The Beanies looked at each other as they listened to Shaa's description of how Demony was most definitely on the harmful end of the scale, advice on Demony's character and offer to help deal with Demony if it came down to that. Among them, surprisingly, Chili was the most shocked at that suggestion. Star's face remained neutral, while Goody had a sad but solemn look in their eyes. As though they had been on the used side, and knew exactly what Shaa was saying. Even though none of that ever happened in their story.
"Demony would never!" Chili exclaimed in anger.
"Chili-plush only thinks that because Demony likes Chili-plush more than Star-plush and Goody-plush," Star didn't know where that came from, but they were 100% confident it was true.
"Goody will take responsibility when that happens," Goody's voice was resolute, which drew a severe contrast with their diminutive figure. "Thank you, Mr. Shaa, for your offer. We will consider it if that becomes necessary."

Demony was first annoyed when Shaa spelled out its character to the Beanies, then bewildered when Star and Goody seemed wholly unsurprised at the reality the Minotaur presented. Star, it could perhaps posit why - they were the leadership figure among the Beanies for a reason, but Goody? That naive little sucker who is routinely fooled by the most unconvincing of stories? Brought into tears at the slightest tug of their heartstrings? That Goody is openly proclaiming they would take responsibility for its actions? Hah, fat chance of that ever... Then Goody outright declared they will consider Shaa's offer if it becomes necessary, and a sudden chill coursed through its whole being. That halfwit was entirely serious. Declaring war in the open like that, oh, you will pay for it Goody. One day. Then Goody came over and gave it a soppy warm hug. Trying to soften the blow, eh? It was not going to buy it one bit, but it could do nothing but accept the hug for now. Mr. Captain of the Fighter's Club was going to be a complete nightmare in its future, wasn't it?

The four eventually arrived at a large hall and they immediately the large poster boards filled with papers. Was that 'the lists'? Shaa seemed to be heading in that way, so they followed.

As the group approached the boards at the back of the large room, serval other Fighters Guild members were there eating and talking loudly. The boards consisted of papers that, upon closer examination, were separated into 5 different categories. Easy, Intermediate, Dangerous/Group, Mandatory and In Progress. The easy group were ones that were Fighters guild related but not that dangerous. Small exterminations, low risk guard duty and the like. Intermediate were ones that had a high risk of conflict or would last for an extended time. Dangerous/Group was high risk with guaranteed conflict like getting rid of bandits or getting involved in an ongoing conflict. These were restricted by the guild to highly experienced members or groups to mitigate the risk. The mandatory category were jobs that directly impacted the guild or came from royalty and needed to be handled as a priority. The final category were ones that had an assigned guild member and were being worked. The names of the members involved were written on the bottom as well as the date they started.

Next to the boards was a medium sized table that was short but sturdy looking. On the top of the table was a large wooden box that was fully enclosed save a large slit cut out of the top. On the back of the box, the side was hinged with a small brass clasp that held the side in place. That way the box could be opened if needed. On the side of the box was a tray with several papers full of, as yet uncategorized requests. Next to the tray was a very small pile of papers. This is where Shaa was heading.

Here we go. He picks up the small pile of papers and starts thumbing through them thoughtfully. No…too dangerous. No, high chance of being immolated. …ohhh um, no, I know this guy, he has a three headed dog, that would not go well for you guys. Their activities catch the attention of some of the other guild members who quickly sus out what’s happening and start snickering. One of them calls out to Shaa. Recruitment getting a bit slim this time hunh? Several other guild members burst out laughing. Hilarious. I’m just seeing if there are jobs we got that we won’t do that will be their speed. What? Like throwing someone a birthday party? Or a request for a warm snuggle? Hey I want a warm snuggle. You WOULD pay for a warm snuggle. Your mom is a warm snuggle. My fist will warm snuggle your face if you don’t shut up about my mom. You two idiots shut it and stop saying snuggle, I’m trying to concentrate. Bet he could use a warm snuggle…the first guild member says under his breath. What was that!? Nuthin…CAPTAIN. That’s right nothing. 

Shaa continues to sort through the paperwork and ultimately pulls out two requests. The flips them back and forth in his hands a couple more times and then seems satisfied with the selection. He hands them over to Goody. I am assuming here that you all can read right? If you look on the back, there are maps and directions for the jobs. We actually have a template people have to use for official requests so there is no question about the job and how much we will get paid for it. Shaa points to the first page. This is a good one for you. It’s a temporary gig at a library to help with some research. Low risk and it will give you a chance to learn about our world. Might even run into someone who will know more about your book. Shaa takes back the second page for a moment, flattens out some of the creases and gives it back to Goody. The second one is 2 week gig as a companion for a girl named Molly. Her parents are wealthy and planning an extended trip. They have servants to take care of her but are looking for someone to keep her more engaged. She’s about 10. There is something a bit weird about the house though. It’s old and a bit infamous for being haunted but those are just rumors. They both have a fast turn around so you probably can only do one. What do you think? 

The Beanies could hazard a guess that there was some kind of order to how the papers were sorted, but they had absolutely no idea what the criteria were any of them. Being illiterate was a curse, not that they were unused to it. Travelling between so many worlds invariably meant that learning a given written language would be a complete waste of time if they never returned to it ever again. Speech could be easily circumvented through means that facilitated two-way translations and was much more useful than writing, anyway. Besides, pictures and actions were also more indicative of intent than words to the Beanies.

"Snuggles?" Goody's eyes widened slightly. "We don't mind giving snuggles." The Beanies gathered and spread their arms wide into an inviting pose, ready to give anyone who wants a snuggle, a snuggle. "Sorry we're not bigger though." Goody meekly apologized. They used to have a way to become bigger, but that too was lost to them when they arrived in Charon.
After the snuggles, if any, Goody was handed two papers, so the Beanies converged together and troubled expressions quickly formed on their faces. Sure, they could probably figure out locations with a proper city map and work out where they need to go from there, maybe sprinkle in some requests for directions from strangers, but it's a lot of work.
"Umm..." Chili let out a squeak to start the awkward conversation that was to be had.
"Actually, we can't read," The Beanies hung their heads down in unison as Star stated the blank fact. "We could learn, but something tells Star-plush scholarly education isn't exactly commonplace in Charon."
"So Goody doubts we can do request number 1, unless they're alright with us filing based on images or certain combinations of symbols," Goody added.
"We'll be glad to take on request number 2 though!" Star perked up joyfully. Sure, kids were a whole different set of troubles, and haunted houses sound scary, but the Beanies should do fine! Probably. Maybe.

"""Thanks Mr. Shaa!!!""" The Beanies thanked Shaa in unison with smiley eyes and their ears flapped back with the cheeriest voice they could muster.

Several guild members formed a line and gave their guests a quick hug. Mostly it was to annoy Shaa but several of them actually enjoyed it but would never admit to such a thing. Are you fancy pants done with your role huggies yet or may I please get back to business? When everyone had a turn, Star says solemnly:"Actually, we can't read,"We could learn, but something tells Star-plush scholarly education isn't exactly commonplace in Charon." The noisy guild hall goes from rowdy to dead quiet in an instant. So much so, a single fork drops to the floor and it sounded like a brass band playing. What was that? Keller, a rather sensitive member of the guild with a perpetual chip on his shoulder stands up and stares at Star. Did that little puff ball just call us stupid? No he called us uneducated. What the hell is the difference? A stupid person can’t learn. An uneducated person can learn but has not learned yet. So he’s calling us ignorant? Meh, close enough.

Keller starts to stalk forward towards Star and draws a dagger from its sheath. Well Mr. Smarty Fluff. I can tie you into 11 different kinds of knots. Does that sound like an uneducated person to you? Shaa slams his fist into a table with a loud thump. You aren’t doing a lot to prove him wrong Keller, just sit back down. Oh yeah, what you gonna do if we don’t? I know a lot more knots than eleven. The tone in Shaa’s voice meant that he was dead serious. The guild members were still testing him to see how far they could push their new leader, apparently it was just this far. Keller starts to walk away back to his seat but then suddenly reels around tossing the dagger at Star. Quick as a flash, Shaa grabs the dagger out of mid air, spins it around in his hand then buries it hilt deep into a nearby table. Someone in the back whistles. After a couple moments of silence, Keller says flatly. Fine. And sits down in a huff. 

Shaa looks at the 4. I think we got what we needed. Let’s get going back out to your cart. As they started to leave, Keller was still staring at Star. When he thought no one was looking, the surly fighter stares hard and draws a thumb slowly across his throat. He mouths words “ See you soon”

---

Bare Hands- Deflective
Bulls Strength Tattoo 

Oh dear. Did Star-plush say something wrong? They were just trying to infer that access to scholarly education wasn't going to be easy, what with their first impression of Charon being that it was largely governed by a highly capitalistic and hierarchy-based society. They were going to apologise when someone got offended enough to attempt to throw a knife at them before Shaa caught it and tossed it away.

"Star-plush is sorry if Star-plush accidentally offended anyone. Star-plush was just saying that education seems expensive based on what we've seen so far." Star wore a meek expression and alternated between putting their paws together and separating them, while Goody and Chili gathered around their fellow Beanie and gave reassuring pats. Demony found this actually enjoyable - the Beanies inadvertently offending people was such a beautiful rarity and a glimmer of gritty hope that perhaps it would be able to wrought misery unto the Beanies after all bloomed in its being.

"""Okay,""" The Beanies resounded in unison, just a little less perky than usual. Star couldn't tell what Keller was mouthing, but they could clearly see the thumb moving across his throat. Sigh. Best not to appear threatened, so Star hopped along, pretending to have innocently missed it and maintaining their composure throughout until they were back at their wagon.

"Mr. Shaa, Keller threatened to slit Star-plush's throat just now as we were leaving," Star didn't exactly like the idea of reporting him like this, but Mr. Captain of the Fighter's Guild has the right to know about their fellow guildie's unruly conduct.

Ppppbbbssstttt. Shaa scoffs derisively. Don’t worry about Keller. 15 minutes from now he will be mad at someone else and make blood oaths or some nonsense. It’s important to be able to understand a person’s nature when you are a fighter. The entire guild is full of rough and tumble characters. If you get all personal about every threat or aggression sent your way, you wouldn’t ever get anything done. They respect strength. It’s not the only thing to respect but around here, it is what it is. He pushes on a set of large wooden doors that lead into a side hallway. I’m going to take you guys outside back to your cart, but we are going to take a little detour if you don’t mind.

The group continues to walk for a while. The halls look mostly the same but seem a bit older and more worn than the rest of the guild hall. The floor clacks loudly against the hard nails of Shaa’s large hooves. After a few more turns and nondescript hallways, the come to a small green door with a simple doorknob. He reaches out and turns the knob gently, it sound delicate and with loose parts but still functional. Come on in.

Leading them into the room, it seems more like a large storage closet than an actual room. It is full of scattered pieces of furniture, paper, various weapons and random bit of everything. Shaa starts walking to the back and shifts through some older looking boxes. It’s here somewhere…. After a couple minutes of rummaging, he finally finds success. Ah. Here it is. He sits on the stone floor and motions them closer, concealing the object of his hunt in his large hand. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I have given you a very good impression about what this guild is all about. If you will indulge me slightly, I have one more story for you.

It was several years ago in a town far from here. I was not a member of the guild yet but it had always been my intention to join as my adoptive family had several former members. That had filled my head with the stories of the founders and how they had fled the royal army and after aligning with a famous family of monster hunters (awkward) had formed the Fighters Guild. The main purpose of the guild was not to be an army for the upper class but to fight for the people. In our bones, that’s who we are. People from all over who fight for those who can’t. Shaa gets a nostalgic look on his face. Anyway, not a guild member, just a wandering adventurer at this point who was in town for ice cream. Not exactly important or noble, but it is what it is. It’s really more of an ice cream/ popsicle thing that I got a ticket for a year in advance and….thats not important. 

Anyway, I got the desert and I was about to eat it. Then all of the sudden, the dagger comes out of nowhere and it exploded into nothing. You see, what I didn’t know was that there was a demon in town. A demon that liked to take the shape of other people and cause problems. There was also a demon hunter in town hunting the thing. What I didn’t know, is that the demon must have seen me at some point and he took my shape without me knowing. Then the demon hunter, thinking I was the demon, attacked me destroying my poor ice pop for no good reason. Now, I didn’t know about the demon and some dude just destroyed my dessert. I didn’t take it well. Long story slightly shorter, we basically fought all over town , fighting and running away from the city guards trying to arrest us for busting the place up. 

Evvvventuly we get to this plaza and guess who’s there? Me! But not really me, the demon me. That’s when I realized what was happening but the guy wasn’t there so it was just me. By the time he showed up, the demon transformed into a girl who looked like she was beaten up, the fight got uglier. I tried to explain it but he obviously didn’t believe me until the demon tried to eat him, then you know. Shaa points to himself. Credibility. So now we are all fighting and I bake the demon into a pie…. technically it was a tart but whatever. That’s when I fill the entire bakery….oh yeah, the fight ended up in a bakery which was how I got the stuff to bake him into the tart. I feel like I’m rambling. He takes a deep breath. So I fill the entire bakery full of thorny vines to stop the guards from arresting the demon slayer as we became friends in the end. That fight became our entry into the guild. For one, the fight was awesome. The other thing was I was able to fight for someone else while beating that same guy up. Weird but it made sense at the time. Beat him up to save him.

Shaa opens up his hand. In his palm is a single thorn. It’s obviously old but looks sharp and solid. It’s from the vines I summoned in the bakery. I have helped a lot of people since I joined. A lot more than I ever would’ve otherwise. Trained fighters. Saved people I cared about. Made some life long friends. When I get tired, it’s nice to have reminders why it’s worth it. He hands the thorn over for closer examination.

"If Mr. Shaa says so," Star replied. There were many types of people out there, and the Beanies were little fluff balls of weakness in the grand scheme of things so they couldn't help being wary for their own sakes.
"Ooh detour! Sure!" Chili went ahead and answered without waiting to check with Star and Goody. Not that they minded, so they followed Shaa once again through the detour path.

The Beanies would look around at the various memorabilia scattered at their destination, which felt like some kind of hoarder's cove. Must be a place for sentimental items, the Beanies thought, as they listened to Shaa regale them with yet another tale of his.

"Ice-cream!" Chili would interject the moment they heard the word. Star and Goody were rather curious too. They had ice-cream in Charon! Yay!
"""Noooooo!!!""" The Beanies would then resound in unison, paws on their cheeks, mourning the poor ice-cream, destroyed without having been savoured. Ice-cream couldn't have been cheap.
"Demon tart?" Chili would stare at Shaa earnestly and filled their mind with thoughts on how it might even taste like. Star and Goody winced and thought back to the Demony loaf from yesterday, though they certainly had no interest in eating demons. Those things tasted terrible, and they'd come with a pinch of corruption too! Wait. Why do Star and Goody think that? Demony instinctively flinched and had to resist the overwhelming urge in every fiber of its being to not just bolt away at that instant, having the unfortunate sense to understand that leaving was much worse than just staying still and doing nothing.

The Beanies would then take the thorn as three, and observe it.
"Mr. Shaa's a good person," Goody wasn't sure how exactly to respond to the long tale they'd just heard, but they understood well enough that sometimes saving people wasn't as straightforward as it appeared.
"Remember not to push yourself too hard. Burnouts are dangerous, for Mr. Shaa and for those who depend on Mr. Shaa," the Beanies extended the thorn upwards towards Shaa for him to take it back.

He laughs a bit and stands up, taking the thorn back and replacing it to the old box. It’s true. The struggle is real. But I still have a lot in me. I have a lot of friends here. More like family. Lot of “ I care about you but also want to punch you in the face” if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t but it doesn’t have to really. He shoves some of the boxes back in place and motions for them to follow him out of the mismatched room. Once the door is closed, he starts walking back towards the entrance.

The guard from earlier is still there. This time he is sweeping the floor trying to look busy. Shaa walks over and taps on the desk. The guard looks up startled. You’re back sir. Find some jobs for the squish faces did you? He nods in the affirmative. Yeah I think we nailed something down. It took a bit of doing but we have a good line on one. Which one? Tye guard asks curiously. It’s the companion for the little girl….. ohhhhh! The guard says excitedly. The haunted house! The haunted house! He rolls his eyes a bit at the comment. It’s not haunted that’s just a rumor. What you don’t believe in ghosts? Of course I do. I got attacked by a zombie like last week. I’m just saying THAT house isn’t haunted, it’s just old. What about the creepy woman in white? The what? The woman in white. She comes out at night and feeds on young men. Shaa looks over at the crew. I’m pretty sure they will be fine. They aren’t men exactly. Shaa looks at them. What do you prefer to be called?

"""We're Beanies!""" The three little bears got together and spread their arms outwards, Star's to their right, Goody upwards, and Chili's to their left.
"We're fine with any pronouns!" Star exclaimed with smiley eyes, before visibly deflating as they continued. "Except 'it'. 'It' feels objectifying."
"Demony's an 'it' though. Not sure what Demony even is, to be frank." Chili turned around and pointed at the vaguely bear-eared and cat-shaped but otherwise featureless blob of wispy shadows, then did a shrug. Demony couldn't care less about being referred as 'it', honestly, though, it takes horrible offense at being referred to as Demony on the regular. Why can't it have a more sinister name?
"Goody hopes the ghost no try to eat us. Goody not delicious at all." Goody pressed their paws against their ears, trembling fearfully. Chili would take this opportunity to sneak over to behind Goody-plush, then do an exaggerated roar with arms raised like those of a grizzly bear, going "Muahahaha! I'm here to eat you!"
"Googaaaaaaaaaa!" Goody would attempt to dash off in fear as a loud yelp, only to be thwarted by Star holding on to the ball at the tip of their hat, and the latter would pull the hat towards them and give Goody a reassuring hug, calming the former down somewhat.
"Chili-pluuuuuuush!" Star shot an angry glare at Chili. "Ahem. Sorry about that." Star bowed in apology, and made Chili bow too by pushing their head down.

After that little hubbub, the Beanies would finally return to their wagon once more.

Your’e Beanies? He asks making sure that he heard them right. Did that mean they were actually full of beans? That seemed pretty unlikely but they were creatures that came alive from a book so there was that. But if they didn’t have blood or internal organs, what exactly was moving them around? Based on his conversations up till now, he wasn’t sure that even they knew the answer. It was a bit to awkward to ask directly but he makes a note to himself to either follow up himself or have a guildee follow up with them later. Maybe then they would know more and it would give him more time to look into their mysterious origins.

Ok, if you all say so. Shaa walks them back to their wagon, the guard waving goodbye as they go. Well I guess that settles that. I got you a line on a job like I promised. If you go a short distance west of here, there is a small port town that can take you to the main land and the job. Shaa hands Starry several odd looking coins. These are passage tokens. The guild has a deal with the port guys for cheap fare. We kill sea monsters all of the time for them so we get lots of these. Please take them with my compliments. I don’t get a ton of perks as a Guild Master but this is a pretty nice one. 

Shaa does a quick check around and everything looks clear. Ok Beanies, west is that way. Shaa points directly west. There are some trees and rocks that beanies can use as guide posts. Best of luck to you all. Have fun with the kid and ignore the haunted stuff. It’s probably not true. Why would rich people live in a haunted house? You will be fine probably. Remember, don’t travel in the dark. Don’t tell anybody else about the book. And lastly… Shaa gives a final piercing look at Demony. I will be keeping an ear out for you. I have a lot of contacts in some of the seedier circles and if I catch wind of you digging into anything you shouldn’t be, I will come for you. Mark my words. I am known for a lot of things, but leaving loose ends is not one of them. 

Shaa smiles bringing back his more cheery disposition. Ok everyone, stay safe and have a good trip.

"Thanks Mr. Shaa!" Star thanked the generous Minotaur as they took the coins.

The Beanies looked west, as Shaa pointed at the direction and did an aye-aye salute in regards to his other bits of advice. Demony, at this point, simply hadn't any mood to even remotely care about yet another warning from the should-absolutely-be-dreaded Mr. Captain of the Fighter's Guild, despite, or maybe precisely because it knew full well he was undoubtedly capable of following up with his words.

"""Good day to you too, Mr. Shaa! Thanks for everything!""" The Beanies were so in sync you would think they had rehearsed their lines in advance, but no; rather this was an artifact of their literary nature. 

"Before we leave though," the Beanies would hop towards Shaa and-

"""Beanie hug!""" Spread their arms wide to give Shaa a hug - if he was open to that, of course, the Beanies cared about consent. Hugs are good.

Then, the Beanies would see Shaa off and finally wonder how they should actually get their wagon moving. So many things to do, and so little time and resources! Oh well. They'll figure something out, as they always do before the end of a tale.