Malik's POV
I was peacefully asleep on the rafters of our inn room when a loud yell rudely jolted me out of my nap. Almost falling off the rafters, I slipped off the edge in my start and hooked on with my sickle, making a scraping sound. After the split-second shock subsided, I landed lightly and dusted myself down with an expression of disgust.

"Can't a hunter get some sleep around here?" I complained, adjusting my crimson bow tie with one hand. This thing holds much more importance than it looks. Perhaps that's why I'm so obsessed with keeping it perfectly in the centre, neatly tied just like it as supposed to be... Alright, it's a little habit of mine. Nightshade was reading a hard-covered book upside down from the ceiling (don't ask me how she does it, I personally have no idea) peaceably, seeming unaffected by this whole affair. She lowered her book and pushed her goggles further back on her head with the barrel of her gun, landing gracefully with a flip of her long trench coat.

"Tell me about it. I swear I saw a dead fish hit the window earlier." She said nonchalantly, leaning against the wall and not looking up from the book, which she had begun reading again. I raised an eyebrow. "Ce un endroit fou (what a crazy place). The atmosphere and the terrain is less than agreeable." She indicated towards the wall opposite, which hadn't stopped the clearly audible yelling and thumping from the next room from invading into our room. Wasn't there a no rough-housing rule in here? Anyway, I agree wholeheartedly; I can't wait to get the nether out of here. The sooner we hunt down our target and get paid, the better. Apparently a village in the desert not too far from here is a prime glitch hotspot for travellers to get a drink and an accomodation. That's sounding very good right about now...

"What's the commotion about?" I rolled my lava-coloured eyes in annoyance, leaning against the wall and stifling a yawn with difficulty. The noise outside had been reduced to an ominous murmur, which just made me more suspicious. It was actually quiet for once; interesting. I eyed the open window with a raised eyebrow. The shutters were swinging and flapping eerily in the wind, making rhythmic thumping sounds against the stone wall. Shafts of filtered sunlight hit the navy blue carpet from outside, and I could see glimpses of greyish blue sky.

"Perhaps you can see from here. We are near the border and the fenêtre (window) is open, oui?" She said, leaning back and shifting position slightly.

"Fine, but a fish better not fly through this window right now." I muttered, striding across the room and brushing aside the curtains (accidentally singeing them in the process, but hey, nobody's perfect). I took one glance outside at the proceedings, and one eyebrow slowly shot up as my fiery gaze swept the crowd.

"Actually Shade..." I narrowed my eyes. "We'd better check this out..."
~~~
Kari's POV
Something about that girl just seemed familiar... I watched her retreating back with my head inclined slightly on an angle, and righted myself after a few seconds of realisation that everything has gone quiet. A plummeting feeling in my stomache made me turn around in suspicion, half-expecting a group of burly aether guards armed to the teeth to be matching through. Surprisingly... Not...? There we too many people in front of my to see properly, so after a few attempts of trying to stand on tiptoes and jumping up and down like a slime, I resorted to some quick parkour across two small, squat buildings. Everyone was too for used on a small group of people moving slowly into town to notice a swift shape darting across, and I was soon at the head of the crowd.

What I saw is... Shocking to say the least. Three hunters, looking skinny, half-starved and robbed with ripped and torn clothes and messy hair. Bleeding gashes covered their arms and legs and a lot of exposed skin, as well as plum-coloured bruises. One of them was barely able to stand, and was supported by his friend, greyish hazel eyes barely open. Another was sporting a broken arm that was so badly disjointed that it looked like he had stuck it in a fan. As the sorry trio limped towards the middle of town, windows and doors were opened as people stuck their heads out. Wowee. News travels fast here.

"What's going on around here?" A girl demanded businesslike, pushing out of the crowd. She had long flame-coloured curls and slanting, distrustful forest green eyes, and was aloof. She was obviously in charge around here, and certainly didn't let anyone forget it. I leaned back slightly to blend in more with the shadows.

"T-the j-jungle..." One of the boys gasped, standing up slightly straighter and looking meekly at the girl. She raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"You mean ocelots did this to you?" There was an edge of disbelief in her bold voice.

"N-no..." His companion managed to utter breathlessly. "W-wolf..."

"Wolf? In the jungle?"

"Interesting..." Someone's voice said in undertone from nearby. "Perhaps our informant's information may hold some truth..."

"Affirmative, I suppose confirmation of our target is certainly reassuring." A female voice with a slight foreign edge replied. I turned my head slowly to investigate, curious, but not enough for anyone to notice I was directly looking at the pair. However, by the time I had found where the voices had come from, there was no one to be seen...
~~~
Viridian's POV
I moved through the crowd casually, easily slipping through the throngs of people avidly watching the proceedings of the visitors. I myself was not too greatly affected by the proceedings. So a few hunters had been beaten up by glitches. Happens all the time, if I don't get to them first. No biggie. It did raise the concern of getting back over the border safely, though. But if I got through undetected through the jungle in the first place, I could easily get out. People tended to underestimate me, but that's one big mistake you DON'T want to make.

I paused in front of the entrance gates, just in time to see them swing shut. Oh snap, they've closed for the day. I glanced up at the sky, which was shaded a peachy lilac shade that slowly faded into a velvet carpet midnight purple, speckled with stars that slowly appeared. The sun was just descending down behind a hill, painting it golden. It was a wonderful, but yet disappointing sight. Afternoon had slipped by like an ocelot stealing fish, and I was nowhere near tired. You could say I'm more of a nocturnal hunter. But I need to conserve energy for tomorrow, and from what I've seen so far, the glitches in this village need help. Especially that mysterious being that had injured those young hunters. That was a pretty bad mistake to allow them to live. Now attention would be drawn to its domain for sure.

I turned around and made my way to the inn. The cute cobbled pathways made navigation easy, not to mention the signs positivitely everywhere. What a weird place... I reached the inn and ascended the stairs rapidly, not sparing those around a glance. Many chairs were empty, however. Probably outside. I reached my own floor and dug in my pocket for the key, pulling out a few folded maps and a jewelled pocketknife until I found it. I sighed as I caught a glimpse of the golden twelve next door. Great. Just great. But... It seems that someone has been in for room service while the residents were out, and forgot to close the door...

"I spy with my little eye, an opportunity." I murmured with a small smirk.