It seemed as though Raphael's trip to Crocus was almost going to come to an end. The information he had gathered with Rowan, and the interrogation of Simon that had almost failed had all lead up to this. He was going to find the headquarters of that small dark guild, and finish them off so he could head back to Orchida. He had been spending a little too much time in Crocus as is, and it would probably be wise for him to head back soon anyways.

He had realized during this trip that he had barely interacted with anyone in his guild - he only knew some of them by name, a fact that was rather embarrassing to Raphael. He had spent a long time training his magical capacity, but if he wanted to achieve his goals he would need to actually get to know his guild mates. Having strong companions was a key part of the life of a hero, and the fact he was so behind in that field was disgraceful.

But now was not the time to be thing of such matters, he was going to be facing off against Orion's Cabal, the rather dumb sounding dark guild that was stirring up minor trouble around Crocus. They weren't so much a guild, so much as they were just a group of hooligans researching magic, who just so happened to be committing minor crimes. Honestly, it was a wonder that the Rune Knights hadn't easily taken care of them, but he figured that it was just such a small job, it was below them.

Regardless, this didn't matter too much to Raphael. Every job was an opportunity to test himself, and show himself off to the rest of the world. Everything was going to add up for him; all the jobs he took, all the experiences he was going to have; they were all going to help him become a great hero. And this ambition had now brought him to the door of a small apartment building in the outskirts of Crocus. It seemed abandoned, with boarded up windows and a door which seemed to be hanging from a single hinge. It was a mess; that must mean it was the place he had been told about.

He thought back on what Simon had told him: The group was small, there were only three other members. Fienna, a rowdy woman who thought herself to be some expert fighter, and uses some sort of body enhancement modification and a sword; Pedis, a magician who cast various spells through the use of a lute; and their leader, Vanya, who had never used magic in front of Simon, but it seemed to have something to do with runes, for what that was worth. It seemed pretty reasonable to Raphael to storm in, it was a bit arrogant, but he felt like he could take them on.

And so Raphael walked up to the door, swinging it open and walking into the building, a smirk on his face. It was a fairly odd spectacle: Raphael himself was already an oddity, his blue clothing, blue hair, and his red eye mask which trailed behind him always caused him to stick out like a sore thumb, but the fact he was breaking into some abandoned building only added more absurdity to the situation. Raphael didn't mind though, in fact, he embraced it; the more people who saw what he was about to do, the better. He hoped he would be able to draw the fight outside of the building once it started, preferably destroying it in the process. The flashier the better.

What had brought him here?

That was the question. The old building was long since abandoned, that much could be told by anyone who'd seen it from the outside. Windows that were shattered, walls that were beginning to cave in, plaster crumbling to the ground in chunks. It was a wonder that the building hadn't been condemned or overrun with homeless. More amazing still was the condition that the central rooms had been in. They were pristine, kept spotless as if someone had been living in them until recently.

Finn had been told that if he wanted a real adventure, he should come here. He had been roaming the town gate when he bumped into three people and offered to help them with their large amount of equipment. The four got talking, and before he knew it they were directing him. Some odd girl with a sword, some weird guy, and a third man who called himself Vanya- The only name that Finn extracted during the entire back and forth.

So he had come, expecting some sort of excitement. All he was able to discover within the confines of the building was disappointment. There was nothing, no evil to vanquish nor monsters to do battle with. He had come out to the building after those three had told him rumor of a dark organization that used it for a hideout, and yet there was nothing. Perhaps the organization was currently out exploring, or had already evacuated? Or perhaps-

Was it a trap?

Not a chance, Finn quickly decided. He had been in the building for a while now. If it was a trap meant to keep him or kill him, certainly there would have been some actions taken by now. Besides, even if it was a trap, Finn was a complete outsider. The amount of preparation that would have gone into cleaning out the building or luring him in didn't match his involvement within the whole ordeal.

Despite his mind coming to that conclusion, the front door swung itself open. Standing there, in the doorway, was a masked man who looked much more confident than Finn. Finn's eyes widened, deciding not to make a noise. No way. No friggen way. This was actually a trap?!

The first thing that Raphael noticed when he barged into the house was that on the inside, it was much nicer. He had thought that the group would be rather messy, but they had done an incredibly nice job of making this place livable, especially due to the shape it was in right now. The second thing Raphael noticed was that he was not alone in the house. Standing dead ahead of him was a blonde haired kid, around his age. He seemed to be frozen; was he in awe of Raphael's intimidating presence? He didn't fit the description of Vanya or Pedis he had been given though... So who was he? Had Simon tricked him? Raphael's eyes narrowed; that wasn't fair, he had caught the guy not once, but twice, fair and square! But then again, the man didn't seem to be the lying type, so maybe he hadn't known about this kid. There were many different explanations, but no matter how Raphael looked at it, it was clear the person in front of him was incredibly suspicious.

He pointed a finger at the kid, not only as a means to reference to him, but also as a bit of a threatening gesture. Doing his best to sound somewhat intimidating, Raphael addressed the person in front of him, making sure to keep his eyes on him.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here? Do you know what this place is?"

Even if the guy had nothing to do with the group, he was still sneaking around some abandoned building, which was pretty sketchy activity. The more he thought about it, the more Raphael began to convince himself that this guy was an enemy, after all, that was a much more exciting situation. Ambushed by the mysterious fifth member of a dark organization, their line of defense against intruders raiding their base. It was rife with potential to be an amazing showdown, and Raphael had to do his best to suppress a grin. It was bad form to show how gleeful you were during an interrogation, after all, that sort of thing wasn't very heroic.

The shocked silence was pretty obvious. As this newly appeared man spoke, Finn couldn't help but have his mind wonder. A guy who came in as if he owned the place. A mask to hide his face from the civilians who may be around him. His accusing tone, aggressive body language, and even the way he worded his question. Everything about it screamed super villain. He had the right information, and that meant that this guy was some sort of bad person! Finn stepped back slightly, though it wasn't in retreat. It was placing down his foot, making his stance more sturdy and setting his determination.

"Obviously I know what this place is! And I know that you're an evil man!"

There he had it. Calling out the villain before the nefarious plots could begin. He was going to stop this guy, putting an end to whatever evil acts actually happened in this building. Maybe, for a moment, Finn should stop and wonder whether or not this whole thing was a trick. After all, there was no quest involving these guys that he knew of. He was just acting on the words of a few strangers he bumped into.

Raphael scoffed at the boy's outrageous claim. He? A villain? What sort of idiot was this guy? Raphael looked nothing like a villain, why he went out of his way to look like a hero! His blue clothes had a vibrancy that no evil-doer would parade around in; his eye mask served as an indicator of some sort of heroic undertones to his character; his hair, dyed a light blue/turquoise color would make any protagonist envious; and his youthful appearance bore none of the horrors that villainy entailed. Thrown off by the scathing comment, Raphael laughed, in a mixture of shock and amusement.

"I... I'm sorry... Me? An evil man? A villain? I don't know whatever misguided moral code you've deluded yourself into following, and honestly I couldn't care less. If you know what this place is though, then surely you must know who I am, and why I'm here. If that's the case, then further talk is unnecessary."

And with that, Raphael withdrew his pointed finger, and posed, one hand in front of his face, the other stuck out from his side. After a few seconds he got out of the pose, and got into a more traditional fighting stance, one arm outstretched with it's palm up, the other held up to the side of his head, fingers pointing straight ahead towards the person in front of him. An excited grin was spread on Raphael's face; he was actually a little happy negotiations had fallen through, this would be an interesting opportunity to engage an enemy, and show off just how flashy he could be. He waited for a response from the one in front of him, prepared for any action from him. He was curious about what the mystery fifth man had to offer.

"Come on!"

Finn stared for a few minutes before getting into a more thoughtful pose. What would Jake do? The thought popped into his mind, circulating a few times as he pondered what exactly his older brother would do in a situation like this. Well, chances are he'd suggest they all just talk it out. Finn had tried, that, and it hadn't worked. What would he do next, then? If Finn was the same man he'd came to Crocus being, he'd have already engaged in combat with this guy. Something felt off though. Something weird was definitely happening, and his gut told him that this guy wasn't a bad guy.

If you couldn't trust your gut, what could you trust? In the end, Finn had to try. It was his duty as an adventurer, and as Finn. It was who he was- To want to protect everyone. If this guy wasn't a villain, then Finn couldn't possibly raise a fist in righteous anger. "I can't help but feel as though there's a misunderstanding. I'm a good guy! I got tattoos to prove it!"

Raphael paused at the kid's new statement, the smile fading from his face. It seemed like he had realized that Raphael meant business and was no backing down. Was he really that intimidating? Still, the claim about tattoos which proved he was a good guy was incredibly dubious. Tattoos were usually a sign of not being a good guy; that much he knew. Besides, how did he know that this wasn't some sort of double bluff? Though he was still wary, and kind of itching for a fight, Raphael restrained himself. Whatever this guy was up to, he wasn't attacking him yet, and it wouldn't look good on Raphael's part if he attacked someone who wasn't making any moves against him.

"Well, I'm glad you've come to your senses; though you won't convince me so easily. What makes your tattoos such definitive proof that you are innocent? It doesn't explain at all why you are here, working with the Cabal."

Raphael figured he would drop part of the name of the organization. He made sure not to say it was called Orion's Cabal, not only because the name was lame, but because if the guy slipped up and said that first part, he would be a confirmed enemy. A grin creeping back onto Raphael's face, he waited for a reply from the mysterious blonde kid in front of him. Was this going to turn into a battle of wits instead?

The man seemed suspicious of Finn, and it sort of made sense. Regardless of if Raphael was actually a good guy or not, Finn was an unknown element. Either he was someone they literally could not have been expecting, or Raphael had every reason to suspect him for being a villain. At this point it no longer mattered what the case was, the fact remained that Finn had to ensure that his stance was known. That way, if this man still insisted upon combat, Finn would have no guilt about his own actions. Hell, there was also the chance that this would truly avoid anyone needing to get hurt without reason.

Reaching for the base of his shirt, he'd yank the hoodie and the shirt beneath of it off of him, over his head. As the cool air hit his bare skin, he felt it begin to contract itself into tiny bumps. It was freezing at this time of year, even in this building that was protected from the biting winds. "See?" With his shirt off, the Blue Pegasus tattoo was displayed in the exact center of his chest for Raphael to see.

Raphael was increasingly confused when the person in front of him began to strip off his shirt. However, after a short period of time Raphael understood what was going on. He had wondered how a tattoo would be able to prove innocence, but now that he was seeing said tattoo it was quite simple. This was a Blue Pegasus mage in front of him, apparently. While it didn't necessarily clear the guy of any guilt (he could be a defector, or have a fake tattoo, etc.) Raphael figured that the guy was telling the truth, he didn't seem like the sort to lie about something like that.

Now that the question of the man in front of him's guilt was solved, Raphael figured it was only fitting he prove he wasn't a villain. While it was painfully obvious he was of the heroic persuasion, he might as well spell it out as clearly as possible. Besides, showing off each of their guild tattoos served for a pretty dramatic sort of introduction. To keep the dramatic tension going, he turned around without a word, and began to unzip his jacket. He then slid it off, revealing his black undershirt beneath. He then mirrored the action of pulling the shirt off, revealing the Lamia Scale tattoo that was on his back.

"I imagine this will serve as proof of my innocence as well, I guess. Raphael Monticroix, of Lamia Scale."

And with that, he turned around, facing the stranger from Blue Pegasus in front of him. He did his best to try not to shiver in the cold, maybe this sort of action wasn't exactly necessary. With his introduction finished, he didn't really know what to say, and just stood around waiting for the person in front of him to speak.

Finn smiled at this guy, who he now knew to be Raphael, and gave him a thumbs up. Knowing that they were both from light guilds was certainly a relief, but from what he had heard of Lamia Scale members, that didn't necessarily mean that he wouldn't still get violent. That wasn't something Finn thought poorly of. The idea of a guild master who both allowed and promoted his mages to fight, and fight often, sounded like it would have been a blessing. That was, of course, in comparison to the Blue Pegasus guild master who was against the idea of his mages and members drawing unwanted attention and legal action.

"I'm Finn, good to meet you!" Now that the tension had all but melted away, Finn quickly put on his shirt and jacket once more. "So what actually is this place?" His voice came right as he managed to get the jacket and shirt over his head. "I never really even questioned those three before they told me about this place being bad. What goes on here?"

Raphael didn't know much about Blue Pegasus, save for the fact that the guild was a light one in Hargeon, but he figured that they were a solid bunch of guys. As the guy in front of him introduced himself as Finn, Raphael began to dress himself back up, hoping to once more be warm. A tattoo on the back was pretty inconvenient for showing other people, though he didn't regret it. Every time he thought about it, he could picture a dramatic scene: Him, standing in front of a group of people, defending them from whatever attack, his shirt shredded from some sort of attack, showing the symbol of Lamia Scale to everyone behind him... It was he sort of thing he read about when he was young, the sort of thing he lived for. As unlikely of a situation that would be at this stage of his adventure, the fact that it could be a possibility excited Raphael.

But the placement of his tattoo was not really relevant at all to the matter at hand, and he broke out of the sort of trance he was in, just in time to register Finn's question. It seemed he didn't know much, though he had interacted with some of the members.

"This place? It's the meeting area for a bunch of dark mages. They're a small group, it sounds like you've met them before? I don't know exactly what they do, some kinds of experiments with magic. I'm here on a mission to arrest them, because they've been committing petty crimes around Crocus."

Raphael stretched his hands out a little, and began to walk around, looking for any sort of clues as to where the three mages might be. As he did, he tried to continue his conversation with Finn. He hoped that instead of coming across as rude, he seemed sort of cool, going along doing some investigations while being able to also still chat; showing some level of expertise at multi-tasking.

"So, what were you doing mixed up with that bunch? And why are you here now? You said something about them telling you this place was bad?"

"Oh yeah, about that..."

Finn's mind went back to the whole ordeal. How he had come across the three people who were moving a rather large amount of equipment. How he had offered to help them with it, even helping transport it. How they had fired off a plethora of magic spells at him that he had both dodged, and been about to retaliate for, before they stopped him in a panic. He remembered them explaining that they did that as a test to see if he was physically capable for this dangerous mission that they knew of, regarding this building.

In the end, Finn started to realize something might not be right. At this point, now that Raphael asked, Finn explained everything that happened, all up to the point of Raphael banging the door open. "You know, I'm starting to think that those are the guys you were looking for." Thinking about it again and stroking his chin, another thought flashed into his mind. "They were talking about Orchidia as they walked away. Does that help?"

Raphael frowned as Finn mentioned the information he had on the mages. Orchida? What did they have to do with Orchida? Hadn't he just left there to get to Crocus? Still rummaging around for any sort of clues, Raphael tried to get more information out of Finn; he had given him barely anything to work with.

"What about Orchida? Were they leaving to get there? Planning something there? What else did they say?"

He couldn't help but be a little terse with the boy, he was a little disappointed with how this had turned out. A direct conflict would have been so much more easier than this search for information. Eventually, after a little more searching, Raphael found some sort of trapdoor that, when opened, led down to some basement area. It wasn't particularly hidden, but he was satisfied to have found it. He began to walk down into the depths below, but before he was completely down, he would call back to Finn:

"I found something, if you want to come with me, some help could be nice. You never know what you'll find in sketchy basements, you know?"

"I, uh... Uhm... I don't know. Huh. I probably should have asked I guess? But I didn't know that I should. This is all so confusing."

Finn sounded as if he was fighting an inner turmoil. That wasn't the case, of course. His attempt to situate the events of the day was putting a strain on his brain. He was entirely confused at this point. Who did this? How was this a normal day? All of this was fine with him, of course. He was being given the opportunity to adventure and to meet new people. That being said, he was so damn confused that it was genuinely hurting his head.

As Raphael shouted about a basement, Finn wandered over to the entrance. It was pretty dark down there- Who knew what mysteries it'd hold? "Awesome..." he said under baited breath. Soon, he'd go down with Raphael, looking around at the newly discovered basement. "Wow, this is like the stories. How crazy is this?" He was referring to the stories of evil villains and secret lairs, where the heroes slowly discover the plot before breaking down the evil organization. To Finn it was a funny realization. To Raphael, that analogy may have been the best thing he'd heard all day.