• There was just no stopping Angela Strraughend when she got it into her head to see those increasingly outrageous whims of hers to the end. It tended to be the main reason that the Golden Seal Team got roped into pointless side-quests whenever they dared to go back into town for supplies or a quick break. Gina, for instance, could ask for a maid uniform wrapped with haken intestines and sprinkled with butcher toenails (for whatever unspecified reason) and Angela would be the first to agree to the task.

    Now, however, the blame couldn't be placed on one of the airheaded residents of Bramunez for instigating this current diversion. There was Frantz, Tude, and Angela in the Abandoned Wing of Curtis Castle, the three-person team of misfits having continued their search deeper into the gargantuan structure. Or, at least, that had been the plan.

    "Angela..." began Tude, sighing as he tried to get the witch's attention for the umpteenth time.

    "Just a sec."

    "...Angela," murmured Frantz, leaning on his axe and looking irritable.

    "Hold up."

    Tude groaned and started shuffling over to one of the downed Angolier in the courtyard, as if to check if it were really dead. Instead, he simply kicked it in the head and then turned back to look at Angela expectantly. When that cycle failed to incite any reaction on the witch's part, he simply plopped down on the ground and laid his head back. Frantz, meanwhile, was trying to use this time to scan the area for anything they might have missed. Naturally, there was nothing but wall and monster corpse around. One of the shopkeepers in Bramunez would probably demand something off of these bodies later, but for now they had no such requests.

    Heedless of the two men's boredom, Angela continued to stoke the magical fire that was currently roasting the body of a Minotaurus. Yes, she'd apparently wanted some meat so badly that she was willing to hold up their investigation to cook a monster. Frantz might have actually supported this if Patricia was still catering to their nutritional needs, but that was no longer the case. Being allowed into the cathedral area of Bramunez offered the distinct advantage of instead having the more competent April to provide their meals...making this venture even more pointless.

    "Mmm...looks good, looks good..." whispered the witch under her breath, bolstering the flames to cook the Minotaurus faster. Given that her sanity hadn't completely slipped, both Frantz and Tude could only assume that she was deluding herself. They couldn't let her actually eat this thing, never mind that it was taking up valuable time. Besides not being cooked properly, they didn't even know what went into a Minotaurus. Could they really be part man...?

    Well, regardless of any such doubts, Angela began to hum as she went about her business. At this cheerful tune amidst the searing of monster flesh, both Frantz and Tude suddenly shared a look and leapt into action.

    "Angela!" exclaimed both in unison, startling the witch out of her hunched over position on the ground. As soon as Angela registered the culprits of the rude shock she'd just received, she looked almost offended, rising up to her full height and glaring at the twosome even as they similarly stared her down.

    "Well, what? Can't a girl get some decent meat around here without all this noise?" Angela put her hands on her hips and looked disapprovingly at her companions. Used to her eccentricities by this point, the half-vampire and wanderer weren't at all put off by her expression.

    Frantz rummaged in one of his pockets for a moment before pulling out a nondescript sack from his person. "Look, if you're that hungry, just take this and buy yourself a burger. Don't waste our time like this." Tude nodded his agreement, folding his arms (gauntlet and all) and not breaking eye contact with the witch.

    In response, Angela both scoffed and rolled her eyes, apparently going for a double-whammy of disapproving expressions. "Geez, you guys are totally missing the point." As if that settled everything, Angela turned back around and tried to visibly tell if she could begin biting into the monster.

    The two men exchanged another glance and then strode forward, coming up on either side of Angela. Surprised, she stepped back as her associates brought their faces ever closer to hers. "...Uhh..." sounded Angela, looking rather uncomfortable at the moment. They paid this no heed and continued to look unblinkingly at her.

    "Say, Frantz, what do you think the point is?" wondered Tude aloud, not really looking at the half-vampire when he asked this. Frantz shrugged his shoulders in response, clearly meaning for Angela to see it rather than Tude. They were both still staring her down at too close a proximity to be comfortable.

    The blonde went on. "Well, I'd think the best way to find out is to ask Angela."

    "But she'd never tell us. She'd just keep doing what she's doing," replied Frantz in deadpan.

    "Therein lies the problem, you see. Now how shall we unravel this mystery?"

    Angela was starting to get more annoyed than disturbed by this point. "You guys-..."

    Frantz cut her off. "Ah. We've caught her attention."

    Tude clapped his hands together suddenly, creating a mock applause for their odd performance. The sound made Angela visibly flinch. "A momentous occurrence, my friend. What shall we do with this golden opportunity?"

    Apparently having come to a silent agreement beforehand, both Frantz and Tude seized Angela by either arm and dragged her away from the smoldering Minotaurus. "Hey! This isn't fair!" protested the spiky-haired witch.

    "No. No it isn't," agreed Frantz, picking up Graestra with his free hand from where Angela had left it without breaking stride. They reached the outer edge of the courtyard and threw open a doorway to the next area. It was teeming with Tantalus and Sleekers, as per usual. "Yeesh. You guys gotta lighten up..." mumbled Angela, taking Graestra from Frantz and preparing herself for battle. It was clear they wouldn't let her go back to the Minotaurus at this point.

    ---

    The Sinful Seraph had fallen easily enough, Tude having pummeled it into oblivion while Angela and Frantz kept its minions at bay. The experience of fighting Fluffy back in the Labyrinth had probably made the battle easier than it should have been.

    Now they were heading back to town, having come far enough for the time being. They couldn't very well fight through the castle without pause, after all. And it was never certain what they'd run into next.

    As they were nearing Bramunez, however, Frantz finally decided it was safe enough to ask again. "So. Angela...what was the point of that, anyway?"

    The witch shrugged. "Come on, Frantz, you know someone's going to ask us to bring back a roasted Minotaurus. With all the useless crap we're sent out for, it's an inevitability. Whether it be Gorgon or Carter or an NPC we've never seen before, it's going to happen. I figured we could just tell them it sucks and they shouldn't eat it."

    Frantz fell quiet after that, trying to find some sort of snappy response for her. There was none because she was absolutely right. Tude was probably thinking the same thing as he moved quietly alongside them, pretending that the Minotaurus roast wouldn't be a task set upon them once they got back to town.

    "...I hate this job..." groaned the half-vampire, both Tude and Angela silently nodding in agreement from behind him.