The air was cool, air conditioning keeping the room fresh though the artificial breeze that gave you slight goosebumps as it brushed against your arms . You drank from the cheap cup of paper, the taste of the coffee bitter and slightly flat. That was what you got out of the cheapest setting in the machine after all.

Your eyes glanced upwards as the cafeteria door opened with a hiss, and a young man entered. The tamer's hair was a neon green that made you frown slightly before returning towards your reading material of choice. The dex dinged as you confirmed you wanted to read the next monstergirl entry; this time it was a Mikilia. The quick description had you raising a brow, finding it quite interesting- a breed made to shift and transport large loads across long distances? The breed certainly seemed convenient, though not what you were looking for. Still, you read on, carefully committing the details to memory.

The next person to enter the cafeteria kept your attention for longer than the tamer: it was Kat after all. The young woman wore a pair of jeans and a loose black croptop. The grin on her face and the confidence in her steps told you of good news and better humour. "Guess who went up in rank for the first time?"

"First?" You blinked with a little surprise.

"Second attempt success." She winked, not without adding a slight grimace. "The first time Coco kind of... panicked, and it was sort of a mess." She leaned slightly as she sat down, the young woman wriggling on her seat and preening slightly. "Got myself some clothes to celebrate. How do I look?"

You quirked your brow at her.

"Come on, I can't ask popops, Tomas is going to be biased, and any monstergirl who'd answer would say it covers too much." She batted her eyelashes at you. "Please?"

"It's better than nondescript sweatpants and shirt." You motioned at yourself, rolling your eyes.

"You need to upgrade."

"Can't." You closed the dex with a snap. "I'm saving up."

"Saving up? We are still working with a combined budget, right?" Her voice became slightly nervous, and you wondered whether it might be because of how much the clothes might have cost her.

"That would be the idea, I thought I might as well take the chance that we're meeting up to check on things," you replied. "My plan is to try to start looking into a potential purchase for a new monstergirl, and knowing the group's funds will give me a clearer goal for how hard I need to push to earn that difference."

The words startled Kat, and the young woman almost jumped. "Buy a new monstergirl? What? You're missing a coffee holder? Maybe one killing machine is not enough? You can't claim you don't have enough sex, Kiara must be running you dry already."

Your shrug seemed to startle her further. "I just challenged for a fourth rank trial run, I realized I am indeed lacking in firepower, and coordination."

"You're joking, Monica alone could squish the rest of us."

"And yet she almost died during the match." Your words made her freeze, and her eyes widened. You continued, leaning further. "We are not ready for an actual challenge, Kat, we are one bad encounter with a particularly nasty feral away from becoming their next meal. So far we've been lucky, I don't want to rely on luck."

The young woman looked away, clearly uncomfortable. "Is it really that bad?"

"Have you read the Thundrix dex entry?"

"Who has time to study an encyclop-" She paused, looking at you, sighing. "No, I haven't."

"Flying with thunder attacks, while feral, she tends to lead packs of other flying monstergirls, flocks that can reach up to twenty in size." You tapped the table. "The fight was against just one Thundrix and one Neigix along with a sturdy grounded monstergirl who barely did more than keep Monica distracted while the flyers fucked up everyone else. We were overwhelmed from the get-go, barely made it through."

Kat grimaced. But her focus shifted as the cafeteria doors opened: the two to step through were Tomas and Mr. Gabriel, the younger man's gaze locked onto yours, his lips thinned.

"Please don't start anything," Kat whispered as the young man approached; you could only really shrug at the statement.

"Rick."

"Tomas." You nodded, watching take a seat; his eyes flickered at Kat, and the anger softened considerably, as a deep sigh escaped him. The pause that followed had Mr. Gabriel glancing at the young man in turn.

A deep sigh escaped him. "You called us to talk?"

"Money, mostly," you replied smoothly. "I was considering the prospect of acquiring a monstergirl and wanted to see what the current state of our combined funds are so I could more clearly set myself a goal."

"Not calling to check on us?" Mr. Gabriel snorted. "Not caring if I'd croaked in the middle of the night?" A little chuckle was added to the question; it only made you roll your eyes.

"Anyway, I've saved up some odd eighty thousand credits, I'll need to get at least seventy more considering what I'm looking for, how much have you gotten?"

"Eighty..." Eyes bulged, Tomas did a double-take. "That's enough to purchase one of the more common girls already. How in the world have you saved up that much?"

"Fighting, mostly, and not spending more than I absolutely need," you replied honestly, narrowing your eyes as two of the three present squirmed. "I take it you've not saved up as much."

"My funds are at thirty." Kat grimaced.

"Forty," Tomas declared, avoiding your gaze.

"Ten." Mr. Gabriel shrugged. "Been spending most of my time with the nurses."

Kat immediately chuckled. "Look at grampa go."

"Shut your mouth, those girls are the most hard-working people in this country," he growled at her. "I show them my appreciation."

"Horizontally?"

Mr. Gabriel shot a glare cold enough to freeze boiling water. "Snot-nosed brats don't know how lucky they are, someone has to put them in their place when they show disrespect."

You tried to imagine Mr. Gabriel blasting off some stranger and just shrugged, opting to push past the declaration and instead focus on the things at hand. "Back on the subject, it seems you haven't been quite as successful gathering funds... or saving up." You looked around. "The way I see this, we are going to need to start tightening our belt and put some extra effort into earning as much as we can."

Grimaces all around.

"He's got a point," Mr. Gabriel piped up. "The nurses keep talking about there being a spike in tamer deaths. It seems pretty clear people are neglecting the importance of proper gear and training."

At his words you frowned slightly. "Training?"

"There are courses you can pay for, locals offer them all the time... or so the nurses insist. They were trying to convince me to start one of my own." A loud snort and a roll of his eyes. "They think I actually have something to teach."

Tilting your head, you glanced at him, quirking a brow as you leaned back, and trying to chew through that statement, you arched a brow. "Why not?" You crossed your arms as you said this. "Just teach discipline, you've got plenty of that to spare." Your gaze turned to his granddaughter. "Kat could help design the offer and help in handling the offers."

"Do you actually think that'd work?" The young woman frowned.

"Not a clue, but if it earns anything then it was a better effort than not having earned anything." You shrugged, glancing in Tomas' direction for a fraction of a second. Hm. "You could sell it off as a class on how to better discipline monstergirls, the people who'd show up would be the ones having troublesome girls, if I were a betting man, I'd say most of the issues would stem either out of a lack of discipline, control, or communication."

"And respect," Mr. Gabriel proclaimed, now nodding a bit more surely. "Shitheads all over the place treating their girls like dirt."

"Or property," Tomas muttered, his gaze turned away though clearly intent on wanting to look at you directly.

Rather than sigh, you nodded along. "Anyway, that's one way to potentially get gears turning. We're going to want to play it smart, the current system clearly wants tamers going out into the wilderness and hunting ferals, I'd rather we avoid that. For obvious reasons, it'd be best if feral hunts be kept to the strict minimum required for a tamer at our rank."

The others nodded; Tomas looked troubled but didn't speak up. "Ferals are a danger to society," he muttered, his shoulders tensing. "Humanity was nearly wiped out two hundred years ago because of them."

"I thought you wanted to leave?" Kat's words came out with an almost accusatory tone.

"I do, I do, it's... This world has gone through a lot." He scratched the back of his head. "I think we should hunt ferals, get some money and help while at it."

"You and what army?" You replied flatly, rolling your eyes. "Ferals are a problem, I agree, they're a threat," you spoke coldly. "Enough of a threat that I think we're not prepared to go out into the wilds and be able to stand up against an actual dangerous feral or four popping up."

"The areas near the cities are safe," Tomas declared defensively.

"So much so they want tamers going out to cull feral populations," the answer came smoothly, and you shook your head. "Anyway, if you want to go hunt ferals, knock yourself out. I'll probably continue using the fights to earn more and bulk up the team." A deep sigh. "Meet back up day after tomorrow to coordinate departure for Alazea?"

"Sure," Kat piped up, and the other two just shrugged.

"If you'll excuse me, I've got things to take care of."

With a slight wave of your hand, you turned to leave. A part of you asked itself why you were adding the distance to them, but the other knew the reason. Once you reached Ebony the group was going to split. You might as well make that transition easier, as depending on the others for your own needs was going to leave you crippled the moment they walked out. And the same would happen in the opposite direction; better have each person take care of their own needs and only rely on the group as little as necessary.

Stepping outside and into the open air, you checked your watch.

Five minutes to midday. You were a little impressed with your good timing. Reaching into the only ball on your belt, you released Diane.

The monstergirl finished adjusting her hair, proceeding to smile at you. "Do you like it, Master?"

"I distinctly remember you mentioning monstergirls tended to have better than perfect sight," you spoke, arching an eyebrow. "Do you need glasses?"

"Oh, no, they're decorative." She hesitated. "Would you rather I not have them?"

Taking a moment, you checked the dex. "Well, it's exactly midday, so I think we can safely assume the decision will be left in your hands." You held back from showing the slight grin at the pout and hesitation that crept up on Diane's face. "So, miss 'in command', what were your plans?"