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Traveling through the Portal Station was like an out of body experience accompanied by the lurch of the stomach. The group of five stumbled onto a stone platform, feeling the immediate change of humidity and temperature. The salty air tickled their noses and clung to their skin in a thick sheen.
Vivi quickly ran to the nearest flower pot and threw up. Her head felt fine but her stomach was weak against such weird movement. "WE COULDN'T HAVE JUST WALKED HERE?" she had whined loudly, cleaning her mouth from the remains of strawberry pancakes.
Valentina scowled, picking a couple feathers off of her face that came from the surprise of going through the Portal Station. She did not know they were going yet. She also shook her head, trying to regain her bearings, and fell down on her ass.
Ren, on the other hand, besides looking a little out-of-it, was mostly fine. He had done this lots before, so he was as used to it as he could be.
Renya blinked the orbs of light from her eyes and stumbled slightly but managed to stay upright for the most part. "Kheire is so fucking lucky to pass out during the move..." she turned to the sleeping Faerie who was being supported by one of his pets.
After recovering from the painful experience, Vivi jumped on top of Renya's head as a cat and shivered. "You smell fishy and you're cold...damn fish..." she muttered under her breath.
"Sorry if my sweat is cold, be glad I don't excrete mucus like my brothers." she looked at their surroundings, the dark gray wharf was joined to the white sandy beaches, locals were sparse and paid them no mind.
With a pout, the Nekomata pressed her front paws to Renya's head. "Renyaaa I'm hunngrrrryy. Can we get some food before the mission?"
"I agree, I would greatly appreciate food." Valentina says excitedly.
Vivi caught a sizzling scent from the front right of their location, pawing at Renya's head more. "Renya I smell fish! Can we get some? Pleeease?" She begged.
"We need to check in at the inn first, the headmistress needs to know we've made it safely. We can ask the owner for good places to eat after. This settlement is pretty monster friendly, so we don't need to have Glamours." Renya wiped the sweat drop her face and moved forwards.
The little dragon in Valentina's bag was hungry too, and whimpering.
The Nekomata hissed at the dragon, fur standing on end. Their last meeting didn't go so well and Vivi was still pissed at the little shit.
Sammy growled back, trying to get out of the bag to go kill the Nekomata, but Valentina pushed him back down and closed the pack.
"Ren, do you have any extra food with you?" she pointed at the fuming dragon and the ball of fluff on her head.
"Ah... A little... Hold on..." he replied, shuffling through his bag.
With a whine, Vivi squirmed. "Come oooon. I'm not that bad."
Kheire's pet Kirin, Sasuke, was still carrying its passed-out master, loaded up with his luggage.
"No, Vivi, I believe you are that bad." Valentina half-joked, her bat's head sticking out of her hat and yawning.
The Nekomata winked at Valentina. "I couldn't have been so bad, Renya made a contract with me." she said in a sing song voice.
Ren produced three full loaves of bread from his satchel, each wrapped in cloth.
"Here," he said, offering it out to nobody in particular. "Split it between everyone, but don't have it all at once, okay?"
Vivi patted Renya's head with her paws, mewing for the Selkie to get it for her.
"I promise I won't leave crumbs!" she swore.
Meanwhile, the young dragon had found the meat in Valentina's bag and popped his head out of it, chewing happily.
"Ugh, fine Sam." She says
The Selkie sighed and thanked Ren for the food, putting the morsel on her head, still standing on the beach. "We should get moving soon."
With a thankful mew, Vivi dug into her small slice of the bread, fulfilling her promise of not leaving any crumbs. In reality, she was ignoring everything Renya said and favored for listening to her hum with each word.
"Where are we going?" Ren asked inquisitively. The last time he had been somewhere remotely warm... Well, besides the particular desert that didn't technically count by virtue of being a tundra... He hadn't considered that a place like this could exist so close to a portal.
"You know,"
The smell of freshly grilled food wafted through the streets, "You know," Renya drawled, "if you were in a human form and had money, you could stop at one of the stands along the shitty way."
The Nekomata's ears raised as she let out a tiny gasp. She quickly jumped off of Renya's head and turned human, taking out her money from one of her purple pens.
"I'll get two for the both of us!" she said happily as she went to a grilled salmon stand.
Ren's eyes lit up with curiosity as he hurried after her.
"Hey, wait!" he called.
Seafood would be new for him, at least for the most part, so he wanted to find out everything he could about this newfound delicacy.
The merchant, a fair middle aged lady with faded brown hair in a bun, faced the two young teens and greeted them nicely.
"What may I get you two children?" She said with her soft voice.
Vivi's eyes brightened up quickly, purring loudly as her ears perked up. "Two grilled salmons with mitarashi sauce please!" the Nekomata asked nicely.
"And! And! Um..." Ren's eyes darted over the counter rapidly as he tried to decide what to get. "That one, that one, that one, and... that one!"
The mid aged woman quickly got to the orders, telling her husband to grill the salmon as she got the young boy's orders together.
"That will be one sliver plate my dear." she smiled as she gave Ren his order.
Ren's smile didn't fade. It seemed to be out of shock more than anything.
"Um. What's that?"
Vivi, who overheard quickly gave the woman a silver plate and 5 silver coins. "I'm sorry! I forgot to say I would be paying for the both of us!"
The old woman nodded in understanding and took the silver plate and coins, giving the young ones their orders.
"E-eh? Don't we barter?" Ren mumbled, half to himself.
Renya walked over to the two, "What's taking so long you guys?"
Vivi quickly gave Renya her mitarashi sauced coated grilled salmon to calm the beast, "Nothing! Ren just forgot his money!" she said happily.
"People use that?!" the pale boy spluttered. "B-but I just...!"
He produced a few small glass bottles from his satchel, each full to the brim with a differently coloured powder.
"What...Whitey, what is that?"
"This one is ginger, this one is cinnamon, this is vanilla, and this one is coriander," he explained enthusiastically.
Vivi decided to zone out, cutting her food up into tiny pieces and capturing them in her pen as she turned into a cat while jumping onto Renya's head. Grabbing out her pen again once snuggley on Renya's head, she grabbed out her pen and ate small salmon pieces.
"C-can I look at the vanilla for a bit?"
"Of course!" he smiled, handing it over to her.
Renya uncorked the bottle and took a deep breath as she smelled its contents, "Do you know how rare this is?! This is tahitian orchid vanilla! If you sell this you could easily nab a couple gold coins!"
He folded his arms, puffing up his chest with pride. "Heheheh. I found a whole grove of it last time I was in Maias. I have a few bottles of it left over. I can barter for most things with these. That's why I haven't really needed money before," he explained. "I didn't think people used it nowadays..."
Renya resisted the urge to grab the short male or stab him with her salmon skewer. Homicide is a no go in public. Deep breaths now... "Whitey. You poor, poor, adorable, but incredibly naive child."
"...Did I say something wrong...?" he asked anxiously.
The Nekomata started choking, stomach clenching and unclenching as she tried to keep from coughing on Renya.
"Oh poor, sweet, absolutely precious Ren." Valentina said, emphasizing Renya's words. Actually, she just wasn't listening to the conversation and thought everyone was complimenting him.
Ren, on the other hand, was convinced he had somehow broken something, and was looking increasingly worried.
"Vanilla's not that bad, is it...?" he asked, latching onto what seemed to be the reason for everyone's concern.
"Why would vanilla be bad?" Valentina asks, confused on why he was mentioning vanilla when they were complimenting him.
"I... thought that was what I was doing wrong..." he said sheepishly.
"Why would you have done something wrong? I thought you had done something good?" She is very confused.
"I did too, but... Miss Renya, are you mad at me?" he asked apologetically.
"No, just... incredibly surprised by how out of touch you are... We should keep moving, we're taking up room..." She gave an apologetic look to the woman behind the stand and continued moving with the sound of Vivi chewing on her head ringing in her ears.
Suddenly, Sammy jumps out of Valentina's bag and takes off through the people.
"Samandriel! NO!" She shouts, anxiety peaking.
Ren's eyes widened, and he took a stance.
A firing hammer pulled back.
But--
You can't.
That power was something to be restrained.
If he used it carelessly, he would simply lose all discipline.
That was not just unacceptable.
It was dangerous.
"We have to catch him!" was all he could say.
"SAMMY YOU BETTER GET YOUR LITTLE SCALY ASS BACK HERE" Valentina screamed, obviously panicking.
Ren blinked in surprise. She was surprisingly loud when she wanted to be.
Renya sighed and reached into her messenger bag, pulling out a disc of malleable clay, "Open up you stupid beast." She threw the disc, forcing it to take the shape of her golem. It soared through the air with surprising ease and splattered against the dragon's scales. It squeaked in discomfort and the clay took advantage of its open mouth to shove itself into it, muffling its sound.
"Sammy?? Renya what are you doing to him??" Valentina said, a few feather's jumping out onto her skin where she frustratedly brushed them away.
"Don't worry. All I did was imbue it the command to Capture, it should bring your pet back soon enough." Renya flexed her Exin into an aura, making the crowd part for the blob that was, surely enough, steadily making its way back to them.
Valentina breathed deeply, trying to calm herself down.
Ren thought for a moment, and then settled for reaching up to pet Valentina's head, standing up on his toes.
"There, there," he smiled. "Sammy will be fine. That's happened to me before too."
Valentina smiled and giggled at his comfort attempts. She hugs him "Ahh you're so cuuuute, -----."
"You keep saying that," he smiled. "It sounds really nice. What does it mean?"
She blushed profusely, "Uh, uhm, it's just some little affectionate word I heard my aunt say."
She was avoiding the meaning and who she heard her aunt say it to. Also, she doesn't have an aunt.
Ren just beamed. "I haven't heard a language like that before. Where's it from?"
"Ah, it's one of my two languages I learnt very young. My mother taught it to me. I'm sorry I can't tell you where it came from, 'cause I'm not sure where she came from."
"Maybe we'll find out!" he suggested excitably. "Oh, but then I might not be able to talk to people who speak it..."
"I can teach you!' Valentina says, very enthusiastic.
"Really? Would you?" he smiled, as joyous as anyone had seen him in months.
She was so happy seeing his face, "------ ---- ---. That means of course, by the way."
"Of cows?" he attempted to echo her.
She giggled at his attempt, "We'll get there! I'm sure one day you'll speak it as well as me! You're smart, you can do it."
He flushed a little in response.
"We're here." The Selkie stopped in front of a large row of straw buildings, obviously old and well used. She gestured for the others to wait for her while she got their room keys.
"Oooh..." murmured Ren. This was certainly new. He had seen mud-huts in hot places before, but a straw inn in a tropical environment was a new one.
Renya exited the building, passing out a key to Ren, "The girls are sharing a room, so you're going with Kheire. Pray that I don't kill Vivi when she does something stupid."
"Something.. stupid...?" he echoed. He didn't mind sharing with Kheire, but what on earth did she-- "O-oh. Um. I will."
"Pray I don't kill Vivi, period." Valentina groans.
"No offense Valentina, but Vivi would have a better chance of killing you, if she actually tried."
"Eh, I think I could out-wit her. I don't care about her having two brains, they're both stupid." Valentina.
"I don't know..." Ren muttered. "Cats are sassy and lazy, but they're really crafty... Finding a weakness in her black fluffy armour might prove difficulty. M-minus the 'y'," he quickly added.
"Nah, you haven't met many Veela have you?" She asks rhetorically, booping his nose, much to his amusement.
"You haven't met her family, but her aunt is even more insane than her and unlike Vivi, she has little restraint." Renya grimaced at the thought.
Ren's eyes lit up at the prospect of finding such an exotic specimen, but opted not to say anything lest it came out wrong.
"Hm, as much as I hate to admit it, maybe Vivi and I don't get along well because we're too similar." Valentina says, grudgingly.
"Don't say that! I'm sure you two can make friends!" Ren insisted.
"Hm, maybe." She says, not wanting to disappoint him with what she believed to be the truth.
"You're a really nice person, and I'm sure Vivi is too. Do your best!" he told her, sounding a little too much like a tiny wannabe wingman.
"Alright, get on with the generic pep talk, go unpack and we'll meet back here in a bit. Vivi, come the fuck on!" She shook the Nekomata as she walked to their shared room.
Noting his mentor was still out cold, Ren smiled comfortably, taking his bags up to the boys' room for him.
Valentina sighed, and climbed up a nearby tree. She didn't feel like dealing with Vivi in a small room quite yet. Sam flies up to her and snuggles into her hair.
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