Jason Carter's Story

Jason blinked when Autumn finished his reading, thinking "Wow... That's accurate. Very accurate. I really don't like the last card though..." And didn't really pay attention to Harper's reading. Then just as the Aria girl was about to get her own reading done, chaos broke out as he heard a loud bang.

He turned his head to see that a table had been flipped, and almost immediately, fists were being thrown. Having seen many bar fights with his friends back in Tennessee, Jason was happy enough to jump up to follow when Harper spoke. He didn't want to get caught in this. Of course, luck isn't always on his side. As he started to follow the others, a punch slammed into the back of his head, causing him to stumble to the ground, a shock of pain exploding behind his eyes. He forced himself up a bit disoriented, and barley had time to dodge as a fist came at his face, knocking him into someone else. He pushed away whoever he bumped into and made a run for it, trying to maneuver his way through the crowd, which was hard to do.

His head was pounding with every step, and he was getting pretty damn annoyed getting bumped around. It was making him dizzy. Then he heard someone call out his name, and his head whipped up for him to see Haru, causing his head to spin. He also heard another name. Lux? And ten a female voice yell "Haru??!!!" He glanced over, slower this time, still trying not to get hit, and saw one of the girls from his group caught in the fray.

"Crap.." He had to get them both out, so he pushed his way towards her. When he was almost an arms length away, someone punched him in the side of the face. He stumbled back into someone, far beyond annoyed now, and then jumped forward swinging hard at the guy he assumed punched him and shouted, "Get the hell out of my fuck'n way!!!" and was able to grab Lux's wrist. He quickly started to force his way through the people, pulling Lex behind him as he roughly pushed his way through towards Haru. One guy tried to rush him, but Jason swung his arm as hard as he could, knocking the man off his feet.
"Lucky the guy was already drunk."

By the time he got there, his head was spinning and his ears were ringing, and he was about ready to freaking kill someone.

As Autumn began doing readings for Jason and Harper Skylar found herself beginning to zone out, slowly nursing the beer Haru had ordered for her. She might have talked a big game but in all honesty she wasn’t really a fan of alcohol, the way it muddled her thoughts and made her head heavy. While she may have had a high tolerance for pain, she was a lightweight when it came to drinking, her small stature not helping in that department.

One couldn’t hurt though, and everyone else was drinking. Besides, once she got over how strong it was, it was actually pretty good, serving as a distraction from the crowded pub.

The sounds of a bar fight erupting from across the room snapped Skylar out of her thoughts, her light eyes widening at the chaos. Squinting, she thought she could make out Tallyho in the distance and she vaguely remembered the blonde excusing herself from the group earlier.

What happened next seemed to happen in a blur, the fight getting worse as the sounds of drunken men shouting and glasses breaking filling the air. The rest of the month warriors scattered, leaving Skylar alone and slightly buzzed, a combination that didn't mix very well.

Skylar liked to be in control, liked to know exactly what was going to happen. Suddenly the events from the day hit her hard, her mind going into overdrive as she felt an anxious feeling starting to settle in the pit of her stomach.

She knew she had to get out of there, as quickly and injure free as possible. However, her plans didn't work out as well as she had hoped, drunken men stumbling over her as she tried to hurry out. She was starting to feel extremely claustrophobic, her heart racing as she felt her chest tighten. She felt an elbow collide with her face, another knocking her in the side.

I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die.

Moments later she burst out of the pub, her breaths shallow as she let herself slump to the ground. The night air was cool against her skin, a drastic change from the musty smell inside the pub. She hadn’t felt this way in months, she thought that she had gotten over it…

Looking up she saw the rest of the warriors, save for Tallyho and Gwen. The others seemed to be battered as well, some more so than others. Feeling slightly lightheaded, she wiped her face with the back of her hand only to realize that her nose was bleeding.

“I’m going to be sick.” Skylar mumbled as she watched Harper spit his tooth into his hand, her cheeks flushing.

Haru didn’t get much of a chance to go in and help the three warriors he managed to catch in the skirmish. In fact, the other two, Gwen and Tallyho, weren’t even in the room. He groaned, the idea of having to go look for two teen-aged girls in the middle of the night after a bar fight was one of the least attractive idea’s he could fathom at the moment.

The setup kind of reminded him of those Lifetime Network movies he watched when he took brief trips to earth. Nonetheless, he was impressed with the Jason boy and his hands-on attempt at saving his comrade. While Harper had given the other’s a heads up, his approach wasn’t nearly as potent to the cat guardian just because the “I don’t care about any of you” front he put up since the cyclopean attack hadn’t really washed off.

Seeing Jason, Skylar and Lux plowing towards the door, he did the next best thing he could do to help, and held it open for them. Once they were all out, he gave a heavy sigh and made a slow pace around the side of the building, gesturing for the group to follow.

“Well it looks like they aren’t in there,” he huffed, “follow me and let’s get you guys set up back at the inn. Considering some of your conditions… I don’t think you should be out any longer. I’ll go find Gwen and Tallyho.”


Tallyho considered what Gwen said, but she gave a shrug.

“Well what should I expect from him? Yes he is my guardian, but he is also the only guardian here… So I guess he’s you guy’s guardian too. One soul saved above eleven doesn’t seem like a fair trade. I think he’s just focused on the group as a whole.”

She noticed a change in Gwen’s body language as she reacted to the eastward comment.

“Well if it makes you feel any better, Solace isn’t a very global place. I mean… They confine the native Solacians to conservation camps. The law puts a heavy hand on nomadic caravans, too. There are nicer places than this big corn field if you ask me.”

The blonde hoisted her bag over her shoulder.

“I mean…”

Tallyho really wanted food.

“I guess we could go back... But I don’t know. I’m not big on being in debt to others. Anyway, I’ll walk you back if you’re scared. People in Tabbard don’t generally pick at me outside of the taverns,” she hummed as she rolled her eyes at the buildings beyond the alley.

“Come on, let’s go to the inn,” her words were both sharp and blunt at once. She didn’t pause to secure Gwen’s approval to leave. The blonde figured that she would follow if she really wanted to go back.

Tallyho was only five steps out of the alley when she caught sight of Haru emerging from the side of the bar, and he definitely saw her.

Tallyho glanced back at Gwen.

“That was easy right?”



Upon entering the inn, Haru sent the group upstairs before proceeding to ask the desk girl for gauze. Tallyho hiked up the flight, and then dropped her bag of money before her little bed in the corner. Another day was under her belt. It wasn’t the easiest, but she definitely reaped some benefits. But, looking at some of the others, it didn’t seem like they got what they wanted.

She supposed she did feel a little bad. Sure some of them treated her a little rudely back on earth, and sure she got herself chased by the cyclopean to save them and received absolutely no thanks, but when her misfortunes were weighed against those of her “teammates”, well things just didn’t look to good for them.

The portal to Aires—the one that they were all forced into—led her home, while it led the others to a strange new world. The bar fight left her with a little money, while it left the others with bruises. The inn was a major improvement to where she had been sleeping before, but for the others it was a severe downgrade, a place devoid of family.



Moments later, the thumps of Haru’s fine, metal-soled shoes could be heard from below. The cat guardian rose through the door on the floor with a roll of gauze clenched in his fist.

“If you have an open cut, wrap it up,” he began as he paced the room, “Harper, put some gauze in your mouth for that tooth.” He tossed the roll to him first before sitting down on the foot of a bed. He chose a bed near the center, one that was a prime location for speaking to everyone around him.

“If I’m sitting on your bed,” he said, “I’m not going to sleep in it. I’ll get up in a minute. But I want to have a little talk with you guys. You have all been chosen. It was destiny, and there is no way to get out of it. You are the Month Warriors, you were always the Month Warriors, and you will always be the Month Warriors. I am a guardian, this was my destiny. I don’t want to be here anymore than you do, so understand that. But I am here to protect you and help you get the job done. So don’t resist me.”

He readjusted his position to a more relaxed informal pose.

“There, now that we’re past the magic shit, the prophesy crap, and all of the fancy little bells and whistles, let’s get real. Let’s talk about survival. When shit goes down, you need to be there to help each other. I don’t care if you were just punched, cursed , and spit on by your fellow warrior, if they are in immediate danger, you had better do what you can to save their asses. My biggest concern with this group is your lack of cooperation with each other. Shall I run through the problems of the night? The little tarot card thing was cute, but it was definitely overshadowed by you guy’s tendency to rag on each other and argue. Two. There is no doubt in my mind that a lot of you saw Tallyho get up and leave the table. When you see your teammate go off alone in an unsafe environment, the first thing any of you should do is try to go with them.”

The redhead then got a long, hard look at Tallyho.

“You. I don’t know what you did with your life yesterday. But today, you are in my fucking care, so you don’t can’t reckless. Because of your little drinking stunt, your teammates got their faces smashed in. You all might be eighteen or well above, but with me, you’re kids. How old am I? Like… One thousand and three? Hell, I don’t know, I’m immortal. But my point is, don’t screw with gambling because you aren’t an adult, and all those men had to do tonight was slit your pretty little throat and you’d be down. But you know that, don’t you? By the way, you’re not going to get everyone beat up then keep your gambling money. Tomorrow, we are going to Malboro to get you guys some new clothes and equipment and I was going to pay for it all. But now you’re going to help me out and make a nice donation. “

The redhead stood up, and walked towards Tallyho’s bed before picking up her bag. The girl made a lunge for him but the stillness of his glare kept her seated.

“Now, I’m not going to leave you all with a cloud over your heads. I’d like to commend those of you who promoted civil social interaction at the table. And Jason, good job on helping Lux. Falke, thank you for helping Autumn. Now, if you need me, I’ll be on the second floor. My room is the one right next to the stairway. Good night and heed my warning. Tomorrow it’s all business.”

Harper had carried the chair all the way up to the attic, and had just put it down when Haru tossed what looked like gauze to him. Oh, it is gauze... he thought as he unraveled a piece, Wait, they have gauze here?

As Haru talked some nonsense about destiny (another thing Harper didn't believe in) while sitting on what might actually be his bed, he handed the gauze to the person next to him, motioning for them to 'pass it around' to whoever else needed it, and then stuffed the gauze in the hole where his tooth used to be, closing his mouth and biting down to keep it in place.

He rolled his eyes when Haru started criticizing them, leaning against the back of the chair. He didn't even notice Tallyho had left. Frankly, he didn't care all that much either. He knew he wouldn't want anyone following him all over the place if he decided to leave a group. Finding out that it was actually Tallyho, however, that set off the bar fight soured his opinion, but, then again, he wouldn't have this chair otherwise.

He rolled his eyes once more at the kids comment. He wondered, if they were all in their 30s, would he continue to talk to them so demeaningly? Maybe everyone else here was a kid, but Harper was definitely an adult. Even if he might act otherwise.

When Harper realized he hadn't been included with the others for helping, he almost opened his mouth in protest. Feeling the gauze start to slip prompted him to keep his mouth shut, and he snorted instead. No mention for him helping out three other people get out of the bar? He narrowed his eyes as Haru walked out, and picked up his chair to place it next to the head of his bed as a nightstand. Well, then. It wasn't like he had done that for Haru's approval anyways. And it wasn't his fault not all of them could follow behind him. Besides, he had only done it so that they would frickin' yell at him about it the next day.

Whatever. He shrugged, and then winced from the pain coming out of his cheek. Did they have any ice here? Or maybe cold water? He left the room, heading downstairs and pulling out the gauze as he reached the desk. The girl seemed sympathetic, but ice apparently wasn't in season for everybody else. Cold water was a yes, though, since it was night and the well water was bound to be chilled. After being instructed to where the washroom and well was, and given an extra bucket, Harper thanked the girl with a closed smile and headed outside, replacing the gauze upside down.

True to the desk girl's word, the water was very cold. Frigid almost. He only took two trips, not intending to take a bath himself. Taking the towel from the washroom, he wetted it with the icy water and pressed it against his cheek. He winced, but immediately relaxed, enjoying the cold sensation against his hot skin. He redrenched the towel whenever the heat in his skin returned, and continued this procedure until it was finally numb with cold.

He sat in the washroom, contemplative as he wrung the towel. Tomorrow, Haru had mentioned they would get clothes...yet Harper had a feeling they would be on the road a lot. His own shirt smelled of food from when he had collided onto the table. They really should have given us a warning or something, he thought as he pulled off his shirt and dunked it into the cold water, Give us some time to pack a fucking suitcase. At this thought he undressed entirely, adding the Speedo he wore as underwear to the tub before pulling his jeans back on. His pants had been washed a couple days ago, and the material itself could last a while without needing washing. He'd need to find a safe place to put all the food, though. He didn't know if rats was a problem here.

He hummed to himself as he hand-washed his clothes, a task that reminded him of Boston-home (although there he had used a sink). Time toooooo say Goooodbyeeee~ he sang mentally along with the tune as he scrubbed the beer stains from the back of his shirt.

The feeling of a hand against her wrist was the only thing that Lux could make sense out of the blur that was the bar fight. Barely recognizing the teammate that had come to her rescue, the brunette merely focused on just getting out of there! Biting her bottom lip to hold back complaints, Lux followed the others back to the inn. Nodding towards Haru when he spoke about whose bed he was borrowing, she stayed silent throughout the red head's speech. It was true, she failed to follow Tallyho as proper teammate would have done.

Glancing towards Jason the moment he was mentioned, Lux tried to smile. Her lip was cut, and the taste of blood was something she knew well from back during the winter months when her lips got too chapped as a kid. Allowing her brown hues to travel over her arms, the only really bare skin she had, she winced at the appearance of all the scrapes and little cuts that she had sustained from her attempt to escape. Letting out a rough sigh, Lux couldn't tell if she wanted to scream or cry. Neither would bode well anyhow with Haru.

She was a warrior, and right now crying over some little cuts and scrapes were not what a warrior did. However, the brunette found herself inching closer and closer towards Jason the moment everyone set out on their own agendas for tonight. Giving Jason a nearly warming smile, the brunette stood close to him.

"I wanted to thank you..." She stated, her voice a bit weak from the screaming she had done earlier. "For leading me out. I'm grateful, Jason."

Harper laughed at Skylar's comment. "Yeah, I heard that too," he said, "That's why I tried to avoid it. Preventative measures and all."

He nodded at her when she left, wringing the water out of his Speedo. He hmphed a bit at her last words though. Harper himself was a big night owl. He'd often stay up until 4 or 5 in the morning, sometimes later, tinkering or carving or catching a movie marathon or all three. He himself didn't feel that tired right now...although he didn't have an inkling for what time it actually was.

Slinging his damp clothes over his bare shoulder, he returned to the attic, not noticing Tallyho at the end of a corner. Many were getting ready to sleep, if not already asleep. Whistling--although not too obnoxiously--he flipped his chair over to hang his clothes on. His other clothes were still on his bed, and as he pulled them off he felt something hard in one of his pockets that was definitely not phone shaped. He pulled out the knife from before, and with a slight punctuation in his whistle, started carving a small chunk of wood from each of the legs.

Climbing onto his mattress--the straw itched at his bare skin, but it wasn't the worst...it sure beat a bathtub--he started whittling away at one of the pieces with the small knife, using the moonlight to see.

By the time he finally fell asleep the moon had started to descend. Peppered across Harper's lap were three small birds carved roughly out of the wood. Splinters and small nicks covered Harper's thumbs, and the little knife responsible was clutched loosely in one of his limp hands, an unfinished fourth bird resting against the palm of his other hand.

Jason felt like his head was full of cotton the whole time after he and Lux made it out of that crazy place, and he had a cut on his cheek that kept burning. Did that guy really hit his head that hard? When the others started back to the inn, Jason methodically followed, blinking more than usual because his vision kept blurring as they walked. The pounding in the back of his head didn't dull the slightest as he made his way up to their lodging place.

Crossing his arms over his chest and wearing a distant expression, Jason was just trying to focus, but any and everything Haru said seemed bleated out, kind of like there was a thin wall of glass separating him from the others. He found that he kept zoning out, shaking his head every once in a while to try and clear it. Everything was so muffled that it was getting annoying, but honestly he was really getting too exhausted to care.

He rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. "I'll be fine after some sleep. Noth'n to worry about. Just some dizzy spells," he thought to himself as he sank down onto a vacant bed, covering his face with a hand.

His mind was so far out and distant that he didn't even notice the brunette until she was standing right in front of him as she said, "I wanted to thank you... For leading me out. I'm grateful, Jason."

He looked up at her, trying to focus, which was hard, not just because his head was pounding, but also with that smile she had. He smiled a bit with the decency to be a little embarrassed despite the cotton clogging his mind. "Don't worry 'bout it. I-I'm just glad you're alright... Right?" Which was his short way of asking "Did you get hurt?" and just barely was able to notice the cuts on her arms and lip, but not really registering them at first. He lost his focus and felt himself starting to slip into the unconscious.

"We... should get to bed..." he found himself saying distantly, as he layed back one the bed, more passing out than falling asleep.

(OOC: I was actually writing this post when all of the characters who were actively speaking went to bed. XD Jason and Lux can wrap their convo up, but I’mma go ahead and post this.)

Haru wasn’t kidding when he said that he meant business the next day. It was six in the morning when he could be heard barreling up to their room. He didn’t intend on waking them gracefully either.

“Up! Come on, wake up. We need to get to the next town by noon! The stables are open, we are buying a pack of horses and moving on to Malboro.” His voice was powerful and unwavering. He spoke about as fast as an auction host. He made his way through the rows, nudging each warrior who hadn’t bolted upwards from his entrance.

“We’re going to handle the first piece of Month warrior business,” he hummed. “Years ago, each of the original warriors had a special weapon. Weapons that was were crafted by some of the best damn blacksmiths Aires had ever seen. I’ve spent years collecting these babies, and I sort of wish that you all would have come along about two hundred years ago when I got them all. I could have given them to you on the spot. But unfortunately, I was forced to hide them in a special mound south of here until the time came. I don’t know what’s crawling in that cave now, but it’s about time we go get them. So get up. If you want to wash up, you should probably wait until we settle down in the next city. Meet me down in the lobby,” he hummed before galloping down the steps.

Once on the second floor he paused when he heard a small snore coming from around the corner. Curious, he made a quick swerve to see where the noise was coming from.

“Oh this group is filled with a bunch of idiots—hey—you! Get up blondie we’re leaving.”

Tallyho grunted and gurgled as Haru nudged her on the cheek with the toe of his shoe but she did not wake. Being the impatient person that he was, Haru proceeded to drag her down to the lobby by her noodley arms, then leaver her on the floor in front of the front desk.

Hereally did mean business.

“Hey, those kids that are gonna be coming down in a few moments—tell them to wait here, I’m going to run to the stables,” and with that he left.

The woman—severely confused—could only oblige by what he said. She had gotten many odd guests in her day, but the redhead and his band of…siblings—cousins—cult members or whatever they were, really took the cake.

Lux noticed how weary Jason seemed, so she decided to try to make this as brief as possible. Besides, the others were starting to turn into bed. "Yeah... I'm fine. A few cuts on my arm, a cut on my lip, I don't know how many bruises, and a few scrapes. Nothing too serious." She stated with a small chuckle. "Get some rest, Jason. We can finish talking tomorrow when we get the chance, alright?" With a small tilt of her head, the brunette smiled a bit once more before turning away and crawling into the bed she had claimed.

The night was a fitful sleep at first, a lot of tossing and turning coming from Lux as she tried to find a semi comfortable position on the mattress. Eventually, as the moon was high in the sky, Lux did find a position that allowed her to fall asleep peacefully, which was what she did. At dawn's first light, she was stirring again, this time waking slowly and quietly. Perhaps if she was fast enough she could get first dibs on the 'bath', despite it being cold water.

Well, with Haru's waking call, she was glad she woke up the way she did. Nodding sleepily, the brunette climbed out of her bed and started gathering what few possessions she had. Shaking her hair, the female did the best to make it look semi-presentable as seh trekked down the stairs and into the lobby. Where she sat down immediately and started humming, her eyes darting over the little pieces parts that made up the inn's lobby as a whole.

Kyle grumbled when Harper mumbled something but didn't budge. Why did he have to do this? He didn't even like the guy. Well, Haru couldn't be mad at him for leaving someone behind. That's why he was doing this, even if he didn't care for it. He moved around where he wasn't in Gwen's way, and reached for the jerk when another guy decided to lean on his own shoulder. Kyle wasn't pleased with that either. It wasn't his fault he was shorter than all these guys. "Kyle," he answered curtly and added, "I think you're mistaken. I wasn't shouting." With that he pushed the guy's hand off him and watched him head downstairs.

So he's gone now. Time to get this oaf up. Kyle moved the knife out of the way, so neither would get stabbed. He still didn't know why the dirty girl was making a fuss about that knife, and asked her, "So...what's bothering you?" The blond met her dark eyes for a moment when he spoke.

Skylar also told the jerk to get up, but Kyle was already there and working on it. While waiting for Gwen to answer about the knife, he said not a word and reached over to shake Harper's shoulder. Neither was the blond too gentle about it.

Falke hadn’t needed the calling out for the direction to follow her and be able to get the heck out of this mess – but with the sound of glass of beer shattering against the chair he’d just recently occupied ringing in his ears, and glass shards peppering his back – it certainly didn’t help either, and he honestly didn’t mind. Whether by good luck or blessing or in realty the recklessness of Harper’s charge, the path ahead and out of the drunken enraged bar-fight was relatively clear and injury-free at least for him. He breathed an uneasy sigh of more or less relief of being out of the mess, and a silent wish of luck for Haru getting the others still stuck out – not necessarily because he cared for them individually you know, but no one deserved to be stuck in that rotten madhouse right now. He was mildly out of breath from the brief run, or really the surge of adrenaline rushing through his system tightening muscles including those he happened to breathe with, but not terribly so. His eyes blearily flitted about, wide and cautious, as he surveyed their surroundings awaiting Haru and others of the ‘group’ to return.

Getting back to the inn, Falke sat down on the first bed to the right of coming up the ladder and running into – the same, or so he hoped to be the same, that he’d run into earlier. Well, he could assume it was his and not another, because no of the hounds he’d described came barking and snapping at his throat for being on their bed instead. The tension he’d felt that had held his shoulders straight and rigid from adrenaline relinquished some muscle-control to himself again – enough that he could feel the tiny slivers of cuts across his shoulder blades of little shards of glass that had made it through his turtle-neck sweater and the dress shirt he wore underneath. Thankfully they didn’t seem like much to worry over in the long run, especially considering the injuries others had acquired throughout the event. So, when the gauze was passed to him, he passed it on to the next person without using any himself.

He listened to all that Haru had to say, storing the information gained away in his mind for later. Not necessarily keen on the fact of following anyone about to lead him into a shark’s maw of danger, but he couldn’t denounce the known fact of safety ( at least most of the time, short of – especially if you were a fish) in numbers. He was thanked at the end of Haru’s speech, and wait… He’d done a civil service? Eh. All he done was well, verbally shake her out of her frozen terror he supposed, and gotten her moving – but she’d lead the way out, following Harper, so? At the very least, he now knew a name of their supposed team to put to a voice – Autumn, soft-voice that wasn’t native New Yorker, and tarot-cards. Got it... Silently, as others disappeared to get washed off, and some just curled up and zonked out, he removed his own sweater to fold and place at the foot of his bed. He shoved off his boots, before laying down on the uncomfortable mattress with bits of straw poking him in the back and fell into an uneasy slumber.

At a sharp commanding tone, and others grumbles about being woken up so rudely, Falke woke groggily to the sounds despite being and feeling relatively well rested. He pushed himself upright shakily, bending over to search for his shoes and found them the first vague grab in the general direction of the floor and busied himself quickly putting them on. Well, quickly for him anyway. Most had left the room, after he'd finally managed to get them on without any loose strings that he'd later step on and kill himself, he shoved himself off the bed at the insistent "shoos" of Haru making his return and saying the lady was going to lock them up in the attic or something of the sort, and made his way down the stairs. He'd thought it was a bother going up three flights, it was worse going down. With gravity and general sleepiness working against him, he thought it was a miracle he made it down in one piece. However it was likely due that he took forever doing it, enough that he was wide awake by the time he came into the main room of the little inn, half crashing into a “team-mate” before hauling on the breaks to avoid a collision and scooted slightly out of the way of any others coming down the stairs.

Falke heard this grunting thing on the floor near the desk, curiously glancing in the supposed direction with bemused concern. He had assumed it was a dog or cat of some type laying there snoozing the day away that hadn't even started, until one of the girls of the group went up to the thing calling it 'Tallyho'. If he remembered correctly, she was the one that had started the bar-fight last night, and had been that person to his left that had come and went quickly at the table to go to the drinking game that had in turn started the bar-fight. But if he could guess why she was still sleeping on the floor, well he couldn't, heck if he knew. But for one thing, he almost wished he could sleep in a little longer, despite being usually an early riser - all this super-power destiny crud, riding horses to go shopping in another medieval-ish town that wasn't this one, and being guarded by a man-cat, etc, well it was a little to much take in and his brain was just plain tired from trying to make sense and find some sanity in it all. Oh well, whatever... Sighing softly to himself, as he busily rubbed the sand out of his eyes – waiting to be taken off to their next destination.

Harper followed the others downstairs, stumbling down the steps as he squinted through heavy lids. It was a good thing the guy in front of him was taking his time, because Harper would have fallen down those stairs for sure. The chair and clothes bundle kept bumping against each other, and when Harper reached the bottom floor he headed for the edge of the group, his flip-flops barely missing Tallyho's fingers (who he didn't notice at all on the ground). Turning the chair upside down, he retied the clothes bundle to one of the legs, and then hoisted the chair up, clothes secure.

"Much better," he mumbled mid-yawn.

Rubbing his eyes again, he squinted around for Haru. Locating the redhead, he cupped his hand around his mouth and shouted not too pleasantly in his direction, "Ey, yo! Is there like a pond or a lake or a swimming hole or watering hole or something around here? I need to take a swim or I'm going to be bitching at everyone all day, tenfold."

Jason followed the others out, smile on his face. He really was getting to ride. He hadn't gotten to ride a horse in forever. He approached a horse, sizing it up with his eyes before he got close enough to touch it. "Hey there, girl," he said to it before patting its side, "Ya seem like a pretty good one, huh?"

It whinnied, turning it's big head to look at him with an eye. Jason gave it a grin, stroking its nose before grabbing onto the saddle, placing his left foot into the stirrup, and with a small jump, swung his right leg up over the horse. Settling into the saddle gave him a familiar feel that was both calming and exciting at the same time, though the saddle was a little different than ones he was use to. He didn't own a horse or anything back home, but whenever he went to visit his cousin they'd go riding, and he'd always loved it.

He tugged the reins a tad to test them out before giving them a little flick. The horse started forward obediently, and his grin widened. He steered the horse to turn some so he could look at the others. He watched Harper and Lux seeing them handle the horses a little easier than the others. Then he saw Tallyho riding perfectly. Not bad.

When Haru announced they were leaving, he tugged the reins, flicking them some as he lightly pressed his heel against the horse's side, nudging it into a trot, replying to Haru's "Understood?" with, "Sure thing. No problem."

He let out a contented sigh, grin never leaving his face. "Yeah. This feels great."

Kyle balled up his fists at Harper's pop shot. He'd like to knock out a few more of that punk's teeth, but dammit! Haru said their supposed to be a team? Yeah Right! Some 'team'. The jackass took absolutely every opportunity to tick him off. How could he be in any frickin' team with that attitude? If Kyle was going to survive this 'destiny' crap, he seriously needed to knock some sense into the jerk or work out.

As it was, he burned out some of his irritability by slamming doors and stomping around, which he knew was a lousy way to act, but he couldn't deal with Harper's garbage. Unfortunately his temper startled some horses, and it was hellish trying to get a hold of one. They probably thought he was threatening them. Dumb animals! (or smart animals depending on how you look at it.)

He heard Tallyho's warning to be gentle a little too late. Acknowledging the message with a curt nod, he left the stable to punch a tree, bloodying his knuckles, but he felt well enough afterward to calm down a grey spotted horse. Rubbing the creature's neck, with his uninjured hand, was surprisingly soothing for both of them and he gave a little smile. After watching other people get on, particulary Jason and Tallyho who appeared to be expert at handling horses, he dared try himself.

It took a couple attempts, but he managed and his little smile widened. He could do this. Afterwards though, the horse seemed antsy and danced around under him. Kyle pulled tighter on the reins. Now he was on, he wasn't going to fall off. It looked like a long way down from here. He swallowed nervously, but resumed rubbing the horse's neck. "I got this."

Whatever good mood Harper had at the beginning of the trip had certainly dwindled down to quite a terrible one. Hunger wasn't an issue, since he still had leftovers from last night stuffed in his pockets (which he devoured not long after they started off). His throat was dry, though, having no water, and the sun was not helping. Neither was the fact that he still hadn't taken his daily swim.

The surroundings, though new and different and, yes he'd admit, had a different sort of aesthetic than the concrete jungle he was used to, did little to alleviate his crabbiness. He spent a majority of his time searching the plains and farmland for even just a puddle of water. This whole place couldn't be filled with just corn and wheat...they had to get their water from somewhere.

Whether it was due to his throat being dry or the possibility that he was simply too miserable, Harper didn't complain vocally as much as he could have. True, he did complain about the sun and heat a few times, and did a lot of conspiratorial grumbling to himself, but without much talking from the rest of the group (that he heard anyways) there was little for his irritable self to lash out at.

It seemed like they had been travelling for hours when group came to a sudden stop, and Harper, who was on the outside of the group, around the middle, could only barely hear what Haru was saying. Something about scent and mints...

Unsure exactly why they were stopping or even how long they would be stopping, Harper looked around, surveying their surroundings. Just boring old farmland as usual, nothing n--wait a minute. Was that--?

In the next instant Harper was off the horse--almost fell off--the chair and bundle just barely hanging onto the saddle. He ran as fast as he could, leaving the group behind as he darted single-mindedly to the pond that was less than a half a mile away. He couldn't give one shit about them right now. Swimming was his utmost priority.

As he neared the sparkling water he started stripping, stumbling out of his jeans and flip flops and almost falling onto the grass. It wasn't until he cannon-balled into the pond that he realized he was, in fact, skinny dipping. Not that he cared.

He stayed underwater for as long as he could hold his breath, relishing the cooler temperature and digging his toes into the even cooler mud bottom. He broke the surface with a laugh, shaking his hair. Finally! With a grin wide on his face, he ducked underwater again, diving towards the center of the pond with long, easy strokes.

Though he really loved riding, Jason was really getting bored with the pace, and the heat just zapped his energy, causing him not to enjoy it much. He glanced at the others who really didn't seem to be use to riding. They probably felt dead by now. He was thinking they should take a break when Harper jumped off his horse and stripped, jumping into a pond. If so many weird things hadn't already been happening, he probably would have been more surprised.

At Haru's mentioning they should stop here, and tying up the horses, Jason walked his horse over, jumping down with ease and tying the reins around a post. He gave them a little tug to be sure it was secure before heading towards the water like Harper and the girls had. A drink sounded pretty good right now.

He stopped at the edge of the water, a little ways off from the group of girls, kneeling down onto one knee and cupping the water with his hands. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until he sipped the water from his hands, and was grateful for its cool feel as it travelled down his throat.

Before cupping more water, he pausing to look back at the horses. "They probably all need a drink too, huh?" He nodded, turning back to the water and splashing some onto his face, drying it with the shirt he pulled off over his head. "Not too much, though." He smiled, kind of in his own little world of thoughts. He stood up, throwing his shirt over his shoulder, and made his way back towards the horses. He untied his, patting it affectionately, "Bet that water looks real good in all the heat. Right, girl? Especially with you do'n all the work." For a moment he wondered how the horse felt having to carry him all this way, then shook his head, laughing. "Oh well. Not something I'll ever know."

He took the reins in one hand, occasionally stroking it with the other as he led it towards the water. "Yeah, that's a good girl." When they got to the bank, just as he'd thought, the horse lowered her head to the water and started to drink.

Jason sat down on the grass, the feeling of the whole scene making him very at ease.
"This is great."
He smiled towards the others. "How ya'll do'n so far?" Though he figured most of them were sore and/or tired. No harm in giving a friendly inquiry.

Kyle's horse seemed okay once they got moving and he chuckled to himself. "You just wanted to get out of the stable, didn't you? I can't say that I blame you either, buddy. I'm a city boy and that was crowded for me too." It felt weird that he was talking to a horse, but no one else offered any conversation while they traveled, and as the city boy he knew himself to be, he was uncomfortable with the silence. New York City was never silent. There were always cars rumbling down the street, sirens howling through the night, or in his house a tv or computer was humming nearby. This silence was completely alien.

As time went on, he too fell into the silence because he ran out of things to say and the heat was getting to him. His ball cap shielded his eyes from the sun a little bit, but it wasn't as good as a pair of sunglasses would be. He wasn't sure there would be anything like sunglasses here, though if what Haru and the weird lady said about Aires was true.

Because of the heat, Kyle eventually took off his jacket again, laying it down in front of him. He wanted to take his shirt off too, but that would be too tricky for him while on the horse. When they took a break, he could probably do that. They would take a break, right? The blond boy didn't think he could stay on this saddle all day. He did get his answer when Haru did stop.

Now how did he get down? Well, apparently vaulting off the horse was out, as noted by Gwen's tumble. He winced as he saw her get back up and brush herself off. She was tiny and skinny, and even though she didn't say it, he couldn't imagine that being comfortable. What if she broke her leg? She was walking though.

Jason and ugh! Harper also jumped off the horses, but Kyle didn't trust himself for that. "Jus' stay put," he mumbled to the horse. His throat was so dry it ached to speak. The blond boy didn't jump down but climbed slowly to the ground. "good horse," he mumbled again and patted the horse's shoulder, next to the saddle. Oy! Kyle didn't realize how much he was aching and stiff until he got down. For a moment or two he didn't know if his legs would hold him, and remained leaning against the horse's sweaty side.

When he opened his eyes and saw fields and a giant lake, Xabier knew that he wasn't in New York anymore.
One moment he was in a city, the next in some sort of countryside.
He had never felt anything like it. The feeling of floating away and suddenly being dragged back down to the earth. Like he had some sort of purpose that he had to fulfil somehow.
Then the strange gato man with red hair told him that he was one of 12 magical warriors sent from Earth to this world -Aires to subdue dark creatures. This was completely impossible of course. Xabier hadn't believed in magic for a long while. After Haru's little speech about a Goddess and how he had the power of Dark Shadows or something like that, Xabier just nodded cautiously.
With the most self control that he could muster, he didn't say anything to him. His mother had raised him well enough not to show that he was annoyed by this guy.

So when he had been transported to another place in what seemed to be in the blink of an eye, the only explanation he could come up with was drugs. Somehow Haru (if that even was his name) must have drugged him and forced him subconsciously into human trafficking.
It was the most reasonable explanation. Xabier knew in his heart that he'd have to be smart in his method for escape. He was in a completely foreign place with a group of strangers. He'd have to work out the situation until he could find a way to get home.

The more he thought about it,the more he wondered whether gato man could be telling the truth. If he was lying he was stealing a doctor in training from the people who needed him the most. The sick and the old. However if he was telling the truth, Xabier by not helping the warriors, would actually damn everyone back on Earth.
It was a big decision with lots of points to consider. For now he'd stay with the strange people. However if he found out that gato man was lying he'd have a lot of blood on his hands.

Together with the gato man, Xabier walked towards the group of people relaxing around the lake.
Some were swimming,the others were with horses. Ah~ the heat was beautiful!
"Abuela, es muy hermoso aquí." He gasped out. If only his Abuela could see this scenery. She'd probably sit down in this exact spot and never stand up again. For a moment he forgot about the work waiting for him back home,the impossibility of magic and the fact that he was in a strange foreign place and basked in the sheer beauty of it all.

If Haru understood Spanish he didn't let on, however he seemed pleased that Xabier had approved of the world so far.

They approached the closest guy standing beside a horse. Haru was explaining that Xabier was one of their group now.
"Hi." Xabier tested out. Well here goes nothing..


*Gato- cat
* "Grandma,it's beautiful here."

Tallyho hadn’t really expected the sudden attention she was receiving from some of the other girls. But it made a little bit of sense seeing as the first girl to approach, Autumn, inquired about the weather on Solace. And Tallyho, being the token Arian chick, probably knew the answer.

“It’s July,” she hummed, “I’ve felt hotter sensations at this time of year. Nonetheless, you can always hope for lucky breezes.”
Lucky breezes—beacons of hope on this wide, flat, mass of land. There was nothing that Tallyho loved more than the sensation of cool breezes brushing their way through her skirts, and knotting air-bows around her thighs.

Then one of the brunettes approached, Skylar, speaking of her love for Harper. She wasn’t familiar with her “little junior” colloquialism, but she could take a guess at what it meant. Though Harper’s state wasn’t necessarily impressive to the blonde, Earthlings might have found admiration in different places.

“I suppose if that’s what you like,” she said, not quite sure what else to say. The corner of her mouth twitched into a dopey smile. Brief, fleeting, soon overtaken by the indifferent pout she wore so well. Her gaze wandered away from the Skylar, a sign that she was more than a little embarrassed by her change in character. Poker face. She locked eyes with the second brunette, (who actually looked a lot like Skylar), for a brief moment but quickly looked away when she smiled at her. It wasn’t anything against her, but it reminded Tallyho of her own facial contortion of pleasure and she only flushed redder, overcome with shame.

Though, she could always blame her inner scarlets on heatstroke.

Then she saw it, a flying figure that eclipsed the sun—a savior—a cherub. She caught the cornbread, casting a look to Gwen that conveyed a speech of gratitude then she bit into it, savoring every crumb.

As Jason asked about their current moods, the Arian offered a silent nod, her mouth was full and though she wasn’t necessarily smiling, her eyes were. A glimmer of star spangled contentment—the sun’s golden glare dancing on her greens—dear Goddess the bread did it for her. But her joyous expression faded into one of mild confusion when an unfamiliar young man approached.

She studied him. But by the way he dressed, he certainly wasn’t from Aires. Like the silent Falke, and slow speaking Jason, his voice had a slight twang that contrasted the accents of most of the other Earthlings. His simple hello was enough for her to recognize it. They had been missing another warrior besides Dorian… Was he the last of them?

“Who are you?” she asked—her voice not quite as blunt as it could have been. A little food could work wonders.