Glayp'neir

Jack looks at the disk doing his best to appear interested in it.

"Well I assuming you don't want me dead since your already acquaintances with the doctor and Air. I normally go by an alias, but the name is John Sampson. Most call me Jack to the point that I've grown accustom to it. I also go by Joey, but my brother is the only who would call me that..."

Not wanting to go into more detail about his brother and not taking enough interest in the ruins to make conversation over it, Jack over hears the doctor.

"Well I don't have a full grasp over the subject of magic, but what if it was an illusion that only select people were capable of seeing, but that begs the question why us and why the military. Only civilians were unable to see it...or feel it I assume."

With a bit of a frown Mitsuki moves closer to Doc, Air and Jack. She shakes her head in denial and raises her hand in an 'I'm-about-to-explain' sort of fashion. "I doubt whatever happened was an illusion of any sorts. It was very clear by the people's reaction that everyone was quite shocked. And if you look around you, the place is nearly deserted compared to the usual busy market hassle. Putting enough thought into it, if I were a merchant, I couldn't just pack up and go. That takes some time for most people. Especially if you have a booth you really got comfortable in and have to gather a lot of stuff. Chances are the few people who are still out think the same way as I would in this case; 'Nothing bad has happened yet, so what are the odds of something happening now'" she crosses her arms, not in a rude-statement kind of way but rather in a lost-in-thought kind of way. Judging by her expression she is still trying to figure out the details herself.

At this point it's pretty late afternoon, although not quite evening yet. The group is at the end of the markets, and the entrance of the southern High-Class District. It won't take long for the group to arrive at home but many questions are left unanswered and many situations unsolved. By now the group finds itself with quite a number of mysteries and issues that could or should be adressed; A muder, a quarantine, a missing girl, a strange tear in the very fabric of reality, a mob of bandit gangs out for one of their members, and some curious or fishy individuals in and around the city.
In no time at all the group finally arrives at the house, with everyone having moved inside and settled in.

Sharpe takes his hat off and sits at there simple table, leaning over with his right reaching out onto the table but to lay still, the other combing his hair back. He sighs heavily and then recollects. So they are presented with a redux of a past issue - Clarent being missing. He takes out one of the pieces of coinage that was meant for her. His straight mouth turned to a look of frustration and disappointment.

"So we got a missing girl, and a few more people to add to the squad and we've got a sudden unnatural event. Doc, RD, I think we need to talk. Privately perhaps." he says.

He looks at Air and the other man and the mage.

"All of you as well, you were in there with him."

RD glances at Jian as he thanks him for looking after him earlier, chuckling lightly at the younger man's awkward way of going about it. "Heh, Yea, that's what many think ah me at first..." Richard says as he turns back to the scene before him. He sighs, then turns back to Jian, whispering so that only the younger man can hear: "... Don't be too hard on em' Jian, Point-man -er- Sharpe has a very one-track-mind at times... he'll focus in ah bit too hard on the task at hand, it blinds him a bit ta whats 'round him. I'm sure he didn't notice just how hard ya fell back there, nd' he may have not said it, or shown it, but i'm sure he felt bad, even worried as ta yer condition. He puts on a strong front. He's a natural born leader, he is, so sometimes he acts a bit cold, puts on ah stone mask ya see? But he cares. It shows 'round his 'sis' and how he keeps his act together despite the situation, even in battle he'll show repect to those he's against. Gives people the feel that he can be counted on, trusted ta get the job done, that he's stong and earned the respect he commands, yeah?... Ah, its a bit hard ta explain ta someone not used ta the battlefield i guess... As for Jack... That man seems ta ave' much going on up there." RD taps his temple with a finger, "A bit too much on his mind. Not exactly sure he's thinking too clearly up there. A bit too much stress perhaps?" He shrugs, not knowing enough about the man to ascertain whether or not this was his usual way of acting, just hoping that he too merely missed the severity of the fall. "Either way, all i'm sayin' is there was some crazy stuff going on right then, everyone was focused on finding the others as soon as possible, i'm guessing they thought ya merely took a wee tumble nd' be back on yer feet in no time."

Richard then turns fully and pats his own hand on Jian's shoulder a bit heartily. "Thanks fer helpin' meh clear things up a bit though, takin' meh mind off things. Yer alright Jian, ya know that?" He grins brightly at the younger man, making sure to keep an eye on him in case he needed help on their way back to base.

Back at base, RD nods in acknowledgement of needing to be spoken to along with 'The Good Doctor', "...It'll have ta wait til' Doc can make sure everyone's alright, but after that we can speak wherever, ovah some tea if ya like." Still, he can't help but feel some skepticism at what was said next. "So... yer just ready to add these two ta the 'squad' knowin' nuttin' of em' prior Point-Man?" He turns his gaze to the two in question while crossing his arms, "You'll have ta excuse mah skepticism 'ere, but WHO exactly are you two? Where'd ya'll come from, and how exactly did ya run inta 'The Doc' 'ere?" He says, assuming his old running mate had tumbled into these 'allies' in some crazy and over-the-top way... as he usually did. He then turns his gaze towards the rest of the group "... And If ya don't mind, i'd like to hear it from them. They're both perfectly capable of speech nd' can introduce themselves, Thank You."

"Before ya start though, one moment please." Before they can speak, he gestures to Jian, "Ya may wanna explain that 'thing' You, Sharpe and I talked about earlier. If ya don't want ta talk about it now, that's fine. But if that's the case, i have a few conditions i'd like to speak ta ya about privately." He says this out loud, giving Jian the choice to keep his secret but at the same time allowing everyone in the vicinity know the information involved in said secret may be relevant to them as well. He knew it was a bit harsh to call him out in such a way, but he needed the young man to know he wouldn't allow this undisclosed info to place the others in danger as well...

Ironic. Here I am calling him out on his private issues. Ones that could potentially cause the others to come to harm, and i'm not even 'man' enough to unveil my own...

He grimaces, glancing somewhat towards the ground; disappointed in his actions, before looking back at the two he had questioned earlier. "Please, I'd like ta hear yer stories now."

Jian stares at him in silence, some tension building up in the room for him with RD suddenly striking him with that question like that. He pulls out a coin that he sticks between two of his fingers, the coin rolling down along each of them gracefully with the next finger grabbing it. Once it rolled down he runs it up to the top two fingers with his thumb again, repeating that action. He looks at everyone present once more and the coin slips, his other hand barely catching it.

"I... do not know what you are talking about.", he simply says, masking him being nervous quite well, "Enlighten me of what we talked about earlier if you wish, as I personally seem to have lost thought of what it could be."

His tone remains quite calm, so it is barely apparent that he might feel a bit threatened or nervous by the question. The long gap in his answer could also easily just mean that he took his time to think about what RD means, other than him feeling a bit thrown off guard by it. He rolls the coin along his fingers again before grabbing it with his hand, sliding it into his pocket.

"In any case, good that we all arrived safely. Maybe brewing a tea would calm things a bit more, if anyone wants some that is.", he then says to mask over the topic a bit in a casual fashion.

Airgetlam simply nods at Sharpe's request, but sees that there's some indecisiveness among the others. She sits down on a couch and takes out her crossbow, inspecting it for damage and overall cleanliness. She takes the scope off, setting it aside. She detaches the cylindrical magazine, and inspects the port. She checks the trigger mechanism as well, which seems fine. She sets it aside and examines her scope, which could use some wiping on both sides but not really anything heavy at all remains as residue. She wipes it with a special piece of cloth that is used expressly for the scope, and only that, and sets the scope back aside.

She then removes the quiver that she uses to hold her off-hand ammo out and sets the contaminated bolts onto a piece of cloth. She looks up at the others, hoping any of their more technical-minded members could help.

"Um, unrelated to any of this, does anyone know a way to disinfect these?" She asks pointing to the bolts. "I got these lodged into some of those shadow creatures from central, and I don't want to touch them unless I know it's safe."

Lox stuffs the rest of the bun into his mouth and begins chewing, though he gives the man a very obviously quizzical look. Wanting him dead was a strange leap given the nature of their conversation, not to mention that the man approached him in the first place. Nonetheless Lox shook off his confusion and swallowed the giant mouthful of bread and pork as the man gave his name, and he seemed to have quite a few of them. Once his food was finished Lox pondered to himself for a moment unsure if which name would be appropriate to address the man by, though after a brief moment he figured he'd just follow the apparent norm and call him Jack. It felt odd addressing a man by the wrong name but he knew it wouldn't be long before he was used to it, after the moment of silent contemplation he finally turned to the man to speak only to find he had apparently become bored of their conversation and had hopped over to another. A small shrug and he simply followed the group through town until they finally reached the house the doc spoke of previously.

Once they arrived at the house Lox took a step inside with the rest of the group, but while the other seemed to quickly settle in and relax in their familiar surroundings after their undoubtedly stressful adventures. Lox took quite the opposite approach though. To anyone who may have seen him his actions were almost robotic, he was stiff and uneasy, standing with his back to a wall while the others conversed, or crossing his arms and pacing around a bit. He felt almost as if he were on trial, waiting for the others to decide whether or not he even belonged, hell if the question were thrown directly at him he wasn't sure he would be able to give an answer. Did he belong? He had no idea. Lox sighed under his breath and observed his surroundings, the house seemed fairly new though hardly furnished. Lox barely got an eyeful of the house before he, and a few others were being beckoned for a semiprivate meeting, he obediently followed suit and joined the others for a meeting only to have RD toss a out a question that had brought Lox to a much more vulnerable spot than he expected. He stood silent for quite a while, borderline stunned without a good reason why, even to himself. His silence gave Mitsuki enough time to respond to the question if she decided to respond to the summons. He thought back to everything that had lead him to the exact spot he was standing, the house fire, his time on the road, and his fumbling through the under city with Doc and Air. After his silence had finally ended he averted his eyes a bit awkwardly before finally speaking up. "I uh...I met up with the doc not long after I arrived here. I came from Na'Hog after a uh...a series of events. He said something to me that peeked my interest and I followed him so as to ask him some questions and I guess I just kinda got swept up in all this." Lox chuckled a bit as he pictured himself jumping rather desperately to the doc's boat after having chased after him, but quickly cleared his throat soon after and continued speaking, though the lack of detail in his story was probably doing little to quell RD's obvious suspicions. Still even though he had coped with losing his mother and brother, and being parted with his father, he still found it hard to speak openly about the events. "I grew up on a farm back in Na'Hog, not much of a story to tell there, I'd probably just put you to sleep." Lox gave the suspicious swordsman probably the most transparent smile one could possibly give, though it didn't matter much as it disappeared from his face once Lox realized how ridiculous it must've looked. He imagined the estimate of anyone that smile could fool was between zero and one.

Doctor Atrium listens to what the others say and can't help but chuckle at both Jian and Lox. When everyone is done talking her speaks.

"You guys call me a bad liar..." He looks over at Airgetlam. "...Either way. If I were you Air, I would get the bolts blessed. I wouldn't want to chance it."

Doc then starts walking to the stairs.

"Before we talk Sharp, RD and I need to talk. When we are done, I will be all yours to explain everything. Besides, I need to check up on Hitomi."

He then continues up the stairs and walks into his room.

"Hitomi! I am home." He calls out to her happily. "Where are you hun?"

Jack could help thinking of the list of matters the stalker addressed

"A muder, a quarantine, a missing girl, a tear in the very fabric of reality, bandits, or fishy individuals...one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong...A TEAR IN THE FABRIC OF REALITY?!

"Sucks that we're the only ones who would get that reference."

Jack then overhears Air

"You want to clean those arrows?! M-my dear, arrows are a dime a dozen, specimens and test samples only come once in a blue moon."

"No one will get that reference either because no one knows what a dime is, Einstein"

Jack grimaced for barely a millisecond.

"We need to collect all the data we can get our hands on about that tear, and if those shadow beasts are connected to the indecent, then those arrows could be the best shot we have."

Jack looks over at Lox.

"You...uh...I mean Lox, your a mage. Meaning you know enough about alchemy to exam the arrows, right?"

Mitsuki, who has been listening attentively and calmly for the whole while, opens her mouth to speak, but is swiftly cut off by all the other conversations happening at once. All right with her, she figures it's unnecessary for her to introduce herself anyway, with no intention of actually joining up with the group or anything. The doctor wanders upstairs, leaving her with the rest as he goes to check on Hitomi. As he calls out to her she tiredly pokes her head out one of the doors and upon seeing him her face brightens with excitement. It's strange to imagine all the girl does is eat and play and sleep. More of the latter and less of the former, to everyone's surprise. Before getting too lost in thought, Mitsuki decides to adress RD in in particular over anyone else, figuring it is an unavoidable topic and may as well be thrown out there. "If it relieves your concern, I don't plan on joining any groups or anything for any long term let alone permanent time." The way she says it is very matter of fact. Not agressive or dismissive, but in a way that sounds more informational than anything else.
"I'm a traveling scholar, and there are many things I have to study before the end of my lifespan. And unfortunately, eighty to a hundred years is not that much time to learn all the secrets the world has to offer." She gives him a sincere smile and a nod. And lets the other conversations continue as they may.

Sharpe shrugs at Mitsuki's statement.

"Eh, was worth a shot, you know?" He eases back a bit from his previous pose. And watches everyone move about.

"Take your time." He says to the group in general, mostly in respect to Rich and Doc. He looks over at Lox.

"So, You're the other new face. I heard a little somethin'-somethin' about rune magic, uh?" He asks, hoping to break some ice. It may seem like he's disregarding everyone else but honestly, he's just in his wind-down phase.

"Hm." Richard mutters glancing straight at Jian, "In that case i'll run it by ya again later."

RD figured that Jian knew exactly what he was talking about, and wanted everyone to know what could possibly go down in his company, so he was attempting to allow the younger man to explain it himself before such a situation where an explanation would be neigh unavoidable popped up. But, if he didn't want to let anyone know, Richard had no choice but to respect Jian's decision. Still, out of concern for the other members of the group he wished to discuss keeping their involvement to a minimum. That was a talk for another time though, for now he turned his attention back to the others who occupied the base.

In an unrelated matter Air brought his attention to a few of her bolts, seemingly 'contaminated' during an earlier battle. "So ya ended up back in central eh? ... and fought shadow creatures? Ya didn't encounter any of those vamps ya spoke of earlier? Hm... curious... If ya don't mind i'd like to hear a bit about 'em later on, getting back to yer question though, I'd personally introduce some flame to the residue, see what happens when the tips are singed, getting 'em blessed or purified via the church may work too..." He shrugs, his own faith in that being a solution relatively low, "Who knows, might just work. On the other hand though, Jack may be right, do a few tests on it, see what removes the ichor the quickest, or reacts the best wit' it, and ya may even discover their weakness, take em down a bit easier."

Around this time the girl in the strange clothing and the mage hat decides to speak up, merely stating that she wasn't planning on sticking around. Which, on the one hand was fine and dandy, on the other hand, it merely made her even more mysterious. "Oh. Is that right miss?" He states with a fair amount of skepticism, "So... where did you and Doc meet? and the path ya took ta meet the guy who's working on the soul trap led through central?"

He then realizes that the more he questioned her the more aggressive he seemed to be getting, at this point he wouldn't be surprised if she felt somewhat threatened. He sighs and relaxes somewhat, "...I'm sorry. He gets me riled up sometimes. Tends ta not look before he leaps that one..." He says in reference to the Doc. "Thank you fer keeping an eye on him during yer time together, I know he can be a handful sometimes. He's a good guy, but he tends ta put a bit too much faith in everyone he meets, it gets him in trouble and i was so used ta looking after him way back, that i guess I've gotten a bit over protective. Thanks again, and if ya need anything feel free to let me know. If ya don't mind though, could i get yer name? I haven't quite caught it yet."

Lox then chimed in, explaining a very small peice of his story so far, but it did hit the points Richard had asked for, he had to respect that. "So... yer name's Lox, yer from a farm in Na'Hog 'nd the doc said something that caught yer interest so ya followed him inta central?" RD stares at the man with look of mixed surprise and skepticism. "Ya literally followed him right into danger ta ask him some questions." He stated in a matter-of-fact style. "Right. Umm... Huh. Well what exactly did ya come ta the city for and... here's yer chance i guess? Did ya get an answer ta that burnin' question?" RD said stifling back a bit of laughter. At that point he had decided Lox's story was so absurd and ridiculous that he had to be the worst secret op ever. Plain and simple. Lox was extremely suspicious with his history, but relatively open with reaching the city and what happened after. Richard decided if he was gonna hear anything about what happened back in central he'd hear it from this man right here. "You really did just get swept up in all this huh? Mind telling me what exactly happened when you met up with the Doc up to where we met in the tunnels?" He said with a grin which he soon covered with an amused yet thoughtful expression.

"Oh wait, excuse me, Doc needed something from me first, but i'll be right back." Seeing now as a good time to address whatever the Doc's issue was, he climbed the stairs at a somewhat rushed pace, eager to hear Lox's retelling of events.

He walked into 'The Good Doctor's' room to see him greeting 'Hitomi' and lightly rapped his fist against the door, "You needed somethin'? This betta' be good, i'm not in much of ah mood to mince words wit ya at the moment." He said with slight aggravation in his voice, mentally prepping himself for more bad news.

Jian nods to RD, glancing over to the Doc with a slightly annoyed face for just a second, then acknowledging the fact that RD will get back to it later. He begins making some tea as he announced to, trying to listen to the other conversations going on. It's hard to keep track of anything because it's so many people talking for a moment before the Doc and RD leave the room to calm things a little.

He yawns out for a moment, stretching while the water is slowly boiling up. He takes a moment to check on his leg, which is quite red and blue, a pain to walk with, but it still being bearable. He wonders though, didn't the Doc wanna take a look at it first? He shrugs to himself and will just apply some herbal mix that is known to at least calm pain temporarily. For now though, the water is coming to a boil shortly after, and he begins taking out cups for each person. Mortar and pestle are also taken out, having him grind the dried leaves he has in one container into fine powder. He adds some powder into each mug, pouring the hot water over it with, using a Cha-sen brush to stir it evenly. He serves the tea to everyone in the room, leaving the two mugs for the doc and RD on the counter.

Having grasped something about the arrows of Air earlier, he comes to remember what he wanted to say about that: "Well... If you want to see if it destroys any sort of tissue, why not try putting a thin leaf or a little bit of meat onto it, seeing if it will eat through that? That way... we can see how dangerous it is and what it is capable of doing."

He sits down himself, taking a sip of the tea before looking at his leg again, the right herbs are somewhere in the tons of containers he still has on his armor set and in his backpack. He will get to apply some after the tea, he then decides, drinking another big sip.

"In any case...", he drinks more of his tea, "I am slowly catching on with who you are...", he says to Mitsuki, still not completely sure of it really being her, but having a suspicion. "I've seen way too much to exclude any possibilities..."

He sighs out, not in distress or any of the sort, drinking more of his tea, awaiting the reaction of her.

Airgetlam gives Jack a look of slight disappointment. For all his knowledge of tinkering and invention, he doesn't know an arrow from a bolt.

"I don't use arrows, I use bolts. And I guess since I have two of these bolts under these conditions, we can split them up and test them out differently." She hands one bolt to Jack, careful not to touch the tip, nor to hand it to him with the tip making contact with his skin either.

"You may experiment how you wish with that one, I have plenty more of them."

Her attention surfs to Jian.

"Come sit with me here, relax, maybe put your feet up; you look like you need it. If you could pass me some tea also I'd be grateful. Additionally, do you know if we have any pork? That's a very good meat to see effects on. If we have any alcohol as well, we could see if that has any effect." She says, slowly turning her head to Jack while raising an eyebrow, indicating that she suspects he might know where the booze is.

"Well to be honest I can't say I knew what I was getting myself into, the doc made a comment about something I was doing in the market which raised some questions. I caught up to him to tell him he was wrong about it and didn't really get a chance to talk much further." Lox took a moment to collect his thoughts on everything that had happened, it hadn't really occurred to him until now but with everything happening so fast he had been so deep into the moment that he never really had much time to reflect on everything. After the short moment, Lox was prepared to give RD what he requested and begin explaining his perspective on the events, only to have him excuse himself from the conversation momentarily. Lox gave a small smile, and a simple nod to RD before watching him walk off to consult the doctor on another matter. Not long after the conversation was put on Hiatus, Lox heard his name called out once again, this time by Jack holding what looked to be one of Air's bolts with the tip coated in a shadowy sludge. Lox tilted his head a bit and stared curiously at the bolt for a long while, standing in front of Jack in an awkward silence before finally breaking the silence to address his question. "Hmmm... Well I have studied quite a bit of alchemy, but I don't really have the necessary supplies. Plus I'm a bit worried about contaminating the test material by introducing other chemicals or substances to it. To be honest the first question that comes to mind is how it would react to direct sunlight, if you have the means to do so I would love to seal it up in a test tube and leave it in direct sunlight for twenty four hours. That is of course assuming there is more to work with, Air fired a few bolts back there so I imagine there's more then one to work with, correct?" Once Lox was finished rambling he retreated back into the confines of his brain and began to wonder to himself. As much as he was worried about using up what they had on tests, he had no doubt that pursuing these tests would provide useful information. Testing the was the sludge reacts to acids, fire, or electricity could yield some very helpful information, but they would have to ration their samples heavily, lest they throw poor Air back out to bring back more dirty bolts.

For now Lox assumed that the man would have some containers for the samples, and a pair of gloves to protect himself. "I'd say just throw some gloves on, and get all the stuff off of the tips of the arrows and into a safe container until I can get into town and buy some proper supplies. Also keep the bolts separate until we can know for sure if they're totally clean. Can't risk getting them mixed in just because they get wiped clean." With that final thought, Lox backed away and simply returned to leaning his back against the wall and staying out of everyone's way. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, whether it be fore the group to make a decision about him, or for RD to return for the debriefing he seemed anxious to get from Lox, or if he was waiting for Doc to come back down. All he knew is that he just had to wait and see how things played out for now.

Doctor Atrium laughs happily when she pokes her head out and runs over to him. He carries her into the room and sits on the bed, putting her down next to her. He takes off his jacket and lays it down on the bed, then takes his knife belt off and hangs it on the corner of his bed. He also kicks off his boots and tosses them so they land next to his sleeping bag and his shoulder back that is laying on the ground on they other side of the room. He then looks back at Hitomi.

"I hope you have been a good girl. I have been through hell and back it seems, but it will be worth it if helps Clarent."

He playfully ruffles her hair, then looks at the door when RD enters.

"Please come in. We need to talk."

He watches as RD walks from the door to the window, looking out. Doc then gets off the bed and walks to the door and shuts it quietly. He then puts a seal on the door to silence the room and a different seal that will make a loud pop if someone tries to open the door. As he is doing this, he is talking.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened today. You had asked me not to go alone anymore. Some advice I took to heart. I had the scholar girl with me. As I told you, I left to meet up with her. As I told you, I didn't tell you where I was going because I didn't want all of us to go. I knew that if I told you where I was going, you would of done everything in your power to come. So I had to lie. But that is just part of what I wanted to talk about..."

Doc sighs and he walks over to RD who is looking at him now.

"You are quite the hypocrite. You put Jian on the spot about have a secret that could bring harm to us and yet you haven't told the group about your condition. I am not going to make you tell them, but if you put someone on the spot like that again, I will do the same to you. By the way, how close are you to changing? I know that I have put a great amount of stress and anger on you so your Soultrap must be pretty red. And I am sorry I have done so. It was not my attempted to piss you off. Have you found a way to release some of the builded up energy from the Soultrap yet?"

Jack flinches when Air mentions alcohol

"Gah...what are you look at me for?! Oh, I forgot to tell you. I quit just the other day, and oh, by the heavens, I have picked the worst time. Fabric of spacing and time is literally falling apart and I have nothing to calm my nerves. However, I've been quite the heavy drinker and it would be reckless for me to be intoxicated around Hitomi."

Jack takes a swig from his flask only to instantaneously realize the irony

"I should also mention that this is lemonade. No point in complaining about not drinking if I was drinking...Bah, all this is far off topic. Lox is right, we lack the proper tools to run experiments, so we should leave the arrows..er...bolts as they are. I should probably ask the doctor. Perhaps one of the books I bought for him can identify the monsters you witnessed"

Jack turns to look for the Doctor as he is asking his question, noticing that he is no longer present in the room. After a short bit of awkwardness, the brainstorming on experiments continue between the few involved.

When Jian mentions his thoughts on a charade, Mitsuki can't help but smile a humored expression. "Perhaps, but we've barely talked to one another, nor interacted enough to know each other. So I'm not sure that's quite accurate." she says. To anyone but Jian it seems like a normal statement, but something about her body language calls out to Jian that she is clearly uncomfortable, despite her definite strong presence. Moments later she leans into the conversation still going on about the experiments and asks politely. "If you wouldn't mind. I'm also interested in what results you come across." she informs Airgetlam and rights herself up again. "Excuse me, unfortunately I have to get back to my work." she says, with only the smallest hint of being in a hurry. She gives a proper bow and turns to the door to make her way out.


RD enters the room with Doc and the two of them begin to talk. When he enters, Hitomi stares at him with a very intense glare. Not sure whether it is meant to be threatening or not RD focuses on the doctor for now. She continues to glare for quite a while until she gets a dumbfounded grin on her face and throws her arms wide towards him. Apperantly excited she slides off the bed and stops for a moment, hesitating as if she felt something was odd- but then begins running circles around RD and laughing childishly.

Sharpe can't help but muffle a chuckle at Jack's mistakes, both of pulling out the flask and of thinking Doc and RD were still in the room. The whole 'I decided to quite recently' thing seems like a ploy to keep his image of a gentleman up, though its not exactly working to his advantage.

He figures they likely won't be moving for a but, so he removes his coat and webbing, as well as his bandolier and drops them on the seat of one of the other chairs. His sword will still with him for the time being. He gets up and takes some tea, nodding to Jian and sips.

He looks back at Jack as he sits in his chair.

"That really lemonade or do you have some whiskey? Either way, gonna have to go out liquor shopping later." he says. Though he doesn't really drink much himself, he finds the prospect of going out to find spirits and elixirs to be pleasant.

As Richard enters the room, He receives a rather intense glare from Hitomi. He glances back at her with mild concern, as he crosses the room to the window, to which he stares out of, turning his concern back to the Doc as he prepares the room for a private conversation.

RD lets the man speak, turning to him after he gets to the second part of the discussion and only speaking once he's done.

"We've all got things we don't want others ta know quite yet Jericho." He looks the man straight in the eyes, "There's much you haven't told me about yerself either. Hell, i'm sure there's more that yer not telling me even now." He sighs as he looks away from the other man, "We can all be hypocritical from time ta time, but excuse me for thinking 'I'm a berserker' wasn't the best way ta introduce myself to a group i've just met. Some people don't take things like that too well. I'll admit though they should know before we get inta anything too intense."

He pauses before looking back at the man once more, "Ya wanna tell them, fine. I'll give them some info about you as well. I honestly don't even keep as many secrets as you do. As for Jian, i merely want him ta tell ya'll what to expect from now on, he could keep everything else ta himself, i don't care. I just feel that information sensitive to the well-being of those around ya should be shared with those whom are concerned."

Richard then strokes his chin as a thought occurs to him, "Ta be honest if everyone here already knows that you've been going though that 'fairy' transformation i'm not sure if my being a berserker is even that much of an issue." He flashes a somewhat mischievous grin at 'the Good Doctor'.

But it quickly disappears, "I'll admit though, ya didn't go alone, a nice change from the usual, but is that because ya actually took her along, or because ya didn't know where ya were going otherwise?" He lets those words stand for awhile, letting them sink in.

"... As for me, I'm still a bit pent up. Runnin' helped some, burned some extra energy and i've relaxed a tad since we've all regrouped..." He glances at the soul trap; a light red, not as bad as he thought, but it would definitely be a bad idea to get riled up again. "... What about you, ya smell a bit like dog, you handling yer transformations well? Seems like your trip didn't go as smoothly as ya would've liked."

Hitomi then surprises RD as she excitedly runs circles around him, "Heh! Hey there!" He kneels down to her height and picks her up, seemingly forgetting that she's a fairy in lieu of her childlike behavior. "I'm glad ya behaved yerself while we were out! Sorry we took so long ta get back! Ya look hungry little one, what say we snag ya somethin' ta chew on soon as the doc and I are done here, yeah?"

Jian closes his eyes a little at the girl's response, as if he is analyzing the reaction of her.

"I see. Well... If you say that, I guess you are right", he then adds, to let her off for now, sipping from his tea. He looks around a bit, then shifting his view to Air after her offering him to sit down and just chill out for a bit. He accepts, sitting down next to her also handing her a cup of tea.

He empties his own cup, sighing. "Haahh... I still wanted to visit Ayame aswell, not sure if that's going to work out at this rate... Today certainly is frustrating to an extent", he says, then scratching his chin. He also brushes through his own hair, which have grown quite a bit by now, it is enough for him to have a ponytail at this point, not a big one, but it'd be apparent enough.

He takes the mortar and pestle from the counter again, his arms just long enough for him to reach it without standing up. Having done so he gets out a few herbs, gets some of the hot water for use and begins grinding the herbs into a quite fine powder. He mixes that into the water, just a little bit of it so it begins growing quite thick. After about 10 minutes he has a somewhat thick paste, which he takes two fingers of, then rubbing that against the somewhat blue-ish spot on his joint of his leg to his foot. He keeps doing so until it is covered fairly well, keeping his foot on his other leg so it doesn't drip down.

"This should cure the pain a little for the time being, at least I hope so.", he exclaims, staring at the wound like he's deeply concentrating on something.

Airgetlam crosses her arms and looks down at the tainted bolts.

"I only have the two. We didn't see that much heavy fighting in Central, far from it. Mostly evading, running off, got lost actually, had a close encounter too with a creature. Interestingly enough it decided not to attack, it retreated into the wall behind it. It had freshly taken over an elderly man, so maybe that influenced it's choice to take off." Her eyes narrow at a certain realization.

"Why, you want me to go out and find more? I don't know if that's going to happen. To my knowledge, the kill team probably cleaned out the rest of the area. If they were at that barricade, they probably killed the big one that absorbed the others, which is how me and Lox got separated from Doc." She says.

Her demeanor lightens as she looks over at Lox.

"As far as I'm concerned I'm ok with you staying here, you helped me out."

She sips a bit of the tea that Jian gave to her, and watches as he applies the odd ointment to his leg. She watches the process intently, and then looks back to the group at large.

"You can honestly do what you want with the bolts, I just ask you at least try to not destroy them. I'd rather not pay for more bolts, despite them being pretty cheap. I'd like to stay net plus than net negative." She cautions.

Lox chuckled lightly at Air's comment, giving a lighthearted smile as he shrugged. "Oh don't worry it'll be fine, we'll just hand you a map and a compass this time and send you on your way Come back with plenty of samples...FOR SCIENCE!" As he shouted the last two words in a deeper tone, Lox shook his fist in the air for a moment before laughing a bit and shaking his head to let her know he was just kidding around. As if the goofy voice wasn't enough. He felt a bit guilty making light of the creatures they had fought earlier, not only having been a pretty scary experience, but also not yet being unconvinced that they hadn't killed some actual people. Still the room seemed a bit tense with RD wanting to interrogate the newbies before leaving to have a conversation with the doc that Lox assumed was too heavy in nature for the public ear, so maybe a joke wasn't the worst idea even if it was a bit lame.

Lox smiled warmly at Air's comment, between her and the doc it was nice to feel welcomed into the group. "Thanks, but I'd say it was more of a fifty fifty effort back there. You helped me out just as much, if not more." Lox's eyes scanned around the room at the others briefly as he continued. "And I appreciate the offer to stay here, but I'm not really sure that's gonna happen. I mean Doc offered me the same thing, but I'm not really sure about it. You guys share this place right? That means everyone should have a say in who gets to stay here, and I don't know if I couldn't blame anyone for not wanting me to stick around. I mean I did just kinda show up, I don't want anyone here to be uncomfortable with my hanging around." Lox then turns his head to gesture towards the stairs leading up to the doc and RD. "Besides I'm not sure he's entirely convinced. He doesn't seem like the type to trust too easily." Lox was hoping it was obvious he was talking about RD, since it seemed to him like the doc was almost his polar opposite, where RD was slow to trust the doc seemed almost too fast to place faith in strangers. A quality he was sure was just a byproduct of his occupation. Lox stroked his chin a bit as he looked around the room and continued his ranting. "Besides, there's quite a few of you here, is there even enough room for another person? I mean you guys gotta be running out of rooms by now, especially since the doc is offering to share his."

Doctor Atrium glares at RD when he calls him by his name but he holds his tongue until the man is done talking.

"I told you way back when to never use that name to address me." He says in a low growl. He then sighs and starts to pace around the room.
"I am going to tell the other about what is going to happen to me tomorrow. I also want you to watch me. You know how...he is. As for your condition, I will leave it up to you to tell them. I am sure they will be ok with it, just leave out the fact that they could be targets as well when you change. I can handle you when you change."

He walks over to the window where RD is and takes out the two Lace Agate catalysts and puts them so the moons light will hit them. He looks outside and sees that Mitsuki is leaving. He lets the words that RD said sink in. Did I bring her alone so I could have backup or was it because there was no way I could of found the underground group without her... He sighs and looks at RD with a sad and worried look on his face.

"Don't let Jericho do any tests on anyone and don't let him go alone...please. This is what I wanted to talk to you about. Tomorrow he comes out and I will be away for two days. I also want you to keep him away from Hitomi."

He looks down at her hopping around RD. He is happy that she has decided to like him. He walks to the door and removes the seals and unlocks the door.

"Thank you for talking to me. I need to go heal Jain's foot. I was so eager to talk to you I forgot the lad was in need. As for your...condition. Lets go out tonight and hunt some wolfs. I heard there was a den of them making havoc. It would allow you to burn off some steam and change if you need too." He chuckles to himself. "Maybe we will get lucky and we will find a wolf puppy. Not going to lie, I have always wanted one. Please bring Hitomi down with you."

With that leave walks out of the room and heads downstairs. He happens to hear Lox telling Airgetlam to go out and kill more of the monsters in a comedic fashion. He can't help but chuckle and walks over to Jian.

"I am sorry. I had something very important to talks to RD about. Allow me to look at your leg and foot please."

Doc can see that his leg is out but he would rather not just grab his leg and go to work is Jian isn't ready.

Jack felt embarrassed, so caught up on his thoughts that he didn't realize the doctor had already left the room. As a knee jerk reaction, he did the exact opposite tuning in to almost all sound around him. In a few seconds Jack overheard Jian mention Ayame.

"Wait a tick...WAIT A TICK! Ok,ok,ok, either I'm on to something here, or my sanity is just breaking. It is pretty damn hard to tell with the fabric of time falling apart. All the events that have taken in Central, what if they are interconnected. Ayame's kidnapping, the outbreak, the tear,... and that man...that damn man...'keep the girl, there are others'. Swear on my father's grave, he was talking about Ayame, but why? Jian, you want to see her again. How about right now? Those books will have to wait."