It was two weeks of sailing before the Crusty Waters made it to Shallow's Isle. During that time, you were quite busy.

Now that you weren't so apathetic about your situation, Freddy was a bit more brutal in your gun and sword training. Ended up with a lot of cuts and burn marks on your hands, but it was par for the course, according to the big orange/brown bear. You still didn't like the idea of having to fight with swords, you kept imagining all the places you can get stabbed by the object and it ends up psyching you out. Gun practice was easier in your opinion.

You also decided on doing your own type of training as well. Mostly just keeping up with your gymnastics and keeping yourself flexible. You may be small in comparison to everyone else, but you'd be damned if you didn't try and make yourself as slippery to catch as you can get. You knew it was a losing battle when you ran away from Captain Moon that one time, but you were determined to give everyone a hard time back then.

You also practiced an old skill of yours, pick pocketing/shop lifting. You haven't used them since you were a kid/teenager, but you're pretty sure it's still in your wheelhouse of skills. Funnily enough, you learned that Bonnie knows how to pick pocket, so the two of you try to out pick pocket each other as practice and for fun.

Your little stunt with the siren also made you a bit of a talk of the boat again, but at least people weren't actively trying to grab at you like when you first showed up on their boat. You ended up hearing people's tales of how sirens swarmed someone's boat when they enter their waters. You heard how Foxy was the only survivor of the last ship he had been a crew of that actively hunted sirens. You heard tales of how a siren could scream loud enough to instantly deafen you and how they can eat you in one gulp and how they've drowned hundreds of lives at sea.

The siren stories were scary and a few of them you could believe, especially the whole deafens you with a single screech thing sounded plausible. Especially considering your one encounter with D.J., but other stories sounded more like the sirens were protecting themselves or there was a misunderstanding or there was a piece of information missing that makes you suspect it wasn't all you could know. Regardless, you understand that you ended up being very lucking to be alive in the end.

You were also happy to note that, the animal people here were getting used to you being what you are. They were less awed or wary by your presence and started to act more open in a way. You supposed it also had something to do with your own attitude towards everyone, after a couple of days, your forced up-beat attitude became less forced and you were smiling and enjoying yourself again. You were singing more, you were laughing more, you were more playful and sassy.

A part of you still misses your home and your parents and for as long as you are in this world you always will miss them, but the load on your heart is lighter than it was before.

You were walking up the stairs onto the deck with Foxy as you two were discussing songs you knew when your conversation was interrupted by a gator hiss and a bear growl.

Surrounded by bored crew members in the middle of the deck was Monty and Chip. The longer you've been here the more you've noticed the two have a bit of a playful rivalry with each other. They try to compete against each other in almost anything, be it cards, eating, finishing their respective tasks first, you name it. They will make it a competition. Sometimes it's fun to watch them go at it with each other, but you personally weren't in the mood, and you could tell Foxy was in the same mind set.

The giant rust-red fox shook his head at the display of Monty and Chip acting like wrestlers in a ring and sighed.

"Aye. Do they e'er get tired?"

"I bet I can break it up," you said.

Foxy laughed. "I'd like ta see ye try."

You give Foxy a mischievous smile before walking to the small crowd.

As you became a part of the crowd you waited for your moment. The two were wrestling a bit on the floor. Monty got Chip into a head lock, but Chip got out of it almost as soon as Monty put the hold on him. Then Monty did his little alligator hiss thing, and you made your move.

Jumping into the ring you lamented, "Man I wish I could do that."

The dark green gator and the dark brown bear both looked up at you in surprise. The crowd had stilled now that you were in the middle of things.

You do a poor imitation of a gator hiss, and you sigh heavily, "Hey, real quick, can you make that sound again. Maybe I just need to hear it again."

Chip is looking to Monty like he's wanting to continue their playing, but Monty had his eyes on you. After a second, he did his hiss again. It made you smile, because you do wish you could make that sound but currently you were using your personal interest as a distraction.

Squealing a bit, you then quickly compose yourself and try again, only to fail worse than your first attempt.

That made Monty laugh, and he got up and walked towards you.

"No. No. You're using too much teeth. It's more in the throat," he elaborated by patting his neck.

You sigh, then said, "Will you watch our approach to the isle with me? I need like an outside filter of some kind with your teachings. I feel like it'll help."

He chuckled, then said, "Sure, Cher, I'd be happy to help. Learnin' how to growl will make you more intimidatin' and I'm the best at bein' intimidatin'."

Monty placed a clawed hand in the middle of your shoulder blades as you two walked to the bow of the ship. You waved goodbye to Chip and to a few of the bored crew members who had circled around. They gave you annoyed looks like you ruined their fun, but that was fine, your just happy with the peace and quiet.

As you walked with Monty to the bow, you could hear Foxy laughing loudly. His laughter made you smile.

"What's got him all giggly," Monty questioned.

You shrug and did the I-don't-know sound. But you knew.

The sun was halfway down to the horizon and the island was becoming clearer to see as Monty was trying to train you in making the alligator hiss. Sometimes you struggled because the boat bounced you roughly when you weren't paying attention and sometimes you struggled just because it seemed like you weren't physically capable of making the same hissing sound.

Eventually the lesson dissolved into just talking about Shallow's Isle and the Inn that Monty planned on taking you to.

"When Bonnie passes out our pay, I'll be sure to buy your favorite meal for you," you tell the gator as he was describing how good his favorite dish at the Inn was.

Monty leaned against the railing that you sat perched on as he waved away what you said, "What. No. There's no need for you to do that."

"Dude. It's my apology meal to you."

You've accepted that he's forgiven you for how you treated him when you grabbed that baby siren out from under his tail, but you'd still like to do something for him just to solidify your feelings of apology.

"Aaah, you don't have to, really. You going to the Inn with me is good enough," he said with a big toothy smile.

You give him an annoyed look, but you don't argue. You still plan on paying for his meal regardless.

As the two of you continue to talk, you see Captain Sun walking around for a second like he was checking on things and going about his rounds, but then he saw the two of you and he made a bee line for you.

"Hello Monty! Starlight!" Sun said your nickname in his special excited voice. Sometimes you wonder if anyone here actually knows your name at this point with all the nicknames you're given. "Are you ready to see North Shallow's Isle?"

You opened your mouth to say yes, but then you closed it when you registered what he said, then you asked, "Wait? North Shallow's Isle?"

"Yep," Monty said, "North Shallow's Isle is one of the four more stationary islands that we have. It's also the biggest isle/city of all Zulon."

"Oh…" You think a bit longer on what Monty said, "…Wait. Stationary? All islands are stationary."

"No… No, they're not," Monty said in confusion.

Sun was watching the two of you converse as he rocked back and forth on his feet. His smile widening at the growing confusion.

"Yes, they are. That's what makes them an island," you insisted.

"Um. Islands float and move with the water," Monty continued to insist through his growing confusion with you.

You hop off the railing and said, "No! They don't!"

Before the confusion fueled argument could go on for much longer, Sun cleared his throat and said, "Have you seen Shallow's Isle yet?"

"I mean, yah. It's kind of weirdly bumpy looking from where we have been but nothing I haven't seen before."

Sun pulled out a spy glass from a frilly sleeve of his, "How about you get a closer look," then he handed it to you.

You were suspicious of how weirdly excited he was for you to see the island. You turned and pointed the spy glass towards your destination. In the setting sun's dying light, you could see nothing but boats. Which wasn't so surprising, but then the longer you looked, the more you realized that it was nothing but boats. Then a realization overcame you.

"Land doesn't exist on this planet… Does it," you said still staring at your destination but with the spy glass down out of your eye.

"Land? Like with grass and forests," Monty asked, saying grass and forests with the same mythical reverence as you would when saying dragons and fairies.

You dramatically fell to your hands and knees.

You didn't have to act this dramatic, but you felt the need to be, "Oh, god. I'm on some Subnautica bullshit world, aren't I."

Both Sun and Monty stuttered at your defeated tone and crouched down beside you. You felt Sun rubbing your back in an attempt to sooth you.

"I'm so sorry. Instead of surprising you, I should have just told you sooner," Sun said, "I thought you'd have fun with it."

Monty was patting one of your hands to try and comfort you.

You took a deep breath. Then you quickly sat up on your knees and flapped your hands at them to get them to back off as you cackled at them like a mad dolphin. Taking another deep breath, you covered your face with your hands and exhale while dragging your hands down your face.

"I'm fine. I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm cool," you groan out a sigh as you start getting back up on your feet while picking up the spy glass, "I was just looking forward to being on solid ground and just laying in some sand." You hand Sun back his spy glass. "It really is cool that you all have managed to make civilization on a water world."

"It wasn't always a water world," Sun said as he took back his spy glass and put it up his shirt sleeve.

"Oh?" You asked, leaning against the railing with Monty, ready to hear the story.

"A long and far away ago…" Sun started his story.

He told the story of how the planet once had rolling hills and mountains and trees half as tall as those mountains. Then one day a creature from another world, called the Agony, came to their world. The creature hated their world with all its heart and was determined to destroy everything in its path. Zulon, the planet, battled with the creature, Agony, and the ensuing battle caused so much damage that the lands of the world sank to the bottom of the ocean, leaving nothing but floating scraps and what survivors that could swim.

You frown. Every time you hear a story about a creature from another world coming to this world, it always has some horrible ending to it, or they caused great harm in their story.

"Man… It's no wonder you guys were so scared of me when I showed up. You don't think everyone still thinks I'm going to end up hurting people here, do ya?"

"No," Monty and Sun said at the same time.

You were a little surprised by their combined intensity. You started to think that they may have taken your look of surprise as disbelief, as they started listing some of your qualities that they liked.

Monty said, "You're brave."

Sun said, "You're kind and sweet."

"You have a cute little laugh."

"The way you dance while you sing is mesmerizing."

"You're fun to be around."

"Your jokes don't make since all the time, but they still make me laugh."

You have your hands up in a pleading manner as you said, "Okay. Okay. Stop, stop, stop, stop. You guys are making me blush."

Both gentlemen gave you a mischievous smile, like they were proud of themselves. You had to force yourself to frown in a way that made you purse out your lips as you glared at them. They smiled even wider at you as you glared at them. You roll your eyes then started walking away.

"I'm leaving now. Bye!"

Monty groaned at you leaving.

"Don't be like that! We literally have a diner date tonight when we hit port. I'll see you then. Bye Captain," you call back as you kept walking away.

They bid you farewell, and you went to see what could be done in the kitchen to help.

You grab a lantern, light it, then make your decent down the stairs.

As you were making your way to the kitchen you ran into Chika.

"Oh, there you are. Will you come with me? I think Roxy and I have managed to finish that cloak for you."

"That's fantastic, yes. Let's go," you said as you shifted gears and followed her to the crew's quarters.

While the Crusty Waters was making its journey to the isle, you were busy trying to sew yourself a cloak. You wanted something to hide your form so that you wouldn't be noticed. Granted, you didn't know how common cloaking oneself was in this world, but you would be kidding yourself if you thought you wouldn't standout without the full body cover.

Your attempt at making a cloak was rough. Roxy was brutal in her opinions on your work, and Chika was kind enough to offer to help you out. Somehow, you also got Roxy to help make it. You're not even sure what you said exactly that made her want to help you. You suspect that it was your complements to her own clothes style and your wish to look like her a bit, but you didn't think it could be that easy.

Regardless, you were grateful for the help, despite the ribbing at your sewing expertise.

You and Chika make it to the crew's quarters, and the room was dimly lit by the glow of Roxy's lantern as it looked like she was sewing a patch into the back of the cloak. The dimness of the room was brightened when you showed up with your lantern, making the gray wolf look up from her work at yours and Chika's approach.

"Ah. Good. You found them." Roxy took the string between her teeth and easily cut it away. Then she stood up with the cloak held out in front of her as she examined her work. "Hmmm. Yep. As usual, I'm amazing." Then she threw the cloak onto your face.

You sputtered as you blindly sat down the lantern you were holding, then you wrestled the heavy cloth off your face. Then you held it out in front of yourself to see the work better. Roxy and Chika both managed to make sure that it would fit you right, but Roxy took the extra liberty of sewing the ship's flag onto the back of it.

The back of the cloak had the image of a large eight-pointed star and on the left of it was a sun with a blue eye and on the right was a moon with a red eye.

"You know, I get the sun and moon represents our captains, but what's with the giant star? Does it mean anything?"

"It's a stickmen legend reference I think," Roxy said.

Chika hummed in agreement, "Yes. If I remember correctly, they told me once that the star is the heart of Zulon."

You tsk-ed but didn't question it further. That would be a question to ask one of the captains for later.

You slip the cloak on then you flip the hood over your head. The sleeves were long enough to cover your hands. The length of the cloak was long enough to be barely touching the floor affectively covering your bare feet and the hood came down and over your face, making it a bit hard for you to see, but you don't plan on going anywhere without someone to hold on to, so you were okay with that. It was thick and warm, and you immediately plan on sleeping in this cloak as a type of blanket when you finally get your own bed.

"Oh, fuck yah, this is amazing you two!"

Chika's feathers puffed out with pride and Roxy's chest swelled with arrogant pride.

"Of course, it's amazing," Roxy boasted, "I made it."

"We made it, Dear," Chika playfully chided.

"Okay. Yes," Roxy agreed, deflating a bit, "But I'm the one who decided to put our flag on the cloak."

"Which was definitely inspired," you tell the gray wolf as you take the hood off, "I'm distinguishable from a crowd with this bad boy on me."

"Yes. So Monty won't lose you while you two are on your, date," Chika said, saying the last word in a playful mom-ish way, like you're a preteen going to the roller-rink with your crush.

You couldn't roll your eyes hard enough.

Roxy snickered at your reaction.

"Come on Chick-a-pea. It's sweet that you two will be going out for the night. The last time our poor Monty went on a date he came back to us black out drunk and crying about how he thought his date was supposed to be the one and all that," Chika stated.

You and Roxy visibly cringed.

"Poor bastard. His lady love couldn't handle him being out at sea all the time," Roxy stated.

"If only you had the Internet here," you said.

Roxy and Chika both looked at you with questioning faces.

You sigh, then you sit down on a random bed and said, "Okay. I'll try my best to tell you what the Internet is but don't ask me how it works, okay?"

They nod, and you start telling them your story.

Despite how much of a struggle it was for you to tell them what the Internet was, both women gave you their undivided attention. It was a relief for you when you heard commotion from the deck and people saying it was time to start the process of docking. The three of you made your way up to the deck to do what you could to help.

You found Freddy and followed his lead as he pulled ropes and threw ropes and tied ropes. There was a lot of rope action when it came to docking an old timey ship. A bit hard to do in the dying twilight, but the lamps from the city and the lamps that were lit on the deck of the ship helped a bit.

Once the plank was out and grounded against the dock, everything was ship shape and Bonnie started handing out pay. You got a little leather pouch from the purple bunny, and you opened the string purse and poured your money into your hand.

This was your first time seeing the currency here. It was made out of a really pretty stone that had a white base but shined a pearly-green color in the lamplight. All the gemstone quarter sized disks had the image of a fish on one side and a dead fish of the same type on the other side. Your curiosity satisfied for the time being, you placed them all back into your little string drawn purse.

You immediately drop your purse when you felt a scaley hand slap you hard on the back, "Whoops."

You gesture to Monty that it's fine as you picked up your purse then tied it to the belt holding up your pants.

"Ready to go? I hope they have lagoon striped fish," the red mohawked gator said, smacking his lips in anticipation for his favorite dish.

"Can't wait to try it," you say as you bring up your hood, then you hold on to Monty's muscular arm.

You heard Chika and Roxy ooo-ing at the two of you, and you sighed out a groan.

"You two are just jealous that I have the best date," Monty decided to say in response to their playful teasing.

"Nobody's better than my girl, Chika," Roxy huffed at the gator.

Before the two could fight any more, you let go of Monty to then push him down the plank towards the dock to get him to move faster.

"Come on! I don't want to spend the whole night arguing."

Honestly, you just wanted to get out of the situation as soon as possible. You've been on the Internet. You know about furries and monster fuckers and what have you. You already felt weird about the concept of that whole thing, and you'd rather not actually think about it when you're just trying to be friends with these anthropomorphic animals… and stickmen?

"Right. Right. Sorry Cher," Monty said as he grabbed your hand and led you all the way down the plank and onto the dock.

As you walked you kept a hold of Monty's arm. You had to keep your head down to see where your feet were going and to make sure the animal people you passed couldn't see your face, but every now and again, you've managed to peak out at where Monty was taking you.

You two walked freely over the decks of different boats and over rope bridges. You saw a few boats with gardens of coconut trees and other plants. You saw a party going on, on one boat. You watched as a frog person was checking on the lanterns. You saw a yellow toad dressed in a robe of some kind shouting about the end of the world. You saw some gator people making rope together as they traded stories with each other.

Actually, you noticed that a majority of the people at the North Shallow's Isle were comprised of mostly gator and frog/toad people. Sure, you saw a few other types of animal people, like a few ducks and hippo people, and you saw one other stickman type person, but mostly it was frogs/toads and gators.

"Did you grow up here?"

"No. I was hatched here, but I wasn't raised in the community pool like my parents were. My parents wanted to be out in the open ocean instead of being in the crowded isle."

You snicker at that. You remember how your parents always talked about moving to the countryside to get out of the city and maybe have some peace and quiet for once. They never could though… as far as you know at least…

You sigh as you lean against the dark green gator.

"Tada! And we're here," Monty said.

You peek out from under your hood to see that you were standing in front of some stairs leading down into a rather old looking ship. Jovial sounds of people talking, eating, and drinking echoed out from them.

You notice that Monty was waiting for a response from you, and you shake your melancholy off to say, "Sounds exciting. Let's go!"

He gave you his signature toothy grin, grabbed your hand, and lead you downstairs.

As soon as you two reached the bottom of the stairs, Monty bellowed, "Ahoy, ya De'pouilles!"

You lower your head even more as you slip your hand out of Monty's grip to then hid behind him and grip the belt loop of his pants. What is he thinking? Does he want you to be the talk of the isle or something?

The crowd cheered for him. Plenty of people called Monty out by his name in a happy greeting. You saw clawed scaley feet, and furry paw feet, and web toe feet surround you and Monty, and you felt the dark green gator being roughly greeted like family.

You scrunched up on yourself when their focus fell on you.

"Who's this?"

"Are you dating a frog now?"

"What's wrong with him dating a frog?" You heard a loud thud.

"Ow! Nothing! I was just askin'!"

You felt more people closing in on you and you pressed yourself against Monty's side, trying to keep your face and any other part of you hidden.

"Are they a new member of your crew?"

"They're a bit shy aren't they."

"Come on now, we won't bite."

"Not as hard as Monty probably does any—Ow! Quit hitting me!"

"Quit saying stupid shit!"

Despite your nervousness, you laughed at that. You keep yourself pressed to Monty though, and he starts to take the hint.

"Okay! Okay! Everyone, back up! Give'em some room will ya!" He then told the crowd your name. "And yes, they're a new member of the Crusty Waters."

You watch as all the animal feet walk out of your line of sight, and you stand away from Monty a bit, only for him to wrap his arm around your shoulders and press you tighter to him.

"I'll be taking my usual spot, please and thank ya. Papere! Do you got that good shit?"

An elderly voice spoke up, "I sure do!"

"Make it two plates then," he said as he tugged at you and you two started walking towards a table.

You two make it to a little booth in a dark corner and once you were seated you whisper yell at Monty.

"Look at me."

"Your hood's kind of in tha way."

"Monty. Look. At. Me."

You lift your head up as high as you were willing to, and Monty rest his chin on the table to peer up at you.

"What are you thinking? Did you honestly forget what I am?!" Your voice squeaks from the strain of your angry whispering.

Monty gave you a sheepish smile, "Mmmaybe?"

You glare at him from the shadow of your hood.

He responded with a chuckle, and he patted your shoulder.

"Hey, it's fine. You're fine. Even if they did see you, they wouldn't freak out."

You glare even harder at him.

"…Okay… So they'll freak out a li'le bit. But only a li'le."

You respond by laying your face flat against the table.

You felt him lift himself in a sitting position as he moved his hand from your shoulder to rubbing your back.

You immediately sit up when you felt someone scoot into the booth beside you.

"So Monty, is this your date tonight?"

It was a woman's voice.

"Yep! Cher, my cousin Val. Val, Cher."

"Nice to meet you ma'am," you politely say.

"Oh, they're so polite and quiet. You don't have to hide," she said, trying to comfortingly coax you out of your cloak.

You grip your hood through your sleeves and curl in on yourself a bit.

"Okay. Okay. You can keep it on. I'm not going to force you," Val said.

"Hey Monty! Think you can beat me in an arm wrestling match this time!" A gruff playful voice said.

Monty immediately stood up and said, "You're on Claw!"

There was a moment of you wanting to hold on to Monty to keep using him as a meat shield, but also you saw your opportunity to pay for the meal before he could.

Turning to Val, you said, "Excuse me, ma'am, but could you help me?"

"With what?"

Getting out your purse you drop half of your money into your cloth covered hand and said, "I'm here as an apology for what I did to him while out at sea. I want to pay for our meal for him, can you do that for me? How much will it all cost?"

A low hissy-growl emitted from her throat as she asked, "What did you do to him?"

"I grabbed a baby siren out from under his tail and invaded his personal space in the process."

There was a long pause then she asked, "The Crusty Waters survived a siren encounter?"

"Yah."

There was another long pause. Then you saw a clawed, scaley green hand grab three of your gem coins and you saw her motion for you to put the rest away, "This will be enough for both meals. Papere will want to give you two a discount once he learns about this."

You put away your money. "Oh. That will be kind of him."

"You've got to tell me how you and the crew survived," she said sounding eager.

"Oh, um, I'm not much of a storyteller. You should ask Monty."

There was a sudden crash and a victorious roar as you peaked out from under your hood to see Monty standing victoriously on the table that him and Claw, a black bear, were arm wrestling on.

Monty pointed at you and said, "That was for you Cher!"

You giggle at his intensity.

"Eh! Monty! You survived a siren attack?!" Val shouted as she moved out of the booth.

Monty froze for a second, then he made a face like he forgot that he wanted to tell everyone about it, then he said, "Yah! And we survived because of them!" Monty hopped off the table to then point dramatically at you.

You pulled your hood over your face quickly in anticipation of everyone looking at you.

Monty then captivated the entire Inn with his story of how he felt the beast zeroing in on him and how he managed to get out of the water before he could be eaten, but then detailed how the siren followed him on board and how you bravely took the initiative. He said despite how roughly you treated him you still had the softest hands he's ever felt, which made the entire Inn jeer and ooo at you and you wished you had something to throw at the gator.

By the time Monty finished his story, Papere had finished cooking and was serving it to your table himself.

Monty settled down long enough to sit by you again and you two began eating and the gator was right, this was a good meal. If you had to relate it to anything, it was like really good, cooked sushi, but without rice and more seaweed and other vegetables that you were unfamiliar with but still tasted good with the dish.

Monty saw how you ate up the vegetables and tried to get rid of his onto your plate, but then Val scolded him, from across the room where she was standing with Papere, for being such a kid about not eating his vegetables. Which made you laugh. When Monty offered to take the food back you responded by shoveling the food into your mouth faster. Making him laugh.

Even though you were scared out of your mind about your cloak being pulled back and being discovered for the weird creature you are, you still had fun. Monty acted more or less the same as he did on the boat, but it still felt different. Like his friends on the Crusty Waters were his family, but the people in this Inn were his family too. The best comparison you could think of was knowing both your mom's side and your dad's side of the family equally well.

It was getting late, and you asked Monty to take you back to the ship.

Monty agreed and attempted to pay Papere for the food and drinks.

"Oh, there's no need. Everything's already paid for," the elderly voice said.

"What."

Now, you don't know what it was about the way Monty said, what, and maybe you were a little too tired, but it sent you into a giggle fit.

"Cher, I told you I was going to get it," Monty said, sounding like you hurt his pride more than anything.

You stand bow-legged and cackled, then you said, "I told you this was my apology meal to you. So suck it." You felt a bit weird saying that to him while your face was covered and you couldn't see him except for his feet, but you hoped your silly stance comes off as fun and not mocking.

Val spoke up, probably because Monty was pouting at you, "Oh, quit it. Let someone take care of you for once you big hatchling."

Monty huffed but said nothing else about it. You watched his feet walk up to you and he grabbed you by the shoulders again, leading you out of the Inn. There was a choir of voices telling Monty goodbye and see you later and come back soon. Some of them were even directed at you, despite how weird they all probably thought you were.

Monty stuttered in his step like someone was in the way of the stairs.

A voice bellowed, "People of the Northern Isle's! Heed the call! Pain and suffering are inescapable, but it doesn't have to be in vain!"

The crowd in the Inn seemed to collectively sigh, like they've heard this spiel so many times before.

Someone shouted, "Get the fuck out of here man or shut up and buy a drink!"

Another voice shouted, "I swear I'm just going to clobber you."

Papere said, "Easy, now."

The voice continued to bellow, and you felt something being pushed onto you, "Agony is all around us, but it will not be in vain! Let the end come and you shall be free!"

In your hands was the stone carving of a rabbit skull. It was a bit distressing how exact of a carving it was. You also were too tired to deal with some weird, interdimensional, cult/religion thing. So you chucked the stone carving at the crier, and Monty pushed his way forward with you in tow.

The two of you ran up the stairs and off the boat and kept running until the two of you felt safe enough to stop.

Lifting your hood up to look behind you, you then turn to Monty.

"What was that guy's deal?"

Monty groaned, "That was an Agony Cultist. I'm sure they call themselves something else but that's what everyone else calls them. They're just annoying downers. I was hoping we could avoid them while I was taking you out."

You drop your hood back over your face and said, "I'm pretty sure these Agony Cultists want to take everyone out."

"…Are you trying to make a joke?"

"Baaa! If you have to ask, the jokes already ruined. That's my bad," you sigh as you grab his arm.

The two of you walk the rest of the way to the docks.

You were both silent, but you could tell the gator was a bit grumpy about the cultist guy showing up.

"Hey, thanks for taking me to that Inn. I had a fun time, and your family is lovely," you tell him.

"Yah. They're great," he said, sounding bashful.

"Next time we go, we should bring the whole crew. I bet that'll be a rowdy bit of fun."

He chuckled and agreed.