Julien looked around briefly, before noticing that Demitra was heading off.

"I can see that." he told her, quickly following.

"A thick one, too." he went on.

"Seriously, I can tell that these trees were allowed to grow unhindered, without any intervention from anyone." he commented further. "...I like it. It's peaceful and serene here." he said.

"...and you sure your mother will be okay with my suddenly being with you?" he asked.

"From what I've heard, Fyranes can be... well, twitchy, when it comes to strangers suddenly coming into their lives."

"I did not mean to insult or insinuate anything." Julien replied.

"My apologies." he said.

"I know very little about the Fyrane line, other than what Rowena Fyrane has put forth, in terms of image and reputation." he continued.

"If your mother isn't nervous about strangers, then so be it." he went on.

"I look forward to meeting her." he smiled.

"Sadly, mana is the ultimate identifier." Julien responded.

"It can never truly be hidden away." he lamented. "We can change our looks all we want, but we can't change our mana." he said further, before thinking about that statement.

"Well... it CAN change over time, but not to a point where it is unrecognisable from what it once was." he clarified.

"...and happy to see me, huh?" he asked.

"That will be a nice change." he told her.

"I assume you and your mother are the only ones that live around here, and very few, if any, know about it?" he then inquired.

"It's all right." Julien replied.

"I can understand wanting somewhere secluded and private." he told her. "Especially when you're surrounded by all this beautiful nature." he went on, as he stepped inside.

When he did, and looked around, what he saw was... well, it was nice, it was cozy, and it was modest, without being homely.

If anything, it was homey. This felt like a home. A real home.

"...wow." he said.

"I can sense the comfort and warmth in this place." he told her.

"This already feels like a safe and inviting home, for those truly welcome here."

"...yes." Julien replied.

"Quite." he told her.

"Eating is... well, I don't starve." he said. "There was always SOME animal that I could catch and kill and eat." he explained. "However, I needed to be very careful. Eating something that was rabid was not good. And the garbage feeders were something I always avoided. Garbage in, garbage out." he went on, muttering the last part.

"So... yes, some proper homemade food would be a delight for my stomach, and probably my spirit and soul." he reasoned, being candid with her.

"At this point, I don't even care what it could be." he admitted.

"Eating a proper meal is... well, you didn't say much about what it might be, but you've sold me on it." he chuckled.

Julien froze when he heard the new voice, but it was purely instinctual.

Demitra had told him that the woman she lived with, her mother, would be fine with him. That she wasn't like her sister, and that she would love that he was there. But he was still scared. Partially because of the Fyrane stigma that Rowena had perpetuated, but mostly because... he was used to people reacting poorly when they met him or saw him. There was no getting around it. He had grown up with that, so he had to fight his instinct to run or hide right there and then.

He took a few breaths, and calmed himself down.

"Calm down, Julien. Trust Demitra." he told himself quietly.

He had been directed to a table at the other end of the kitchen where she would serve him the food, and he wondered if he should stand up to meet the woman? Would that be too threatening? Would it be disrespectful to keep sitting?

He then just sighed heavily, and decided to remain seated, deciding to stand up when the woman was close enough to him for a more proper and formal introduction.

Immediately, Julien was hit with how this woman was quite striking. She seemed like someone that one could very easily fall for at the first sight of her. However, he kept himself neutral and calm, and cleared his throat a litte.

"Indeed." he said, rising to his feet.

"Julien Lewis Wolfe." he introduced himself to her, giving a small and respectful bow.

"And... well... yes. Not to blow my own whistle or anything, but she is not exaggerating." he confirmed.

"I happened upon her in a vulnerable situation, and did what I could to make sure she didn't die a... rather painful and slow death." he continued.

"To be utterly blunt about it."

"Ma'am, if I may?" Julien interjected.

"The bounty was, in fact, listed incorrectly." he told her. "Demitra told me she went in expecting a Spider Tiger, which is... still a threat, but significantly less threatening." he went on.

"However, the two are VERY similar in appearance, and the only way one can truly tell is by looking directly at its eyes, or seeing how they handle their victims and/or kills." he explained.

"I'm guessing the one that placed the bounty hadn't seen any victims, and merely went on looks alone." he continued.

"And, to be far, there ARE about 3 times as many Spider Tigers in the world as there are Basilisk Tigers. Plus, they're more common in the area Demitra was in as well." he explained further.

"It's an understandable error. I'm not saying it's not a grievous one, mind, but this isn't as stupid as one may think."

Julien bit his lip slightly when the woman spoke to him about his last name.

"...yes." he said. "I am." he told her.

"And it's probably the same line you're thinking of." he continued.

"It's how I saved Demitra's life." he then said.

"The venom was in her system, and was almost finished with its work, but I managed to find her in time and get her back to where I was staying." he explained. "And then I proceeded to... well...." he mumbled, trailing off some.

"...separate her blood from the venom, extract the venom, and replace her blood." he finished.

This confirmed who he was, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

"Madam, I assure you I mean no harm to you, your daughter, or anyone else." Julien responded.

"I mean no harm to anyone." he went on. "Yet they mean hard to me." he lamented with a sigh. "It's why I was living in that part of the town that the Basilisk Tiger had claimed as its territory." he explained.

"Everyone was avoiding the area, so I moved in and was able to keep myself safe from the beast by causing it to seize up whenever it tried to attack me." he explained to her further.

"But since it's now dead, everyone will come flooding back. Demitra took it upon herself to offer sanctuary here, and quite frankly... it sounded far better than roaming the wilds, trying to avoid being seen or detected, and then hunted down." he told her.

"And I HAVE heard of your sister." he continued.

"...did everything I could to stay as far away from her path as possible, I admit." he added candidly.