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[Qu33n0f1c3]

A fair ways off from the village, Raphael landed, ceasing flight, and shifted the digimon's body into a more comfortable position to carry. He wasn't sure about it, but he thought he heard voices in the main of the village, and given how they'd reacted to his transformation earlier, he wasn't sure heading straight into their midst was a carcass was the best idea, even if they did know they were going hunting.

"I'm going to go in through the back," Raphael told Dyna. "I'll leave the meat by our hut, then I'm going to go see what the problem is."

Satisfied that he'd explained himself, he started inside the village, taking a back route so that although digimon could still likely see him, they wouldn't be able to see as easily what he was carrying. When he reached their accommodations, he set the body down behind the building. Then he readied himself, and stepped around the side, back into the company of his traveling companions, now his enesmon self once more.

"We've returned," Raphael said softly, aware that there had just been yelling in the clearing. He looked at Louisa, then down at Datan and Mono. "The hunt was successful." His gaze shifted back toward the digimon. They already had permission to use the fire pit, but after the shouting he'd heard, it wouldn't surprise him if they wanted to go back on their offer.

[Alison]

Louisa did not even turn as Datan spoke. She did not trust the Betamon in front of her. Still it was a valid question and something she had being try to figure out for a while. The torn Betamon was vocal in its reply. One piece for eight bits? That was extortionate and from how Betamon had continued, Louisa knew it was not worth trying to haggle the price down. The Betamon could shove her price. There would be no purchase.

Louisa had heard Gizamon's feeble attempts, while she had to give him credit for trying, they were hopeless. The other Betamon had even cut him off. Louisa glanced around, feeling rather undefended. They were being watched by many pairs of eyes and that un-nerved her. Even after Gizamon had tried again and the gray Betamon had had confirmed there wasn't enough food. Louisa still felt on edge.

There was another feeling in her, one of remorse. It was no wonder that the Betamon had wanted to sell the fruit for such an unreasonable amount. Louisa gave a sympathetic look towards those involved and only turned when she heard Raphael's voice. She had been far too focused on the group to have seen his return. With her fellow Enesmon's return, she allowed herself to not be as on guard.

"I'm pleased to hear it," Louisa spoke with relief in her voice. "Our hosts have confirmed they will be unable to provide us with the fruit that was requested."

Louisa looked to the two Betamon and Gizamon once more. Her gaze settling on the one that had tried to rip them off. She looked at the Betamon with a glare before finally answering.

"Your 'generous' offer of eight bits for one piece.." Louisa started to speak with an annoyed tone. "..no thank you."

With a curt nod to the trio, Louisa looked back to Raphael and gave him a weak smile. Him and Dyna had been successful in their hunt. She had not been able to obtain the fruit that had been requested. To her, this had not been productive.

[Aether Engine]

Dyna simply grunted and nodded at Raphael's plan of action. She did not know how squeemish or alarmed these digimon would be by their kill, but better safe than sorry. She didn't directly follow Raphael, figuring he didn't seem the sort to hide it someplace all for himself, but she did wait on him to make his entrance. Seemed a little more believable somehow if they came in around the same time.

In the time that took, the hunter sighed to herself. She wasn't so bothered about returning to her native form and leaving Sangloupmon. It was something she was getting used to. There was in part some frustration over needing to worry about what the other digimon thought. A petty anger about needing to worry so much about the interaction, being diplomatic with the native digimon.

At least he's able to take care of some of that... He can be polite all he wants.

Hearing Raphael's voice, Dyna finally stepped forward through the tree line to enter the village, putting on a smirk she fealt matched that of an accomplished hunter. The news of a successful hunt had drawn surprised looks from the villagers who were now looking upon Rapahel

Dyna could hear Louisa as she approached though, and her smirk disapeared. The Torn betamon sneared at Louisa's refusal of her offer.

"They what," Dyna stated flatly, emerging into the coversation.

Dyna's eyes locked onto the Leader, the pathetic gizamon shrinking back from her gaze.

"You said you'd get us fruit."

"I tried!" the gizamon tried to defend himself.

Dyna leered at the digimon. Where did he get off trying to making excuses like that?

"He did try..." the Gray betamon quietly spoke, "It shouldn't have said he could though. He knew better."

The gizamon looked at his gray partner with a look of betrayal.

"So you admit--" Dyna started before being interrupted.

"I'm not admitting anything!" the Gray shouted back, his sudden burst of volume suprising Dyna.

The Grey betamon looked between the travelers.

"You hunted for what you need right? Then you don't need our fruit. If you do, then just cough up the bits already! Don't expect us to bleed money for you!" he declared.

[Qu33n0f1c3]

Raphael was beginning to think that things hadn't gone so well while he and Dyna were gone. Louisa seemed relieved to see him--which was a first indeed, and the digimon before them just seemed on edge.

If what he was hearing was right, they'd wanted eight bits for a single piece of fruit. To say that was inflated as an understatement, and given their budget, they could never afford to splurge that much. Louisa was wise to not accept. Yet her tone, as ever, felt wrong to Raphael.

He kept quiet as Dyna approached and threw in her two cents. Her and Louisa both had a temper and he had a nagging feeling that it was going to continue to be an obstacle he would have to get over as time went on.

"We won't be needing the fruit," Raphael stated, still looking out over those gathered. They seemed to be in a tight spot. He pitied them. Pausing, contemplative, he sized up the digimon there. "However . . . we have more meat than we need. If any of you are willing to partake, we would be happy to share what's left."

He glanced briefly toward Dyna, then toward Louisa. Unworried about Datan and Mono, he wondered if the women would have contention with what he'd offered.

[Alison]

Louisa glanced to where Dyna was stood as the woman spoke. It figured she would have been closely. She did not sound impressed at all, go figure, when did she ever? To the Giazamon's credit he had tried, but Louisa did agree with the leader Betamon. Even to the point it raised it's voice. The Betamon seemed to have some guts to talk to an Enesemon like that, what with their reputation.

Louisa was surprised that Raphael backed her up on the fruit. It pleased her for a only a few moments. What was said next was far from pleasing.

"Speak for yourself," Louisa piped up, that tint of annoyance in her voice again. She had a voice of her own and could state her own mind. "There is no 'we' about it. Not after they tried to screw us over with the fruit."

Louisa looked to the two Betamon and Gizamon. Part of her thinking that she would stuff herself as full as possible, just to ensure there wasn't enough left for them to have. But even for her, that would be going too far.

"He is happy to share what is left," she continued. "I certainly am not."

[Aether Engine]

Dyna crossed her arms and gave Raphael the stink eye as he suggested the idea of sharing what was left. They'd gone through the effort of hunting for themselves, what had these villagers done to deserve a piece of their share? They'd done nothing but but show animosity and useless friendliness. The kill probably had more than enough to go around, yeah, but... Dyna really did not want to share with the villagers after how they had acted. She felt inclined to agree with Louisa.

"Do you honestly think I went chasing after dinner just to give it away?" Dyna snarled.

"W-wait, please, reconsider travelers," the gizamon spoke up, holding his clawed forelimbs together like he was clasping hands looking, looking between Dyna and Louisa, "We would be eternally grateful for some charity, any extra scrap you could provide for us."

"Charity..." the Torn betamon snorted, speaking low, "How gullible are you that you honestly think they would be charitable? It's obviously a trick. Getting us indebted to them so we're forced to repay them."

Dyna's leer changed to the Torn betamon.

"Repay? Yeah, because you obviously have a lot to pay with," the enesmon responded with a dose of sarcasm.

"Don't play dumb with me. You want slaves! What, you think we don't see it because you--" the betamon pointed a talon at Raphael "--are playing Mister Nice Guy? We know what's going on. You'll get us in debt and make us pay for every scrap of meat, plus interest, plus whatever other meals we get while we try work a debt off, just like everyone else was. Don't think we're so stupid that we can't catch on to this game by now!"

Dyna's expression went from angry, to angry and confused.

"Th' heck are you even talking about?"

[Speedy]

Mono had just stood there watching it all unfold.. He couldn't.. He didn't know what to say, nor what to do. They didn't have enough fruit for themselves, and buying it off of them, for that price.. he might've not known much about the world around him, but even he could see that that was just not doable... On one hand, Mono almost wanted to argue with the Enesmon, maybe coerce them into trying to.. perhaps get fruit for a lesser price.. But.. on the other hand..

Everything just seemed like a fine mess to him. Raphael saying that they'd share would be great, but he wondered about it. Dyna and Louisa were obviously against it, and with how the Betamon were acting, he couldn't blame them.. What truly piqued his curiosity were the last words said. 'Indebted'? 'Slaves'? What were they on about..?

"...Why would you think that we'd want slaves? We kinda just wanted a place to sleep and something to eat." Mono turned around, as he heard Datan speak up behind him- right behind him, in fact, as the Enesmon had come closer. It was the first time he had said anything about this mess..

"And a place to roast the meat that they hunted, ofcourse." Datan stated, with a bit of a smile. The reason of which was obvious as a fairly crude construct that was standing over the fire pit- he finished building it. Whether it worked was a completely different question, but the fact it was standing made Datan somewhat proud.

Mono was still pre-occupied with the whole 'slave' thing, though. What could they be talking about? "...Wait, you're not referring to me, are you? I came along with everyone because I wanted to stay with Datan.. They haven't forced me to do anything.." Right after saying it, he shook his head. Stupid, ofcourse that's not it..

"...What.. what happened in this village? There's not enough to eat for everyone and now you're worried about having to become slaves- for something offered free?" Though he looked at Dyna shortly after saying it. Considering her statement just now, the whole 'free' part was probably wrong.. but Mono was more curious about why they'd think that.. than afraid of how Dyna'd react right now.

[Qu33n0f1c3]

Not unexpectedly, Louisa had something negative to say about his offer. Raphael did not sigh--it wasn't worth it--but he *was* disappointed. He wasn't as much expecting Dyna's snarl though, and he turned his head to stare at her a moment, perturbation in his eyes.

However the comment from the betamon washed it away, and raphael looked at him now, an unreadable expression on his face. A trick? Slavery? Well it wasn't uncommon for digimon to fear being harvested by enesmon and used as hosts for their bodies, but something was off about this line of conversation.

If things weren't so dire, Raphael would have pointed himself and goofed around with a 'who, me?' sort of thing, but this was no time for that.

Raphael felt bad for Datan. He'd meant to sit and talk with him about these things, but as it stood, he was ignorant to the stigma surrounding his species, and his innocence was almost painful to listen to.

He glanced to Mono, who tried to assure the digimon that he wasn't a slave. It certainly might look bad to an outsider. It was rather rare for laydigimon to hang out with enesmon unless they were in the presence of a Land Guardian.

"I'm not sure what else to tell you except that you'll see in my action that I am sincere," Raphael stated, looking back at the digimon villagers. "I said I would share my rations, and I will. You all need to calm down, and open your minds a little. Friendships aren't woven through finger-pointing."

[Alison]

Louisa couldn't help but give a slight smirk at Dyna's feisty response to Raphael. Finally someone was agreeing with her. Gizamon's pitiful pleading didn't phase Louisa in the slightest. But the Torn Betamon's words angered her. Louisa's eyes narrowed, giving a look of disgust. Enesmon had a reputation, but that one was step too far. Wanting these Digimon as slaves? Just how much more ridiculous could this place get? Louisa shook her head in a no like fashion. There was a strong desire to just leave this place and forget about the room. But then, that likely wouldn't show them in a great light.

Datan and Mono's innocence couldn't stop her from giving a snort. The pair would have to get used to this if they were to continue to travel with them. It was almost a shame they were learning just how harsh reality could be to an Enesmon. She hoped it wouldn't put them off.

Louisa folded her arms and wore an ugly scowl on her face. Even as Raphael spoke her expression did not change. They were nice words, but likely wasted on some of these ingrates. Louisa's gaze looked straight down at the torn Betamon after Raphael finished.

"Nor were they made by trying to scam us either," she continued bitterly before looking to Raphael. "I don't know why you are bothering trying to reason with them. They're just like most Digimon that we encounter, biased against our species."

[Qu33n0f1c3]

"And what are you for going off on them at any chance you get? Do you honestly think your biases against them are any better than theirs against us?" Raphael demanded, glaring at her. "Stereotypes are based in reality, Louisa; we've been through this!"

Looking back to the digimon, he said, more resolutely, "I'll be keeping to my word, and apologize for my rude comrades. Now if you'll excuse me, I must prepare the meat." He glared at Louisa and Dyna. "Please make yourselves useful and prepare the fire for cooking on while I'm busy."

Without waiting for response, Raphael turned toward where he'd left the body of the agumon, intending to gut it in the back and then carry the parts to the fire.o

[Alison]

Louisa was not impressed at Raphael's response to her. She returned his glare, of course she thought herself right. She wasn't being biased! The townsfolk were the ones to try and screw them out of money, not the other way around. But what was the use arguing with him. She hadn't needed him to apologise for her, these Digimon were not worth it.

Louisa gave a snort as he turned, she looked back towards Datan and Mono. Just what did Raphael think they had been doing in his absence? The fire was on the go, all it needed was a little more kindle and it would be blazing properly.

"The fire is under control," Louisa muttered to Dyna. "We got it going when you were hunting."

It just needed a little more work to get it roaring. A few more twigs and branches should do it. That was something that could be done sitting down and that is what Louisa wanted to do.