Whilst she had not heard the entire story by any means, Arcea'd heard enough to get the basic idea of what the raccoon was shooting for. The bridge was out. There was warmth and frivolity waiting for them at a thus not-completely-disclosed location away from the general safety of the train. She wanted to take them there. Quite honestly, had it not been for her newfound acquaintances picking apart the raccoon's story little by little, she'd have likely walked right into whatever trap they'd set up for her...not that she'd admit as such. Now, though, with the raccoon's words getting more and more frantic as her story fell apart around her, Arcea found herself growing ever more amused by the second. It's not too terribly long before Celrie feels tiny, barely concealed tremors of laughter rippling through the feline girl snuggled in tightly against her back, and while she never does openly laugh, all it takes is a glance to see that all her willpower is devoted into keeping, somewhat unsuccessfully, a straight face.<br/><br/>After taking a few more moments to compose herself, Arcea returns' Celrie's thankful little whisper with one of her own "Haha...you're welcome. Warmer, mm? This poor girl..." Arcea murmurs, jerking her head briefly in the raccoon's direction "...Digging a rather deep hole. It's almost cute. Almost." Again, she barely conceals a giggle, though Celrie's closeness does allow her to hear just a hint of that giggle welling up in the feline's throat. Even with the impending talk of trouble looming on the horizon in the raccoon girl's 'kin', Arcea's mood seems to not falter in the slightest. After all, she'd met Yasha, she'd met Sevana, and both of them seemed to have - at least at first glance - a rather cheery disposition about themselves. It meant the remainder of the ride once they left the little station might allow her a little free time to talk to them, get to know them better - after all, the more allies one had in a new location, the better off they were.<br/><br/>The gentle roaming of Arcea's hands along the more exposed areas of Celrie's body in need of 'warming' comes to a sudden, grinding halt when Alexis calls her 'kitty-cat'. The change in her cheery manner is instant, and a change Celrie is more than able to feel - Arcea's body tensing, her fur bristling, and her sharp little teeth suddenly grinding in her mouth.<br/><br/>"...what's that, pup?" Arcea growls back, her bright, emerald eyes snapping to Alexis, practically shimmering a firey intensity "Does it LOOK like I have something to do with this?" Her first instinct was to strut right over and sock the wolfess right in the nose, and had it not been for the impending attack - and the elf in her arms - she might have done just that. Instead, she chooses to allow the terminology to slip - once "...Use your head for something more than a hat-rack. If I - or the Cal'Drua - wanted to raid the train, we'd have already done it. We were riding on it, after all. It's thieves and what-have-you." Her temper somewhat quenched by her own little verbal jab, Arcea returns her attention to the raccoon, listening intently to her explaination. So...heavily armed, heavily armored...<br/><br/>Casting a glance over her shoulder towards the back end of the train, Arcea idly eyes the few remaining felines standing around, forming up a last hunting party. They'd no doubt be back at the sound of gunfire or combat from the train, but she COULD call on their assistance now. On the other hand, handling anything that came at her on her own made her look more...'adult' in their eyes, more respectable, more WORTHY of the task that had been heaped upon her. A task that would be none too easy.<br/><br/>She COULD call them...<br/><br/>...But why, when handling this on her own would look better? Rather than enlisting the aid of her people, she instead chooses to allow the last hunting group to wander off. She could send them to look for survivors later, if a firefight did break out, after all.<br/><br/>Once more affixing Maribel with her intense, penetrating gaze, Arcea finally speaks, for the first time, directly to the raccoon, following up Celrie's own suggestion to 'stay out of the fight' "I'd take her suggestion. You came clean. Though you had intentions of leading us into an ambush, you didn't. The second you pull a weapon with intent to use it against any of us, though..." Briefly, the feline girl pulls a hand away from Celrie to trail it along the blade strapped at her waist, drawing attention to the sleek, well-maintained edge "...You become our enemy. Either tell your kin they'd be better off waiting on the NEXT train, or ditch them and get on the train. As for paying them off - no. No daughter of the Cal'Drua is going to willingly give so much as a shiny rock to thieves."<br/><br/>When Celrie begins to tug her back towards the train, Arcea allows herself to be led, though she does begin to fiddle with the thick, heavy-looking cylinder strapped to her arm. After undoing a somewhat hidden latch, the thing begins to unfold with a heavy-sounding<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">shunk</span></span>, dropping nearly completely to the ground. The top, she pulls another lever and creates a rounded, polymer top - a shield of some sort, it looked like. Unfolded, it was nearly as tall as she was, and whilst incredibly thin, looked surprisingly strong as well. The front was decorated in various tribal markings both bizarre and beautiful, and there were rather clear 'notches' etched into the left side of it - more than could easily be counted at a glance.<br/><br/>If the readying of various weapons was not a tip off to the attackers, the arrival of a large, well-maintained shield was likely a different matter entirely. It was clear they knew something was up.<br/><br/>"Stay behind me, Celrie. Yasha, you and Sevana are free to make use of the shield as well. No sense getting shot." Inching her way backwards at Celrie's tugging, Arcea holds her shield at the ready, prepared for the first shot that might head their direction.