(Unedited)

We spent the next three hours in The Deep eating till our stomachs were on the edge of bursting; Well, that's what Freija and Wreign had done...I wasn't too keen on ordering so much and when the bill came around I couldn't help but feel guilty at how much I'd eaten: The entire bill was two-hundred gold! I'd only cost around 46 of that, but it was more than anything I'd spent on myself...ever. 

I guess that Freija noticed how I felt and she just hummed contently at the cost of the bill, "Huh. I swear we'd have broken two-hundred this time..." She waved her hand over the edge of the table and two Onyx coins and three Gold materialized mid-air, landing on a platform of energy, which floated over to Elena. She looked at the coins with awestruck shock and then at Freija for confirmation. 

"Just take out whatever the bill was and take the rest as a tip." She said and the Serval-Kin just gingerly took the five coins, and the marker for the bill, and scurried away quickly--Pocketing the three gold into a pouch at her waist; the bill was just under two hundred Gold, and Onyx coins were worth a hundred Gold each, so Elena probably knew that those three Gold were just a part of the tip--maybe she thought that Freija would change her mind about the tip or something...

No more than five minutes later Elena came back with a confirmation plaque with an approval stamp on it and handed that to Freija as she went into another deep bow, "Thank you for deciding to dine with The Deep this evening. I hope the service was at expectations! Please feel free to return and dine with us at any time!" 

Foxy sat up and smiled at Elena, patting the Serval on her shoulder reassuringly, "No worries. You did an excellent job with us today. I might even request your services next time I visit." I pretended not to notice her insinuation, and the shiver that visibly traveled down the Serval's spine and tail. Though, the way it puffed up was adorable...Freija then stood up and stretched as Elena backed up and quickly made her way to one of the back areas, still with a puffy tail and flicking ears, "Alright! How about we go and do something a little easier on the body to let this gigantic meal settle a little." 

"I agree," Wreign groaned, sitting up and grinning towards her, "The last time I ate so much was so long ago...this was certainly a nice end to the first day out." 

"Wait, we aren't going to go home for the night?" I looked at Freija confused

She grinned and shook her head, "Nope! We are going to go to the West-side Square for a little while and cool down, then it's off to the next series of events I have got planned for us till the end of the day!" She winked at me, "I promise you'll love all of them." 

....This is never going to end was it? 

-----------------------

The West-side Square, in the second District, was basically a giant area people and creatures of all types could go and relax for a while without penalty of being in a public place of interrupting any sort of business or traffic; It was a place I'd gone to once of twice just to look at the nice grass, trees, and shrubbery not only outlining the entire place, but also hiding most of it from view: The only things that could be seen outside of it were the Shrubs lining the edge of the giant area--an area so large it was considered a small forest by the children--and the walkway into the park. It was just a short path of stone with wooden rails that had seats every fifty or so steps if someone wanted to just sit down and enjoy everything without going too far in, but the stone path didn't go all the way through; It stopped abruptly maybe a hundred lengths in with a last pair of benches on either end of the path before turning into a lush grass plain surrounded by vast amounts of forestry. 

It was a place specifically made for Beast-Kin and other Kin to have a place they could run around freely without judgement or rest in their natural environment or just directly under view of the sky, surrounded by a field of flowers and grass. This would've been the third time I'd ever gone here and it was still an awe-striking sight: a place like this was just in the middle of a giant city, and it was so well preserved and clean that it seemed like a genuine forest; there were a bunch of laws and regulations regarding food and drink brought here that, if found, could be legally traced back to a persons and they'd be punished with a very hefty fine. If the amount was serious enough they might actually be charged with Desecration of an Imperial Sanctuary and placed in jail for as much as half a year...

There was once a noble child that had disobeyed this rule: leaving wrappers of all sorts from vendors and pieces of dirty clothing halfway into the plains with no clear intention of having been forgotten about. The parents, who were visiting nobles from another section of the Noble District, had been written a super large fine and were almost even brought to an imperial jail when they tried refusing the charges. As it stands those nobles are on a watch-list by much of the Kin in the Guild as they held a significantly open prejudice against any of Beastly blood and people that didn't look entirely human. 

...It was still a surprise to not hear something about them having been mysteriously 'disappeared' yet. 

Going slowly, at a leisurely pace that I wasn't used to going when around Freija and Wreign--usually they were going somewhere with a purpose, at a set pace to get there within a certain amount of time--I guessed there was a lot of time to kill between now and tomorrows first events, and I was thankful of the chance to just go at a relaxed pace for once after dealing with all of today. 

22:76pm

It took us over two hours to reach the West-side Sanctuary; We could've gone east and there would've been one there too, but I guess Foxy had things planned on this side of the city so going west made more sense. After reaching the place and going around to one of the four entrances at each side of the forest, Freija and Wreign disappeared, leaving me alone in the middle of the vast plains, leaving me tired and with nothing to do...

I decided this would probably be my best time to just collapse and get a little nap in...I would likely be up and about for the entire day tomorrow...today: it was currently 00:20am. I scoffed at how much time had passed just by getting here and was just about to close my eyes when I sensed something stalking me. All the tiredness rushed from my body and I immediately shot up, grabbing my knives as they would be the best option for an unknown so close already. 

Turns out, they weren't needed. The stalker revealed themselves to be a red-furred cat-kin with eyes deeper than the color of blood staring at myself in confusion. She stood up, reluctantly admitting, "Sorry, I thought you were someone I've been waiting for, but it seems I was very mistaken..." 

I just stared at her confused and on guard. She just walked up to me, stopped about two lengths away and held out a hand, "Let's start over. My name is Scarlet! It's so cool to meet a litter-match* at our levels!" I was still cautious of what her intentions were, but I didn't sense anyone else near-by, and neither Foxy or Wolfy had intervened so she was likely fine to interact with. 

I put away my knives and stiffly shook her hand, my paw-like hand, and her human-like hand were such a striking contrast to the difference between us it was astounding: well, that and the fact her fur was red and mine was black..."I'm Red. What were you going to do earlier?" 

"That's awesome! We have similar names!" Crimson shook my hand enthusiastically, "It's nice to meet you Red. Don't worry about what I was going to do earlier. How about we just lay in the grass and talk, enjoy the Moon-light for a while...at least, until my friend comes by." She didn't even wait for me to answer, she just walked past and fell on her back in the spot directly to the left of where I'd tried settling down earlier. 

...Here I was thinking I was the weird one...Crimson just continued to stare up at the sky; at the ever-increasing light of the Moons, seemingly oblivious to everything else around her. 

I stood there, unsure of what I should do: one one side there was the possibility of her doing this in an act to get me to relax so that she could get the jump on me later, and on the other she was just truly weird and wanted to do exactly what she'd suggested...Ultimately I decided that--since Foxy nor Wreign had gotten involved--there should be nothing wrong with interacting with this person and maybe I could actually relax like I'd planned to. 

I decided to go over, a length away from the earlier spot I'd been, and lay down again to stare at the ever-brightening sky. We lay there in silence for the next thirty minutes before I chanced looking over to see what Crimson was doing: she'd curled into herself and was just sleeping soundlessly on the bare grass, I hadn't even realized she'd taken a nap as her breathing was as silent as it had been earlier as it was now.

It made me wonder how much training she'd had to have gone through to unconsciously make as little noise as possible, even whilst sleeping. It was then that I decided to nap for a few hours: whether it was Foxy and Wreign that woke me up or whether it was whoever it was she was waiting for would be something I would worry about later...

...I as awoken by a signature nearly as strong as Crimson's was near-by. I was immediately awake and looking around, knives out, and I noticed that there was a silver Panther-Kin standing next to Crimson, who was rubbing her eyes tiredly. The new Felid looked at me with the equivalent of a raised eye-brow for their facial structure, and I slowly lowered the knives. Both of them were extremely quiet, and they were able to get this close without me noticing them. 

That only made me more sure that they were both above me in level, not at the level of Freija and Wreign yet, but they were a good margin above me that I was sure that I would have a hard time fighting either of them one-on-one. It made me grateful they weren't interested in fighting or any other sort of violent manner, even if such actions were prohibited in a Sanctuary that alone wasn't enough to stop a select group of people hellbent on violence. 

The Panther-kin nodded towards me respectfully and I just stare at her confused, "Hello. My name is S'via, I thank you for resting with Crimson, even if only for a short time." S'via said and I was now thoroughly confused. "Ah, sorry. I say that because other Felid-kin find Crimson a little eccentric, even as fellow Kin. She often has a hard time making friends, so just laying with her under the open sky is enough to gain my gratitude and respect." 

I nodded unsure of what to say, and thankfully that was all she seemingly wanted to see as she then picked up the cat-kin in a bridle-style carry--with Crimson nuzzling her face into S'via's neck as soon as she did so--and then she jumped into the air and out of sight, East over the canopy. 

I just stare in the direction they'd gone before shaking my head and laying back down, "Too much for one day..." 

I didn't really know the direction that I wanted to take this chapter, as it was a bit of an in-between period for the events planned by Freija for the last day, and this is how it turned out! 
...I also wasn't planning on writing this evening, but look what happened anyways X_x

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!

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