URSUS, XXXX
[This is part two of Bear Ghost but we decided to not name it that. The chapter isn't missing it's right underneath this message.]
"Well? Am I going to get an answer here?" I insisted, my Scottfield at the ready.
The three of us were in some sort of standoff as the snowfall around us intensified. The rest of the mercenaries stood on the sidelines, murmuring to one another in agitated confusion. I believe they're waiting for Ferrok to arrive to sort this mess out. In the crowd, I could see Gilliean with both hands clasped together, covering his mouth
When I cast a few glances towards the newcomer, the word 'mouse' was the first that came to mind. Two circular ears were attached to a bed of bloody hair. Her blue eyes were similar to Gari's, though Gari's had a colder hardness to them.
I couldn't get a proper look at the rest of her outfit to give an accurate description because it was mostly covered in blood, cuts, and concertina wire.
When I turned to face Gari, I noticed that her normally icy demeanour had given way to a very troubled one. What exactly is her issue now? Putting the pieces together, she was probably sceptical of me when we first met and despised how I treated Gilliean. But what about now? The only thought I had was of the other woman's appearance, whether it was because she resembled a concertina bomb or tripwire victim or because she literally "appeared" out of nowhere.
I was about to make another comment until, finally, Ferrok appeared too, pushing past the crowd and quelling the mercenaries in waves with his very presence.
…
…Is he going to say anything at all?
After a few more moments of silence, he turned back towards the mercenaries, giving them a once-over.
He ordered the mercenaries in some other language before turning back to us. Most of the mercenaries stayed, but a few slinked away for some reason.
"…Gari, explain." Ferrok pointed, awaiting a reply.
With only that, her expression changed once again as the four floating metallic shards receded into the spearhead.
Now with a neutral face, she slightly turned her head towards Ferrok, keeping her eyes on both me and Miss Concertina.
"…When the newcomer left, I followed him to investigate what he was planning on doing. I then found him doing something suspicious with… Ashley's grave."
Well, at least I have a name to give to Miss Concertina.
Looking back at Ashley, I could see her slowly come to the realisation when she raised her hands in front of her face, staring intently at all the blood and wire coiled around her.
Gari continued her speech while Ashley seemed preoccupied with her current state.
"He appeared to be completely out of it as he made a few strange motions before clawing the stones away from the grave. As it happened, I felt something make every hair on my body stand on end, and then… Ashley came back to life."
I-I What!? Did I just accidentally perform a… revival? No way… When was I capable of doing this? I—
Some people in the crowd burst into a sudden uproar, with most upset and disgusted looks originating from… The Sarkaz race—if my memory serves me right.
Regardless if I identified them correctly or not, the looks were mixed with a small majority of shocked or happy glances.
Hmm, this kind of reminds me of how chaotic the weather has gotten within the past half-hour as the snow around us slowly yet indeed began piling up.
Trying my hardest, I could only try and hear a few snippets from the ensuing moshpit of rainbow.
"…may not be a Sarkaz, but…"
"…so what? Ashley's good at what she does; she deserves…"
"…mate, I won the bet. Pass us the…"
"…isn't right, the denouement she has longed…"
As the nearly incoherent shouting continued, both Ferrok and Ashley appeared to have made their way over to me with Ferrok pointing at my gun before they both covered their ears. I don't see why he can't just rein in the mob himself, but perhaps Ashley's revival is a bigger deal than I realise. As I aim towards the ground beside me, I realise how outlandish the previous sentence might sound to a regular person. Oh, how the bayou has changed me…
Glancing back, I mouth to him:
'You owe me.'
Bang!
The snow beside me flies up, similarly to how everybody else's hands reach for their ears, shutting everybody up with a chorus of pained yelps.
…Hehe, as much as I need to preserve ammo, that reaction isn't going to get old anytime soon. They're like animals.
…Oh, wait—
Many annoyed glares were thrown my way, but those morphed into widened stares as they shifted to Ferrok's crossed arms and Ashley's shivering form.
Ferrok looked around at the crowd before stopping at Gilliean, who had been uncharacteristically stumped by everything.
"…Gilliean, fetch Ashley some pen and paper."
After Gilliean zoomed off, Ferrok then guided his attention to the rest of the crowd.
"Enough. If we do not set off soon, then by the time you children are finished, the trucks will be unable to freely traverse. Load up everyone, and fast."
The sound of the speech was then replaced by the shuffle of dozens of footsteps and quiet grumbles. I wonder if the group is always like this.
As I'm trudging through the ankle-high snow, a fast blur whizzes past my peripheral vision like a bullet towards Ashley's direction. The object, which I identified as Gilliean, returned with a brown notebook and some kind of transparent pencil in one hand. A coat hung over his shoulder, which he also handed over. After receiving a head pat, Giliean ran off towards one of the trucks, with Ashley not too far behind.
I let out a long, drawn-out sigh. Not in any way as a reaction, though. Sometimes, when doing anything stressful or anything that requires a lot of attention and concentration, I usually forget to breathe.
When I'm about to climb onto one of the trucks, a cold hand with the grip of a meathead locks itself onto my wrist and begins pulling me away.
I latched onto my first instinct by pulling my gun out and shoving it into whoever's forehead did that. Oh, it's Gari…
"Calm yourself, bounty hunter. There's no spear involved in what's going to happen next. We need to talk."
She looks at me with an extremely convincing poker face, even with a gun right in her face. Despite the tension in her stance.
…
Alright. Let's hear what she has to say then.
Holstering the gun, I let her take me away to a different truck, one that I recognised as the supply truck I was snooping around in earlier.
After we both climb into the back, we both sit across from each other beside a stack of crates that have all been strapped down to prevent any accidents.
As Gari was getting comfortable with her spot, I turned my head to look outside of the truck to see the snow falling unhurried, a tranquil scene as each snowflake gently descended.
And then I realised something. Weren't we supposed to have some kind of talk? Turning my head back, I saw Gari looking down at her lap with a troubled expression, probably trying to think of something to say or ask.
…
…Nope, not doing this again.
"Alright lady, what is your problem with me? Like, what in the hell did I do to gain your ire?" I affirmed, hoping to at least get some answers regarding her very clear distaste for me from earlier.
Surprising Gari out of her silence, she focused on my masked face, her eyes widening a little.
A moment later, she finally spoke.
"…Gilliean and I go way back." Leaning back against the cold metallic surface of the truck, Gari reached around her back.
The action nearly made me draw my gun before it was revealed that she took out some sort of curved, metallic canteen to take a swig out of.
"Ahh… That's good… Shit, gonna be fucked right after this…" One of my eyebrows raise at the return of that strange accent of hers. I'm pretty sure the contents of that canteen are alcoholic. Let's just hope she can finish giving me answers before she passes out.
"Guh… how do I go about this… let's just say that Gilliean pulled me out've a really shit situation. I owe him my life." Seriously? That little speedy gremlin helped someone for once?
After another swig, Gari continues. "I guess the reason why I gained such a shit impression of you was because you are an asshole."
Are you serious? I did jack s-
"Everything you did looked like an act: your way of speaking, your accent, and especially your outlandish and make-believe backstory. Paired with the fact that you were only ever a prick to Gilliean whenever I saw you two. You know, the one I owe my life to. Well, it didn't paint a good picture of you in the slightest."
Actually… yeah, that's a pretty reasonable position now that I think about it.
"Yet despite my initial thoughts and the sheer amount of bullshit that seems to be coming out of you… You were right, telling the truth even. Now I feel like the asshole."
Well, that's the closest thing to an apology I'll ever get from that dumb cat.
"It is what it is Gari, Probably would have done the same in your position. Dunno for sure."
"But seriously, coming from another world? Zombies? Necromancy? Who in their right mind would ever believe such a thing?"
I shrug, still gazing out into the snowy abyss. To which she takes a long glance and audibly sighs.
"I get he can be a pain, especially if you are not used to his antics. Just try not to be too hard on the kid, alright? Despite his rough edges, I think he deserves better…" She takes another swig of the canteen, spilling a bit as the vehicle jerks forward. We are finally starting to move now.
"Gari, I understand where you come from, but Gilliean has been nothing but a thorn in my side the entire time. I have no plans to interact with him, especially with the most recent shit he pulled. But frankly, I hold no hate to the kid, experience comes with time. I'm sure he will mellow out in half a decade's time."
"…You know he's like, 117, right?"
…
…
"What!?" I look back, nearly shouting, completely baffled.
"Pffftahahaha! He's a Vampire! How do you not know this?" Gari points at me, eyes fully closed, while laughing before finally calming down.
…
"Oh, right, you're not from this world. Y'know if it weren't for Ashley and whatever voodoo shit you pulled, I still wouldn't have believed you. Thanks, by the way. Fer' Ashley, even though I never interacted with her much, it's still nice to have her back."
I let out a nod of acknowledgement before staring back out into the white-washed abyss.
"This is a different world," I mutter quietly to myself, though with those cat ears of hers, she very definitely heard me. I don't understand how I keep forgetting that this isn't Louisiana, this isn't America, and this isn't… Earth. As my thoughts droned on, they were swiftly interrupted by Gari.
"You know you're not that bad; maybe a little quick on the trigger. But still, you seem like a pretty decent guy despite your reserved nature."
"Thanks, Gari, ya' ain't so bad yourself… Glad we could set this behind us, Even if I still think Gilliean and I are water and oil."
At this point, Gari's showing signs of being slightly buzzed. Her cheeks had become rosy pink and I could see that her ears were perked unevenly. Her eyes slightly narrowed with a faint smile.
"Ha, yeah. Just call me over if he starts botherin' you too much." She waves a hand at me
Nice. "Thanks, I owe ya one."
"Nah we're even, sorry for giving you a hard time buddy," She says before taking one last drink, twisting the cap shut and setting it down.
Gari joins me in looking out of the back of the truck, the storm outside had passed during our talk.
…
You know what, might as well get myself buzzed as well.
"Hey, ya mind passing that over?" I point at the canteen beside her. I didn't drink much back in the bayou, but I knew a lot of hunters who did. I once witnessed a man who drove a bottle through the guts of an entire trio of hunters all by himself.
Yep, have to drink to that memory.
Gari hands the canteen over. It's fairly light, probably mostly empty.
Mimicking Gari's actions from earlier, I twist the top off before slipping my mask up and tipping the rest of the substance down my throat. If it took Gari a few gulps for her to get a little tipsy, then this shouldn't be too strong.
~⁕~
What happened.
Looking up—as that's where my head was facing when I opened my eyes—I recognised the ceiling to be the back of the supply truck that Gari led me towards.
Speaking of which, is she still—
And that's when I felt the foreign weight that was rubbing and crushing me at uncomfortable levels.
Looking down, I see Gari staring at me with blazed cheeks—an expression I'm not familiar with. I think she is absolutely wasted.
"Oi MATE, yer finally awake. You're quite the lightweight, aren't ya?" Gari taunted as she ground her whole body against mine, increasing the strength of her embrace. I could feel her tail tightly wrapping around my left leg as if it were a snake.
With our faces being so close, I smelled the alcohol from earlier—there's no way that was alcohol; whatever that was completely knocked me out. I've had similar amounts before, and those weren't so potent.
I try to retaliate by pushing outwards with all of my strength, only to experience a weakening numbness as Gari shifts only a little to force me back down.
"Holy Christ, you're heavy…" I barely breathed out.
"OoOh your' gonNA pay fer' that mister~"
Fuck me.
~⁕~
Over the sounds of humming engines, the rhythmic scraping of a whetstone gliding along the edge of a blade rang out through the encompassing darkness, occasionally illuminating the nearby surroundings with dim sparks that crackled upon contact with the ground.
Ferrok knew it. The bounty hunter was telling the truth about his circumstances.
After everything that had happened, he could expect a lot of profit in the future with such a powerful asset. Well, powerful in the experience department, as he didn't seem to be physically capable even against Gilliean.
Either way, those guns are his only saving grace in a multitude of situations, such as intimidation, impactful executions, assassination, or just to send a 'message'.
…
However, if he wanted to ensure that this profit was to consistently come in, then he was going to have to figure out how to keep the new bounty hunter satisfied with his situation and klep the technology he beholds before expiring or leaving one day. The hunter will eventually use up all of his ammo, so providing training with other weapons might have to come sooner or later. So he would stay alive a little longer.
Perhaps Ferrok could try and get him attached to one of his female members, and if that didn't come to fruition, he could simply strongarm him into his place.
There will no doubt be conflict within the group, especially with the rest of the Sarkaz and their views on life and death. Ferrok hoped he wouldn't have to give a long-drawn-out speech, reminding them that they followed him for a reason.
As Ferrok set his blade aside, a tablet beside him beeped over the sound of the truck's engines. It was a message from one of his drivers, letting him and the rest of the mercenary band know that they were soon approaching their next destination.
Ferrok pushed himself up, taking a few steps to look over the tablet's screen from his towering height.
He nodded to himself, wondering what kind of bounties and contracts would be up for taking when they arrived.