The Guidance of Fate[Social/Diego]

A playful breeze wandered through Remano and danced joyfully through the streets as the various obstacles in its way bid the wind to split and break off into various branches. One such offshoot of the gust found its way through the window of an inn named "The Resting Steed" or more specifically, the window of its stables.  The breeze flowed across a desk littered with papers and one which was not held in place with weights became enticed by the wind's pull to join in on the walts. The paper made a wanton dance across the desk only to be lain flat by a hand that slammed down from above. Yakuroro sighed as he moved the paper back into position and placed a few pebbles on its edges to prevent a repeat performance. The Imuchakk looked over the table and scanned several documents at once. Some loose pieces of parchment, some unfurled scrolls, but they all had things in common. They were writings of various trades existing within Reim which have their roots in the lands native culture.

Pottery making which incorporates local myths. The weaving and dyeing of clothes holding moral and pious meaning behind the patterns they carried. Sculpting and architecture rooted deeply in philosophical designs born of Reim's greatest minds and engineers coming together to make the spiritual and physical do the same. These were all potential subjects of his attention that the magician was seeking to involve in the workforce initiative known as Opportunity Hall which had been left in Yakuroro's temporary care.

There were arguably more important things Yakuroro could be doing to oust the Kou influence from Reim, but it was important that he did not act recklessly. Yakuroro had already caused himself a great deal of trouble with his blunder at the ball. Now he had to worry about walking the streets publically as many knew him as "The Imuchakk who defeated the King" and this moniker was more high profile than the magician would prefer. If he made investigations into Kou now and took action against them, his public fame would make these attempts spread throughout the grape vine of rumors like a plague on his momentum. Yakuroro could find himself faced with several barriers if this were the case so instead he would use the fame to his advantage and focus his efforts of helping the country wherever he could.

There would be an opportunity to strike out at the invaders soon. For now, Yakuroro would keep his attention on building a foundation for the country to stand upon once it loses it's conquering rulers. That in mind, he poured his thoughts over the papers before him before a great yawn interrupted his efforts. Yakuroro looked down from the elevated loft he had turned into a makeshift room to looks at Akatetsu whom had been napping on a large pile of hay. It reminded Yakuroro that he needed to rest as well and so he stood from the desk leaving the documents for later. Climbing down a ladder that seemed to have trouble supporting the large Imuchakk if creaking noises were any indication, Yakuroro descended to the ground floor and made his way over to Akatetsu.

The reason they were in the stables was that a normal room could not accommodate an Imuchakk and his giant chimera beast. Thankfully there were no other visitors with steeds needing housing, so Yakuroro was able to claim the entire stable albeit at a much larger fee. The Imuchakk would sit down with his back against the stable wall and let his eyes close intending to join Akatetsu in his nap. But just before the Imuchakk drifted off, he'd find himself with an unexpected energetic young guest.

Diego raced down a brick road towards 'The Resting Steed', his pets trailing breathlessly behind him. A merry grin stretched from ear to ear as he spotted the Inn's stables after turning a corner. In his hand was his new prized position and the reason for excitement, a ticket. Not just any ticket, a dungeon ticket.

After hearing rumors that a dungeon had appeared, Diego was quick to purchase entry. The glittering treasures from the adventure into Caim fluttered playfully in his mind's eye. Diego remembered how he and Altair had helped each other to get passed the challenges that the dungeon presented. Diego required a partner and he knew just who he was going to ask to go along.

He turned another corner that brought him to the side of the stable Yakuroro was staying at. The urge to tell Yaku was so strong, Diego leaped through the window instead of going around to the door. He landed in a bale of hay and quickly stood up, "YAKU!! ACK!"

Trixie had followed after him through the window just as he stood up, tackling Diego to the ground and knocking the wind out of him. A few seconds later, Zanzibar flew leaped through the window and landed onto Trixie. 'Squee~"

Diego caught his breath and wiggled out from underneath Trixie. He rushed over to the Imuchakk waving the ticket up and down. "Yaku! I got us a dungeon ticket! Do you want to go? With your magic we could defeat the monsters inside! I just know it!" He bounced up and down as he spoke, clearly anxious to go at a moment's notice.

He grabbed the sleeve of Yaku's robe and tugged it, "Please! I got this bow from the dungeon in Heliohapt with Altair." He slid Razorwing from his shoulder to show the Imuchakk. "I haven't been able to use it yet, so I don't know what it's capable of, but maybe you can find something too."

Diego was pumped up and hoped Yakuroro was too.

Yakuroro's nearing slumber was pleasantly peaceful until the commotion of the young fanalis boy's comedic entry occurred. The Imuchakk magician opened a single eye at first to peer around and then let the other eye follow suit when he spotted the familiar youth under a dogpile of his own beasts. "Diego..." Still feeling a bit drowsy, Yakuroro let out a long yawn and rubbed one of his eyes through a stretch as Diego rushed over and began expressing the cause behind his excitement. "Dun...geon..." The blue haired giant blinked a few times and watched the fanalis boy show off the magic weapon he'd obtained in his last dungeon adventure. It was soon after that Yakuroro's brain had woken up enough for him to realize the situation. "EEEEEH!? A Dungeon!? Don't you know how dangerous those ar...wait, you've already survived one!?"

Yakuroro's shock led to him shouting his disbelief loud enough that Akatetsu stirred form his sleep and gave his own yawn. Fading into consciousness, Akatetsu made a grunt of effort as he got to his feet before following the familiar scents of Madam Trixie and Zanzibar to go reunite with the creatures. Meanwhile, Yakuroro had fallen silent and closed his eyes in thought bringing a hand up to rub his chin. A stretched, "Hmmm..." escaped him as he thought about the ordeal at hand. Judging from his excitement, Diego seemed to be rather determined to enter the supposed dungeon. Considering that he'd been through one before, Yakuroro doubted that he could deter the young fanalis with words of how dangerous it could be.

Thoughts rushed through the Imuchakk's mind as he weighed the scales on deciding whether or not he should go. There were a few different factors that stood out the largest being Diego's safety at first. But the more Yakuroro thought about it, other important points began cropping up in his mind that justified entering a dungeon. The King Vessel had questions about black rukh and djinn in particular. After his short deliberation was over only a few seconds had passed. Yakuroro opened his eyes and stared Diego down with a confident smile trying to give him a sense of assured success in the venture. "Alright, I'll help you." The Imuchakk then glanced up at the desk with papers regarding opportunity hall however and he realized that he had other responsibilities that needed covering first. "Do you know where it's at? I have some things I need to do before we go. Let me know where to meet you and when. I'll be there."

Diego laughed and pumped his hand into the air.  "Alright!" Diego's experiences with the Imuchakk's magic made the Fanalis view Yakuroro as larger than life. With Yakuroro along, Diego felt confident that they could handle what was inside.

With a grin on his face, Diego hurriedly explained that the dungeon was hidden within the mountains to the southwest. While Diego would rather head out immediately, he held back his disappointment and eagerness to go. It was left up to Yakuroro on how much time he needed. Diego would wait till the magician was ready so they could travel together.

After the plan was decided, Diego chatted with Yakuroro for a while, catching up on their experiences before departing to let the Imuchakk get to work.

-exit-

Yakuroro smiled a bit overwhelmed by how pumped Diego was to get going. Did he thing going into a dungeon was a game? The boy's aura of innocence and bright hopeful eyes were almost exhausting to be around and altogether energizing at the same time. It was novel how the young fanalis was like a ball of contradictions considering that his life goal was to track down and kill a man out of revenge. Yakuroro entertained Diego's restlessness for a while and in time took his leave allowing Yakuroro to make a short trip to Opportunity Hall. First, the Imuchakk made a detour to Lady Soushui's estate where he made a request of the woman to over see the workforce initiative in his absence and to line up possible new contacts to solicit once he was back from the dungeon. Then he stopped by the hall itself and let the administrative leaders know that he would be out of the city for a time and to consult Lady Soushui in his stead.

With all the loose ends tied, Yakuroro gathered up all the tools at his disposal and set out to meet Deigo at the appointed location.