Nathaniel leaned up and forward when Alex came in with the man, who was obviously very wounded. He deducted that this man had to be wounded quite some time ago if the wounds he had weren't bleeding massively anymore, especially if Alex's guess was true about him being attacked by a Lycan. Nathaniel already knew that the odds were against this man as soon as he said that. Usually if a Lycan attacked there was going to be a bite, and if there was a bite, the man would have to be put down.

He heard Caramel ask for help bringing the man to the herb room, "I'll help," Nathaniel spoke up. He had helped a few times, and though he didn't enjoy ending peoples lives, he was comfortable with Caramel. He felt as if she was someone who didn't judge him and looked at him as a fairly normal human being.

After Red Cap gave her orders the room started to empty and that's when Nathaniel went over to Caramel and picked up the man. He heard her say something about fixing him up, but he could hear the lie in her voice. She was already convinced he was bitten. Which was strange because upon first view there was no obvious bite marks. Sure Nathaniel had yet to look at his legs which were covered but his torn and tattered pants but that was a much smaller area to bite rather than his torso. He reminded himself that he wasn't the one who would be examining the man and started to walk with Caramel to the herb room.

"Do you really think a lycan attacked him? I mean he's alive for one, and he wasn't brought to a den, so it'd be weird if he was bitten and just.... left alone? Don't you find that odd?" He whispered to Caramel as they walked, "I mean, do you think there is a chance that he's not bitten?" he whispered also. While he agreed that people who had been bitten by a lycan were to be put down, he didn't believe in killing people over hunches.

When they arrived at the herb room Nathaniel put the man down where he normally did and stepped back, "Do you remember anything about the attack?" He asked the stranger......

By the time Adrian and Alex arrived at the village, he felt less sick and more tired. In fact, if the had been on this guys shoulders any longer be probably would have fallen asleep. Adrian looked around the village, of course it wasn't very busy outside, it was cold out and no one wanted to be outside longer than they had to in this cold. Apparently their adventure wasn't over yet. Alex brought Adrian into a building, then into a room that had a lot of people. A Group or guild, Adrian assumed.

It wouldn't take him too long to figure out he was right, when the stranger spoke to the leader, who was new. He learned at the same time as Alex, who was nice enough to carry him here that his brother had died and that this women had taken over. He felt bad Alex, but at the same time, he was happy he had already been put down before he heard that, or else Alex might have dropped him. Alex had also mentioned that he might have been attacked by Lycans.

Lycans? They were real? He remembered hearing about them when he was little, but a lot of his memory was fuzzy right now. Until he looked up at the women who was right next to him asked for help to bring him to the herb room. That's when it hit him. His eyes dilated, then narrowed as his brain worked to figure out what was amiss. It was a strange smell, no one else seemed to notice it or care, but he did. It smelled very familiar and that's when his body started to shake slightly.

Images of Lycans attacking the villiage, images of his family and memories of him fighting flashed quickly through his head. No sooner did they begin did they stop and it left Adrian more confused than worried. He looked around. HE had been moved, he was now in the herb room, or assumed so since that's where the woman wanted him moved to.

HE heard the male who accompanied, the woman speak to him. "No.. I don't remember." Adrian lied. HE looked at the man, than the woman, "I assumed you're going to look at me right? To see if I was bitten by a Lycan?" He asked and began to take off his clothes until he was left in his undergarments. This way almost his whole body was exposed and most of it seemed smooth and clean except for the front of his torso which was covered in claw marks. There were no bite marks to be seen, but there was one, he had been bitten on the torso, but claw marks obscured it so much it was practically impossible to point out. Though in reality it wouldn't be hard for a lycan to deduct he was bitten since Lycans can smell each other.

Adrian then realized he had been moving around a lot and that's when it hit him again. An intense nausea. He closed his eyes and fell back a bit, hitting the examining area behind him.

Rachel walked back into her office, her heart was pounding against her chest, and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. Rachel walked up to the heavy oak desk and placed her right hand down on it and the other clasped at the cloth over her heart. Eyes wide Rachel stared down at nothing. Alex’s words were ringing in her head, every word cutting deep at her heart.

You let him down. He loved you with everything he had, and you failed. You'll never fill his shoes. You'll never be half what he was.

Her hand moved from her chest to cover her mouth and pinched her own nose at once, tears clawing their way out of the corners of her eyes. A muted sob tried to rip out of her chest, her broken heart beating on her ribs as if trying to escape. Slowly, Rachel moved her hand from her face, carefully tracing the scars on her face out of habit. Very slowly, Rachel breathed in and out, her fingers moving slowly up and down her face of their own accord. ”I am so sorry Devin,” she whispered.

Rachel closed her eyes for a moment and took in one more deep breath. Her bright eyes snapped open and with a new fire. Rolling her sore arms Rachel turned and walked out of her office, shoulders back and head held high. There were still many members of the Guild still in the Hall. Many stopped and just stared at her, like they were being careful.

“Didn’t I give you an order? These next few nights we must be extra careful. And someone go find Alex. I’m sure he’ll be towards the southern end of the village.” Without waiting for a reply Rachel walked out of the Hall and went right to where she knew she’d find Caramel. The man Alex brought in was speaking and by the way Caramel held her shoulders Rachel was sure something was wrong but wasn’t sure what.

”So?”

On his way back Greg began thinking, playing possible events in which the Red Cap would exit the village. In not one of them did she go alone so he decided he would find a high place, perhaps a tree, in which he could overlook the entirety of the village border. He turned and headed to the side of the hall, climbing the building slowly trying not to lose his footing or damage the building. When he reached the roof edge he hefted himself up the rest of the way pulling himself onto the roof. Turning and looking around he found a nearby tree that would give him a better view of the Village.

He jumped down sure to bend his knees when he landed and started jogging toward the tree. He noticed Rachel heading to the herb room while he did so, but kept moving anyway. He was running between the buildings in the middle where the light didn't quite reach. It wasn't likely anyone would notice, unless of course someone else was wondering around in the dark.

He reached the base of the tree in just a few minutes and quickly he began climbing the tall tree sliding down again several times. Finding it frustrating he sat down for a bit and even though he was determined to stay awake, he started to doze off a bit.

Nathaniel, kind as he was, offered to help Caramel carry the man immediately. And as they walked over Caramel could sense that Nathaniel had concerns, perhaps he thought she had already made up her mind? Well in truth she had, she could smell the scent on him, and she knew that he would have to put down. But it wasn’t good to let Nathan know that just yet, as he was a sharp person who would be curious as to her precognition of the man’s condition.

“They have been acting strangely lately…and who knows? Maybe he fought only one lycan? Maybe he was strong enough to fight it off…who knows.” She assured him, smiling sadly, rarely was there such good luck. There were candles burning in the herb room, special candles that she had made a mixed herself. The slight smell of mint cleared the nose, and the incense that she lit gave off a smoke that naturally fatigued a person. The vial holding the burning stick was always placed next to the patient’s head, so as to help calm them. This incense was of her own making, and her own secret that even the Red Cap knew nothing of.

Her attention turned to the man as he answered Nathaniel. “That’s alright dear.” She cooed, the bells in her hair jingled quietly, emitting her calm voice to put him at ease, she had no desire to end his life while he was in a panic. Whenever she could, she liked to lull the doomed into security, so at least they could die having felt trust and safety. Such a thing only added to her own agonizing guilt, but it was what made her patient’s ordeal easier, and that was all that mattered.

However her initial response didn’t calm him down, he seemed to know what she was looking for. Her eyebrows knitted together in worry as he stripped, she was usually the one to do the stripping. It the patient stripped themselves and saw that they had a bite, they usually became erratic. She placed a hand on his bare chest, pushing down firmly but gently, she could feel his quickened heartbeat, and see his quickened breath. “Calm down, breath…my job is not to harm you…” She held his gaze in her own soft one until he remained still. She was thankful she was so good at this, rarely was anyone capable of freaking out when in her presence. Of course the incense helped tremendously too.

Her fingertips traced lightly where she needed to examine, only his chest was injured however. She was deeply surprised to find that no bite was decipherable in his skin, not unless you closely examined one of the slashes, and no one save her would see that, especially not when his torso looked so covered in gore. Dried blood everywhere, he was a bit of a mess. The Red Cap entered and Caramel paused as she asked her silent question. She had two choices, either reveal the bite hidden in the gash, or keep it a secret and hope for the best. She could blame it on the slashes hiding the bite, she could hope that he would retain his senses, she could hope. And how she wanted to hope, too much death already for one day; or rather too much hurt. “Nathaniel, could you fetch me some boiled water? I’m going to clean him up.” Nathaniel’s cue that the man was ok, and she no longer needed him present.

“He needs medical attention, but he has not been bitten.” She looked him in the face, to see his expression. “You’ll be back to health in no time Mr…your name?”

Before Caramel even made any attempt to disrobe or examine the male, he had already begun taking his clothes off. Nathaniel figured that the stranger was confident in his not being bitten, and anyone so rash to perhaps quicken the coming of his death, might as well had been put down anyway. Caramel answered his concerns pretty logically, as no less expected but he felt as if she had been trying purposely to make him feel better.

HE saw the man stumble, and he knew then that the incense and stuff must have been starting to work to bring the stranger down from his hyper vigilant state. Nathaniel himself relaxed a bit when he watched Caramel take control of the situation the stranger was creating. Everything and everyone in the room seemed to have stopped for a moment when she finally really began her examination.

It was in the middle of the examination that Rachel had entered asking about the stranger. Caramel's answer allowed Nathaniel to sigh audibly. Perhaps it was that the stranger didn't look too much different age wise than him. Or maybe the strangers confidence would have made it sad to see him die in the end. Still, something seemed off, but if the man wasn't wrongfully killed he wasn't about to complain about it. He looked at the stranger then to Rachel then to Caramel who he just realized had asked him to get some hot water.

"Oh, yeah, of course!" Nathaniel responded and swiftly exited the room. It didn't take him very long to fulfill the request, he was always good at keeping a one track mind. It was something he had to learn how to do when working on his problem. So it probably didn't surprise anyone when he came back quickly with the water.

"I assume my presence is no longer needed?" he asked...

The nauseating feeling Adrian felt started to dissipate when he began to notice the smells in the room. No longer was the smell on Caramel the first thing, but it was the incense now that he smelled and it started to fog his head. In fact he felt a bit weaker, not quite helpless but less everywhere. He felt Caramel's hand on his chest and it brought attention to his quickened heart beat. She told him to relax, which at this point felt a lot easier said then done. He was probably going to die, even if she said he wasn't, if the whole exam went wrong. What could possibly make him relax?

However, thanks to the incense he found relaxing to actually be very easy. Her voice started to seem a lot more soothing and hypnotizing, and he followed where he was moved, now still as his breathing calmed. He felt that he could remain in this calm state forever, if he was allowed to. It was drawing towards the end of the examination when another woman entered the room. He figured she was the leader, from everything he had witnessed previously. He wondered what it was like to be a woman leader, especially one over so many men. HE would ask, but he felt as if saying anything could jeopardize his chances of living through the night.

Finally a verdict came when Caramel asked the man with her to get some water so she could clean him up. She said he hadn't been bitten. "Am I really okay? Sorry, I just really thought I was going to die for a little bit."His face paled as he looked at her. His facial expression was one of relief yet, utter confusion. He had suddenly been doused with 'memories' just a bit earlier and he thought he remembered being bitten. Was he wrong? Did he just think that? Or was she covering for him? Why would she cover for him? How would she even be able to tell, you couldn't see a bite anywhere.

He swayed a little bit in his place, a sudden headache from the mass rush of thoughts. He heard Caramel's voice ring through the throbs as she said he would be okay in no time, then asked his name.

"My name is Adrian. Yours?" he hoped it would not be rude to ask for her name. He then turned to the one with the red cape, "What exactly is all of this? How do you guys know so much about lycans? Are you guys like a group that fights them or something?" Adrian asked, his hearbeat starting to race again.

Rachel folded her arms over her chest, carefully watching the injured man but listening to Caramel. At the same time her mind was on Alex and where he ran off to. Please don’t let there be an attack this soon. It’ll be the last thing that we need. When Caramel responded Rachel had to strain to hear her and took her longer than she expected to pull her mind back to reality.

“…but he has not been bitten. You’ll be back to health in no time Mr… your name?” Rachel pinched the arch of her nose, thankful for something going kind of right today. And the sun had barely crawled over the horizon. It really was going to be a long day. Slowly and silently, Rachel took in a deep breath and let it out again. She looked down at the new guy as Nathaniel left. The poor guy really was a bloody mess and he was lucky he didn’t bleed out.

Her bright eyes scanned over his body. It was clear it was a Lycan. She had more than her fair share of attacks and she can call a Lycan scratch from across the room. “My name is Adrian. Your?”

“I’m Rachel, or Red Cap. I’ll respond to either.” Rachel licked her lips as she walked towards the window to look outside at the Guild members getting the villages to help moving their supplies across the village. She didn’t know if and when the attack would come and a part of her hoped that Devin was dead, but she doubted that she was that lucky.

“What exactly is all of this? How do you guys know so much about Lycans? Are you guys like a group that fights them or something?” A small smile pulled across her lips as she turned to face Adrian. The book guy really was ignorant. It was hard for her to believe that there was still ignorance of the Lycan’s in the world but he was living proof.

“We are called the Crimson Guild. We are a group who do specialize in fighting and killing Lycans. We fight for what is left of humanity. I am the leader of the Guild. Well, new leader. When you are more patched up and you are curious someone will fill you in on the story of how we came to be.

---

Alex walked down a well-worn path just on the outside of the village. His hands were deep in his pockets and his head hung low, watching the ground and he slowly walked a path he could walk blind folded. He grew up here and he and Devin would always run and play along here. Hell, it was two night ago when the two of them walked down this way to the lake just to relax. Pausing mid-stride, Alex looked up and saw the frozen lake through the trees and bushes. His heart felt heavy but empty all at the same time. He hadn’t felt anything like this since he lost his mother.

Looking up into the sky Alex just stared up. After what felt like an hour and what was only a few seconds he closed his eyes and a pain filled scream ripped out of his chest. Lifting his hands, his fingers laced in his hair and held tight as he sank to his knees. He was alone now. The only Creed still alive. Hot tears rolled down his face, his body shook with pain and anger. Opening his eyes, Alex looked across the lake. Where he saw a pack of Lycan’s moving along the far shore line. And moving quick. His face fell, all emotion left as tears continued to pour from his eye but he didn’t notice. He was numb. Pushing up to his feet Alex turned and began to run back to the village. To warn them.

Maybe.

Ash was slung on her branch, her back on the branch she hung over the sides and sighed thickly. Her eyes flickered and she thought slowly but listened once more into the hall. An order? The Red Cap had given an order. So, she slid off the branch and onto the ground slowly. Her heels dug into the ground for a long moment. Hunting for Alex seemed like a difficult task. That guy could walk for hours and hours and never stop. She thought for a moment and wondered if anyone else had decided to go hunt for him.

The gal sat with her heels in the ground. She then began to head towards the place Alex had most likely walked out of the village towards. There where foot marks from the ball of his foot in the ground that bent the dusty earth and she followed them till the stopped and scanned the area. She tipped her head to the side of her shoulders and the bones in her body cracked against the cartilage. Ash blinked her eyes, tucking the same bit of silver hair back under her hat before seeing something in the distance.

She blinked at this thing running and stood there with her head tipped to the side. Her hands hung against her hips and she wondered for a moment why he was running. Rachel, er, Red Cap had said this guys name before so she figured it was Alex since he looked exactly like the guy walking out of the hall. She slouched a little and stood still simply waiting for him to run some more.

Ash was incredibly lazy-looking at the moment, but in honesty, she was thinking her cap off. It seemed like it would take a while so she sighed and she called out. "Alex? Why are you running?!" Ash called as loud as her normally quiet or silent voice could carry and she waited for a response, silently, with her ears peeled open so she could attempt to hear him if he could respond between breaths while running, which was difficult.

She hoped he knew she was no lycan. She was standing there and he probably had no clue who Ash was, anyways, so she just had hope she wouldn't have to fight him.

Aya crouched low, watching the small doe prance in the meadow. Aya licked her lips, finally finding the money she could use to keep up the room in the inn. Grabbing an arrow from her quiver, silent, she carefully loaded and pulled back the string. She was just about to let go, then, "Alex? Why are you running?!" a person yelled, she didn't know who it was, but they did chase the doe away.

Aya swung her bow behind her back. "You got rid of my stay at the inn, now what am I going to do?" Aya muttered angrily under her breath. "Hey, can you keep it down? You know, there are people who hunt over here!" She walked towards the person in a hat. It completely obscured the person's hair. That someone had their head tilted to one side, "What the heck." Aya said angrily.

"Could you please keep it down?" She didn't really want to yell at a stranger, but people hunted in these woods, and she was in a bad mood. Game was running low, and the butcher didn't give enough money. The person in the hat turned around. She had pale golden eyes, and a lock of white, no silver, no, blonde hair, sticking out from under her hat.

Ash heard another persons voice over her shoulder and her head turned to blink at them she nodded slowly, her hands remaining at her sides. "Sorry, I hadn't noticed you." She said rather softly compared to her yell before. Her eyes flickered upon the other person but a smile never cracked upon her face. She didn't seem happy.

Ash knew how it felt to have food taken from you so she felt rather bad about it. Besides that, there was honestly more meat in the woods but that was beside the point. Ash gave a slow frown before turning to look through the tree's, her gaze catching everything in their widths until the darkness latched upon the tree's in the far distance. She kept her eyes switching between the girl and Alex who would be running towards her and the girl and the village once more. Her lips tightened and she kept her head upright.

How would that have destroyed her stay at the inn? She forgot about that place and now felt rather dumb before biting her tongue and remaining silent. Yelling was not her strong point and this ended up causing problems anyways so why had she yelled in the first place? She wondered. She was commonly known as a wordless girl who was almost always silent accept for words. That hadn't been a word though, that had been a yell. She had been questioning herself for the past few days, especially with the dreams/flashbacks she'd been having. She sighed softly, though, figuring no one would hear it though she could've been wrong.

Her mouth opened once more, slower. "I could help you catch one if you want. To make up for scaring your first doe off." She said slowly, her voice not trembling or cracking, but being soft once again. Her gaze flashed back to Alex, whose running seemed frantic as he approached slowly through the tree's.

"Sorry, I hadn't noticed you," the person said. She even offered to catch another doe to make up for it. Sighing, Aya couldn't stand the fact that she was so calm, and then felt bad for yelling at her. "Well, if your busy, then I really don't want to bother you, but I've been asking random people forever, have you heard of the crimson guild? Because I want to join them, not like I'd be old enough or anything." Thinking that she was just an ordinary 17 year old person.

A rabbit shot past them, and immediately, without hesitating, knowing it would be her one and only chance to get a catch unless the other person caught one, shot an arrow at it, and it was pinned to a tree. Best shot so far. Watched her as she took the rabbit, "I'm sorry." Aya whispered as she killed the in pain rabbit. She took out a dagger and started skinning it. The person seemed busy, watching this person run away. "Well, you look like you want to chase him, go ahead." Aya said sighing. "You probably don't know much anyway, like the rest of the people." She stabbed her dagger in the ground, wiping off the blood, waiting for an answer.

Ash looked at the girl, barely flinching as the arrow whizzed by her head, though she leaned back slightly and shook her head. "I am actually in the guild." she said slowly, watching the girl slit the rabbit from the tree and kill it without worry of the blood on her hands. Her own head lifted casually and she blinked at Alex once more, slowly moving her right foot so she was facing him as he ran, but also the girl beside her. She ended up twirling a little before planting her foot in the ground. She rolled her shoulders.

"If you'd like to join, you will have to speak to Rachel, our Red Cap." Ash said, calmly and without adding the fact that Rachel was their new Red Cap. No matter how new they happened to be, they, or rather, she would be and was the Red Cap. Ash blinked and sniffed a little bit, the dry air making her nose wrinkle a little. "If you'd so please, you could come with me back to the village. You seem like you will do just fine, however, that decision does not rest in my hands." Ash said plainly and honestly. Her hand ran back up and she slid her hair back into her hat.

"you don't look like a lycan, nor smell like one, so I'm guessing your not... For now." Ash said, her lip curling up at the side almost as if she wanted to smile but the brush was shaking as Alex ran, so she let her mouth hang back into a creased line, nearly a frown. Why was he running so quickly?

"Eh? Really? Could you take me to her? Wait, but... How do I know YOU aren't a lycan? I mean, as far as I know, you aren't one. Because I haven't seen many lycans, I don't really know much about the difference between one and a human," Aya said. She wiped the blood on her hands onto the grass subconsciously, "Well... I've been asking around for quiet a while, it's amazing that I succeeded. I've only heard roomers here and there, I never actually found someone who was knowledgeable about it, much less from the guild itself." Aya was really distracted because the person seemed distracted from the running other person.

"Well, I am... are you running after the guy? Because you seemed really distracted by him. Am I bothering you with something? Or..." Aya's sentence trailed off, as she finished skinning the rabbit. She felt kind of rude, multitasking with someone she didn't know. "Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you your name, I'm Aya," She said, holding her hand out to shake, realizing it reeked of blood, "Uh well, as you can see, my hands aren't really in the condition to shake hands with. " Aya hung the skin on a low branch on a maple tree.

Ash blinked solemnly at Alex before shaking her head. "I would've already eaten you if I where a lycan." She said flatly, barely any emotion in her voice. Though, she changed for the better soon after. "Red Cap gave an order for someone to go out and find him. Seemed like no one else was going to so I slipped out." Ash's face was stone solid and she stood balanced upon the earth with little motion before nodding at Aya. "Nice to meet you, Aya. My name is Ash." She said in a soft tone.

"I'm not running after him, besides, he looks like he's running back to the village. Either way, you can come with me back to the village if you'd like." Ash said simply, shrugging her tightly wound shoulders to chin level then letting them fall back beside her body. Her hands hung at her hips and her eyes remained slow and very calm.

Ash turned once more to face the tree's on the other side of her. The village was back a ways and Alex was running in that direction. Ash sensed a slight fear among the tree's. If not fear, then she figured it was an urgent thing. She sniffed a little. "We should go shortly..." She said slowly, looking around. Her right hand slid against her waist where her belt was, along with her dagger. She knew this feeling in here and blinked slowly.

"Okay, so if you would have eaten me, then wouldn't that mean if I were I lycan I would have already eaten you? If that's what logic means..." Aya sighed. She really didn't feel like arguing about something that she was almost completely sure that both of them weren't. "Okay, let's head back to to the village. I'm gonna stop by the butchers." Ash seemed tense about something. She slowly reached down to her dagger, as though some bear was going to fall from the sky and start chewing on her. Bear? She could easily handle a bear, of course, Aya thought. Ash's intensity was contagious. Even though she had no idea what was really going on, Aya felt her own body start to tense up. "Uh... we were going to go back to the village?" Aya said, grabbing the skin from the tree and heading towards it, trying to relax. But then, Ash wasn't really relaxing. We need to go soon... Aya's thoughts repeated Ash's words. They started walking towards wherever that Alex guy was running. Towards the village. Trying to lighten up the mood, Aya started to talk. Not knowing quite what to say, she felt a little awkward.

Ash's head whipped around quickly as if something was stalking them and she blinked at Aya. "Can you run? There's something wrong. We need too move." She said quickly and without warning Ash started to run slowly, not too fast and she watched where she was stepping with an eye and a calmness with the air blowing at her. She took a deep breath and ran some more. Her head was high on her neck but either way, she had to keep her eyes open. Alex had been running, maybe even panicking. She didn't want to be out in the woods with someone else if there was something out there which was dangerous. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Aya was close enough behind her.

Ash slid to a halt outside of the village. She looked around and then around her until she saw Aya. "This is the place." She said slowly before walking inside. She looked around her before walking even further. She led Aya inside and glanced around. "Red Cap should be somewhere. Either way, we're finally here. There should be a butcher here somewhere so don't worry. I didn't run past any on the way here or anything." She said slowly, feeling more comfortable and finally relaxing in her own skin and home. She glanced around, wondering if Alex had made it in. She sighed softly and rolled her shoulders gently, yawning a little and letting her body go slack and she stood there.

Aya ran with Ash until they were right behind the town. "Thanks for everything." She said, hardly remembering why she was thanking Ash. Hardly out of breath, Ash looked around for where it could be. Wondering who the Alex guy was, and wondering how she was lucky enough to finally ask one random person who knew about the Crimson Guild, and to join was a weird coincidence. She wondered, a whole bunch of questions streaming through her mind, did people buy rabbit meat here? Hoping they would, she stood behind Ash, a bit excited, scared, and a bit weird out. Everything happened so quickly, as if somebody came from behind her and screamed in her ear. Then she would jump six feet in the air and turn around to find some random person laughing at her.

"This is the place." Ash said, right outside the village. "Red Cap should be here somewhere. Either way, we're finally here. There should be a butcher here somewhere so don't worry. I didn't run past any on the way here or anything." She said, relaxing. Aya felt like it was a joke, because all there was were trees. As if there would be a random shop that so much as happened to be a butcher's shop. Ash relaxed, lowering the temperature by a thousand degrees, making Aya feel the exact same. It was like the after feeling of getting scared half to death.

Ash blinked behind her at Aya. "You don't have to hide behind me." She said softly. "No one will bite you here." She said, honestly. She walked forwards slowly, Her hands sliding back down too her sides. She was silent after those words and while she looked around while walking forwards, her left hand running back up to her face while sliding her silver hair back into her cap. Ash sighed and blinked some before walking forwards and through to the log piece that she had been carving in sloppily and sat down on it.

Ash blinked at Aya once more, tipping her head to the side at Aya. "Well, you should find Red Cap." Ash said simply. It probably sounded kind of rude but still. She slowly spoke once more. "I really am too lazy to walk around and find her. I'm sorry about that." She said, honestly, and quietly. She slid out her knife and began carving once more in the wood beneath her rump. She drew messy squares and triangles beside circles and shapes that she didn't know the name for as she sat there in silence and tranquility. It was tranquil in a weird, unordinary kind of way. She stopped carving and closed her eyes for a minute before slowly sliding the knife away and sitting in silence again.

"You don't have to hide behind me." Ash said to her, "No one will bite you here." Sure does look like it though, Aya thought, looking at the people with quite unpleasant expressions. Aya came from behind Ash to next to her, she had stunningly silver hair. Aya eyed it, amazed by the shining color. "Well, you should find Red Cap." Ash said. Aya looked at her as if she was going to run off on her. Ash said the words Aya hoped never to hear. "I really am too lazy to walk around and find her. I'm sorry about that." Cursing her shyness, Aya said quietly, "Well... um, can you describe her? Because sadly, you either have to tell me where she is, tell me what she looks like, or just look around for her. And what do I say? What am I supposed to do? How do you join..." Trailing off on her curious questions. She watched as Ash was carving as if she was impatient to finish the odd carving of random objects jumbled together. For some reason or another, the carving looked like an abstract work of clouds. Aya shook her head, they didn't look anything like clouds, she was just daydreaming about them. She looked at Ash's cap, "So how do you define the Red cap?" Aya asked, waiting for an answer.

Ash took a long moment, sitting upright oncemore she slanderously a lid her blade into her pocket, almost cutting herself, yet missing by a mile. "Well, Red Cap has a red cloak about her shoulders. She is no chubby one either. She has indescribable features and recently she hasn't been looking so thrilled about anything. She has been kind of upset about the position she's in because it belonged to someone special to her and now, as you can see, they aren't there any longer." Ash thought for another moment, her eyes glancing at the tree branches and the people walking around without a care in the world or with one. Whatever the circumstances where, they looked utterly unpatriotic. Not like Ash cared. She remembered her dream from the previous night and her stomach stirred lightly.

The thought of once more holding a broken corpse of her brother struck her as painful in the most possible ways. Even the thought of it put her wrists in a frozen state. She shook the feeling easily though, as if she where or had been trained to do so. Ash sighed. "You can tell her you would like to join the guild, or that you would appreciate it if she allowed you in. Any way you say it doesn't change the fact that she is going to probably put you through some tests. Though, mind you, she may not." Ash shrugged. "Ita hard to tell for each individual." she said with a mere shrug. "Red Cap could be anywhere though she may more likely be either at the herb room or her roomy office sort of place near the main hall." Ash shrugged once more. "People here may have issues but most of us don't. We won't hurt you if you say you're looking for Red Cap. If you ask people then they will tell you where she is."

Aya thanked Ash and walked away, looking for the Red Cap. The Red Cap she always heard about was a girl? And, the last one... was a boy. Either a brother or a sister, maybe, but could be mom or dad. Which would be kind of weird. Or maybe a boyfriend or a close friend. She couldn't figure out what she meant by 'someone special'. She walked through the halls, passing hardly anybody, pulling aside a random person, "Um... would you know where the Red Cap is right now?" The person said, "Sorry, I'm not exactly sure." and walked off. She asked some other people with no luck.

The last person she asked, said, "Some sort of a meeting I heard. I don't really know where she is, but I think that she would be at some meeting." Aya thanked them and walked off. Taking a deep breath, she wished Ash was with her. Feeling like a little child lost in a crowd of people, she consciously walked towards the place where she began her search. With Ash. But, she, again, was nervous and didn't know what to say to her. Like, "The people said she was at a meeting." Or "No luck, just, 'I think she's at meeting.'" Deciding to go with the second one, she tapped Ash on the shoulder. "No luck, just, 'I think she's at meeting.'"