Skylar Grayson's Story

Haru rolled his eyes as Harper deliberately ordered another beer despite his advice. He didn’t care if he got something else but that house beer, that just wasn’t for him. Or any of the earthlings for that matter. But he wasn't going to take it away.

“That for me, man?” He hummed as he sat back in his chair and chewed on an unlit cigar. Honestly all of them were kind of idiots. Skylar didn’t have to call them stupid directly to see that. But he wasn't going to say anything, at least until it was time to get to business. If anything, his off hands approach was a good way of seeing what was wrong with them all.

Tallyho slid her way through a crowd of burly men who hovered over a table of gold and liquor.

Two men were seated face to face. One was very rough-looking—thick red beard, a wart under his right eye, broad, thick freckled shoulders, and a body just as large and strong. But his face seemed troubled. He looked ill, and he hissed as the man before him gulped down his last shot.

The other was a little lankier, but he was breaded for sure, and perhaps even a little older than the man he faced. One of his eyes were blue from blindness while the other was slightly crooked. As he finished his last shot, she wiped his beard, and spooned all of the gold from the redhead’s side, to his own. The crowd erupted into cheers and grunts.

“What are you playing? I want to play,” Tallyho said bluntly. She never considered herself a dainty person, but compared to the gruff voices of the barmen, and their hard stares when she announced her desire to play, she certainly fit the part. She tried to reestablish her poker face.

“You?” The redhead man burst into a gravelly chuckle, “You ain’t nothing but a little daisy!”

Another man chimed in, “yeah, you here with yer papa? Yer man?”

“He certainly ain’t doin’ a good job of keepin’ her in place, whoever he is,” the black bearded man huffed.

They erupted with laughter.

Tallyho’s face flushed scarlet with anger. She hated these bar types—loved the bars—but hated the sounds and smells of drunk men when she had to deal with them first hand.

As they laughed she balled up her fist and slammed it against the table. The glasses shook and the room grew quiet—but in an amused way. Some even began to chime into the silence with a patronizing, “oooooooooh”.

“I ain’t got no Pa and I aint got no man—so let me play,” she said. Her voice was firm.

The redhead man closed his eyes, raised his brows and held up his palms, “alrighty! Go on, play. But don’t expect noneofus’ to be kind to ye and get yer caretaker after yer wasted.”

As he moved away from the seat, Tallyho sat down, and struggled to scoot her seat up to the table. A few men whispered crass jokes. But the blonde focused on the black bearded man, whose face was relaxed.

“He used to be the drunkard,” he whispered loudly, “that is before he built up such a tolerance.”

Tallyho waved him off. The barmaid came around and cleared the table, replacing them with fresh rounds of shots for each competitor.

Tallyho eyed the gold on his side of the table. She was ready.

Haru took note of the situation. He was disturbed by two things, one that Tallyho was currently the most likely to get into a bar fight, and two, that the others probably didn't even notice, or care, that their comrade left the group.
He was also a little depressed by the group's tendency to fight, Harper's role as an attention whore, and some of their overly optimistic attitudes. It wasn't like Aires was a game....

He chuckled.

Harper watched passively as she did Jason's. He didn't believe in this sort of stuff (in fact, he didn't really believe in anything spiritual), but it was still kind of cool. The pictures in particular were the most interesting part.

He only commented once during Jason's ("Haha, you got the fool") and then once again after ("Wasn't there a movie called "The Tower"? It was like the first big disaster movie or something") but was overall fairly civil. He leaned forward when it was his turn, smiling expectantly.

Had anyone been playing particularly close attention to his face, they might have noticed the furrowing of his eyebrows as the first card was flipped and explained, as well as a slight frown of his lips. However, none of these changes lasted very long, as Harper quickly dismissed the first card as coincidence. Besides, he wasn't struggling that badly with money. Although if he was stuck here for too long, that might be a different story.

The next card just confused him. Harper didn't care much about honor, but how could winning not be good for you? Then again, his dad had won many cases as a lawyer, and not all of them were morally good wins, either.

The future card looked the most badass. He almost laughed when she said it was Death, considering the Ring joke he had made to himself. When she explained it though, he hmmphed out of interest.

He leaned back when Autumn reshuffled the cards. "The first card was pretty close," Harper answered, "The second one confused me and the third one...well, everyone changes, whether they like it or not." His second beer arrived and he took a drink.

"To be honest, I don't really believe in anything like that," he said, putting down his mug, "It seems like something my sister would be into, though. She used to be really big in those...oh, what are they called," he mimicked opening and closing something with his thumbs and index fingers, "You fold them out of paper and you have to pick a color and a number and they spell it out to say your fortune or something like that..."

Harper shrugged at Autumn's further explanation. "Eh. I do a lot of things that end of biting me in the ass later," he said, taking another swig of his beer, "I'm more of a man of the present. Live in the moment, carpe diem. You know. Dead Poet's Society stuff."

Finger catchers sounded familiar, but Harper's food arrived at that moment. "Thanks!" he said, catching the eye of the barmaid--the same one who had taken his order, he noticed--and smiled again, sending a wink her way before turning back to his food.

He half-listened to Autumn as he surveyed his food. There was a lot of yellow, bread looking stuff, but when he tasted it he realized it was just like a corndog, without the meat. There was also a bowl with what looked like a chicken pot pie, but probably with some sort of twist. On the side were corn cobs and a different sort of bread, in a roll. Harper wasn't a picky eater, and he dug in.

"Mmf!" he grunted with a point when Aria mentioned fortune tellers, mouth full of the hot interior of the pot pie. He swallowed before speaking, "I think my sister called them something else, though...Finger catcher is really close. It's like.....something-catcher...fortune catcher? Augh, I don't remember." He turned back to his food, but continued talking (to no one in particular), table manners still intact,

"Anyways, my sister would make her's really detailed. Like, first you had to pick a number, and she'd count. And then you had to pick a color and she'd spell it. And then you had to pick another color, and she'd open the flap and make you pick top or bottom, and then make you pick one of three numbers and then she would read out the specific fortune she had written for that. She had like fifty different fortunes written in that thing and it was almost impossible to get the same one twice. Some of them actually happened, too. Like, you know how kids are all about bubble gum? She had written this one fortune saying 'the next thing you'll put in your mouth will be gum' and it worked on like ten different people."

He laughed at the memory, breaking apart one of the rolls. "She's a smart kid. She just got into LaGuardia High School, you know the one for the performing arts? It's one of those high schools you have to do an entrance exam for or some crazy shit like that. Really prestigious stuff. A lot of famous people went there. She plays cello, so that's how she got in." Which reminded him of that one guy who went missing...the one with all the tough attitude. Harper could have sworn he'd seen him before...maybe he went to the same school? He decided to ask him next time he saw him.

As soon as the commotion started up, Harper didn't bother turning around. He'd been in enough bars, and bar fights, to recognize the growing noise, and immediately wolfed down the rest of his food, downing his second beer as well. He stood up and started jamming the more portable stuff--bread, rolls, and the corn cobs--into his pockets, wrapping them hastily in napkins first, but realized that one of his rolls was missing...he specifically remembered only eating one of the wheat rolls, out of three that had been provided, but he'd only put one in his pocket...where was the other--

Before he could accuse anyone, someone pushed into him from behind, shoving him hard against the wooden table. "HEY!" he shouted angrily, spinning around and shoving the person who had no doubt pushed him first, "WATCH it, ASSHOLE!"

The punch landed him back first on the table, dishes clattering. Familiar stars flashed behind his eyelids, and he could feel his cheek swelling, as well as some blood in his mouth.

Now he was really pissed. When his head stopped spinning he reared his legs towards him and kicked his assailant in the side, knocking him over. Jumping off the table, he grabbed his chair, rotated it so that he was holding the legs, and punched it at the guy's face when he tried to stand up, knocking him out for good.

Briefly he looked behind him, seeing quite a few of his supposed team members still sitting there. Autumn just looked flat-out terrified. He rolled his eyes and gave an exasperated sigh before shouting at them, "If you guys want out, then you better haul ass and make a conga line behind me quick, because I'm not gonna wait forever!"

Turning back around he hefted the chair in front of him and started plowing forward through the madness towards the back exit.

“Ahh… sh—“

Haru paced back and forth for a few seconds.

“Okay.. No Gwen, no Tallyho, Lillian’s got Dorian… Kyle’s there, no Skylar, Harper, Aria, check, check. Jason? No Jason. Falke, yes. Autumn, yes. No Lux. Okay. I’m going to go back in there and get the others. Please, just stay right here. This bar fight definitely wasn’t a part of my plan.”

And with that, the cat guardian went through the door. Once inside, he squinted through the chaos to search for the missing warriors. He called their names multiple times in hopes of getting their attention.



Tallyho struggled to hold her bag.

“I think that they would be fine. As long as they listen to Haru,” she hummed.

When Gwen offered what Tallyho assumed to be an indirect request for her name, the blonde obliged.

“Tallyho Abel,” she said. She didn’t offer much else; instead she stared at the alley floor. Though she looked uncomfortable, she really wasn’t. The silence humbled the excitement of the night and pushed her into a reflective state.

“I’m not at fault if I won the money on a fair deal, am I?”

The question wasn’t so much for Gwen as it was for the moment. She did feel a little bad about her victory starting the fight. But she couldn’t tell if it was really all her fault or not.

Then Gwen asked a question about Eastwards.

“Eastwards? It’s sort of a rude saying,” Tallyho said as she drew circles in the dirt with her toes. “It refers to people out in the East, people from Nomansland, Eastern Isle, and Ira, you know?” she paused, “No… you don’t know. I forgot.”

After a moment of silence she began to speak again.

“You look like you come from there, Eastern Isle I mean. They probably said that because of how you look. They don’t really know about Earth and Earth people.”

Tallyho dropped the bag before her own toes.

“Hey,” she said, “did you eat? I didn’t get to eat my soup cause of the game and the riot. All that beer I had is making me a little dizzy. I know a place that makes little sweets at late hours like this—lady’s nice—would you like to come?”

She picked the bag up again, “my treat.”

She didn’t really smile when she offered the invitation, but her voice certainly wasn’t as sharp as it had been for the past few hours. In fact, she was pretty exhausted.

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.

Standing up on shaky legs, Skylar pressed her hand up against her nose to stop the blood from getting everywhere before slowly trudging after Haru and the others.

The trip back up to the attic seemed longer than she had remembered it, and Skylar let out a sigh of relief once they reached the room. Flopping down on her bed, she muttered out a thanks to Haru as the gauze was passed around, fumbling to try and rip off a piece while keeping her nose from bleeding all over the place. Finally able to tear a section free, she pinched her nose with the gauze and tilted her head forward in hopes of stopping the bleeding before she made herself sick. Her pain tolerance may have been high, but she was squeamish when it came to the blood and guts of it. Tossing the roll to the next person, she turned her attention back to Haru who had begun to talk about all that destiny crap again.

She was starting to wonder why she had accepted this so easily in the first place, going through the portal earlier without a second guess. Maybe that Harper kid had actually had the right idea to question it all so much. It was too late now, though, and the only thing she could do was grin and bear it.

She was definitely guilty of most of the problems Haru was listing off- not like she wasn’t already used to being a disappointment. If they were going to be stuck together she figured she should probably filter herself a little more and not be so quick to snap back at the others. That and the fact that Haru seemed like the type of person whose bad side you never wanted to get on. Tomorrow was a new day though, maybe she could redeem herself.

It only took about ten minutes for her nose to stop bleeding, the incident leaving her face and hands covered with dried blood. Despite the exhaustion racking her body she figured that she should wash up now rather than in the morning when they would most likely be rushed out of the inn and to their next destination.

Grabbing a fresh piece of gauze, she slipped out of the attic and down to the front desk. The woman working seemed nice enough, giving Skylar a bucket and directing her to the well outside.
Heading outside, she filled the bucket up with enough water to rinse her face and hands off. The water was freezing, sloshing over the sides and onto her pants as she carried it back inside.

She reached the washroom only to realize that she wasn’t alone, Harper sitting inside washing his clothes.
“Oh,” She said, cheeks flushing. Well this was awkward. “Sorry, I didn’t realize that you were in here. I just have to wash up, I promise I won’t take long.”

Harper didn't even realize Skylar had entered until she spoke. Slightly startled, his hum had stopped mid-note quite abruptly when he turned to see who was there. He spat out his gauze, feeling the hole with his tongue and deciding the blood had stopped. He folded the gauze inside out and put it into his back pocket to throw away later.

"No worries," he answered, "I'm just...you know...washin' my clothes." Really, he didn't mind her being here. It wasn't like he was completely naked. And even if he was, he still wouldn't care. He had never been one to be modest about his body. After being a swimmer for so long, there wasn't much to be modest about.

Squinting at her face a little more, he gestured at his nose, "You got a little blood..." his finger circled around his entire face, "Everywhere..."

"Ah, yeah. Thanks," Skylar mumbled, wrinkling her nose as she walked further inside and set her bucket down. Grabbing one of the towels hanging on the wall, she dipped the cloth into the water before wiping herself off. Wincing at the cold, she held back a quiet gasp as she scrubbed at her face before working to get the dried blood off of her hands. The towels weren't exactly the softest, the rough material rubbing her skin raw. It was better than nothing though, the icy water helping once she had gotten used to it.

"Hey, um, listen. I'm sorry for being such a brat earlier," Skylar said after a few moments, breaking the silence that filled the air between the two of them. She figured she might as well try being a little nicer to him and there was no time like the present. "I'm not very good at filtering myself sometimes."

Harper wasn't used to apologies, regardless of whether they came from him or someone else. Skylar's definitely caught him off guard. On one hand, he wanted to rub it in her face. After all, she had been acting like she had some personal vendetta against him ever since the park. But then again, he hadn't actually been offended by anything she had said.

"Don't worry about it," he finally said, and quite sincerely. He wrung his clothes of water as he continued talking, "Believe me, I've seen brats, both child and adult. You're not so bad. Besides, I never filter what I say. In case you couldn't tell." The last part he said with a sarcastic grin. "People just need to learn to take a joke."

Skylar was slightly surprised at the sincerity of his words- Harper actually being genuine? She couldn't believe it. She wasn't going to question it though, instead nodding as she gave him a half smile.

"I grew up with five brothers, so I should be used to it," She said, a shrug rolling off her shoulders. "That being said, it also rubbed off on me too. I guess everyone's just on edge today- I hear traveling to a different universe and being told that you're one of the "chosen ones" can do that to you."

She finished washing up, wringing the towel out over the bucket. "Anyway, I'm exhausted so I think I'm going to head to bed now. We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, yeah?" She gave him another half smile before standing up, stretching her arms out over her head. "Don't stay up too late."

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.

(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.

The sound of Haru’s (rather loud) voice early the next morning jolted Skylar from her slumber. Startled at the noise, she nearly rolled right off the cot and onto the floor before sitting back up, dazed and disoriented in the aftermath of her sudden wake up.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she half-listened as Haru rambled on about their plans for the day- something about horses and weapons, it all seemed to blur together after a few minutes. He seemed incredibly awake despite the ungodly hour, speaking so quickly it reminded Skylar of how she acted when she’d drank one too many energy drinks.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stretched her arms up over her head in attempt to wake herself up more. Glad that she’d decided to wash up last night rather than this morning, she pulled her messenger bag up onto her lap, rummaging around in search of a brush only to come up empty handed. Grumbling to herself, she ran her fingers through her tousled hair in attempt to smooth it down, pulling it back into a low ponytail with the elastic she always kept around her wrist.

“There’s a well just outside the inn, I went there last night to get water to use in the washroom. It seemed pretty clean but it’s better than nothing,” Skylar said, turning to face Gwen. Her gaze dropped to Harper who was still fast asleep. “Hey, Harper… Yoo hoo, Harp. It’s time to get up. Come on, before Haru comes back up here and yells at all of us again.”

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.

Skylar turned at the sound of Haru's voice, surprised by how calm he sounded. She expected something a little more dramatic from the guardian. She glanced from Haru to Harper and then back again.

"Yeah, but-"

Haru was gone before Skylar could finish her sentence though, her shoulders slumping. One minute Haru was telling them to watch out for each other and then when she finally did she was scolded for being late.

"Whatever. I tried." And with that she slipped out of the attic and downstairs to where the others were waiting.

Everyone looked equally exhausted, Tallyho actually sprawled across the floor. Skylar wandered over to where she was lying, staring at the girl with a contemplative look on her face before gently prodding her with her sneaker. "Tallyho? You okay?"

Skylar's words barely registered in Harper's mind, but it was the shaking that finally woke him up. "Okay, okay!" he snapped, waving his arm about to get whoever was shaking him off. Yawning like a lion, he rubbed his eyes before stretching. Blinking blearily, he looked around at everyone, very confused, before remembering all that had happened.

"Oh. Right. This still happened," he muttered.

Haru's voice popped in, telling them to hurry. Harper just waved at him, snapping crankily, "I know, I know! We gotta...leave and...do shit or something..." He tugged on his undershirt, adding his speedo to his other clothes and wrapping them all within his letterman jacket, which he swung behind his back. He hoisted the chair over his shoulder, eyes still narrow from sleep.

"All right....where are we going?" he asked, "And frickin...what time is it? Too damn early if you ask me..."

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.