Barn Yard Unleashed [Event/Reim]

fantastic dreams be damned, the acropolis clinic was mostly old, stagnant, and smelled suspiciously of last week’s herbs that rotted and probably not fit for human consumption. mita handled all such herbs, having been hired for his apparent wealth of knowledge about plants - and more importantly, utterly lacking in the ambition and motivation to market what skills he had. he could confirm that none of them should enter anyone’s body, and the under-regulation was both concerning and likely liable in some courts.

and while mita missed the capacity to strive for anything greater, he more than made up with the great lengths he went to avoid his problems. that was not this, despite all appearances to the contrary. it was a business trip to find the pieces to equipment that they needed but broke down a few months ago. they were operating at less than full capacity and had to turn down patients at a costly rate. mita didn’t want to go through the trouble of finding another job, thus, this trip.

besides, he enjoyed the prospect of travel. for what it was worth, it was almost like a vacation. though the travel from kina to reim was a logistical nightmare - kou was mainly sparse farmlands where the borders were underdeveloped and rough to travel through as a result of the kou empire large expansion unable to invest many resources to the outskirts - mita faired all of it as the weather of the journey. so when he inevitably found himself in the wreckage of the western front, where the morbid promises made in the past reminded starkly of the blood-seeped soil, all dusty and swift with ennui, his hopes of a vacation were dashed.

upon the news that the village which had agreed to sell the parts had been raided, mita concluded that this was a very rude sign from the universe.

he approached the gates of the town on the back of a mule. it brayed-whinnied loudly, so though he arrived last, he certainly did not go unnoticed. mita awkwardly patted the mule’s mane in a vain attempt to soothe it. it did not work, and mita sighed. he hopped off the mule’s back and lead it to the group of people standing in front of the gate.

“hi,” he said lamely, waving his staff around vaguely.

mita could not lie: he was not exactly paying attention to the explanations. he tried - he did - but his attention was immediately drawn to the darker coloring on the old man’s bald head. they formed shapes in his head, like the ice objects that he made, though both pale comparisons to the former fire figurines savannah cats danced to.

he stared in slight confusion at the back of the blonde’s hair. the lady, dressed in a blouse and what looked like a long corset skirt, initially gave the impression of a well off lady, stark to her surroundings and brittle with oxidized copper and the empty iron of reim. even the sword at her side was a rapier, decked with gold on the handle and guard. she had a curious character - that of an ideal principlist, of whom he had met plenty in magnostadt.

for what it was worth, it was familiar company, though he did actually need the money seeing how it was unlikely this village would be able to spare the materials he needed.

he thanked lester and took the cup of tea from him. as the other people departed one by one, mita asked, “did you recognize any of them? have they attacked before? targeted anyone else in this area?”

a fabric weaving - he nearly commented that he might be interested stopping by before lester relayed the unfortunate news. it was a grim reminder as to how important it was to track down the bandits and retrieve the village’s stolen goods. he lowered his head in morose respect.

“huh.”

mita followed lester at his heels, curious what this was all about. in the distance, he saw the rubble of a house - a sight like all the others in the depressing ruins of a village. he kneeled next to the fallen sign and brushed off some of the debris and fallen leaves to read lorfinn’s magical item shop.

he tilted his head at lester with some sense of sympathy. he climbed to his feet and bowed toward lester.

“i’m sorry for your loss,” mita said.

he frowned upon hearing the riddle.

“what in the world…?”

with black eyes… stand tall… something that ‘followed the sun wherever it may fall’ but didn’t move…?

“it… sounds like something to do with shadows? ah, but - i suppose it doesn’t account for the entire riddle…”

with black eyes yet we stand tall? it seemed like a little strange of a detail to specify.

he had to concur with the blond about letting the others figure out the riddle, but he winced when she suddenly flew a loud accusation towards the entire village. he pressed his lips in grim consideration as the clouds darkened at her words.

“the sky’s turned black, there’s evil butterflies all around us - that definitely wasn’t a good idea,” mita dryly commented beneath his breath.

he stepped toward them with his hands brought up in a conciliatory manner. though - he remembered his appearance wasn’t snuffed for this kind of interaction, and quickly decided it was best to let the old man pacify the angry villagers. he fell back behind rocco.

upon the arrival of the bandits, mita was taken off guard by their raucous laughter that could not write “i’m a bad person who enjoys being a bad person” bigger on their heads. he had no time to react before one of the bandits was swinging his weapon and - mita watched in horror at the spray of blood and flinched at the sound of the body falling to the ground.

he worked at a clinic, not the goddamn surgeon’s.

but as the bandit rushed towards them, mita lifted his staff and said, “rat!”

a rush of ice magic flowed from the wooden bo staff, creating the shape of a rat in front of him. as the sickle spun across with a dangerous glint, mita manipulated the small, rat-shaped object to fly through the attack, redirecting the sickle into empty air. it collided with a sharp chipping of the ice and the hiss of its cold features. with it still intact, albeit chipped around the edges, he sent it hurdling towards the bandit.