After the heart-felt moment last night with Anna, she's looked and acted a lot more calmer than usual, I know not why she's put so much faith into me but I won't let her down. I spent that night post dinner examining the cloak shes gifted me, the extra weight is strange, but it seems to be leather or something similar to it, I assume to be added protection in a fight should one break out, both the cloak and the sword's still on my bed. However that was last night, this is today, the sun bares down on my back, it's already midday, I grunt lightly as I swing the axe onto the log, splitting it clean in two, throwing them into the pile of cut wood, I move onto the next one, repeating the same process again and again. Cutting wood is very menial and brainless work, but it's relaxing in a sense, lets me think. Anna herself is resting inside, tending to whatever magical business she does. I've taken to doing the wood chopping shirtless, the wind on my fur really helps cool me down, and i don't want to ruin my only piece of shirt-wear. Sweat beads down my forehead and onto the stump, another dangerous log down for the count, truly I'm the saviour the people need against the menace of the trees.
I sigh and stretch, my back cracking as i let the axe drop to the ground, landing with a solid 'thud' onto the dirt, the remaining log pile honestly isn't very large, and Ill probably get it done by tomorrow, Anna's thankful for the work that's already been done, but I wanna finish the job, its only right. I feel absolutely disgusting though, Jesus, thankfully there's a nearby river that's been helpfully pointed out to me, cause god sweat does not feel great. I whistle another tune, I wish I knew what exactly it was as I wander off into the nearly woods, past the tree with a bark mark, waltz though this shrubbery, hopefully my everything doesn't get torn off aaaaand here it is, a nice little river going somewhere. Anna said that its a nice little secret spot to relax, but no one else exactly lives here, so I imagine it to be a type of joke more than anything, its a good place to relax and clean yourself, which is what I exactly intend to do. I look around, yanking down my shorts and bandages, leaving them on a nearby branch before taking a running start, leaping off a rock and into the river, knees coming up to my chest and straight up cannon balling into the thing, thankfully I've already checked the depth a previous day, so I remain unhurt, but the massive splash noise was so bloody worth it, rising up to the top and brushing the wet hair out of my eyes, I let out a sigh of comfort as I run my hands through my fur, brushing it down and hopefully removing the existence of sweat from my body, begone dammit.
'Its rather odd though, I think to myself', humming and brushing my hands through my hair, the water didn't completely solve every issue it had, but at least its not sweat-drenched 'Normally there's a lot more nature noises, like birds'. Maybe I spooked them all off with my cannon ball? I shrug and continue to attend to myself, though my ears decide otherwise, flickering upwards. I turn my head upwards and follow my ears, clearly they know something I don't
And they do know something I don't, because I managed to miss the two very furry beings right in front of me. I blink, as do they, there's a few moments of awkward silence, neither party really moving, but I manage to get a good look at the both of them. Neither of them are Basitians, so they must be Keidrans, both are a mostly brown colour, one seeming a little more reddish, or just a different shade of brown, I've always had an issue with some colours, one of them having hair down to his neck, similar to mine, the other with much longer hair down his shoulder blades. Long Hair Keidran is at least clothed, or bandaged, having pants and a wrap around his chest, Short Hair being in the middle of pulling up his pants. Black robes hang near by, either they're travelling or some sort of light mages.
I hold up my hand and wave it stiffly, an awkward smile forming on my face.
"Er, hello there?"
Short Hair yelps and falls on his ass, Long Hair jumping slightly as he does so, the two of them turning and making a lot of noises that I can't exactly understand, though they seem to be discussing something. 'Speaking Keidran, maybe? They look like Wolves, Wolf Keidrans are nearby, maybe they had something to do with the ones who attacked me?'. They continue to speak to each other, Long Hair pointing his finger at me while his counterpart shrugs, he seems the calmer one of the two when it comes to other people, maybe they're brothers, or at least close friends. Finally though, Short Hair does wave back to the ire of the other, standing up and pulling up his pants.
"Hello, how are you?" He says slowly, English or human or whatever its called here probably not being his first language. Long Hair nudges at him, clearly disapproving of it, though he sticks his tongue back out at him while he recovers his cloak, dipping into the brush. I shrug, if he doesn't wanna chat, or cant, that's fine with me
"Im quite alright, it's interesting to meet you, Wolf, glad you speak human too. Nice day for a bath, no?" I ask him, floating around and letting the water soak into me, cooling me off. He shrugs and leans against the tree.
"You speak human well, surprising. Good day for a few things." So it is called human here, he doesn't speak it very quickly, second language and all. It feels mildly awkward in here, and I didn't intend to stay very long in the first place, so I drag my sogging ass out of the river and shake off the water, doing it like a dog actually removes almost all of the water. I turn around to reply to him, but he's already disappeared, like leaves in the wind. I blink, but shrug afterwards, they werea strange duo, at least Short Hair was friendly enough. 'Very strange indeed, maybe they were watching me before? Seems unlikely, otherwise they'd know I'd be here. I wonder if I'll see them again'
With my business finished, I brush off the oddity of whatever that meeting was, and throw on my shorts and re-wrap my bandages, heading back up to Anna's house. The sounds of the forest return on the small trek back, the forest can pretend nothing happened all it wants, that was a very strange ass encounter. Upon reaching the house, Anna still has her head stuck in her chest, honestly I think shes gonna get even worse back pain than normal if she keeps it up. I walk up behind her and gently tap her back, her jumping a little in surprise.
"Hey, Anna, I'm gonna go into town to chat to Gerome a bit, do you need anything?" While it isn't official by any means, I actually don't mind being her little errand Basitin into town to get stuff for her, such a rustic little town is actually rather nice. She hums for a moment in thought.
"Hmm, I don't think so, maybe ask the old coot if he needs anything done though, I'm sure he'd appreciate it" And with that she turns back to her chest, pulling out plant substances and, other things. I still have no idea what she's doing but I'll leave the girl to it. I head to my room and throw on my shirt, can't forget my cloak either, and strapping on my sword to my hip. Anna's moved a mirror to my room last this morning, apparently. My hairs a mess, but at least I don't look grimy anymore, the cloak really does look nice on me too, I wonder what other Basitins eyes are like? Mine remain a familiar deep blue, I wonder if it was my eye colour from home.
I jog out of the house, paws thumping against the dirt path with a renewed vigour, waving bye to Anna (thankfully with her head of her business, shes able to wave back) and up the dirt hill, the winds picked up, forcing my hood down and air to wave alongside it, catching my cloak, making that wave too. The wind on my face and everything waving behind me feels so freeing, and the cloak really help sells the feel of it. I turn my jog into a steady run, smiling wider with each paw step.
Fun things often come to an end quickly, I reach the towns sign far faster than I wished, panting lightly but with a pleasant feeling. I hum as I waltz into the town, down the path into the area. I wonder where Geromes still at his market? Its still close enough to midday, and he was selling near the fountain last time. I continue to venture deeper into the town, skipping most of the random streets and heading straight to the main plaza area, and with the noise emanating from it which I could hear from a block away, I can safely assume I'm right. I wonder what its like to try to haggle with a merchant? It seems like a novel experience. I neglect most of stranger stock and people, heading straight to the fountain, looking around for Gerome, where is he?
"Oy, strange Basitin! Did not expect to be seeings you today, a special occasion, da?" A jovial loud voice from behind me, I jump in surprise, feeling my ears and tails shoot upwards as I twist around, well Gerome actually found me for once, the foreign sounding but friendly also-giant reaching out with his hand. He's wearing very plain clothes, but on his back is an exceedingly large back pack, filled to the brim with items and knick nacks, why would he need so much stuff? I return his smile as well as his hand, giving him a firm handshake. "Lookings you Basitin, all fancy!"
"My names Zeke, just so you dont have to keep calling me Basitin, I'm here on friendly business actually, just wanted to see if I could help you in any way, just to repay a debt I owe" Gerome looks, pensive is a good word, his normally happy go lucky face marred by a serious tone.
"Gerome must meet with a supplier, hes no patient man, you know how that it can be, da? But Gerome must also deliver a package, can you be doing this for him?" Of course, I smile and nod, giving the man a thumbs up. He nods, his lips still set in a serious almost frown, its very unlike him. He reaches towards his back pack, his hand gripping on a lower hanging pouch and yanking it off, his other hand grabbing my shoulder and yanking me towards him, and with a yelp my burning face is next to his, the other hand shoved into my chest, my hands reaching up and grabbing whatever the pouch is. Its made very poorly, as if put together in a slapdash effort to make something, it feels cold and uncomfortable to the touch digging into my hands, and as my hands clench around it further, whatever's inside is made of metal, and equally cold.
"Do. Not. let anyone see this, da? To the broken house furthest from the sign" His tone is grave and I quickly nod, his grip on me only tightening before letting go a few seconds later, his face back to his regular smile "Thankings you, strange Zeke! Gerome must be off, very busy!"
And with that note he swaggers off, as if the grave gravity was just a mere dream. I stick the pouch, of which confirms that it wasn't a dream into a cloak pocket, shakily turning around and speed walking off and far away from the scene. Broken house, though, I imagine itd be one of the completely run down and and abandoned ones. I hope this doesn't get me shanked.
It only took a few minutes of walking away from the town centre to get to a really run down part of downs, a slums part of the town. No one seemed to live around here, or maybe they just don't want to attracted attention, with what I am, and the green cloak, I'm definitely attracting some attention. I turn around and, surprisingly, I can see the town sign from here, and looking forwards I can see a house at the end of the street path, surely that's what Gerome meant. I pick up my speed, moving faster towards the house, quicker I can do this the quicker I can get outta here.
I reach the house, its door shattered open and a terrible stench emanating from it, I swallow my anxiousness and head inside. The inside is just as ruined as the outside, furniture overturned, with busted walls, rats skitter across the floor and the smell only intensifies. I 'urk' and cover my mouth, grimacing as I scamper inside like the rats themselves. I move to the back of the room and flip over my hood, praying to whatever gods up there that I dont have to be in this hole too long.
I wait there for what feels like hours, I can feel myself slowly dying inside this pit of a house. When I offered help, I didnt expect to be stuck in this hole. The door slowly swings ajar, and my head and ears pop up, and steps in a man, not quite what I expected. He looks frail and jittery, his face covered in soot and scars, borderline bald. His nerves only seems to stutter further when he sees me, his grimacing face turning into a terrified one
"W-w-w-who are you?" He seems ready to bolt, his robe shaking with his shuddering movements, already stepping back. I reach inside my cloak and pull out the damned pouch, showing him both my hands and whatever the package is meant to be.
"Hey, relax there, I don't wanna be here either, so lets get this outta the way together. I'm here on Geromes behalf, no one else and nothing more. What's the exchange meant to be?" I keep a firm and level voice when speaking to Frail, one of us has to be in calm here. That alone at least calms his nerves, he lets out a shuddering sight before moving inside, the useless door mostly closed. He remains hunched over, a hand close to his chest while the other fumbles around in his pockets, shaking hands pulling out a, rock? A very pretty, very blue rock, but still a rock, holding it up. Even in the non existent light, it still seems to shine with an otherworldly glow.
"H-h-here, take the damn thing, you have no idea how dangerous it was to get it." He stuffs the rock into a bag strapped to his hip, pulling it up and basically throwing it at my direction. I catch it with an arm, fumbling with it before placing it next to me. I instead walk up to him and hand him my pouch, the cold metal finally out of my hands, thank lord
"Alright, we done here then?" He nods, stuffing the pouch into a pocket an turns around, nearly taking out his own legs in the process due to haste. He does let out a single sigh of relief, must've been hanging over him pretty heavily. I turn to grab my own bag, the door opening as the Fragile dude leaves the house.
A small thud catches my attention and a shuddering gasp, my ears flickering towards the door. I turn around to glance at the entrance, Fragile laid out on the floor and trying his best to crawl away from a figure, armour clad with a helmet covering his visage, head tilting backwards as a smug sneer etches across his face.
"And whats this happening here, hm? I've heard reports of illicit trafficking round these parts, its nice to have such reliable sources, of course you criminals wouldn't appreciate proper justice so much" His voice echoes across the room, a chill going up my spine, armoured plated gear crunching against the muck of the wooden floor boards. Oh man, I'm a criminal, I fully blame Gerome for this. He snickers as he gazes to the man sprawled across the floor, backing up into a wall with fear smothering his blubbering face.
My hood still covers my face at leas, but I feel my lips turn into a feral frown, who ratted us out, who's the snitch? Regardless, I put my sword arm on the hilt of my weapon, wrapping around it like a life line.
"I've not the fainted idea of what you mean, Sir Guard, we're only having a discussion here." I try to keep calm, but I cant keep the wavering out of my voice, chest tightening. The Guard stops and holds out his arms, a mocking smile on his face
"Silence, you filthy thing, the humans are talking." Now that really grinds my gears, teeth grinding against teeth as my tail stiffens. My fingers tap against my hilt of my sword, taking the time to breathe, in and out, getting angry is what this scumbag wants to happen. I humph, lips still in a grimace.
"Listen here, bud, there there's nothing happening here that concerns you, lets just go on our merry way, shall we?" I ask in a light tone, the Guard himself clearly didn't appreciate that joke, sword already drawn and lunging towards me. I pull my own sword out, the clanging of blades killing the silence in the overall area. Thankfully, the robed man takes this as a hint to get outta dodge, fumbling out the door himself and sprinting, not turning back. I hold the sword against the Guard, blade on blade before pushing him backwards. Full plate armour, dont think I can punch this out, I dont wanna permanently maim or kill him, small sections cut out around the joints for mobility purposes, but there is gaps in the armour above his legs.. He recovers quickly, sword already held up towards me, I take my own in two hands, slightly to the right, but at least attempting to keep it close to the middle, a natural position, I gotta do this quickly though.
His face turns back into an ugly expression again, advancing forwards and quickly jabbing with the tip of his sword, blocking it with the flat of mine, I instead decide to push into the man, throwing my body weight against him, I have no idea how to actually fight with this thing, He stumbles, before he recovers I try to land a cut on him, nothing that magic wouldn't fix, biting into his upper thigh and pulling away, he hisses in pain and lunges again, a cut from the upper right, I catch it with the flat again, and instead of pushing away, I redirect the sword downwards, a leg coming up and kicking against his cut, trying my best to dig it in as much as possible. The intended effect was for him to just suffer a bit, little pain didn't hurt anyone for too long, and its better than death, instead the man howled in pain, dropping to his knee. Not one to pass up the opportunity I raise my sword up high and taking the change bring it down on his helmet. It rings a deafening noise, the Guard actually throws off the helmet, to remove the noise, and I see his face. His short hair is a dirty blonde, mattered to his face with sweat, his face contorted in pain, anger and disgust, and despite that he still looks extremely young, no more than 20 at the most, I still see some baby face there dammit.
The fights basically over, hes been disarmed and at my mercy. I flick his sword away and sheath my own, instead grabbing the bag with Geromes package and heave it over my shoulder, I jog out of the room, turning back to look at the guard as he stumbles to his feet, limping towards his sword, I look down and frown, then call out to him.
"Hey! For what its worth, I don't hate you or anything, and I don't wanna be a bad guy, this is just a favour for a friend, no hard feelings." He turns to look at me, a confused expression on his face before turning sour.
"Just, get outta here, disgusting thing." He almost mumbles it out, the words lack the bite it had before, still limping to grap his sword, hopefully his pride is hurt more than the rest of him. I shrug and turn around sprinting out of the house and up the street, I swear to god Gerome you better get me a girl for the night as payment otherwise I'm gonna be livid.
My sprint turns into a light jog as I run into the main plaza once again, the merchants are slowly scampering out, my hold on the package only tightening as I rush past them all, please still be at the fountain. Lo and behold, the man is still there, thank god, I wave him over as I catch his eye, him waving back.
"Oy there, strange Zeke! How go delivery?" The smile on his face belies the gravity of whatever task he gave me, and I let it show on my face, I feel it turn into a snarl as I basically toss his bag at him.
"Your delivery sucked ass, actual ass, I had to fight a guard for gods sake, what was that?" I whisper to him, but in an angry tone of voice, crossing my arms and tapping my paw onto the stone ground, Gerome is at least tactful enough to pretend to act embarrassed over it.
"Gerome.. figured something would happen, and wanted to take small break from bribing guard, who else better than young Zeke! Nice combat experience for Basitin man, da?" I groan and rub my face in my hands, Anna would kill me for this, and yet, I suppose its better to have something under my belt instead of nothing.
"Id have preferred if it was planned, at least, but the guard should live and I didn't get scratched, though the other dude picking up the pouch looked scared outta his mind. What was in either of them, anyways?" I tilt my head, snickering as Gerome scratches the back of his head, clearly a little uncomfortable.
"Oy, Zeke knowing how to ask hard questions, lets say that Templars are very upset with others." I sigh and place my head on my face, squinting as i close my eyes shut tightly, I'm rather upset still.
"Normally I'd leave it at this, but I feel like i deserve some compensation for doing your dirty work, what say you?" He looks around nervously, before gesturing towards himself as he walks behind his store. I gingerly walk up to it as he rummages down the bottom, I'll bolt at the first possible moment, I swear. He fiddles around at the bottom, only his back really visible, before yelling out a triumphant noise, pulling up.. gloves, gloves and chain mail?
"Here you go, young Zeke! Gloves fitting of the north Gerome and Old Mother grew up in, re-purposed for less cold life, and chain mail fitting of a warrior like yourself, good rewards, da?" While I feel mildly mocked, I cant help but wanna accept the gifts, they're at least effective.
"Lemme try them on and we might have a deal" Is my simple reply, Gerome doesn't skip a beat and leaves them in my hands. I shrug off my cloak and lay it on his counter, slipping on the gloves and then the chain mail. The gloves are an acceptable fit, and the chain mail is light, but tugging on it makes it seem tough enough, at least to take a hit. I throw the cloak back on myself and look down, the mail looks a little bit off, but I guess i can put it under my shirt, surely my fur would make it less cold. Gerome looks expectantly at me, a smile on his stupid stupid face as I sigh
"They're good, we got a deal, you're still a friend Gerome just, don't do that again without telling me, okay?" He chuckles and reaches out a hand, and giving him that handshake I feel like we've made a deal of some kind. I wave my good byes to him, its getting late and I don't wanna deal with Templars around here, and head back off to Annas. The birds are silent, most of them anyways, I still hear the faint "hooing" of an owl somewhere, and the croaking of a frog.
What an interesting day, I really do hope that guard comes out alright, I'm surprised he didn't expect something dirty from me, but 'the way it goes. He'll recover with time and magic anyways. I whistle another tune to pass the time as I pick up the pace, don't wanna worry her after all. Oh wait a second!
I unsheathe my sword mid run, looking over at the edge. I have no idea how to actually care for a weapon, thankfully the edges are free of notches or blunting that could've happened from the fight, so that's sweet. I sheath the sword and flex my hands, the gloves actually feel super thick on my hands, I wonder how hard I can punch something without it hurting? The dirt path to Annas home comes up quickly, a swift turn into her road and I'm already in her cottage.
"Come on Anna, I was just helping Gerome delivering stuff, I'm fine, I swear!" I explain to her, opting to tell her a half truth, I did help deliver stuff after all. She huffed, she wasn't very happy about it obviously, but she still pat me on my shoulder and gave her signature motherly smile.
"Okay, Zeke, I just don't want you to get hurt is all." She sounds so sad, and her motherly smile turns into a sad one. I ruffle up her hair (god she hates that) and give her a grin of my own, as well as a hug to reassure her.
The dinner she prepared was cold, but I loved it and thanked her regardless, the night didn't last long after that, I placed my bowl on the bench and headed off to bed. Stripping myself of my everything except shorts and throwing myself onto the bed, letting the dark envelop my eyes.
Authors note: I do apologise if the fighting was sub-par, I don't mean for Zeke to be an actual warrior yet, more of a much-too-large Basitian scheming until he feels more able and confident in his abilities. Also, I've decided to write out profiles for each character, they'll be here and on my profile, eventually anyways
Zeke(?)
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Class: Wanderer
Species: Basitin
Personality: An almost amnesiac, from his time spent wandering the in-between crippling most memories given new life in a body of a Basitin. Generally friendly though anxious at times which leads to some paranoia, lacking social nuance in some occasions. He means well otherwise.
Anna
Gender: Female
Age: 56
Class: Ex-Templar Priest
Species: Human
Personality: An ex priest of the Templars, Anna has since retired (let go) from Templar, partially due to personal qualms and partially due to age. A little bit eccentric and lonely, she treats the humans of a nearby town with magical and organic aid.
Gerome
Gender: Male
Age: ?
Class: Merchant
Species: Human
Personality: An ex-sellsword from the north turned merchant, he dabbles in less than legal ways to obtain his stock, a friendly attitude to friends and strangers, he takes his line of work seriously.