<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/tcy1ck7.jpg)</div>Bunny's slight blush of embarrassment only got worse as it became apparent that she was effectively "outed" with the table crew.  Somehow, the the fact that no one<em>said</em>anything made it a little worse, but she couldn't help but smile a little bit when Dan squeezed her.  Instead, she focused on finishing off her meal for a bit, her fork biting into the light crust as steam wafted off of the meat and vegetables underneath.<br/><br/>Things passed amicably from that point, a pleased little smile on her face as Mizuki leaned back.  Unfortunately, it wasn't proper lamb in the pie, but in the modern era one learned not to ask too many questions about the meat in their food.  She heard cheers go up as the band indulged the crowd in a rendition of<em>Come Out ye Black and Tans</em>(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7woEXovruc), twisting in her seat to look at the stage for a few moments.  As she did though, she caught a glimpse of the time and sighed, rolling her head back.<br/><br/><strong>"If we're going to hit the Knight's Stone and make it back to the depot on time, we should probably head out."</strong>she said, remembering the dreary gray world outside the warmth and cheer around them.  With the lack of windows it was easy for her to have forgotten the weather in the moment.  She raised a hand high, the pink sleeve of her piloting suit standing out against the bobbing heads and clapping hands around her as she flagged down the waitress for their checks.  She tipped generously, writing a quick<em>"thank you for taking on such a big group with no notice"</em>on the back of the check and signing with a simple cartoon bunny's head.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Once she got back to the truck, she turned up the radio to try and keep spirits high.  Still, there was only so much she could do, peering through the headlights that struggled against the low fog that was creeping into the streets.  Though the cloth cover kept the occupants in the back dry, it could do little to stave off the cool evening air...of course, Dan had wrangled his way into the cab with Bunny, so he got to enjoy the heat of the enclosed part of the truck.<br/><br/>The colors of the trade quarter receded fairly quickly when Bunny turned off the main road, replaced once again with a drab, utilitarian grey that rose up on all sides.  Here and there, bronze plaques were mounted on the wall, identifying sites where shelling had hit the city during the Last War.  Old buildings had been demolished, leaving sprawling empty lots, or the shells of new buildings being constructed in their place here and there.  Street artists had painted heavy black shadows along walls here and there, to give the impression of hulking beasts hiding just out of sight, warding people away from the narrow alleys between buildings, while more colorful tags were painted over without fail.  Perhaps it was part of some kind of local superstition?  Another form of remembrance?  Bunny didn't know, saying only that they weren't there in her father's day.<br/><br/>Finally, they came upon a building much the same as the others.  It bore no sign beyond its numeric designation, but to one side of the door was a heavy stone that had been quarried somewhere outside the city walls, and jammed into that rock was a sword the size of a claymore.  Metallic coils running along the hilt and into the edges identified it as a heat edge of some sort, and the stone around the blade had clearly been melted into slag and then cooled around it to form a vice-like grip.  The electronics in the grip, however, had long ago been stripped out to ensure that no one would be pulling this sword from its stone.<br/><br/><strong>"This should be the place."</strong>Bunny said, looking at the sword as she pulled up along the sidewalk.<strong>"I'll try and keep things quick on my end, this is more an introduction than anything for me."</strong>she said, scratching her head.