"Okay. I'm alone in a village. Abandoned by my new friends. No useable currency. No clue where to go. Great. I wanna go home..." Ayre thought to himself as he glanced around the village, trying to figure out his next move while carefully avoiding stepping on people.
With nothing else to do and no actual knowledge of the outside world, he recalled the words that Vinea once told him. "If you ever find yourself lost... Call the chicken strip and she'll appear."
He snapped his fingers and grabbed a strange cellular device Vinea had gave him for his birthday one year, and he used it to call up Avis, mumbling the phrase in a timid voice; "Auntie A-Avis, I d-don't know where I am... C-Can you pick me up?"
The harpy at the other end of the line let out a chirp of laughter. "I can't pick you up... You're in the human realm still... Right?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Then man up, find Lucy and have her summon me. Simple. Oh, and grab me some eggs. I haven't eaten something that isn't cursed in ages." She laughed, and before Ayre could get another word in, she had already hung up.
He let out a sigh and sat down on a patch of grass that was a good distance away. He tried to think over who else he could call, but realised he only had his father and Avis and he'd be damned if he'd ask for help from his mother. (Mainly because Titania would just cause an unnecessary issue).
Ayre began to think long and hard about his plan to find everyone, failing to realise that Lucy in her now queen bee form had just passed by him, singing a bizarre song about singing.
On the other side of Bug-Beat, Kiola was idly sitting on top of a few buildings, essentially trying to build herself up as a goddess to the literal bugs. Yet she was completely ignored since a lot of the larger races always tried to make them treat them as greater, despite the fact that bug Demi-Humans were some of the strongest when it came to Ego powers.
The domineering Dragon was rather bored at the lack of attention and her focus soon shifted to that of the vial around her neck. "Cyel, Cyel, Cyel..." She grinned, tapping the vial despite the monstrous half dragon not even being visible.
Kiola had lately come to realise she had grown accustomed to Cyel's constant lust for her attention. And without it, she was rather bored with no one to easily push around. "I need to get a new pet... Ooo, I know!" Kiola snapped her fingers, putting the vial back on before stomping away with enthusiasm in her step.
The dragon eventually made her way over to Nvr2b and Grey, who were peacefully feasting on tiny bits of food. Well it was peaceful, until they noticed Kiola thudding over to them. "I think the dragon is lonely... Damnit." She mumbled into Grey, who wriggled in agreement.
"I have an amazing, captain approved proper... Proper-sit-chin for you, Stitches. I want you to be my replacement Cyel." Kiola said with a prideful smirk, looking down at the only shorter being before her.
"No."
"I'll take that as a yes." She smiled, quickly yanking Nvr into a bone breaking hug that only served to slightly annoy her. "You have a crew... Why do you need me?"
"No ship means I can't let them outta the jar. Plus, rattling it and hearing them squirm is pretty funny." She laughed, giving Nvr a light nudge in the shoulder. "I work alone." The bio-weapon said in a more creepy tone, though Kiola saw through the lie rather quick.
"No you don't. That edgy crap doesn't work when you have a partner around your neck. Now give me a good reason as to why you won't be my new minion."
"You're dumb, lazy, greedy, overly prideful, a complete bully, selfish, loud, obnoxious, desperate, unflattering, loud again, and you rely on one tactic continuously."
Kiola remained silent, her pride going into defence mode since Nvr wasn't actually wrong. She began trying to think up a come back and remembered a tid-bit of information that Lucy once said to her regarding Nvr.
"Well... At least I didn't die on my wedding day."
It was like everything had gone dead silent for a moment, everyone was staring at the two giants having a petty dispute that had now become hundreds of times more fascinating. Yet Nvr's body language was that of pure wrath. "Where did you here that?" She said in a cold, eerie tone that made Kiola shudder.
The dragon was too prideful to admit defeat however and continued on. "W-Well, Lucy said you're just a lab rabbit's corpse reanimated into a monster... I-I guess she was right. But don't worry, I'll take g-good care of you if you become my new Cyel."
"This is about you and that human who loved you? And what was it you did to her? Ruin her life to do what? Make you a toy so you can play pretend. You're pathetic. Just a shell of something imitating greatness."
"At least my siblings aren't dead." Kiola seemed proud of herself for that one, but her smug look was soon replaced what almost appeared to be fear once Nvr quickly poked her in the ribs with one finger. "Heh, y-you won't kill me over one simple comment? P-Plus it'd take more then that to even hurt me." She spouted, still trying to up hold herself.
"You catch on quick... But I don't plan on exploding your insides outwards... It would just take a quick snap of my fingers and your rib will pierce..." Nvr gave a frightening smile while circling her hand to let Kiola finish the sentence.
"M-My lungs... B-But you know how much I need those. P-Plus Lucy will get mad if you do!"
"I don't think you realise how easily replaced you are. The only reason the warden keeps us is because she is currently powerless... Yet she's still related to two beings who could wipe us from existence with a thought.
So how about you learn some respect for your associates or else... Bye bye mist. Granted, how much stronger would you even be without your mist? I know you rely on it so much... Why else are you so strong when all you do is laze about?"
Kiola remained quiet for a little while longer, not having the courage to speak. She could feel her pride slowly break after that and she hated the feeling. But she was luckily saved by Ayre, who had managed to find the three after awhile of wild searching.
"T-Thank gods I found you guys... T-This place is so rough. Uh... W-Why do you all seem sadder?" He asked with a timid smile, staring up at the two taller women. Kiola quickly put on her usual smug attitude, flicking Ayre's long ear. "Nothing's wrong, numbskull. Come on... Let's go back to the carriage. I bet Lucy's already got my ship sorted."
"Y-Yeah, alright!" Ayre nodded, following behind the dragon. Though Nvr took a few moments to follow, whispering into Grey, who silently listened.
"Daa tah daa! Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever felt like your life was incomplete? Like you needed someone or something to turn to in your hour of need? Well have you heard of our lord and saviour Ennuiara?" A small, white twin braided haired and brown furred anthropomorphic rat, wearing a rather skimpy nun outfit yelled from a minuscule stage as she began to breach about their god.
Another, more dignified looking rat women with straight white hair and a more conventional nun outfit stood next to her. "We would like to talk to you all about how our religion can help you. If you could spare a moment of time and let me and my sister explain, I am sure we'll be able to make your day." The refined Rat said as she watched people pass her by dismissively.
"Wow... Those two look familiar." Arachne mumbled as she watched the two try and preach the words of their god. Senshi couldn't help but snicker as she laid her head on Arachne's shoulder. "M-Maybe we s-should bring them to Lucy as apology? I'm sure she'd l-love it."
The more boisterous Rat gave a bored look to her sister, letting out a playful yawn. "I told you preaching was a bad idea, Millia."
Though the refined rat, Milla could only scoff at the other's words. "You were the one who suggested the stage! In Ennuiara's good name, you need to learn respect Rattia."
"Oh my god it's actually them." Arachne whispered, trying her best not to snicker once she realised they had somehow accidentally stumbled across the alternate versions of Rat and Mollia. Senshi began getting all sorts of bizarre ideas, but decided to keep quiet and watch the little show that was going on between the two vastly different Rats.
"Is that anyway to talk to your sister, Sister Millia?"
"Don't you sister me, sister Rattia!"
"Sister, sister, sister. God saying it so many times sounds weird... Who even made up the word sister?"
"I hate you." Millia grumbled before reaching into a box on her left and grabbing a few pamphlets to hand out. Rattia noticed how Arachne and Senshi had been watching them, quickly nudging her sister with a smirk. "Those two humans are watching. Why don't we give em the ol' razzle dazzle preaching?"
Millia seemed pleasantly surprised that her sister was actually trying to help her for once, and so with a quick flick of their tails, they strolled over to the two lovers with smiles. "We saw you watching our show and were wondering if you'd like to join our holy organisation?" Millia asked, holding up the cute little pamphlets.
"Oh fuck off." Senshi responded flatly, surprising everyone. "Woah, where did that come from?" Arachne asked with a puzzled look. Though both rats looked offended. "The hell you say to my sister, you bloody 'uman scum?" Rattia yelled, making Senshi flinch.
"Oh don't pull that high and mighty shit on us, Rat. All you do is ruin lives for your own selfish needs and cause suffering were ever you go!" Arachne shouted out before giving the rats a nudge with her foot to get them to leave.
"H-Hey... Are we alright?" Senshi whispered, a bit confused on their own bizarre aggressive behaviour. "What do you mean? We're fine."
"W-Well it's just that... W-We've been being rude to people for the last few hours and now your kicking defenceless rodents..."
"Huh? Oh well." Arachne shrugged, continuing to shoo away the now fleeing Rats. "Yeah but... T-The weird part is... I-I haven't h-had a-any thoughts of b-being with o-or doing anything with you..." Senshi mumbled, which did suprise Arachne. "I thought I was the only one. All I was thinking about before was doing every unholy and holy thing with you before... But now? I just kinda see you as a friend."
"D-Do you think Lucy screwed up her contract thing?" Senshi asked with a nervous look. "She turned into a bee. Lucy defiantly screwed up the contract... Shit, did she take our lust?" Arachne began to look worried, not for Lucy, but for herself. The thought of not feeling passionate about someone was like losing a limb.
"S-So the l-least l-lustful p-person we know... H-Has the lust o-of horniest bug couple around? Oh Mollia, L-Lucy's gonna kill us when she finds out."
"Granted, I think I wanna see that. Wanna go and find her?"
"Y-You know what? Y-Yeah, that does sound really funny." Senshi giggled, walking away with Arachne, back to the carriage to go find Lucy and check up on her.