Homeward Bound

Survive

Aeaea...

Vanessa glanced over at the group of 'helpers' she'd been assigned and, once again, groaned.

They weren't unhelpful. They just...weren't entirely useful, either. They all seemed to have some...rather loud personalities, which clashed rather violently with their goal.

The first was named Montgomery, or 'Monty' as he called himself. Vanessa wasn't sure exactly what kind of creature he was, but he appeared to be a rather scaly beast, similar to the 'crocodiles' she'd heard of from Egypt. He seemed to have a bit of an ego, and enjoyed breaking things, if his worn claws were any indication.

The most amiable one was named Chica. She appeared to be some kind of a sky or wind based creature, based off of her clear birdlike appearance. She was the peacekeeper of the group, but also would ditch the group in an instant if she saw something shiny along the road. She was...well-intentioned, if a little hyperactive.

And finally, there was Roxy. She was the only one who Vanessa had actually heard of before-she was the nymph Cassie's surrogate mother. She was a tall, broad shouldered woman with gray hair, but she didn't seem old. She had sharp teeth and claws, and Vanessa knew that on the full moon she would fully transform into a wolf. Until then, the woman seemed to be fine with the more 'wolflike' attributes she was left with. If anything, they seemed to make her more confident.

"How far out is the house?" Vanessa asked as Chica took a few steps ahead.

"Oh, not much farther!" Chica replied. "We need to pass around Victoria's home, get past Eclipse's cliffs, and Freddy's place is just over there! Gregory stays with him!"

"You all know him pretty well, it seems," Vanessa nodded a little.

"We all go way back!" Chica nodded as Monty and Roxy scouted ahead a little. "But Freddy and his partner, Bonnie, were especially close to Gregory's parents. Freddy was his godfather, after all. Then, when all three of them passed away in the Ninety-Seven Battle...well, Freddy took Gregory in after that."

"Like Roxy did with Cassie?" Vanessa asked, nodding to the lupine woman ahead of them.

"Yeah. She was basically Cassie's surrogate aunt before, so she just took her in when her parents died," Chica nodded. "But all four of us try to help out, take care of 'em."

Vanessa nodded, walking alongside them.

Ahead, Monty turned and faced her while walking backwards, keeping up with Roxy. "So, outsider, why exactly do you need to talk to Gregory?"

Vanessa gripped her arm. "You remember that guy who got pulled through the town last night on a stretcher?"

"Yeah?" Roxy asked, turning with interest.

"Well, he was stabbed. By someone on your side. We don't know who it was, but eyewitnesses say that Gregory was at the scene."

"Gregory's not a killer!" Chica immediately protested. "He wouldn't do that-"

"We don't think that he did," Vanessa quickly reassured her. "But we think he saw who did. So we need to talk to him."

"Makes sense," Roxy nodded. "We should be getting close-"

"Is that Freddy?" Monty asked, narrowing his eyes as he turned back.

Vanessa blinked, following his eyes. Sure enough, standing near the cliffs was a large, burly man with a few bearlike attributes, such as claws and a decent amount of fur. Despite that, he had a very friendly aire to him, like that of a father.

He had his back turned to them, and appeared to be talking to someone who was farther down the path.

Vanessa jogged ahead of Roxy and Monty. "Freddy? Excuse me, sir? Is that you?"