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[SeriousConcentrate]

Joachim smiled brightly.

"Is it me yer worried about? No need! I ain't gonna bite."

"Unless ya ask me to."

[Blade Master Model 42]

The young boy pressed himself against the wall behind him, looking very uncomfortable in the presence of the much larger man. "N-no thanks."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"All right, just sayin'."

The large cat put his hands in his jacket pockets.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Smooth."

[SeriousConcentrate]

Joachim merely shrugged. He'd tried being friendly, now it was everyone else's job to take care of things. He did wonder if they were going to buy something or move on, though, and glanced at Iris and Milos to see what they thought.

[rokubiraijuu]

Jupi laughs along with William at Jim's expense, taking another faked sip from his tankard. It's fairly clear that these men don't have anything else to offer on the subject, and if he wants to find the person who's doing these kidnappings, he's going to have to stick his beak elsewhere. But that probably isn't even necessary. He has a fair lead on where the princess could be.

He stays at the table for another little while as the conversation moves on, ordering them all another round of drinks on his tab to get on their good side. It's not entirely out of obligation — these men are nothing complex, but they're entertaining, and he doesn't mind spending another quarter-hour with them. Finally, though, he excuses himself to use the outhouse and staggers his way out of the bench and off through the collection of other tavern patrons. Once he's out of sight of the table, he casually changes direction and makes his way out of the establishment. It's unlikely that they'll notice he never came back; even if they do, it's fair to assume that he'd been tipsy enough to have forgotten and been waylaid by something else.

The air smells fresher when he steps outside again and the reek of alcohol and bodies packed together falls away. Cheerily, the jaunty tune from before back on his lips, he stretches his wings and lifts off the ground to find Grae.

If he recalls, he'd said something about the Guildhouse before they'd entered the city, but Jupi has no idea where that is, so he flies around until he spots the old mercenary and a couple others from the troupe at a tome shop.

"Hey, boss~!" he chirrups, coming to a landing outside the door and peeking his head in. "And others!"

[Chevaleresse]

Heledd raised an eyebrow. That hadn't been the response she'd been expecting, though evidently she'd hit closer to the mark than she'd intended with her joke. Sounded like he just couldn't win with his ex; that, on the other hand, was entirely expected.

"Certainly, certainly. But there's equal value in someone knowing you're not at their mercy." Heledd's appearance was still relaxed and casual, but she watched Claire's reactions closely. Was the mage aware of Heledd's own specialty? Afraid of her, perhaps? That would make working together harder. . . but perhaps it was good for the girl to maintain a healthy respect.

[Blade Master Model 42]

"I'd say it's situational."

At that point, the proprietor returned, carrying another smaller book. Tomes were a different beast, of course. Much larger, reinforced for battlefield handling and constructed from thicker, more rigid papers. "Well, in any case, here is your book, Mr. Steelhart. I hope it's what you were looking for."

"Thanks. When I've finished with it, I'll return it to you." Grae accepted the offered book, and stowed it in one of his pouches. It was at that point that Jupi showed up, greeting the three. "Hello Jupi. Enjoying your time in the city?"

[rokubiraijuu]

"I haven't been around so many humans in a long time, that's for sure!" he replies with a laugh, rustling his wings.

"I got something to tell you, if you're interested. I can wait until you're done picking around dusty books, though~!"

[Gaterhyme]

"They're not that dusty," Claire half-protested, the conversation with Heledd set aside for now with Grae's comment and Jupi's entrance. "Oh, right, something for Iris... something for Iris..."

Her gaze trailed over the bookshelves for a moment before she picked out a green tome almost identical to the worn one that she had been using for a while. With a small thump she stacked it with the Fire tome she'd been holding, and moved to the counter.

"This should be enough, I think..."

Purchase Fire and Wind.

[Blade Master Model 42]

Claire acquires Fire!
Claire acquires Wind!
1400 gold spent.

As the money changed hands, Grae turned his attention back to the shopkeeper. "This may sound like an odd question, but have you heard any rumors about Laguz being captured? Within the last month."

The man frowned, and put a hand to his face, giving the question some thought. "Hmmmmm... No, nothing I can remember. Sometimes the lads talk about doing it, but I haven't heard any of them claiming they'd managed it." His concentration was broken as his gaze wandered over to Jupi, and the man flinched. "Er, Feline only. They don't talk about hunting Bird Laguz."

Grae didn't seem too disappointed by the lack of information. "Thanks for everything. I'll send business your way." Once the group were out of the shop, Grae turned to Jupi. "We've acquired some other supplies but nothing so far in terms of our target. What about you?"

[rokubiraijuu]

"Really?" He gives his wings a flap and follows the puff of dust that it stirs up from the floorboards with his eyes to playfully prove a point, smiling at Claire. "Maybe I never did too much reading growing up, so all books are kinda dusty to me!"

He waits a few more moments, humming to himself and tapping the fronts of his feet alternatingly on the ground, before Grae gets back to him. Nodding, he beckons for the mercenary to come closer. "Top secret, you know~?"

Turning, he steps around to the outdoor corner of the shop where the noise of their surroundings will deter any potential eavesdroppers, and lowers his voice enough that the three should be the only ones to hear.

"Bad news is, nothing on the lady herself, and no names or identifiers on the snatcher, either. But there's word going around that beast snatching is going around at the border. They get 'em in cages small enough, they can't transform. And I got a lead on a place, too. Fight rings. Humans making big coin putting these cats up for fights. Probably not here, though. Best guess is someplace east of here, maybe out of the way enough to be underground but big enough to draw a crowd."

"Any help? Want me to poke my beak around some more?"

[Blade Master Model 42]

"That could be a good sign. It's possible that, if they have her, they don't realize exactly who it is that they have. As long as we can rescue her before she dies in a fight pit..." Grae stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Nice work. It's the only lead we have so far, so we'll pursue it. If you want to keep looking for information on towns east of here that could fit the bill, go ahead. We've got to look into some additional supplies still. We'll look into getting an extra staff or two."

[Twinwolf]

"Sorry for bothering you... can't find anything that we need right now, we'll be going. Have a nice day!" Aurelia said once it was clear they weren't going to be buying anything. She would leave the shop, probably with the others in tow.

"We should probably look for... a staff shop or something? Maybe somewhere selling something for dancers like Milos?"

Barring something else happening, go looking for such shops!

[RedMageCole]

Milos fiddles with his hands a little bit as he leaves the shop once Aurelia did. Once she brought up getting something for him, he looked a little more positive, nodding his head upon the idea, helping her look for one of those shops.