Felinis: this was already a third away done by noon. I just figured I'd finish it now
As they're leaving Rita is muttering the whole time about her newfound discovery as they travel back to town. "You sure mumble to yourself a lot, don't you?" Raven notes and Rita waves him off.
The ground begins to shake furiously and Karol sees herds of monsters stampede through. "Ack, what? Another monster attack?"
Yuri pulls him down and they all hide behind the root of one of the trees. "Karol, keep your head down!" Yuri scolds when the boy tries to peak over and drags him back down. Estelle points out the Don in the distance holding his sword as he catches his breath with his men. Karol runs after Don calling his name. Don looks down at the kid and looks at all of them. "You all do something?"
"Do something? What do you mean?" Yuri asks as the Don brushes himself off.
"Those savage monsters turned docile as pups and ran off! What did you do?"
"...Yuri, it must be because we stopped the flow of the aer..." Estelle blurt and Yuri is tempted to remind it was Duke who did that.
Karol nods with her. "The monsters turned tame because we stopped the runaway aer!"
The Don rubs his chin. "Runaway aer? Hmmm..."
"Hey, old man. Do you know something?" Rita demands.
"Well my old friend, Belius, used to say something about it."
Karol's eyes get a little wide and starry-eyed. "...So it's true that the Don and Belius are friends..."
"Who is Belius?" Rita asks.
"The Duce who rules the coliseum of Nordopolica." Karol chirps and Yuri's eyes go wide.
"And what's with that runaway aer?" The Don asks and Karol starts to speak, but the man shits him up. "Boy, those are the sort of things you keep to yourself. You don't do deeds like that so other people will notice. You do them so that you can protect your town and your friends."
"I-I'm sorry..." The boy falters with deep embarrassment.
Estelle looks at one of the men who seems covered in scratches and bruises. "Excuse me, could I see him for a moment?" The Don gestures for her to go ahead as she starts casting artes.
The Don squints his eyes. "...Hmm? Ain't that Raven over there?" Yuri sees the old man has vanished and gone into hiding behind a bush. "Quit hidin', you!" Raven jumps out of hiding walking over as slow as he dares. "Our man ain't givin' you trouble, is he?"
"Whaddaya mean, 'trouble'? The reason the monsters got tame was our doing, mine especially!" Raven grins.
Karol leans over to Yuri very much surprised. "Huh? Raven's a member of Altosk!"
"Somehow that seems to be the case." The two men seem to have a banter back and forth and Yuri decides to use this for his own good. He needs to see Belius if what those Krytians in the bar said was true and then there's the aqua blastia. "Don Whitehorse."
The man turns to him gruffly. "What is it?"
"I know we've only just met, but I have something I need to talk to you about."
The man looks closer at Yuri. "What's your name?"
"I'm Yuri. Yuri Lowell."
The Don nods tapping his sword on his shoulder. "Yuri, huh? You must be the leader then?" The Union leader turns quiet and lets out a hum.
"Uh, Don? Still with us?" Raven says when the man still hasn't answered.
"There's been so few lively youngsters lately I was startin' to get bored." Don grins. "If you've got something to say, I'll listen. In exchange, keep me busy for a minute." Yuri will admit he's more than a little eager to get a chance to fight with the Don. He's an impressive man and Yuri wonders just how strong he can be. "Don't disappoint me Kritty boy."
"Don't plan on it Gramps."
Yuri runs for him ready to attack the Don's left side, but the Don pushes him of quickly. Yuri ducks under a large arc of the blade and rolls away. He lets out a few artes and attempts to swing his sword in him. The man is pushed back slightly by the artes, but he shrugs it off with no effort. Damn, this guy is tough!
The Don thrusts his sword down and a great wind pressure blows and Yuri jumps back again. Shit! Yuri stumbles back and in a flaming fury a streak of fire forces him to the ground. Yuri kicks at an opening in the Don's stomach and the flames graze the edge of his skin. He twirls around the man in hopes to get advantage, but the Don man thrusts his blade upward and Yuri barely avoids being cut in the stomach. Suddenly, a fist collides in his face and Yuri looks up to see the Don's blade at his throat. The man sheathes his sword and turns his back walking away. "Damn, I'm not finished yet!"
"That's enough." The man yells and Yuri stops. "It's gonna turn into a real fight if we keep goin'." The man stretches himself with a wide smile. "It's been a while since I've had that much fun. All right, I'll listen to ya now." A man runs up interrupting the Don and whispering in his ear. "Ah, I see. All right you dogs! Time to head out! Sorry 'bout this, but something's come up. We've gotta return to Dahngrest. If ya come by the Union you'll have my ear first chance I get. Hope that's okay."
"If I have your word, that's fine by me."
"Hmph, you didn't hesitate when accepting my challenge. You all would make a good addition to our guild." The Don muses as he leaves. They don't linger in the forest long and the group figures that Altosk must have had some transportation waiting for them because there's little sign of them on the trail back. Rita seems disappointed despite learning an amazing discovery. Yuri thinks it must be related to the fact that the girl clearly doesn't want to part with Estelle because she still hasn't unraveled her mystery nor has the girl worked up the courage to say the two are friends.
When they stop for dinner that night Yuri finds that he can't eat. Karol is so proud of his omelet rice that he thinks should be a guild food staple, but Yuri feels like nauseous when he puts it to his lips. Karol looks at his place with some worry. "Yuri, did I make it wrong or something?"
Yuri smiles. "It's nothing. I'm just not that hungry."
"Really? You've been eating almost as much as a cow and you're not hungry?"
Yuri chuckles awkwardly. "Yeah, I know. But, hey maybe it means all that harmonic stuff Rita mentioned leveled out."
"It's hormones, idiot." Rita yells from her over in her spot next to Estelle.
"I know. Just wanted to see if you'd catch that." Yuri smirks.
Karol takes a bite and looks at Raven who is off on his own. "I'm still not sure if I want to be nice to him yet. He's so fishy."
Yuri nods. "You have no idea." He decides it's best to force in some food so he's not hungry later. "Altosk is a huge guild. I can see why you respect it."
"Altosk is super cool! They fight monsters, they manage the economy, they lead the union, and so much more! Without Altosk I don't think Dahngrest would be half the city it is today." It's obvious the Don is the role model Karol looks up to more than anyone. Yuri can say he admires the boy for having a goal to look up to so soon. Admittedly, Yuri never had a goal in life when he was younger. His life was more focused on survival and trying to not die, but Flynn was the one who said if Yuri hated how things were they could work to change things. Yuri was never someone with real goals, but Karol already has something he wanted and it's admirable.
When the group finally falls asleep Yuri kicks at Raven. "Hey, Old Man!"
Raven groans and sits up. "What da ya want?"
"Answers now! Hanna Quinn. Who was she? Why was she with Lowell?"
Raven just rolls his eyes. "I knew I should have kept my big mouth shut. Kid, ya should let this go. Yer dad's a monster."
Yuri sighs. "No, duh. I know that much. Look, I just want a few answers." Yuri sits next to the man's bedroll. "You seem to know who they are and nobody else has even heard of my mom."
"That's 'cause she was a nobody." Raven mutters. "Just some knight in a backwater town that don't exist no more. I doubt her own family remembers her."
"Then you must have met her."
The man shakes his head. "Nah, there's was an old soul who often wandered in drunk at the Dahngrest bars. Sometimes talked about her and the bastard she ran off with."
"Can I meet him?"
"That man is long dead."
Yuri sighs. "You really aren't going to tell me?"
"There's nothing to tell. You know her name and that she's dead. Ain't that good enough?" Raven huffs turning on his side away from him.
It's not! Yuri wants to know what his mother looked like and the kind of person she was. He sighs and turns away to try and sleep in peace. His head is full of so many thoughts from everything from today. Aer… Craving aer. Dinner seemed flavorless compared to it. Yuri looks at the ground where aer floats by in front of him and he hesitantly takes it in his mouth. It's not as good but, he still finds it delicious. Yuri needs to stop now because this isn't right.
Inhuman
It's inhuman. And, Yuri wants to be human. He needs to be human because he doesn't think he can handle changing anymore. But his eyes… Silver and not just any silver the kind that Flynn describes in his episodes. The kind where his eyes look like animals he stops being aware of anything. Just forget the aer. Yuri just needs focus on staying himself and it will all work out somehow. That's what he hopes anyway…
Felinis: Starting the next arc of events felt like it be jumping events a little too quickly. So I figured one of the camp scene chapters was in order