Ethan watched in amazed horror as the massive bulk of the Behemoth, with his friend still inside it, was swallowed whole by the random rift. There was no time to react for there had been no warning. Not even a chance to call out to him, let alone for him to attempt to get clear of the giant walking machine before it just disappeared.

He heard Doc's comment about where it and Samuel could possibly be and he murmured softly, "Or when". After all, he had been taken through just such a rift and had found himself transported not through space really but through time. In a way that had been more upsetting than if he had been deposited on an alien world.

The combat medic just stared at the empty space but his eyes weren't really seeing the landscape. He knew there was nothing he could do, no skill or power he possessed that could bring Samuel back or even locate him. That knowledge, that feeling of helplessness, settled on him like a heavy weight pressing down on his shoulders.

He stood like that for a couple minutes, just staring off into space before taking a deep breath. He turned away from spot where the rift had been and walked back to the town's bar. "I need a drink," he said as he walked past the rest, the remaining members of his new team.

He goes inside the bar whether or not anyone comes with him. He drinks whatever is brought to him. If no one is there to serve him, he grabs a bottle of whatever alcohol is present.

 "I dios mía." Arulas says in horror at Samuel's abrupt departure from this plane. "Beg pardon Senor and Senorita, but I need a drink as well." he follows after Ethan and pours them both some whiskey. "Never an easy thing, but a matter of the world we live in. He may yet return to us. Regardless we need to get a vehicle and load up and move on. I will go ask Senorita Anna if they have anything for purchase. If not this Hollow Hill might. Drink remember Samuel and pray for his safety." he downs his shot and leaves 20 credits on the bar. He goes to find Anna and ask her if she knows of anyone selling a vehicle.

Kalista is still confessing...it has been years so she has a lot to unburden herself from.

Kalista makes the most of her time with the priest and confesses in detail. She finds the priest be both  good listener and professional. On the other hand, he is very ignorant of the outside world. For penance, he instructs her to pray one rosary.

The village has tequila exclusively, but it has a lot of that. They provably even use tequila in place of wine during mass.

"Mmmmmm is this like cocoa ?!?"  Glug glug glug glug.

Tail twitches... Gah... spits our worm.

"Ahhhhh this is horrible, not like cocoa at all."  Wipes at mouth.

"We have no land vehicles like you describe, only boats for the river. I do have something which may help you though. We keep a herd of a dozen burros and packs. We use them for pulling logs when we fall trees and we used to plow fields with them. We duo not need them for either task right now. You may take a half dozen too keep our all if you can return then later."

Ethan quietly accepts the presence of Sir Arulas, drinking as much whiskey and tequila as is poured in front of him. He knocks back five in rapid succession, pausing only long enough to refill his glass. After the fifth one he sets the shot glass back down on the table and begins spinning it in a lazy kind of way. “You know coming here changed me,” he said flatly. It is difficult to tell at first which ‘here’ he was referring to but as he continues it becomes clear. “After I got swallowed up by that rift and dumped here, I figured all sorts of things had been changed in my body. I even studied the ones I discovered, I am a doctor after all. It gave my mind something to work, a problem it was familiar with and knew a set of processes to use to solve the riddle.”

Then he becomes quiet again. He pours another five shots, slams them home and starts spinning the shot glass again, his hands as rock steady as ever. “Like my liver for instance, its functioning is literally off the scale. I’m sure it has a limit, everything does, well everything mortal at any rate. I don’t know about all these demons and monsters.”

Ethan begins his little ritual of pouring five more shots again but the bottle is empty by the forth. He sighs and starts talking again. “My liver, along with a with other system supporting the process, are functioning at a level that makes it impossible for me to get drunk or even tipsy.” He looked up into Sir Arulas’s eyes, “I’ve never been much of a drinker to tell the truth. Sure a soldier is supposed to be able to drink but I was never more than a social drinker. It was actually useful because it meant on those fortunately rare occasions when I did want to drink until I hit blackout drive, it didn’t take much to get me there. Now though…when I would really, really like to get drunk, I can’t.”

Doc shook his head, "Damn shame a fella can't get drunk. You have my sympathies there Ethan." he grinned tipping his shot glass back, "Course I can get drunk enough for us both."

"Wait, you like this worm juice ? Yuck you can have mine. I will take cocoa..." His words just trailed off as his thoughts turned to Sam and he pouted.

Dog laughed and patted Polk on the shoulder, "You'll understand when you're older Polky, just wait."

"Maybe this is so. I miss Sam, I know he hasn't been gone long but he was a good friend. He made me my saddle bags and a radio that works for me."

Polk looked to Ethan, "Isn't being drunk problematic for humans ? Why would you want to be drunk ?"

Doc just laughed more, "Fighting vampires is problematic, but we just did that, right?" Doc lit his cigarette, took a long drag off of it, "Being drunk can be good or bad. Depends on why you're drinking, and who you're with buddy."

Ethan didn't look at Polk, keeping his eyes instead on the shot glass that he was idly spinning on the table. "Sometimes a person just needs time to process emotionally overpowering events. Alcohol can help buy a person some time to deal with a painful event. Its actually therapeutic so long as it doesn't become a dependency."

Then he stopped spinning the shot glass, picked it up and set it down on its bottom. He put his hands on the table, palms down and pushed himself away from it. "Sitting here not getting drunk and waxing maudlin isn't going to improve my mood or bring Sam back," he said to no one. "I'm going to go for a run, then hit the showers before bed. Thanks for listening to me complain."

After Ethan had gone Polk leaned closer to Doc,"I may never understand humans but I know the world is dangerous. I am going to watch over him while he gets his run in."

Polk waits till Ethan leaves and the follows him in the perfect guise of a flamingo.

Ethan doesn't look back as he sets off at a jog. He didn't bother to stretch or warmup, he just started jogging. He jogs until he reaches the wall surrounding the town and then turns to follow it, picking up his pace. It is a fast pace for a human, topping out just over 20 MPH. He runs like that, doing endless circles of the wall, for an hour. If he noticed a flamingo was following him, he didn't acknowledge it. The combat medic just ran, his arms and legs moving in a efficient, piston like way.

Sweat broke out on his brow and his pace of breathing increased but both plateaued at a point far below what they should have been. He listened to the rhythmic thumps of his booted feet as they struck the hard packed dirt and tried to think of nothing else. He was successful enough that after an hour, he headed back for the inn. He approached it at the same fast run right up until just a few meters before the door. Then he slowed to a walk and let his breathing return to normal, which it did with an inhuman quickness.

He noticed the flamingo nearby and reached out to its head. He patted it gently and said, "thanks Polk," before walking into the inn.

"Uhmn I just wanted to make sure none of us were alone. How did you know it was me ?"

Despite his still sour mood, Ethan chuckles as the flamingo starts talking. A dozen responses flash through his mind. He pauses for only the briefest of moments before saying, "All the real flamingos have flown north for the summer." His voice is absolutely sincere, something he normally couldn't have pulled off but his sadness at Sam's disappearance helped in that regard.

"Oh well I guess. I must confess I don't know much about them."

Polk fluffed up his feathers.

"Your a good man Ethan I am glad your with us."

Returning to the others she began to pack her mount for egress. Whoever is nearby (other than Doc) she will ask "Where did you all decide to head to next?"

 "I think the Hollow Hill will be next. For a couple of reasons the more obvious one being that we need better transport than burro pack train for all the gear." he says with something close to exhausted resignation. "Samuel is not coming back anytime soon I think and well the loss of the bot and pilot hit us rather hard."

"It's been a strange kind of day, Lady Kalista", drawled the elf from where he sprawled against his robotic Arabian. He shuffled a deck of cards relentlessly, occasionally letting his telekinetic or ectoplasmic 'hands' take over the work as he honed his burgeoning skills

"But Sir Arulas is correct. When the drinking and fighting is done, the Hollow Hill sounded like our best bet"

Kalista nodded. "I agree it is the best course of action. I will be meditating, if Ethan comes back or I am needed. Thank you both."

It is at that point that Ethan walks back into the inn. His brown undershirt his damp with sweat as is his exposed skin but his breathing is completely normal. "It's a nice night," he casually remarks and moves to stand close to his wife. "So its off to the Hollow Hill we go," he says, clearly making a statement and not a question. The combat medic had sensed the mood of the group and no objections had come to him while he had been running.

"I think I am going to call it a night guys," he says. "I'm going to take a shower and get some sleep." He looks at Kalista, "I'd say have fun meditating but I don't think you're supposed to have fun doing that so um...successful meditating?" he says.

She smiled and stood. "I was waiting for your return, beloved. Perhaps you have room for another in your shower."

Despite his somber mood following his friend being swallowed by a rift, Ethan felt his lips curving into something resembling a smile. "It might be a tight fit," he said to her, "so as long as you don't mind that..." He held out his hand to her.