Mayako tried her best not to make eye contact with the children. Indeed, everyone saw it yesterday. The whole notion made her stomach feel worse. Yesterday's events hadn't sunk in enough to make her feel self conscious at this point, she could only feel bad. Not even worried about herself or how others might think of her--just bad. It was something akin to guilt with no idea why you should feel guilty.

Emma, on the other hand, was much better at ignoring the children than Mayako. She paid a nod to Alicia when she helped with Mayako, and followed her lead until they were at the area of the church sectioned off with tables and chairs and other such objects for dining purposes. It'd been a little while since Emma ate, so she had no clue if there was any food left--she could only hope.

Sitting down, Mayako went through a good deal of trouble to keep herself from hitting the table with her skull--and not of her own volition, either. Emma looked her over carefully, at how she had dark circles under her eyes and how cheekbones were a little more visible than normal, or what was healthy. Much to Mayako's surprise, Emma patted around the girl's ribs.

"H-- hey, wh-- what are you . . .?" Mayako whimpered.

"I can feel your ribs," Emma said, "Way too well."

". . . o-- oh . . ."

Then it hit her. "Mayako, you . . . you haven't been holding out, have you?"

"Nnh?"

"You never ate that much on the road here . . ."

". . . I-- I wanted t-to leave enough for you guys."

"Oh my God, Mayako," Emma had to refrain from cursing too much, lest she offend her friend, "That-- that-- that's-- what the hell?"

A quick assumption on Emma's end was that Mayako was getting progressively worse with time and not enough nutrients. Which was even worse, because Mayako was training to be a nurse back in Hillcrest. She should have known better! Then, whatever happened yesterday must have burned so many calories that it pushed her over the edge, and put her into a potentially dangerous place.

"You idiot, we had plenty of food."

From an open door off to the side, they'd be able to see Fenix, and behind him a room that could only be a kitchen. He looked back over his shoulder, presumably at another occupant of the room. "Is there something we can serve now?"

"Well, there's the bread," a voice that could only be Val's responded. "Otherwise they'll have to wait until the soup's done."

"I'm going to grab some cheese, too." Fenix went back inside the kitchen, only to emerge again shortly with a plate stacked with bread and cheese. "We can afford this much, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Val muttered to herself, intent on cooking. It wasn't like he'd listen to her anyway even if they couldn't.

Arriving at the table, he set the plate down in front of Mayako and Emma, before sitting across from them, elbows on the table, chin resting on folded hands, staring sternly at the two of them. "Eat," he commanded. "You too," he added to Emma. "You haven't been eating much either. If you sprout wings too, you'll end up just like her." He wasn't even sure himself if that was supposed to be a joke.

He'd been a good boy himself; he knew that he needed to keep his energy up in case he needed to defend himself and/or them. Between Emma refusing to eat half the time and Mayako's misplaced altruism, though, it seems they'd been skimping out on meals even more than he'd thought.

Fenix caught them both by surprise, but Mayako wasn't too capable of showing that right now. "B-but . . . E-Emma wasn't e-eating m-much a-and-- and I didn't want her t-to starve . . ."

Emma's initial reaction was one of anger, first with Mayako. Her second reaction was anger at herself for ever being mad at Mayako for something like that. Ultimately, though, she acted on neither of these feelings, and instead gave her attention to Fenix once he was sitting across from them, with there now being a plate of bread and cheese before she and Mayako.

"I had breakfast earlier," Emma replied with a sternness equal to Fenix's, "I'm golden 'til lunch. Or dinner. Whichever comes first."

This was one part helping Mayako (who needed all this bread and cheese to herself) and one part sincerity. Emma did, in fact, eat breakfast. It was one of the rare times in which she didn't skip out on a meal. Fenix wasn't around to see it, though it wasn't like she cared too much if he believed her or not. Nevertheless, Mayako slowly began to eat. She looked much weaker than she should have, and it likely had everything to do with yesterday pushing her to the brink of being dangerously underweight. Emma sighed and set her elbow upon the table, resting her chin in her hands and watching Mayako.

Fenix looked at Emma for second, then nodded, believing her. "Alright. It won't be much longer until lunch."

"Sorry," Alicia added. "I know the food here's not much; we can't really afford to do anything fancy."

"Speaking of which, I have some money from before Zach disappeared. I had to use some of it getting back here, but you can add what's left to the total." It was rather fortunate that he kept his coin pouch on his person, seeing as his pack had disappeared in the confusion of that night.

"Alright. We'll figure that out a bit later, I gotta get back to the kids before they get too restless." Alicia stood up from the table and went back over to where she'd been standing in front of the pews. "Okay, break time's over!" she called as she tried to gather the children back up.

After a few moments of silence as he watched Mayako eat, Fenix sighed. "Sorry...I was hoping you two could relax a bit when you got here, but it's been pretty hectic."

Not that they saw it, but on top of their issues he also had a lot of logistics to figure out involving the church. He was used to it, since his mentor wasn't much of a planner, but he'd have to adjust how much income they were expected to get with him missing, not to mention he'd have to stay at least long enough to teach Mayako the basics of controlling her power before setting out and looking for work.

Emma nodded. "Tell me about it."

The very second they walked into this church, it got hectic. Far too hectic. And then it did not stop being hectic. Now Emma was presented with a dilemma she wasn't exactly fond of, if only because she didn't know the consequences for leaving were anymore. That was specifically why she hadn't left yet. After Mayako's discussion with that guy in the other room last night, Emma couldn't be sure what to do anymore.

"I-it's okay," Mayako said between bites--which were rather quick in succession. Turned out she felt hungrier than she expected. "Th-the clinic was always hectic."

"Except you didn't sprout wings in the clinic," Emma said dryly.

". . . w-well . . ." Mayako trailed off and looked down at her plate. ". . . yeah."

"Anyways," Emma looked back up to Fenix, still apparently as humorless as she'd been last night, "Do you suppose it's going to start calming down anytime soon?"

"Unless sprouting magical fiery wings turns out to be contagious, probably." Even if he and Emma hadn't already known that Mayako had some kind of power, if such a thing was contagious it would have probably spread to people he'd spent much more time with.

That there could even be doubt that he was being sardonic was a sign of how far removed for normal they were now. Though he supposed he'd never approached it to begin with.

"At least as calm as things ever get around here." Having a bunch of children around, even if they were usually well-behaved, meant it was never truly what most would call peaceful. Of course, it was also a place where daily routine included several teenagers practicing swordplay and magic, so by Emma's standards it was probably never all that calm.

"Mm," Emma nodded her head.

With things calming down, it'd certainly be easier for her to do as she pleased, but she first had to make sure Mayako was going to be all right. Funny. She hadn't felt sisterly instincts like that since well before Sarah left. In fact, Remmy was still alive the last time she felt this way.

"I'm gonna stick around 'til--" Emma began announced to Fenix with little to no prompt, but then paused for a second to think, ". . . I feel like leaving again, actually."

She was going to say until I can safely take my necklace back, but knowing Mayako, that meant the girl would sabotage all attempts at learning to control whatever power she had, just so that Emma would stay. Which was sweet to think about, because she knew for a fact that Mayako would've done that if she was ever given the idea, but Emma wanted her necklace back eventually. She also didn't want to be here for that long . . . period.

Mayako stopped eating as Emma's words sunk in. "W- wait, you're leaving?"

But Emma said nothing in return.

Fenix, too, remained silent; he wasn't about to try and justify Emma's decision to leave. It was a foolish and dangerous; Emma placed far too much confidence in her wit, believing it would make up for all other shortcomings. And while wit indeed could go a long way, there were some situations where all the wit in the world did no good.

He recalled that night in Galaens all too well; he'd always considered himself resourceful and tactical, but it had done him little good there. If Emma was to be believed, only his mentor managed to be a match for the villain of the night.

For now, he excused himself from the table, retreating back into the kitchen to help Val finish the meal.

"E-- Emma, you're . . . you're serious?" Mayako looked at her, genuinely concerned.

A frown crossed Emma's lips. She didn't want Mayako to go crying on her because she said she was planning on leaving. In hindsight, maybe she should've said that much later, such as when she was ready to leave or right before she left, to save herself the trouble of seeing her friend want to cry.

"Yeah," Emma replied, "Eventually."

"Why . . .?"

"It feels too . . . permanent."

Mayako wrinkled her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Back in those other towns . . . we hit an inn here or a camp ground there, right?" Emma indicated back the way they came, "We went places for two days, tops. But this? This is the kind of place you go and stay for awhile. I mean, come on, it's Fenix's home, for cryin' out loud."

"S-- so?" Mayako reacted with a slight tone of defensiveness in her voice, "What's wrong with staying someplace f-for a little while? I-- I mean, th-this is a nice place . . ."

Emma shook her head quickly, "This is the kind of place someone like us calls home, Mayako."

Mayako stared down at her food. Suddenly, she felt extremely uncomfortable.

"This isn't our home."

"I . . . I know . . ."

"I don't even want to risk that," Emma sighed, "And besides, it just doesn't feel right. Being here, that is. I feel like I'm invading another country or something."

". . . I-- I'm sorry . . ." Mayako did the very best she could to keep from tearing up. It was only working so well, though. All the stress was building, and she felt like she was going to break down any minute now. Knowing there was no way to stop it now, she stood from the table shakily. "I-- I-- I need-- I need t-to go. Um. Back to the room. Um. I'm sorry. I-- I'll-- I'll . . . I'll see you."

Fenix couldn't help but listen in, and was surprised by he heard. Why hadn't Emma mentioned anything like that to him last night? She'd given off the impression then that she simply wanted to ditch Mayako and be left alone, which had left a sour taste in his mouth.

He let out a small hiss of pain, and looked down to see blood on the back of his hand. Apparently, he'd accidentally cut himself, though it was just a small scratch. It was enough to get the attention of the kitchen's other occupant, however.

"Hey, if you're not going to pay attention then get out of here!" Val huffed. "You're just going to get in the way."

Even Fenix could tell she was a bit more miffed than usual, though he hadn't the slightest clue what set her off. He never could understand her very well. "Alright," he said, putting the knife down and walking back out into the main room.

He glanced at Emma. He felt like he should say something to her, but he wasn't sure what. So instead he decided to check on Mayako; she was going to be upset, no doubt, but he rather hoped she'd be feeling a bit better now. If possible, he wanted to start training her today.

So he passed by Emma, as well as Alicia, who was doing her best to pretend she hadn't heard anything, and went to the room Mayako and Emma were sharing. "It's me," he announced as he knocked on the door, hoping she wasn't so upset she'd refuse to see him.

Emma was slumped back in her chair, arms folded over her chest. All she could do was stare at the table, at the food Mayako failed to eat, and berate herself for broaching that subject far too soon. She shouldn't have stirred Mayako up this early. Emma failed to even notice Fenix when he left, or that Val yelled at him before hand--or what she even said. Her thoughts were too loud. Blurred out the rest of the world.

When Fenix knocked upon the door, he'd hear a short bit of scuffling and rummaging cloth, followed by a sniffle and the meek words, "C-- c-- come in . . ."

Mayako sat on her bed, knees to her chest, right thumb devoted to brushing away tears from her now puffy and red cheeks. The pillows and blankets on her bed were mussed up, scattered and bunched together as if she'd just deconstructed a pillow and blanket fort.

Which is to say, she had before Fenix came in constructed herself a hulking mass of warm and inviting comfort via tactically stacked pillows and blankets.

It was an...interesting scene. Were it not for her complete lack of physical strength Mayako might've had a future in construction with how fast she built and demolished that.

His first impulse was to ask how she was feeling, but would it would be taken in a way he didn't intend. Emotionally she was clearly upset, and he couldn't blame her.

"Did the food help?" he asked instead, a little softer than usual. While he wasn't terribly good socially, even he wasn't completely oblivious. The last thing he wanted to do was make Mayako feel worse by patronizing her.

Mayako sniffled again and tried to wipe the last tears away. She took in a deep breath and sighed. Try as she like, she wasn't going to stop crying, not entirely. She felt so horrible that her whole body ached, only amplifying all her problems from last night. The girl wanted nothing more than to curl in on herself and stop existing for a little while, until everything was better and they could just go home, happy and wonderful and just like before.

Meekly, she nodded her head. "Y-yeah," she sniffed.

A lie, of course. If it helped, she didn't notice. The news that Emma planned on leaving her and Fenix was more than enough to take every step back and then some.

Fenix walked up to the bed, hoping she was telling the truth. Whether or not they were practicing her body needed to make up for lost energy, especially if she'd been skimping meals on the road. Admittedly he may have screwed up there; he'd been concerned with Emma skipping too many meals, and assumed he didn't need to worry about Mayako was much.

"If you're up for it, I'd like to start teaching you to control you power later," he stated, idly stacking some of the pillows back up. Had the room even had this many pillows to begin with? The church must've somehow acquired more pillows since the last time he was here.

"...But it's fine if you'd rather wait until tomorrow." He wasn't going to rush her if she wasn't feeling well. The sounder in both mind and body she was, the better.

Mayako nodded her head again. "T-tomorrow, y-yeah . . ."

Training to use her powers . . . it reminded her of that issue all over again. Powers. The concept was terrifying. That she wasn't normal petrified her to no end. She just couldn't wrap her mind around the idea, and with everything else all happening at once, she didn't get the chance to think on it much. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise, but this also wasn't a problem she could just put off. This was Emma's necklace she was wearing. It warded off the supernatural, or something to that effect, and Emma was probably going to want that back eventually. Mayako had to learn someday.

Just not today.

"S-sorry," she sniffed, apologizing for wanting to start later. Much later, really. She chose tomorrow only because it was the latest date Fenix mentioned.