-like eyes, and tilts her head curiously, as if I were as interesting looking to her as she was to me.

"You seem to be not from this land. Are you?" I was taken aback. No one was supposed to know that Grypinh and I were not of this world. Then I realized that she meant this city. That seemed harmless enough to answer honestly. Good thing, I HATE lying. I suck at it, too.

"No, I'm not from around here. Rather, I'm from a distant land. However, I am decently knowledgeable of this city thanks to an excellent tour guide. Now, what seems to be the problem here? You look lost." I can't believe this, this felt so awkward. She was scantily clad, and I could barely keep eye contact. She seemed unaware of my discomfort, though and explained her situation.

"Well, indeed I am, far traveler. My sister had left the wood to join a hunting clan I hear is based here, and I followed not long after to see things for myself. I have become acquainted with this city's many walks and alleyways, though I do get lost occasionally still. What troubles me most is that I cannot hear the land here; should I be ashamed of that?"

I did not know anything about what she said, but Grypinh mentioned something about them being able to speak with something called 'the Wood' like a sixth sense type of thing, or the Force. "Well, if you are supposed to be able to, then yes, yes you should, I'm afraid. It is always a shame to be unable to use your gifts." She looked at me for a while longer, then looked out at the crowd passing by.

"I see. I will think upon this matter for a bit. Pease, come see me again sometime, I am Ktjn."

"I'll be sure to; glad to be of some help. I am Ace."

"Well, it was pleasant meeting you, Ace. I hope we meet again." She closed her eyes, and made no indication of speaking further. I turned and made my way down the steps. The fact that she wore such scant clothing bothered me still, but at least I was able to help her somehow.

In the bazaar, I found the Clan supplier for Centurio and came up to see his wares. Due to our rank as Rear Guard, whatever that meant, we only had a small selection of items, but I did get to sell some of our loot and use the cash to buy some strange crystals apparently called teleport stones and a few new sets of clothing and food supplies for traveling. On my way back, a man hailed to me and pulled me aside. He appeared to be the man who I saw Silver talking to earlier about some hunt. His name, so he claimed, was Gatsly.

"I saw you and thought you might be hanging with those fox looking guys. Are you?"

I shifted somewhat unconsciously under his gaze and unexpected question. "Yes. Why do you ask?" The man's eyes lit up.

"Ah, yes, one of your friends, the silver haired one, he killed the mark I asked, but I didn't have much to give him at the time. Would you get this to him? I hear it's good to carry these when you hunt a lot of things." He handed me a scroll, but it was blank. "If you take that to any merchant and pay the price he asks for it, it will become a valuable hunter's tool, called a Monograph. It helps you- well, why don't you just figure that out yourself?" I took the scroll, thanked him, and headed for a spot to change out my outfit. I was ROASTING!

Ah, the things my friends do when I'm not looking are none of my concern, but sometimes it's just so interesting! 'Till next time, readers! P. S. yeah my fake name is not much different from my real, please don't comment on that… *glares at those who would comment on it* especially you, you and you; no trolling ok?! BYE!