Of Secrecy, Survivalists and Information Gathering

[Tayari]

((Morning: Will add a date later))

Tayari walked down Main Street with a purpose; or, rather, two purposes in the same place. First, as clearly indicated by his small yet audibly jingling pouch of bits, he planned to by food to actually last him a week, unlike what he'd accomplished with his other meals. Second, he hoped to properly converse with Xarith; the last proper meeting he'd had was around the time with the incident involving some griffon guards.
Tayari shuddered at the memories, and moved his thoughts away from those events. Approaching and entering the general store, he looked and saw Xarith; nodding in greeting, he said, "Hello, Xarith. How are you this morning?"

[°๖ۣۜXarith]

Xarith, who had been previously sleeping face first on his counter only to be woken up by his dogs to alert him of an approaching visitor, stood with a kind smile showing on his features from behind the counter. Greeting Tay with the same such smile, the zebra walked out from behind the register an trot over to his fellow zebra.

"I've been good, Tay. Just a bit of a slow morning," he said dusting himself off with a hoof before turning back to the conversation. "And how about yourself?"

[Roulette]

With a heavy yawn, Roulette slowly made her way towards and down the stairs that led straight into the alchemy room of the place of business in which she lived. The 'ling paused at the bottom of the stairs, bringing her hoof to her muzzle as another yawn escaped her.

After a moment, she continued on her usual path towards the shop front in search for something to do, opening the door with a slight squeak.

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike Vanguard had been in his office for some time and he smelled something awful. His office was of course in the sewers but he figured that most ponies in this city won't blink an eye at an more pungent than normal pony. He was on his way to one of his more hospitable clients to shower and hopefully grab some more food. He only had a couple of apples in his saddlebags.

Main street was generally quiet save for the few businesses setting up their shops along his route. Pike approached one of the shops that contained two distinct figures chatting away in it. Heeding no mind, but enjoying the banter of the two denizens inside the shop, Pike decided to sit down and start on one of his apples. He took a bite out of it and leaned his head to look inside the shop. He saw two zebras talking to each other nonchalantly. "Interesting," Pike stated to himself. It was rare to see two zebras together in a place like this. 'Maybe it is an exotic imports store,' he thought. He continued to slowly devour his apple.

[Tayari]

Tayari began to respond, "I've been fine, tha-" He is distracted as he notices a door opening, and what could only be a changeling was shown behind it. "Er... um..."
After staring uncomprehendingly at the 'ling for several seconds, he looked to Xarith questioningly, unable to figure out what to ask first.

[°๖ۣۜXarith]

Xarith just gave Tay a strange look at first before he turned to look to the door that led to the alchemy room. There he saw Roulette just getting up for the morning. Smiling a bit to himself, he turned back to Tay as he cleared his throat.

"Well... I think we should continue this conversation in the alchemy room, don't you think?" Xarith said as he trot over and gestured both his fellow zebra and the changeling to follow him. "I have just a bit more to say here. Do not worry much, I will have Athanix watch the front desk."

And as if he were already listening into the conversation, the zebra rolled out from one of the cabinets under the counter and stood at attention behind the register, ready to perform the mundane work that is cashier.

[Tayari]

Tayari focused more on Xarith and Roulette than on the mysterious appearance of another zebra. "I think that would be best. I seem to be missing something here..."
He began to follow Xarith to the alchemy room.

[Roulette]

Roulette ignored the appearance of Nix as well, having already grown used to the somewhat strange behavior of the zebra. Giving a simple nod, she turned around and moved back into the alchemy room to leave room for the two zebras that would follow her.

"Well, if Xarith is friends with you, I suppose I'll roll the dice on you."

[°๖ۣۜXarith]

Being sure to tightly close the door behind him, Xarith turned to his friends as he moved to the center table and cleared of some of the things there.

"Si," he began, looking to Tayari with a smile. "Is there something else you needed to know, or should we cut right to the matter at hoof?"



"..." There wasn't much dialog left for Athanix, however, as he had already fallen asleep at the register, intent on working out his next scheme or two within the confines of his resting.

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike finished his apple and peered into the window as the second zebra ushered what looked to be a changeling into a back room of the store. He looked up into the sky to give a quick time check. Still way before his appointment. He stood up and peered at the register in the store. There was a third zebra asleep at the counter.

The door to the back room shut. Clearly a private meeting was taking place, in a shop staffed by three zebras and a 'ling nonetheless. Pike Vanguard frowned at this, it seemed like a normal shop at first, did he stumble upon a secret meeting?

The tan pony shook his head, "Paranoia." He said out loud. He had never really seen an undisguised changeling before but then he remembered that 'lings were perfectly suited for espionage. Pike sighed and looked through the window again. "This is the kind of thing I should be looking out for, huh?" he rhetorically asked himself. "Any other pony would just walk on by..."

The earth pony slowly opened the door as to not disturb the sleeping zebra and he softly made his way to the front of the counter, kneeling down out of sight but within earshot of the back room door.

[Tayari]

Tayari replied, "I think it might be best for you to start with explaining why you're apparently housing a changeling, no matter how many things could be wrong with that." After a moment, he turned to Roulette. "I apologize, ma'am, but... I hope you understand, this is a rather... difficult situation to accept easily."

[Roulette]

Roulette shifted her posture to a somewhat higher stance after hearing the words that came from the new zebra, raising a brow while keeping her eyes on him. "You're just like all the others who would toss me down like an off-suit two and three just because I'm a changeling. I understand perfectly." She replied coldly, expression almost too neutral as she put on her poker face to keep from showing the anger she already held for this new face.

[°๖ۣۜXarith]

"Now, now," the alchemist said putting a hoof up to try and diffuse the tension. "I am sure that Tayari meant nothing by it. He is a good zebra with the best of intentions for all of us."

Then after letting out a small breath and pulling up a chair to sit on at the table, he gestured his friends to do the same. "Now Roulette here is staying with me here at the shop so that she can 'assist' us with things around here. I had found her wounded in the industrial district and brought her back here so that she could be patched up. Afterwards, she offered her help."

[Tayari]

Tayari took a seat, but was silent for several seconds as he considered this. Eventually, he looked to Roulette and asked, "You were wounded? I... I'm sorry to hear that." Tayari took a few more seconds of silent thought, and then looking back to Xarith, he said, "I feel I need to ask, for fear of what the consequences may be if our other ally were to be made aware of this information as suddenly as I've been... Is Fiery aware of Ms... Roulette's? presence here?"

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike's ears perked up. The 'ling was certainly an outsider to these three zebras, it was no coincidence that they were all together. He sat and waited for more information, peeking over the counter to see if the zebra at the register still snoozed away.

'I'm glad I chose paranoia,' he thought. This was a lucky find and he was eager to learn more about these individuals. Plus, this Fiery seemed important. Pike decided to risk being caught and kept listening in.

[°๖ۣۜXarith]

The zebra smiled meekly as he adjusted the collar of his cloak, loosening it a bit to a slight bit of unneeded stress. "Where to begin with this..." Xarith said quietly as he looked about the room more in a sense to give himself more time to think rather than examine it. "I do not think Fiery will be, um, 'needing' to know these kind of details at this current moment while she is under her 'condition'." The Alchemist let out a breath as he thought to himself that those exact words could be taken in a variety of different ways. Hopefully they would be taken as such, giving him just a bit more time to order out his thoughts.

[Tayari]

Tayari listened and thought over Xarith's words. "Xarith, are you saying... Fiery's...?" he asked, in a clearly nervous tone, fearful of what his ally may be saying.

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