Dinah was pretty impressed when Faith gave out her orders to the Familia without sounding condescending, overbearing, or scripted. Faith talked with a calm and cool timbre. Each word was enunciated without sounding snobbish and she spoke with confidence and an unwavering gaze. 'All she needs now is more practice, an aura of untouchable intelligence, a bag of tricks, and if I can somehow help her cultivate her Magic, then we're looking at a half-elven Batwoman with Zatanna's magical firepower and versatility.'
'It could be added to my goals list, and just thinking about it gives me both chills and hope for the future.'
When everyone was breaking off to do their own thing, she felt a tug on her hand. She looked down to see that Lianne wanted to get her attention. The silver-haired, hume bunny, girl was wearing a short sundress that reached her knees, leather sandals, and she had a necklace with a brass locket attached to it around her neck. The white, red, and yellow sundress might look a little worn, and had a few small tears in different places, but it made Lianne look even cuter.
She kneeled down in front of her, and asked with a smile, "Yes Lianne, what is it?"
"Can you tell me more stories later? And about the dancing thing you were doing earlier?", Lianne asked while she absentmindedly played with her fingers.
"Yeah, sure. I'll tell you loads of stories. And I wasn't just dancing. I was performing a few basic moving meditation katas. It's something I was taught and added on to from a long time ago."
Lianne hummed to herself while she was thinking deeply and she tilted her head to the side as she digested the information I told her. She then looked into my blue eyes with her hazel ones, and then said, "Can you teach me?"
Dinah didn't even hesitate to say, "Of course. Learning to defend yourself is a very important skill. I'd gladly teach you."
Lianne smiled a brilliant smile and then she whooped and jumped around in joy before coming back to me and saying, "I'll see you later, big sis. Bye bye." She then ran inside the house, her exuberance and joyful aura infecting everyone else.
"I don't think I've ever seen her look that excited before.", said a familiar voice from behind me.
Dinah slowly got up and turned around to meet Faith's approving gaze. Behind and to the right, a few feet away from them, and lingering near the tree in the front yard were a group of 7 teens who were talking amongst each other. Dinah recognized some of them from dinner last night, and they were all wearing casual attire back then. But right now, they're all wearing the same white cloth robes with red trim that Faith's also wearing. 'That must be what they all wear to work at Babel.'
Everyone else already went inside the house to do their own thing for the day. So Dinah now found herself, Faith, and the other 7 from her Familia to be the only ones left in the yard.
Faith and Dinah held each other's gazes for a few more seconds before Faith nodded to her with a small smile. "If I'm ever free in the mornings, I'd also like the opportunity to be taught how to defend myself. Would that be agreeable to you?"
Dinah smiled at her Captain's question and answered with, "I'd love to teach another student. It's been a while since I taught anyone Martial Arts, but I'm happy that you and Lianne asked. I was actually gonna ask you something similar later."
Faith nodded in approval and then a small smirk tugged at her lips. "Then great minds think alike. I was going to ask you when you were done with your katas if you'd be willing to teach our Familia what you know. It's gonna be one of the topics I'll bring up tonight at the family meeting."
"Sounds like a plan I can get behind.", Dinah agreed. Her features turned serious, before she continued with, "But they have to ask me personally if they want to learn. If I could, I'd teach everyone in a heartbeat, but my former teachers have told me that the teachers don't find the students. The student has to find the teacher. I don't want to teach anyone that's not willing to learn and put in more than 100% of effort."
Faith returned Dinah's look with one of her own and she nodded in understanding. "I couldn't agree more. Everyone in the Familia chooses how they want to change, learn, and grow. They have all chosen the paths that they're on of their own free will. I chose to be a healer, Kim chose to be our resident potion maker, Lianne chose to want to learn from you, and so did I. If what I saw earlier was any indication, then I'm looking forward to learning what I can."
Faith then looked up at the sun's placement in the sky, before turning back to Dinah and saying, "We'll talk more about this later. I've got work, and you've got your errands to run. Don't forget to register at the Guild Familia Advisor's that you're part of our Familia now. Also, I wanted to give you another piece of advice that you should always keep in mind. Stay away from the Red Light District. Nothing ever good happens there. If I was stronger, I'd tear that damned place apart, but for now... Stay away from there. Monsters with cores aren't the only things that roam. There are monsters that wear the skin of people too." Faith's tone and eyes turned dark when she mentioned the Red Light District, but just as quickly as it came, it vanished just as swiftly; but Dinah still saw the change.
And with that ominous piece of wisdom dropped, Faith turned around to gather her 7 other Familia members and they left the premises while waving "good byes" and "see you laters" to Dinah. The Canary returned their goodbyes with her own while she rolled the information from Faith over her own mind.
As she gathered her things, wore her leather jacket over her form, and drank some water; she headed out towards the Guild. 'It looks like I have another avenue of research to conduct. Faith doesn't need to worry though, she's my Captain and her word is law. I'm more worried about why she felt so angry when she mentioned the place.'
With a shiver down her spine, Dinah quickened her steps. 'She reminded me even more of Batman just now. The righteous anger was there as well as something else. The hunger for justice...'
——————————————————————————————
{After 30 or so minutes have passed...}
Dinah was browsing, there was simply no other word to describe what she was doing. She's been through 3 different clothing stores so far, and she's only spent a total of 220 Valis. She is now the proud owner of 5 crop top t-shirts; matching her own but in different shades of dark colors, 5 pairs of well fitted shorts, a pair of used, but well-maintained, black leather boots, as well as a journal and a magic pen. 'Should I buy Conner something...? Hmmm...'
After a while, she continued on towards the Guild Hall with a spring in her step. 'Thank goodness this satchel seems like it's bottomless. I've got to find out it's limits later.'
As she walked through the crowds, she admired the rustic beauty of the city, the unique outfits of the people she walked by, and now that she was focusing, she can slightly tell the strength of the different adventurers from their auras. 'It looks like receiving Panacea's grace has improved my senses and instincts. No one worth their salt would've survived as long as I did if I didn't trust them.'
'It looks like I have another thing I can teach my Familia. Trusting one's senses and instincts and using them more precisely than one does passively should be something everyone should learn.'
These thoughts and a few plans were circulating her mind, as she continued onwards to her destination. It didn't take her long until she found herself in front of the Guild Hall once again.
This time, instead of the receptionists' desks, she went towards the long lines up at the Guild Familia Advisory area that she saw from yesterday. Their connected desks with separate partitions lined up this area of the Hall and there must've been 20 different advisors.
As she passed by receptions, she waved at Delilah; who waved right back at her with a grin on her face, and then she made her way to the very corner and lined up behind at least 20 people. 'This might take awhile...', she thought to herself, as she leaned against the wall.
——————————————————————————————
{After 1 hour and 45 minutes...}
'My god, that guy was such an asshole.', Dinah thought to herself while she fumed in silent anger.
Dinah was expecting a kind and courteous advisor, but what she got was an asshole of the highest degree. She didn't even get to register as an adventurer for her Familia because of that pompous ass. 'Why couldn't I have gotten someone like Delilah or Fiona?'
Dinah was now walking away from the Guild Familia Advisory area with calm, measured steps while she subconsciously emitted an aura of pure and utter loathing and rage. 'If I stayed any longer, I would've killed that piss ant low life. I will remember this Phillip, oh I will... you will rue the day you insulted my Familia and I...'
As she approached the library doors, she tried to calm down while her fake smile was still plastered on her face. 'I wasted an hour and 30 minutes of my life waiting in that line and then wasted 15 more minutes talking to a misogynistic, aggressive, pompous, and stupid looking douchebag.'
When she entered the library, Dinah didn't waste anytime in asking for the books she read yesterday as well as the titles for subjects she was interested in reading up on.
As she walked to a far off corner with her pile of books in hand, she slowly calmed down and bottled up that rage to use for another day. She imagined a bottle in her mind and her anger as a red formless blob. She envisioned placing that blob of anger into the bottle and when she closed it up with a cork, she felt herself instantly calmed down. 'I miss my baby bird. If he was here, then I would've instantly calmed down. I just know it.'
She found the perfect reading area at the farthest corner. In this corner of the library, she saw a single round wooden table with comfy looking chairs surrounding it. And the best part of all was that no one was there. She promptly dropped her collection of books, placed her satchel on the chair she chose to use, took out her journal and pen, and then she went and began her studies in the following books like a woman possessed.
- The History of Orario
- The top 50 Familia of prominent renown - Vol. 38 - The most recent in the current decade
- Falna, Status, and All things about the Grace of the Gods and Goddesses
- Idiot's Guide to the Dungeon
- Mothering in Orario - Vol. 3 - Mothers Unite
- Monster Guide - Vol. 6 - The Art of Not Dying
Dinah wrote down the important details she read while highlighting her thoughts about them, as well as putting down the hypothesis and questions she had pertaining to certain lines of information.
The new books she picked up alongside her current ones were listed as follows:
- Well-known Skills & Development Abilities and How to Obtain Them - Vol. 1
- Felix's Guide to Sewing, Leather Working, and the art of taking care of your outfit - The Making it look good, feel good, and actually functional Vol. ♤
- The Crime Familias of Orario - Vol. 1 - DANGER AROUND EVERY CORNER
- Heroes, Legends, Myths, and Fables
As she did her research, time flew by like sand in the wind. When Dinah felt that it was already lunch time, she stopped and started eating a couple of sandwiches while enjoying the cold and refreshing water quenching her thirst. As she ate, her thoughts were on some of the few major red flags she happened upon during her research.
One of the major red flags were of the state of everyone's knowledge on Falna. It's the name of the grace that the Gods and Goddesses have given to regular mortals, thus making them part of their Familia. The Falna can be strengthened by gaining Excelia. And to gain Excelia one either needs to train to get it, or go to the dungeon and fight monsters. 'But it doesn't make any sense. How come that's the only way to strengthen your Falna. They say the Excelia to increase ones parameters can only be obtained through hardship. Numerous Adventurers have challenged themselves time and time again in the dungeon, but most haven't even passed Level 2. Why is that?'
'It said that the Gods and Goddesses gave out Falna to make heroes, but there aren't as many mentioned in the books or in passing. And the ones mentioned in passing are almost always part of higher ranked exploration and dungeon diving Familias. That also doesn't make any sense. I've known heroes who were both powerful and skilled, but they're not heroes solely because of that. Their known as heroes because of how they use their powers and skills. Batman doesn't just fight criminals. He investigated crimes and helped the GCPD in solving them. The Flash used his speed to not only run after and catch criminals, but he also helped old ladies cross the street. He's also been known to stop fires and deliver critically injured people to the nearest hospitals. Oracle alone has stopped hundreds of cyber attacks and has helped the U.S. government shore up their cybersecurity. Maybe their doing things wrong here?', she thought to herself while exhaling slowly.
The next major red flag was the information about Skills & Development Abilities and how one can obtain them. It said a lot about the current situation in this city when the book she picked up was the only book ever published about Skills and Development Abilities. And she almost laughed out loud when the only Skills mentioned were Artel Assist and Crozzo Blood. One was a Supporter-type Skill while the other was about a well-known bloodline only Skill. Everything else in the book was about Development Abilities. 'It looks like everyone wants to keep their Skills on the down low, which I get, but having only 2 Skills mentioned in text. It's simply astounding to see; first hand, the greed in the hoarding of knowledge. You'd think a Skill where someone would be able to hit a monster with a single decisive strike somewhere vital within a second of encountering it or a Skill in something like first-aid would be mentioned, but it looks like that's a big fat "NO".'
Dinah slowly pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. 'They say getting Skills are rare, but there's literally hundreds of thousands of people with Falna in this city alone. If I had to guesstimate, there's probably millions of people with Falna around the world. Not every single God and Goddess live in this one city alone. The thought of getting a Skill and that it's as rare as getting struck by lightning; is just simple minded stupidity. I call bullshit and that the spread of information about it being rare is the cause. I hypothesize that the Falna doesn't just work physically but mentally as well. The sense of danger during dungeon diving and the battles against stronger and stronger monsters doesn't just wear someone down physically but also mentally. I've fought monsters like Doomsday, Darkseid; and his Parademons, Trigon, Solomon Grundy, and many others alongside my friends back then, so I know what I'm talking about. I know there's got to be something more to Falna. There's got to be something more to Skills and Development Abilities. But what?!'
And the last major red flag at this moment, were the number of Crime Familias in Orario. The number alone almost made Dinah toss the book across the room. It was just utterly ridiculous. Delilah's rumor mill was very informative, but this book takes the cake. Most of them reside either inside or around the Red Light District, but the number was simply staggering. 'And each and everyone of them has Falna... We have this many criminals running around; of whom are blessed by their Gods and Goddesses. And that's just in this city alone.'
"Fuck...", Dinah said quietly, as she finished her lunch. 'I need to strengthen my Familia fast. I need to secure our home quickly. I also need to do more research and stack the deck in my Familia's favor. I can't wait a week. I need to go to the dungeon tomorrow. This city isn't safe. We're slightly fortunate that our home is near one of the main roads and that the other homes and buildings near us are unoccupied, but they won't stay that way forever. Where there's empty buildings, criminals will eventually crawl in like cockroaches, then they'll breed, fortify, and spread.'
'Damn...'
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Wise words by Daniel J. Boorstin.", Dinah said to herself with understanding. 'I need to question everything I know, the information I received, and the very laws of this world itself. What I find out may not be true or gives the illusion of truth. Knowledge is power, but false knowledge is false power...'
Dinah looked at where she left off in her research and at her journal with slight trepidation. 'I wonder what other red flags will show themselves to me.'
She spent a few more minutes trying to relax her mind, before she dove right back into her research. 'Hmmm... if there's monsters like this around, I wonder if there's a monster that can paralyze you with a gaze...'