The group offered their condolences and suggestions with the appropriate amount of "poor child" in their tones. Rhys looked between the pair as they spoke but their words were hardly registering. His face was burning and his heart rate started to quicken. No matter what healer they found, they wouldn't be able to fix the mistakes he'd made. Even if they had bottled the cure and thrust it into his hands, he'd just exit that door to death: his and countless others. His pulse had jumped into his palms and flecks of dirt floated from his body in fragments and whisps like soot from an ember. He took a deep, deliberate breath and calmed himself.<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">"Not here"</span> he thought to himself </span><span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold"> "Not ever"</span></span>. He realized he was pulling a grim face. He relaxed a bit and fixed a more amiable expression to his face.<br/><br/>He tuned back in at the winged man, Sain's statement<span style="font-weight: bold"> "I mean I learned basic magical healing when I was a child, but my powers have become far too tainted to try it now. What would be convenient, is if one walked through the door right now."<br/></span><br/>All three of them looked toward the door, a tense silence as they waited expectantly but nothing came.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Were you expecting your timing to be perfect, Sain"</span>the machine called with a giggle,<span style="font-weight: bold">"Chances are slim that it would happen." </span><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"It was worth a shot."</span>Sain remarked ,<span style="font-weight: bold">"Didn't hurt to try"</span><br/><br/>Rhys appreciated the humor, in fact, it made him much more comfortable "Well, unless someone comes in with 'De-Ash' in a can I think it'd be better for me to stay here for a while," he turned to Donta with an embarrassed look on his face "That is, for as long as I'm welcome," he quickly added "maybe I'll be more help around here?"<br/><br/>There wasn't time for a response before the door lit up and began trembling as if a wild animal were clawing at it. The door swung open and a small girl slid into the room, half cradled as if bracing for impact. Rhys imagined his entrance was every bit as graceful. He watched curiously as she looked from person to person with a dazed look in her eyes.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"W-What?...."</span>she stammered<span style="font-weight: bold">"Who...?" </span>She shook like a child in snow<span style="font-weight: bold">"H-How...?"</span><br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Wolfcub dear, we have a fainter. Please try and catch her." </span>Donta said casually.<br/><br/>Wolfcub had returned from the back<span style="font-weight: bold">"She seems fine to m-"</span>the girl collapsed to the ground with a soft thud before Wolfcub could finish. Donta smiled as Wolfcub picked up Tanya and carried her to a nearby couch.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Well, it's getting rather lively in here tonight!"</span>Donta said with a smile,<span style="font-weight: bold">"How lovely!"</span><br/><br/>"Is this just normal going-ons around here?" Rhys chuckled as he spoke, the entire scene felt like a spectacle. The dust hadn't settled from the first commotion when the door began its noisy clattering once again. It swung open once more and another woman fell through, this one looked a bit more hardened but, aside from her response to everything that had happened, she looked as if she could be from the same realm as the prior arrival. After unloading what appeared to be an arsenal from her person. The woman walked toward the bar and took a seat; a one seat gap placed between them in a way that seemed pretty intentional. Sain gave a barely audible sigh before sipping at his drink. Rhys gave him a knowing nudge with his shoulder, hoping that he wouldn't overdo it or that the man was stable enough to not topple over. He gave a small wave of acknowledgment to the woman, possibly with more zeal than necessary.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Excuse me, but where am I?"</span>the woman spoke in a clear confident voice. It was surprising how well she was handling this situation.<br/><br/>Donta began his explanation of this strange place once more. It still didn't make sense how this place existed but he couldn't be happier that it did. The suffering, the death, the fear.<span style="font-style: italic">"Would all of that end if I stayed here?" </span>Maybe it wouldn't, maybe he was just prolonging the inevitable but he needed time. Hopefully, he could make a plan or find some help. It was wishful thinking, but, as Sain said 'it's worth a shot'. Talk drifted to the mysterious nature of the Chef. Rhys leaned forward into the bar.<br/><br/>"You've never seen him? So he was just here one day? You didn't hire him?" he chuckled in disbelief "What do you think would happen if someone walked in there? Think they'd crawl out a child or something?" there was a hint of genuine concern in the question. Before his question could be answered he looked down at the bar to see a thick deposit of blackened soot outlining where his arms had rested on the bar. His eye widened in horror before he began pouring out apologies in spades as he desperately tried to clean the table with the bottom of his muck-stained shirt. He'd just realized how awful he must smell and his face burned in embarrassment.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"That girl's not sitting away from Sain," </span>he thought as he worked futilely to scrub up the mess he'd made.