Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hari looked over towards the girl for a moment, staying quiet while he looked her over. "It's nothing," he finally spoke though he had a serious tone, "Listen, everybody needs to head northwest. If you reach a group of trees, you need to stop. I should be able to catch up with you by that time, but you are not to go into the forest, alright?" The man moved over towards Claw, taking his blanket and folding it up quickly. It wasn't as though he was trying to get rid of them, but he still had things he needed to do in the town before he could leave.

"You're going to Parinene, right?" the man asked simply, "If you want to get there before it's dark you need to head out now. I'll catch up a little later since there are a few things I need to do here." Hari picked up the blankets, his voice remaining serious the entire time. He was not abandoning them but it seemed as though Mickey had interpreted it as what he was doing.

[aha, they didn't even ask why they shouldn't travel in the forest :3]

As soon as the half demon didn't put up an argument, Hari was already heading back into the city. He had to return all of the blankets as well as have messages sent, along with many other things. There were many things that he did not tell the group.

[aha Lar has given up hu~]

The first signs of sunlight leaking in through the window woke Keara almost instantly. Though she wasn't usually one to awaken at the crack of dawn, the bandit had hardly slept the previous night. Was it true? Did Apollo really have the moon mirror from the legends? Or was she just stressing out over an antique piece of glass? Well, Keara supposed, I guess there's one way to find out. The girl was positive that if she asked the man he wouldn't tell her anything, so her only remaining option was to stick with him. Maybe he'd eventually lead her to the key! Now, all the blonde woman had to do was wait for her traveling companion to wake up. Time ticked away slowly as Keara washed up, cleaned her clothes in the sink and put on the new, dry outfit she had bought in Esterspring. She brushed her hair but left it to drip dry. It felt like hours had passed by the time she heard a knock on her inn room door.
"Keara?" came the familiar voice. "You awake?"
She opened the door before replying, "I've been awake you lazy-a**."
"Ah, you changed," Apollo noted.
"So?"
The man shook his head. "Nevermind." He then smiled his usual smile as he continued, saying, "I just came to say bye. I'm heading up towards Yllis now, and you only agreed to go this far. Do you need anything before I leave?"
Even when he's going away he has to be so damn chivalrous! He's so wierd! Keara frowned slightly in thought.
Hearing no response, Apollo gave an awkward but short chuckle. "Ah, well, I guess I'll be go-"
"Wait!"
"Hm?"
"Can I come with you? To Yllis, I mean, or wherever you're headed..." the bandit looked a little embarassed to ask; it made her feel weak, like Apollo had the upper hand.
The man paused a moment, making Keara think he was going to say no. However, before she had a chance to ask again, he let out another laugh, this time more sincere. "Of course!" He mussed up her hair slightly. "If you wanted to stay with me, you should have just said so~" he teased.
"It's nothing like that!" she insisted, swatting his hand away before smoothing her hair out. "I'm just headed that way is all!"
"Alright," Apollo said with a smile once more on his face. "Let me know when you're ready to leave- we should go soon. I'll be in my room." As the man turned around and headed back to his room, an embarassed Keara stuck her tongue out before shutting the door and thanking Krishna he hadn't said no.

((Aha, that was fun to write 4laugh ))

[that looked fun, I'ma go do it too]

As soon as the light appeared on the mountain horizon, Nate was at the mouth of the cave entrance he frequented the most. There were many different caves but most, if not all, belonged to the same system on this particular mountain. The sound of rock being upturned and heavy stomping could be heard from the different variety of stone animals that never seemed to rest. Some of the creatures had their feet melded into the ground, slowly sliding around, while the others walked, making their weight apparent as they stomped around. If the young man looked up above, there would be large winged lizards with a glistening white fang on one side of their mouth, appearing very docile from their place high in the sky. The only creatures that Nate would be excited to see would be an Alpha dragon or a small parade of humans.
Alpha dragons were somewhat rare in this region of the mountains, though they did appear from time to time, and a gathering of people meant that Nate would be able to get items from them without going all the way to Espona or Atlilia. With the supplies he had currently, he could last a couple more days before needing to go so there was no rush to hurry to one of the cities.
The young man knew that the dragons had an extremely hard time seeing in the day because of the sunlight; though he also knew that leaving the cave was suicide during the night. Still, taking a sword had become a habit for him. One never knew when a dragon might catch a fleck of movement on the ground and chase after it. With a sword comfortably in hand, the young man walked along undefined paths that almost nobody took. Living in the mountains for a while made it so that Nate was able to discover the mountain's hidden charms. One of those charms was a large hot spring that he used for bathing. It was impossible to bathe in one of the cities, being a thief, and taking a dip in water that was not a hot spring meant risking hypothermia, even in the summer months.
Once Nate arrived at the hot springs, he shed his clothes, gently putting them at the side of the spring, along with the sword he brought. Light clinking noises could be heard as he was putting the clothes down. As well as a weapon, Nate always had a couple vials of dragon antidote and a vial of dragon's poison as well. Antidote was good for being exposed to large amounts of poison while the vial of poison was for his own consumption. Due to the potency of the dragon's poison, he had to be careful to get a small enough dose that was not lethal. If he exposed himself to the poison enough, he could eventually get away with being bitten without having to use the antidote. Still, he was a long ways off from that point, though he could take a larger dose than most people could.
This should be about halfway through the autumn season... Ore won't be transported in the winter and weapons won't come from Espona during that time either, the young man thought to himself as he sat in the hot spring with his head resting against the rocks, staring up blankly at the dragons in the sky, Food will be easier to get from Atlilia during that time as well but it tends to be meat season during the winter as well... I'll have to hit up the stores that cook their meat- Ugh... sweet meat... I should also go to the grocers for nuts. As with most thoughts, Nate was not thinking of anything of particular interest but thinking gave him something to do while he was relaxing. Though he didn't mind being alone most of the time, it was hard to get a lot of conversation going with himself.
However, a conversation wasn't needed as a large shadow grew larger on the ground. Nate had already moved his head from the ground and had grabbed his sword by the time that the dragon had landed at the entrance of the hot springs. It was yet another part of his routine, but he could never count on it and was always prepared for another dragon. This particular dragon had an empty eye socket as well as a several large scars across its face. Its other eye was squinted with its pupil restricted as white steam blew from its nostrils. It wasn't as though dragons could breathe fire, but their body temperature was warmer than most creatures, especially of those on the mountain.
"Hey you..." he greeted the animal as it walked bat-like towards him, its head high in the air. Once the creature was close enough, Nate reached out his hand slowly, patting its scaly snout as a greeting. Even though this dragon had been tamed enough to ride, quick movements made it prone to lash out, especially at the front. Raw, decaying meat could be smelled in the air near the animal's mouth, speaking of the victims (most likely human or another dragon) that had been consumed during the night.

"Never been out of doors like this?" Mickey challenged. "Oh puh-lease! Earth is my element, why the hell would I have any problems being outdoors?" To illustrate her point, Mickey flicked her wrist quickly upward, causing a root to snap out towards Kaiya- but not touch the dragon knight- and quickly go back into the ground. "And I'm not trying to be the leader, but neither is anyone else. At least I'm listening to Hari. If you were in charge, you'd probably try and take us dragon taming and get us all killed!"

"What did you just call me?!" Mickey asked, her voice raising just a little bit more. The half demon's fists clenched ever so slightly.