"Hello there!" The happy shout came out of nowhere. When Sinistra and Eternia recognized the male voice they turned toward their guest.
"Hello, Mr. landlord!" Eternia tried to be friendly but naturally she wasn't much interested in smalltalk and was more than happy to leave that to Sinistra.
The elementalist, however, was overjoyed. "Hello, Mr. Indi!" she exclaimed happily. "Did you come to check in for the move too? I thought the ponies were already on their way, in their own box."
"Indeed, I would have preferred to travel with my wife, but my role in Dolltopia requires me to be available at the new location right from the start."
"Oh, you're married?"
"Well, not all of us are as young as you and the other Pullips", the pony said with a good-natured smile.
"Sorry, it wasn't my intention to insult you!"
"Did you? I don't mind being older and watch young people explore life. I have grandchildren too, you know."
"I see..." Sinistra smiled tentatively. It was weird to hear such wise words from a pony, of all people.
The pony thoughtfully looked at the stack of moving boxes behind the women. "It's about time now, isn't it? There isn't much left of our current home."
"Yes, that's true", Sinistra agreed with a sad now. "We're only waiting for the last few latecomers."
"Which probably means me!" a stern looking young man said while approaching the small group.
Indi looked at the newcomer and chuckled softly. "What did I say, there's only young people here!"
Sinistra harrumphed. "Well, the demand on the doll market is not our fault..."
"The boss critisized several times already that there's no dolls of older people", Eternia brushed the friendly objection aside and concentrated on the man. He didn't look bad and she liked his style. Since he wore a sword he was probably a fighter, too. Although he still wasn't exactly her type she decided to try and make eyes at him. Having been ignored by Wati like that still hurt and she craved affirmation that it wasn't her fault.
"Hello!" she greeted and brushed through her hair. "Do you live here for long? I can't remember having seen you before and I doubt I would have forgotten your face."
The man laughed but blushed. "Ehm, no, actually I live here for quite some time already, but I... just wear clothes since the day before yesterday."
"Oh, no reason to be ashamed! You're not the first one who had to wait for months to get anti-stain protective underwear before meeting people." Sinistra quickly said to put his mind at ease. "We saw things you wouldn't believe!"
"That's right", Eternia agreed. She remembered Midnight Velvet quite vividly. Then she added with a wink: "That has its good sides. At least we know everything's okay with you."
He laughed again, but this time it sounded confident. "You are Eternia and Sinistra, am I right?"
"Correct", Sinistra said before Eternia had a chance to answer. "And who are you?"
"In actual fact my name is Kouga Saezima and I'm a character from a tv show, but since I don't know about that I prefer to be called Takashi and be myself." he explained, even more confident than before.
"Good on you. The Rozen Maiden have identity crises all the time"; Sinistra said with a nod.
"Except for Suiseiseki, I think she's making good progress!" Eternia objected.
The elementalist remained at the wheel and asked: "Do you have a partner for the travel?"
"Yes, she should arrive here any second", the warrior said when promptly a dark figure with a face like porcelain showed up besides him
Mir closed her eyes with a silent sigh. "The young man will escort me on this journey."
Eternia paled. "Oh no! Mir! I planned to be in the box already before she showed up!" she whispered in terror, which made Indi look up to her puzzled.
Luckily Mir didn't take any notice of her. "It is very embarrassing for me to admit but these days it is just impossible to hire decent staff", she stated flatout.
"Err, but..." Sinistra wasn't sure what to say.
The young man beat her to the punch with an answer. "Lady Mir, I swore to protect you on this travel and so far nothing bad happened to you. May I ask why you seem to deem me incompetent?" he rebuffed her.
Eternia got even more pale. To adress Mir with such a tone when it was unclear whether she was in possession of her jewel or not was bloody dangerous.
However, the woman stayed unmoved like a calm lake. "I don't doubt your competence", she rectified, "but your looks. When I asked for a ninja as my escort I didn't expect someone like you."
The gap between Takashi's brows became smaller and smaller. "Maybe then you should adjust your standards to the spirit of the time instead of living in the Middle Ages."
"You bear an uncanny resemblance to that awfully brash singer who pestered me at Christmas", Mir informed him in a vulnerable and hurt tone. Her gaze was locked to the floor. "Please excuse this unworthy person for being afraid of her escort."
For a moment the ninja grew stiff. He resisted the temptation to tease the young woman by pretending to have had plans of taking nude pictures of her later with his cellphone. Instead he said: "Then it seems that Arashi erred when he decided that I was to protect you and he'd protect your family."
All of a sudden Mir's eyelashes flew open. "Arashi doesn't err", she clarified.
"If you trust his discretion so much I less than ever understand what your problem with me is!" Takashi growled.
"Please excuse this unworthy person to have wished for an escort that doesn't evokes traumata." Mir's voice was soft, as usual a bit feeble, but for the blink of an eye there was something very dangerous simmering behind the blackness of her eyes.
The young man wasn't easily impressed by that at all. "Lady Mir, Arashi clearly doesn't pay me enough to make me play dress-up for you", he informed her casually.
Sinistra turned towards Eternia, looking for help. "Hey, what shall I do now?" she whispered. "If we don't come up with something very soon those two will still be debating tomorrow."
Eternia, however, was very busy with a completely meaningless conversation with the landlord and didn't even hear the question. At least she pretended not to.
The elementalist sighed. "Alright then. But you'll take care of the next hard case!"
She took a deep breath, stepped toward the squabblers and just overheard the ninja saying: "If you will pardon my saying so, you complain about my stylish outfit and at the same time you wear blazing red platform boots like a cheap goth?!"
"Gee, this will be tough..."