<div class="floatleft">(https://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/11990054/934full-diego-barrueco.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Fen Ylfingr (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=303102.msg14805158#msg14805158)<br/><strong>Tagging | Mentioning:</strong>The Group<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Gaia, Unknown<br/><strong>Wearing:</strong>This (https://i.imgur.com/U5yYYEE.jpg)<br/><strong>Mood:</strong>Moving, always moving<br/><hr/><br/>Niko's little spiel has Fen turning contemplative eyes on the man, curious which side is real. He's unsure how to take it, but then, considering the few days it sounds like most of them have had... don't they all deserve to be a little addled? Shrugging, Fen gives the man a lopsided smile. Maybe they're not friends, but they're certainly not enemies. He'll take Niko at his word for the moment. A part of Fen says it's that naivete that people take advantage of, but fuck it. Gotta trust people eventually, right? Besides, not like he's looking to sleep with the dude, just. You can't go through life skeptically disbelieving every word out of someone's mouth.<br/><br/>...Which means he should probably apply that to the Arbiter, too. Fuck.<br/><br/>"Actions speak louder than words." Fen can't help but point out, still sour. "And so far your only actions have been murdering people like us, so excuse me for doubting you." Running a hand through his hair be blows out a breath, annoyed. "But yeah, maybe I could have worded that better." Mumbling half under his breath as he walks, he continues. "Though it'd be a hell of a lot less antagonistic if you weren't here." Rolling his shoulders to get rid of the tension, he slants a glance at the man. "What<em>do</em>you want to be called?" Fen mostly wonders how much of a connection the man maintains to the title of Arbiter, but there's only so far he can let go of his caution, regardless.<br/><br/>"My original question still stands, though. It'd be useful information to have." The more they know about any enemies they have or will make the better. Especially when they're lacking support and gear. Adan's speaking up has Fen's attention directing to him, almost like a dog looking at a bone he perks up, happy for any excuse to ignore the executioner in their midst. "Yeah, well. You get used to not being spoken for." He's not bitter. Nope. Not at all. Not even a tiny bit.<br/><br/>"Huh." Fen muses, mulling the words over in his head. "Hard to imagine they'd be disappointed in<em>you</em>." He finally manages, breaking out of his musings to give Adan a bit of a flirty grin. "I... can get wanting to hold onto the past, but well..." He seems to struggle for words, gnawing on his bottom lip. "There's only so much you can change or go back to, right? Eventually you have to realize nothing is forever. Gotta get used to rolling with the punches." He shrugs, well used to a certain sense of chaos in his surroundings. Few things--or people--have really been around Fen long enough for him to even consider permanency.<br/><br/>"My family?" Fen balks, unused to talking about himself. "Well, yeah. The mortals got that part right, at least. They're... around, I guess." He hunches slightly, staring ahead as he walks. "We all have our problems; we're not exactly the best liked of the bunch." It's clearly something of a touchy subject, one that he tries to speak little of. "I hope they're doing okay..." He mutters, before shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. They have their lives, I have mine. Only way forward is, well. Heh. Forward." He keeps putting one foot in front of the other, just hoping they'll get to a city eventually. Hermes at least seems to know where she's going.<br/><br/>The flower chick's seeming lack of knowledge makes Fen hesitate, weighing his words. Part of him wants to bark out a laugh, but well, they're allies of some form for now. Equally, he's not sure what to say. Trying to keep his biases in check, he finally decides she might as well know what his history is. "He is, or at least was, an executioner of people like us. The Elysium sent him out to hunt down Celestials. And he did. Again, and again, and again." Fen shrugs. "He was quite successful." Nope, still not bitter.<br/><br/>"He's... supposedly changed." Fen offers, grudgingly. "Anything else, well. Ask the man yourself." Picking up the pace slightly, the tension in his frame speaks as loud as his words that the subject is Closed(TM). After a moment's thought and the comment on slowness from Hermes, he takes another long look at Adan then shifts down between one step and the next, two feet becoming four as he runs after Hermes, picking up his pace and quickly out-ranging all but the quickest of them. He's content keeping his silence until they make it to wherever they're going.<br/><br/>Wherever, of course, turns out to be Phoenix. They're nearing the borders of it before Fen bothers to change back, patting himself down and brushing the sand off. "At least they didn't drop us<em>too</em>far out, I guess."