Fenix didn't particularly care about others hearing his plans; while he wasn't the most openly talkative, he wasn't particularly secretive either. Unless he had a good reason not to mention something (like the details of what happened in Galaens) he wasn't too worried about what others knew.

"Well...I'd planned on moving on after making sure everything is alright here, but now..." He glanced at Mayako; that threw a kink into his plans. "I'll stay at least until she has a handle on her power; there's no better place to teach her than here. After that, I suppose I'll go looking for work and for Zach."

"How about you?" he asked Emma; he didn't take it as a given that they were going to follow him around.

"You're, uh, welcome to stay as long as you like, of course," Alicia interjected, beginning to feel like she didn't much belong in this conversation.

Alicia's interjection was not unnoticed. Emma glanced over to her and briefly felt the urge to crack a slight smile of appreciation. It was a nice thought, but she'd have to pass. Being here for as long as she had thus far felt wrong. Staying any longer would have felt worse. It didn't even have anything to do with Val, though Emma would have liked it to. More or less, it was the place. It felt like a place where people came to live, and Emma didn't want that. She wanted her home to be in Hillcrest, with the Tsukimonos.

Staying here risked that.

But there was something Fenix said that caught her attention a bit. A couple things, even. Emma wanted to make sure Mayako was all right, for one, but she was also interested in work. She didn't have much money, and if she was going to get anywhere, she was going to need some more.

"You said something about work," Emma turned her attention back to Fenix, "Is there some place I can find work around here?"

"Well...by work, I was talking about resuming treasure hunting," Fenix clarified. While he had little doubt he could find a more steady line of work if he needed to, he settling down in a place was expensive, and he wanted to continue sending money to back here. Compared to what it cost to have regular shelter and living amenities, traveling was much cheaper.

Plus, as much as he hated to admit it, he would probably be bored with a normal job. He may be the thrill seeker his mentor was, but he wasn't in any hurry to settle down just yet either.

"I'm afraid we're a little too isolated for most work," Alicia explained reluctantly. "Those of us that work in some capacity are away for long periods of time and send money back here. But, uh, if you get restless, we can always use an extra pair of hands around here. Can't pay you much, but..."

". . . all right," Emma trailed off.

Treasure hunting, then? Like what they did back in those underground ruins? Emma was all right with that, so long as she never again encountered ruins of a people that harmed her brother. She'd have been all right with that sort of job. It'd have her gone for awhile, too, right? And, for that matter, make her a good deal of money. These two arguments were easily enough to convince her.

"Any idea where I could find someone in need of a, uh," she cleared her throat; say the words just felt weird. Too fantastical. It was going to take some getting used it. "Treasure hunter?"

Of course, she wouldn't leave tonight. Maybe in a couple of days, if anyone had leads on someone willing to pay for something to be found, but tonight she planned on resting--and tomorrow, too. They'd been walking a long time, and it was a good idea that she rest up and make sure Mayako was going to be all right without her before she starting venturing off into no man's land.

Fenix and Alicia simply stared at Emma for a moment, before the latter turned to the former and asked, "Has she...actually done any treasure hunting?"

"We stumbled upon a place on our way here, but otherwise this is her first time away from home," he replied.

"I see..."

Fenix turned to Emma. "It's not exactly something easy to just go out and pick up; especially at your age. The kind of people who want treasure hunters are going to balk at the idea of a little girl being able to do the job."

". . . you really didn't know my brother well, did you?" Emma grumbled under her breath.

Their words rang true in all the ways she used to hate, and it actually made her feel somewhat normal again--in all the wrong ways, of course. People used to call her a runt, used to talk down at her like she was worthless--that someone her age couldn't do anything worthwhile, and that she needed to just grow up before she started working towards something. Emma hated it when people did that, be they from Hillcrest or Galaens or any of it. She loathed the idea that physical age could ever shield her from something. Maybe physical strength could, but so long as she was mentally older than she looked, she felt that was all that mattered. Any job that required use of the mind, she could do. And if she couldn't, she could learn it.

"Young, sure," Emma admitted, "Inexperienced, maybe."

It was true, though, that someone her age wasn't often taken seriously. Alphonse didn't take her seriously at first, either. Then he saw the quality of plants that she grew.

"But," she pointed to Mayako--namely the pendant the girl currently wore, "I've got that necklace and my brother's sword. And this," she tapped upon her forehead, "That's more than enough to get started."

"You have a wooden sword and a necklace that does nothing most of the time," Fenix pointed out dryly. Listing both of those as assets was stretching it, though at least the necklace was potentially useful. As far as he was concerned she'd be better off with a knife than what was essentially a glorified stick, though.

"Most of the time?" Alicia asked, now wondering just what it was.

"It blocks out magic." In this case a minimalistic explanation was the best one, and also let him quickly get back to the topic at hand. "You have no idea where to start looking for work, and no idea what to do if you find work. Finding that," he pointed to the necklace, currently residing on Mayako, "was a stroke of unparalleled luck. You don't just fall into ruins most of the time."

Emma returned Fenix's dry stare tenfold.

"My best friend sprouted a pair of unwanted wings," she began, "I found the fruits of research that coincidentally sprouted from a sect of mage's experiments on my brother. Oh, I also cut my foot pretty bad in the process, and might have a mild infection. That also happened."

But that wasn't as far as she was willing to go with this. Emma might have loathed how she looked, and the consequences that caused it all, but she wasn't necessarily afraid to outright state said consequences when she felt particularly upset. Which was now.

"A very loving couple offered me their home immediately after I determined I was leaving, I was cooped up in a clinic room for months after my asshole boyfriend abandoned me, I had a third of my teeth removed," she tapped the side of her face that her hair covered, "Without pain killers, mind you. Also I was stabbed in the face a few times. Oh, and don't forget that my brother died a bit before that, and that my father kicked the bucket, too, and that my sister left town without so much as a fuck you, Emma."

Tirade over, she took a deep breath.

"I'd say that everything, including that necklace, has been the spawn of unparalleled shit luck. The way I figure it, my luck's so bad that I should start making money off of it. Worst case scenario, it kills me--except it's already been proven empirically that I'm not lucky enough for that."

Another deep breath.

"So, yes," Emma put her hands on her hips, as if challenging Fenix to say he wouldn't let her go, "I'm going to go and look for a job soon. I really don't care what. I need as much money as I can get."

For several moments Fenix went perfectly rigid, staring at her as though to burn a hole right through her with his gaze. He wanted to yell at her again, just like he did on that night in Hillcrest, and tell her what a fool she was.

But ultimately, it wasn't that he truly had a problem with her, nor was it entirely that he was he concerned for her wellbeing (though he was). As he came across the realization of why he was truly upset, he stopped being angry and just felt...hollow. The fire went out of his eyes and he slumped his shoulders.

"Fine. Do what you wish." He turned and exited the room without fanfare, ignoring the conglomerate of children both older and younger that wanted his attention, and went somewhere to be alone.

This left an awkward silence that lasted several seconds before Alicia spoke. "Sorry...sounds like you've been through a lot. For what it's worth you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like," she said politely before deciding it was probably best to leave Emma alone for now; she didn't want to press any more of her buttons.

Emma said nothing. She'd gotten carried away and briefly forgot there were others in the room, others that could hear her tirade, which had her feeling a bit self conscious. While she had no qualms spouting all of that off, she might not have gotten so detailed if she'd remembered that detail. It . . . ugh--it made Emma feel a bit unnerved by herself. After a moment, once everyone was gone, she pulled her bangs around, covered the fair skin and showed only the marred and ugly side of her face--or at least what she considered ugly and disdainful and horrible.

It was kind of a relief.

For a long time, she stayed like that--leaning up against the bed they'd put Mayako in, knees to her chest, eyes to the floor.

Not a single point in the day did Emma leave the room. Time passed, with only silence persisting within her and Mayako's room, before she inevitably went to sleep with nothing else to do or get herself into. All she knew was that she couldn't be here anymore. Tomorrow, she needed to leave.

No one bothered Emma for the rest of the day; the church was a busy place, and it was easy to overlook even a couple of guests that had caused quite a commotion. Or perhaps Alicia had simply warned people to leave her be for now.

What would wake her from her slumber wouldn't be the light of the morning sun or even a knock at her door, but rather voices in the room next to hers.

"What the hell are you doing here?" hissed a female voice, trying and failing to keep her voice within acceptable levels of volume.

"Nice to see you too, love," replied a male with a foreign accent, one that Emma wouldn't recognize but would sound eerily familiar to Mayako if she happened to awaken as well.

Emma was only partially woken by the sound of voices in the other room. This was a big place with a lot of rooms, though. She didn't recognize the voice, and was apt to shut her eyes and go back to sleep. What got her to snap her eyes open again, though, was when she heard footsteps in her own room. The rustling came from the other bed, and soon there were light footsteps going towards the door. Emma made the connection and shut her eyes. She couldn't speak to Mayako right now, not when she was planning on ditching the church tomorrow.

. . . . . . . .

Mayako Takamine had, in actuality, been awake for the past couple of hours. She woken up feeling horrible. Her head hurt and her entire body ached. She saw Emma laying in the other bed and sighed once, before sitting up in her bed and silently nursing her headache. The commotion of earlier was something she was trying not to think about, specifically because her head felt infinitely worse whenever she did. Also she had a necklace on that she didn't have much recollection of. Emma's necklace? That was weird.

The excess of silence was driving her crazy, though. Migraines or no migraines, she wanted some manner of sound or conversation or anything to make her feel not so alone right now. The room was horribly dark and not even Fenix was anywhere to be seen. To make matters worse, Mayako questioned her own courage to leave the room, just in case questions about earlier cropped up and she had to deal with the growing of a migraine headache because she got to thinking about it aga-- oh, darnit, there it goes again.

Mayako winced and held her head. She really needed to stop doing that.

It was around the two hour mark that she heard a familiar voice. Slowly, she pulled herself out of bed. It sounded close, and too familiar to mistake. What would he be doing h-- Darnit, darnit, darnit, darnit! The realization was instant and convinced her to get out of bed and start out of the room immediately.

This late--or perhaps early--there was little movement in the church. Which was where Mayako would quickly realize she was, in case she forgot. A few lamps burned dimly, but other than the sound of someone outside exerting himself the place was dark and quiet.

Save for the voices coming from the room next to the one she'd just exited, that is. "Seriously, what are you doing here?" the female asked again.

"Exactly what I said when I got here; I'm visiting my old home."

"But you're just using that as an excuse, you didn't actually live he-"

"Actually, I did."

There was a short pause before the female spoke again. "...Really?"

"Yes. Look, don't worry your pretty little head 'bout me, alright? I've got my own reasons to be here--I don't intend to cause trouble."

Mayako listened in outside of the door for a few seconds, just long enough to make sure this was, in fact, the voice she thought it was. She didn't want to mistake someone's identity like that--think they were a "bad guy" (sort of) just because they had an Ulster accent. But after a moment of listening, she felt confident that this was who she though it was, and she knew for a fact that it could only end poorly.

Without further adieu, Mayako knocked lightly upon the door. Which felt silly, because she was just going to barge in, after all, but still!

That being said, Mayako did, in fact, open the door shortly after knocking, before any protests could be heard, so that she could at least give this man the most disapproving look her pained face could muster. And then maybe have some words with him after a second or two.

"You're going to cause trouble whether you intend to-" Before the girl could finish there was a knock at the door, which gave the room's occupants just enough time to look at each other in confusion before it opened.

When Mayako entered, she'd see her guess was correct. Garv Phibrizzo stood inside, and the handful of bottles scattered across the room suggested he had no problems with trying to make himself comfortable here.

The room's other occupant was a girl Mayako had just been introduced to earlier: Shanna stood inside, and was much more surprised to see who entered the room than Garv was. "M-Mayako, you're up early," she said.

"Hello again, love," Garv greeted, not seeming phased at all by her appearance.