[[Yes, the Wanderer really does return.. again]]

Tonan had heard bad things about Old Rose. He always avoided it on his trips, but this time, he had no choice. His bag was getting insanely heavy and smelly from all the hides he was carrying. Had he really been out that long?

"It really would've made more sense to do all this out of town.. ah well, I'm here now, I might as well take a look around. "
Stepping through the gates he could smell the strong sea air. Obsidia seemed to like the sea air too, her little nose twitched about, smelling everything Old Rose could possibly offer.

Tonan was sure he saw a pirate over by the pier, Pegleg and everything. It was probably just his imagination, pirates like that don't exist!

Adjusting his bag, he stepped into Old Rose, eager to learn its secrets. There was probably too many for him here, though. Best keep his nose out of things.

He missed Mue. He had no idea where she went. Maybe she was here? It seemed to be her scene. He'd keep an eye out for her.

Where is everyone? The place seems dead!

Leon was near the entrance of Old Rose when he saw the newcomer enter. He had obviously never been to the harbor. He looked liked what Leon looked like when he first came to town. Leon had stopped shaving, mostly because he couldn't afford it. He chin was becoming gruff. He wasn't the same little chump he was when he arrived.

This new resident's pet osta was at the mans side. Leon looked down at his own pet, Wrinkles, His pet Yoffel. He realized this was a great way to meet new people. He quickly approached the stranger. Being very ignorant in the fact that this man could have a weapon and mug him.

"Hi" He said to the stranger.

Tonan cocked his head just a little. He'd heard so many bad things about "Ol' Rose", but here was a person, greeting him at the entrance. Strange.

"Oho, Hey there stranger!" He waved a little. Overdoing it? Probably.
Tonan was trying to be friendly. He'd been out for so long, it almost felt like he'd forgotten to talk to people.

"How can I be of service to ye'?" Then the smell of his bag hit him again. He coughed loudly. "Ahem, sorry 'bout that, my bag smells of dead flesh! Don't come too close!" He joked.

Leon was a little scared now. The man that he thought would be a nice addition to the Harbor might be a murderer. He hoped he was just kidding. He continued towards the man with a little more caution, now.

"Oh, I am just the welcoming party of the Harbor, well me and my yoffel here." Leon's yoffel looked up at him with a black stare. Leon chuckled at his joke and the yoffel in general "So what brings you to the harbor, stranger. before you answer, though. You were kidding about the dead flesh, right?" Leon was serious.

Tonan shook his head. "Nah, I ain't kidding about the dead flesh."
He looked at Leon and though he looked a little... Tense, to say the least.

"Oh dear. I don' think I told you what I do, did I?" He chuckled a little "I'm a hunter and skinner by trade, the only dead flesh I carry is of deer and other game!" He shifted his bag behind him. "Sorry to worry you there!"

"Just here to clean up this bag of mess.. gotta cure these hides at some point. Bit careless of me to leave it this long, actually. Know where I can get any salt from?" He asked.

"Oh, listen to me ramble, forgive me. Th' name's Tonan, I hail from Dorhaven.. Well, before it was essentially destroyed, anyway." He witheld from letting his mind go back to then, when the frantic run to Dorhaven.. No. Bad thoughts. Bad.

Leon chuckled along with Tonan. since the man came off alright, Leon let his walls down, which was a very easy task to do. Leon did not really like to hear stuff about Dorehaven. Hearing about the two sides of the story got him confused and he hated to hear about racial tension. Bein mellow was one of Leon's strong suits and it fit well on him.

"Well it's nice to meet ya' Tonan. I'm Leon, Leon Publian and I hail from a kint." Leon smirked, he looked a little like his Lester, one tooth always found a way to show when he smiled, just like the kenser. "As for your salt dilemma, I can clear that up easily. All the ocean is made of salt. If you are looking for sea salt that is. Sorry, I really don't know that much about skins. My cousin Brock was the hunter of our family." Brock was a small but lithe, able to keep up with even the most agile of deer. Leon wished he had more agility like Brock but Leon was Leon and he was happy with that.

Tonan was unfamiliar with the Tek 'language', but when he heard it, he knew it was being spoken. The word Kint just completely flew over his head. He pretended to understand what he meant, though.

"Any kind of salt will do! Although it'll take me a while to get it from the sea, and I don't think these hides want to wait any longer." He wasn't looking forward to reopening the bag. It was probably going to be so bad, it'd melt his face off, or something.

Note to self, clear area before opening bag.

Then he just remembered something. What the hell had happened while he had gone? "Any way of finding out some news 'round here?" He'd been gone for almost 20 days, surely something must have happened, right?

"News? What type of news? I am sure there has been all types of news." Leon grinned, he found vagueness rather funny. He pondered the man's question. It only made a little sense. Leon looked at as confused as his yoffel.

"Well if you are looking for general news, there is a kov in the middle of the Harbor that yells recent happenings at passer byes. I find him annoying, actually. I wish we had a general news paper." Leon would have kept rambling on if it wasn't for wrinkles starting to empty his bowels. A small yellow stream of water puddled around the two men. "Oh Alioe! I am so sorry. I can't believe that just happened."

"Just some form of finding out if anything big had happened, like building blowing up or the galdori being overthrown." He said. He hated being kept out of the loop.

Tonan smelt it before he saw it. "Is that my ba-- Oh.." He stepped sideways, out of the path of the bowel evacuee.
"It's nothing, I've stepped in worse out there!" he said. "There was this one time, I stepped in fresh chrove dung, it was terrible to get off my boot!"

"Oh nothing like that." Leon said, stepping away from the yellow liquid. "Even if you were in the wild, if something like that happened you would have found out. Anyway, I really don't keep up with current events. I am the sort that lived day by day." Leon chuckled, shaking his shoe, pee was all over it.

"If you need any help with those hides, I would be glad to help. I am a messenger by trade, but I am good at selling stuff, I sell my services everyday." Leon hope the last sentence did not sound odd. "I mean my delivery services."

Aye had been wandering around the harbor for quite a few days now, it wasn't fun and she still needed a job. It was rather hard to buy food and eat, when you had no money. The largest of her problems were she was new in town, no one actually knew her all that well, and she was ten. Seriously, who would hire a ten year old child they had just met? Plus the people may or may not have heard of her shooting some poor guy with a slingshot.. She didn't know if news like that got around.

The girl was near the city gates, just hanging out, when she saw two men talking to each other. She was pretty sure she had seen one of them before, the one with the hat... strange, that hat.... She eavesdropped in their conversation for a minute, just about to walk away, when the hat-dudes yoffel peed all over their feet. She stood there for a moment, and then started laughing. She couldn't help it, strange men with hats, and bags full of dead stuff, getting their shoes peed on, was just funny.

Tonan heard laughter and turned around. "Hey! Not my fault!" He pointed at the yoffel "It's his!" He joked. He turned back to Leon. "Aye, that's true." He nodded. Anything major would be very easy to find out, through listening to gossip on street corners.

"While I appreciate the offer, Leon, They're not ready for sellin' yet. It's gonna be a few hours yet before they're ready." He chuckled a little "I don't get many offers for my hides anyway. Not too many people are interested in furs in their unprocessed forms."

He nodded his head in the direction of the market-looking area. "I usally sell them to leatherworkers, or tailors to work with."

"But, if you do want something to do, you can just run around telling people that I'm selling hides, if they're interested." He giggled a little. "There probably won't be much interest. Unless you'd prefer some stew with some deer I just got this morning!"

"Deer stew!? I love deer stew. My daoa used to make it all the time. It would feel like I was home again. I hope that was a real invite, even if it wasn't I'm having some deer stew." Leon chuckled, he really hoped it was a real invite.

"So where are you headed? Do you have some type of lodging set up for your stay in the harbor?" Leon's face was still red with embarrassment from the yoffel incident. He hoped that wouldn't happen again, it was rather rank, At least it wasn't Lester stool. Now that was rank.

Aye was feeling like a rude nosy stranger now, but she was ten, and she was still cute. She was going to milk that for all it was worth. At the mention of announcing the non-hat-wearing mans wares, the girl perked up and walked closer, hoping that there was a job opportunity here... if not, who knew when her next meal would be?

"Hey, kov, was that thing about announcin', a payin' job?" she asked as she stepped toward the two men.

"Aye, that's a real offer. I always get too much deer for myself and end out letting it spoil or selling it. Oh and for the lodging, I always stay in a local inn, or if I can't afford it, I've always got my tent." He turned slightly and showed the narrow, long bag that was strapped around both of his shoulders.


"Oh no, not a kid. Ohgods what to say, what to say?"
The truth is, Tonan was stone broke. He'd be able to afford salt, and ingredients for his stew. That was it. He really hated saying no to kids. Their big eyes that well up when he said no really pulled his heartstrings.

"Well, If you can accept a bit of deer, cooked as payment, then feel free! I have no money meself! he said to Ylalie.

Leon stared at the child for a second the he glared. He recognized the girl from the other day, she through a rock, or something like that, at a wick just trying to sell his wares. The wick was nice even dropping the price for a human girl. He did not need to be harassed

"Hey, you, don't be talking to this kov. I remember you, you threw a rock at a wick salesmen, for no good reason!" Leon was uncharacteristically angry, he despised when children acted up for no good reason. "I should send my snarling bander after you, he's a big on, too. He loves to eat tiny green haired girls! Now get before I get him!"

Leon turned to Tonan. "Don't mind that girl, she'll sooner pick your pocket then ask for stew."

Aye looked up at him eagerly, her face fell when she heard he couldn't pay with money, but then she brightened up at the mention of food, and it sounded goood. The girl smiled and nodded, if it had been a paying job it probably wouldn't have lasted anyway. She stepped closer, about to give out her name and explain how wonderful food sounded to her, when weird-hat dude glared at her.



The girls jaw dropped, well now she knew why this guy was familiar. She half grinned at remembering how they met, then she grinned at the thought of a bander wolf who loved to eat green haired girls... really, how many green haired girls were there?



The girl frowned... she made a mental note to cancel pickpocketing the pair, it annoyed her that he had seen right through her. She frowned at leon for a second, then smiled at him. "Hesta, i don'think we met.... very well..." she said. She wasn't good a apologizing for things, and introducing yourself to someone who was glaring at you wasn't very easy. "I'm Aye, an' i wasnt stealin' for no reason... i was stealin' 'cause it looked easy-" her eyes grew wide "I mean fun! not easy... I mean... I wasnt stealin'! um... its nice to meet you...?" she finished, half questioning whether or not she'd get in trouble.

((SORRY! Massive stress build up caused me to leave my computer alone for a few days. (Sorry for the long wait-short post. Brain's in blank mode.))

Tonan scratched the back of his head. Confrontation. What was he gonna do?
Think, you idiot! This could get nasty!

"Hey now, Let's not fight? 'eh?"
You idiot! Leave 'em to it! It's none of your business.

Leon decided to lead the man further into the Harbor. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to fight a little girl. She just needed to be dealt with. If you listened closely, you could hear her mixing up her words and saying that stealin' was fun. I don't respect children like that, they should be dealt with accordingly." Leon came off a little harsh. He had bad experiences with highwaymen and others stealing from his cart. In his book, it was a high offense.

"Now, where were we? Oh yes, lodging. I ain't going to let a nice kov like yourself sleep on the streets or in some seedy lodge. I'll let you stay with me." A giant smile was present on Leon's face. "Don't worry I ain't know crazy kov, just a little loony." Leon chuckled, hoping Tonan would laugh with him.

Aye squinted at Leon, here he was leading away a very nice person, who knew what he planned to do with him? Not only that, but this guy had just offered her her first good meal since coming to the harbor. She still hadn't even gotten his name, what was she going to call him from now on? Funny hat guy?

Aye glared after him, and then smiled as she got, what seemed like, a very good idea. She was going to apologize, and he wasgoing to listen. She chased after Leon, and jumped, attempting to land on his back.

Although Aye had the element of surprise, the result of her flying leap was likely different from what she had hoped. She collided solidly with his back, but the wick, caught by surprise, was unable and unprepared to remain standing as she did so. Instead, the two flopped to the ground in a tangled heap, with Aye's arms wrapped about Leon's legs, and a rather large group of people pointing and laughing at the pair.

It was too late for Tonan to even try and stop it. The cannonball that was the 10 year old had already sprung and miserably failed at leaping onto Leon's back.

He helped the two up onto their feet. He had this feeling Leon wasn't going to be too friendly to the little girl.

Obsidia wasn't very happy either. She'd just nodded back to sleep on Tonan's shoulder, before having to wake up and balance herself while he picked up the two people on the floor. She hated being waken up.

A yawn slipped past her lips as Cezelia walked through the streets. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say she stalked through the streets, her vibrant scarlet hair keeping the light of midday from her eyes still heavy with sleep. The pins that usually held her black-and-violet braids from her face were mysteriously absent as she chose instead to use her hair like a curtain. She never left without some form of makeup, but her daytime look was radically different from the nighttime face she wore.
Normally, Cezelia was not up this early. She opened her shop in the afternoon and closed quite late in the evening, sometimes working well into the wee hours of morning. But today she needed some supplies, and the market was bustling at this time of day--she was bound to find some better bargains. Another yawn. Why was she here? Running a hand through the cords of hair, it came back to her--she had written the list on the palm of her hand, one of the few bare patches of skin she had left. She had seemingly forgotten where she was going for an instant, since now she was walking dangerously close to the city gates. It wasn't dangerous, per se, but she didn't much like it outside of Old Rose. This was her home, and she couldn't imagine leaving it for long.
From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a young girl. Her wild green hair caused her to stop, perhaps because it reminded her of the untamed style she used to wear as a child...or perhaps because she had just taken a flying leap at a man in a hat. It was early, and her brain hadn't quite kicked in yet, so she really had no choice but to laugh. She didn't laugh loudly, and certainly there were plenty of others giggling and pointing at the scene, but she still felt mildly embarrassed and somehow uncivilized...people fell down every day. It wasn't really humorous.
But before she could recollect herself and head on her way, her face suddenly contorted. There was something foul in the air. Something more foul than usual, anyway. She was used to the stink of fish and food past its prime rotting in the marketplace. She was used to people unwashed for weeks at a time and the stench of back alleys with their puddles and piles of unidentified substances. But this, at least at this time of day, struck her as unbearable.
"Vrunta!" She spat the word like it had been building in her mouth for some time. "What died out here?"

Tonan looked up. "That'd be me! Sorry Miss!"
Then he realised how idiotic that sounded.
"I mean, my bag!"
That was even sillier.
"I'm carrying dead flesh in my bag!" He corrected, again.

He really wasn't doing himself any favours, here.
"Deer flesh!" he shouted. He turned bright red. He was shouting things over a crowd that made him look slightly insane.

Wow, it got busy over here all of a sudden. What gives?

Leon was angry now, he did not like being attacked from behind, especially by some thieving little girl. He wasn't going to actually hurt her, he was above that, well he thought he was. He was just going to scare her while he made a break for it with Tonan.

"Alright little girl, you had this coming." Leon pulled up his sleeves for know particular reason and slowly gathered his faint field. He decided to cast one of his favorite spells, Sparks. He didn't want it to harm the little girl just to scare her.

Maybe I should have it a few feet above her?

After figuring that out he recited the monite for Sparks, with his request in there.