Within the dark of a enclosed space the small breath's of one silently  sleeping could be heard to those nearby, their peace undisturbed as the sea's seemed to be calm preventing the swaying motion of the wave's gave them adequate time to catch up on sleep. It would be the sound of a large object dropping upon the deck of the ship that immediately shook the sleeping figure from their sleep, from the darkness they rose halfway up only to have their head collide with the roof of their small room followed by a low whining sound. In their attempt to see within the darkness the figure reached into their left pocket pulling out a small lighter before using their left hand thumb to flicker it on shedding light into the room by flame.

Now with the darkness properly illuminated one could see the  sea like blue eye's of a female figure who's hair drifted on to one side and was a mixture of both black and white, whilst bearing nothing but a black bra that was over topped by a brown jacket with white trimming on it's edge hoodie along with camouflaged pant's. From far away one may think of her as having too much hair but if they dared to get closer they would find that this figure was one born of the mink tribe, a women named May Wilters.

May blinked her eye's as she heard the ongoing commotion's of what was happening just above her, in her daze she tried to remember why she was even in their in the first place before remembering that she had asked a traveling merchant ship for passage on their vessel to the next island they were going too, it seems they have made it to their destination.

Now that she was awake and fully aware of how she got their her need to escape the darkness and go into the light seemed all but consuming, she quickly flipped the hoodie over her head and walked towards a corner of her room with a bag and two pistols laying on top, she didn't have alot of things save the pistol and a couple million Beli that she earned herself through selling ware's at her old home town. She quickly slipped on the bag and strapped the two guns to her left and right side before using her lighter to see where the door was, she made her way to it and then  grasped the door and opened it and the first thing she would see is spots of light all over the place that seemed to slip through the tiniest of cracks from the deck.

Feeling as if she no longer needed her lighter to find her way, she turned it off and slipped it into her left pocket and then buried her hands into each one as she made her way to the staircase where she could hear multiple voices overlapping as they went about their daily lives or business, when she got close the light from above was so blinding that she had to  use her hands to cover her eye's as they adjusted to the bright sun. When she finally opened them she would look to see a cow coming her way as it was lifted and moved towards the ship while man yelled out directions all over the place and others set food, items and other ware's onto the stone tile's of the docks while seagulls flew around singing their lazy songs, May walked up to a man and simply asked, "Excuse me sir, where are we?"

The man simply smiled before answering, "Why..your in the best place to be if your a merchant!! The city of Baltigo!!!?"

Docks of Baltigo:

May repeated the name of the place she now found herself in within her head "Baltigo huh? What a fancy sounding name." May simply looked at the man from the cover of her hoodie and spoke but two words, "Thank you" And quickly proceeded to walk off the board that lead to the stone tile's of Baltigo's floor's. She took a glance around and saw that the street she was on and those ahead were littered with merchant's trying to sell their ware's, this place was indeed a place where merchant's gathered aiming for the same goal to further weight down their pocket's with gold coin.

Watching all the merchant's and their customers talk among themselves to the point where each voice she heard seem to collide with one another, May begun to regret leaving the island of Notice as she begun to brood about how her business was just starting to boom and she could have made alot more money since her customer base was large and her competition was scarce, however despite those thought's rampaging within her skull like a angry bee hive she knew her decision was the one she wanted most. The island of Notice was a fair size but she had lived in the forest for so long far from civilization that she almost felt like she was just like any beast's you would find in the forest yet she felt a hinge of captivity there, she became so fed up with how she lived that leaving the island and deciding to begin her own journey traveling around the world was all but a fantasy she wanted to make a reality and properly indulge in.

However being on Notice and dreaming of a better life but actually doing it was a different story, at least back on the island she knew people and had some connections to help her, but as she stood in place as people passed her by chatting among themselves she realized just how alone she felt in that moment and how she had nobody to call "friend". May inhaled before exhaling a deep sigh as if her own thought's took alot of energy out of her, she started to continued walking once more needing a change of scenery to remind her just why her decision was worth the trouble, as she walked down the row's of merchant's from the cover of her hoodie she saw many item's from around the world that she had no idea ever existed even in her wildest dream's, May had never particular been found of her mink heritage but right now she was thrilled with her hyper sensitive nose that made the smell of the various foods around that much sweeter and delectable enough for to want to blow all her food simply trying the food all around her.

As she continued to walk around the city of Baltigo enjoying what it had to offer she would soon find herself at the back of a large crowd, as she tried to look towards the front she could see a small human boy with ripped clothing near his sleeve's matched with the dreadful panic of someone who just got caught, she chuckled at the sight assuming that the boy had tried to cheat someone out of their money but quickly continued on her way. Before she even got ten feet from the crowd her stomach growled and she unconsciously released a loud whining sound that anyone nearby could hear before she regained her sense's, a light flush of red would go across her face before she quickly tried to move away from the scene as she was somewhat embarrassed by her own animal like sounds in such a large human crowd, she would tell herself that everyone heard it and was now looking at her like some type of dirty mutt which caused her to slip into a back alley to take a short break from the crowds.

Within the confine's of the alley way she lightly held her stomach as it growled at her with the signal that she needed to feed herself, she had been so immersed by the different culture's and trinkets around her that she neglected the signs of her own growing hungry that lead to this point, she now begun looking from the clutch's of a alley for a merchant that was perhaps selling something that could wade her hungry for now and quickly found exactly what she was looking for. It wasn't exactly a huge cart but from a distance she could see apples with a red shine to them that looked absolutely divine, May sense of hunger quickly override whatever embarrassment she had felt earlier and quickly rushed to the man holding down the cart and then spoke, "Ill take four of your finest apple's please." The merchant didn't bother to glance at her but told her the price while reading a newspaper and May quickly unstrapped her bag and pulled out the required money, the guy would finally pay attention as he would slip her purchase into a brown bag and gave it to her as she gave him the money before waving her off.

Since the cart owner waved her off May decided to walk away from his cart just enough so that she wouldn't be in his direct line of sight. Now that she wasn't in the way of the apple cart's business she outstretched her right hand into the bag and picked up one of the apples she just purchased, it was one of the most freshest looking apple's she ever did see, not even the few apple's she grow in her mini garden back at Notice produced such quality. May pulled it closer to her nose and took a whiff of it's scent, although she looked human in nature May still held some of the urges of her species and one of those qualities was  a sensitive nose, she took a whiff of the apple and it smelt even more divine up close, it's smell was a combination of something sweet and earthy that made May's mouth water a bit and her tail wag unconsciously side to side.

May couldn't contain herself anymore, she opened her mouth slightly to bite into the delicious fruit in front of her but suddenly she felt a tap at her shoulder, when she turned around she would be meant with a man who appearance was so unexpected that she unconsciously jumped back as it turned out to be what her parent's used to describe as a greater mink, those who appearance looked  more human than most with their limbs still animal like but functioned like a human's. The man begun to speak plainly, "Good-day, I'm not trying to be rude but what was it on your person that made that loud Polar Bear like screech?" As he asked the question he would casually reach inside her bag of apple's and she would look down at his hand as her eye's slightly squinted in confusion, before he pulled one out and took a bite of it saying how fresh it was while May's face turned to that of shock that he just eat one of her apple's so casually without asking.

May quickly backed up six meters away from from while hugging her bag of apple's between her breast's tightly as she looked at the man with suspicion, "W-w--w-what are you doing?! Who are you?!" May head started running with a thousand answers to the man's appearance and when she came up with one she believed to be true she gasped loudly before crouching  down as a  depressive aura surrounded her, "Ah...let me guess, you come here to kill me as part of the mink tribe's tradition since im just a no good runaway..i knew leaving the island was a terrible idea, stupid, stupid May." She had been so caught up in her own delusions she didn't even remember his original question.

She would hear the sound of the greater mink laughing at her before he spoke up, "I guess Zou has changed alot since I was abducted three years ago. If anyone was coming to hunt runaways, I guarantee it'd be one of the targets at the top of their list. You don't have to worry. I'm not with the traditionalist faction. I'm the worst kind of Mink too... A Bandit." he then paused and bent down to be eye level with her, "Besides... I'm a half-half. The human blood inside of me forfeits my rights to my clans name." After hearing that May calmed down not holding her bag tightly like before and spoke back "Ah...well i wouldn't know i actually never been to the land of Zou, i was born on the human island of Notice.. so i guess im kinda in the same boat as you with not being accepted and all.."" It took several minutes but May's brain finally processed the last word he spoke "Bandit", she suddenly flinched and held her apple bag even tighter as she made a very scared face while her body trembled, "Are you here to steal my apples then!?!"

Before the conversation went further May's fears and delusions would be penetrated by the sound of a growling stomach she knew all to well that was coming straight from the man's body, it was such a clear sound that it shocked May back into reality as she realized that he was just hungry like she was, "Jake. Is there anywhere around these parts we can grab a bite to eat. Foods on me." He would say and although May hadn't notice until now he seemed to have a tail that was wrapped around a boy that was named Jake as he called him, Jake seemed to be really hungry to as the mere mention of the promise of food made him very excited as May could see a glimmer in his eye's as the boy explained that there was a inn up ahead that bad the best Soba and Fried Noodles around, but became completely depressed and mentioned that he owed a bill there and that he would skip the event since he wouldn't be able to show his face there.

The man seemed to be dead set on the idea as he simply asked what direction the establishment was in not acknowledging Jake's explanation on why he shouldn't go, but thinking about it in another way his words could easily be translated that he would simply pay for the lad's previous and current bill, when she thought of what he said that way the greater mink wasn't so bad as she thought. Breaking her out of her mental note's would be the sound of the greater mink extending the invitation to join them at the restaurant for a meal in exchange for some information about Zou with a wicked smile, rather or not his face was intentional or not it seemed to attract the stare's of the humans nearby and May begun to felt like hundreds of glare's were pointed her way and it made her kinda sweat which caused her to breath slightly heavier as if she was a actual dog since she couldn't fully control herself with her delusions kicking in, not wanting to be alone with all those stare's at her that felt as if something was running up her spine she quickly ran until she was right next to the greater mink before speaking, "I don't have any information on Zou but i will join you for the meal, i won't make you pay for it thought."

Before they got any further the man would reach into one of his pockets and pull out a coin, he then flipped it at the apple vendor paying for apple's as he put one into May's bag and took some for himself, despite saying he was a bandit he actually payed for his stuff and even gave back what he took from her, May actually couldn't see him in a bad light the way she had originally did before talking to him. Now with debts out of the way they begun to follow Jake heading for the restaurant, the man begun to speak while they kept on route, "It's been awhile since I've met someone from my Tribe. I guess we're two rejects sharing a meal. Sounds like the setup for some bad romance novel." May tail begun to wag excitedly as a slight blush appeared on her face, "R-r-romance?! That's indecent!!" Contrary to her words, May had never been in love yet always read stories about it as a little girl, to her "love" was nothing more than a fantasy yet she craved for it.

It didn't take them long until they reached the restaurant, Jake seemed to be boiling with excitement that he broke free from the man's side and quickly took a seat by the third booth from the entrance, which out looked the street they'd be exiting off. Although both of them didn't seem to mind or even notice May begun to feel the stare's of the patrons of the restaurant vividly, she wouldn't run away as she had already agreed to dine with the boy's and this was after all the first time she had good company since Pier had passed but more than that it was a chance to talk to another mink, it was embarrassing but May knew almost nothing about the culture of her tribe.

Although Jake had already found them seats they were soon stopped by a lower mink like May who had seemed to be working at the inn as a waitress of some sorts and spoke to them, "Welcome to The Kasumi Inn. Coming to dine or maybe grab a room for the night?" Upon hearing the second part of what she said May flinched as her face turn bright red while twisting into a light scowl as she thought about if they actually did grab a room together which made her tail stand straight up nearly frozen in place, The man quickly spoke up revealing his intentions, "Shishishi... Room? I'm here for the Fried Noodles. Can I get a portion with Fish?" May finally snapped out of her delusions to speak as well, "Ah, ill have umm...what he is having i guess."

After that the women would engage in small talk but May had already stopped listening, she was overcome with thought's about the situation she currently found herself in, she was now having lunch with a greater mink in the presence of human's and it made her feel somewhat extremely uncomfortable, unknowing to her she was unconsciously rubbing her left arm with her right and made whispering like whining noise's, she couldn't exactly help it as it was just one of the many traits of being a lower dog mink. Tuning back into the conversation only to find it was finished and she said something about meeting the owner before she showed them to the seat Jack had already been waiting in, Jake and the man were on one end, and May was on the other, he begun to look directly into her eye's and kept his gaze focus which made her heart slightly beat faster as she had never looked into another mink's yet alone a males eye's for this long, he finally spoke breaking the silence, "Tell me about Notice."

May blinked at him, she simply blinked a couple of more times until her face became a light scowl as she darted arrows into him with her eye's but finally spoke, "Listen you...Usually when you meet someone you ask them their name's, My name is May Wilters, and you are?" Once he answered the question she would huff with her chest that made her breasts slightly bounce before answering his question now, "Well..Notice is relatively large island." May begun to look into the window as if digging into her memories of the past, "The people there are very business orientated priding profit over anything else, those who don't earn the island money in some way or form are either casted out or put to manual labor to make up for what they can't do." May's face became alittle sad, "It's honestly not a very good place for most..."

Before he told her his name he would actually say as a type of rule it was taboo to say your real name in Baltigo, May's eye's widened at that statement and she begun to sweat somewhat as she thought about how she was now like a open book in a whole city of merchant's out for her money. With that he continued speaking, "I'm not from  Baltigo though. My Master always used to say, they are two people you should never hide anything from. People you share meals with and those who watch your back. In a few minutes, you'll fall into the latter. My name's Jackal. Never had a last name. Actually now that I think about it, most Minks on Zou don't." May slightly smiled as she begun to speak herself with a depressed aura around her as she darted her eye's elsewhere, "Actually the name May Wilters was given to me by a human male named Pier, i actually never had a name until he gave me one, you see my parent's were much like Notice business orientated, since i wasn't earning them much of anything they saw no reason to name me and later left me their."

Once explaining how Notice actually was the man she would now recall as Jackel smirked while laughing, "Business oriented huh? Shishishi... Sounds like my kind of country." She sat there silently, perhaps if her experience of the island had been better she would have laughed with him but unfortunately that was not the case of how things happened. The hostess returned with them taking drink orders, Jackal ordered a glass of milk and Jake ordered some juice, May spoke up, "Ill take water please." The waitress quickly scribbled the order's into her notepad before dashing off once more but then Jackal started the conversation again and May turned to look at him, "Notice... Sounds like a truly tough place to live. Zou's completely different. Even as a black sheep... The people from the Dog Tribe made me feel welcomed."

May eye's widened as he said "Dog Tribe" She had never met anyone from her specific mink tribe so she became interested in hearing the story, as if sensing that Jackal went on, "Since you're not a native... I'll give you context to my last statement. Essentially, for every mammal on this earth... Each clan has an animal that are said to the First Minks. Dog... Deer... They're tons of birth clans. Much like you, I'm from the Dog Clan. My household's leader was a man by the name of Becko. Who happened to be my ol' man. He was pretty rough around the edges but he protected me even though I came out as a half-bred. See. It's not like being mixed with Lesser Mink's lowers your status. It's just the children had never... Even most of the adults hadn't seen a half mink in there lifetime."

After listening to his story about his early life and how things were in Zou May lightly laughed as she realized the reason she didn't feel like he was such a bad guy, they were actually from the same Mink tribe, May hadn't noticed it before but observing his non-human parts he indeed seem to have the fur of a Jackal like his name suggested. Jackal concluded his speech, "To make a long story short... We got invaded one day... and then I was abducted from Zou." Jake quickly interrupted into the conversation "Mink? Is that what'cha are? I thought you just like dressing up that way! Mink's are pretty common on Baltigo' tho'. Especially in the Seventh District, that area is ran by a mercenary called Ursa."

Now that Jake was done interrupting May then leaned forward to the table and grabbed Jackal's hand by reaching for it wide a sincere smile , "For what it's worth im sorry you got taken away from your home, but i  would have done the same thing as your old man, even a half breed mink is still a mink, your still one of us~"  May continued once she let hi hand go, "Just like you i had someone who cared for me, a human named Pier. He was already somewhat into his elderly year's when i meant him but he took me in without any hesitation after finding me alone in Notice's forest, after that i started calling him uncle and he started to teach me things,  the way humans work in and out emotionally and physically wise, what plant's were safe to eat and not to eat, he even taught me how to use the two gun's at my side's so that i could hunt even without him. Unfortunately he is gone now but he still lives with me in spirit, you know?"

Once finishing her side story about how her early life with uncle Pier was Jackal would make that mischievous grin before he spoke, "Shishishi... I've never held another Mink's hand before Jake. Whatever should I do?" In that moment May had not realized that she was still holding his hand despite her intent to remove it earlier causing her to stare at her hand empty minded before Jake answered, "Do what my papa did for my momma when they first met. Make a woman of her!" Jake's answer called May  to jerk her hand away as she begun blushing harshly in embarrassment, yet her tail was wagging like crazy at the thought of a possible romance, she spoke to the young boy wishing to correct his earlier statement while being caught about her own delusions on how her life will ultimately end as Jackal simply laughed at Jake's answer. "Jake, you shouldn't say such things about adult affairs!! It's not like a female mink like me can ever find love with my terrible fur coat and attitude! I'll probably die alone somewhere in a hole.."

In a moment of silence where everyone started to calm down Jackal would speak, "I haven't had a day to relax like this in awhile. Unless I'm with my crew... I usually don't laugh this much either. Thank you for sharing your story Miss Wilters. I'm sure your Uncle was a good Mink. When I first escaped as a slave, I was overly conscious of many things."  He begun to pull downwards at  his green striped turtled neck sweater showing a slave brand, "However, I learned that not all people, human or otherwise, have wicked hearts. Sinbad. Amalia. Gilbard. Even that jackass of a brother I have Bazil. This world is filled with many kinds of people. Although. I'm not exactly a saint myself. I am a Bandit through and through."

Just as he finished the food arrived at their table and the three of them begun to eat, as she watched the two boy's scarf down their food May although he hadn't stated it directly would assume Jackal to be a pirate of some sorts from how he spoke, on Notice they often spoke about how pirate's were all ill nature and would ruin your live's the moment you meant them, yet here she was eating with one of them and despite all she was told she couldn't see him as anything but another person trying to survive the world the best they can but still held goodness in them. Resigning her thought's May begun to eat her food subtlety wanting to enjoy the taste of food much different from what she used to dine on in Notice, it was more appealing in smell than the apple she had earlier and when she took a bite the flavor seemed to explode in her  mouth like a high powered explosive, May cupped her cheek with her left hand while making a very relaxed face crediting how delicious the food was to anyone watching.

Her admiration would be disturb as she heard Jake talking about how he used to visit this restaurant with his parents, she was about to ask what happened to them but Jackal beat her to the punch, but before even Jake could answer a elderly woman and man would walk up to them with the women carrying a air of authority around her but spoke with quite a bit of spirit in her voice, "His parents...They fell to the tragedy that most married couples suffer with here. Unless you can truly afford it, living outside of the Ninth District is a gamble. You become victim to the nature of Baltigo. Jake's mother was... sold to a Brothel in the Second District. His father was murdered for opposing Mother."

As the scene played out May was silent like Jackal as she listened in, it seemed Jake was quite more than the little boy he made himself out to be as his past was no more pleasant than her's or Jackal. After there display of what would be considered as a family reunion was over the elderly couple would finally turn to her and Jackal, "Sorry... Where are our manners today... My name is Catherine." the female owner stated. "And my name's Gregory. We're the owners of this Inn. Kasumi is our family name." the male owner explained.

May would speak first with a smile on her face and her tail weaved back and forth, "Hello Catherine and Gregory, my name is May and this here is my friend Jackal, as you can tell were both Tourists of sorts and Jake here told us about your lovely restaurant and might i add i am glad he did as the food was excellent~!" From the corner of her eye May could see that the sun was slowly setting and since she didn't know anyone she would pose a question, "Earlier one of the workers here stated you rent rooms? Could you possibly rent one to me? ill pay full price of course."

From another section of the restaurant two man were sitting at a table enjoying their meal and ale, but the moment May and Jackal had walked in they begun watching them with utter disguise that they were allowed to even dine in the same area as them, but the moment they heard May's question the male on the left who was 5'5 with thinning gray hair wearing a business hoot exploded in rage, "OLD MAN! YOU CAN'T RENT A ROOM TO SOME FLEA RIDDEN MINK!!?" his partner nodded in agreement to his companions outburst and the whole restaurant went silent.

May after asking the question would be surprised after two men who had been eating in silence suddenly exploded into frothing anger after her inquire about booking a room, the owner's facial expressions changed and she was sure the spirited elderly women was about to give them a mouth full, but before they could Jake in his own actions picked up and tossed the remaining noodles in his bowl towards the men's face, the bowl connected covering one of the two man in a mixture of fish bits, sauce, onions and noodle scraps before he yelled. "It's not nice to insult people based on their looks! Dipshit!" as he said while sticking out his tongue in a childish like manner.

"Why you little cunt-" the man shouted as he begun reaching towards his waist,May knew he was about to shoot at Jack and she had taken quite a liking to him in the past few hours they shared, she quickly reached for Darcy ready to immediately shoot the man's weapon out of his own hand before he fired, but before she could Jackal had opened his mouth and suddenly a mini explosion happened on the man holding the gun located at his shoulder sending him toppling to the ground. The man's partner looked at his smoking shoulder while he was rolling around in pain on the floor, Jackal spoke up while the man tried to recover from the pain that was coursing through his body with his hand clutching the shoulder, "I don't mind you voicing your racist opinions... Hey... opinions are opinions... but if your going to pull a weapon on a child.... Shishishi... You better be prepared for my next shot to be a fatal one."

The man's partner quickly help him to get onto his feet and landed his aid, but the man consumed in his anger while being carried out continued his rage with one last sentence before being carried out,"This isn't over you FLEA BAG!" Now that two rude guest's were gone everyone begun to reflect on just how Jackal managed to do what he did, May herself only saw him open his mouth in a spitting motion, she begun to wonder if perhaps he was what they called "One of the devils of the sea" back on the island of Notice. Bringing her out of her thought's Catherine spoke with a displeased tone, "Idiots. And they didn't even pay for their meal." Jackal answered without hesitation,  "Don't worry about it. I'll cover their meal. Sorry if I stopped you from defending us old man... but I'm not one to let my elders defend me." As if offended by Jackal calling him old Gregory spoke up with his chest heaved and pride in his tone, "Elders!? I'm a young brimming sixty-eight, I'll have you know!" Jake would say lowly but loud enough to hear while picking his nose, "Old man... I thought you we're seventy-two." Catherine would add a word in jokingly to Jake "Hohoo... try adding on five more years."

The group would share a moments laughter before Jackal spoke, "Shishishi... Gregory was it? I think I'll take a room too." As he said that Jackal would sit back down but also begun putting his purple and black polka dot scarf in the way of his face, was he hiding after all that? How weird May thought to herself. Gregory face was perplexed as he spoke "Problem is... We're overbook at the moment. We don't have any-" Gregory stated stopping himself halfway. "Actually... With those men gone... the room I was preparing for them would be available. I only have one room though... so you two will just have to share." Jackal stated quickly, "I won't be staying past tonight... I just need a place to lay low for bit."As he said that he looked her way and winked which caused her heart to skip a beat all of a sudden as she realized they would be in the same room all night which made her blush which was meant with his usual grin, "I'll even pay for half the room." Jack added words of encouragement, "Remember what I told you earlier Jackal!" Jake extended his thumb outwards for a thumbs up, Jackal simply nodded and grinned at the child's statement. Even Catherine would join in as she spoke while nodding her head, "Hoho... I'll take Jake to our room tonight."

By this point May face was blushing furiously to the point she was almost as red as a freshly picked apple, not only was this the day she would experience talking to a male mink for so long but it seems she was destined to share the same room with him for a night as well, May let out a low whimper in defeat at her situation while talking to herself with the small group only being able to hear her, "I bet he will come to my bed in the middle of the night and try to violate me, then leave me to pay for the bill all by myself..."

With the arrangements settled Gregory would begun to show May and Jackal to their room before leaving, Catherine would stay behind but pulled Jackal off to the side to speak to him, "I dont know what matter of magic you pulled back there but if you would listen to a elderly fool's request i would be most grateful, Jake is young and has his whole life to live, it's not right to have it wasted in Baltigo. Please take him with you, the boy is childish but he is a hard worker! Even if it's just to the next island take him out of Baltigo, the man from earlier wore the trademark uniform of the same people who took his mother and i am sure they will be back to take him as well and possibly put him in the slave market."