fay thought for a moment
"well we might as well just walk up and get them, its an open beach how are we gonna sneak up to get out clothes?

fay followed as they neared the beach she noticed stake with another
"i wonder whats going on with stake"

Stake plucked a knife out of his back.
"Did... did you just stab me?"

"Well... it's not what you think. It was a test. I wanted to see if that girl had truly given you free will back. And it appears that she did... she also has a penguin fetish, very oddly..."

"good idea"
she grabbed her clothes and slipped them on along with her satchel
"im ready when you are"
she looked over towards the direction stake was at
"that other man doesnt seem to friendly"

He blinked at the man. Well, actually, on closer inspection, he was less a man, more a plant - his body was bright green, with green veins, green eyes, and a curiously springy and boneless quality to him. He didn't look human, and yet he looked as human as Stake did...

He turned to Flint.
"I have no idea..."

He let out a slight laugh. "Hello again. I must say, you were very unhelpful in that you didn't eat my special test pie. But you did seem very caring to that girl... and flirtatious to the point of seduction... can't help but muddy my test results, why don't you - the amount of times you tried to "cop a feel" as the kids call it... hmph..."

fay looked at flint
"is that true?"

"You slept on her breasts! That's not perverted? And the amount of squeezing... my observations were very conclusive that you may have given poor Stake some poor influences. And as for you my lady... if Stake now dreams about penguins I will be having words with you..."

Stake blinked. "Penguins?"

"Penguins? i happen to like penguins thank you very much, and why does it matter if he dreams of them?"
she crossed her arms

"I was observing you through my customary observance hole last night. Purely in the interest of my experiment of course..."

Stake blinked. "What? You... you spied on them?"

fay raises an eyebrow
"you what?? you were spying on me, and why might i ask were you spying on me"
a wave started forming in the ocean

The wave completely unperturbed him.
"I am a plant person, my dear lady. Throwing water on me would do nothing short of being refreshing. And it was in the interests of Stake here that I saw what you were like."

He stepped closer to Stake and patted him on the head in a friendly manner.
"Around Stake, you all seem to be nice companionable people - but behind closed doors you could be of evil intent and diabolical scheming. So, in the natural interest of protecting my fellow homunculus, I decided to examine your behaviors when he wasn't around. I am pleased to report that despite some eccentric habits, you all seem relatively genuine in your behavior to Stake."

"The pie was so I could see whether you would offer to share it, and the knife was specifically enchanted to break Stake from any orders to be nice, so it seems it all turned out for the best."

He bowed impossibly flexibly, his back bending miles too far for him to have a spine, and it was clear he had no bones at all. "Arthur Eislington the Third at your service... not really the third, I just like that last bit..."

when flint picked her up she lost concentration on the wave causing it to disperse, she started kicking
"what are you doing put me down flint"
even being turned around she yelled at the man
"i dont care who you are its not polite to spy on people, especially ones who are changing"

Stake then promptly picked up the man and slammed him into the ground. Hard. And twice.

"It's not nice to do that to people!" he growled in Arthur's face - but Arthur seemed unperturbed.

"I'm like you Stake - same creator, actually - no pain. No strength, either, but you were built for labor, I was built for intelligence. And it wasn't like I saw anything!" he shouted so Fay could hear.

"It was in the interest of science! SCIENCE!"

He looked up at Flint, and paled quickly. "Erm... no fire. I have a very VERY big problem with fire, it being the only thing that can kill me and all. I'll get you sleeping arrangements, if Stake would put me down..."

Stake grudgingly released him. Arthur dusted himself down, and started walking away.
"Now, or later?"