"Huh?” Tage asked, trying to process Ripley’s response, which left her momentarily flabbergasted. Suddenly, realization struck her.  “Did you listen in on..."

But Ripley was already gone, having activated the signpost. Presumably, hopefully, off to Gabedon. Tage let out another sigh, before laughing at herself, rubbing her head in some combination of indignation and resignation. That's what she gets for telling an AI to make some assumptions. She'd let him know exactly what she thought of his eavesdropping once she caught back up.

A moment later, and Tage was in Gabedon as well. It was a larger city than the one they had just left, although it would still be possible to fit easily a hundred of them within the Port City. This one in particular was maintained by a member of the White Arrow Guild, one of the larger guilds in the Djinni universe. Naturally, that meant every building was whitewashed, and kept nearly spotlessly clean, giving the entire place a very upkept, if a bit bland, feel.

Ripley was standing right next to her, looking at the tides of people walking past. Most of them were NPCs, created precisely for the purpose of making larger cities feel full, but a few of them were players, members of the White Arrows, presumably subordinates of the person who was in charge of this city. She found herself rather grateful that Ripley had decided that "wait for her" would be in this location, rather than going racing off into the city. Since he was on her friends list it wouldn't be all that hard to track him down, but she had enough people to chase after, spending her time with Halp, without having to add Ripley to the mix.

Something about his expression of wonder at the sight of the city and the people cooled Tage’s frustration at Ripley’s behavior.  He probably hadn’t known any better. Besides, she’d promised him she’d tell him if he messed up.

"It's rather rude to listen in on people's private conversations," she scolded softly, once the city wa fully loaded around her and she’d stepped up next to Ripley. "I'd rather not have to worry about constantly checking myself, wondering if you are eavesdropping, so please don't do that again unless I give you permission first." Satisfied with this mild reprimand, Tage smiled to let him know that she wasn't really all that mad.

A quick nod was his reply, and a small smile in return. "I understand, I will not do so again."

Tage blinked slightly, suddenly feeling that it was really easy, and surprisingly satisfying, to correct him. "Anyways! Let's go find Halp."

According to her map, Halp was waiting near the door to a bakery, which was situated right on the outskirts of town. Most likely the "beautiful girl" who had asked for his help was the baker's daughter, or perhaps a baker herself, which meant the cave they were clearing was probably close by. It wasn't all that far to the bakery, the town wasn't all that large, and Tage led Ripley a few blocks down the main road, a right, and then a left, to reach a small white building with a statue of a white loaf of bread just over the door. As far as Tage was concerned, the White Arrows took their theme color a bit too seriously.

Sitting on top of said loaf of bread was a glowering Djinni with death black skini, blood-red hair and bone-white eyes. He was dressed entirely in black leather, and had a massive battleaxe strapped to his back. There was no one else in sight.

"Halp!" Tage cried, lifting a hand and waving at the Djinni. Halp perked up immediately.

"Tage!" He shouted back, jumping to his feet and clearly forgetting that he was a good eighteen feet off the ground as he immediately slipped, crashing down to the ground. "Owwwww..."

Tage jogged over, and helped pull her friend to his feet. "And that's why I've told you, repeatedly, not to climb on roofs."

Halperion beamed, rubbing his head in shame. "But the view was so nice from up there!" Suddenly he seemed to notice Ripley, standing a few paces behind Tage, who waved slightly. "Ah! Is this your new friend?"

"Yup! This is Ripley. Ripley, this is Halp. Don't mind his elements. He was trying to look fierce, but in the end he only looked ridiculous."

"Don't be mean, Tage! But, yeah, I'm Halperion, but you are free to just call me Halp. Everyone does, although I don't know why. I think the name Halperion sounds amazing and noble."

"And that's probably why no one calls you it." Tage replied, straight faced. "Halperion sounds like the name of an angel, whereas Halp sounds like something you'd call a puppy."

"Heeeey," Halp whined. Turning back to Ripley he grinned. "Nice skin, though! Spirit, wood, and... light, right? But I've never seen Spirit skin like that before. It's really pretty, all silvery instead of rainbow colors. Did you draw that randomly, or did you have to pay for it. I bet it cost a ton," Halp rambled. As usual, he decided the answer to his question on the spot based on the one he preferred. "Are your parents, like, oober rich or something?"

"Stop making assumptions," Tage broke in, casually redirecting Halp’s stream of chatter away from the slightly wide-eyed Ripley.

"Anyways. Cave's over that way," Halp pointed towards the edge of the village. "There's a little rat-hole that leads from the cave to the bottom of the Baker's house, so the weevils keep getting in. They have to hire someone to clean out the cave every couple days or so. Must get expensive... Let's see if we can find the queen and kill it, so that the things won't bother her anymore, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer, Halp spun around, racing towards the edge of the village. He rounded the corner before Tage had even started moving, but was back in view less than a second later. "Oh! Almost forgot. What class would you consider yourself, Ripley? I'm a warrior," he gestured to the battleaxe on his back. "And Tage calls herself a spellsword, although I think she's more of a battlemage."

"How many times do I have to tell you," Tage replied with a sigh, "Battlemages use primarily magic with some weaponry, whereas a spellsword mixes the two evenly. I'm a spellsword."

The two glared at each other for a second, finally putting an end to their rapid verbal sparring.  It was only in that moment that a quiet voice finally spoke out. "I would say I'm a wizard."

At the sound of Ripley’s voice, Tage finally realized she and Halp hadn’t really given him a chance to get even a single word in edgewise.  She winced slightly, glancing at him with a trace of guilt. She was so used to interacting with Halp, and the constant, rapid-fire banter that always ran between them, that she’d forgotten that Ripley always took a couple of seconds before he’d respond to anything she said.  

Luckily for her, Ripley didn’t seem particularly bothered by her inattention.  Instead, he waved the tip of his staff in a sharp, carefully controlled movement, and a small ball of fire appeared over the top of the stick.  Without anything to target, however, it sputtered out less than a second later. "And pleasure to meet you, Halperion."

"A wizard, huh?" Halp replied, jogging off once more, and then jogging back again when he realized that Tage had absolutely no intention of running after him, and that, if he wanted to talk to her and her new friend, he was going to have to walk.

"That's great! Tage and I are both close-quarters fighters, so a little bit of ranged support is just what we need. I was going to be a wizard, a death and blood-based wizard, and I went a little ways into that school. Like... until I was level 3. But I decided it was much more fun to wave a gigantic battleaxe around." He grinned widely, tapping the giant battleaxe that was strapped behind his shoulders. "I don't regret learning the magic, though. Blood magic comes in handy sometimes."