Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

Once he reached for the knob, it was thrust open, and a colored lizardman entered with a dead deer-like animal strapped to its back. The saurian was much smaller than a Kendian, and built much leaner.
The head was more lizard like and had a dorsal crest along the top of it bearing a bright blue color over the black hide and green speckles.

Two more came in behind the first, both different colors. All had striped tails and grunted with their hauls. The first with the deer, and the other two with strings of small mammals and birds.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo instinctively stumbles backwards, as to avoid having a door slammed into his face. The saurians that came walking out said door were of another species he hasn't seen before. He was a bit surprised to see that they weren't twice his size. Seeing that he's come to expect that out of everyone. But it was welcomed knowledge knowing he wasn't this worlds shortest person.

Once the saurians weren't in front of the door, he walked over, taking a glance outside to see if there was more stuff that needed to be hauled in.

 

[Da Doofus]

On the road was a wagon filled with barrels and cargo meant for other locations most likely, nets carrying more dead game hung from the sides.
The last of the crested Archos to enter looked Kairo up and down curiously, then joined the others.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo gives him a quick smile.
"Can I take some of that for you?"

 

[Da Doofus]

The reptilian glanced at him and hissed something in a fast-paced language, causing the others to turn their attentions to the human with curled lips.
They bared their teeth, and quills on their necks stood up in a threat display.

Cräga pounded a mug against the counter and barked something in the same language. The Archos ceased in their aggression and looked at the human with humbled expressions.
The one closest to Kairo coughed.

"S-s-s-sorry." It spoke, the English language clearly not his prioritized tongue. "Thought you pickpocket." He offered Kairo a string of dead rodent-like mammals. "Help appreciated.
Thank you."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo stood at his spot, dead silent, as the whole ordeal occurred. He had no clue what they were saying, but it sounded rather aggressive. It looked almost as if something would end up going down, if it wasn't for Cräga cutting in. The aggression was then seemingly replaced with an almost awkward silence. He was glad that he wouldn't be the one who had to restart the conversation.

"No worries." He said, pretending whatever that was didn't actually happen. Kairo grabbed the string of dead rodents with a bit of apprehension, before following them to wherever they were gonna drop off the stuff.

 

[Da Doofus]

They were lead to a back room that could be guessed as a butcher's work station.
Already there was a deer creature strung up with wounds across the neck that looked to have been bitten and snapped. A quick death caused by the jaws of a predator.

One of the crested hunters asked Cräga a question in their language.
The human answered with a gesture upstairs.

"Ahhhhh . . ." They all nodded in agreement with each other.
They all set down their kills and received payment from the owner in the form of simple metal coins and a bag of what could be guessed to be wheat or animal feed.

The Archos bid their thanks and vacated the inn with the drive of a job well done.
Cräga looked at Kairo.
"They asked me where the Starhide deer came from."

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo thinks back to the deer he saw in that back room.
“Yeah. That thing in the back looks crazy.” He said. “I’m surprised whatever killed it didn’t eat it.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"It was his trade for a room." She shrugged and glanced upward. "I follow the Kendian barter system to stay afloat, and so do a lot of travelers that come in here."

 

[Chai_T3a]

"Something like that must have earned him a pretty long stay then." He added, looking at the backdoor. "Just out of curiosity. He's the one who got the room beside me and Rufus's?"

 

[Da Doofus]

"Yes, that's his room." Cräga lead Kairo out of the back room and once more into the main lobby.
"He likes quiet, so please be courteous." She advised.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He nods, looking up the staircase, before back at Cräga. Even after having a conversation with her, the uneasiness from moments ago was still not planning on letting go.
"If it's makes you happy." He blurted without much thought. Immediately after the words came from his mouth though, he knew he'd probably regret saying that for a long time.

Mentally panicking. He tries to figure out a way to come back from it. He was already being a dumbass, he didn't need Cräga to think he was swooning over her as well.
"Uh fuck. Sorry, I meant if it makes HIM happy! Not you, but like. If it makes you happy then I guess its like an added bonus too?"

 

[Da Doofus]

She stared at him with her same blank expression.

"You might want to get some sleep while you can." She finally spoke. "I have a band of young Kendians that come here for dinner. So you won't be sleeping then." She concluded, and returned to her work. "Unless you WANT to help me gut tonights dinner . . ." She pulled out a knife and smirked at him.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Yeah. Um. Maybe I’ll pass on that.” He says, sounding rather dejected. “I haven’t gotten any rest the past few days.” He begins walking up the stairs. “I’ll see you later!”

Kairo walks up the stairs and back to his room. The moment the door was shut, he found himself on the wall, sliding down on the floor. “Stupid stupid stupid.” He berated himself. Never has he stumbled on his own words as bad as he did just a second ago. Maybe it was time for him to get some rest.

Getting off the floor, he lazily walked to his bed. Literally dropping onto it. Sleep didn’t come easy. Even if he was tired.

 

[Da Doofus]

What sleep that did grace Kairo was eventually brought to an end by the sounds of commotion downstairs.
The window in their room was dark, meaning it was night outside.
Rufus was no longer in his bed either, and the noises were a mixture of soft tunes of a song, voices loudly laughing and talking, and mugs hitting wooden surfaces.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The amount of sleep he got was nowhere near enough. And for a long time, he debated whether he should stay in the bed. The comfort kept him stuck to the mattress like glue, and if it wasn’t for the fact that his last meal was days ago, this wouldn’t have even been a decision.

Sadly though, his stomach was protesting. And the lively sound below did seem pretty welcoming. With an irritated groan, Kairo dragged himself out of bed. Slowly and tiredly lacing up his boots, he then goes out to main floor off the inn.

 

[Da Doofus]

Below, the crowd of Kendians, the smaller Archos, and even a few humans could be compared to a restaraunt in its busy hour.
The giant Kendians were drinking a foaming brew and were sharing stories in their native tongue, the smaller race of saurians were taking platters of meat and dried fruit and climbing the support beams to mounted balconies clearly intended for them.
The few humans stayed near the bar, probably to avoid the large bodied Kendians stomping about.
Rufus was among them.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The scene he saw in front of him was a far stretch from the quaint inn a few hours ago. A place this far flung having this many people seemed a bit out of the ordinary. Almost like the place was in a huge dining strip.

It wasn’t hard to find Rufus. The segregation of the different races made it real easy to find the man. Not to mention Rufus would have defaulted to the bar already. Kairo approached him, giving him a friendly slap on the back as he sat down to his left.
“What did I miss?”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Kairo! Good to see you." Rufus smiled, clearly feeling well-rested. "I was just talking around, seeing if there are some jobs in town for two traveling merchants." He winked.
"Got us some leads with the market I think."

 

[Chai_T3a]

“That didn’t take long at all.” He answered, sounding genuinely impressed. “And here I thought people didn’t trust humans.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Oh that's not a problem around here actually." He shrugged. "Apparently the whole town was built by humans a while back, Archos just came to live there later."

Upstairs, their neighboring door opened, and a figure of hooded burlap robes began slowly moving down the stairs. The being kept its sleeves folded into the body, and with all of the heavy layers of cloth, any detail on the wearer was near impossible to see.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“Oh huh.” His eyebrow perked. “Didn’t know that. I was helping Cräga’s suppliers bring in some stuff earlier today and they all seemed pretty cautious of me.”

 

[Da Doofus]

"Well . . ." He gestured to Kairo's dirty Noah jumpsuit. "You don't look local and if I saw you I would naturally be cautious of a stranger."

The robed figure stopped at the base of the stairs and looked in their direction before finding an isolated chair near a moonlit window.
Cräga was hard at work pouring drinks while other workers of the smaller Archos brought out platters of food.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He looked down at himself, quickly realizing what Rufus meant. The jumpsuit looked nothing like it’s formal self. The colours seemed rather dulled from the dirt caught up in the fabric, not to mention the fact that the amount of noticeable stains on the thing must have reached double digits. He definitely wasn’t impressing Cräga with something like that.

“Yeah. Remind me to get new clothes once we aren’t deathly broke.” He said, looking back at Rufus.

Well, at least he intended to look back at Rufus, in the corner of his eye, he noticed the hooded figure on the far side of the room. The way he dressed reminded him of Bom. And judging from the robe and the place he’d chosen to sit. This guy definitely seemed like he had something to hide. Kairo continued to look at the man, if only out of pure curiosity

 

[Da Doofus]

The robed stranger's head turned to Kairo, noticing his stare, and met it with stillness.
After staring back for a few moments, Cräga passed between their vision to set a platter of food on the table by the window.
She said something to the robed customer, and then nodded. If it weren't for the background noise, their conversation might've been overheard.
The ebony-haired woman returned to the bar with a glare at Kairo.

"Stop staring." She scolded, returning to her duties serving drinks.

Rufus glanced at Cräga, and then Kairo, noticing his friend's attention was not entirely on him. He made a brief glance at their neighbor by the window who was now knelt over a platter of meat and boiled leaves, scooping portions under his hood with mostly shrouded claws.

"Friend of yours?" The smuggler asked.