Lantern lights dotted the background, with a mix of reds and oranges and all things bright. They accompanied the crowds on the streets- buyers, sellers, wanderers, and all the other people mixed in.

"What do you think?" Kun said, beaming a smile to Mat. If Mat had a dollar for every time Kun flashed him a smile, he'd be a millionaire in the making.

"It's very… different." It really was. Most of the buildings were made of red steel. Red. Steel. It was as if Mat was thrown back to the Victorian era seeing the entirety of the city. If he had to describe the place with as few words as possible, he'd say that the city was red dieselpunk- a lot of diesel, but less of the punk.

Dieselpunk was a subgenre of Steampunk, but instead of steam you got, well, diesel. Mat was always a nerd for sci-fi when he was a little kid, and seeing the city in front of him now, it kind of rekindled the fire.

He could see puffs of smoke out of tubes and pipelines across the city. But even with all the smoke smearing the air above, the city was fairly clean beneath. The smoke wasn't black. They were white. Which was pretty strange, but then again, Mat flunked Chemistry in high school for a reason.

Aside from that though, there were also the people.

Along with Mat's own race, humans, he also found minks and elves and even a new race he hadn't seen before- even in the stories he'd read back on earth. People with blue skin.

The minks, elves, and blue people made up the crowds walking all around Garafeit. Some were manning the stands by the streets, and some made up the wandering crowds passing by. Some were sitting on their patios on the second and third floors of their houses, and some were just… there; doing their own things.

"You said your world only had humans right?" Nian arrived from behind. "This world, Suna, is a neutral world. It isn't dominated by any one guild or race- that's why you see our kind, the elves, and the drows all living together under one city."

"Drows?"

"Those blue people." Nian waved a hand towards a drow beside the floating boat. He waved back, the drows hand glowing blue as he did. "They were from the northern lands. You know, the land where snow always falls. They left eventually though."

"Why'd they leave?"

"Because of the corruption. They're-"

"They're elements that corrupt the world and destroy it from the inside out." Kun added to Nian's explanation. His face was drawn out and without emotion, his face stone cold as he talked about the corruption. It was clear he had something against it.

"They're pretty nasty stuff." Nian continued. "There are actually-"

"Enough of that." Youmu said, knocking a fist to Nian's side, prompting a welp from her. "We just got to the city and you're talking about that?"

"It's pretty fascinating though, like-"

"You're right." Kun beamed a smile before turning to the people on the boat. His face eventually brightened, an exciting look now on his face replacing his grimdark expression from earlier.

"Anyways, do you guys want to eat?"

. . .

They sat around a round table with foods and drinks and all the in-betweens of dessert. Mat sniffed a whiff, the tasty scent of meat and meat and meat swirling inside his nose. Now, Ruan's cooking was good, but the smell of the food here was just something else entirely.

They were in a restaurant. A fancy one at that. The walls and ceilings were made of red steels and metals, adorned with luxury lanterns that lit up orange. There were many people around, each sitting around a round table like they were. Employees- more specifically, the fancy waiters- were running around and taking orders from the people.

"The bull meab's really goob." Nian said from beside him, talking through the food inside her mouth like a kid who hadn't learned manners.

"Right?" Kun followed, also having food in his mouth. He was one seat further, but even still he ended up splattering pieces of food on Mat's face with all the talking and chewing.

After taking a tissue and wiping off the muck from his face, Mat then took a knife and fork and cut through the steak in front of him. Thank God they had the same utensils as on Earth. May already had a hard time using chopsticks that one time he went to a Chinese restaurant.

He then brought the meat up to his mouth to bite down. It was rough and sinewy, but the juiciness of the meat was unlike any other.

"It's good right?" Kun said.

"Really goob." Mat said as he bit through another piece. He then went on an eating spree, taking the meat and wines and desserts before feeling himself full.

After the long dinner then, they made their way towards the opposite building across the street. It was a fairly large one- a mini hotel.

Passing through the front doors of the building, Mat could hear the humming of an engine as the doors closed on their own. The sound was similar to the hum of Kun's boat with all the whishing and whooshing that came along with it.

He then followed the others towards the counter.

"Mister Kun," The person behind the counter said. He had on a red tuxedo. Very fancy. "Greetings. Would you be staying here again?"

"Yeah." Kun smiled, returning the gesture from the counterman. After Kun settled the paperwork and all the money, they came to a large elevator. Mat was kind of surprised- they had the same technology as on Earth. It was kind of different in a way that Mat could hear the engine hum through the walls, but without the red theme and constant humming engine, this elevator looked to be more or less like the ones on Earth.

Passing the elevator they finally came to the rooms. Three rooms for the nine of them. One room for Mat, Kun, and of course- the one and only Laro, one more room for Nian, Ruan, and Youmu, and one last for Flo and the two twins, Bob and Tyler.

"Wait a minute." Mat paused before Kun opened the doors. "The twins are sleeping with Flo?"

"Yes." Kun said.

"But, isn't that kind of- you know-"

"Oh." Kun let out a laugh as he always did. "I didn't mention this, but Bob and Tyler are gay."

"To each other?"

"Of course not, genius." Laro said, going through the door before Kun could. "Anyways, I'm off to sleep on the double bed. You guys share the single bed."