There was one place he technically called "home," and that was the academic halls of the Alchemy Commission. Having spent his childhood in their secret underground facility, the hunter considered his creator the closest person he had to family. As often as he ignored Alfred's warnings and lectures, Vynx was always relieved to see that the elderly alchemist was still kicking when he returned to the capital. Vynx had been reluctant to bring his new companions back to the Commission with him, but he had a job to do and a yearly checkup to attend.

"Here we are. The home of magic, alchemy, and science… the Alchemy Commission!" The tanned hunter outstretched his arms dramatically as he showed Soleil the imposing structure that was the Alchemy Commission. Originally a library built several generations ago by the king of that time, it had been converted by the current ruling monarch into a research facility that housed the kingdom's lead alchemists and arcanists. The Commission received funding directly from the King in exchange for advancing the country's magical technology and unearthing secrets of the forbidden arts. "Now I know you churchy types hate coming here, so I won't ask you to come inside with me. The alchemists probably won't be able to tell you're a *cough* werewolf, but it's better not to take the risk, yeah?" Vynx cleared his throat as he looked at Soleil out of the corner of his eye. 

"This isn't the first time I've been here, you know," Soleil said blandly. "The bishop certainly has a distaste for alchemy, but even the Holy Order relies on the Commission on occasion," she explained, much to Vynx's awe. Noticing the bewildered look on his face, the paladin shoved her finger at his chest and frowned. "Not all of us are old-fashioned bible thumpers, alright? I knew about your reputation; otherwise, I wouldn't have approached you in the first place for that last bounty."

"Okay, okay, got it! You can come inside if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you." Vynx held up his hands defensively. He was lucky his vampiress companion was fast asleep in his breast pocket, curled up in her bat form like a fuzzy little ball. Although he had a feeling he'd still receive looks with Soleil, the last thing he wanted was for the alchemists to bombard his companions with questions or, worse, trap them in the building for their experiments. 

Vynx motioned for Soleil to follow him to a side entrance meant only for staff use. An arcane lock sealed the door, but a simple tap from the hunter shifted the symbols, causing the seal to rotate and unlock. "Cool, right? It detects your biological data or something. Anyways, ladies first." Vynx held open the door for Soleil with a sardonic smile. He let the paladin stride past him before he once again took the lead, bringing her through a series of hallways and doors before reaching the guarded elevator that would take them to the underground facility. The uniformed workers all recognized him and thus, paid Soleil no mind as Vynx took her onto the levitating platform that lowered them from the ground floor into the basement levels.

Soleil kept a straight face as she followed Vynx, but even her eyes widened as their elevator arrived at its final stop. While she had paid the Commission's public reception area and library a visit before, this was her first time seeing the bowels of the building. The atmosphere felt heavy and alive at the same time, the very air itself rife with magic. As she stepped off the platform and went through another set of doors, she was greeted by the sight of a large room with desks all arranged in orderly rows. Each one was stacked with books, vials, and other tools she expected from a researcher. The most notable sights were the large transparent cylinders attached to the walls that contained creatures of all shapes and sizes. Some were recognizable to her from a glance: a griffin, a wyvern hatchling, a basilisk, and a manticore. Others were stranger still: serpents with multiple heads, a fey-like woman with both moth and butterfly wings… It was like looking at a menagerie of monsters, all suspended in a turquoise green liquid that bubbled from the tubes connecting them to the ominous machines all throughout the room. 

"Try not to stare too long, trust me." Vynx prodded Soleil with his elbow. He was more focused on finding Alfred and getting his checkup done and over with. The hunter weaved through the desks and alchemists until he spotted the elderly man inspecting a tank of rainbow-scaled fish. "I'm back, old man!" Vynx called, pushing aside several apprentices as he presented himself to the head alchemist. 

Alfred adjusted his monocle and turned his gaze towards the pair. "Vynx. I see you're still alive." For a man his age, the alchemist was still nearly as tall as Vynx, his posture as rigid and dignified as any noble from the court. His lab coat, dyed black and embroidered with gold, set him apart from the rest of the alchemists clad in sterile white. "And you've brought a guest." Alfred looked at Soleil, his grey pupils scanning over the paladin's set of armor before meeting her amber eyes. 

"Yep. This is Soleil, from the Order. She helped me with my latest job." Vynx gestured at the brunette woman. Technically, he had helped her with the mission, but he wasn't going to get peculiar about the details or mention that his companion was also a werewolf.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Alfred. I've heard much about you." Soleil offered a polite bow. She could hardly believe that the founder of the Alchemy Commission was Vynx's “father,” and looking between the two, there was not a shred of resemblance. Vynx was the epitome of youth and vigor, a man forever living in his prime, while Alfred looked like he could easily have been his grandfather or even great-grandfather. 

The alchemist only gave a short nod before looking back to Vynx. "Go wait in my office. Don't forget to make your reports before you leave again." Alfred went right back to his work, instructing one of the apprentices to add some type of concoction to the water in the tank. Before Vynx could slip away, he added, "And don't let your pets loose in the lab."

"Sure thing. C'mon Sol, the office is this way." Vynx waved nonchalantly, though Soleil could see his eyes narrow. He brought his hand over the soft lump in his pocket, making sure Sophia was still asleep as he brushed past the clamouring alchemists. From the main room, he brought them through another side doorway and into a smaller private office resembling a clinic. Vynx exhaled as he sat down on the medical cot. "Grab a seat; this shouldn't take too long. Not too different from getting a physical checkup anywhere really, but they always insist on me doing it here." Vynx stretched and gave a cursory, bored look at the rest of the room. The desk stacked with papers, the shelves lined with books, and the skeleton displays were all familiar to him. "Don't know why, though. I'm always in perfect health every time I'm here." The sigil on his back made sure of that. Any injuries he sustained from his jobs would have been long healed by now with nary a trace or scar left. 

"It does seem awfully tedious, but not any worse than my old military inspections." Soleil had many questions, but she decided she would have to save them for when they were away from the Commission. The chalkboard behind Alfred's desk had arcane scrawl all over it, along with symbols and circles resembling the sigil that she had seen on Vynx's back. Even with her paladin's training and knowledge of the divine, the symbols and formulas were beyond anything she could comprehend. Her eyes wandered over diagrams of human bodies, with the only word she recognized underneath written: "Homunculi."

 Vynx removed Sophia carefully from his pocket, not wanting to just carelessly toss off his clothes while the vampiress was sleeping in them. He gave the slumbering bat a few gentle pets with his finger before tucking her away under his jacket once it was off. Thankfully, he could keep his pants on; otherwise, he never would have let Soleil in the office while getting a full-body physical. "Military inspections? Oh yeah, you did mention you were a soldier before becoming a paladin…"

Soleil nodded. "Spent most of my early career as a rank-and-file soldier like any other for the King. Then when the incident happened, I knew I couldn't stay in the military without someone finding out about my… situation." She idly placed a hand on her shoulder, where the scars of her werewolf bite remained under her armor. "The Holy Order just so happened to be recruiting, and it was a simple enough transfer. So long as I was able to work alone, that's all that mattered," she sighed. 

"And here I thought paladins had to train their whole lives to get brought into the Order. Guess if you're good enough with a sword and the gods like you, you're set," Vynx chuckled. "Not to discredit you or anything. You pack a meaner punch than all of the inquisitors I've seen. Most of them are all talk and no bite."

"Thanks, I guess." Soleil carefully walked towards the desk, keen to take a closer look at some of the books there. She stopped as she noticed a framed portrait behind the stacks with a painting displaying three people. Posed together were a much younger-looking Alfred, a man nearly identical to Vynx, and a blonde woman in a white alchemist's uniform. While the men were beaming much like old friends, the woman wore a reserved smile, her eyes instead raised towards the hunter in the portrait. "Is this you and Alfred when you were younger?" Soleil questioned, picking up the antique frame carefully. 

Vynx blinked and hopped off the cot to take a closer look. "Oh. No, this is Alfred, the original Hunter, and… Loretta." His voice trailed off, and a morose expression fell on his features, but only for a moment. "Pretty sure this was painted long before I was born," Vynx chuckled, quick to snap back to his usual disposition. "Call it a family portrait of my parents, if you want."

"Then this woman is your…?"