Interesting Request.

"She wants what?!"

Robyn exclaimed after John had finally finished briefing her on what had happened after she had taken his phone away from him. He got the cellular device back from her, eventually; he just had to find his own way back to Robyn's house to get it first. Her home was cozier on the inside than John had initially thought it would be. His first assumption was that she would have had it decorated like the Frozen Flame's warehouse had been decorated, with lockers and armories on every wall. He expected a neat, uniform living space... and was surprised to find something decorated oddly similar to how his mother had liked to decorate their home. Except for the walls, which were fairly sparse with pictures in comparison to how his own home had been; the whole place was packed with soft, tan furniture and smelled oddly like cookies. The few pictures that Robyn did hang up on the white walls within her home largely featured her and some army buddies, Cassandra, or Eddie. Mostly Eddie. The majority of the photos in the house involved both the blonde and her redheaded childhood friend, most of which showed the two women when they were younger; there weren't very many recent pictures that John could see.

There were no marble or hardwood floors in Robyn's home, just soft, lush, brown carpeting. The marble was instead used on her counter-tops, which were littered with various fruits and vegetables... and dog treats. As soon as John had walked through the door, he was ambushed with attention from the creature that the treats had been acquired for, a large German Shepherd with a tendency to lick and brush against his hands as it came barreling and barking up towards him. Immediately after that had happened, his mother bombarded him with attention as well, pulling him a little too tightly to her breast and holding him close as she basically interrogated him to figure out where it was that he had disappeared to. When he managed to pull away from her, not before noticing the stench of sweat and sex on her body, Robyn mentioned that he had somehow simply 'disappeared' partway through their drive and she hadn't been able to figure out what had happened.

John quickly briefed her on the illusion trick that Otrov had employed... and then he caught the two of them up on the rest of it. Mary, who had since bathed and changed into a new set of clothes, quietly sat on the nearby couch, stuck between listening to them as they chatted or the television that she had turned on. For once, her outfit wasn't revealing. All that she wore was just some simple sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. The dark circles of where her nipples were could be seen through the front of her shirt, but they didn't stick out at the moment. Though, her breath did hitch briefly as soon as she saw John. She shifted in her seat nervously and thumbed one of the buttons on the television's remote.

"Why? Why would she want that?" Robyn asked, but John could only shrug. Otrov had told him something, but he couldn't bring himself to trust anything that she said.

"Apparently, she and Daniel know each other. I'm guessing they're longtime enemies or something like that, and now that he is here, she's feeling like the heat is on. I could be wrong, though." He paused momentarily to look over at his mother and Mary who had both remained completely quiet since John mentioned the possibility of killing someone. He didn't know how his mother was reacting to it since she had tried to keep her reactions to a minimum thus far, but he was more worried about what Mary was thinking. He still hadn't heard from her about what they had talked about in the car, and now they were talking about possible **** in front of her.

Did she think this was all just a part of some video game, too?

"All I do know is that she said that she would let the others go if I did it," he added and watched as Robyn scoffed and stomped across the room. She got all the way over to the other side of the living room and then back again before she finally turned to John and growled.

"If she even bothers to keep such a promise," she said, and John nodded in agreement. It was a risk... and he definitely didn't want to kill anyone, but if Robyn was right about the fighting that was coming to Springfield, then it might have been inevitable. At least this way it was only one more life to take. "And... and why doesn't she do it herself? Is he just super dangerous or something?"

"No," John answered. That didn't seem right. Otrov was a great assassin, and based on John's Observe information, she should have been able to at least try to fight Daniel one-on-one. The only problem she would have had would have been the people that he surrounded himself with, the 'protection' that he had offered up to John. "From what I could tell, he's just stronger when he's surrounded by a bunch of guards... and he must be surrounded all the time if she's asking for help."

"Well, I say that she can go fuck herself," Robyn snapped finally and pointed out the window as if she was pointing right at Otrov. "She can't seriously expect us to go ahead and just... help her without payment ahead of time! What kind of idiot would actually accept that kind of deal?!" This time... it was John's turn to snap at someone.

"I did," he growled back and watched as Robyn's hands dropped. She stared at him for a long moment, the light glistening in her bright amber-colored eyes. "...For you and the rest of the whole fucking Frozen Flame! I did that all because you asked me for help; though if we're being honest, you weren't really asking!" As soon as John finished talking, Robyn winced. She took the blow and retreated away from the Gamer a few steps before he continued. "I did what you wanted. I found Otrov. Hell, I found the Warden and your Froze Flame, icy-sword-wielding, doohickey chick! Now I just want to get paid, like you promised me! You have all the information you need, so you can decide whether or not you want to deal with this Daniel guy or just storm the Mana factory. I really don't care either way."

"We can't storm the Mana factory. Based on what you told me, it sounds like they aren't using a barrier to hide the place, just the ways to get into it. A barrier of that size would have been noticed by the Order by this point. They're just hiding it underground so that it can't be sensed and found. If we storm it, they'll just bring the whole place down and pass it off as an earthquake," Robyn said, but John simply shook his head. It didn't matter what he thought about Daniel and whether or not he trusted that the man actually had good intentions.

"I don't care," John answered her.

"John, Gaia wouldn't even stop them or punish them if they collapsed the whole factory. No, I still need you to-" Robyn tried speaking to him, to take him back on the path that she had set forward... but John interrupted her this time. He couldn't do what she was asking.

"I do not want to kill someone again, Robyn! I don't care what you say! I will not help you with that!" His voice cut through all other noise in the house. The television went silent, the dog stopped barking, and this time Robyn didn't try to keep convincing John. She just stumbled and stuttered into silence as everyone in the room stared at the two of them... and then she gingerly nodded her head. "You have everything you need to stop your war," he told her. "You can do this part yourself..."

John couldn't bring himself to meet Robyn's gaze after telling her off. It was clear by that point how important it was to the blonde that they try to rescue her friends, but he couldn't stay involved. The idea just made him sick.

"...You're right," she said after a couple of awkward minutes had passed. Both Brenda and Mary looked away from John whenever he tried to glance in their direction, as if they were both trying to not be caught listening in on their conversation. "You are right... Okay, in the morning I'll take you to the warehouse, I guess. You can pick out whatever you want there."

There was another beat of silence in the room before Robyn swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded at John again.

"Thank you... for all of your help. The room at the end of the hall is mine. You all can decide where it is that you want to sleep. I have one guest room and the couch is available for someone else. The last person may have to sleep on the floo-" John interrupted Robyn one more time.

"You don't have to worry about finding a place for everyone to sleep." At that, he turned to look at his mother. "I'm going to be heading back to the tent with Urga. It would probably be best if you stayed here with Robyn tonight." His mother gave him a needy glance, and John frowned at her. He knew what she wanted. The potion was probably driving her crazy by that point, but if the Burning Pass was dangerous, then he didn't want his mother in the kingdom when he tried to move past it. Her needs and new cravings were going to have to wait.

"I'll see you all in the morning," he said and then stepped outside and out of sight before he disappeared back into his kingdom.