@MadEmperor [Continued from here (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27118.0)]
"I do not have
stage fright," Hana was protesting indignantly. She skipped over a rock in their path and turned back to pout at her companion, arms folded. "I just...don't sing in front of
people."
The little dirt road they were walking wound around the outskirts of the southern edge of Arca, so they could see the city in the middle distance, but the land around them was actually rather lush and almost wild. They were getting close to Tobin's cottage.
Walking backward, the kitsune continued, "One time--
one time--I recognize the song you're playing and sing along. Doesn't suddenly make me a bard!" Despite the theatrically irritated tone, she was grinning at Thrax.
She couldn't help herself. This was the longest she'd been with...well, anyone. Not even
with them, the way she and Thrax were, just...traveling together. It was
certainly the first time she'd brought someone back to meet Tobin, and she found that--that she actually quite liked it. The familiarity of it; something solid and unchanging even though the world changed around them as they traveled.
It was nice.
"Come on!" Thrax urged, half laughing and half begging as he trailed after her. "You sounded great! Just imagine the show we could put on!"
"It'd be le! Gen! Da! Ry!" he proclaimed with an eager grin, pronouncing each syllable a separate word.
"Legendary is a very flexible word," Hana laughed. "A monster can be just as legendary as a hero. And me performing?" She shuddered dramatically. "Definitely monster-worthy."
Hopping over another stone in the path--they were growing more frequent as the small road seemed to be winding through ever-less-trafficked areas--she added, "Besides, I can't play an instrument. Well, not really." The few scales Tobin had taught her to coax out of a tin whistle hardly seemed to count. "That puts an awful lot of the actual music on you, and that just doesn't seem fair."
"You do realize that, without you, all the music is on me?" he asked with a smirk, gleefully poking a hole in her argument.
"Also, that's like the literal definition of stage fright, babe," he teased.
He teased, but he didn't want to make her do something she didn't want to. It was just really fun to tease her for her uncharacteristic shyness.
"Yes, but that--"
Hmmm. He might have her there.
Since she couldn't come up with an appropriately snappy answer, she huffed and pouted at him again. "Alright, fine. Maybe I have a bit--a tiny bit--of stage fright." She chuckled lightly and shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know how you do it. It never seems to bother you!"
"Because I am an attention whore!" The bard declared it as if it were a badge of honor instead of a character flaw. "You should really know that by now."
"Alas, we are not all blessed with my effervescent charisma." He grinned.
Wait. Back up. Babe? They were at pet names now?
"You're blessed with something alright, babe," she quipped back, a quick but pointed hint. She didn't object to the pet name on principle or anything, but she hadn't exactly been expecting it. "And you're seriously telling me you never get nervous when you perform? Like, never?"
She hopped yet another obstacle--a cracked branch, this time--and when her feet touched earth again they were paws. Rather than taking her more "natural" fox form, with its impressive size and multiple tails, she had settled into the shape of a more normal-sized vulpine creature. The only thing that set her apart from any other fox in the forest was the snowy white of her fur.
Sitting in front of Thrax, she rose up onto her hind legs and planted her front paws on his thigh, tail wagging. "Also, you should carry me. We've been walking all day and I'm done."
[Accidental double-post]
"I mean, there is that moment where I hope a new song works in front an audience or that they won't throw produce at the gnoll savage that dares walk amongst them and only occasionally steals their women." Thrax said, getting briefly distant as he detoured into uncomfortable territory, but he quickly rebounded. "But then I remember that I, as you know, am amazing."
Looking down at her as she propped herself on his thigh, he laughed. "Really? You're the one out of energy? I'm the one carrying all the supplies."
The little fox whined plaintively and pawed at his leg. "C'mon, pleeeeease? Just for a little while. Then I'll take all the supplies the rest of the way—it's not like I'm tired, I'm just sick of walking."
She dropped back down to sit in front of him, pressing her ears back and widening her eyes. Despite the blood-red shade, they were distinctly puppyish.
In the back of her mind, she was turning over what exactly she could—or should—say about the rest of that. The way he was used to people treating him, or how he prepared to be treated. She'd faced a certain amount of unpleasantness in human-heavy areas, but that mostly stemmed from a distrust or bizarre fascination, not fear.
Thrax couldn't withstand her puppy eyes, and she knew it. "Keep using that, and I'll build up a resistance," he said with a smirk. With a chuckling sigh, he kneeled down to pick her up.
Cradling her gently, he added, "Remember, you owe me."
With a happy yip, Hana braced her paws against his shoulder when he picked her up and licked his cheek. "Maybe you will," she said lightly, "but I'm betting I can get a few more good uses out of it before you do."
She butted her head against his cheek, then climbed up to drape herself around his shoulders. To a casual observer, she probably looked more like a scarf of some sort than a living fox. Except for the twitching ears.
"And I'm quite fine owing you," she added with pointed innocence. "I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some way to properly repay your kindness." She cut her eyes up at him, glinting mischief, then noted, "It's a left up here, between those two oaks."
The bard nodded and headed in the indicated direction. It wasn't until he looked closely that he even saw the thin trail leading off from the road.
"You weren't kidding about him being a hermit; I wouldn't have seen the path if you hadn't pointed it out." He stepped onto the trail and disappeared into the trees. "He doesn't use booby traps, does he?"
Hana frowned--well, as much as fox could frown--and looked around. "He never has before, but, well, it has been a while since I've been back..."
She hopped down from his shoulder and crept a few feet ahead along the place, sniffing. Popping her head back up, she looked back at him and said brightly, "Nope, no booby traps. I definitely would have noticed something--"
Her back left paw stepped directly into a perfectly non-booby and ordinary snare trap, and quite abruptly she was dangling upside down in front of Thrax with a terrified yelp.
Thrax grinned up at her with a smug twinkle in his eyes. "Just hunting traps. His, I hope."
He let her stew for a moment before using Stormsong to cut the rope securing the trap to a tree. Helping her free, he gave her a serious look. "Be more careful, yeah? The absolute last thing we need is for one of us to step in a bear trap."
"Yeah, yeah." She shook herself once the snare was off, sticking out her back leg to inspect it. "He never used to put his snares this far out in the west stretch."
Still, she gave herself another shake to settle back into her halfway form. Best not to tempt fate by remaining roughly the size of the rabbits such snares were meant to catch.
"I highly doubt he's got bear traps lying around, but you're right," she huffed as she got to her feet. "Oh, and gimme the pack—I do owe you, after all."
"Do you, though?" the gnoll asked, "I carried you all of twenty paces."
He, of course, said that after she had hoisted the pack onto her back. Sneaky bugger.
"Yeah, but I did promise." She shrugged, then grinned over her shoulder at him. "Like I said, I wasn't tired. Just sick of walking."
Doubling back for a moment, she reached up to cup one hand against his cheek and guide him down for a quick peck on the tip of his nose. "And you, with your gooey center, just can't help yourself with a damsel in distress, can ya?"
She smirked as she pulled away and started walking again, reaching out to take his hand. "C'mon now, we're nearly there!"
"If growing up on the Serha taught me anything, it's that everyone has a gooey center," he joked indignantly. He never admitted to being a softie; he still had this image of himself as a kickass warrior poet rather than a hopeless romantic.
He took her hand anyway, and the two were off.
"You really think he'll like me?" the bard asked, continuing to be uncharacteristically self-conscious about the impending meeting.
"Oh, of course not!" Hana laughed, "Tobin doesn't like anyone--that's why he lives out here on his own." She glanced up at him and dropped her tone to something more reassuring. "But, he tolerates me, and I like you. So he'll tolerate you, too. I promise."
She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and walked a little closer to him than was strictly necessary from the width of the path.
Thrax laughed loudly. "I guess that's the best I can hope for from a hermit."
He took more of her hand in his—an easy thing considering the size of them—before raising her hand up for a human-style kiss on the knuckles.
"I just want to make a tolerable impression."
"Oh, I think you'll manage that fine." Her cheeks colored a bit when he kissed her knuckles, and she hesitated a moment, then drew their joined hands together and returned the touch to the edge of his wrist.
"Ah! There we are, see? Just up ahead, through that gap in the trees." She pointed as a small cottage came into view through the break in the woods around them. It was slightly shabby, but not in an "abandoned" sort of way--more in a "well-loved" sort of way.
"Yep, that says weird hermit alright," Thrax chuckled.
He immediately backpedaled, just in case the aforementioned hermit was listening. "Not that being weird is a bad thing!"
"I think maybe I should let you do the talking," he said quietly, "Before I put my foot all the way in my mouth."
Hana laughed and tugged him along as they drew closer to the cottage. "What's that? Thraxion Swordbreaker has a bit of stage fright?"
She grinned at him, then added in a slightly softer tone, "You'll be fine."
As she reached up to knock at the cottage door, it suddenly swung inward, and they were met with a scowling face barely knee-high on Thrax. He had a shock of slate gray hair that stood up in every direction, and judging by the massive, thick lenses of the glasses perched on his round nose was rather nearsighted. "Yes yes, what?" Tobin demanded irritably, squinting up at them. "What do you want? I don't do visitors."
It seemed Hana had forgotten to mention that her adoptive father was a halfling.
"Well, it's good to see you too, old man," she huffed.
He blinked, then seemed to actually look at his visitors. "Hanako." He folded his arms with an actual "harumph". "Been some time, lass. And who's the walking wall of muscle and shag carpet?"
"Tobin!" Hana protested, eyes widening.
"What, like he doesn't know?" Huffing, the little hermit stood aside and waved them into the cottage irritably. "C'mon in then. I suppose you'll be wanting tea or sommat?"
To his credit, Thrax didn't seem phased by the rudeness of the question. He had heard much, much worse, after all; Tobin didn't even rate. Normally, however, he gave as good as he got. But, deciding to stay on his best behavior, he took it without counter.
The bard gave a short bow upon entering, introducing himself with good humor. "The wall is Thraxion Swordbreaker: bard, mage, and warrior extraordinaire."
"Oh gods," Tobin groaned as they entered the house, "a bard."
He glowered at Hana. "First time you bring one of your tumbles here, and you pick the bard?"
"Tobin!" Hana protested again, color rising in her cheeks. "He's--he's not a tumble, he's..."
She trailed off as it occurred to her that she didn't exactly know how to introduce Thrax. Suitor? They weren't exactly courting. And "lover" sounded...ech, she just didn't like it. She knew River or Kah would have easily offered up "mate", but that didn't seem right either.
"...My partner," she settled on finally, glancing sidelong at Thrax as she said it.
"Oh." Tobin blinked behind those thick glasses, and for a moment seemed genuinely taken aback. Then he frowned and "hrmph"ed again as he bustled over to clear a small table tucked under the left front window of the cottage. "Well, I suppose that's alright then," he muttered. "How does your partner take his tea?"
He had only ever had tea in the Kitsune village, so he hadn't formed a preference.
"Got any rum?" Thrax smirked. "Really though, I'll take it however you serve it. I'm easy to please."
"And, yeah, maybe we started as a tumble," he admitted, "but we really hit it off, and before we knew it, we had caught feelings."
Tobin barked a sharp laugh and cut a considering look up at the gnoll. "I can put whiskey in it," he huffed. "They call that somethin' fancy in pubs and the like, but I used to give it to Hana when she was sick."
Oh boy.
Deciding to nip any of those stories in the bud, Hana glanced around the cottage and noted brightly, "You've changed the layout in here. Didn't that table used to be against the other wall?"
"Oh, shove off," Tobin grumbled. "Since when do ya care about the interior decor of this place? Why don't you and your young man get yourselves cleaned up while I put the kettle on--you both reek of the road."
Hana sighed and closed her eyes. "Charming, Tobbs," she muttered, giving Thrax an apologetic look.
Tobin grunted and waved a hand at her. "I assume you remember where the washroom is?"
"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes and nodded for Thrax to follow her. The entirety of the cottage really only seemed to be divided into two main sections--the kitchen and hearth room where they had entered, and a door set in the back wall that led to the other half of the house. It wasn't hard to figure out where the washroom would be.
Once they were alone in the washroom, Thrax flashed her a narrow grin. "Oh, I like him."
"He pulls no punches, and he's literally the first person to ever call me 'young man'."
Hana snorted, maneuvering herself in the tiny space so Thrax had easier access to the enchanted wooden tub that was somehow always full of clean, warm water.
"He's something," she chuckled. "I'm just glad he hasn't offended you too badly yet--but give him time."
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "His heart's in the right place. Usually. But he's not exactly a palatable sort of person. Of course, that's intentional on his part." Her expression softened a bit and she flashed a quick grin at him. "But hey, he hasn't tried to kick us out yet. That's a good sign."
"I've certainly never been rude or obnoxious to get rid of people I don't want to talk to," Thrax said sarcastically as he removed his travel armor and clothing, which was quite awkward in such tight quarters.
Frowning down at the tub, he asked, "This... is going to be a trick. I could wear this tub as a hat."
"Ah." She looked at the tub, then cracked a smile. "Yeah, you're probably right. Here."
She shuffled around him and reached onto the small shelf set into the lip of the tub to grab a wash rag. "He just said to clean up a bit, I doubt he expects us to take a full bath—we've only got until the tea boils, after all."
She handed him the cloth, then grabbed one for herself and dunked it in the warm water before scrubbing at her face and neck with it.
"There's a stream just a little ways behind the cottage," she said. "If he's so fussed about us getting a proper bath, we can use that after tea."
Thrax nodded quickly. "Right."
With a washrag, the bard washed all the smelliest parts of Gnoll anatomy. After a quick sniff, he wrinkled his nose and washed his armpits again. "There. A significant improvement, don't you think?"
"Mmmm." Hana tipped her head back and forth and tapped one finger to her lips as though deep in thought. "I suppose. But..."
Reaching one hand into the tub, she scooped up a palmful of water and quickly dumped it over his head, then ruffled the fur between his ears so it stuck up damp in all directions. She pulled back with a grin and glinting eyes. "Much better," she said with a theatrically satisfied nod.
Grinning like a mischievous child, Thrax dipped his washrag in the tub, raised it over her head, and twisted the water out of it.
"Now it's better," he said with a smirk.
Hana squealed and ducked away from the water, then laughed as she shook her now thoroughly wet hair. Indignant, as though she hadn't started it, she exclaimed, "You--!"
A knock at the door cut her off. It was followed by Tobin's irritated call of, "If you two are quite through, tea's on the table. Get out here before it goes cold."
Hana huffed and rolled her eyes. "Spoilsport," she grumbled, but slipped around Thrax to get the door. "Alright, old man, we're coming! Keep your hair on."
Thrax fixed his fur to the best of his ability and followed her out as soon as he slipped his shirt back on.
"The tea smells good," he observed after a reflexive sniff of the air.
"Mmph." Tobin had drawn the kettle from the hearth and was pouring its contents into three clean but clearly ancient teacups. "S' lavender," he muttered.
Hana smiled--lavender was her favorite--and leaned down to peck his cheek before taking a seat at the small table. "Thanks, Tobbs."
"Mmmph," he repeated, with more emphasis. Jerking his head toward a small glass jar half filled with golden syrup, he grumped, "Honey from the garden hive. You still take two spoons?"
"I do, but I can get it," Hana laughed. Nodding for Thrax to take a seat, she asked, "Having any luck with the snares, then? We ran into one on our way here--you don't normally put them so far west."
"Game's scarce this season," Tobin grumbled. Frown deepening slightly, he added, "So don't be expecting a free lunch around here. You want food, you can help with the chores."
"I have no problem with that." Thrax took a sip of his hot toddy and let out a thoughtful noise
"Hey Hana? How weird would it be to have honey in my boozy tea?" he asked, genuinely curious.
In response, she chuckled and scooped a dollop of honey into his teacup. "That's how I like mine," she said with a quick grin.
"Most folk just use a bit of lemon," Tobin said dryly. "Never enough for Miss Sweet-tooth, though."
"Something has to make up for your sour disposition," Hana replied brightly.
Tobin grumbled into his tea about how nice the quiet had been until she showed back up.
Hana rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't even pretend you didn't miss me, old man."
Thrax smirked, enjoying the good-natured sniping as he nursed his drink. "I understand that you're the man to thank for keeping her alive after her family died."
Allowing himself to get all embarrassingly mushy for a moment, he said, "So... thank you. Without you, I would never have met the first woman to make me truly understand what love is. Hana is... very special."
"She told you about them?" Tobin blinked behind his spectacles, then gave Hana a vaguely astonished look. "He's really not just a tumble then."
Cheeks flushing with a combination of embarrassment and irritation, she snapped, "I told you that already."
"Yes, yes." He waved a hand at her dismissively. "Forgive me if I don't always take your word for such things."
"Gods, Tobin, you make it sound like I'm some sort of--!"
"Well, I suppose you're welcome," the hermit cut across her with a brisk nod for Thrax. "Honestly, she's more trouble than she's worth--but if you care for her that much, then you already know that." He sipped at his tea, then huffed, "S'good thing she found you. I was starting to worry she wouldn't find anyone who could tolerate her once I'm gone."
Though the words were harsh, Hana heard the slight softening and sincerity in his tone--maybe he really had been worried that she spent so much of her life alone. It was enough to keep her from snapping something annoyed back at him, at any rate.
Thrax laughed out loud. Smirking, he said, "Believe me, I'm just as much trouble as she is. It's—well, honestly, it's why we work so well together; we sort of... fill in each other's rough spots. We make each other better."
He cleared his throat. That was enough genuine emotion for one afternoon. "We've been through a lot together over the last... year? Shit. Time flies on the road."
"Holy hells, yeah," Hana laughed, shaking her head. "I guess it really has been about that long..."
She glanced briefly at Thrax, the truth of that striking her in a way she wouldn't have expected. Fill in each others rough spots.
That was a nice way to think of it.
Tobin glanced between them before asking, "And just what exactly is it you've been through?"
Hana laughed again. "How much tea ya got? We're gonna be here a while."
She gave him the highlights, the important bits: how they'd met, that first job with River and Kah, flying to Zantaric. She did sort of...gloss over that part a bit. Said they'd had some trouble with the demonic sword that brought them onto the plains for a while.
That part felt like Thrax's story to share, if he wanted to. She certainly wasn't going to lay his pain bare without his permission.
Then there was Thanatos. Her aunt. The village. She went into some more detail with Tobin than she had with the Longfangs about that. He already knew some of the worst of it, after all.
Her adoptive father listened quietly, only speaking up to ask a question or two every so often. Finally, she got to the end of the story, and he nodded thoughtfully.
"Well. Sounds like you've kept busy."
"We certainly have." Thrax chuckled. "That week with the Longfangs was probably the only real relaxation we've had in quite a while."
"And they have pups coming out of their ears," he laughed. "They're good kids. Just... so busy."
Honestly, he didn't know how Tobin even managed one doubtlessly busy child. It required patience and stamina that he just didn't have. But, should the unexpected happen, he would try.
"Mmm." Tobin sipped at his tea again, then placed the cup down with a soft clunk on the wooden tabletop. "Well. I don't much hold for free room and board—not enough space around here for that. So if you're gonna be staying, you'll be expected to help out. But there certainly won't be any babysitting, I can promise that."
Hana chuckled a bit. "Yeah, figured. But we can stay for a couple days?"
The old hermit glowered at her, then nodded as he grumbled, "Suppose you can."
She smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Thanks, Tobbs."
"Bah, off with ya." He waved her away, but for just half a second his mouth seemed to curve in a smile. "I'm sure you remember where the spare bed is. You can leave your packs there."
"Don't worry. This isn't the first time I've had to flex these muscles for room and board, and it won't be the last," Thrax assured the cranky hermit before following Hana the short way to the spare bed.
"Well, it's cramped, but it's not tree branch cramped," he quipped as he set his pack down. He certainly knew what they wouldn't be doing. Tobin would kick them out if they did.
Seeing as the cottage really only had a single bedroom, the spare bed was tucked into the loft set above it, with a ladder to reach it that Hana scrambled up with the clear ease of many years of practice. "Cramped" was an apt description.
She groaned and rolled her eyes at Thrax as she set her own pack down. "Again with the branch," she sighed theatrically. "It was one time."
She shifted over to the edge of the loft and let her feet hang down as she looked around. "Gods, it's weird to be back here," she chuckled. "This was the place I used to hide from those kid-brain monsters in the dark, y'know? So strange to see how...small it really is."
"Just imagine if you grew up to be a 'wall of shag carpet and muscles'." Thrax smirked as he awkwardly tried to find a space to fit his big, fuzzy butt without breaking something. "Gods, I feel like a dragon in a glass castle in here."
She laughed and scooched over to give him more room--though there was really only so much she could do on that front. "Don't worry--Tobin's carpentry is sturdier than it looks," she said with a lopsided smile. After a moment of thought, she added, "Though you may want to avoid the armchair by the hearth. I swear, that thing's older than he is."
She let herself lean against him slightly before saying in a softer tone, "Besides, I rather like the whole "wall of shag carpet and muscles" thing." It was that odd tip-toeing around the gentler aspects of their dynamic again, trying to figure out the right thing to say. She knew Tobin hadn't meant any real harm with the comment, but she also had a strange urge to reassure Thrax that most of the things people made jokes or even insults about...she didn't like him despite those things, she liked him because of them.
But she didn't know how to say that without sounding absurdly sappy.
"You do, do you?" He grinned playfully, leaning against her gently. "What else do you like about me? My ego could always use a good stroking."
He thought he knew what she was trying to do. But Tobin hadn't hurt his feelings, and, around her, he never felt like he had to prove he wasn't a thug, a savage, or a monster; he was just... Thrax. He could have loved her for that alone.
She snorted and gave him a dry look, then sighed in mock-exasperation. "Well, seeing as with the current sleeping arrangements your ego will be the only thing getting stroked for a while, I suppose I can humor you," she quipped.
She hummed thoughtfully and pressed back against his leaning before starting to list, "I like your sense of humor, and how you don't take life too seriously. I like that I have to stretch up onto my toes to kiss you." She grinned and stretched up to peck his cheek. "And...I like your gooey center, no matter how many times you try to prove you don't have one."
Smiling crookedly, she let herself lean back on one hand and tipped her head to the side. "Not a comprehensive list, but I guess it's a start."
"It's a good list!" he said with a happy grin.
He leaned back alongside her and scratched behind his ear. "So... Is it my turn? It is, isn't it?"
He swayed his feet as he thought. "I like how you don't care about how people look and only care about the person inside. I like how you aren't jaded, even though you have every reason to be. Aaand... I like the way your eyes glitter like rubies when you're up to no good."
"And the fact that you're smoking hot doesn't hurt." He grinned playfully.
Hana almost protested that he didn't need to come up with a list for her, but honestly...she was curious. And she wasn't so proud as to deny that she liked a little flattery now and then.
"...That's a good list," she repeated, smiling softly at him. Expression creeping back toward playful, she judged her shoulder against his and added. "Especially the last one."
"Oi! You two done up there? No canoodling under my roof."
Hana groaned and rolled her eyes. "We are not canoodling, Tobin, gods' sakes."
Thrax stifled a big laugh, which came out in a strangled snicker. "Did... Did he really just say canoodling?"
"We're just talking! Bard's honor!" he called down.
Remembering bards weren't known for honor, he corrected himself. "Warrior's honor!"
"I'm afraid he did," Hana chuckled back quietly, before she sighed and got to her feet.
"I don't care whose honor's on offer, get your tails down here."
"Alright, alright, we're coming down," she called to Tobin with another little laugh.
"Be quick about it—seems someone set off one of my snares, and I need some new ones set up."
Thrax let out a groan. "Barely in the door, and he's already got a job for us."
He got up with a dramatic sigh and followed her down the ladder. This was going to be a long day.
"Okay. Our tails are present and accounted for," he said with a jaunty salute and a lopsided smirk.
"Mmmrph." Tobin gave him a quick look before returning his attention to clearing the table. "Hana knows where I keep the supplies. We need four or five more snares set back toward the western trail. Think you two can manage that?"
Hana rolled her eyes as she slipped up next to Thrax and tucked herself against his side. "Of course we can. We'll be back well before sundown."
"Mind your step out there," Tobin muttered.
Unsure if that was genuine concern or if that was a dig at her mishap on the way in, Hana made a face at his back before nodding for Thrax to follow her out.
Once outside, Thrax watched her for a moment before asking, "He's going to work our asses off, isn't he?"
If that was why she forged off on her own, he couldn't blame her. Of course, she wasn't meant for a life hidden away in the woods with a cranky hermit, even if she had treated her like a princess. She made the world a better place by simply being in it.
"A bit," Hana laughed. "It's usually not so bad—a handful of chores during the day, making sure everything is running smoothly out here. It's the sort of stuff he usually manages by himself, so between the two of us it shouldn't be too rough."
She took a look around as they moved away from the cottage, drawing in a deep breath.
"I do like it out here," she murmured after a moment. "I just...I dunno. I couldn't stay forever, y'know?"
"You're far too vibrant to live in seclusion," he answered, his mushy thoughts bleeding into his words before he could stop himself.
He coughed and studied a very interesting leaf. "Well, you know what I mean."
Gods, how was it that he could express honest emotions in song but never outside of it? Not without feeling awkward and embarrassed, anyway. Perhaps it was because he was raised to not show weakness, or perhaps he was just afraid that people wouldn't like the real Thrax.
That actually brought a blush immediately to the surface of her cheeks. She cleared her throat and glanced away, ears flicking back toward her skull in embarrassment.
"Thanks," she mumbled; she wasn't any better at genuine emotion than Thrax was.
But she took a breath and gave it a shot.
"...That's another one on my list." She cut her eyes up to him briefly before looking away again. "You don't see me as, like...this lovely, exotic prize to conquer. I'm so used to people just seeing the way I look—just human enough to be appealing, but also something like a pretty pet. You—you see me."
Yup. Too much sincerity. So she tossed her hair and added with forced lighthearted, "Not that I don't appreciate you noticing the pretty parts, too."
"Oh, I notice, alright." Thrax grinned appreciatively. "All day, every day."
He sighed. "But I guess we should get to work before we spend all day flirting."
She chuckled and nodded. "Right. C'mon, the trapping supplies are in the shed. we can each make two snares and set them up, should only take an hour or so."
It had been a long time since Tobin had set her to placing snares, and Hana was learning that it was not exactly one of those skills that one just picked back up after years of leaving it to gather dust. So it was a bit more than an hour later by the time she placed her last one and was starting back toward the cottage.
"I know, I know, I don't wanna hear it," she grumbled as she came into the clearing. "I am so out of practice with this stuff.
Thrax had really only finished moments earlier, so he couldn't judge. Having been tapped at an early age to be a shaman, trapping wasn't something he was ever taught, and gnolls generally thought traps were a coward's way to hunt anyway. Only through trying to survive on his own did he teach himself, but that was before he discovered he could survive much more comfortably by performing and bounty hunting.
"You and me both," he grinned. "I don't often have reason to use traps when I'm perfectly capable of chasing down my own prey."
"See, I'd rather just pay for mine," Hana laughed lightly. She took his arm once she was close enough and tucked herself against his side. "Ready to face the grouchy music?"
"I can hear you," Tobin called through the open window of the cottage. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out in the direction of his voice.
"And what a unique and breathtaking sound it is!" Thrax laughed. "Truly, the angels must be jealous of his gift."
With an all-too-self-amused spring in his step, he led the way back inside to get glowered at for his smart mouth. It was totally worth it.
"Hrrrmph," Tobin said by way of greeting to Thrax, paired with a glare over the top of his spectacles. "You two get the snares set, then?"
"Yes, Tobin," Hana huffed, rolling her eyes yet again. "I know better than to come back here with a job undone."
He nodded once. "Good. I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes."
That made her nose--metaphorically--and her ears--literally--twitch. "Wait, you're cooking?"
He glared at her from the kitchen. "What do you think I'm doing in here?"
She raised her hands innocently. "Alright, alright! I'm just surprised--you hate cooking, you always made me do it."
"Well, special occasion I suppose, innit?" he grumbled, stirring the savory-smelling contents of a large pot. "Not often you come to visit these days."
Her expression softened and she let go of Thrax's arm to sidle up next to the man who'd raised her and kiss the top of his head. "Thanks, Tobbs. I'll...try to be better about it."
"Ah, none of that." He waved her off. "I don't care when you're here. Just...figured I'd make dinner for it."
"And she tells me I have a gooey center," Thrax commented playfully.
Before the old man could deny the observation, the bard sniffed the air and said, "Rabbit... root vegetables... cabbage... and... oregano? Smells good."
"Good nose," Tobin commented distractedly. "Heard that about hyenas once. Didn't know it extended to gnolls."
"Now, when were you just hearing random information about hyenas?" Hana laughed as she plopped into a chair at the table.
Tobin scoffed. "I didn't always live out here, you know that. Used to be a naturalist in one of the Arcan universities."
Hana blinked. "You never told me that."
"Sure I did."
"No, you said you used to live in Arca—you never told me you were a professor!"
"Yeah, we have the crazy bite strength too," he managed to say before the topic moved on.
"That would certainly explain why he lives alone in the woods." He smirked. The few professors he'd met at the Randy Peach always had horror stories about how academia really worked. "Was it fool students or backstabbing peers?"
"Bit of both," Tobin answered with a shrug. "Mostly just got sick of all the people."
"You? Sick of people?" Hana fake gasped. "I don't believe it."
Tobin turned to glare at her as she started ladling out bowls of rabbit stew. "You, lass, have got too much sass for your own good."
She shrugged. "It's a talent, really."
Thrax chuckled as he took a seat next to her. "A talent we share, I'm sure you've noticed."
"It keeps us entertained, at the very least." He grinned, giving her an affectionate shoulder bump. "Isn't that right, my partner in metaphorical crime?"
Hana quirked an eyebrow and mouthed, Metaphorical? She was fairly sure at least twenty percent of the shenanigans they got up to could be classified as varying degrees of illegal.
Not that she would say that out loud in front of Tobin; the hermit might know that already, but she wasn't going to say it.
"Two of you are a right menace," Tobin grumbled, sliding bowls of stew in front of them. "Can't tell if it's lucky or unlucky you found each other."
"I mean, we mostly do good things!" Thrax protested. "We took down a demon and didn't even get paid for it. Granted, we barely knew each other then."
He didn't know if she wanted to tell Tobin that they got some manner of justice for her family. Their good deeds weren't exactly selfless, but they were good nonetheless.
"What I'm trying to say is we make each other better people. At least, I think so."
Hana smiled at him. "I think so too."
Tobin rolled his eyes at them, but didn't say anything about it as he tucked into his meal. "So. How long are you two planning to stay?"
"A few days," Hana put forward a little hesitantly with a glance in Thrax's direction. They hadn't really set any hard plans.
"We heard there was fresh treasure to be had in Essyrn, so we thought we'd try our luck as treasure hunters. Assuming it isn't all gone by the time we get there," Thrax answered between bites. "So we won't be messing up your carefully crafted solitude too long."
"Good." Tobin nodded, shoveled in a mouthful of soup, then huffed, "Though I suppose you could rest up here for a while. Essyrn is...a long way."
Hana smiled lopsided at him and nodded, "We appreciate the offer, Tobbs. We thought we might recoup here for a day or so, then see if we can't get more information from one of the universities."
"I think I might become the first Gnoll to ever set foot in one," Thrax chuckled.
He scratched his ear as a thought occurred to him. "You know... maybe I could learn a thing or two about Stormsong while we're at it. Where better to try, right?"
"Definitely worth a try!" Hana agreed with a nod.
Tobin glowered at his stew, but offered grudgingly, "I might have some old colleagues who are still teaching. If you give my name around Kia's Court, someone should point you in the right direction."
"Thanks! I'll do just that," Thrax said with a smile before absolutely demolishing his stew.
Thrax, for his part, did his assigned chores with minimal complaint when he reached his stamina threshold. And in practically no time at all, the day came when they were to leave.
"I think that's everything," Thrax reported as he finished returning their things to their packs.
Hana was doing a final check of the loft, and she crawled back out from under the small bed in her smaller fox form, tail waving.
"Yep, nothing I can find." She shrugged up into her halfway shape and moved for the ladder. "Ready to go scandalize some academics?" she asked with a crooked grin, flicking all four tails much the way she had as a proper fox.
Thrax smirked back at her before she climbed down. "Always."
Once he, too, was at the bottom, he looked over at Tobin with a good-natured grin. "Well, we're just about off. It was good to meetcha Tobbs."
The halfling grumbled about Thrax's use of the affectionate nickname, but didn't actually protest it. Over the last few days, Tobin had displayed quite thoroughly that his default method of communication was, in fact, a grumble.
"You two take care of yourselves," he muttered as he walked them to the door. When Hana was through it, he shifted to stand in front of Thrax--all three and a half feet of him--and gave him a sudden, hard stare. "Really," he muttered, "take care of her."
Thrax let all frivolity drain from his face as he regarded the small man. "Don't worry. I would give my life for her," he said quietly and with conviction.
He then turned to follow Hana. "Alright, time to bounce... and hopefully not set off any snares this time."
The kistune glowered at him, then groaned, "I'm never living that down, am I?"
Without pushing themselves, it was a just over a day to reach Arca proper. As nightfall approached while they walked, Hana glanced up and noted, "We might as well camp out for the night--we'll have a better shot of finding a somewhat decent place to put ourselves up for a few days in the city if we don't come stumbling in passed midnight."
Thrax nodded with a smile. "I was just thinking the same thing."
"I even see a good place," he said, pointing to a small copse of trees ahead and to left of the road.
After dinner...
Sitting on a log beside her, he gently leaned against her. "Tobin really does care about you, yanno? He point-blank commanded me to take care of you."
"I think he's actually worse at showing his real emotions as we are," he laughed.
"Oh, I know," Hana laughed. "Where do you think I got it from?"
She smiled lopsidedly at him, then leaned over to nudge his shoulder with hers lightly. "I'm glad he didn't, y'know...get on your nerves too much. He's a crotchety bastard, but..."
She shrugged and ducked her eyes slightly. "He's the best family I got. Besides—well, besides you. Sort of. I guess." She cleared her throat and looked away, cheeks warm.
Thrax snapped his head in her direction, an oddly surprised and touched look on his face. Then, just as abruptly, he fell into his usual smirk. "Gods. You make it sound like we're married," he laughed.
Turning his gaze away, he awkwardly added, "Not that I wouldn't be the luckiest man alive if we were."
Hana's cheeks went from pink to deep red very quickly, and it was her turn to snap her head around at stare mutely at her companion for a moment.
"W-well, that's--" She swallowed. "I mean...thanks." She shook her head quickly and glanced away again, trying to joke, "Not sure either of us is exactly the marrying kind though, right?"
Even with his own burning cheeks hidden beneath his fur, Thrax couldn't bring himself to look in her direction. He wasn't the marrying kind; his clan didn't formalize their relationships any more than the Longfangs did. So why did her question hurt a little? He knew she loved him; what else mattered?
"R-right. Besides, what difference does it make whether what we have has the blessing of anyone else? Especially some religion we don't give a shit about."
"Yeah. Right. Exactly." Gods this was awkward. Was it awkward? Was it just her? Was it supposed to be awkward? "I mean, it's not like we stay in one place long enough for the neighbors to gossip about it either," she joked a little desperately, telling herself that her voice absolutely did not sound any squeakier than normal.
Her voice absolutely did sound squeakier than normal, and he noticed, and it made him even more emotionally confused. "Yeah. It would only ever mean anything to anyone but us, and we don't care."
"We don't, right?" he asked uncertainly. Gods, this conversation was torture. It needed to end, but it just kept going! Why?!
"Right." She nodded with a certainty that she very suddenly didn't feel. "I mean, it's not like we could even...what sorta priest or priestess would bother to--fuck."
She growled quietly and twisted to face him, frowning slightly. "Okay. I suck at this. I vote we just stop talking." Vaguely desperately, she added, "We have much less awkward ways of keeping our mouths busy. Wanna do that?"
"Oh, Storm yes," he laughed awkwardly as he turned to look at her. "I would accept literally anything to not continue this accursed conversation."
The moment they kissed, he forgot all about marriage nonsense.
Around midday, the dynamic duo finally walked through the gates of academia. Thrax had wrapped Stormsong in a cloth so as not to blatantly carry a naked weapon into the university. Just being a gnoll was drawing enough negative attention.
"I can't say I like the way the noble students are looking at us," he said self-consciously.
Hana had shifted into her fully human form for the trip, for much the same reason that Thrax had chosen to wrap Stormsong. Though with the looks they were getting, she honestly wasn't sure if either choice was really doing them much good.
"Just ignore it," she advised quietly. "If we let them make us uncomfortable enough to start acting suspicious, they'll think we have a reason to be suspicious. We've got as much right to be here as any traveling scholar."
It was much easier said than done, but she certainly had practice at it. Granted, that practice had been when she was on her own. Though despite the additional attention Thrax's presence brought, she couldn't say she would have preferred to go without it. She'd rather have him with her.
"Right." Thrax straightened and relaxed; nobody was going to pick a fight, so why be defensive?
"So... what first? The library? Archeology? Enchantments?"
"I'd think archeology would be a good place to start," Hana mused aloud. "If we want information about any expeditions that might be heading south, I'd think that would be the department most likely funding that sort of thing."
She fished out a small piece of paper Tobin had given her before they left, glanced down it, then added, "And it looks like at least one of these names Tobbs recommended is in archeology. Don't know about two of them, but this one definitely."
"Then archeology it is!" Thrax declared as he started walking with purpose.
Then he stopped to look back at her. "Where... do you think that is?"
It took some searching and getting directions from a very nervous clerk, but the pair eventually found the office of Dr. Cymon Hauptman, professor of archeology.
Thrax let Hana be the one to knock on the door. People didn't always react well to the unexpected appearance of a gnoll upon opening the door.
Aside from the surprised or sideways looks they kept getting, Hana actually quite liked what they saw of the university--if she had to stick in one place, she could see the appeal of a place that had doorways to so many other places all lined up next to each other. Albeit those doorways took the form of books.
When they finally reached the right--literal--door, she rapped quickly and called, "Professor Hauptman? The clerk said you were accepting visitors for office hours?"
"Hm?" came a voice on the other side of the door, followed quickly by a shuffling sound. "What? Ah, yes, of course, one moment."
More shuffling, then the sound of footsteps before the door swung inward to reveal a half-asleep half-elf who came very quickly awake at the sight of them.
"Goodness!" the professor yelped, jumping back a step, but quickly recovered a semblance of manners. "Oh, er, I mean--what is it I can help you two...folks with?"
Thrax put on his friendliest face and said, "Yes. We were hoping you might have information on any expeditions in Essyrn in the near future. We've heard rumors and were thinking of signing on as bodyguards. A mutual friend told us you might be able to help: Tobin Loris."
"O-oh." The professor blinked at them, then quickly turned and bustled back to her desk. "Ah, yes, I can...well, I can certainly see what the department heads might be discussing. Loris, you say? Haven't heard that name in many years..."
She started rustling through the various haphazard stacks of paper scattered across her desk. Hana cut a quick look up toward Thrax, eyebrows raised.
"I don't usually get non-students during my office hours," the professor chattered on as she searched. "How did you say you knew Tobin?"
Thrax shrugged back at Hana. What did he know about proper organization techniques? He would probably be at least as messy.
"He raised her. We happened to pay him a visit on our way to Arca and he told us he used to work here, so he gave us a few names to hit up."
He awkwardly shoehorned in an introduction, saying, "Right, manners. I'm Thraxion Swordbreaker and this beautiful creature is Hanako."
"Just Hana is fine," the kitsune said quickly, valiantly ignoring the hint of heat that rose to her face at Thrax's choice of introduction.
"Yes, yes, a pleasure, of course," the professor said with a distracted nod in their general direction. "Ah! Here we are."
Her eyes flickered quickly down the paper she'd unearthed, and she nodded to herself. "Yes, that's what I thought—I'm afraid the university has no current expeditions bound south, but there is a small fund set aside for a research team heading to Essyrn." She looked up with a small shrug and a semi-apologetic smile. "Not as flashy as an excavation assignment, so not as many signed on. I'm afraid security positions might be rather competitive, since we simply don't have as many to fill."
"Well, we knew getting on board with something here was a long shot. We are just a couple of rando adventurers looking for something interesting." He chuckled. "We mostly wanted to verify that if we went to Essyrn, there'd be something other than sand and miserable heat to look forward to."
"I mean, we're more than capable, but our only reference is a grumpy professor nobody has seen in decades and doesn't exactly take visitors other than Hana," he added.
Professor Hauptman shrugged and smiled vaguely at them. "You're certainly welcome to speak with the research team's lead—that'd be Professor Ironbark. But I'm not sure if there are any openings currently."
Hana nodded. "Nah, we get it. Thanks for your help, professor!"
"Of course." Her smile turned a little less vague and she added, "I'm sure he won't appreciate it, but do give my best to Tobin when you next see him."
Laughing, she nodded, "He probably won't, but I absolutely will."
"One other thing before we go," Thrax said. "Do you know who we should ask about enchanted weapon relics? My people have been in possession of one for centuries, but never knew anything about where it came from before it was given to us."
"I feel I could better protect it if I knew more about it."
"Oh! Well, now that I can help you with," she said with a bright smile. "You'll want to speak with our curator of antiquities--he's rather busy though, so you may have to make an appointment with his clerk. Two floors up, third door on the left."
Hana smiled and nodded at her. "Thank you." She cast a questioning look toward Thrax, nodding slightly toward the door.
Once they were back in the corridor, Thrax suggested, "I guess we should hit up the curator first and find out how long it would take to get an appointment. We don't know how soon we'll find a ship going to Essyrn willing to take us, assuming we don't arrange something with Ironbark."
"Makes sense to me," Hana agreed with a nod, looking around for the closest stairwell so they could follow Hauptman's directions. "Honestly, I'm sorta surprised these people are so helpful. We did just sorta...show up. We could be anybody! What if we were planning something nefarious?"
"That's what the wards are for," answered a portrait they were passing, a study of a clearly demifae woman with delicate azure skin and a petal-pink gown.
Hana yelped and whirled to face the painting, eyes wide. "What the fuck?!"
The woman in the portrait smiled condescendingly. "It is a university of magic, my dear. Only those seeking knowledge without guile or ill intent may pass through its halls."
With that, it was a simple painting again, entirely still and flat.
Hana gaped, then repeated softly, "What the fuck?"
Thrax stared at the painting for a long moment as he processed what had just happened. Then he snorted, followed by a boisterous laugh. It was so ridiculous that he had no choice but to laugh.
"Ah, ha ha ha! Well, that just happened." He wiped the corner of his right eye. "Storm, I think I love this place. In another life, maybe I could have studied here."
"Oh gods." Hana groaned and elbowed his side playfully. "Thraxion Swordbreaker with an Arcan college education? You'd be insufferable."
She sniffed and tossed her head up dramatically. Deepening her voice in a poor imitation of his with an upper crust Arcan accent, she drawled, "It's all about the methodology when it comes to musical casting, you see. None of this raucous noise you get from most common bards."
"Bahahaha!" he laughed. In his own fancy accent, he said, "Music, above all, should be as overly complicated as it is overbearingly dull. We can't have the poors enjoying themselves, now can we?"
The displeased look a passerby gave him made him crack up all the more.
Hana devolved into giggles as the passing student glowered at them, though she did her best to muffle it behind a hand clasped to her mouth.
"Oh, gods." Shaking her head, she chuckled, "C'mon, let's find this clerk before we get ourselves thrown out for causing a disturbance or something."
"Right. We don't want that," he chuckled, reining in his laughter.
Two floors up and three doors left, the pair found their clerk, a bespectacled young man who, from his small tusks and slightly green skin, had an orc in his heritage somewhere. They were in luck, it seemed, for there was a slot open in the curator's schedule for later that day. There was just enough time to meet with Professor Ironbark before then.
After making the appointment, Thrax scratched his ear. "Professor Blackhhoof sounds like a minotaur name. Can't say I expected that."
Hana shrugged as the made their way back out of the clerk's office into the hall. "I mean, Kia's Court is pretty diverse. Not Wyrdwood diverse, but diverse. I guess I can see why Tobin tolerated the place as long as he did."
She paused, looking up and down the length of the hallway. "Ah--do you remember which way it is to Ironbark's office?"
Thrax opened his mouth to answer, realizing only then that he never asked for directions. He held up one finger in a "just a second" gesture before ducking back into the office.
When he returned, he said, "I do now!"
Ironbark, it turned out, was some variety of plant person that Thrax didn't know the name of. Whatever she was, Thrax approved. Of course, Hana was way hotter and also not a vegetable.
"My assistant tells me that you're hoping to get hired on as security for the Essyrn trip. Is that correct?" she asked matter-of-factly.
Hana had never actually met an alraune--which she assumed Ironbark was--but seeing as she herself was often the first kitsune people met, she didn't want to be, like, weird about it.
"Yes ma'am--er, professor," she said with a brisk nod. "We know you don't have a lot of open positions, but we wanted to ask anyway."
"Mmmm." Ironbark flicked through what Hana assumed was some sort of ledger before glancing up at them again. "And you're not students here? Odd, we don't normally get random travelers asking after specific expeditions."
"Yeah," Thrax chuckled. "We just like to find ways to get where we're going profitably and to be sure that there's actually something worth traveling such a long way for."
Quickly, he added, "Not that we're just thrillseekers looking to add ancient ruins to the list. I mean, okay, I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of it, but we're very good in a fight if anything unfortunate happens."
"That and my dad pointed us toward you lot," Hana added. "Ah, Tobin Loris. Used to work here, apparently."
"I see." Ironbark looked them over briefly before returning her attention to the ledger. "Well, we'll be leaving within the week, so most of the positions are filled...you could always speak to our combat specialist--they're holding auditions, I suppose you could say, tomorrow. They might be able to add two more names to the list to be evaluated."
Hana quirked an eyebrow. Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised, but there were certainly a lot of steps involved just for the dumb muscle on a university expedition.
"Thanks for pointing us in the right direction. And for hearing us out instead of slamming the door in our faces like I expected to get a lot more of from a fancy Arcan university. But that's a me issue; I mean no disrespect. My kind don't come north very often, so I didn't really know what to expect, you know?"
Realizing he was rambling, he cleared his throat. "Thank you for your time, Professor."
Professor Ironbark's expression seemed to soften just a bit, and she nodded to them. "I can understand that," she said in a slightly quieter tone. "And unfortunately I cannot speak for every university in the city, but we at least sport...some more diversity, shall we say."
Her eyes flickered from Thrax to Hana, and the kitsune got the sudden and abrupt feeling that this woman knew she wasn't human, despite her current shape.
That was disconcerting.
"Ah--right. Well, thanks again!" She smiled and nodded politely, then grabbed Thrax's hand and towed him back out into the hall.
Once the door was closed, she fixed the gnoll with a raised-eyebrow look. "Ya feelin' alright there, Swordbreaker?"
Yes, she had in fact noticed how pretty Ironbark was. No, she didn't particularly care that it made Thrax flustered. Yes, she was absolutely going to tease him about it.
He scoffed. "Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be alright?" he asked, playing innocent. He knew Hana wasn't the jealous type, but that didn't mean he wanted to broadcast his moment of temptation.
Of course, his awkward 'trying too hard to act casual' body language was a dead giveaway.
"Hmmm." She resisted the smile that tugged at the edges of her mouth. "And here I thought you didn't get stage fright, Thrax." She quirked an eyebrow. "Right? I mean, why else would you be so nervous to talk to her?"
Thrax gave a drawn-out groan. "Okay, fiiine, she was super hot. I have a weakness for the green ladies. You happy?" He looked like he'd rather talk about anything else.
Hana grinned smugly and hopped up onto her toes to draw him down and peck his cheek. "Extremely," she replied, eyes glittering.
Starting down the hall, she asked casually, "Do you know what an alraune is, by the way?"
"Not a clue!" Thrax answered cheerily as he kept pace. "Besides a hot plant person, anyway."
"So, what is an alraune, Professor Hanako?"
"A mandrake root brought to life by the blood of hanged men dripping into the soil where they were hung," she replied promptly. "By all accounts most are perfectly lovely individuals, but yeah. They definitely walk around with some stigma."
She cut her eyes sidelong and added, "Might have been why she was so nice to us. Well, you more than me, admittedly."
Thrax laughed. "Is it bad if I can't decide if that's awesome or just terrifying?"
"I mean, obviously, it's not fair for her to be judged for it, but that's one dark way to come into the world," he clarified.
"And that look she gave you?" He shuddered. "What was that about?"
Hana sighed. "Can't say for sure, but I think she knows I'm not..." She waved a hand to her human shape. "Y'know. Not really this." She shrugged. "Guess she didn't think it was worth commenting on, though. I did get the sense she was a bit softer with us than she might have been with someone else though, y'know?"
She glanced up at him with another shrug. "Gnolls, alraune, kitsune--we've all got some less-than-savory stories attached to us. Althought, some folks still call my people some variety of demon." She grinned crookedly. "Maybe she was trying to figure out if I was."
"I mean, in certain contexts..." He grinned as he let the racy implication linger.
"You hush," she laughed, elbowing him lightly. "The walls have ears, y'know--literally, it seems, when it comes to this place."
She eyed a portrait as they passed it, but it made no sign of being anything other than framed paint on canvas. Looking back to Thrax, she asked, "Do you think we should see if we can get our name on this audition list Ironbark was talking about? Or are we better off just trying to find passage somewhere else?"
Thrax sighed. Patience with bureaucracy was not a virtue that gnolls generally possessed. Least of all, Thraxion Swordbreaker. "I dunno. This is starting to become more trouble than it's worth. I mean, it probably doesn't even pay that well."
He scratched his ear thoughtfully. "But we can try if you want. Otherwise, I'm happy just getting an expert opinion on Stormsong and heading to the port district to look for a ship."
Hana nodded. She had no particular attachment to the university at this point either. "Maybe we should at least swing by these auditions though," she mused as they walked. "Might be interesting to see the kinds of folks that do wanna jump through all these hoops to hire onto this sort of expedition."
Curator, curator... That was who Hauptman had pointed them toward for Stormsong, right? If she remembered the layout of the halls correctly, it was just back down the stairwell and then left. Or--two lefts?
Thrax nodded. "Sure. I'm a bit curious myself."
With only one wrong turn, the pair returned to the curator's clerk. After a few minutes, semi-orc peeked his head into Blackhoof's office. After exchanging a few words with a deep-voiced person inside, he returned to usher the pair inside.
Inside was the most dapper half-minotaur they had ever seen. The man was dressed in a flowing red and orange dress shirt, dark pants held up by a pair of dress suspenders, and a pair of spectacles resting on his broad human-ish nose. And he was tall, standing a hair shorter than Thrax before you factor in his horns.
"Welcome! Welcome!" He beamed a warm smile at the pair. "Daragar Blackhoof, at your service!"
He motioned apologetically to his cluttered workspace, littered with a treasure trove of artifacts in various stages of restoration and cataloging. "I'd offer you a place to sit, but there is precious little room for guests when I, myself, take up so much of it."
Oh damn.
Probably unsurprising that Hana had a bit of a weakness for tall men—and a vague corner of her mind noted with resignation that it was only fair considering how Thrax had reacted to Ironbark.
"That's no problem!" she said a bit too quickly. "We just, ah—well, Thrax I mean, was wondering if—"
She looked to the bard and gestured vaguely. Stop talking, stop talking.
Thrax gave her a knowing smirk before turning to the professor. "Yes, ah, well, may I?" he asked, reaching for the wrapped Stormsong.
Blackhoof nodded and cleared a space for the large artifact.
Thrax gently placed the bundle on the work desk and unwrapped it. "The man who left it with my clan a few centuries back called it Stormsong."
Blackhoof whistled, impressed. "It's stunning. And clearly well cared for. You should see the rusty junk people bring to me in hopes they're worth something."
"And here I am bringing this with no intention of parting with it," Thrax chuckled.
Blackhoof idly tapped one of his horns as he studied the axe. He gently ran a finger along the blade. "Electrical enchantment, and a powerful one. I take it that power is utilized through musical casting?"
Thrax nodded, grinning slightly. "It is. Took a lot of practice not to cut myself playing it."
The professor nodded. "I can imagine. So, if you aren't here to sell it, what is it you want?"
"I was hoping to find out where it came from and maybe decipher the runes on it. I'm not even sure the human who gave it to us for safekeeping knew or, if he did, he kept it to himself."
Blackhoof nodded thoughtfully, looking at the writing along the blade. "I don't immediately recognize the language, but I should be able to find out by tomorrow. And if it's in our records anywhere, I can look."
The man met Thrax's eyes. "But I must warn you, if it turns out that it was last registered as the stolen property of the Serenian nobility, I'm obligated to report it, even if it was centuries ago. So be sure you're willing to take that risk."
Hana tensed a bit at that warning, cutting a glance up to Thrax's profile, but she knew it ultimately wasn't her choice to make. Stormsong was a relic of his people--he got to make those kinds of decisions.
She reached out and subtly took his hand, hoping the gesture might help convey what she couldn't say in front of Blackhoof: that she was there for him, and she'd fight off an entire damned noble house if he needed her to.
"The bard who entrusted it to us wasn't Serenian, but I guess that doesn't mean anything," Thrax thought aloud, his ear flicking worriedly. "Can't you just... not check those books?"
Blackhoof shook his head. "I'm afraid I would be obligated to. While it is a slim possibility, I thought you had a right to know what protocols I have to follow if you make that request."
Thrax sighed, frowning thoughtfully. "I think... I'll choose to have faith in the man who had so much faith in us. If he did steal it, it could only have been to keep its power from being abused."
The bard glanced at Hana for support.
"It'll be fine." Hana squeezed his hand lightly and smiled. "It's worth it for learning more about Stormsong, right?"
She didn't say—but figured he would know—that if it did turn out to be stolen, she was more than ready to grab the magical instrument-weapon and haul ass, if it came to that.
Thrax did know that she would stick by him no matter what happened. He didn't for a second doubt that.
Blackhoof noted the affectionate contact but found no reason to comment. Interspecies relationships weren't something he had a problem with. "Alright then. Just allow me to make a quick sketch for reference, and I'll make the time to do some research. I'm rather curious myself."
He brought out a sheet of paper and a quill. With some quick spellwork, the quill began drawing of its own accord. After producing a lifelike drawing, it jotted down the writing from the blade and fell back to the desk.
Thrax grinned. "Okay, that was neat."
"And quite handy," Blackhoof said with a nod and a light chuckle.
"Man." Hana gave a low, impressed whistle. "Wish I could do something that tangible."
Aside from her shapeshifting and foxfire—which were mostly instinctive abilities—her learned magic was pretty much entirely illusion-based. Useful, yes, but never something real like what Blackhoof was doing.
Or Thrax, now she thought of it. His music created real effects—it had even saved her life.
"Sadly, my skills beyond control of ink are meager. But what magic I have is perfectly suited to cataloging and researching artifacts," Blackhoof added humbly.
"I'm sure yours is just as useful, even if it isn't physical."
Thrax smiled crookedly at her. "She's certainly saved my butt a few times."
Hana scrunched her nose up at him. "Yeah, but that's because you're a surprisingly willing damsel," she teased.
Looking back to Blackhoof, she smiled and added, "Thank you for your help. You said you needed to look into some things—how much time should we give you for that?"
Blackhoof tapped his horn as he thought over his answer. "It really depends on if I find the right books in a timely manner. I'd say give me three days, then check back with me. If I get lucky before then, I can send a runner to wherever you're staying."
"We haven't actually booked a room anywhere yet, but Hana can send you a message when we do. Well, unless the wards block it," Thrax answered.
Blackhoof nodded. "That should work. Just tell me what to expect."
"Oh, sure!" She grinned and cheerfully explained how her foxfire messages worked—according to Blackhoof, she just needed to make sure her "magical signature" was registered with the clerk in charge of the building's wards before they left in order for her to send one through.
"This place is amazing," she noted to Thrax as they set off to do that, "but I dunno how long I could last here with all these—these regulations, y'know?"
"Yeah," he chuckled as he walked, "remember what I said about seeing myself here? I take it back. I'm not nearly 'civilized' enough for this departmental runaround nonsense. "
"I'm just civilized enough to enjoy a warm bed and a well-seasoned meal. And money; gnolls don't use money and don't have nice things. I want nice things," He grinned. "And treasure, and ale, and to hear every kind of music there is!"
"Quite a list," Hana laughed, then teased, "You sure you've covered everything?"
She reached over to take his hand as they walked, and didn't notice the startled look that a student—or someone else with an armful of books—threw their direction as they rushed by.
"I left out women. Because I only need the one holding my hand right now." Thrax smirked, downplaying the sappy moment with roguish charm.
"So, uh..." He coughed awkwardly. "Any random guesses where Stormsong came from? Whoever's further from the truth can, uh..."
"Receive a favor of their choice to be cashed in later?" Hana offered with a quick smirk. "Because I've definitely got ideas for that."
She tapped at her chin with her free hand, and "hmmm"ed quietly. "I'll guess that...it's a relic from a Thunderblack dragon cult."
"Ooo, good guess." Thrax grinned. "And entirely possible, given the weather there."
He idly scratched his ear as he thought. "Ah! I bet it was crafted by some renegade sorcerer trying to control the weather. Not, like, for evil. Just because he thought he could."
Hana giggled. "Maybe. I've certainly known my share of mages who have tried to do things just because." She shrugged. "And half the time no one even dies, so, y'know. Good for them, I suppose."
The reached the clerk Blackhoof had mentioned, and she paused to "register her signature"--which apparently meant burning up a small slip of paper that the clerk handed her with foxfire after fussing with it for several minutes. Weird, but easy enough.
"So. Seems like we've got three days to kill in the city," she noted once she was done.
"Oh my, what ever shall we do with ourselves? We are so very hard to entertain." Thrax smirked playfully.
"Oh! Right! We were going to take a look at the kind of muscle willing to jump through hoops for coin," he said with an eager bounce in his step.
"Ahhhhh, yes. Yes we were." Hana smirked, taking a brief look around to orient herself. "Ironbark said the combat specialist...Ah! Training Arena." She pointed to a sign and quirked an eyebrow. "That sounds like the place, yeah?"
Thrax nodded vigorously. "Yeah."
He led the way down the hall and through a pair of large, open doors to a large courtyard. In the center was a smallish dirt arena where a pair of swordsmen were sparring while an extremely tough-looking half-orc woman watched from the sidelines with a judgmental eye. The other fighters in the courtyard glanced at the two new arrivals as if they didn't belong, but didn't linger on the pair.
Wow.
Those men were shiny.
Hana gave a low whistle and shot a meaningful look at Thrax. "Don't think I've ever seen metal that well-polished in my whole life," she muttered, though she made sure to keep her voice low enough that she wasn't causing a disturbance.
"Never trust a warrior with flawless armor. It just means they've never worn it in a real fight," Thrax answered in a whisper. Their technique was impressive, but in his experience, fancy techniques meant little in a real fight. They were just as often a liability.
The bout ended with a flourish that brought one fighter's practice sword to the other man's throat. The specialist just nodded. "You're definitely on the list, young lords."
Thrax rolled his eyes. That explained everything he needed to know; they already had enough real warriors and were on to the prestige hires.
Oh brother.
Hana rolled her eyes almost in sync with Thrax, coming to the same realization he had. "Why even bother with something like this, if you've got a title?" she muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "It's not like they need the money--and you'd think going after a knighthood or something would be more their speed."
The instructor--at least, she assumed a combat specialist at a university had to be some kind of instructor--seemed only to notice them then, and started to stride over. She gave a quick call to a waiting cluster of equally shiny combatants for "the next two" to be ready for their bout as she came to a stop in front of Hana and Thrax.
She was easily seven feet, able to look Thrax almost square in the eye as she folded her arms and lifted an eyebrow. "And you two are...?"
"Not lordlings looking for a nice, safe adventure," Thrax answered before he thought better of it.
He cleared his throat when that earned him a few indignant stares. "I'm Thrax, and this is Hana. Professor Ironbark told us you were the one to talk to about signing on as guards, but it looks like you've got all the muscle you need."
The half-orc woman almost cracked a smile--almost--before giving them a brisk, professional nod.
"Aye, as you say," she agreed, jerking her head back toward the arena and shiny lordlings. "Sorry to disappoint."
Hana smiled and waved her apology off. "Oh, that's fine! We had quite a few reasons for visiting actually, we just wanted to ask about the expedition while we were here."
"I see." The combat instructor looked them over. "Well, this lot should take up most of the rest of my afternoon, but if you want to hang around you're welcome to use the training facilities." She shrugged. "Not exactly a fighter batch of students this term, so the space is mostly going unused."
"Thanks. I might just take you up on that," Thrax answered with a smile. "We've got time to kill while we're in town, and I could use a little weapons practice. It's been too long since I had a proper fight."
"And this one..." He thumbed towards Hana. "...isn't afraid to point out the extra padding I get around the middle when all I do is walk."
Hana scoffed and thwacked his arm lightly. "First off, I said you were extra fluffy, and you took it in bad faith," she sniffed. "Second, it's not a lack of exercise, it's excessive amounts of cheese whenever you get the chance."
The half-orc once again almost cracked a smile, before nodding briskly to Thrax. "Well, I shouldn't keep this new lot waiting. Perhaps we'll have more time to speak in your next visit."
Another nod, and she moved back to continue with her auditions, calling for the two new fighters to take their places.
Hana grinned lopsidedly. "I like her. She seems like she doesn't take any shit." She glanced back toward the entrance of the arena, and caught a flash of shiny metal out of the corner of her eye. Probably the fighters who had yet to do their practice bout trying to listen in on what the combat instructor had been saying to them.
Thrax smirked jovially. "She's tall and green. I think we both like her for that alone."
Then he noticed the shiny fighters beginning to encircle them. "Is there a problem, boys?" he asked innocently.
"We couldn't help but hear that you two think you're better than us," a haughty young Serenian with sapphire hair responded.
Hana laughed—she couldn't disagree with his assessment—but she couldn't quip something back before the Shiny Brigade was quite clearly no longer "listening in" and instead trying to "menace".
She rolled her eyes when the blue haired one spoke up. "Gods' sakes, nobody said that," she huffed. Flashing a smile that had wheedled more than one free drink from a bartender over the course of her life, she said sweetly, "C'mon now, boys, surely we don't need to make a scene here?"
Thrax bit back a smart-mouthed retort. They couldn't afford to start a fight and get banned from the premises or arrested.
Blue-hair, the obvious leader of the group, smiled with false sweetness. "That depends on what you're going to do to apologize for your mutt's insolent tongue. We heard what he said about—what was it... ah yes—'men in flawless armor' having 'never been in a real fight'."
Shit. How did they hear that? It wasn't even that insulting. They must be looking for reasons to be offended. "I am sorry, young lords." Thrax found himself saying, "It was but the idle thought of a fool who knows not of what he speaks. I beg your forgiveness."
False humility wasn't a good look on the bard, and he knew it, but he didn't know a better way to placate men like these.
Blue-hair frowned. "I believe I was talking to the girl, beast. Or perhaps I should say, monster. I know what you are. Your wretched breed should know better than to travel so far north."
Hana had had every intention of talking their way out of this. They really didn't need a scene, and they did have to be back on the university's campus in a few days--some sort of security ban would definitely not be helpful in that endeavor.
But he just kept saying all the wrong things. She never liked being called girl at the best of times. But the insults to Thrax had her growling quietly, eyes narrowed.
She stepped forward, placing herself firmly between Thrax and Blue-hair. "Beast, is it?" she cooed, but the sweetness in her voice held a snarl beneath it. "Monster? And how did you come to that conclusion, my lord?"
She allowed her form to shift--first to her halfway shape, fangs curving slightly, claws stretching from her fingernails as her vulpine ears and tail grew from her body. She took another step, and several of the shiny lordlings backed up, clearly not sure what exactly they were looking at: certainly not a typical Serenian woman, as they had first assumed.
Hana allowed her spine to curve forward even as it lengthened and stretched higher, until her front paws landed on the ground and her body was the size of a small horse as she growled. All four tails lashed like an angry cat's, and bluish fire gathered around her paws in pops and sparks.
A simple twist of illusion magic made her voice echo eerily as she hissed, "You know nothing of monsters."
...Clearly Thrax was not the only one with a flair for the dramatic. Although, scaring them off technically wasn't the sort of offence that would get them banned.
One could hope.
Blue-hair gaped in horror. "You... y-you're—you're just lucky I have b-better places to be," he said haughtily, but with a tremble in his voice that betrayed his cowardice. He motioned to his entourage as he turned to leave. "Let's go, boys. This expedition isn't worth our time."
Thrax stared at Hana with a grin as the shinies left with their tails between their legs. Storm, he loved this woman.
Hana watched them scurry away with her snarl in place, only relaxing when they'd disappeared around the corner of the arena entrance.
Exhaling heavily, she shrank back down to her half-shifted form, ears pressed back and tails still lashing angrily.
"Assholes," she hissed, then glanced up at Thrax. Her expression immediately melted into something much softer. "...You okay?"
"Eh. I've heard worse," he answered a bit too nonchalantly. The truth was that it always hurt to be seen as a monster because of the actions of the worst of his species.
"You were awesome, by the way." He grinned wide, breaking into an unconvincing laugh. "Storm, I think one of them pissed himself!"
Hana frowned, not quite buying his facade, and not well enough distracted by the praise either. "Thrax--"
"Well."
She jumped, turning to see the combat instructor approaching them. She swallowed; while they hadn't started a fight, she had made something of a scene.
"Sorry," she muttered quickly, "We'll, ah, we'll be going."
The half-orc woman nodded. "Probably best. Let things cool down a bit before you come back." Her lips twitched on one side into almost a smile and she added, "Thanks for weeding out some unlikelys, though." When Hana blinked, she clarified, "Our institution has a very low threshold for intolerance."
Yeah. From what she'd seen that made sense. Well, good to know they weren't getting kicked out, or banned!
"Still..." Thrax was too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye. "Sorry for the disruption. We'll go cool off at a tavern or something."
This was definitely not the easygoing Thrax Hana knew and loved. Gods, this one was positively shy.
Hana nodded and thanked the swordmistress again before taking Thrax's arm and steering him back out of the arena, and then off the university's campus entirely.
She knew the city just well enough to guide them quickly down a small, leafy shaded alley that led to a tiny hidden garden of sorts. It clearly wasn't as well-kept as the more trafficked streets, and they were the only ones there for the time being.
She turned and reached up to take his face between her hands. "You are everything they could never be," she told him fiercely. "You hear me, Swordbreaker?"
Thrax smirked, playing dumb about what she was talking about. The moment required more emotional honesty than he thought he could take at that moment. "What? Charismatic? Talented? Addicted to cheese?" he joked.
He had experienced far worse intolerance since he had been thrust out into civilized society. But something about her seeing it happen made it hurt so much more. It made him embarrassed and ashamed in a way it never had before. How could he tell her that?
Under usual circumstances, she would have let him deflect. But that whole thing just felt...different. He felt different, the tone of the jokes and the way he wouldn't quite look her in the eye.
"Brave," she told him firmly, pushing back just a little. "Selfless. Fine, talented." Her lips twitched up on one side just a bit. "But mostly just...good. You're a good man, Thrax. Not because of who or what you are, but because of what you chose to do."
She tried to rock up on her toes, realized that without him already bending toward her she couldn't reach him, growled quietly in frustration, then held up a finger in a "one second" gesture.
She let go of his face just long enough to drag him by the hand over to a sitting bench nestled in the little garden, then stepped up onto it and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Okay. Better."
She leaned forward until her brow touched his. "Monster isn't something someone is, it's what they choose to do. And I've never known anyone who looks those choices in the face and says no fucking thank you more than you."
Thrax sniffed miserably. "You make it sound so easy," he joked weakly.
"But... Storm, Hana, that's not even why I'm upset. Not really. I'm upset because you had a front-row seat to the way I act in that situation. Every time, it's like I'm a cub again, being picked on by the bigger kids. But, of course, worse; they didn't think I was a bloodthirsty baby-eater."
He sighed sadly, loathing himself. "I should stand up for myself, but I just quietly take it and apologize like I did something wrong. It's weak and pathetic, and every time I hate myself for it."
"Oh, sweetheart, no." She drew him forward into a hug. "No. You are not weak, and you are the furthest thing from pathetic. It's self-preservation."
She sighed, drawing back far enough to look him in the face again. "It sucks. It sucks, and I know you know that, but...I also know you don't want to fight every asshole who sizes you up wrong. And that is not a weakness, Thrax. I promise you it's not."
"Yeah?" he asked doubtfully. "Then what is it? I'm a gnoll; fighting through our problems is what we do."
It was a bit self-loathing and more than a little letting stereotypes define what he should be. But he did enjoy violence a little too much; as she said, he simply didn't vent that desire on just anyone.
"And that is why you don't," Hana responded fiercely. "Because you know if you did, you'd only be giving them more fuel for that hate. And it's not fair, it's not, because you should be able to haul off and roundhouse someone who just called you a beast, but a part of you knows if you do you'll just make it worse."
She sighed, shoulders slumping a bit. "It's awful. It feels awful, I know--I mean...not the way you do, not the same thing, but..." She huffed and shook her head. "Gods, Thrax, you know how many times I've had some asshole in a taproom grab at my tail? Or tell me--in public--in excruciating detail all the things he thinks a fox's tongue could do? And I can't just haul off and hit him, no matter how much he deserves it or how good I know it would feel, because then I'm savage, I'm a demon--or worse, I make him angry enough to call in backup."
She lifted her eyes to his again. "It's not fair. We shouldn't have to be the ones who hold it together when shit like that happens. But we do, and that makes us stronger than they could ever understand."
The big guy finally met her eyes as some of his sadness, shame, and anger washed away. "I like the sound of that," he said with a slight, genuine smile.
"Storm... I hate that you had to see me like this. I much prefer being a fun-loving bundle of grinning energy. It certainly hurts a lot less." He sniffed up the last of the tears that had been threatening to fall. His sad smile warmed. "I love you so much, you know that?"
Hana smiled and pecked his cheek. "I love you too," she told him quietly, glad that what she'd said seemed to have had some impact. Tone turning vaguely joking, she added, "Maybe the next time someone is a dick to you in public, I'll hit them. They won't see it coming."
She kissed him again, quick and soft, then glanced down. "Ah..." Laughing quietly, she asked with a wry smile, "Mind helping a lady down?"
Thrax barked a laugh. "C'mon! I'm not that tall; you need a ladder to get down!"
But, like a dutiful boyfriend, he helped her down from the bench.
The bard smirked. "I'll tell you what; if you defend my honor, I'll defend yours. The world won't see us coming."
Hana grinned and let him take her weight easily as he held her to the ground. "That's another for my list," she told him. "I like that even when you complain about it, it's so easy for you to do stuff like that."
She twined her fingers through his and squeezed lightly. "I'll take that deal; you want my back, I watch yours."
Another quick squeeze before she released his hand. "Now c'mon--let's find that tavern you told hot sword lady we'd be cooling off in."
"Storm... I could really use that drink," he laughed as he stood up.
On the second day, the duo went to the port district to try and find a ship willing to take them to Essyrn. It wasn't until the third sailors' tavern they tried that they located someone willing to hear them out.
His name was Percy, the first mate of a ship called The Adamant Lady. He was a broad-shouldered Serenian man with dark green hair and an eye patch over one scarred eye. It seemed they were due out in a few days and could use a few extra hands.
"You'll have to meet with the captain first, though, as she makes final decisions regarding who we hire on. I can only make my recommendation and see if she agrees. But I think she will; you've got serious muscle, bards are good for morale, and you, miss, are just nimble enough to help with the more delicate work."
"Not to mention a spent near a full year of my life on a ship," Hana added pointedly, quirking up one eyebrow. She knew very well how rare it was for passengers to actually know their way around the run of a ship. With any luck, it might bring their travel fee down.
She smiled and reached out a hand toward Percy. "Well, we'd greatly appreciate that recommendation, if you're willing to give it. Should we just hang around here, or is your captain the sort who needs to kill these things over for a bit?"
"Oh, she's the decisive sort. If she likes you, you're as good as hired," Percy chuckled as he shook their hands. "She should drop by within the hour, actually."
Sure enough, it wasn't long before the captain arrived.
Thrax gaped. "Well, shit..."
"Oh, fuck," Hana yelped quietly at the same time, and then snapped her head around to stare at Thrax.
No.
No way.
Oh, come on!
The captain of the Adamant Lady certainly lived up to the name of the ship, with deep blue hair streaked through with silver that had nothing to do with her age, and a stern expression that seemed sculpted onto the sharp, elegant planes of her sun-tanned face.
Of course, last time Hana had seen her, she'd been the first mate of a smaller vessel called the Dusty Crab. The kitsune sank down slightly in her chair.
This would be fun...
She had also been first mate on the Dusty Crab when he met her. The sheer ridiculousness of the coincidence left Thrax speechless as he looked between her and Hana.
"When Percy told me a gnoll bard and a woman with red eyes named Thrax and Hana were trying to book passage on my ship, I thought it had to be some uncanny coincidence. But nooo, it really is the two of you heartbreakers. Together," she said with a manic laugh she could barely contain.
Okay. Okay, laughter was a good sign, right? At least she wasn't angry.
Not that Hana would have expected her to be angry: they'd both been very clear on the whole situation being a fling, but...well, sometimes people could be awkward about these kinds of reunions.
Not to mention she had no idea what the situation had been like between her and Thrax.
"Well, uh, Gracia. Err, Captain Gracia," Hana corrected herself quickly. "It's...nice to see you again?"
Fuuuuuuuuck, this was awkward.
As far as Thrax knew, he had never given Gracia or any other woman before Hana the impression that he was interested in any kind of long-term relationship. He had even been accused, correctly, of being afraid of commitment on more than one occasion. But the few months spent with Gracia had been one of his longer, more memorable dalliances in the three years he spent wandering before meeting Hana.
"So... this awkward for anyone else, or is it just me?" Thrax joked desperately.
Gracia smirked. "Yes, Thrax. It's incredibly awkward. But it's also good to see some familiar faces."
"You, ah, you both look good. Happier, somehow; like there's less weighing you down," she added.
Hana shot a quick look at Thrax, briefly thinking of--well, just how much of that weight they'd been forced to deal with since meeting one another.
"Yeah." She smiled a bit. "I guess you could say something like that."
Clearing her throat, she looked quickly back to Gracia. "Listen, ah--we don't wanna cause any problems. If having us onboard would be...too weird, or whatever..."
Gracia shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I can deal with a little awkwardness if I can have a couple of passengers I know I can rely on."
"Reliable? Me? I didn't know I made such a good impression," Thrax answered, a little surprised.
She chuckled, smirking teasingly. "Well, it wasn't your looks I found attractive."
Thrax scoffed. He was damn good-looking. Just... mainly to gnolls.
Gracia continued to smirk as she turned her attention to Hana. "He still do that thing where he pretends he's a scoundrel and not soft and squishy on the inside?"
"Of course he does," Hana snorted, though with a very small, soft smile for Thrax that softened the teasing somewhat.
With a shrug, she chuckled and added, "To be fair, I do the same thing." She leaned back in her seat slightly and cocked her head. "So how long have you been a captain, Captain?"
Gracia's smirk widened. "Just over a year now. Why, you thinking' of coming back to nautical life?"
Hana chuckled again and shook her head. "No chance."
"Yeah, hells no," Thrax laughed. "Those three months with you on the Crab were about all the seafaring this landlubber can take. Pretty sure I got seasick the last time I sailed anywhere. I've kinda blocked it out.
He looked to Hana for confirmation.
Gracia laughed in return. "Yeah. You were starting to look pretty rough by the time you went back to roaming."
"If I remember correctly, the first thing out of your mouth when we made port was something about solid earth's comforting bosom," Hana confirmed wryly.
Across the table, Percy snorted behind his hand.
"How long is the trip to Essyrn, anyway?" the kitsune asked, looking back to the captain. "I don't know how fast your Adamant Lady can sail."
"With good weather?" Gracia tipped her head from side to side. "Maybe a month to reach the desert. You can hop ship and travel overland from there, but that's another three weeks at the least. It's near four months if you stick with us though, we dock three more times before we dip around and come up through the Tuor."
Thrax moaned. "Uuugh... I don't know what's worse, trekking across the burning desert or four months at sea."
Gracia laughed brightly. "Poor baby doesn't handle discomfort. Or, rather, when he does, he never let's you forget it."
"You make me sound like a spoiled housecat," Thrax responded defensively.
"Hey, you told me hyenas are more cat than dog," she teased.
"I'm sure we'll find a caravan somewhere, that'll make the crossing easier," Hana said, nudging Thrax lightly with her elbow. "If you spent that long in a boat, I'd be dragging you to Essyrn."
She flashed Gracia a quick grin and nodded in agreement with her. "You're telling me—don't get him started on the one time we had to sleep in a tree."
Thrax didn't like the direction the conversation was going. He could handle teasing, but two-on-one was hardly sporting. Arms crossed in mock indignation, he said, "Ganging up on me, huh? I see how it is."
Gracia chuckled. "Okay, okay, we'll ease off. You're just so fun to tease."
"So... How long have you two been a thing?" she asked.
He smiled and took Hana by the hand. "Little over a year now. Longer than anyone I've ever been with. And, for once, I don't plan on going anywhere."
Gracia's brows lifted in surprise. "Wait... You mean you aren't just each other's current bedwarmers?"
"Well, we—"
Hana glanced at Thrax, and the faint tinge of color that came into her cheeks probably said more than her voice ever could.
"We...were. For a while." She shrugged and laughed awkwardly. "Now we're not. It's...yeah."
She cleared her throat. "So! How've you been, Gracie?"
Oh, well done, a sarcastic inner voice noted. Very smooth.
Gracia smiled, not with little amusement at how adorably uncomfortable the pair was. "I'm doing very well for mysel, as you can see." She motioned to her fine clothes and jewelry. "Being a captain is so much more rewarding. And my ship? Well, you've got to see it for yourselves. It's far from the floating closet the Crab was."
Thrax grinned slightly. "I can't wait to see it. And if I can write a song about the Crab, I'm sure I can immortalize The Lady too."
Gracia snorted, blushing a little. "Oh Gods, I forgot about that. Please, please don't sing that for the crew."
"Oh, maybe not for the crew, but I have to hear that," Hana laughed. "That ship was...something else."
A thought occurred to her and she asked, turning to Thrax, "Hey, how long ago were you on the Crab?"
"About two years ago. I hadn't been on my own for very long, so it was nice to belong somewhere for a while." He was curious now about how close they had come to meeting earlier. "What about you?"
"Two years..." She did the math, letting her head baton from side to side. "Wow. I think I only missed you by about a month."
"A month and a half," Gracie corrected, before quirking an eyebrow. "You two do know you could have just asked me."
Hana laughed sheepishly. "Err, right. Sorry. We've...sorta been tackling things on our own for a while. Guess we've just...got in the habit of—"
"Forgetting other people exist?" The captain rolled her eyes, but there was a hint of teasing in her tone. More teasing than annoyance, anyway.
Thrax sheepishly rubbed his neck and chuckled. "Heh, yeah. I guess we are one of those couples."
He groaned. "Storm. The me from back then would be making fun of me so hard for that."
Gracia smirked, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "He most certainly would have. But he also had a lot of growing to do. This? This is a start."
"At this rate, you'll be a proper adult before you know it," she teased.
The bard's eyes widened in only slightly exaggerated horror. "No! Anything but that! Take it back!"
"Oh, don't say that," Hana complained in unison. "That means I have to grow up with him!"
Gracia rolled her eyes. "I swear to gods," she sighed, staring heavenward. "Maybe I won't take you after all."
"Graaaaciieeeeee," Hana wheedled, looking theatrically offended. "You're really gonna turn down paying passengers?"
"Besides, we're entertaining and you know it." Thrax grinned, laying on the boyish charm.
Gracia palmed her face as she chuckled ruefully. "Gods, you two are perfect for each other.. Okay, fine. I better not regret this."
The gnoll beamed. "Awesome. We'll make ourselves useful, promise."
"Extra promise!" Hana piped up cheerfully, with a cheeky grin. "C'mon, we'll even buy the first round," she offered, standing and giving Thrax a meaningful look and a quick nod toward the bar.
"I guess I can allow that," Gracia chuckled. "I'll take--"
"Bourbon, no ice." Hana smirked. "I remember."
Thrax excused himself and followed Hana to the bar.
"Well, that was a surprise," he chuckled quietly, smirking. "Can't say she doesn't have a type."
Hana groaned and folded her arms on the bar, flopping her head down onto them.
"I cannot believe this," she half-groaned, half-laughed.
"What? This is us we're talking about; we were bound to have sown our oats in the same field," he quipped with a snicker.
"I mean, sure, it's super awkward, but we needed a ship. We'll get over it."
"I know we'll get over it," Hana laughed, turning her head in her arms to smirk at him. "It's just—gods. Of course it happened to us, y'know?"
She gestured to get the bartenders attention and chuckled again, shaking her head. "The gods really must have a sense of humor, huh?"
The bartender--a rough-looking Serenian man wearing an eyepatch--moved down the bar to regard them with only the barest hint of suspicion directed towards Thrax. Thankfully, he had the sense not to say anything about it.
"And what can I get you folks?" he asked.
Thrax spoke up first. "Rum for me. Bourbon, no rocks for the lovely captain over there. Uhh..." He glanced back to Percy with the obvious question in his eyes.
"Just some ale for me," the first mate answered.
Thrax turned back to the bartender, who nodded. "And for the weirdo next to me, spiced whiskey. Because that's a thing that people apparently drink willingly."
"It's good, you ass," Hana laughed, shoving at his arm lightly. "Forgive me if not all of us are happy with whatever cheap ale-of-the-week is on offer."
She crinkled her nose at him and stuck her tongue out playfully, ignoring the way the bartender rolled his eyes at her.
"Hey!" Thrax countered with a chuckle, "I ordered the rum this time!"
"And I only order the cheap stuff when my sole objective is to get drunk. Besides, my first drink was Gnollish Moonshine out of an orc skull; everything is a step up from that," he added.
"Fair enough," Hana laughed, still lightly teasing but with the faint glitter to her eyes that always softened it. "That stuff probably serves better as an incendiary than a drink."
"I mean... other clans totally use it for that," he laughed boisterously.
The bartender distractedly prepared their order, obviously trying to figure out just how a nearly seven-foot gnoll and a five-foot beauty even fit together physically. Still, he was practiced enough to pour all the right beverages and hand them over without spilling a drop. He then told them the price.
Hana seemed not to notice the way the bartender watched them—though a couple other patrons saw his attention was caught and began peering around curiously to see what had him so enthralled.
"Cheers, mate." The kitsune grinned when their drinks were handed over. She flipped their coin across the bar and stood to move back to Percy and Gracia.
"Coming, love?" It was said casually over her shoulder in Thrax's direction, not meant to draw any particular attention except his, but the bartender muttered something vaguely disbelieving and shook his head.
"Always, babe," Thrax answered as he followed, carrying the rest of the drinks.
Gracia smirked at him as he put her bourbon down. "Methinks the barkeep can't believe a guy like you got a girl like Hana."
Thrax chuckled, smirking back as he shrugged. "What can I say? I'm charming."
"Methinks the barkeep should mind his business," Hana huffed with a roll of her eyes. She nudged Percy's drink toward him before taking a sip of her own. "So. When should we be on board? I know the Crab always shipped out at dawn; you holding to the tradition, Gracie?"
Gracia nodded. "There's no better way to get the most out of the day, much to a certain fuzzball's chagrin."
"I'm a gnoll, Gracie; we aren't morning people," Thrax said in his defense.
"Hey, you defy every other stereotype, so don't go blaming your blood for being a slug," she laughed.
Hana chuckled, and fell easily into the rhythm of light teasing and reminiscing as the group chattered away. They nearly managed to close down the tavern, until Percy pointed out that he and the captain needed to be checking on their ship's stocks before they set out, which was apparently a several-day process.
Hana waved, leaning back in her chair as she watched them go. She glanced up at Thrax and shook her head. "Well. Good to know being a captain hasn't sucked the fun out of her."
"I sense that Percy has the privilege of being the responsible one." Thrax smirked. "Keeping her on task, at least."
More wickedly, he asked, "How much you want to bet they're mixing business with pleasure? I know he's not exactly her type, but I'll be damned if I didn't sense something they weren't sharing."
"Oh definitively," Hana agreed with a laugh. "How much you wanna bet their whole crew knows and is just playing along at keeping it secret?"
She downed the last of her drink--she'd been nursing it through the evening--and laughed again. "We should find out who the second mate is--y'know they can perform marriages on a ship, but only if the marriage is between the captain and the first mate?"
Thrax laughed hard. "Oh, come off it. There's no way that's true!"
"And I thought we agreed ixnay on talk of arraigemay?" he added in a hushed tone.
"Not for us!" Hana laughed back, cheeks automatically coloring. "Grace and Percy! He is her first mate, yeah? Oh wait, shit, or is he the quartermaster?"
She frowned, but she was too tipsy by now to focus on it too hard.
"I think you can be both... right?" he asked, his unfinished third glass of rum finally pushing him over into drunkenness.
"Heh... I drunk I'm think..." he chuckled.
"We both are," Hana giggled, leaning into his side and grinning up at him.
Eyes suddenly glittering mischief, she bit her bottom lip and drunkenly "lowered" her voice. "Hey. You, ah, think they got rooms here...?"
Thrax grinned eagerly before something occurred to him. "We already paid for the--the inn. We should just go back..."
He stood up and had to catch himself on his chair when his balance failed. "Or maybe not... haha. That's some powerful rum."
"No, you're right." Hana nodded seriously. "We already paid for—for the inn. We should go...there."
She stood, a little wobbly herself, and tucked her body under his arm to serve as a crutch. "Onward!" she laughed, steering them to the door.
By the time they actually made it back to the inn where they were staying, Hana was too tired to do anything but flop into bed and curl herself up into the curve of Thrax's body, cooing happily at the warmth.
If the Hanako who had first known Gracia could have seen the positively domestic display, she would have been mortified.
Thrax curled around her, equally satisfied with just being next to her. His own past self would be flabbergasted by him not just eating the cost of a second inn in order to do some horizontal dancing. More still by the fact that he had fallen into the trap of love.
He, of course, thought none of this. The bard had fallen into a drunken sleep the instant they flopped into bed. But, hey, at least this drunken stair climb didn't end in a dragon attack.
Most inns in Arca had bits of enchantment in the rooms—a simple spell to help keep the floor clear of dust, perhaps a charm to prevent scratches on the walls, that kind of thing.
Just their luck that this particular inn had placed an enchantment on the room that mimicked the melodious sound of morning birdsong. Exactly at dawn.
Hana groaned a complaint and tried to wriggle her way under Thrax's body to escape the obnoxiously cheerful sound.
"I know that bird's fake, but if it doesn't shut up I will find it, cook it, and eat it."
Thrax groaned awake. "Nng... You'll have to fight me for it..." he grumbled unhappily, the sound not helping his hangover. However, it wasn't enough to make him move.
"What the hells time is it even..." he yawned.
"First light," Hana replied, voice muffled as she had managed to quite successfully burrow herself even further into the blankets in her effort to use Thrax as a blanket. "Or, as reasonable people call it: too fucking early."
The bird song faded after a few more moments, and she sighed in relief. But they were awake now, and her head was throbbing.
She groaned again, eyes clenched shut. "I hate last-night-me."
Thrax did nothing to dissuade his girlfriend from crawling under him. He didn't have the energy or motivation to move just yet.
"We did not drink enough for this shit," the bard groaned in complaint, rubbing his head. "We aren't old yet, damnit."
"I only had two!" Hana agreed emphatically, then winced as her head pounded in protest. "Fuck, I always forget how strong Serenian stock is. It never tastes that boozy."
The damned bird started up again.
Hana growled and poked her head out from under Thrax's arm to glare at the doorframe, where she was fairly sure the sound was coming from.
Muttering curses, she stuck one hand out and flicked her first three fingers. A small jet of blue flame darted across the room to strike the top right corner of the doorframe.
The bird stopped, replaced by a smoky-wood smell, and Hana sighed in satisfaction.
"Better."
"Much," Thrax agreed, her eyes still shut against the light of her foxfire.
He sighed, groaning. "But if they find out we broke their spellwork, you know they'll charge us for it if we stick around."
Hana grumbled. "Fuuuuck. Yeah. Guess you're right."
With a defeated groan, she finally rolled out from under his arm and sat up. She must have shifted to her half-way form at some point in the night, because her ears were vulpine and unevenly cocked in her rats' nest of hair as she blearily looked around.
"We should--" She yawned. "We should get our packs and head out. Professor said he should have some info on Stormsong today, yeah?"
Thrax smirked at her horrible case of bedhead. "Yeah." He snickered as he sat up with a stretch. "After you fix the unfinished wicker basket sitting on your head."
His fur was mercifully short enough that he never needed to do much to make it presentable. Though the somewhat longer mane-fur on top of his head sometimes did strange things, like the goofy swirl it had going on that morning.
"Oh yeah?" She quirked an eyebrow at him as she started combing her fingers through her hair. She could have just used an illusion, but that got tiring. Wasn't worth it. "And what about this?"
She reached over with her other hand to muss his mane, sticking her tongue out at him dramatically.
"Nothing a little water on the hand can't fix," Thrax said, playfully batting her hand away. "Storm, spit works in a pinch. But I'm not so much a slob as to do that unless I have to."
He said that, but she had seen him lick his palm and smooth his fuzz on more than one occasion when water was readily available. Because why walk ten feet when he doesn't have to.
"Uh-huh," Hana drawled, her expression making it clear she was thoroughly unconvinced. Her own hair sorted--mostly--she leaned over to kiss the top of his head. With him being so much taller than her, even on the bed she still had to go up on her knees to do it.
"Well, whatever you plan to do with it, do it quick." She nipped lightly at the edge of his ear as she pulled back and slid from the bed. "We should be out of her in the next quarter of an hour, if we can manage it."
"I see no reason we can't," Thrax answered as he dragged himself out of bed. He made quick work of straightening his clothes and quickly wet his hand with the room's water jug, running it over his short mane to fix his bedhead.
"All done," he said as he secured Stormsong on his back.
"C'mon then." Hana bumped the door open with her hip, bending to grab the packs they'd left just to the inside of it in the same motion.
She gave herself a little shake as she stepped over the threshold, and her ears and tail melted away into a fully human shape. She half turned to hold Thrax's pack out to him in a well-practiced gesture before heading for the stairs that led down into the main room of the inn.
When they eventually showed up to speak to Blackhoof, they found the professor behind a mound of books covering his reading desk. He was busily thumbing through the pages of a large historical volume embossed with the words "Reliquary Historia: Volume IV."
Looking up from the book, he smiled excitedly. "My, my, the journey you put me on has been fascinating. Your Stormsong has quite the colorful history."
Hana chuckled a bit at that, glancing up at Thrax. "Somehow I'm not surprised," she said with a lopsided grin. Looking back to Blackhoof, she asked, "Exactly...how colorful."
Meaning: Is there a chance we're gonna have to snatch this stolen artifact and run with it?
"Oh, nothing to do with anyone who might be around to take it back. The mage who crafted it is long since dead and has no known descendants," Blackhoof assured with a chuckle.
Thrax lit up. Blackhoof had done it. "You mean, you found out who made it?"
Blackhoof smiled. "Indeed. And possibly the identity of the bard who left it with your clan."
Hana whistled, impressed. "Shit, really? I mean—" She flushed, embarrassed, and hurried on in the hope they'd just ignore her "uncultured" mouth. "That's really impressive, Professor, thank you!"
"It was my pleasure, truly," Blackhoof responded. "I don't often find such an intriguing puzzle."
Thrax could hardly believe the professor found such information in three days. "Well? Don't keep us in suspense, Prof," he urged eagerly.
"Oh! Right." Blackhoof chuckled, getting down to business. "According to historical record, it was likely crafted by a mage-smith named Isyrion around four hundred and fifty years ago. He was a man obsessed with learning to weaponize the weather itself in hopes of carving out his own kingdom."
"He built himself a tower deep in the Thunderblacks, utilizing its constant storms to power his sorcerous creations. I believe the axe was the weapon of an automaton built to protect that tower."
"As such tales often go, a band of adventurers was dispatched to put a stop to the mad storm mage. Among them was the legendary bard, Ywain, who disappeared from the history books for years afterwards. If he was with your people, that would explain his brief disappearance from the public eye."
Thrax looked at Hana with boyish wonder. He wasn't well-versed in bardic history, being entirely self-taught in that regard, but there were several Ywain ballads in his repertoire. He had no idea that he had sung anything written by the Wanderer. He couldn't help but be in awe.
Hana bounced on her toes as they listened, a smile starting to spread across her face. While she didn't know all that much about bardic history, she knew Thrax would be loving the sheer spectacle of the story.
Sure enough, when she glanced up at him his eyes were sparkling. Her own grin widened and she reached over to squeeze his hand.
"That's...incredible. Thank you so much, Professor."
Thrax's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "That... is... so... epic..."
Blackhoof laughed. "Yes, I suppose it is. I'm glad you approve."
The horned man brought out a bundle of papers. "I had my scribe copy down all the relevant information on Isyrion to read at your leisure. As for Ywain, I recommend finding a copy of 'Ywain's Legacy' by Rhadamanthys. If the university library doesn't have a copy, try Eldwin's Books just off campus."
The bard regained some of his faculties and smiled. "Thank you so much. I... I never could have found this out on my own."
"We will! Thank you so much, ser." Hana beamed, feeling Thrax's excited energy like a current in the air. "Is there—I mean, if you ever need a favor, we'd be happy to help."
The professor smiled and nodded at her. "That's very kind, but truly, this is my job. And I enjoy it."
When the pair finally found themselves back in the halls, Thrax grinned happily like a kid after leaving a candy store.
"Ywain... The Wanderer's name was Ywain... and he stole Stormsong from an evil wizard... Storm..."
"I think your guess was closest," Hana teased, but her expression quickly slipped toward something more sincere. "So? How does it feel? To, y'know...know."
"Hah! I forgot all about that bet." His amusement transitioned to something more bittersweet. It was exciting to learn about where the instrument came from, but... his people were still gone. "It's great, really, but honestly, I feel like I should be happier. I'll never get to share it with my people, and that hurts."
"Oh, hun." The playfulness bled entirely from her expression, and she pressed closer against his side for a moment. "I'm sorry," she murmured. There was nothing she could say to make that part feel better--so she just let him know that she felt it, felt his hurt and wished she could fix it.
"What do you need?" she asked quietly. "To sit with it, or some distraction for a while?"
"Distraction. Definitely. I think... I think I could use a drink," Thrax answered, trying not to be sad. Which was why he needed a drink.
"Yeah." He nodded, smiling weakly. "I could use a tavern right about now."
"Okay, baby." She stretched up onto the very tips of her toes and tugged lightly at his hand so she could pull him down to kiss his cheek. Pulling back with a soft half-smile, she offered, "Let's go find someplace loud and cheap."
Arca wasn't her usual haunt these days, but she remembered enough to lead them down toward the dockyards, where quite a few "loud and cheap" taverns boasted their clientele spilling out into the streets.
The one they chose was definitely loud and, most certainly, cheap if the uncouth sorts milling about were any indication. It was a far cry from The Randy Peach, but he always felt at home among impolite company. His people were peaceful gnolls, but they were still gnolls.
Thrax sat at the bar and ordered the cheapest garbage ale he had ever seen. It tasted terrible and it was at least half water, but with how strong Serenian ale could be, that wasn't a bad thing. "Storm, that's horrible." He grimaced, but then he sighed contentedly. "It's perfect."
"Good," Hana laughed, lifting her own tankard to clank against his. Sometimes you just needed cheap ale and the loud chatter of a handful dozen tavern patrons to drown out everything else.
A bard had set up in the corner of the room, tuning a lap harp, and she winced as an out-of-tune string twanged surprisingly loudly. "Oh gods. Think they're gonna be there all night?"
Thrax's sensitive ears folded down as he cringed. "I sure hope not. If they sing like their instrument, I may have to intervene for the good of everyone."
He wasn't going to let bad music bring him down, even if it meant performing for free. Which, honestly, might be what he needed right then—to be the center of attention for a little while.
Ooohhhhhh she was going to regret this.
She was definitely going to regret this.
But gods all damnit, she loved the man. She could eat a little crow to keep him distracted, keep him happy.
With a smile, she stood and said, "I'll grab the next round," before heading to the bar. On her way she paused by the bard and leaned down to whisper to them. They grinned, nodded, and gave her a thumbs up.
When she returned to their table with two more drinks, the harp—thankfully much more in tune—struck up a jaunty and familiar melody: the bawdy tavern song she had once sung to drown out the charming effects of an enchanted music box.
Smiling lopsidedly, she placed their drinks on the table and reached for his hands, starting to sing and swaying slightly in invitation.
Thrax laughed as he let her pull him to his feet. With a grin, he started to join in on the song. His attention may have been divided, but he remembered the first time he ever heard her sing with fondness, despite the chaos—or perhaps because of the moment. And, of course, that he found her voice beautiful.
Slowly but surely, his funk was replaced by his usual joyous enthusiasm. The song was definitely better for it, having the full benefit of his natural charisma.
Hana's smiled widened as the weight she could practically see dragging at Thrax's shoulders seemed to lift. She gave his hands a little squeeze and pulled him closer, then released one hand to spin away and then back into his chest.
The bard played a little louder to match Thrax's rise in enthusiasm, and she laughed through half the chorus, not caring who was watching or listening.
Thrax picked her up for a spin, planting a kiss on her as he did so. Upon putting her back down, without caring who might see him being mushy, he smiled and said, "Storm, I love you."
Anyone who had a problem with it could choke on it.
Hana laughed as he whirled her around, the sound happily muffled into the kiss before he put her back on her feet. She beamed up at him and tugged him closer to loop his arm around her waist and reached up to rest her other hand on his shoulder.
"I love you, too," she murmured, smile softening at the edges.
The bard's harp trilled up a scale and she led them into another spin, passing perhaps a bit too close to one of the tables as they wove their way through.
Thrax's hip bumped a table, knocking over a drink.
"Hey! Watch it, ya mangy mutt!" growled a rather grouchy-looking man as he stood, his lap soaked in ale.
Thrax turned to look at him. "Sorry."
"Sorry?! No, you owe me a drink!" the man replied irritably.
"Alright, ser, easy," Hana said politely, easily slipping herself between Thrax and the stranger. She smiled, hands spread. "Of course, we'll replace the drink, sorry for the trouble."
The man huffed and looked her over. "Maybe you owe me two, fer ruining m'trousers."
She bit back a sigh, keeping her smile in place. "Alright, two. Fair enough?"
He looked her up and down again—this time in that evaluating way she was all too used to, that made her shoulders tense. She started to lean back into Thrax without thinking about what she was doing.
"Fair enough—or we scrap the drinks and you ditch the mutt." He nodded toward Thrax, smirking at her. She gritted her teeth. "That sounds fair, don't it? Not like his folk are picky about that sorta thing, yeah?"
Thrax narrowed his eyes. He did not like the way the creep was looking at the woman he loved. Say what you will about Thrax to his face, but don't you dare treat Hana like a commodity. That was too much.
"How about this instead? Forget the drinks and I'll forget you treating my girlfriend like a whore. Everybody wins."
"Oh, she's that sort?" the man raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening.
Catching on to where this was going, Hana quickly took Thrax's arm and muttered, "C'mon, let's find somewhere else to drink—"
"I mean, it's one thing to do the bit, but to buy into it? Gods, how much she charging you for that?"
Thrax saw red. That wasn't a comment he could let slide. And so, with a quick apologetic glance at Hana, he punched the asshole in the face.
The tavern fell silent. Then, someone came at Thrax with a sloppy, drunken haymaker. He reeled and came around with a joyful grin as he hit the attacker back.
There was no need for the apologetic look; while Hana preferred to talk her way out of situations, even she had a limit where just a straight-forward punch was warranted.
Thrax happened to beat her to it, and she had to try not to focus too much on how oddly satisfying it was. And a little bit of a turn-on, if she was honest.
She ducked low when the second man came at Thrax and popped up again at the gnoll's back to drive her elbow into the first man's gut as he'd rallied and had been trying to go for Thrax's blind spot.
The entire tavern erupted into sheer pandemonium as the fight spread. Punches were thrown, mugs were shattered, and even one person got bitten.
Thrax sidestepped a charging drunk and grabbed him by the shirt, tossing him into a nearby table. The gnoll laughed happily as he traded blows with that drunk's large, half-orc friend. This was a perfect evening.
Thankfully, the tavern had devolved into the kind of drunken chaos that frequently came with a proper barfight, so at least it wasn't the rest of the patronage ganging up on the gnoll and kitsune--it was more an "every man for himself" situation, save for a few scattered groups and couples who were covering each other's backs.
Although judging by how a magenta-haired woman had just turned on her partner who'd allowed a stray blow to sneak through, Hana didn't know how long that was going to last.
"Sorry, love!" she shouted as she suddenly spun and spider-monkeyed her way up Thrax's back to avoid a sloppy lunge from what she thought was the barkeep. She transformed quickly into a normal-sized fox so that she wasn't throwing off his balance, and snapped and snarled from her perch on his shoulder as she looked around to get the lay of the land.
"Door!" She gripped Thrax's ear lightly in her teeth and tugged to turn his head where she needed his attention. "Back door, straight shot! C'mon!" The probably only had a handful of seconds before the pitch and roll of the fight blocked the exit again.
"Ow! Hey! What are you--" As his gaze was directed at the exit, Thrax had a realization. "--oh. Oh!"
The big bard rushed ahead, roughly shouldering his way through the shrinking path. After what seemed to be a failed effort, the pair finally exploded into the alley. He shut the door behind them and started laughing.
"Hahaholy shit, that crowd was itching for a reason to throw down."
Hana leaped down from his shoulder once there was space, taking her preferred halfway form in midair to land lightly on the balls of her feet.
She turned to face him, laughing herself, and nodded. "Holy hells! I've never seen a room go from dead to chaos that fast."
Grinning, she reached up and dragged him down to kiss him firmly, only breaking away long enough to gasp a breath and murmur, "Thanks for defending my honor and all that." Then she was kissing him again, stumbling back against the alley wall and pulling him with her, her heart still racing from the adrenaline of the fight.
Thrax passionately leaned into the kiss, his own heart pumping hard. "Of course," he said when he came up for air, "Nobody talks to the love of my life that way."
The next time he came up for air, he realized that a filthy alley was no place to give in to what his body desperately wanted at that moment. "Maybe we should... mmpf... put a hold on this... until we don't have an audience of rats?"
Hana laughed and nodded. Panting lightly, she agreed, "Yeah...can't say I've ever been that much...of an exhibitionist..."
Grinning, she pecked his cheek before forcing herself to pull back--though she kept one hand in his as she led them back out of the alley.
"C'mon, it's late; if we wanna meet Gracia's ship at dawn, we should head down to the docks now." Besides, she was pretty sure there were a few places to stay dockside that were less-than-finicky about exactly how long their patrons wanted a room. She could think of a few ways to kill the time until they shipped out.
Some time later, after some walking around, they got a room for a few hours. The instant they closed the door, Thrax picked up where they left off in the alley. He pulled her into a passionate embrace and stumbled towards the bed, in that moment loving her more than ever.
Hana laughed again as she was once more swept up into his arms and they fell back onto the bed.
They didn't get all that much sleep before they were supposed to be heading out to meet the ship, but Hana found that she actually didn't mind.
Tucked under Thrax's arm, letting his body heat warm her without use of blankets, she smiled to herself and snuggled into his side.
Yeah, Gracie would probably call them out for being tired all day, but... Totally worth it, she decided.
The young blanket bard stirred with a yawn. "Uuugh... why am I awake already..."
Then he remembered. "Right... the ship."
Rolling over to snuggle against her, he sighed happily. "Last night was amazing."
"Mmmm..." Grinning sleepily, she hummed a happy agreement and cuddled a little closer. "You're amazing," she told him, dropping a quick kiss to the end of his nose.
Then she sighed and started to sit up. "But yeah. The ship. We should at least give ourselves time to get dressed before we head out." She huffed a half-laugh. "Gracia would never let us hear the end of it."
Thrax laughed as he slid out of bed to stretch his muscles—muscles not currently bound inside any clothing. "Yeah. I can already hear the jabs about our inability to keep it in our pants."
He looked around, frowning. "Speaking of... Where did I toss my pants last night?"
Hana propped herself up on her elbows as he got out of bed, not seeming much inclined to follow him. "Ahhh, somewhere over there?"
She gestured to the lefthand wall, head tilted with a faint smile and her tails swishing contentedly back and forth over the bed. "They might be under my tunic though--I think that was about the order of things."
"This some kind of ploy to give you a better look at my ass?" he smirked back at her as he stepped over to the pile of clothes. "Cause I hope it is."
Leaning over, he tossed her tunic back at her. "Yep. Here they are!" He picked up his trousers and slid them on with a couple comical hops for added leverage. Then he tossed over her pants.
"It is absolutely a ploy to look at your ass," Hana replied without an ounce of shame.
She laughed as she caught her tunic and shimmied into it. She managed to don her own pants with a little more grace—but just a little—then gave herself a little shake to help the fabric settle correctly on her body.
"We're coming up on dawn," she noted. "We should get moving."
Thrax smirked as he laced up the front of his bard shirt. "Gracie's going to be so surprised when we aren't late."
Miraculously, the pair actually did arrive at the gangplank on time. Gracia, on the dock managing the final preparations and not just waiting for them, looked up from her cargo manifest and blinked.
She barked a laugh and smiled crookedly. "Well, holy hells. You two actually made it. With your combined penchant for finding trouble, I half expected you to get yourselves arrested first."
"It was a near thing," Hana laughed and shrugged in response. "But what's a barfight between friends, eh?"
She came to a stop just at the edge of the gangplank and saluted theatrically. "Where do you need us, Cap'n?"
Gracia rolled her eyes. "Just get on board. We're underway inside the hour.
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Thrax responded, taking Hana by the hand as he started up the gangplank.
Gracia cupped her mouth to yell after them. "And don't get any bright ideas about making your lodging reek of sex before we even set sail."
"No promises!" he cackled.
"Yes promises!" Hana called back, also laughing, and shoved Thrax lightly. "Do you remember how tight quarters are on a ship?" she added to the gnoll pointedly. "Unless you're wanting to invite half the crew to join in, we should probably leave off for a bit."
"I know, I know," he chuckled, "I was joking."
No, he wasn't.
"Gracia will probably keep us so busy we won't have the energy anyway," he chuckled as they stepped onto the deck. This was going to be a long voyage.
"You absolutely were not," Hana laughed quietly—but pretty solidly without judgement. She didn't exactly have a leg to stand on, there. "Besides, I'm sure we'll have energy for some things..."
She winked before slipping ahead of him to make her way around to the ship's starboard rail, smiling and nodding to Gracia's crew.
Though none leered at the kitsune, there was plenty of admiration for her exotic beauty. Thrax, on the other hand, drew a few cautious glances, but they turned out to be about being able to stay out of the big bard's way. The gnoll was far from the only person on board whose race had earned a bad reputation among humans.
A young lad—twelve or thirteen—stopped before the pair with a jaunty salute, a gap-toothed smile, and a hat one size too big. "Welcome to the Adamant Lady. I'm Cole. The Cap'n told me to help you to your bunks."
"Well met, Cole." Hana smiled at the boy and nodded politely. "That's very nice of both you and the captain. We'll follow your lead, then."
Considering the diversity of the crew, she allowed the human shape that she'd been holding on the streets of the city to shift and shimmer into her preferred halfway form.
"I like the hat," Thrax said with his gap-toothed grin, having lost one upper fang.
Cole beamed. "Thanks, mister! Cap'n gave it to me."
The boy turned to lead them below decks, energetically filling them in on miscellaneous facts about the ship.
Thrax turned his head towards Hana, raising a brow as he mouthed with a smirk, mister?
Hana smirked crookedly and whispered, "Feeling old yet?"
The boy was a clear fountain of energy, and unfortunately their next-to-sleepless night was catching up with her.
Gods, she felt old.
"Compared to him, everyone here is old," Thrax whispered back with a smirk. No, he did not feel old. Though he, too, could use a nap already.
Cole led them to a set of reserved bunks that passed for passengers' quarters. It wasn't exactly private by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a place to sleep and keep their things.
"You're here. Cap'n apologizes for the lack of proper passengers' quarters. We don't get many travelers," he explained.
"Y'don't say," Hana chuckled, but with no malice. She nodded to the cabin boy and flicked him a copper piece. "Cheers. And tell the captain we appreciate the lift, we'll work where she needs us."
That had already been established in the original deal, but she figured it didn't hurt to stay on Gracia's good side. Quite apart from their previous history with the woman, she clearly ran a tight ship.
Once the boy hurried off and the couple was 'alone,' Thrax turned to his lady and smiled. "Nice kid. He actually reminds me of myself at that age," he chuckled as he put his pack under his claimed bottom bunk.
He realized that he had never really talked about his life as a child. While he had told her he had been bullied as the runt of the litter, he never opened up about the good times. He should change that.
"Oh?" Hana squeezed herself onto the bunk next to him. "What, chipper and eager to please? I more pictured you getting into trouble like it was a full-time job."
"Oh! No," Thrax laughed, "I was definitely a troublemaker."
"I meant more the chipper, excitable thing." Like he isn't still those things. "But I guess that's all children."
"Most children," Hana agreed. Crinkling her nose up, she added, "Not sure about those kits back in my mother's village--they were so quiet."
Of course, that was probably just due to their wariness of strangers. Still, when compared to the Longfang pack and their boisterous pups, it was certainly a stark contrast.
Thrax shuddered. "Storm, they were creepy, weren't they? Kids should not be that well-behaved."
"Little boys should be all scraped knees and missing teeth of their own doing. Hells, girls too, if your from a race like mine."
Could that be when he lost his fang?
"Or girls too in general, if they bloody well feel like it," Hana said pointedly, eyebrow arched. She nudged her shoulder against his arm lightly. "Although missing teeth might be a bit extreme for most folks--not everyone could keep up with you," she chuckled.
"Baby teeth!" he laughed.
"Okay, not in my case, but I wasn't a little kid when I lost it. So it totally doesn't count." The gnoll smirked, showing off the empty spot where a fang should be.
"Well how old were you then?" Hana asked, cocking her head and flicking one ear. "You've never actually told me what happened."
Thrax hesitated for a second before answering. "It was my first relationship after everything that happened with my clan. I didn't have any idea how to treat a woman who wasn't a gnoll—and I barely knew that."
Growing embarrassed, he continued, "I didn't mean to, but I gave her the wrong idea about what it was between us. When I tried to end it, her orcish temper took over and she went after me with a mace. If I had been any slower, I'd have lost more than a tooth."
"A mace," Hana repeated incredulously. "Fucking hells, Thrax, did she think you'd proposed?"
Thrax looked at her sheepishly and gave a nervous chuckle. "Apparently, in her culture, if you challenge a woman's betrothed to a fight and win... you become their betrothed."
"I didn't know! I just thought the guy was a jerk!" he protested.
Hana groaned dramatically and flopped back over the bunk--well, as much as she could, at least. "Alright, what are the chances that I'm going to be challenged by your slighted ex?" she asked the ceiling dryly.
"You should be fine as long as we stay away from Muwatsli. Sailing past it should be fine," Thrax answered hopefully. "They're fisherfolk, but they don't sail out far."
He rubbed his neck sheepishly. "And, well... Gracia knows about her, so we're safe."
"She does, does she?" Hana rolled onto her side, propping herself up on one elbow, and tipped her head with a curious flick of her left ear. "Just how close were you two, anyway?"
Thrax leaned back, looking up at the ceiling wistfully. "For a brief but beautiful moment, I could see myself as a brave and bold man of the sea, by her side through thick and thin."
He gave her a crooked smile. "But then the reality of ocean life and the pull of life as a traveling bard hit hard. We both agreed the life of a sailor would never make me happy, so we ended it before either of us got attached."
"Mmm." She scooched over to give him more room. "Not to mention you get seasick."
She smiled a bit and patted his arm before she sat up. "Well, no one could say you don't give it your all—whatever you're doing," she chuckled.
Thrax smirked playfully. "Does that go on the list of things you love about me? I think that should go on the list of things you love about me."
When you were the weakest in your village, you had to give everything your all if you wanted to prove you were a valuable member of the clan. He had been fortunate to have his mental talents noticed by the Stormsinger. From that day on, he wasn't bullied as a weakling but respected as the future spiritual leader of the clan. But he never stopped giving things his all. He might complain, but he didn't quit.
She laughed and shoved at his shoulder lightly, before sliding her hand up to the back of his neck and drawing him in to kiss the tip of his nose.
"It's flexible," she teased dryly. "Some days it is, some days it's on the list of things Thrax does that will probably get him killed and therefore cause me great anxiety."
She kissed him again quickly, then settled back with a small smile. "Well, I feel like I owe you a story now--not sure I have anything quite as bombastic, though."
"That's okay, as long as it's just as embarrassing." He smirked teasingly, but in all truth, he always wanted to know more about her.
He kissed the top of her head. "But I'll settle for anything I don't already know."
She chuckled quietly and snuggled in a little closer when he kissed her head. "Mmmm, I dunno about embarrassing exactly, but definitely weird--I never told you how I got my third tail, did I?"
Thrax put an arm around her and held her close. "No, you have not shared your experiences getting tail," he quipped with an amused grin.
"Well, that'[s a bald-faced lie," Hana laughed. "I at least told you about the half-mer girl."
She flicked her tails back and forth over the bunk behind her, trying to think of where to start. "Well...apparently, most of my kind are born with two or three. Just, y'know, by virtue of being what we are. They are." She shrugged. "Of course, I had a human dad, so I just had the one. Don't actually remember getting the second--Tobin said I was about four when he found me, and I already had two then, but when I saw those images of what happened to my family I just had the one..."
She trailed off, the implication settling a tad uncomfortably beneath her breastbone; kitsune "earned" their tails with growth in power or character--it was not out of the realm of possibility that the living through the trauma of her family's deaths was what had given her the second tail.
She gave herself a little shake and moved on quickly. "Anyway. Well, I was about...seventeen, I think? Still living with Tobin, but getting ready to head out on my own, and I had a sort of a thing going on with a boy in the city."
"Ooo, a city boy, lah dee da," he teased.
"When you say weird, do you mean funny weird or 'what in the hells just happened' weird?"
"Maybe a bit of both," Hana laughed. "See, his parents didn't exactly approve of me. So this one evening, they were supposed to be out, and we were, ah...fooling around." She cleared her throat. "But! His mum gets home early, and we both panicked, and I just sorta...threw up an illusion without really thinking about it."
She shrugged. "Turns out I made myself invisible--but not him. And I sorta, ah...bailed out the window. And left him to explain." She winced sheepishly. "Not my most gallant move, but hey! Apparently invisibility is a pretty advanced trick. When it wore off, I had a whole new tail."
Thrax laughed delightedly. "I can't say I've ever bailed out the window."
He gave a self-deprecating smirk. "Of course, I don't fit through most windows. I imagine I would have many times if I did. Certainly would have saved me from getting attacked by a few angry boyfriends and one husband."
Focus back on her, he asked, "Did you ever see him again?"
"Oh, yeah, just long enough for him to tell me I wasn't worth the trouble," Hana laughed, waving a hand dismissively. Arching an eyebrow, she added, "And please tell me you didn't know the woman in question was married."
Thrax put up his hands. "Oh, no, I had no idea! I made sure to check from then on. That's not what I'm about and that's trouble I don't need."
"I'm not that incorrigibly horny," he chuckled. "I made sure to check for signs of any kind of committed relationship, for that matter."
"I figured." She kissed his cheek before sitting up with a long stretch. "Gods. Alright, last night was fun, but that whole "not sleeping" thing is starting to catch up with me. How pissed you think Gracie will be if we try to grab some shut-eye?"
Thrax chuckled and shrugged his massive shoulders. "I mean, I doubt she's going to put us to work immediately. And we're no good to anyone exhausted."
"So, I say we go for it," he yawned wide, stretching his arms.
"Of course you do," Hana huffed, but she couldn't deny he had a point--and honestly, she was tired enough to risk the captain's ire.
"Wake me if we're sinking," she chuckled lightly, leaning down to drop a kiss between his ears before she slipped off the bed so she could scurry up into the top bunk.
"It's cute that you think I'll wake up first." He smirked as he flopped over on his bunk. Yawning, he added, "I'm going to be a fuzzy rock now."
"Wake up, you lazybones!" first mate Percy said loudly. "It's time to get to work!"
Hana yelped as she came awake with a start and nearly rolled out of the top bunk.
"Alright, alright!" She glowered in Percy's general direction, ears pinned back to her head to lessen the noise. "We're up, yeah? Where's Gra—the captain want us?"
Thrax snorted awake and sat up so fast it made his head spin. "Okay, okay! Storm. You don't need to shout," he complained.
Percy frowned, apparently not so friendly when he had a job to do. "You two were dead to the world. Believe me, the only other thing I hadn't tried yet was dousing you with seawater."
"Well, okay, thanks for not doing that," Thrax chuckled sheepishly.
Percy pointed to Hana. "Now that that's cleared up, I want you helping in the galley and your boy here up on deck where he can put that impressive physique to work."
"He is impressive, isn't he?" Hana smirked and swung down from her bunk, landing briefly on Thrax's just long enough to press a kiss to his cheek before she bounced properly to her feet. "Right away, mate, skipper, thingy," she said with another smirk and a quick salute in Percy's direction.
The sailor rolled his eyes. "Quartermaster. But "Ser" will do just fine."
"Yes, ser." Another jaunty little half salute, and she scurried off toward the galley.
[ Continued In (http://www.spiritsoftheearth.net/smf/index.php?topic=27374.0) ]