ZEN - Part Two [COMPLETED] [#WATTYS2017]

Home Sweet Home, Formerly Banditville

"Was gonna do that, anyways." The small Scout finishes in sating her obsessiveness, then pounces off of the dias to ensure no-one else suddenly tele-magicked in and killed them all. "I hate that crap."

"Suck it up, Buttercup." Joanne giggles her way down the trio of steps, then links an arm with her wife and strolls out into their slightly-bustling town. "Oh! All those shops are done!"

"Grocer, bits-and-bobs, barber... when the Hell'd we pick up a hair-cutter?"

"Dunno... I thought that was supposed to be a carpenter's storefront."

"Yah, Jonas the three-fingered wood-worker."

"Maybe he lost a few more digits?"

"That would make it difficult to hold his tools."

"He could use his feet."

"Probably already did." Zen blinks twice as a familiar scent wafts down from above, and she turns to look up at the girl on the roof of the squat building. "Sky... what're you doin'?"

"Shadowcat. Firemane." The orange-and-white furred Fox-kin nimbly jumps down to land with barely a whisper, then immediately steps over to steal a kiss from each of her Sisters. "Welcome back. Where're Mish an' Jess?"

"Bringing Kuro and Shiro up from Kileah. Seriously, though, what were you doin' up there?"

"Waiting for you guys."

"Why?"

"Boredom."

"Ah. Okay. Any troubles while we were off killin' nobles?"

Skyler raises her brows in surprise, but after remembering what they'd gone off to do, she just gives a little shrug. "Nothing happened. Sare found some bandits trying to set up a camp in the eastern forest, but that's about it."

"How many?"

"Twenty or so."

Zen offers a frown at the thought of so many un-washed louts being in such close proximity to their home. "Did you sweep the rest of the area?"

"Yup. We made a game of it, but couldn't find anyone else. Covered a good couple of hectares."

"Good. Damned bandits."

"Mizuki almost died in the Kileahan Dungeon."

"Jo!"

The red-headed healer flashes a wicked smile down to her lover. "What? It's true."

"I didn't almost die. I was completely un-scathed."

Joanne briefly rolls her eyes before turning her attention to the horrified teenager. "She went down past the thirtieth floor and found a couple dozen divers in a precarious situation... which she couldn't resolve on her own. Thus, we had to go and save her."

"That's... not exactly how it happened..."

"Mmhmm. Anyways, Mizuki was fighting a dozen mutated Iron Spiders, big as plough-horses, with mithril mandibles, talons, and who liked to shoot their silks." The ginger human lets out a heavy sigh at remembering her previous levels of anxiety. "She was down there for over three days, just leading them around in circles."

"Good stamina, Shadowcat."

"Thanks, Sky. Rigorous training, donchaknow." Zen tilts her chin a bit higher into the air as a palpable sense of pride rolls through her form. "'Course, I knew I could count on my wife an' Sisters to come down and provide support-"