Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

"Well if he's a social outcast, who'd believe him?" Rufus inquired further. "He's wearing the robes so no one recognizes him, obviously."
Rufus thought for a moment before turning to a nearby human.
"You speak my language?" He asked.

The older man was wearing a pelt of some strange animal, so he was clearly a hunter.
"Yes I do, a bit." He grumbled, his long beard unkept and scraggly.

"Been hearing about this Feral around here. Know anything?"

"Taroz-Gharm?"

"That his name?"

"Oh no, that's what the locals call him. 'Tattered Feral' it means."

"We're new around here, my friend and I. What can you tell us?"

"Never seen him, but I heard him one time. Nasty thing, fighting a Pavem in the forest." The old man gulped noisily on a mug of mead. "You want to know something, know this; damn thing's a wild beast. Kill ya as soon as look at ya.

Good news though, he lives further South. Bout the same way that big craskt fell few months back."

"Craskt?" Rufus asked.

"Ship. One a them Old World ones. I tell ya, bad omen that." The grizzled hunter shook his head and stumbled away.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo cocked an eyebrow in surprise that the man knew about the ship. A large ship coming from the sky was bound to be noticed. But he wasn’t sure that word would travel so fast. It’d only been a few months since the landing, and the amount of people who would have witnessed the event couldn’t have been to high. Guess word manages to spread around fast.

“Another one? I didn’t even know.” Kairo played it off. “Not a lot of others know about this? Or am I just living under a rock.”

 

[Da Doofus]

The man had already returned to a table to enjoy another pint.

Rufus glanced at Kairo.
"Let's just assume it's gossip at this point."
His eyes tracked Cräga, who was serving a large pitcher to a Kendian.
"Think she knows who our neighbor is?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Eh possibly.” He answered, taking a quick glance at Cräga. She seemed to talk to him a little to long for it just to be a server-Guest relationship.

“You wanna ask?”

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus let out a boisterous, exagerrated laugh.
"Yeah. I'll coax an answer out of her." He rolled his eyes and had another drink.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo smiled lightly, before rolling his eyes.
“Who know’s. Maybe she’ll only beat your ass privately if you asked nicely.” He said.

 

[Da Doofus]

Rufus rolled his eyes.
"I'll live with the mystery."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo chuckled a bit at that. Before grabbing another fruit out of the bowl. He inspected the thing quickly before popping it into his mouth.

“We could always ya know. Just ask the guy.” He said, gesturing upstairs.

 

[Da Doofus]

"We'll be leaving in the morning anyway . . . And I'd prefer not to have my face chewed off by a crazy lizardman, thank you." Rufus concluded.
"Either way, I'm sleeping with my gun tonight."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo thought back to the past week. It hadn’t been too long since he’d been so abruptly removed from camp. And even though the guest was the one who had done so in the first place, he didn’t seem to lack any morals.

“Don’t think he’s as dangerous as the rumours say.” He grabbed one last fruit, pushing the rest of them to Rufus. “I’m living proof of that.” He took a bite, pausing too finish the fruit in his mouth.
“But your right. We can’t take any chances. Should we sleep in shifts or is that overkill?”

 

[Da Doofus]

"I've already slept my share, so you can rest easy." Rufus assured, stuffing the fruits in his pocket.
"I'll wake you up when it's sunup."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked at him in surprise. This man was really too selfless. This entire journey, Rufus had been the one taking charge, getting them out of the toughest situations, and kairo was beginning to feel a little guilty about that.

“Hey no, you should take it easy.” He said. “You’ve been working your ass off this entire time. Let me do something for us this time.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"You can get me breakfast when we get to town." Rufus got up from his stool. "And make sure you face the door when you go to sleep."
He started walking toward the stairs with a quick stretch.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo sighed, watching as the man walked up the stairs. He wasn’t going to be able to change that guys mind.

He took one final look around the inn, his eyes locking on and focussing on Cräga for a few seconds. He hoped to one day be able to tell her the truth, she at least deserved to know that after treating the two of them so nicely.

“Eh! Wait up.” He said, calling to Rufus, before following him up the stairs. Once he was in his room. He kicked off his boots and begrudgingly went to sleep.

 

[Da Doofus]

The night passed peacefully, with the noise of the boisterous Kendians fading into silence as the night progressed.
When Kairo did awaken finally, it was to the sight of Rufus asleep by the window facing the door. The little morning light that pierced the outside canopies illuminated the room from outside aformentioned window.
The smell of meat cooking began to waft into their room.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo smiled at the sight of Rufus sleeping on the chair. Turns out the man wasn’t as well rested as he claimed to be. Might as well leave him to sleep a little longer, besides, he wanted to see what the smell coming from downstairs was. Whatever meat it was, he hoped Cräga would be generous enough to spare some for the two of them.

He very carefully got out of the bed, creeping to the door. He grabbed his boots, not putting them on until he was safely outside of the room. He then took the stairs back towards the dining area.

 

[Da Doofus]

The inn was as empty as it was when he first entered the prior day. The only other being aside from Cräga had just left out the swinging doors. Given the tattered burlap robes, it was obvious it was their neighbor.
Cräga herself was stirring a pot of stew behind the counter over a fire.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo tensed up a bit. Still not completely used to the idea of being in a room alone with Cräga. Hopefully this time though, he wasn’t going to act like a dumbass in front of her.

He yawned a bit, giving her a small wave. “Morning.”

 

[Da Doofus]

Cräga glanced up from the large cooking pot she was stirring.
"Morning." She nodded. "Mutton stew for breakfast, and it won't be here long once the first shift patrol gets here."

Her hair was a wild mess, wide and with splaying strands. She made no attempt to contain or even hide it, meaning she had no care to impress anyone.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo raised his eyebrows. She was still willing to offer them such a good breakfast after all the shit they pulled on her? He thought he was a generous guy. But even he wouldn’t have done the same.

“Thank you.” He answered, voice still a bit groggy. “You really do too much for us.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Breakfast is complimentary." Cräga said without looking at him. "Why do you think it got the name "Traveler's Rest?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Oh!” He exclaimed, embarrassed by his severe lack of wits. He chalked it up to the fact that his mind still wasn’t fully out of sleep mode yet, or at least he hoped it was because of that.

“That makes a lot more sense.” He laughed lightly. He slowly walked to a nearby table, taking a seat. “Still though. Never hurts to say thank you once in a while.”

 

[Da Doofus]

She looked at him.
"You're welcome." She made a quick smile before returning to the stew.

"Cräga!" Another woman's voice whined from outside as the doors swung open, and another woman entered the inn. She was near Kairo's height with golden blonde hair tied in a braid down her back, and eyes a brilliant green. Her face had similar structure to Cräga's, but her body shape was a bit more shapely; particularly in the chest area.

Cräga raised a brow at her appearance.
"Crina? What are you doing here this early? You're supposed to be at work."

"You don't actually expect me to clean up after livestock, do you?"

"If that's what Mr. Auili gave you to do, then you're damn right."

"Well then I quit." The blonde scowled. "Can't believe you forced me into that job."

"We need the money, Crina." Cräga scolded, her motions with the spoon becoming aggressive.

The chestier woman finally noticed Kairo.
"Well good morning, sir." She smiled.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo looked at the new girl who entered the room. She looked awfully similar to Cräga, and with the way the two talked to each other. It became pretty obvious that two of them were sisters.

Speaking of how the two were talking. This definitely sounded like a family argument. Something that he probably shouldn’t get himself involved in. Maybe it would be a good idea to back off, maybe for a second.

Kairo gave Crina a quick wave. “Hey.” He says. “Should I go orrrrr?”

 

[Da Doofus]

"It's fine. You do whatever you want." Cräga brushed him off.

"Oh so he gets to do that?" Crina snapped.

"He gets to look for his own damn jobs."

Above them, Rufus stepped out from their room.
"What the hell is all the racket?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.