(Red, Provisions Store)

The storekeeper saw Alice and company off to make sure Bargas wasn’t going to throw his back out while carrying the barrel. Watching them disappear around the bend he headed to the backrooms to take inventory or eat lunch honestly both were as equally important to him at the moment.

And just like that Red found herself all alone. One side thinking that she was with them and the other thinking she left their store with the former. Red stood silently in store for awhile waiting for Alice to come back....

It was after listening to the storekeeper sing the same song for the fifth time in a row that Red decided to leave the store and head back to the dungeon by herself.

Decision’s, something like that was a passing fancy to Red. She was brought into this world as an actor, to follow out a prewritten script, that was her only purpose. It was literally engraved into her very being from how she should act to how she would respond, she shouldn’t have ever had to make a decision for herself.

But recently things have been changing around her, things outside her written script. The first anomaly happened when she was first killed, there wasn’t any pain or fear or any of that. It was actually quite the surreal experience for Red, one moment she was there than all of a sudden she wasn’t.

“Ah, I was killed.” was the first thought that ran through her head as her body fell apart. For a moment she floated in a void nothingness, it broke her in a way. Little Red Riding Hood wasn’t meant to die, dying wasn’t part of the script, what she was thinking right now wasn’t part of the script, but it was what she honestly thought.

Then as suddenly as when she was cut down, she was brought back to life and the none the wiser, it was like nothing happened to her, so she went on as if nothing happened. Standing at her designated space she continued waiting, that was when the second anomo-

“Hey? Hey!? Ms? Ms?” a high pitched voice called out to Red, breaking her train of thought. “You’ve been walking in circles for a while now.”

Looking left then right Red ascertained that she was indeed back in front of the store.

“You know if you’re lost we could always give you a tour around town, for a price of course.” The person one-sidedly talking to Red was a kid with dirty blond hair that was dressed in thin patched up clothing.

There were actually quite a few kids surrounding Red, but it was this one that took initiative.

Once again this would be another quaint decision Red would have to make, another anomaly to add to her growing list. Nodding her head Red decided to go along with the kid's offer, they probably knew these streets better than her anyway.

Ecstatic the kids took off with Red in tow, showing her all the sights and attractions that the town had to offer. Or they would have if the town had any, as it was they showed her around some stores and food stalls.

While they toured the town the younger kids in the group bombarded Red with various questions about herself, Red following her script replied as Little Red Riding Hood would have. This worked for the first few questions, but these kids were relentless in their interrogation and soon they started asking about things outside her set script.

This was the second time she was put in this position, but unlike last time the questions were blurted out so rapidly that she couldn't keep up. So like a fish out of water, Red flopped whenever she couldn’t answer something. Though with kids being kids they didn’t mind Red’s awkwardness too much, actually they found it a little endearing. The more Red fumbled answering the questions, the more she piqued their curiosity.

Continuing on their tour de town, the group started to warm up to Red. The older kids cut down on their usual tour guide spiel in favor of slipping in the occasional question about Red, like what her favorite food was or if she was an adventurer. If Red ever found herself at a loss for words they would just laugh it off and tell her about themselves instead.

And soon it became back and forth between the kids and Red, it became less of a formal tour and more like a group of friends hanging around town.

As Red and them talked she was made privy to their situation, they were orphans who came to this place to try to make a living. But since the dungeon incident, they’ve been doing this whole tour the town shtick. Some of the younger ones may have subtly let it slip that the reason they called out to her in the first place was because of her fancy-looking clothes.

As the conversation went on Red felt her answers shift a bit, it wasn’t just what Little Red Riding Hood would say anymore instead, she talked as if it was something Red herself would say. While the contents of what she said stayed the same, the tone in which it was said was different, it felt like she was actually speaking to them now.

“Alright Last stop is the dungeon!” the one leading the group announced. They knew the dungeon was off-limits to the public and getting near it was forbidden. But that never stopped this band of orphans before, also with Red along for the ride they kind of wanted to show off.

Pumping themselves up the orphans led Red through the winding ally ways that weaved through town, it wasn’t the safest route but it was the stealthiest, away from the prying eyes of the guardsmen. Many unsavory characters made their dealings in areas such as this.

....... Well, that’s what the normal folk thought of the back streets. In reality, the most that would happen is some illegal goods being traded around, the occasional drunk or homeless person wandering about, stuff like that.

The orphans also knew their way around the back streets like the back of their hands. Stay away from the alleyway behind the bar in the afternoon if you don't want to run into ol’drunk James. Don’t go to the hidden alleyway at night or you’ll get in the way of sneaky Donald selling his “goods” to people.

The truth was the town was still young enough that it didn’t have the wrinkles for the roots of the underworld to seep into, so most of the illegal activities going on behind scenes were pretty tame.

Knowing all this the orphans were fairly confident as they traversed the ally ways, that was until their instincts suddenly screamed at them to hide, and that’s exactly what they did. Grabbing Red by the hood they ducked behind the creates and trash barrels that lined the walls.

The sound of feet stomping on stone was almost unnoticeable at first, but it quickly became the only sound audible in the alleyway. The group held their breaths as the stomping got louder, whoever it was they were heading towards the group.

Soon a gaunt-looking man rounded the corner, muttering something under his breath which in time escalated into a full-on rant.

“Shit, I mess up one time and Kheru gets Bargas to reassign me to the alleyways. Mute mother fucker should just up and retire already!

Really why the hell do we even need someone spying on the alleyways? Like what, a drunk is going to miraculously barf out any information worth a damn, hell no I should be out there, at the AA!

Why not Simon or Lewis all those two fuck heads do all day is drink and do nothing. I’m the one busting my balls trying to get information, but no I stick my head out to get something useful from that smiling trash bag, and they dump this trash job on me!

GODDAMMIT!” Taking a powerful step forward the man readied his body and kicked a crate with all the rage of an overworked and underpaid office worker who had just been told they're being laid off sending it skating into the nearby wall.

Good news the man hurt his foot. Bad news, the crate he kicked had someone hiding behind it, causing them to yelp in pain.

“The fuck!?”

Taking advantage of the man’s surprise everybody scurried out from their hiding places distancing themselves from the irate man. All except for the unfortunate child that now found himself pinned between the crate and the wall.

“Well, well, well what do we have here, some half breed street rats and a little princess, looks like this job isn't gonna be such a waste of time after all.” A vicious grin formed on the man's face as he hoisted the child up by the arm, leaving him dangling in the wind. “Okay little lady hand over all your valuables, or your pet here is gonna get hurt.”

The man’s scathing comments didn’t phase the orphans at all they’ve seen thugs like this guy on a daily basis. No, they much more worried about their brother who was hanging limply in the man's grasp groaning in pain.

Red was calm despite the man's gaze being fixated on her, in her mind this man really wasn’t someone to be feared. Compared to staring into Big Bad Wolf’s bottomless maw as he ate her, this man's attempt at a vicious grin might as well be a warm and welcoming smile.

He wasn’t significant nor threatening but for some reason, this man's grin irritated Red to no end. She wasn't supposed to feel irritation, Little Red Riding Hood wasn't supposed to feel irritation, not even dying made her feel irritated, not even when the wolf ate Little Red Riding Hood did she feel irritated. Red wanted to stop feeling irritated.

Red wanted him to stop, but she couldn’t force him to stop she didn’t know how to fight, what she did know however was how to act.

Suddenly and without prompting Red smiled brightly and started humming a sweet little tune while skipping towards the man, marking the beginning of her one-man play.

She was taking a nice stroll through the forest, her smile was bright and her skips were light, the day was nice and there was no evil in sight, no nasty tricksters to bring her plight, today would only bring delight.

The man stared dumbfounded at Red's antics. There is no way a kid could act so chipper while being robbed he thought to himself. But seeing the sparkles in her eyes, and the bounce in each skip she took he couldn’t tell if she was genuinely this naive or if she was just feigning it.

And that smile..... That damn smile that radiated innocence. He should’ve been wary around this strange girl. But no matter how much his brain screamed at him that this girl had something up her sleeves, his instincts told him otherwise, that she is an innocent girl that wouldn’t even hurt a fly.

Stopping a step away from the man Red gently lifted her basket up to his face like a flower girl asking him to buy some flowers. Peering into the basket with bated breath still marred by indecision, the man caught sight of something moving under the cloth that covered the top of the basket. That was when a little fox popped out.

“wha-”

Before he could even say a word the little fox conjured a fireball at the tip of its tail and fired it forward with a yip. Dropping the child the man reeled back in pain yelling out obscenities, his grin quickly contorting into a scowl as it disappeared behind his hands.

Not missing a beat the group quickly scooped up both the child and Red before making made a run for it.

Fleeing the scene they could hear the roar of the fire merge with the man's screams for them to return, or at least that’s what the group thought he was yelling about between all the swearing. In any case, it only served to fuel their escape.

Weaving through the winding the streets the orphans didn’t know what they were going to do next. Their brother wasn’t responding to their voices and his eyes were dull, the only thing that assured them that he wasn't dead was the groans that escaped his lips.

Without them even realizing it the group unconsciously returned home in their panic, or at least it was the place they called home.

Entering the tent carrying their injured brother the orphans saw their ever so reliable big sis.

“Welc- Oh? Oh my.” Seeing her injured family member she quickly sprung into action and started doing all sorts of examinations on the boy.

“Whew, good grief.” She breathed out a sigh of relief. “It’s at best a mild concussion, and at worst a severe one, take him to the back tent bandage him up, get him a potion, some ice on his head and water. Remember to take turns watching over him and keep an ear open to see if he’s still groaning.”

Big sis as the others called her started belting out instruction after instruction, all of which was done in quick order as she listed them off.

Nodding in satisfaction at seeing orders being carried out she then turned her attention to Red. “And who is this little one?”

“My name is....... Red”

“Red huh, well it’s not much but welcome to our humble abode. Oh yeah, also you can call me Ayase if big sis is too awkward for ya.” Ayase gave a graceful bow after introducing herself. “Now then with the introductions out of the way, what brings you to here.” she started a conversation with Red, ignoring the ruckus happening in the background.

“I am looking for someone, my..... superi-, my friend, Alice.”

“Is that right, and I’m guessing you got my little brothers and sisters to help you.” Ayase was impressed by their little sibling's actions. “Maybe I should go easy on the scolding later” she mused to herself silently.

One of the younger kids tried to rectify their big sister's misunderstanding but was quickly silenced by a force that only kids trying to get out of trouble could muster.

“Any case, Red you stay here I'll go looking for your friend, what does she look like?” Ayase knew the area well and while it was a bit embarrassing for her to say out loud she was confident in her eyesight.

“She has light brown hair, is about the same height or a bit taller than me and carries around a tome with engravings of flowers on it, the tome is also of similar height as her,” Red answered to the best of her abilities while giving her Little Red Riding Hood smile.

“Alright then I'll be right back in a jiffy with your friend, so make your self at home, if you want anything to eat or drink just ask any of the brats running around.”

With that said she darted out of the tent at speeds that Red couldn’t even track with her eyes, one moment she was in front of Red and the next she was already out of the tent.

Once the group finished up their tasks they broke out the snacks and started talking to Red about various things, while waiting for Ayase to return. Like how they weren’t all related by blood, how Ayase took them under her care and how she's been teaching them the in and outs of being an adventurer.

“Since the dungeon closed down big sis has been pushing herself to put food on the table,” The one telling the story paused for a moment to clear her throat. “you can only get some many jobs done in a day, as sis always says.”

“With everything, sis has done for us we really wanted to help her out, so we started the tour guide thing and well... l... you did really help us out a lot today, setting the guys face on fire and all and......” It was the oldest boy in the group that continued the story where the other left off. He looked like he was fifteen years old, at the edge of adulthood but would still be considered a child.

“What this idiot here is trying to say, is you’ve helped us out today when you could’ve just run off by yourself. So don’t worry about payment for the tour and if you ever find your self in trouble come here and we’ll help bail you out!” another kid chimed in this time it was a girl that was Red’s height, even though she on the short end she had that reliable big sister vibe about her.

With the thank yous done and out of the way, the rest of the time was spent talking about the magic fox that Red had. Everyone wanted to ask about it since they saw it shoot the man in the face with a fireball but there were more pressing matters to deal with, but now...

“hey, how did you get it?”

“where did you find it”

“How does it do magic”

“it’s so pretty”

A torrent of questions washed over Red with no reprieve in sight, but like before when they questioned her it ended up going nowhere. Though it was still fun for them to throw out theories about their new mysterious friend.

Red was now apparently a rich girl who lives a double life. By day she’s an unassuming noble girl but by night she's a badass vigilante adventurer, who has a magical fox as a companion that is actually the final boss from a mysterious dungeon that has long since gone dormant. And She can transform herself into her battle form with a flick of her hood......

The theory went on for a while, really they just wanted to see how outlandish they could make Red’s origin story. In truth, they knew Red was probably the child of some well off merchant who was hiding their identity as to not get into trouble.

Time drifted away as they added more and more details to Red’s backstory. Red herself nodded along to groups whimsical ramblings, honestly contemplating whether or not she should use this persona in addition to Little Red Riding Hood. Their theory storming session was interrupted when they heard a loud groan coming from the back.

Not knowing if it was serious or not the orphans swiftly made their way to the back tent leaving Red alone in the main tent. Listening to the hushed mumbling coming from the back tent, Red added today’s events to her list of anomalies.

She experienced a lot of firsts today. She made what could be called acquaintances, or would they be called friends. learned how irritation felt, made a mental note that feeling irritated was bad and to try to distance herself from it as much as possible.

As Red Reflected on today's happenings, Ayase came bursting in through the tent flap with Alice by her side. After a quick exchange of words, Red left with Alice, feeling a bit hollow that she couldn’t say goodbye to her new friends but ultimately decided that family should take precedence over her.

Family.... Little Red Riding Hood had a family, her grandma, but was she also Red’s grandma?

What constituted a family?

Was the dungeon her family?

Red pondered over these thoughts as she idly acknowledged Alice’s questions as they returned back home.