First-hand encounter and preparations

As William orders the drink from last night and gets it, the barkeep asks.

Barkeep "Drinking the first thing in the morning either this is a habit or something went on with you and Aimy." he says while cleaning shot glasses.

William "Why do you care I.. I'm sorry it's complicated." as William takes a sip of his drink.

Barkeep "I understand you look like a guy that went through somethings, but either way Aimy is a good woman and I'll be honest I wasn't expecting her to act all lovey dovey with anyone in fact."

William "And why is that?"

Barkeep "Well, I've known Aimy for 3ish years by now; her father died eight or seven years ago. Either way she came here to drown in drinks to forget the pain of her father Shimoda White from what Aimy said about him during her drunken slurs. He was a single parent left to raise Aimy by himself because his wife died during childbirth. With him being an overprotective single parent any of the suitors for marriage after the Haru family tried to gain the newly found dust mine in the White family territory through marriage. Were quickly snuffed out by him and Aimy, and after her father died she had a couple of one night stands here and there but nothing I witnessed last night it was refreshing to see her like that." as the barkeep finishes his speech, he turns a bit pale.

William: "So why did you say that about her, you her little guardian angel or something?" as William finishes his drink.

Barkeep "I was told to keep an eye on her whenever she comes in by her uncle but don't tell her that please she gets really angry if her uncle pokes his head into her affairs."

William "I won't if you waver on all the drinks I'll be having for my stay here if you don't mind." he says with a smirk.

Barkeep "Fine, just don't tell her anything please even with her uncle backing me financially for the damages it's still doesn't help my reputation as a safe place." he replies as some sweat rolls down his head.

William gets up from the bar and starts walking towards the door. "You know where I can get a scroll? Mine broke a while back."

Barkeep "Yeah there's a shop near the market district called The Bronze Window should have scrolls."

William "Thank's if it's any consolation tell Aimy I'm at The Bronze Window."

POV Aimy

After William left Aimy activated her semblance and saw both versions of William sitting next to her as the Angelic version rubbed her back and the depressed version just sat there. As the angelic version was rubbing her back, she could feel William's genuine emotion of love wanting to be loved but was held back by doubt, fear, and sadness.[I still can't believe William is from another world; that doesn't change the fact that he's trying to continue even if it is painful. All I can do is take it slow now for William to open up to me gradually. I hate myself for being so aggressive with him I should have taken it slower.] Aimy waits for a while before getting up, bathes, and grabs her gear heading downstairs as the barkeep waves her down.

Barkeep "Good morning Aimy you alright?"

Aimy "Yes Fujii I'm alright I just went to hard on William to accept me." she says with a pained voice.

Fujii "I can see that he came and ordered a drink first thing in the morning either way Aimy he told me to tell you he's going to The Bronze Window to get a new scroll since his broke." 

Aimy "Thank you Fujii." as she leaves to catch up.

POV William

I am walking through the streets with some storefronts having "No fanues." signs with some racial slurs from the sound of it being spouted here and there. [I'm not too fond of the slurs going about, but I can't do much to change someone's mind about racism. I should be getting to The Bronze Window here soon… Oh, I'm here.]

William enters the shop with a multitude of different scrolls on display as an employee walks up to me.

Employee: "Hello sir what can I help you with." he says with a smile on his face.

William "Hello I need a scroll since my last one was destroyed during a fight so I need a new one."

Employee "Very well sir we have a multitude of scrolls for use we have.." William cuts off the employee and says.

William "Just show me your most cheap and reliable model."

Employee "Very well, sir we have two models that are to your specification please follow me to the cash register." as the employee walks to the register and puts two scrolls on the table, and as the employee is about to start talking Aimy walks into the store. With the employee changes to a more hostile expression.

Employee "Damn cow we don't serve you kind here read the sign that's outside or can you not read." he says with scorn.

Aimy says without batting an eye to the comments, "William, those models are so bad that they will break within a week." she picks up another model and puts it on the counter and says. "This model should be in your price range. It's the same model as mine and has been with me for several years and still hasn't acted up on me."

Employee "I fucking told you damn dirty co.." William reaches over the counter and grabs the employee by the neck, stopping him from continuing as William has a piss-off expression.

William "I don't care how you almost ripped me off. But if you say another goddamn slur to her I will snap your neck understood." he snarls with the employee frantically trying to get out of his iron grip but fails and nods frantically and William lets go.

Employee "I can call the police here because what you just did was assault." the employee thinks for a second but clears his throat and backtracks. "But the… woman is right the model she chose is a good model and is 5,000 lien but if you…" he is cut off by William putting 5,000 lien on the counter.

William "Don't care, finish setting up the scroll so we can be on my way."

Employee gulps. "Alright, it will be done in a minute." he says nervously and sets Williams's new scroll in a slot, and after a minute, it dings, and the employee hands the scroll to William, and Aimy leaves the store to go to the market district. 

Aimy "William thank you for defending me even if the police were going to get involved." she says while blushing a bit.

William "I don't mind Aimy I had a feeling he was a shity person the moment I stepped in also I plan to leave Higanbana by at least tomorrow, and I don't mind if you want to follow me but if you do we need to take the whole relationship thing down a couple notches."

Aimy "I.. I completely understand I rushed it too much and didn't think about how you felt." she says softly enough for William to hear.

William "As long as you understand either way, do you know a shop that sells maps and preserved food for traveling?"

Aimy "Yes, I do follow me." With a smile on her face, she grabs William's hand, gently pulling him along as they garner a mixture of emotions from the surrounding people, with some smiling at the interaction with others having a disgusted expression on their faces.

After a five-minute walk, Aimy and William stand in front of a small store with the sign that says "The Merry Eel Emporium" Aimy pulls William into the shop as she yells, "SAITO YOU HAVE A CUSTOMER." with joy in her voice. After Aimy's yell, there's a blur of a woman as she embraces Aimy.

Saito "Aimy, I missed you girl you never call anymore." She then looks at William with a smug expression and looks back to Aimy, breaking the hug. "And who are you handsome?" She says a little lustrous and now looking at her, she's in semi bikini clothing with a skirt bottom and roughly 5'8 an hourglass figure with a large bust close to Aimy but has fins on her forearms.

William "I'm William I'm presuming Saito correct." I reply

Saito "You are handsome, so what can I do for you both or one of you." as she licks her lips and stares into my eyes. And Aimy gets in front of me, breaking Saito's line of sight with a pouting expression.

Aimy "We are here for a map and provisions for.." her voice trails off and looks at William.

William "How far is Mistral from Higanbana that will be the amount of provisions we will need."

Aimy "Yeah that much." with a smirk pointed towards Saito

Saito "Well, well, well Aimy I never would have expected you to get yourself a hottie like William anyways I owe you a favor Aimy so it'll be on the house go ahead and grab a seat near the counter while I grab what you need." She teases Aimy as she blushes and quickly sits in one of the seats next to the counter, and William follows suit smirking from the shenanigans and waits for Saito to fill our order.

William "So you and Saito, how long have you been friends?"

Aimy "We have been friends for 3 years so far she was one of my only drinking buddy when I feel in a rut we helped each other every now and then and as you can guess it's hard now because of what happened at beacon all signals outside the kingdom is spotty at best."

William "Saito seems like a nice woman, one who likes eye candy and.." William is interrupted by Saito coming out from the back with our order saying.

Saito "You're damn right, William I love my eye candy, and sometimes I like having it too." licking her lips as she places the map and provisions on the table. "Still can't believe you got him first. Aimy you makes me jealous." she says teasingly. 

Aimy "Well, it's not my fault I found him first." Aimy blushes more with some steam coming off her head.

William "I have a question, do you have anything like this?" as William pulls out a 50. AE round gently placing it on the counter. And Saito gently picks it up, examining it for a moment.

Saito "Do you have the weapon that fires the round because this doesn't look like dust ammunition." she says curiously as William unloads the Desert eagle and places it on the counter as well, with Saito picking up the gun examining it as well with a glint in her eye.

Saito "William, where did you get this gun? It's so unique, heavy, and intimidating, and the round looks deadly as well, but yes, I have something similar to the bullet you showed me. Give me a moment as she rummages around the backroom for a moment and brings back a small ammunition box, placing it on the counter as well.

Saito "These are dust bullets designed for high powered rifles which are a mixture of fire, ice, and lighting which I have 9 of each left and to be honest I'm not supposed to have this but I do so I'll also throw it in as well and my favor to you Aimy will be considered paid if that's alright. You know how hard it's to get dust now with Atlas's dust embargo damn pricks." as she looks between William and Aimy.

Aimy "That's fine Saito thank you for doing this for me." smiled at Saito while getting up and putting half of the provisions into her pack.

Saito "You're welcome, it's the least I could do for you, saving my life last year." William gets up and puts his half in his pack while picking up the ammo box and map. Once William and Aimy finish packing, they both walk towards the door to leave. "You guys have fun now on your little adventure."

Aimy "No guarantees Saito also tries not to get into trouble while i'm gone." with a smile on her face looking back to Saito.

Saito "Hey william make sure to keep Aimy out of trouble for me. Also good luck with her uncle he can be overbearing sometimes and always with his niece. But more so now that you fucked Aimy so be prepaired." she says with a joking tone than a serious tone about Aimy's uncle.

Aimy "Hey my uncle's nice Saito and yeah he can be overbearing sometimes when it comes to me. Okay now we need to go back to the inn and eat because I haven't had anything to eat for breakfast or lunch." as she somewhat tries to pull William through the door as they make their way back to the inn.

At the bar, William ordered 2 Motsu Nikomi with whisky and apple cider on the rocks, while Aimy ordered Sushi & Sashimi, two orders of ramen, and a whiskey highball. As William figures out how to use his scroll. [Damn, this is just like a fucking smartphone but a bit more complicated with the operating system. Maybe I should see if I can find someone to teach me how to hack might come in handy if I ever go to Atlas.] After about an hour of a mixture of the clattering of food and drinks, both Aimy and William get up from the bar, pay for the food and going back to the room and getting ready to sleep.

William "I'm going to summon the shop I told you about that I got from God so don't be alarmed alright." looking at Aimy already in the covers of the bed looking at William.

Aimy "Sure go ahead." in a tired voice as William rings the bell with three messengers showing up looking around, looking up to William.

William "From no expression from you Aimy I can guess you can't see them right?" he says curiously.

Aimy "If there is something you summoned from that bell then I can't see it anyways good night William." she says happily as she slowly falls asleep.

The messengers hand William his stat scroll with it being the same besides having 77 blood echoes now. As he looks down again, the messengers give him a closed envelope with the Catholic cross on the wax that closes the envelope. Opening it read, "William, sorry I had to push you out of the dream but I had no choice also I was able to get you some new armor and weapon but you'll have to put your old gear excluding the Desert eagle and beast cutter. But the m4, m1911, and hunter armor. If you want to go ahead with the deal, give said equipment to the messengers with the letter back, and you'll get the gear. Hope it helps James." [Thanks, James. I'll take you up on that offer.]

William gives all said equipment to the messengers, and the letter with the messengers nodding their heads in sync, pulling out said gear being the old hunter armor set and the Chikage. William smirks a bit, putting the armor and weapon in the inventory space, and gets into bed with Aimy as he slowly falls asleep with a smile on his face with determination for the journey ahead.