Thomas, in his own worn jeans, white t-shirt, and leather jacket, curling black hair pulled back from his perfectly angular face, seemed ready for the trip. There was a mostly empty satchel, the same one he arrived with actually, slung over his shoulder and a curved blade in a scabbard at his waist.

"Promises, promises." He was hungry, but he'd been more hungry in the past and he could handle it, even if her closeness brought the beast in his mind surging to the forefront and his eyes flickered two shades lighter before returning to their usual, storm cloud gray, with a blink. There was something dangerous about Shalimar, something that called to the Hunger directly rather than piquing its appetite. He almost questioned going out there alone with her, but they needed answers and the others were preoccupied with the events in the city.

They were the best alternative. "No idea how long we'll be out there, though, so I figured we'd stop by the market, pick up some provisions unless you want to Swiss Family Robinson it. I have no idea what, if anything, we can eat out there."

"I am a picky eater, it's true." In more ways than one, but he shoved the Hunger back behind it's mental bars of thoughts and will and returned her smile with one of his own.

"Maybe I like getting dirty." He shrugged but pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning against and started off toward the market. "But who can say no to beef jerky?" After a moment's pause, his smirk turned mischievous. "Do you think they sell Lembas bread around here?"

"Who? Me?" He placed a hand over his heart in mock offense, smiling all the while. Getting dirty certainly wasn't his favorite thing in the world, but he wasn't going to complain about it too much when there were more important things going on. After it was all taken care of? That was another story all together.

He laughed at her question, though, looking down almost sheepishly. She'd caught his nerd and now he didn't know what to do with it.

"It's, uh, elvish bread. They...pack it for travel. It's from a book, no big deal."

"I know. Sometimes I forget I'm intelligent," he replied, recovering his verbal stride. "You don't have to patronize me, you know. I get you've never read or seen Lord of the Rings. It's fine. We can't all have class." He grabbed a coil of rope at a general goods stall, a knife, and stocked them up on provisions. He didn't think traveling with fire would be a great plan so they were things that didn't require cooking, dried meats and the like, as well as waterskins for both of them. The water out there might not be worth drinking.

"And if I do find any, I'm getting it. The whole thing is it lasts a while."

"You have no idea the struggles I face." He smirks. "You'll just have to persevere as best you can."

Even as he was chatting, he did one last inventory of his back before nodding. "Yeah, I think. I guess it's quest start time."

"I guess we'll figure that out when we get to the end?" He mused for a moment over the idea of someone out there rolling dice and moving pieces across a board, but then it got too disturbing to entertain any further and he shook his head.

He grinned when she started off, keeping pace just fine. "I think I can handle it." But the question still remained of exactly how she could.

"I'm actually not too bad at finding things, at least in the city." He knew who to ask and how to ask them to find out the things he wanted. He'd never actually been on this sort of field trip before when he was the one in charge.

"You're the one who's a camper. What do you think?"

"Someone handsome and charming, I hope." He knew he shouldn't be flirting. They were heading out of the city, just the two of them, and the last thing he needed was the Hunger getting any bright ideas. That being said, of course, there was something about her that wasn't...normal. The eyes, the way she reacted before he even heard something. Instead, he focused on the trip itself. They had no idea what they might find out there, after all.

"You're the one talking about scents. What do you think you'll smell? Magic?"

"He's handsome and awkward, huh? Poor guy." Thomas returned her smirk with one of his own. "Unless you like that sort of thing. Some girls go for it."

His eyebrows rose in surprise at the shift in her eyes but he didn't question it. So, she was some kind of werecat or animal spirit or...something. Harry would probably come up with some creative and terrible name for it if he were around, but he shoved that particular flicker of homesickness to the back of his mind and moved to her side, gray eyes moving over the tree as though the mystery of the ages were to be found there before shaking his head and rolling his shoulder in a shrug. He wasn't an arboreal expert or anything, but it just looked like a normal tree to him.

It was enough that Shamilar recognized the scents of their captors. "Dangerous for us normies, maybe, but for gods?"

"Awkward's a good type. You should look into it." Because the pretty boys with dark pasts tended to have the sorts of pasts that didn't just lay down and die. Or they had demonic Hunger entities entwined in their souls that bit a lot more literally.

Thomas had met a few of those himself, and he knew of a few others that people didn't need to know. "Did...they ever claim to be gods?"

"Maybe I should say safe." Heaven knew Thomas was the opposite, and in more ways than one. He also came with a small mountain of baggage no one else deserved to be saddled with, and that didn't even include the demon of Hunger wrapped around his soul. "Then again, I get the impression 'safe' is a turn-off for you."

He listened and then shrugged. "More like demigods. Bad ones at-" He stopped talking when he saw her eyes, raising an eyebrow. "What do your spider senses say?"

If she knew what she was talking to, what she was unwittingly appealing to she'd probably have a different perspective. Instead of entertaining that particular train of thought, and giving the Hunger that much more ground to stand on, he decided to focus on what she'd claimed to be. It seemed like the safer option.

"That's for clearing that up." He said, with literally no idea what a 'feline feral' might be. "So, what is it you're smelling, exactly? Animal, plant, or mineral?"

She wasn't human, at least not completely, but she was human enough to have a soul the Hunger was really interested in. There was a wild energy about her that was making it more and more difficult to keep it under wraps. Having recently fed it made that task a little easier.

Thankfully, there was something much more pressing to pay attention to and he made a point of focusing on it. "Humanoid? There are people out here?"

As if to illustrate the point, the bushes behind them rustled slightly, and on either side. There were several humanoids around, and they were trying to prevent escape.

"Oh. Cool." Thomas could feel the eyes on him, but he wasn't accustomed to such terrain, and he could decide whether the feeling was paranoia or foreshadowing. "They're surrounding us, aren't they?"

From the trees several yards ahead of them on the path, a lizard-like creature drops to the ground. It wields a crude spear from which dangle beads and feathers on leather thongs. It wears a headdress of polished stones and feathers as well and an equally crude breastplate of interlocking pieces that look something like wood. It watches them with slitted eyes before settling its gaze on Shalimar. When it speaks, its voice is dry and hissed, and the syntax is broken, making it clear this language is not one it's accustomed to.

"Outlanders stray." It pauses, blinking thoughtfully for a moment. "Why?"

Thomas, for his part, has gone still, far more still than any human could manage. It's as though he's a statue made flesh, the only movement perceivable the slight rise and all of his chest as he watches this creature that's stepped out of a fantasy game as it speaks to Shalimar.

Thomas' eyes flitted toward her as she responded, but he remained still otherwise. He was armed, albeit less so than he'd prefer (he was missing his shotgun), but he also figured if these...whatever they were had wanted to attack them, they would have already. If anything, they seemed to be curious about these newcomers and wary of them. He could respect that.

The lizard tilted its head to the side as it listened to Shalimar's words and didn't respond for a moment. After a pause, it gave a shake of his head, but its words explained the meaning behind it. "Your words are nothing. I am...head. You come from city, Outlanders Shalimar and Thomas? Trouble always here for city dwellers. Unwelcome. Outlanders take but give no gifts."

"I am called Lessch." It was a hissed sound, and one that sounded an awful lot like something a mammalian's throat couldn't quite replicate. Lessch's throat expanded when it (he?) utter the sounds and it had a hollow quality to it. His head tilted to the side, as though weighing her words, or perhaps attempting to understand them.

Ultimately, he turned, motioning off deeper into the forest. "One and one come from Outlands to bridge. Many cycles inside. Then power burst. Now bridge...untamed."

The creature known as Lessch blinked, tilting his head this way and that in an effort to piece together what she might mean before he gives a subtle shake of his head.

"Bridge strings world to world. Was leashed, now it is free. Anything may travel the bridge."

Thomas looked from Shalimar to the creature known as Lessch, his expression still even, but she might notice his idling tension. He was ready to spring into action if he needed to, he just really hoped he didn't need to.

Lessch tilted his head one way, then another, thinking on her words before ultimately giving a shake of his head. "Bridge has been, will be. Come from...away. Across bridge."

She wasn't wrong about that. Lessch spoke his own language, and stayed away from humans. It was safer that way. He nodded.

"Came through...many cycles ago. Before the city of Outlanders."

Thomas' eyes narrowed at Lessch's explanation and he finally turned to regard Shalimar. Had hear heard that right? They came from another world but before the city? What the hell did that mean?

"Questions, questions." Lessch shook his head and the others gathered around them seem to grow more irritated as well. The lizard man was losing patience, and she may sense Thomas grow tenser beside her. He noticed it as well, though he still didn't think it wise to speak up. Shalimar seemed to be handling it pretty well, and he didn't want this lizard man thing to think there was a dispute of leadership. He might see it as a weakness.

"We come from away. We are...same. Home was...lost." He shook his head again, seeming aggitated. "Too many questions."

The lizard man shook his head and made a quick but intricate gesture with a hand. Movement in the trees around them reveals several other individuals in hiding who move away.

"No. Caution, though. The trees are wary of outlanders." With that, Lessch inclines his head. "You do not take and are welcome, but deeper, they are not forgiving."