A Lawful country that regulates all use of magic, or maybe all adventurers? She wrinkles her nose. This can't possibly work. But maybe these so-called villains are more Chaotic than Evil, after all.

"The way things work where I'm from," she says, "is that no government is powerful enough to tell all mages what to do and have most of them obey. And no government is popular enough to have most of the mages work for it, or rich enough to pay them, or wise enough to tell them all what to do. Most powerful people do their own thing, alone or in small groups, and this is usually better for themselves as well." She also thinks human governments are kind of fake, but that's a longer argument and she's not invested in convincing Tattletale; she's still trying to learn about this new place.

"When you say it's better to steal from a bank, you mean it's more convenient for you," she remarks. "Why do you need money so much you'd fight these heroes over it, if you're not Evil?" Understanding people's constraints and needs is the first step in getting to know them.

Tattletale is looking increasingly pained as this conversation continues.

"Different members of our team have different reasons," she hedges, looking to see Aria's reaction. "For myself, I use that money to pay for housing, food, and continuing education. Bitch uses her share to take care of her dogs, and rescue more dogs from bad situations as she's able. Bug, Grue, and Regent have their own reasons, which they can share with you if they like."

"As for the government being powerful enough — it's not," she states. "The villains outnumber the heroes about 3 to 1. But the government is hardly going to admit that they're not in control of the situation. They just do their best to keep a lid on it and prevent the worst of the ... evil parahumans from terrorizing people. And do a lot of showboating to try and convince people that they are still credible."

Bug shifts uncomfortably at this description, but doesn't refute it. She crosses her arms and looks away.

Bitch continues to sound like the most reasonable person around here!! She can't wait to meet her.

"I don't really understand how you can afford one or more mages on your team, but not to pay for food and housing without fighting," she remarks. "Unless fighting is its own reward for you. But I don't mean to pry into your lives - I'm really interested in meeting Bitch. Anything else you can tell me about her would be welcome, and I'll ask Angelica too. What kinds of bad situations are dogs in here, and what does she need to do to rescue them? And who are these Evil... people with supernatural abilities, the word didn't translate exactly, let's call them 'supers'... who are terrorizing the locals, or did you mean that in general and not right here and now?"

"Oh! And you can ask me and Tora questions, if you want, or something else in return for you help. I can cast a spell to let Tora speak out loud, but only for a hundred minutes, so I'm saving it until she wants to." She looks a question at the other tiger in the room.

These people are boring. Let's go somewhere nicer! With sunshine and meadows and deer.

...but if we're here I don't mind answering questions.

Aria can read Tora's face well enough. Even without a mind link up, they share a closer bond than most humans will ever have.

"Sorry, dear, I've been neglecting you a bit, haven't I? The Suddenly City isn't fun. I promise we'll do something nice later today." She licks Tora's cheek affectionately.

"What do ..." she begins to say.

"If you don't mind questions, I would love to know more about what, ah, magic you're capable of," Tattletale interrupts. "I don't think we really have anyone like you here. You can speak to animals and ... assume their forms?"

"Those are the main things, yes! I can talk to them and help them and heal them and ask for their help in return, and I help people understand the animals they live and work with, or negotiate with them. And I can make plants grow, which farmers often appreciate a lot."

"Druids protect the natural order, and our powers reflect that. Cities are unnatural and most druids shun them and focus on protecting forests from being turned into more cities, so it's not your fault you don't know much about us. But we signed a deal with the human Emperor back home to protect our forest, so now I can afford to travel and help the people who are suffering in cities. - I don't spend all my time in cities, of course, my ambit is broader than that."

Cities are dens of evil and iniquity.

(Tora can't follow the conversation in English, this is just her general opinion on being reminded of the Suddenly City.)

"And Druids all share these same powers?" Tattletale questions, leaning forward intently. "Not just similar powers, but all the same?"

"Yes, but possibly not the way you're thinking? It's not like there's a magic ritual that makes someone a druid and grants them exactly these powers, or a spell that a wizard copies and casts just the same way as every other wizard. We can have different... affinities, and preferences, but almost all of us study and practice these core skills because they're what it means to be a a druid. Of course there are differences of strength and skill, but we're learning the same things from the same lore." That much, at least, is safe to share in public.

"I didn't think that was how powers worked," Bug remarks, frowning.

Tattletale grins.

"It isn't! Which is what makes our feline friend so interesting," she agrees. "So ... what does 'helping people suffering in cities' entail, exactly?"

"Well. Sometimes Evil people enslave or torture or wantonly murder people, and I stop them. Sometimes I meet people who are just really unhappy, because living in a city is bad for almost everyone, and I help them move out and teach them how to lead a more normal life and help them join or form a new community. Sometimes - a lot of the time - they're ruining the nature around them, cutting down forests or draining swamps or damming rivers or mining the hills, and this is bad for them too in the long term so I try to teach them better and not just stop them, although I do of course stop them. Often it's the animals, cows and horses and dogs and so on, who need my help because the're being hurt by the humans they live with, and it's not because the humans are all cruel but because they don't know any better, and I help them talk to each other and figure out how to live better together." And just as often the humans are cruel and she has to put them down.

"And sometimes people in cities have the same kinds of problems people everywhere might have, like disease or famine or monsters or bad weather, and I can help with those but I'm not that much better at it than a cleric of Erastil and there are a lot more of them, so I usually don't bother."

"I think your 'teleport trap' sent you a lot farther than you thought," Tattletale tells her. "People in the city mostly don't keep cows or horses — or any animals, really. Dogs and cats are the exception. Most of those are treated well, although Hookwolf — definitely an evil person, he's part of a nasty gang — runs dog-fighting rings. Our team tries to shut them down, of course."

"Isn't it mostly Bitch who takes out Hookwolf's stuff?" Bug questions.

Tattletale nods. "Well, yes, but I've helped her locate them, and Grue helps her as well," she claims.

It's a good thing Tora can't understand them right now. Not that Aria is any less angry, she's just much better at hiding it and biding her time.

"Tell me more," she says evenly, "about these dog-fighting rings that Bitch shuts down and rescues dogs from."

Tattletale's eyes widen a little at Aria's intensity.

"Ah, Hookwolf is one of the main lieutenants of a gang called the Empire Eighty-Eight," she begins. "He captures and breeds dogs, and then pits them against each other as a gambling thing, which is one of the ways the E88 funds itself. It's illegal as hell, but he rotates buildings and times so that the authorities have trouble tracking him down. I can usually figure out where he's going to be with a bit of effort, though, with my power."

She swallows.

"He's not just in it for the money, though. As far as he's concerned, that's just a nice bonus. He likes the fights."

It's a painfully familiar story. "You've stopped him before, but he always starts again. You should have solved the problem at the root. Since it's illegal, which is a word that means the faction that styles itself Lawful doesn't like it, I trust there will be no objection to my taking care of this Hookwolf and his empire."

"If you want to help, tell me where to find him. ...and I still need to talk to Bitch."

Tora has also picked up on Aria's mood. Later, she signs to her.

Tattletale winces. "Uh, you'd certainly think the Heroes wouldn't object, but they also care about how things are done and who does them. So they might still object, depending on what it is you plan to do. If you capture him alive and turn him over for sentencing instead of killing him, they'll probably take it a lot better."

"There's also the matter of the Unwritten Rules. There's a ... strong cultural norm against attacking parahumans outside the mask. If you go after Hookwolf in his civilian identity, instead of when he's acting as a cape, then the E88 will feel free to do the same to you, and they have a lot of fighters. If you attack him in costume, though, they'll probably leave you alone when you're not, uh, animal-shaped."

"Not everyone has secret identities, though," Bug points out. "If you haven't got any family here to protect, or anything like that, you could be like New Wave and fight without a mask."

"Right, true," Tattletale agrees. "As for where Hookwolf is — I haven't seen enough to be sure, but I think his next event is going to be on Saturday in an abandoned warehouse near the Hill. That's in two days, probably an hour or two after sunset, in the flat inland area before the big hill to the west. But I don't ... have it narrowed down to an address. I would need to spend the day trailing some low-level Empire people tomorrow to be sure."

Then she won't give this empire time to retaliate - but she shouldn't make plans before talking to Bitch.

"I can also trail them, or question them. In two days' time, I can find him. This event can't be secret, because people go to it." Which is very convenient for the purpose of getting all those people in one place, instead of hunting them down one by one.

"If I give Hookwolf to these 'heroes', will they execute him?" She's not very happy at this prospect, but she will leave this city sooner rather than later and if the local authorities can be encouraged to prevent others from following in Hookwolf's footsteps, she'll take it.

"Also, explain these secret identities and masks to me. I assumed your mask had some magical properties; it doesn't hide your face nearly enough to make it unrecognizable." Bug's outfit is much more sensible if it's meant to conceal her identity.