That was certainly an odd condition for a town. Well, it was a port town. Maybe parents just ran off every so often, to bigger and better places? Yasuo couldn't be too sure. Etsu, on the other hand, didn't really care. The information was just filed somewhere in the back of her mind to keep for later, just in case.

As they moved through the crowd, Yasuo progressively began to regret his decision to hold Benjamin over his shoulder. Sure, the boy was light as a feather, but they had to maneuver through a crowd to get to the inn. What if one of the people in the crowd thought it was a little off, to see someone who's clearly an outsider carrying one of the resident boys over his shoulder like this? Yasuo wasn't sure what kind of connotation this might have, but it couldn't possibly end well for them.

Fortunately, this didn't occur whilst they were outside of the inn. Once inside, though, it did, and he immediately regretted the decision against just carrying the boy like any normal human being. Well, it seemed to end well, at least--thanks to Peter.

"Warm cider, please," Yasuo replied, before glancing back to Etsu, who nodded--suggesting that she, too, wanted a delicious non-alcoholic beverage. Or, at the very least, one that couldn't possibly end with the effects of alcohol. "For both of us."

That said, Yasuo walked behind the bar, looking for this cot that Benjamin's talked of, while Etsu remained near the door, not quite cautious, but still keeping an eye out. She specifically wanted to make sure that Peter didn't leave without her knowing. The whole reason she got Yasuo to agree to this had to do with him, after all.

Yasuo returned from behind the bar, now without Benjamin, who was currently stashed on a cot awkwardly placed behind the bar. Yasuo had never seen someone put a cot behind a bar before, and even though he wasn't personally a fan of alcohol, he had been to his fair share of taverns and the like. That was a first.

He was just in time for Peter to start towards the door, whom Etsu allowed to leave by stepping to one side of the door.

Etsu only held her hand up to Yasuo, and subtly at that. It was a way of telling him to stop. At first, Yasuo didn't quite know what she was getting at, but as soon as Etsu saw that he acknowledged it (by giving her a confused stare), she turned and left the building, shortly after Peter--immediately afterward, in fact. Yasuo got the hint as soon as she was gone. She wanted to talk to Peter, it seemed? Or, perhaps, she wanted to see Rodrick? He couldn't be too sure, but apparently she didn't want him to come with her.

Yasuo wasn't necessarily comfortable with that, but he supposed he had no choice in the matter. He was here primarily to back Etsu up, it seemed, so--for all intents and purposes--she was the boss. This did battle it out against his better judgment, which was to go with Etsu just in case something bad were to happen, but his better judgment wound up losing in the end.

As Yasuo took a seat and silently accepted the mug of apple cider, he couldn't help but worry about Etsu. He was predisposed towards caring about the safety of women and children, and since he considered Etsu to at least be a close acquaintance of his, if not a friend, he especially worried about her well being right at that moment. He'd never been out on a mission with her before, so he wasn't quite used to her disappearing amidst the ranks of normal people.

But he still listened to the tale dictated by Benjamin's mother. It was interesting, truly, and at least provided some insight into the inn he sat within. It didn't explain why Etsu wanted to speak with Peter or Rodrick, but he figured he could ask his partner directly, whenever he had the chance.

The elderly fellows barging in on the woman's story didn't interrupt Yasuo's thoughts on the subject, nor did they break his care about it. It was sort of idle interest at the moment, to keep his mind a little distant from Etsu, in hopes that he might worry just a little less about her, but the interest was still there. Actually, the old men chiming their thoughts in gave Yasuo the courage to speak, himself.

"How did Mr. Trozk help the town out so much?" He asked after taking a sip of the cider he'd been given. It was probably a common question from outsiders like him, who just came into town today.

Outside, Etsu Hikane followed Peter as soon as she was outside. She stopped once he noticed her, and waited for a moment. At his question, Etsu shook her head.

It was fairly universal language, movements like that. Everyone knew them, from Cizokians to Sythinians. A person shook her head--she was clearly saying no. That didn't quite matter just a moment later, however, when Etsu spoke to Peter directly:

"No. Not Rod-erick-sama. I wour-rd r-rike to speak with you," Etsu replied.

It was the first time she spoke Common here. It was the first time she spoke Common since before she and Yasuo arrived, even. Unlike Yasuo, she did not speak Common perfectly. Yasuo's only limitation was contractions; he wasn't accustomed to using them, so he didn't. Etsu, on the other hand, had a very prominent Cizokian accent, despite having such a meek and small voice. Her r's and l's had very little difference, for example: all of her l's sounded like a partially rolled r, without any emphasis or stress like that of rolled consonants in other languages. Likewise, she over-pronounced vowel dominated syllables and often had to break up longer words in order to pronounce them. These were constants whenever she spoke.

Etsu glanced into the crowd, before adding, "In private, pr-rease."

"Wow. That was very generous of him," Yasuo replied after a drink, and set his mug down.

That was a noble sacrifice on the man's part. And he was this Rodrick boy's father? It seemed that boy wasn't living up to his father's shadow, pulling a knife on his friends with barely even a second thought. In Cizok, an entire community would have been disappointed with him for not living up to the honor of his father. Yasuo certainly couldn't hold this culture to the same standard--and he didn't really know the full story on the boy, anyways. But that was really besides the point. The boy was kind of no interest to him. More than likely, he was a child rebelling against his father's honor. It happened in Cizok sometimes, too.

"I can see why you hold him in such prestige," Yasuo continued, before pausing a moment, "If it is not too much trouble, may I ask what kind of hard times befell your town? You see, this is my first day here, and I am unaware of the history."

Outside, Etsu glanced into the crowd one more time. She really didn't want to talk out here, not where people could hear her. Even if she didn't have anything secretive to talk about, which was a distinct possibility, she was still uncomfortable in big crowds like this. She couldn't watch everyone, and she couldn't watch any one person for any length of time, either--yet she always felt as if someone else could do better, and watch her without any difficulty, hidden under the veil of a crowd . . .

Having been raised in the middle of nowhere, by only a mother and a father, going out into town only perhaps two dozen times her entire life, large crowds simply made her nervous and uncomfortable. And discomfort could sometimes lead to at least a lesser degree of paranoia.

"No," Etsu replied as she shook her head, "I onr-ry have a few question."

That was a bit of a strange response. What was it--famine? Debt? Famine seemed like the most likely candidate, just looking at the place. It seemed to be doing well as a trading hub, after all. Yasuo didn't quite know if this town was under the jurisdiction of someone or something, though. Were that the case, then maybe it could have been poverty--and they owed their government some large sum of money, or something along those lines.

Maybe it was kind of personal, too.

"I see," Yasuo replied before taking drink. After he sat it down, he sighed in relief. The warmth of his drink was definitely starting to kick in. It felt pretty nice. "Well, at least everything worked out the best in the end. I certainly hope it was not too big of a loss on Mr. Trozk's part, though. It would be a shame for such a noble deed as his to be rewarded with poverty."



Quietly, Etsu followed, and didn't question Pete when he started to take her down a somewhat dark alleyway. He didn't seem like someone who was really all that threatening, anyways. She followed him into the warehouse, making note of how easy it was to open the doors, and waited for him to provide some light.

"Sou ka," Etsu replied--out of habit--as she glanced around the warehouse.

Not only were they alone, but they were in a very tactically advantageous locale. These crates were aligned in a way that one could always have something to hide behind, and in some cases, it seemed it was possible to reach a high ground quite easily. This was something Etsu decided to make a mental note of. But paranoid observations aside, Etsu currently had some questions to ask--one to start it off, of course, with others to follow. She looked back to Pete, who now sat upon one of the crates. Etsu simply remained standing near the door, though.

"Rod-er-rick-sama," Etsu over pronounced his name at first; it was like that whenever she said a non-Cizokian name out loud for the first time, "miss your face on pur-pose. By ve-ry smar-rr margin."

Missing Pete's ear by a hair--a margin so tiny that it could barely be measured. That couldn't be an accident. If Roderick had accidentally missed Pete's face, then he would have either taken his ear off, missed by a wider margin, over his head or inches from his face, rather than damn near a millimeter.

Which no doubt had piqued Etsu's interest more than anything else had since they got here. That took a horrendous amount of skill, which was even further backed up by some of the things Rodrick was saying. Rodrick was clearly gifted, and therefore the first person in this town that Etsu wanted to become. After all, they were searching for someone or something that was gifted with something of a particular talent. It had nothing to do with absolutely perfect aim, even when under great mental and emotional duress, but this was at least a good start.

"What taught him this?" An awkwardly worded sentence, definitely, but to be expected. In some instances, Common was barely even a second language for her.

We . . . are not . . . Yasuo thought to himself, but decided it was probably for the best to just keep that to himself.

He and Etsu both knew the truth, and that was all that mattered really. Etsu wasn't his girl. They were friends, at best. It was just that simple. There was even a lot of room to better that friendship, too. Etsu didn't really open up to him or anything, after all--but she did to a select few. Truth be told, Yasuo wouldn't have minded if he was amongst that handful of people that Etsu Hikane opened up to, but he had patience, and if all went well, the rest of his life.

Nonetheless, Yasuo didn't know if they were going to need a place to stay tonight or not. If this mission took only a few hours, they weren't going to. Though, if that were the case, they could always come back and respectfully inform Marlene that they had a sudden change of plans, and were leaving that evening . . .

"I would greatly appreciate it," Yasuo replied with a smile and slight bow of his head.



That was a lot less informative than she had hoped for. Unfortunate. It left some implications, though--things she might be able to put to use!

Etsu, herself, was a rare person, and not just in appearance. Yes, she had an almost impossible color of hair, deep red eyes, and skin that almost looked like porcelain, but she kept that hidden when she was out, usually--hidden under a hood, like now, a hood bulky enough to cast a shadow over her face, with pockets deep enough that she could bury her hands in them and effectively shut out any further possibility of someone perhaps recognizing her.

Lineage didn't denote a rare existence, though. No-- Etsu was rare because she was like this Rodrick fellow, trained at an early age to defend herself, and perhaps even do a little more than that. That was rare, usually. Most children weren't provided tutors or taught by their parents to fight, or any education that could lead to a life of murder, be it in self defense or worse.

"Does tutor r-rive here?" Etsu asked.

Maybe that could help, but this, in reality, was just going to be the first of the preliminary questions, if the answer was no-- or if he just didn't know. In the worst case scenario, she'd only have two questions left.

Beautiful? She thought for a moment.

Of course, Peter had caught her off guard, and derailed her train of thought briefly. If that's what he was trying to do, then he succeeded. She thought about herself for a moment, wondering why he said such a thing. Truth be told, Etsu didn't have that great of a self image to begin with. If Peter could have seen her face better, he would have seen that she had scars, and that wasn't the only place she had scars. Even if someone could get past all that, and maybe look past what she considered to be a horrible disfigurement, she had one worse-- one that probably would've scared anyone away if they were to see her without clothing on. Anyone but Eldridge, that is--the only person in the world that made her feel physically attractive.

And maybe a couple of embarrassing moments with Scott, too. And this whole "swimsuit calender" thing that was supposed to be coming out, only for Reapers, only to be sold and kept within headquarters-- supposedly she was getting a lot of compliments for the photo taken of her for that. Those weren't taken so much as compliments as they were completely embarrassing. The other might have been a little humiliating, even, were it not for the fact that she was actually supposed to get royalties from that. Strangely enough, Reapers didn't get paid nearly enough, considering their occupation.

Nonetheless, beyond the bottom of her nose, her lips, and her chin, no one could really see much on her. Not her hair, not her cheekbones, or forehead, and barely even her eyes. Her hood cast a shadow over face; a pleasant little thing. She could see out just fine, but with Etsu at four feet and ten inches tall, it was a little tough for someone to see in.

That thought wrapped, she could get back to her concern--about Rodrick's odd skill set for his age.

"There is no tutor, is there?" Etsu asked outright.

It was a little blunt, and may have carried the same weight as a blackjack to the skull--albeit less painful. Etsu wasn't one to care, though. She was here to collect information, after all, and false information was worse than no information at all.

"Sou ka," Etsu whispered.

Peter would see her face well enough, leveling his eyes to see under her hood-- but even then, there was only so much to see. Her bangs, a dark azure as the hood darkened the color of her hair with shadows, covered the entire left side of her face, including her eye-- to such a degree that it might have even been an impractical practice. The way she did that, keeping her bangs over the left side of her face, ensured that not only would it be impossible to see the entire left side of her face, but that it would be impossible for her to see anything out of her left eye. Something like that wasn't a choice of style, it was a choice of necessity.

On the right side, her hair was tucked back behind her ear, and her scarlet iris kept a sullen stare at, or perhaps into, Peter. Her lips didn't move to grin or sneer, nor did her features contort or anything of the sort. She was stoic, perfectly stoic.

"You are cor-rect," she replied at last.

It was very possibly for her to say too much. The living were supposed to be kept ignorant at all costs. That was one of the duties of Reapers. In some select places, there were rumors about them, but part of their job was to maintain secrecy, and snuff out those sorts of rumors.

But it was also possible to fabricate the truth.

"We are of Cizokian Spe-ciar-r Forces-- Sword Saints. Kensei," Etsu continued, unflinching; stoicism lead to the perk of being a great liar. She spoke with an intonation of absolute seriousness, to boot. "There is an item here of great inter-est to our Master. We do not know who has it or how it r-rook, we onr-ry know frac-tion of what it can do. It is best to for-row infor-ma-tion as it come and for-row truthfur-r guide. I am not to say Rod-erick-sama is suspect, but I ber-rieve spe-ciar-r person possess item in ques-tion-- and spe-ciar-r peopr-re ve-ry often seek other r-rike them."