"I learned a few shortcuts to memorizing things, back in high school," Andy added. "Then again, if it's a series I really like, then I just never really forget things. Like Black Jewels. I had to read through the series three times to catch everything, but now I can spit out anything about it." She grinned and sighed. "I still spaz every time I read it."

"I know how that is," Belle said with a little laugh, shaking her head. "I have some books like that too."

"Some?" Duo questioned as he tied off the braid.

"Okay, more than some. But all the same."

"Hey, at lest we're literate," Andy pointed out. "I've come across some pretty flaky trainers before. I won't say blonde, because I have my hair highlighted every so often, but I've seen some pretty ditzy girls out there." She grinned. "And you know, I almost feel bad messing with them. Almost."

"Almost but not really. It's just too much fun," Belle said with a grin. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She stretched a little before leaning back against Duo. "So what shall we do now?"

"We could head into town and do some shopping," Andy suggested. "I know I could use some new shoes, since these are wearing out, and a new pair of jeans wouldn't hurt, either." She nudged one of her worn hiking boots with a foot. They definitely looked worn and ready to fall apart.

Belle laughed a little. "Yeah, I know what you mean," she said, nodding to her own boots, which were worn. "We'll go see what all we can find around town and see about earning some money." She grinned.

"Sounds good," Andy replied. "This seems like a decent-size town, so there should be a good selection of stores to check." Not like the little towns she'd been coming across in her travels. They seemed so much like her little backwater hometown that she never wanted to stay long.

Belle led the way out of the hotel, starting to look around the town to see what was available. She found a few clothing stores, some supplies stores, and a weapons shop for the bishis, along with some restaurants.

"Well, where do we want to start?"

"Let's get supplies first," Andy suggested. "After that, we can see how much we have left for clothes and other such things." It sounded reasonable to her, at least. After all, she could wait on new boots or jeans if she needed to, but she couldn't exactly go without supplies.

"Sounds reasonable to me." Belle headed for the nearest supply store, looking around and figuring out what she needed. Eclipse helped, picking up a few items that she overlooked.

Andy went in as well, looking around for the things she knew she needed. Every so often, she would ask Sesshoumaru what they had and what they didn't have, just to make sure she wasn't missing something. She needed less than she thought, which surprised her a little, but that just meant she had more money to use to get new boots.

A few days later, with more supplies and quite a bit more money, Belle and Andy headed out again, to find out what was going on and see what they could see. To boldly go where no man has gone before!

Ahem. Anyway, they were going down the road, chatting idly, when Belle noticed something odd. "Hey. Is that a guy up there?" she asked, frowning and pointing to a young man of maybe 19 or 20 years sitting in the middle of the road, looking utterly confused.

Andy looked where Belle was pointing and raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting..." she said. "He doesn't look like he got mugged, though... You know what, I bet he's new." She looked at Belle. "I've tripped over some newbies before, he's got that same look in his face."

Belle nodded and walked over to him. "Hey, you okay?"

"Where am I?" The guy looked up at her with bright blue eyes.

"Well, that's a little complicated." Belle smiled and offered him a hand up. "You got an email, right?"

"Yeah, for some online game thing..." He trailed off when he saw Belle's Eclipse glaring at him from behind her back. "Not online?"

"Not exactly." Belle couldn't help but smile.

"I'm Andy," Andy said. "And the tall one behind me is my Sesshoumaru. Trust me, this isn't some online game. This is the real deal." She paused when she heard a faint sound from behind her, and it took her a moment to realize that it was Sesshoumaru. He was... growling? Looking over her shoulder, she sent him a look that told him to stop, and he gradually did. She'd have to have a chat with him later. He was acting strange.

"Don't worry if things seem confusing right now," she added to the new guy. "You'll get the hang of things pretty quickly."

The guy shook his head a little and took Belle's hand, standing up. "I'm Seth," he said, shaking some blonde hair out of his eyes.

"I'm Belle," she replied with a smile. "That's Eclipse." She glanced back at Eclipse to find him glaring at Seth. Shrugging it off as just him being over-protective and paranoid, she turned to Seth again. "Come on, we should head back to town and get you some newbie freebies."

"We're only a few hours' walk from town," Andy said, "so why don't we have some lunch and then head back? It's a nice day today, after all." That way, she could give her guys a chance to stretch and walk around, and maybe have that talk with Sesshoumaru.

Belle nodded and started walking with Seth, calling out the rest of her bishis and naming each one. He recognized a few of them and started asking all the questions that came to mind about bishiworld, looking between her and Andy.

Eclipse walked a little behind Belle, keeping an eye on Seth, his eyes narrowed distrustfully.

Andy let her own bishies out, making sure there was enough space around to let Temeraire and Lien out. She grinned when she saw the look on Seth's face.

"Yeah," she said. "Dragons. They're actually really interesting to talk to, as long as you're like a calculus student or something. I knew I should never have taught Temmy to calculate circles..."

Seth looked waaaay up at the dragons, his eyes wide. "Wow. That's amazing. And a little surprising. I mean, isn't this place about... character?" He paused for a moment. "Okay, yeah, I guess I get it. It's just...."

"I know. They're huge." Belle laughed a little, grinning. "You'll get used to it."

Temeraire looked down at Seth curiously.

"Hello, there," he said. "My name is Temeraire. Who are you?"

While Temeraire was busy freaking Seth out, Andy went over to Sesshoumaru. The taiyoukai was sitting against a tree, glaring at everything and nothing.

"Sess?" Andy ventured. Sesshoumaru looked at her. "Sess, what's bugging you?"

"It's nothing," Sesshoumaru replied shortly.

"Don't bullshit me, Sess, I can tell something is bothering you," Andy said. Sesshoumaru said nothing. Rolling her eyes, she sighed in frustration. "Fine, be that way."

"Seth." He looked up at the dragon with big eyes.

Belle laughed a little. "He's new, Temmy. He just got here. And I think we're going to have to help him catch his first bishi."

Seth looked over at Belle when she said that. "Huh?"

"You have two weeks to catch a bishi before you go home permanently." Belle shrugged. "It's one of those things."

"If you think about it, two weeks is a long time," Andy added as she came back. "It only took me five days to catch Sess, and that's counting the time I spent getting lost and backtracking to town agan." Going into her bag, she pulled out a few packs of ramen. "Once we get you to town, they'll tell you everything you need to know, and they'll give you your first set of bishiballs."

"Oh. Okay." Still looking a little confused, Seth leaned back against a tree, looking between the two of them. "So do you two travel together?"

"We have been for a little while, yeah," Belle said with a little smile. "Makes life more interesting."

"Well can I travel with you?"

"I don't see anything wrong with it..." Andy said. She glanced at her bishies, and got various affirmatives from everyone but Sesshoumaru. He just glared and stayed silent. Andy turned to Belle. "What say you?"