#nm writes

"Why are we even here, Jaz?" grumbled Alkimos as the pair walked through the bustling halls of the East-Side town hall. Even in their humanoid glamours, the fablefolk pair were getting sidelong glances and the disguised sphinx could hear whispers among the surrounding fieldfolk.

"I need to talk to Governor Trevill regarding a shipment that's been held up in customs, see if she can't get Governor Yarrow to pull some strings and speed up the process," Jazakhza replied, waving a handful of documents airily, seemingly unfazed by the attention the pair was generating.

'Or,' thought Alkimos to himself, 'Probably lapping it all up, the cocky bastard.' The rosy-hued manticore had never considered attention a negative. Any moment spent visible, alive and thriving within the city of Gallecross was his way of spiting the hardships they'd had to deal with to get there. And if there was one thing that powered Jaz, it was spite.

Winding their way through the town hall, the crowds parting around Jaz's ego and Alkimos' aura of intimidation, the pair finally found the door to the governor's office. Jaz twitched one ear. There was the low sound of talking coming from behind the thick wooden door. Before his curious nature took over and he began to eavesdrop, however, the sound of footsteps approaching the door rang out. A group of them. Jazakhza took a step back as the doorknob turned, straightening his cravat and vest discreetly.

"Governor-" he began to call out as the door swung open, but any further words died in his throat. Before him were two figures he only ever saw in his nightmares anymore, and yet here they were, flesh and blood and bone. Jaz's eyes widened, and he could feel Alkimos tense behind him. He remembered the flow of flames on those scales, the vicious grin of that tusked mouth. The smell of blood, the tang of cold iron and silver weapons, the sounds of pain and panic, all flashed through Jazakhza's brain in an instant and he felt himself reeling.

Wither and Boon. Monster Hunters. And a look of sickening, terrifying recognition passed across their faces as they laid eyes on the pair waiting outside the door.

The lighting in the building seemed to go fuzzy. Sounds became muffled and distant. Jazakhza felt an odd pressure on his shoulder that took him a moment to register as Alkimos' hand. Time was moving strangely. Heqeta walked out of the office between the Hunters as if in slow motion. He watched her horrid face slowly distort in disgust as she realized it was Jazakhza and Alkimos there waiting outside the door. Behind her peeked the smaller, gentler face of Governor Trevill, creased with worry.

"Wh-" Jaz attempted to say, voice catching in his throat briefly before everything around him came roaring back into full color and sound, and he found himself snarling "What are these monsters doing here?!" His entire form was tensed, coiled like a spring, ready to fight for his life.

"Well now, that's a rude greeting for our guests," Heqeta drawled, her voice like nails on a chalkboard in the moment. "But you'd know plenty about being a monster, wouldn't you Jazakhza?" Now the lights seemed to grow brighter, colors growing more vibrant as the manticore felt the cold terror in the pit of his stomach change course and loop back around into a boiling fury. His face burned and a low growl echoed from the depths of his chest. He could feel his glamour unraveling around him, but he couldn't stop. The rage was boiling over and then-

Alkimos' grip tightened on his shoulder. Jaz whipped around to look at the sphinx behind him, and the tightened expression of fear on Alkimos' face brought the situation crashing back down on the manticore. He noticed the crowds, all frozen in place throughout the hallways, whispers low and fearful as they watched the scene unfolding. All of the tension fell out of Jazakhza's body, and the cold came crashing back down on him.

"Jazakhza, please, come this way," Governor Trevill's voice was calming and full of concern, as she pushed past the others and opened a route for the manticore and sphinx into her office. Alkimos took Jaz by the other shoulder and started steering him inside. The sphinx glared at Heqeta as they passed, and her thoughtful, conniving grin made him want nothing more than to claw her face to party streamers. He made one small flinch in her direction and took great satisfaction from the half-step backwards she took and the briefest falter of her smug face. He took less satisfaction from Boon's hand on his shoulder.

"Good to see you again, cub," came the hissing voice of Wither, the serpentfolk's knowing smile sending cold shivers down Alkimos' spine. "We'll be seeing you around..." Grimacing, Alkimos pushed past, and slammed the door of the office behind him.

Jazakhza sat slumped in a chair in front of the governor's desk, head in his hands, shoulders shaking. Governor Trevill was busying herself pouring him a cup of some herbal tea so strong that Alkimos could smell it across the room without even trying. Urging feeling into his dread-frozen hands and feet, Alkimos circled the room and pulled down all the window-shades before he moved another chair over beside Jaz.

"I am so sorry for what happened out there," Trevill spoke. "Lyniara was absolutely out of line and I will be speaking with her about this, you have my word."

"Governor Trevill-" Alkimos began, but was stopped as Jaz put a hand on his knee and looked up.

"Vivian," the manticore's voice cracked as he spoke. "What the fuck were they doing here? Surely you know what they are, what they do." Governor Trevill paused, setting down the teapot gently on the platter of the tea-set.

"We have an infestation of vorvolakas," she replied quietly after a moment, inclining her head slightly towards the pair but not turning to face them. With a sigh she picked up the pair of teacups, bringing them over to Jaz and Alkimos.

'At least she has the decency to look regretful,' Alkimos thought with a grumble as he and Jaz accepted the drinks.

"We've attempted to hire companies within the city to help control them, but they've been unable to keep them contained. There have been attacks. Injuries. It's becoming enough of a threat that our neighboring boroughs are applying pressure. We needed professionals with more skill handling this kind of creature."

"Those...fiends...make their living hunting fablefolk and you bring them into a city with a thriving population of us?" Jaz growled.

"You know the laws of Gallecross prevent them from Hunting anyone within the walls, Jazakhza," Governor Trevill replied firmly. "But if this infestation gets any more out of hand, we could see casualties. Victims."

"WE'RE VICTIMS!" Jazakhza roared, his glamour breaking down entirely as he surged to his feet. Suddenly there was several thousand pounds of angry manticore taking up the office. His teacup fell to the floor with a clatter. "OUR FAMILIES WERE CASUALTIES! The very reason we are citizens of Gallecross is because of the safety it affords us from the blood-crimes of those butchers!" To Governor Trevill's credit, she didn't even flinch as she found herself within inches of the several-inch-long fangs of a snarling manticore.

"Then you will have to continue to trust in the safety that Gallecross promises its fablefolk citizens," she replied stolidly. She moved calmly around her desk, taking a seat and steepling her fingers in front of her mouth. "You know we cannot keep Hunters out of the city entirely. They hunt dangerous magical feralfolk as well, and if it were up to me that would be the only use for them. I will keep Wither and Boon on as short a leash as possible. They are here to deal with the infestation and nothing more. This is all I can promise."

With a snarling huff Jazakhza stepped back, folding back into his glamour with great effort. After straightening his hair and clothing reflexively, he leaned down and picked up the file of documents he'd brought in with him. He threw them angrily onto Trevill's desk.

"I have a shipment in Waterway that's being held up in customs," he growled. "Ingredients for a bulk order of Dreamless Sleep Phials for the local hospitals. I have all my paperwork filled and filed, it's only Yarrow dragging his feet for no good reason. I expect you to do something about this." He turned on his heel and marched to the door. Alkimos rose from his seat measuredly and placed his still full cup of tea on the governor's desk.

"The moment those last vorvolakas fall," Alkimos growled low, "Wither and Boon had better be out of East-Side."

"Alkimos!" Jazakhza called sharply, and the sphinx moved to flank him.

"Good day, governor." And the two were out the door and back out into East-Side's town hall. Jaz could feel the looks from the crowds in the hallway now, like pinpricks they sent anxiety racing up and down his spine. The whispers whirled around his head, and he stormed quickly through the halls. They reached the streets and by that point even Alkimos was having difficulty keeping up with Jaz despite the manticore's smaller size and shorter stride. Once the pair had gotten a significant distance from the town hall, Jaz let out a loud snarl and shed his glamour entirely. There were a few gasps of shock, but for the most part the crowds simply parted ways for the larger, fuming fablefolk. Alkimos followed suit.

"We ran for years," Jaz snarled, falling back into their shared old tongue to avoid eavesdroppers. "We built an entirely new goddamn life in a safe place and then this! Hunters! Disgusting horrible filth in our borough!"

"We can do something about it now," Alkimos offered. "We aren't helpless little cubs anymore. We could finally destroy those bastards like they deserve."

"No, we can't. They'll be expecting us now. And with my own stupid fucking outburst, we'll be the first suspects. No, we can't risk it. I'm an idiot!" Jazakhza's coiled tail was twitching with anger.

"Come," Alkimos began softly, leaning his shoulder against Jaz's as they walked, ignoring the light prickling feeling of the tiny spines peeking out from the angry manticore's shoulders. "Let's go out to the Mills. Stalk some prey. Get some of this anger out so we can think properly and plan."

"I'm going to imagine Heqeta's horrible face on every single thing we kill," Jaz replied petulantly, leaning a bit into Alkimos's shoulder in return.

"It's reached the edge of the wood!" a call from above sounded and all heads snapped to watch the trees. Paw-like hands tightened on ballistae and casting implement alike. The entire wall held its breath.

Out from the woods came a tiny figure running full-tilt. Still round and plump, not yet the age where his limbs would stretch with adolescence, and his fur a greyish-brown fluffy mess.

"It's a pup!" Accalia cried. "Hold!" She turned to run down the stairs to the western gate when Lashley caught her by one arm.