Fine! Fine!

"And we'll need a kitchen, obviously; cooking on a campfire for days on end is awful. I should know..."

We were now headed down the road, a few hours after packing away the tents and pot; freshly cleaned by a now very content Sammy. I, however, was not permitted the joys of our trek through through the woods, as Cilla was hounding me on details to add to my Domain for tonight's rest. While I am unsure if this is doing anything, I've currently managed to re-imagine it as a sort of hodgepodge mix of the places we've been; some of the Resthouse, Ashes Home, the Runacathies, and even the Maiyo's Kiss's Messhall had made it into my mindscape reality. While not the perfect resting spot, it would serve better than those sleeping bags.

Klyde moves up from the back of our group, patting me on the shoulder. "So, why not just fill your Domain with, like, free food? Or gold?"

Before I can even process his idea; Ariel's voice comes from his Alm. "You can't take anything out of a Domain that's been created there. No raw material, no food, no water; you even suffer from sudden dehydration or starvation if you leave after sustaining too long off of only Domain foodstuffs, and have wounds and diseases treated by medicines suddenly come back. Not fun, let me tell you... not that having that stuff is bad for keeping someone alive until you get the real stuff."

"Noted." I say, adding a stockpile in the form of that backroom on the Maiyo's Kiss in my mind; just in case.

The walking continues, and with the sudden silence that came with the absence of requests; one of which was whispered to me by a red-cheeked Ashes, I began to take in the scenery. The verdant greenery on the woodland grounds was a wonder to behold in the early daylight, which passed between changing leaves like rays of gold.

"Why are the leaves changing color?" I ask, still having that itch in the back of my mind; something with an A, or an F...

Klyde chirps in from behind. "It's obviously turned to Autumn. You really do have brain damage."

"Autumn?" Asks just about everyone else; clearly an Earth name of some sort.

As Zana opens her mouth to say something, Cilla shoos her away to explain for herself, holding her head high. "It is currently the starting days of the vibrant Mourant; the Season of ****, a beautiful time of transition. We just came out of Light, Lumiere, with longer days, it's is rather hot and humid. After Mourant is Lune; the Season of Dark, with longer nights, with a cold, snowly climate. And then Haleine, the Season of Life, where harvest is plentiful after the greenless times of Lune."

The Earthling snickers to himself. "Exposition girl wins again..."

She smiles, not understanding his words for the jab they are. "Yes, I do."

I return to my leaf watching, enjoying the view as best as I can. That is, until I hear something. A rustling in a nearby bush; heartbeats quickening in anticipation. Not wanting any surprises, I unlatch my hook. Before my own group even knows what I'm doing, I hurl my hook into the bush, and with a loud *THUNK*, Two armed men come running out of the shrubbery.

"We've been found out!"

"Shit! Shit!"

A groan can be heard from the bushes; the one I cracked with a solid chunk of steel. The others of my group draw their various weapons, and assume positions... except for Klyde. The irritating Earthling had decided to simply drop to the ground, and begin shaking like a scared child.

"Are we fighting!? Oh not again, I don't wanna die again..."

A click of a stopwatch is heard, as Cilla is suddenly moved slightly to the side, with Scott taking her place as a bullet is fired; ducking.

"Got it right that time..." Said Scott, a streak of blood across his cheek where the bullet grazed him.

Ah, so that's what got you last loop...

"Ariel."

"Angel who fell."

"A great shield for all."

"Divine Wall!"

Gabriella slams her staff into the ground, and the familiar golden **** that protected us from the Siren's Song forms in a bubble around our group. More bullets are fired from all sides, but all simply patter of the shield. Then, a much larger projectile impacts the barrier ; a thrown human. The man seemed to crack a few ribs on impact, but nevertheless, he began stabbing down with a shiv into the shield.

"Things can pass out of Divine Wall just fine!" Yells Gabbie; still holding the staff in place. "Cilla, Zana!"

Speak of the devil, and she'll pop a bastard in the head with a clean shot from her Boomstick.

"R-Random Round, High Yield!"

In a blast of fire, the man's headless corpse flew off the bubble surrounding us, and flopped into the treeline. Just as this happens, a second man is thrown onto the barrier; but he clearly regrets having been sent in, after seeing his comrades body turn to a burnt crisp before his eyes. After he lands, he is instantly impaled in both knees by bolts from Cilla; a third shot is placed somewhere that caused all men present to wince in empathy.

After the newly crowned woman slid slowly, painfully, down onto the ground; all seemed to go silent. Had they retreated? My answer comes from beneath our feet, as I hear the trembling of the earth below. In an explosion of dirt, a man armed with a pistol is suddenly behind Gabbie, at which point he points it to her head.

"Nobody move!" Yells the filthy looking bandit. "Or the Priestess gets a new pray'n hole."

We freeze as the barrier falls, with Cilla dropping her crossbow. The rest of us follow suit. I can hear in each of their hearts, a frenzied fear.

"Boss! I gottem!"

I hear the murmer of men and women through the woods, and some more beneath the earth. Latches are opened, hidden snipers emerge from disguised holes in the ground. Soon, we are surrounded by around thirteen men, and seven women; their races vay, but all are of the Light, but each are ready to kill. One of particular interest wears a familiar black hood... A Runacathy Hunter's hood.

"One of my old associates. Wonderful..." He says, motioning to the dirtman for something. "How are things in the good house?"

The filthy bastard lowers his pistol, returning to his masters side, and handing the gun over. The Ex-Hunter looms over the whole of our group, walking over to Cilla, and yanking the hood from her head. I see each of us; Sammy especially, grow more and more angered and afraid. With all of these guns pointed at us, we can do nothing but watch the cloaked man speak.

"Hmm... a Worgenfaust..." He says to himself, playing with the hammer of the pistol. "Which one of your corrupt kind would be so bold as to barge into my old stomping grounds, pretending to play at the fixed beast? Swith... M'net..."

"...Priscilla..."

Cilla winces as he grows closer; **** down the fight or flight response that would have her pluck out the man's throat with her teeth.

"Ah... The Heiress herself! Well, that settles it!"

He turns around, walking over toward his men. "Tonight! We drink! To the loot off these scum! And to one less monster in the world!"

I panic as I see him spin around, and fire; the shot aimed for her head.

"No!"

Only, there is no explosion of blood. No bullet wound. Nothing. The confused bastard looks down at his gun, only to see an oddity. A playing card, cutting both the bullet, and the barrel of the pistol, in half. Then, another appears, only it is a few feet to his side, stuck into the ground... covered in blood. The Ex Hunter's hand then slowly, gently, falls from his wrist.

"!yerp yM" Calls an otherworldly voice.

The shocked bandits are then pelted from the shadows by even more of these cards; some losing limbs like their leader, others having their throats sliced wide open. A figure darts from seemingly nowhere, slamming the panicked would-be killer into a tree with... a wooden box on wheels?

"!kcirt txen ym roF"

"!ckirp siht was ll'I"

"xoB ehT otnI!"

The nameless bandit boss is pulled into the rectangle of timber by an unseen ****; the blurred thing darting onto the box. A woman, with stiches across her skin; if the skin could even be considered hers, that is. Various shades of pigment blend together across her body, yet unlike when last I saw her stitched corpse, the coloration had seemingly begun to merge like different colors of paint; all of which with a ever-so-slight greenish hue. She wore strange clothes; clothes that itched at older, earthly memories.

Black heeled shoes, with what can only be described as fancy nets around her legs; leading into black, silken shorts. A sleeveless vest of equal darkness, which bore a rose over the heart, covered her torso, with a white, long sleeved blouse beneath. Atop her stolen head was a almost comically large top-hat; with a red band wrapped around it. In her hands; which were covered by white silken gloves, was a large saw...

Which lifted itself from her hands as she flipped backwards off the box, high into the air.

"!adaT"

The man screamed as the saw lowered itself by magical means, and began working its way through his body; down the middle. Shellshocked by all this chaos, almost none even notice as another set card flicks from nowhere, to inbetween between the hands of Un-Oz as she lands on the ground. She holds them like daggers, ready to be thrown; her mutli-colored, ever-changing eyes looking us all over like Sammy at a candy store.

Especially me...

".emosdnaH ; gogrU droL ot uoy gnirb ll'I ,kcirt txen ym rof, woN"