With the elevator he found out of order, he made his way down the stairwell to the lobby, confirming the 'hotel' hypothesis. He walked over to the reception desk, where a woman who would be unassuming if it weren't for the floppy set of dog ears atop her head, sat. Another reminder that he was far from home.
"Um, excuse me, ma'am," he tried not to stare at her ears, it was one thing reading about them, but seeing a faunus was wholly different. She looked up at him with a bored expression, chewing bubblegum as she did. She raised her brow, prompting him to speak, "I just wanted to check how long my stay was.". Another raised brow, "It's been a busy few… days?" he hesitated.
She responded with a sigh, "Name?".
"Ja-, Rain. Rain Grayson."
She clacked away at the keyboard in front of her. She chewed loudly before she spoke, "Computer says 'Thirteen days', you paid for two weeks yesterday." good, that was much better than he could have hoped for. "Anything else?" she asked with a tone that she hoped there wasn't.
"No, that was it. Thank you." He tried to give a smile that didn't quite match his mood. 'Okay, two weeks, I can work with that. Probably.' A pang of hunger reminded him of his next immediate problem, 'Now to get something to eat.' He turned away and made for the exit.
Opening the door, he saw a sprawling city, people walking this way and that, all hustling to get where they needed to be in the mid-morning rush. One of four of the last real bastions of humanity in this world, The City of Vale.
Having searched nearby restaurants on his device, which he learned was called a 'scroll', He started making his way to 'Crown Burger', and took in the surrounding area. Judging by the state of the hotel, and the buildings around it, this wasn't the nicest part of the city. At least, he hoped it wasn't.
He took a deep breath and let it out, "What am I gonna do now?" he wondered aloud before a rough voice behind him broke him out of his reverie,
"You're gonna give us all you got, is what you're gonna do." It said.
He turned around, cursing himself for not paying attention is such a sketchy part of town. In front of him were two men with sleek black suits, red ties, and matching sunglasses. One of the men was holding a nightstick while the other cracked his knuckles like thugs in a B-movie, only it wasn't very laughable from his perspective, being at the other end of a weapon.
His heart rate began to quicken, while he tried to keep himself from panicking. "Okay! Please just don't hurt me." He said, earning a bark of laughter from one of the men. He tried to guide his trembling hands to his pockets to fish out the meager amount of cash he had. His lungs burned, squeezing any air out through the tear the knife made, and blood climbed up his throat.
"Hurry the fuck up, kid. We don't got all day." The man with the baton cut in. His muscles weren't listening to him, and his face was slick with sweat. "White, search 'im, already." Fortunately, 'White' never got the chance as a new voice entered the situation.
"Hmm? What's goin' on here? Hei's boys are robbing people in broad daylight? Tsk tsk, what is this city coming to?" said a tall man in brown fatigues underneath a large green cloak pinned with a shiny gold emblem of two crossed axes circled with grains of wheat, the symbol of Vale. He was carrying a staff on his shoulders, his hands hanging off each end, and his voice had an edge of sarcasm. "Alright, you've had your fun. Leave the kid alone, and fuck off." He watched the men with lidded eyes.
"Shit! He's a huntsman!" said the unarmed thug, before he turned around and booked it, leaving his friend behind.
"White!" the remaining man yelled. The arms holding the baton at the huntsman were shaking. The criminal seemed to contemplate, ultimately deciding that fighting a huntsman was in no way, a good idea. "Junior will hear about this!" He growled, sprinting off after White.
He tried to settle his nerves by taking deep breaths. After a minute or two, he managed to somewhat calm himself down, even if he felt a little sick. Seeing that he had gathered himself a little the huntsman spoke to him, "Hey, kid, you alright? You still don't look so good, and I don't want to just leave you alone. What's your name? I'm Kieran."
He considered the question. 'I guess I should just go with this body's identity for now, I can't exactly use my old one.' "My name is Rain, thanks for your help, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up."
Kieran gave a lazy grin, "Don't worry about it, kid. I wouldn't be much of a VDF Ranger if I didn't defend people." He looked at Rain and sighed "I was serious though; I don't want to leave you on your own. How about we get a bite to eat? I was just heading to Crown Burger, it's my treat."
'Wow, this is awkward. What do I say? Ugh, I'm terrible with people.' Rain was focusing on eating, looking anywhere but the huntsman in front of him. Getting to the restaurant didn't take long, and neither said much, only speaking once it was time to order. Kieran's order was two extra-large 'Ultra Bacon Destroyer' meals. Large, heavy, burgers loaded with meat, cheese, and extra onions. 'I can feel my arteries clogging just looking at it. There's just so much.'
"So," Kieran broke the silence, "Not that I really care, but you're what, fifteen? Sixteen? Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Yeah, sixteen." He confirmed, having compared the ID to the current year. "I don't go to school… I think." Rain saw Kieran's confusion but didn't elaborate. It was true though, he had no idea what the original Rain was doing for either work or education. 'On that note, who was Rain Grayson? Did I steal his body? What happened to him now that I'm here?'
"Do you work then?" Kieran asked, taking a huge bite out of his burger.
"I'm… honestly not sure." He shrugged, not wanting to lie but unsure what to say. Kieran frowns slightly, a mix of confusion and something else on his face.
"Alright, what do mean, 'you're unsure'? How do you not know your own situation?"
"Well, I know a little…" Rain defended, thinking of the spear in his room.
Kieran sighs, "Look, kid. If you don't want to tell me, then you don't need to. You don't have to do whatever," he motions to Rain, "This, is."
"It's not that," Rain said, "I just… never mind, you wouldn't believe me." The look on his face must have been pathetic, as Kieran makes a pitying face.
"Try me, kid," Kieran tried to make his tone understanding. "Who knows? Maybe I'll surprise you. I know we just met but if you want to get it off your chest, I'll at least listen." He smiled kindly.
Rain poked at his fries while he weighed his options. Should he tell the man he just met about his situation? He doubted the huntsman would believe him, he wasn't sure he believed himself. Though maybe he should stretch the truth, telling him about being from another world might be too much. While that was the case, he didn't see any immediate harm in telling Kieran. 'What's the worst that could happen? He'll call me crazy, or a liar? If anything, he might even be able to help me.'
After a deep sigh to steady himself, Rain spoke, "The thing is, I have absolutely no memory of my life before today." It wasn't a lie, he had no idea how the original Rain lived. "In the last three hours, I've learned my name, my date of birth, the year, the fact that giant monsters want to kill us all, that humanity hides from them behind walls, and that I may have been training to kill aforementioned monsters." He said, thinking of the weapon he found in his hotel room.
"I have no friends, family, or resources that I know of, other than a spear. I have no skills to get a job that isn't menial labor, and my stay at the hotel I'm in is for thirteen days, and I have no idea what I'm going to do after that. I-… I need help." At some point, he stopped looking at the man in front of him and was staring at his food.
If Kieran could raise his eyebrows any higher they would be on his scalp. "Wow. That is not at all what I was expecting. I'm not sure I believe you, I mean, it's not like I don't, per se, it's just so hard to believe, not even knowing about grimm? Or the Kingdoms? It's crazy."
Rain, for his part, was disappointed. He didn't have high hopes but it still sucked being right. Dejectedly, he began "See? I told you-" he was stopped by Kieran holding up his hand.
"But," The older man began, raking a hand through his hair, "I do believe that you have nothing and no one to rely on. I've been where you are, out of your depth, with nothing to grab onto. I can help. First things first," he stood up, "You're going to need a job. Lucky for you, I happen to know a guy. Come on I'll introduce you."
Well, Here we are again. Let me tell you, writing is way harder than I thought. Funny enough, the cool little stories and situations in your head are easy to think of, but so much harder to put to paper, word by word. Definitely overestimated myself. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this week's chapter, it's been fun! :)
Edited some minor grammar and formatting issues. Still getting used to the uploading process.