[Jaykobell]

It was that time of year again. When they had come to this festival the year before, it had been a blast, as far as one of the two was concerned. The other hadn't quite agreed, but he often disliked everything. So was he really much of a reference?

"This again?" the black-haired one groaned, his grumpy, sour expression and behavior rather jarring when matched with his religious clothes. Indeed, one would expect a man of religion to be invested in this celebration.

[Jaykobell]

The other man, who also sported long black hair — except his was tied in a respectable braid — seemed no amount of phased by his partner's disgruntled attitude. "Yes, this again!" he announced with a grin, almost Cheshire in nature, borderline inhuman. Those slitted, reptilian-looking eyes also sharpened the inhuman perspective. "Don't you remember how nice it was last year, Clovis?"

"I don't even remember what we even did last year," Clovis groaned, his eyes flitting this way and that as he observed the festival and the preparations all around them.

[Jaykobell]

The reptilian one gave a short laugh. "Fair," he admitted. "I don't remember us doing very much. But I remember we came, and that it was really pretty!" Not only that, but this was a festival rooted in religion! Perfect for Clovis, and perfect for their purposes. Any kind of corrupted God looking for a quick bout of attention was bound to come here. And if they did, the two of them would make quick work of them.

For a sort of God-created creature, Clovis always found it jarring to hear his partner care for appearances.

[Jaykobell]

"As if you care about that, Hark," Clovis said dryly, the excessive amount of gold and black and all shades in-between already feeling overdone and stale. Sure, some things looked nice, and if he had to be honest, he might be willing to spend some coins for the sake of buying a few things. Overall, though, this whole thing was a bother.

"I do!" Hark gasped, feigning shock at Clovis's statement and claim. "Especially when you humans take the time to care about your Gods!"

[Jaykobell]

Clovis narrowed his eyes and sneered, a condescending, short laugh coming out of him. "Right," he said with disdain, clear disagreement in his tone of the single word. What a ridiculous concept, to waste one's time with worshiping and celebrating the Gods. It was a hypocritical statement coming from a priest, but did Clovis have any choice in the matter, he would've left the church and the religion behind.

Noticing Clovis's sour mood turn even worse, Hark looked around. Noticing soon close, he gasped. "Oh!"

[Jaykobell]

Hark headed off towards a small stall. Clovis stopped in his tracks as he noticed Hark leave, turning to look at wherever he was going. "What?" he called out. But Hark didn't answer, instead sticking by a table that was next to a large tent, outside of which was what looked like an endless waiting line.

"What is it?" he asked again, irritation in his voice as he walked up to join Hark.

"Clovis!" Hark called out, turning around to face the priest, a sheet of paper in his hands. "Check it out!"

[Jaykobell]

Clovis frowned, and then focused his attention on the paper. It was — what a shocker — gold and black all over, and it was announcing the heart of the festival: the Golden Parade. It was giving a short blurb on the nature of the event, the times, and invited people to come and sign up in order to participate.

Before Clovis had a chance to read the entire thing thoroughly, Hark blurted out, "Let's do it!"

It took Clovis a hot second to process what Hark had just said. "What?"

[Jaykobell]

"Let's sign up!" Hark insisted, a devilish expression on his face with what actually appeared to be legitimate interest. "It would be fun!" And a nice change of pace. They were always out there, protecting themselves and others, hunting corrupted, dangerous Gods. "And, we could keep an eye out during the parade for any suspicious activity!"

"Absolutely not," Clovis answered immediately, no word capable of expressing just how much he refused to do this. "I'm not doing this." Hark could try to promise him anything: Clovis wasn't about to get on stage.

[Jaykobell]

"Awh, Clovis, come on!" Hark insisted. "Look at this! We'd be a perfect team for this compared to all those losers!" He tapped the paper and paraphrased the theme of the parade and what people were competing for. "I wanna be the dragon! And you can be the Seraph."

Hearing that, Clovis's face turned. A few strong, clear emotions, including shock, confusion, and offense. "Excuse me?"

Hark seemed to notice, but it mostly went over his head. "Well, you can't be the dragon. So that only leaves one option," he explained nonchalantly.

[Jaykobell]

Clovis's anger was on the verge of boiling hearing Hark say that, but for both of their sakes, something interrupted their conversation.

"Please vacate this area citizens! This is sanctioned by the Lambastian Science Division, do not be alarmed, this is just a routine inspection."

Both of them turned towards the sound of the voice. Without another word, Clovis slapped the parade paper out of Hark's hands. "Forget about this stupid thing," he snapped, and he pointed towards the source of the voice. He didn't give Hark a choice in the matter: he headed right for the commotion that was slowly building up nearby.

Hark stared at the paper, and then up at Clovis, who had already walked away. With an overly dramatic sigh, he complied. "I wanted to be the dragon," he whined to himself before turning and catching up to Clovis. Of course, he was just being dramatic: this was really why they were here.

[Choice: Investigate Commotion]

[Jaykobell]

[Prompt: Head into the crowd and look for people who appear suspicious]

Never had Clovis expected that this would be the result of their decision to investigate whatever was going on. Getting grabbed by anyone was unwelcome, and it had taken a lot not to snap and completely ignore those weird folks. But their search, and what they had described: it seemed to align rather well with Clovis's and Hark's purpose for being at this festival. Which, frankly, he was surprised anything significant was about to happen here.

"Well?" he asked Hark as they reached the crowd, people upon people now mingling together, more and more. "You must be able to sense something."

Hark looked on over the crowd, a nonchalant, quiet expression on his face.

[Jaykobell]

"This... thing they described," Hark mused as he scanned the crowd. "I don't know what it's supposed to be. Something's weird, but it's not what we're looking for."

Clovis frowned at his explanation. "So can or can you not sense something?"

"I can, but it's not a feeling I got before," Hark elaborated, squinting at the crowd. "And it's faint. Couldn't tell you where they are, or where they really went."

Clovis rolled his eyes and huffed. "So you're useless," he translated, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

Hark snickered. "I don't see you doing a better job," he retorted, Clovis's comment right over his head.

[Jaykobell]

"Well, why should we even bother, anyway?" Clovis argued. "If this 'Chaos' or lizard thing isn't one of the corrupted Gods we're looking for, we're wasting our time."

"Hmm," Hark mused, putting a hand to his chin, pensive. "I dunno about that," he disagreed. "Humans call Gods all sorts of things. The corruption could've turned them into some sort of animal."

Clovis opened his mouth to retort, but then closed it, saying nothing. Although he was still skeptical, he found no proper argument to answer Hark. "I suppose. But a 'Chaos' isn't a name I've ever heard before. And didn't you say it doesn't feel like the other Gods we've hunted so far?"

[Jaykobell]

"It doesn't feel the same, but there's a trail out there," Hark insisted. "Even if it's not a corrupted God, it might still be dangerous to leave it alone." With a bit of renewed smug, he turned to Clovis and grinned. "Isn't that your holy job to protect the populace, priest?"

Clovis snapped his head around, grimacing unhappily and glaring at Hark with daggers in his eyes. "Fine," he spat, "we'll hunt your 'Chaos' thing! So do your job and find that thing, bottle."

For a heartbeat, Hark's eyes and face flashed with anger — but it was short-lived. Soon enough, his smug returned, and he chuckled.

[Jaykobell]

Once their banter was over, the two headed off into the crowd. Hark was a lot more curious about it all, nonchalantly asking festival-goers questions about any sort of shady individuals. Clovis stayed to the side and listened, all the while keeping an eye out as Hark focused on those he interrogated.

In the end, a lot of folks seemed a little unnerved by Hark himself, stuttering answers upon being asked. "Lizards with black and gold scales, hm?" he mused after their last questioning. "And some say they've seen them go close to wherever that parade is supposed to happen."

"The parade?" Clovis repeated.

"Mhm," Hark nodded, and turned towards the general direction another festival-goer had talked about. "Seems like you won't be able to avoid it after all," he snickered, a large grin of satisfaction on his face. "We should go now, or we're gonna miss everything."

[Prompt: Head into the crowd and look for people who appear suspicious]