{Saturday, 27th of March... 6:32 PM...}
After her allotted 3 hours of research well spent in the Guild's library, she finished reading through one of the books that she first picked out on her first day here.
- The History of Orario
It was a good read and it gave her a little bit more clarity into how this city came to be. 'It mentioned how numerous Gods and Goddesses banded together alongside their Familias to push the monsters back into the dungeon. They then built this city around it as a place for the dungeon's watchers to live in. It mentions the major contributions of the Zeus and Hera Familias. But it didn't mention how many deaths there were during their struggles to force the monsters back while they secured the outskirts of what was the beginning of the city. They also don't mention the fact that back then; when the Gods and Goddesses haven't descended yet, Spirits of all kinds banded together with the rest of the races of Eden against these monsters. Faith and Nuit were the ones to inform me of that important piece of history.'
As Dinah packed up her journals, and dropped her books off at the counter; her mind was still elsewhere. She was able to give her thanks to the librarians and catch up a little with Fiona; the extremely nice Elven librarian who helped her when she first entered these hallowed halls of knowledge.
When she walked out of the Guild Hall; after saying her farewells to both Delilah and Henrietta, her thoughts were still focused on the knowledge of Spirits. Or rather the lack thereof. 'There weren't any mention of Spirits, except for a few tales, myths, and a smidgen of legends across a few books. I wonder why..?'
The bustling crowds around this time of the afternoon weren't as heavy as before, but there were still a lot of people walking the streets. As she walked home, her thoughts veered off again to something more lighthearted. 'No matter how much time I've spent walking the streets of Orario, I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing the different types of people walking amongst each other out in the open like it was normal. I'm pretty sure I saw a Dwarf carrying a drunk Pallum woman over his shoulder earlier and no one batted an eye. It's only...-'
{7:02 pm}
After checking the time, her thoughts continued on. '-...7:02 PM!? And there's already a few drunks out and about. Will wonders never cease?'
She was about to turn another street corner when she stopped all of a sudden after hearing a commotion in the nearby alley. She rushed towards the area, the sounds of a struggle clear to her ears. The familiar sounds of a scream for help would've been drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the crowds, but Dinah was used to tuning out background noise while she honed in on specific sounds.
It didn't take her long to arrive on the almost familiar scene of a mugging; except this one wasn't so modern. Instead of a gun, the goons were threatening their victims with swords, an axe, and a crossbow respectively. The middle aged looking couple that were being held at medieval weapons point were backed up against a wall while three thugs encircled them; asking for money while they made heated threats.
The thugs were all wearing dark cloaks over their forms. All Dinah could see of them was the skin of their bare arms as well as the color of their boots. The middle aged man; of whom was sporting disheveled brown hair, had a few cuts and bruises on his person while he shielded his paramour. The female Cait Sithe; who she figured was either the man's wife or lover, was crying out in distress while she held on to her wounded partner. Dinah took in the scene quickly with a frown before she sprung into action.
As she sprinted towards the thugs, one of her hands immediately went into one of the side pockets of her satchel and she palmed a few small rocks that she picked up from the dungeon. I don't think anyone's noticed it yet, but Dinah's been collecting a huge pile of them from her dungeon dives.
Unfortunately, her running footsteps made a distinct sound against the cobblestones. The thugs turned her way, but they were too late to dodge her well aimed throwing rocks.
^(!THWACK!)^ ^(!THWACK!)^ ^(!THWACK!)^
*GRUNT* *ERGH* *GRAHH*
Her thrown projectiles all hit their mark. The thugs found their hands stinging from the sudden impacts and in their surprise, they dropped their weapons. This was all Dinah needed as she finally reached close quarters distance with these cloaked muggers.
^(!WHOOTH!)^ A roundhouse to the face of the former wielder of the axe, had him stumbling back in pain while he clutched his jaw.
The hit made him see stars. He never saw the following strike to the temple that knocked him unconscious. ^(!THUD!)^
The other two; after seeing one of their own fall unconscious, were brought back to their senses. The former wielder of the crossbow tried to go for a tackle while he bellowed, "Come here, ya bitch!"
While thug #2 tried to rush headfirst boneheadedly, thug #3 went for his swords.
Dinah kneed the dimwit right between the eyes since he had his arms outstretched while he crouched down; in what she would later recall as a very stupid form to tackle someone.
The ^(!THUD!)^ of the impact of her knee to thug #2's face made the victimized couple flinch. With the disorientation from the blow, Dinah backhanded him to the cobblestones with a meaty ^(!SMACK!)^; thereby sending him on to the land of dreams.
Thug #3 shouted out a war cry, as he attacked her with his recovered swords. "YAHHH!!!"
Dinah casually ducked and weaved between the blades while she backed away with ease.
^(!WOOSH!)^ ^(!WOOSH!)^ ^(!WISSHH!)^
As she dodged and weaved around his frantic strikes with ease, she quickly got used to his pattern of attacks. Dinah's fought some very talented swordsmen and women in the past, and she could accurately say that this guy was a complete novice.
When he overextended himself again, she kicked one of his swords out of his slackened and weakened grip. That distraction made him pause for a few seconds in shock; which gave her the opening she needed to quickly shift herself to a different form and then she shot out a quick sidekick to his diaphragm.
*GRUNT*
He doubled over in pain as he lost his breath; missing the elbow heading right for the back of his head.
^(!THUM!)^
The painful ^(!THUD!)^ when the last thug hit the floor was like music to her ears. If these idiots weren't trying to kill her, then she would've been more lenient. But they chose their path. She didn't care if they died here. If they were willing to mug random people with weapons, then they deserved what they got. From the sounds of their threats earlier, Dinah suspected that they weren't just going to leave after taking the money and jewelry.
Dinah gave a quick and assessing gaze at the thugs' unmoving forms, before her gaze met the eyes of the weary looking couple who were clutching each other tightly.
"Don't mind me, I was just passing through. Thought I might help, which I did.", she told them nonchalantly while she shrugged and slowly backed away; giving them ample space to run away if they felt like it.
'These people don't know me, and I don't know them. I might've helped them, but I can only imagine what's going through their minds in this highly stressful situation. For all they know or suspect, I might be a bigger threat than those thugs. Which if you think about it, then I actually am. But not in the way they might perceive...'
The couple still haven't said a single word to her after a full minute, so Dinah spoke to them again. "You two might want to go now, before these guys wake up. I'll be leaving soon, but I can't exactly leave you two near the thugs that tried to rob you."
"So, please...-", and at this point, Dinah made a gentle shooing away motion with her hands. "-...leave the area, and get proper medical attention."
The couple nodded to her in thanks, before they left the area; after they finally got out of their shocked states. "Thank you."
Dinah watched them leave with haste while she heard the uttered thanks as a whisper in the wind. 'I guess the guy's not as injured as he looked. Hopefully he gets those wounds looked at.'
When she saw them disappear around the corner, Dinah walked away from the scene; leaving the unconscious bodies of the muggers on the cold alley floor. She didn't particularly care if they died or not. In her old world, she would've called the cops to arrest them. In her new world, she knows that waiting for guards to come along would take too long. She held back a lot during the fight, but not too much.
'I'm pretty sure I shattered one of their jaws, broke a nose, and possibly paralyzed the last guy. Hmm...', as her mind played back the fight, she looked down at the few blood splatters that hit her outfit as she dealt with those thugs. 'I've already made up my mind not to show mercy to would-be rapists and killers. They can die in that alley for all I care.'
She looked back over her shoulder at the unmoving bodies, before she stopped in her tracks. Dinah studied the growing pools of red underneath them for a few more seconds, until she continued on her way home. 'I could've looted them, but that would've looked like a mugging. I could've been more gentle, but they were trying to kill me. I'm not in my old world anymore where criminals can be easily sent to prison after taking them down. Who ever has Valis, influence, and power here can buy and own almost anything. I'm living in a medieval world filled with Magic and Gods. From what I've heard, read, and from the looks of those guy's outfits..., then I can deduce that they must've belonged to a Crime Familia. I'm pretty sure I heard one of them threaten the female Cait Sithe with slavery before I stepped in...'
*Sigh* '...this city's dangerous... and I highly doubt that things will get easier as things move forward...'
——————————————————————————————
{6:51 PM}
When Dinah reached home, she was greeted by Panacea; whom was holding a sleeping Conner, at the front porch. Her Goddess smiled at her as she approached, but her smile shifted a little when she saw the state of Dinah's outfit.
"Are you alright?", Panacea asked with a worried gaze.
"I'm fine. I just ran into a few muggers on the way home.", she mentioned with a nonchalant shrug while a minuscule smile was tugging at her lips.
The mention of the event made Panacea frown and her gaze wandered the blond mother's form carefully. "Did you take care of them?"
"I wasn't exactly gentle with my actions.", she answered back with a neutral expression. "I couldn't exactly leave innocent people to be victimized like that."
Panacea's frown morphed into a small yet proud smile, before she carefully engulfed Dinah in a gentle embrace; with baby Conner in-between them. "I'm proud of you, Songbird. I'm happy that you're home safe. To be honest, I expected for something like this to happen sooner or later. You're a crime-fighter... A hero. It's in your nature."
*Sigh* "Don't change that part of yourself, because it's an integral part of who you are. And I'm very proud of you, honey." The embrace tightened, before the dark-haired Goddess let go and stepped back a little; a bright smile on her face.
"Thanks, mom.", Dinah said softly; her blue eyes growing slightly misty while a gentle smile formed on her lips.
Hearing those words made Panacea's smile brighter. She then turned around and looked at the Canary over her shoulder. "You can tell me how your day was as we head to your room. You need to change clothes before we go to dinner. Come on, let's go."
With that said, Panacea walked into the house with Dinah walking right beside her.
"I can tell that you haven't been in the dungeon today.", said the Goddess with a curious grin; while a certain glint appeared in her spring green eyes. "Care to tell me what you did today?"
"Well...-", Dinah paused at this for a second, before she shifted gears. "It was the smell, wasn't it?", she asked with dread.
Panacea grew a very mischievous grin, before she said, "Yes, honey. It was. I've noticed that whenever you returned from the dungeon, you smelled like garbage mixed with dragon dung."
*GROAN* Dinah groaned in dismay, after she heard those words. It felt like a stab to the gut with how Panacea delivered it. "Damn those Goblins...", Dinah muttered with a gloomy expression.
Panacea laughed to herself in amusement when she saw her Songbird's change of expression. 'She's so amusing sometimes...'
——————————————————————————————
{Same Time}
*Whew* Kimberly exhaled in relief, as she watched her latest masterpiece in it's final form. "Now this is stupendous!! Haha!", she declared aloud as she puffed up like a proud peacock.
"It looks very interesting. Do you think she'll like it?", asked the familiar voice of Isabella from behind her.
"Maybe. But keep in mind that this is still a prototype.", she informed her lab partner while she waved her hand about without a care. "We still need to put it under a few tests to accurately measure it's true limits, but once we're done with that we can then show it off to our Captain and our resident dungeon diver."
Isabella's violet eyes met Kim's deep hazel ones when the resident inventor turned towards her blue-haired sister with a bright grin. "This is one of our best collaborations yet, am I right?"
Isabella's face crinkled in a smile while her violet eyes glimmered slightly. "You're absolutely correct, sister of mine. I look forward to working with you even more."
Kim's brows raised slightly when she noticed one of her sister's interesting quirks in action. "Hey Iz, your doing it again.", she said with slight amusement.
"Huh?", Isabella asked with some confusion, until she saw the slightly purple glow reflected off of Kim's hazel eyes. "Oh..."
Iz closed her eyes and took deep breaths until she felt that familiar ocean of energy she's been accustomed to using every single day within moments. After an exhale, she calmed the ocean of energy within herself down with ease. *Sigh* "Sorry about that... I haven't been this excited in a long time. That was completely involuntary. I apologize."
"Nah, don't worry about it. Whenever you're excited, then I can expect amazing things to occur soon.", Kim said encouragingly.
Her words made Iz open her now non-glowing violet eyes and she smiled back at Kim, before they both turned back to the mannequin next to them. This mannequin wore a unique set of clothing and gear that the both of them have been working on for Dinah. This wasn't the only set of what they've come to call the Prototype Canary Outfit Line. They have exactly 10 sets of the prototype clothing and gear on 9 other different mannequins, but this one held the first one. This was their first finished outfit for Dinah and they just about finished their modifications to it.
"This is gonna be good...", said Isabella with a smile that was mirrored by Kim.