Caius meanwhile, had found himself in the market looking to stock up on foodstuffs for the base. The Dragonblades were growing, and that meant with that many hungry and growing warriors, they needed to be fed in turn. While normally he could be found in armor, with the crowds, Caius was already in an awkward position considering his slight issue of being claustrophobic. But the Dragonblades, for all their good intentions, had become a bit of a local celebrity entity in Torensten after the whole Kraken thing. Meaning Caius, who had been on stage in front of the entire city not too long ago, was more easily recognizable in the city. And Celes was off on her pilgrimage and Caius had stayed behind to make sure the intern settled in alright. So grocery duty was on him today.

All he could do was keep the armor off (for the best with the heat), put on a nice formal-ish shirt that wasn’t too tight or uncomfortable, and blend in with the crowd. But these crowds were insane! Still, they were running low on food so just call it bad timing on his part. If they could pull it off, he’d just hunt for their food. But that wasn’t gonna do it. So he had to do what he had to do.

Caius had just reached the stall and had begun to talk about an order with the vendor when a conversation with heightened voices caught his attention. “Pardon me a moment, please” he requested softly to the vendor, who was clearly annoyed but had recognized the blonde lad and also, he was ordering a big order. He wasn’t gonna pass up on a big order. Caius gently began to push through the crowd. Considering he was towards the higher 6s in feet, and was a big boy on top of that, he was able to move some people who even in their rush weren’t willing to be mowed over. But this still took time. Things were escalating in the harassment situation, and while Caius didn’t understand all the thoughts that went into this kind of act, Celes had given him an idea of what it was and how much she despised someone doing that. While not socially adept himself, Celes pointing this out had given him at least enough perspective to spot this kind of thing and understand how bad it was.

Just as the offender had grabbed and tried to place a kiss on the unfortunate woman’s cheek, Caius had placed a hand on his shoulder from behind.

“Sir, I would appreciate if-“

SMACK!

Caius had barely gotten a few words out before the poor bastard was floored by the not-so-distressed damsel. The blonde stopped cold, eyes wide.

Oh gods, another Celes.

Well… It seems his intervention wasn’t needed. The slap was so loud though, that it had gotten the attention of some. And the guards at that. Deciding not to risk infuriating the enraged vixen further and being a victim himself, it was a comedic sight as a large, 6’5 man slowly stepped away, maneuvered himself through the crowd and made his way to the guards. He had thought to ask if she was ok, but it was better to clear up the story with the guards so she wasn’t arrested on accident, and let them check on her instead.

Well, that had been... Something, hadn't it? At least it was dealt with. After quietly informing the guards of the situation, he stuck around long enough to get the order filled. But when he turned around after finishing his arrangements of where the large food order was to go and making his payment, curiosity hit him as he ventured forward a bit to see how things had gone with the woman, and if anyone else had been stupid enough to harass her. To his surprise, it was in fact one of the guards he had informed that was now hitting her up. The blonde's eyelids lowered and he squeezed a finger to his head with an exasperated sigh. Was this what people like Celes and Faris had warned him about? The kind of struggles that women (or people who used to identify as such) like them had dealt with back in their world, and dealt with even now in the case of one?

His memory shifted a moment to the ball. The one where he had danced with Celes. He remembered her cold and quiet fury after one such unwanted encounter. Caius had tried to cheer her up, but in the end, it had come off the wrong way. What he was watching now... Was this what Celes had mistaken his intentions for? Only helping out with hopes of scoring in the original offender's place? He would hope that Celes had a bit more faith in his sense of responsibility than that, but the thought still stuck. Either way, the display didn't amuse him at all.

Even in Torensten, it seems, even outside the stuffy balls full of stuffy noblemen and people with far too much gil on their hands. That this stuff still happened.

Unfortunately, lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize until it was too late that his large frame had collided with the very firecracker he had been trying to avoid stoking the ire of.

Perhaps a Celes comparison was a bit much, he thought to himself. While it was true that Celes was a fireball who wouldn’t take that kind of reckless and downright disrespectful harassment in the form of flirting, and would likely layeth the smacketh down if necessary… She was also a calm, commanding and in some ways terrifying presence. It didn’t take much for her to make it clear she was not someone to mess with. And not everyone was like that. Especially when he knew she had far more layers underneath, too. Comparing a stranger to someone like that did no justice to either of them.

Still, it was enough for his self-preservation instincts to kick in and tell him that getting in the way of this one’s warpath would be a poor choice. So he was perfectly fine with just letting the guards handle it. Caius was far from a glory chaser, and while he sought success for the Dragonblades, he wasn’t looking for personal clout. He’d handled the situation in what way he could, and he was fine with that. So he had gone about his business as usual, at least until his large frame made him unfortunately unable to sight the figure who bumped into him. At 6’4 and a honed frame, he did not have the best luck with crowds. Especially when he wasn’t used to them to begin with. He was a travelling man, thriving in the open spaces of the countryside. These close quarters didn’t suit him.

He did notice the presence that bumped against him when it did though, and he turned to give a quick apology. He stopped though, when he realized just who it was. Well, it seems fate had other plans than to let him walk away, didn’t it? Still, the woman wasn’t mad. That was good. He half-bowed his head formally as brown eyes scanned her frame for any injury, before resting on her spectacles.

“I should be the one to apologize, I need to be more aware of my surroundings” he apologized calmly, but softly. “I trust you’re unhurt, miss?”

“You seem out of sorts. Are you perhaps new to Torensten?” he ended up asking as the young woman walked past him. It was gut instinct, one that superseded his senses and common sense. Everytime it was possible that someone seemed as though they might need help, his mind was made up that he would do his best to make that happen. Where had he even picked up that habit? It wasn’t like there were many people to help out back in Lucis. Many were out for themselves out in the wilds. Anyone willing to support each other typically stayed within the cities where it was safe. And yet, this was a habit he had picked up. Perhaps during his time in the Kingsglaive? He didn’t know.

He turned to look to her then, curious. Come to think of it, he didn’t recognize her whatsoever. And her garb was different from the usual norm that was Torensten’s civilians. Or even Provo’s and Sonora’s. Was it possible that she was an outworlder? They tended to come to Torensten quite often, hoping to make their keep where their presence was a bit more tolerated, after all.