[Redd]

Click-clack, click-clack.

The sound of claws clacking and the dragging of leathery skin on the surface dusty highway had been the music of the last several hours of travel for the brown and gold Chaos. First it had been just the claws, all six sets of them, along with the sound of the monster's own out-loud rambling, then he switched pace to only walking on four limbs at a time to rest the other two, then it slowed down to a tired walk with his tail dragging unceremoniously along the ground.

Maybe he'd miscalculated just how far Aldrect was from Lamenolai.

Just a tad.

[Redd]

He was definitely fast on foot, but in this form, he'd had to evade civilisation and frequently used routes. He'd swapped to human form to cross the ocean between the two continents, and then had set out from a port on the Dead Coast, straight to Aldrect.

In hindsight, maybe he should have taken a slightly longer break. As it stood, he was going to look like a right mess when he turned up at the marble city.

Aldrect, of all places. Heck, he'd have taken back water Nabias over this place. Or Jawan? He never went anywhere nice, he mused to himself.

[Redd]

As he approached the city something... was amiss. Well, maybe that was the wrong word. Every single bone in his body was screaming at him that something was wrong. He was in danger. Or something like that.

The Chaos frowned and slipped into his human form, a man of average stature, wild sand-colored hair - largely as a result of his travel - golden eyes and wearing not much beyond cargo pants and sneakers. This required further investigation. What was he missing here, the scene before him seemed... festive even.

[Redd]

People were flocking to the city, some with Tuskcow-led carts full of colorful goods and produce. Others were travelling in small family groups through the gates, though the common theme was that majority of them were draped in gold... thread.

Golden Thread.

Fuck.

His upper lip curled into a feral snarl as his mind began to pull up images, unbidden. Entire sewer ways filled with razor sharp, nearly invisible golden thread tripwires. Except, they weren't hooked up to explosives or traps. Instead one false move and the entire team would be more sliced up than a Turkezilla roast on Thanks for Life Day. The thread was capable of cutting through nearly anything and it was the weapon of choice for his favourite little scientist gang.

[Redd]

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, as if it would help force the images he didn't want to see out of it.

It had to be this time of year. Of course it did.

Well, at least his dinner wasn't trying to court him this time.

He was surprised that was the memory that chose to come up next. He barely remembered Enair, the weird little Dweller who'd... used this festival as a chance to try and court him. Mind, this was days after he'd tried to eat the Dweller. What else could it have been but Stockholm syndrome? Too bad for the Dweller, if Harutte had a species of choice, apparently it was humans.

[Redd]

Right. Back on track Haru, reminiscing probably isn't exactly the smartest idea right now.

Back to looking for Faen. Because he was... a good friend? Not a creep? Was coming out here even the correct thing to do?

He sighed again and picked up his feet, pushing forward through the gates and pretending that he wasn't seeing all this festival crap. He had no idea how we was going to explain all this though, to her anyway. She'd left in a hurry, clearly she didn't want him to follow, or worry, but here he was, in the middle of Aldrect, obviously doing both.

[Redd]

He was sure she could manage herself fine on one hand but on the other... well, he just worried. Was that overstepping boundaries? For all of his interest in humans, he could never quite work out how they thought, what was considered appropriate.

For Chaos, at least, from his tribe, being loud, pushy and getting in each other's faces was the norm. You didn't like something, you flashed your teeth, showed your claws, maybe breathed a bit of fire if that was something you could do (he could not). Despite the sheer differences between each Chaos, he could read body language, what a tail twitch meant, reading expressions from multiple sets of eyes and from blank reptillian-like faces.

[Redd]

Humans were... different. They were more subtle. Violence was only shown when communication broke down. Made sense in a way, they didn't have thick skin to protect them, and most didn't have access to innate magic. For all of his time living among them, he still never truly did quite understand them.

With one last sigh, Harutte flicked another glance towards the gate. Maybe he should just... go back home. That would be far more respectful, wouldn't it. Maybe this whole damn thing was one big mistake. He was the one who always ended up in danger, not her. He was caught by Nano himself and had to beg for his life. He was roped into some scheme of Yepha. He was caught and bled out by the deranged Fallen, Yinziel.

[Redd]

He'd still not left though. He'd reasoned, what was the harm in staying a day? He'd set up a little spot to perform, do his thing and earn enough money for a hotel and then head back the next day. If he was... caught out by... well, if he was spotted by someone he knew, he could say he was tackling his fear. That was reasonable, right?

No. It was weak and he knew it but in a big city like this, what was one small Chaos?

In fact, this place stank. Both of Chaos and Seraph. Hardly surprising, given the nature of it. Food would likely be scarce right now and he really didn't want to upset any Zu'hai or Xai're Seraphim by chasing food through a populated area like this. Let the more bold Chaos do it, it would draw heat off him at the very least.

[Redd]

He'd picked out a spot and had started setting up a minor stall when a voice on a megaphone started belting something out. The... Golden... Parade? It was hard to hear over the crowd but he... vaguely remembered something like that before. Hadn't... some of their party actually joined up with that?

He shouldered his backpack again and started wandering over to see what it was when another voice was heard over the noise.

'This is sanctioned by the Lambastian Science Division, do not be alarmed, this is just a routine inspection'.

He turned, eyes lighting up. Before he recoiled again. That area... stank of Seraph. But... that's where Faen had been going right? Maybe she was there? He'd go check it out anyway. Maybe if she wasn't someone would know.

[Investigate Commotion]

[Redd]

Oh. Oh gods he had made a mistake.

The Chaos froze before the two scientists, eyes frantically flicking between the two of them. As the runes on his chest began to light up, the blonde woman, grabbed his arm and yanked him to the side. "Sorry Zae, old friend. Don't wait up!" she called back before turning to Harutte. "Chaos, I do not think so." she hissed, eyes darting over to Zae, before returning to his face. A deliberate show of avoiding staring at the runes. Interesting.

He hadn't meant to start casting a charm, call it a self-preservation instinct and admittedly he was glad that she'd interrupted it. Though he wasn't glad that he now had a member of the Seraphim directly in front of him, glaring daggers.

"Look, look lady. There's been a... misunderstanding here." Harutte winced, raising his hands in a surrender. Fighting this wasn't going to be a smart idea, not in a crowded marketplace. Despite clearly recognising his nature and abilities, she hadn't pulled a sword on him... yet. "I'm... a good one, no problem here officer. Ask Yepha, I'm pretty sure I got a 'get out of jail free' card stashed somewhere on my record."

[Redd]

"I'm aware of who you are, Chaos." She scowled right back, arms folded across her chest. "I'm aware you're under Yepha's protection, but I don't have to like it. That's not the point, I'm wondering why you're here, you're a long way from home, aren't you?"

Ah great. Hopefully Yepha had... not told her order how much of an ass he'd been to his travelling Seraphim partner, Safi. Though the fact he was still living was a good sign that details had been left out. "I ah.. you know, it's the Thread thing and... I waaas... well, y'know, the deal with the Collector and the Thread and... Thinktankke... and Dr. H. and all that was still recent and... so Aldrect is still on parole, so... I'm just here to make sure it behaves..." he was seriously rambling at this point, much to the Seraph's dismay. In the space of that rambling, her expression had changed from anger to exhaustion, mouth opening at several points just to interject and shut up the nervous Chaos.

"Yes yes. Look, Chaos-

"It's Haru, Seraph."

"-Whatever. The others here with me are Zu'hai and Xai're's. Even if you're officially under the protection of the Gods, that might not stop them in the heat of the moment. Work with me and I'll make sure they don't see you." She stated, looking down at him, the glasses perched on her nose giving her a rather severe look.

[Redd]

Harutte tilted his head, giving the woman a quizzical look. "And why would you want my help? " he replied against his better judgement. He really shouldn't have been giving people ideas, but well. Here he was.

She released his arm, took a step back and sighed, rubbing her temples. She looked genuinely tired and he almost felt sorry for her. "No, I don't like this but I've been having trouble getting a lock on this Chaos we're hunting. You've got a track record of being cooperative, and more importantly, you've got skills to minimise unneeded panic, if this Chaos gets loose." she sighed and looked in the direction of the big tent. "He's incredibly difficult to track, like he can throw his aura. However we managed to narrow it down to that big tent. Maybe, he's trying to hide by blending in as a performer, not entirely an original idea. I need your assistance getting in."

Harutte snorted, remembering one of his group doing that very thing. Well, less blending and more just abusing their ability to transform to perform. "Right, I can do that. And then what? Rattle some kids with the good cop, bad cop routine?" he quipped, turning back to Wiks with a sheepish grin. Apparently the knowledge of knowing he wasn't going to get stabbed on the spot was a confidence booster. "Gonna need some information to make this whole operation work boss, like... your name?"

He ought to put cooperative on his resume at this point.

[Redd]

You know, it was conversations like these that made Harutte wonder if the gods were open to constructive feedback on their design for their perfect little drones. For one, Harutte was absolutely certain that there was no negative repercussions on removing the stick that was firmly lodged up every single Seraph's ass that he'd met so far.

The Seraph indicated that they start walking to the ten while they talked, and held off responding until they were at least a good bit away from Zae before finally responding, "Salarestiel. My name. Human's call me Sarah, or Dr. Wiks." she responded, before cheerily waving down a man outside the tent. "Citizen! I require access to your tent. Government business, you know the drill."

Harutte was so taken aback at her shift from threatening and stressed to downright sunny that he'd almost forgotten what his job here was. At least, he was until a sharp jab in the ribs reminded him. As he began to speak, runes on his chest began to light up and pulse with a dizzying rhythm. "Y-yes. Remember. We're well-dressed government scientists, Dr. Wiks and Dr. Langren. We're here to conduct a safety inspection of the set here. Have you seen a human with eyes like mine?"

It was always so awkward, doing this with an aware audience. He wasn't a rune caster, so he had to be quite explicit with how he phrased things and what runes he was activating. Verbalizing exact orders helped him direct the right spells at the intended victim.

"Yes. A man dressed in black... had orange eyes." the man responded in a dull monotonous voice, eyes trained on the glowing rune. "He was to perform next."

"Forget. I didn't ask that, you didn't tell me about them." Harutte cheerily replied, waving a hand in front of the man's eyes to snap him out of it. "We'll just poke our heads in, and then be on our way. Thanks for your cooperation, citizen." he couldn't help but mimic Wiks' overly professional speech mannerisms, before slipping through the door, holding it open for the Seraph.

[Redd]

Harutte blinked, slit-eyes widening to take in the dark interior. "Ooh, look... there's a schedule here. Our man's on in 5 minutes." Harutte cautiously stepped over tangled wires and props and tapped a finger on a whiteboard in the corner.

Salarestiel cautiously picked her way over and gave the board a quick glance before pointing down a hall. "I'll stay here and cover the exit. The changing rooms are this way. Sweep and clear. Make them forget." she ordered, swapping back to the militant persona.

With little more than a nod, he began to pick his way towards the offered direction. He reasoned, subduing a Chaos was a big deal. Big enough, maybe, that if Wiks knew Zae well enough, he might be able to lean on her to get any sort of information that Faen had made it to Aldrect and was safe. Then, he could go home...

Geez. Home. Monday must be worried sick. He hadn't even considered her, before vanishing... again. For a father figure, he certainly had nailed the unreliable part down. God, he'd have to work out how to make it up to her, she didn't deserve that.

"Wait. Chao- Haru. One more thing." Salarestiel called out, before hurriedly walking over. "It's important... before we go out there..."

[Head backstage with Wiks and question staff]