"The AA." It's one of many businesses(?) whose name has crossed Veliky's desk over the past few months. Veliky is aware of virtually every business that opens in Sol City, from grand franchises to local shops, legal and underground alike. She does it to keep tabs on fluctuations in the market, as any proper businessperson should. But the AA caught her eye for its sheer peculiarity. It claims to be some sort of help centre, but the details of its business and the 'help' it's supposed to provide are extremely scarce. Nobody's even altogether sure what 'AA' stands for. For Veliky, the truth was clear and simple as day: it's a front. Most likely, it's a thin veil for some illegal business to operate just under the nose of the authorities. Its location only adds to this suspectedness.

But, unlike most of the organizations she's aware of, Veliky had no idea what it was hiding. And Veliky hates not knowing things. If there's even a chance that it could interfere with her own business, then it couldn't stand. And so she set out to get to the bottom of this mystery, and the first step to doing so was to visit the establishment itself.

Little did Veliky know that the truth was far stranger -- and far more familiar -- than she could've known. As, having left her mechanical entourage outside, she now stands just inside a room that's been utterly destroyed with fungus. And standing at the epicentre is a face she knows all too well.

"Cheche...?" she remarks quizzically. She wonders if the pixie was lured here by the duplicitous advertisements. But where're the owners? And how the hell did this place come to look like one of Sylva's night-gardens?

It doesn't take her long to find the answer to the second question. It's lying on the floor, just beside Cheche's feet; it's the incursion that Veliky, against her better judgement, allowed Cheche to keep. Why? Well, there were several aiding and detracting factors. But, in the end, the hammer had already been deemed safe by several studies (safe for everyone except whomever is unfortunate enough to be struck by it, that is). As well, Cheche really did need some means to defend herself seeing as she seems to get into trouble quite often, and she is surprisingly proficient with blunt-force weaponry. Besides, Veliky really did need to repay her for everything that happened that day...

'Why'd she bring that in here, anyway...? Was she planning to smash something?' Veliky realizes, with a sigh, that the answer to that question is probably stranger than she has any hope of predicting. Now's about the time that she should approach Cheche and actually ask what the hell's going on; but, looking to the ground, she sees that the floor is utterly carpeted with the fungus, and she knows the nasty effects that they carry. So she'll just have to talk from here.

"What are you doing here? And... need any help?" Veliky asks from the other side of the spore-ocean, crossing her arms. It's a formality to offer, really, as Veliky isn't sure what she could do in such a situation. Then again, if Cheche *did* come here to smash something, then maybe they have a common enemy.

---

Bringing Minions
Bishop-13 {Warlord}
Fisher-06 {Corsair}
Knight-06 {Warlord}

Bringing Pets
BF-05 (The Goodest Boy)
Stalker-03 (Prismatic Spider)
Vampire-04 (Vampire Bat)

"Oooh! Veliky! Just in time! Wanna cuppa tea?" - by the moment Veliky stepped in, Cheche has already given up the hope of exterminating the fungi. It's not like she didn't try. She tried pulling them out, tugged at them, even jumped on them, which turned out to be a fantastic idea. Mere seconds before the light steps of Miss Veliky reached the door, she was bouncing on them, overflowing with joy and vigor. And back to the current moment, where she's half-lying on mushrooms spreading beneath her like a huge spongy pillow. Cheche is completely out of breath. She makes a movement to stand up and greet her friend, but her bare feet get tangled and she falls on her back again.
" Give me a moment, I've got this..." - she adds without much confidence. "Eeh..sit anywhere? As you can see, we have a...little bit of a mishap here. I tried getting rid of them, but well... you see. At least, the room seems to look more lively like this, eh? "  That being said, mushrooms have already covered the whole floor, and now are spreading on the walls. That is a pretty, but a little bit disturbing sight.  Finally she manages to stand up and make her way towards the kettle in the farthest corner of the room.

That was... not the answer Veliky was expecting. Somewhat lost for words, all she can do is stand there, a befuddled breath escaping her. What's Cheche talking about? Just in time? Tea? Sit anywhere? Mishap? Lively?

Click. Like the pieces of a puzzle, it all assembles in Veliky's mind. Cheche's attitude, and the fact that she's the only one here; it wouldn't be much to go on alone, but combine that with all the bizarre rumours about this place and the truth becomes obvious, if mystifying. All the anecdotal evidence of strange business practices pointed -- or so Veliky thought -- to some sort of front or conspiracy. But in truth, it was all the result of the machinations of a befittingly peculiar pixie. It all makes sense.

...Veliky gets that distinct 'I should've known' feeling. But, thinking reasonably, how could she have? What're the odds that this incredibly suspicious establishment just so happened to be run by Cheche, a pixie from another world and one of Veliky's closest-... associates? It all seems absurd -- then again, most things are when they involve Cheche.

Veliky feels a tension leave her far more roughly than is truly comfortable, like stepping into a fire-warmed house after a jaunt through a freezing Winter afternoon. Obviously there's nothing to worry about here, which also means that Veliky doesn't have much reason to be here, but she may as well stay a while and help Cheche clean up. After all, an infestation of this particular fungus technically constitutes an incursion. Although seeing Cheche totally unaffected is unexpected... Veliky would be more careful if she were in the pixie's lack of shoes. Even if it does look a little...

She shakes her head. "Lively, Cheche? If a health inspector came, they'd have a lot to say about this. I don't know how, but we should get this cleaned up before somebody else shows up and you start getting reported." It's calmly said, but the warning is there and true enough.

Watching her steps as precisely as she can, Veliky steps through the mushroom-patch. There's hardly enough clear ground to step on; she can't blame Cheche for her mishap earlier. There are a couple times when she comes close to tripping, herself; but, in time, she makes her way to the centre of the room, where the chairs should be. The emphasis is on the 'should be,' as much of the furniture has been virtually overtaken by the fungal plague. 'Sit anywhere,' Cheche said? 'Sit nowhere' seems more accurate.

Although, as Veliky looks around, the environment isn't... totally unsalvageable. At least, not if you look from the right perspective. While the chairs are covered in tiny, uncomfortable-looking mushrooms, a separate patch of larger growths have taken shape just down the way. These mushrooms are truly massive and uniquely flat in their curvature, enough so that any of them could make for semi-comfortable seat -- or a table, for that matter.

'...Should be fine as long as I don't let it touch my skin, right?' Veliky wonders with a sigh. Cheche's interactions with them do make them look harmless, but she can't shake a layer of dusty doubt... Still, there's only one way to find out, isn't there? And so, weaving between the mushrooms again, Veliky turns around and promptly takes a seat on one of the platform-esque toadstools. It's shockingly sturdy, pleasantly soft and relievingly unparalytic. Maybe it isn't so bad, after all.

"I'll take some tea, though. Black, if you have it." Veliky crosses one leg over the other, leaning back with a sigh that carries the warm smell of coffee and all the stresses of a day's work. "So this 'AA' group I've heard so much about has been yours, all along? How'd a síogaí come to run a help centre? And just what does 'AA' stand for?" Her voice carries a certain interrogatorialness to it... but then, it usually does. Cheche knows Veliky well enough to know that if this *were* a formal questioning, Veliky wouldn't look nearly so relaxed about it, nor so expressive in her body language. Veliky just has a way of being up-front; not knowing things is one of her biggest pet peeves, so information is something she always prefers to get out of the way as soon as possible. No; if this were anywhere else -- with any *one* else -- Veliky wouldn't be nearly this relaxed.

Upon hearing those words and seeing Veliky somewhat relaxed (if the word can ever be used to describe this ice-cold ever-so-sharp never-letting-her-guard-down lady), Cheche smiles. Her dark eyes squint. There are tiny sparks of amusement in them as if she's the sole keeper of some secret and finds the very idea of keeping it to herself for so long extremely entertaining. She holds a pause studying Veliky's face and then decides to let her in on it:
"AA stands for....Amazing Apple [pies], actually. But shhh, not a word to anyone! This place is supposed to be a kind of...eh,  shelter to all the good folks out there.  At first, I thought  'Audacious Abarcy' would be a good name, but someone told me the name had already been taken by a  local bakery. Then I came up with 'Alluring Aphercotropism' meaning good. I really did. Later I encountered a.....hm....public bathhouse with the same name. Khm, khm..where was I? Ah! So, my idea was that all of us, when meeting an obstacle, need to find some way around it. And then, Eureka! That was it! I understood that helping adventurers get over some difficulties in their lives would be good. And since not everyone wants to boast about their calling, I decided to call it Anonymous Adventurers. Yet, it's all about pies, really" - Cheche finishes her tirade and attempts to catch her breath. " Oh, you wanted some tea, sure!" - she slowly lifts herself above the mushrooms and leisurely walks to the corner. There, after some fossicking and rummaging, she finds her favorite copper teapot. Then she treds towards the reservoir with clean water -  the only object in the room which is not covered by the raging fungi. She slowly pours some water in and carefully treds back. Soon after she sits down with her legs crossed and makes a tiny spark of magic fire on the tip of her fingers. It's a good thing that this fire can burn anywhere. Even on fungi (for some reason to no damage to the mushrooms). After that, Cheche places the teapot on the improvised magic fire and hums a song while rummaging in her sack for some fragrant black tea. The song has a very chipper tune and soon Cheche gets really into singing, accompanying herself by clapping:" whoooah I'm a little teapot short and stout here is my handle here is my spout when I get all steamed up I will shout. Dip me over and pour me out ~ Let's sing together, Veliky!"