“I won’t. Thank you,” she replied, making her way towards the back.
Jumping a little as she began looking over her shoulder in order to locate the source of the voice, Kyrlahni was soon greeted by the sight of two of her fellow villagers, one from the region of Earth, and another clearly native to this one.
“Uh… sure, I guess,” she responded somewhat cautiously, touching the pouch containing the rock well out of sight beneath the purple fur. “I m-mean, yes, of course! I, uh… shouldn’t be long, but would you, by chance, like to retrieve your lost item first? In any event, I wouldn’t want to keep you both waiting, and would be perfectly willing to let you two jump ahead of me in line…”
Conversational subtlety wasn’t exactly her forte, so an extremely perceptive individual probably would’ve began questioning her motives. But for all intents and purposes, however, to the untrained eye, it was just another casual pleasantry.
IC: Tekan, Ko-koto inn (interior)
“Eh, you can come with us, it shouldn’t take long.” Tekan tells her. “I just need to convince him that it’s my scythe so he’ll give it back and then I can leave, no need to delay you by much.” As he had been speaking Karx had looked at her, quickly reopening his book and skimming through it before closing it and staring at her, nearly squirming in mild excitement as he appeared to want to say something.
“Oh! Uh, okay,” she said, somewhat distracted by the Ice Okotoran’s fidgeting. I’ll just, um, lead the way then…"
Given that Lord Hokku had explicitly stated not to talk to anyone else aside from the Chronicler about the impending mission, she did her best to hide her relative unease at the situation, despite the likelihood of Muvoso dismissing the pair before addressing any potentially sensitive information being quite high.
The Okotoran behind the desk seemed disgusted by the new pair, but figuring Muvoso would have a better punishment for them if they tried anything, he let the trio pass.
Inside the very tightly cramped room, Muvoso was glaring towards the now opened door, slipping a lightstone back into his bag and holding a slate in the other hand. The walls were lined with preserved and frozen foods, all awaiting the eventual day when they were needed. Other materials were hanging from the ceiling.
“Kyrlahni,” the Ga-Kotoran said, before motioning towards the duo accompanying her. “And these two are… uh…”
Trailing off sheepishly at the thought of never having made any proper introductions, she felt it best to simply give them the opportunity to respond in turn.
It wasn’t necessary. Muvoso groaned and immediately cut off the groan upon being able to discern the pair as his eyes adjusted.
“Look, I don’t have time to mess around with you right now.” He tried to keep his tone cheerful towards the pair. “If you want the scythe, you’ll need actual proof it’s yours, not ‘I own it’.”
He turned to face them with his hands on his hips, clearly impatient. All the happy bravado displayed earlier seemed to have been drowned out by overbearing matters. “Kyrlahni has something actually important to get to, so make it quick.”
“Tell me, what exactly do I have to do to show it’s mine?” Tekan growled out in irritation. “Defining marks or something? there might be some on there I could use but I don’t know if that’d be enough. Also my scythe is important! I did not spend as much time making it, carving it and went through what I did with it before finding this village to let some other, Okotoran take it from me, chronicler or not.” he hissed, Karx sighing in exasperation at Tekans actions, facepalming before saying in a much more professional tone than usual “I’m apologize for my compatriots actions, he is not the best at social interactions, his nearly self imposed exile from before the Skull spiders took over and the later years he spent surviving alone before arriving at our village did not help him in that area. I am Karx, self declared chronicler of my own definition, and Tekan’s business associate/job finder and anything else related with that. Now then to put our question in better terms than Tekan used,” Tekan huffed grumpily at hearing this, crossing his arms in irritation but saying nothing.“Can you please tell me of any of the ways we can prove Tekan’s ownership of this scythe or at least what will be necessary to get it back?” He said, extending his prosthetic hand in greeting.
“Yes, you can wait until I report back to Lord Hokku and Lord Velmes about the occurrence, have them determine what should be done about it, and then decide if they have the time to waste with being involved with someone who clearly doesn’t know how to spell respect.” He huffed at them, ignoring the extended hand. “On second thought, I have a better idea.”
He quickly scrawled out the name Tekan on a separate slate he had before slipping it into his pouch. “I have my eyes on you,” he tossed the scythe at the pair, neatly landing at their feet. “cause any more trouble like you did in the other room and you won’t get the scythe back. Oh, and I better not hear anyone else wanting that scythe either.”
He motioned towards the open door, expecting a final retort from the clumsy duo.
IC: Tekan, ko-koto inn (interior
“Thank you.” Karx replied politely, not seeming surprised when Muvoso ignored the handshake.
“I didn’t plan on it this time and I don’t hope for it to happen again. Also, I show respect to those who deserve it, maybe you do, maybe you don’t I haven’t known you long enough to tell.” Tekan growled out, picking up his scythe. “Some days I wonder if I should’ve just stayed out there with the spiders.” he grumbled, starting to leave.
“Give us a call if you need any type of physical labor done, Tekan’ll do it for a reasonable price, from body-guarding to message/object carrying, I’d give you a card but I douby you want one. Goodbye Muvoso and Kyrlahni, good to finally meet either of you, you look as my sources said, to be expected.” Karx said cheerfully, turning around to follow Tekan as he pulled out a book (whatever they use) and starting to scrawl/erase in it.
IC: Klackk realized the futility of chucking snowballs at his foes, and responded to this earth shattering realization by throwing more snowballs at Waster. “Just Leave me be!” He yelled.
IC: Klackk continued running into the forest. His opponent was clearly a dedicated individual who would not be easily dissuaded. “Indeed I am, that still doesn’t mean that I have to fight you or give up!”
IC: “That sounds dumb.” Klackk yelled in a deadpan voice," I mean. Seriously, don’t you have other commitments and junk? "
He would have continued, but Klackk had reached the beginning of a large crevice, and began, with the skill of a drunken pirate, began to descend into the crack.
IC: “Justice is my only commitment…! Outside of merchant business, that is. But I´m done for today!”
Waster then realized Klackk had fallen into the crevice. As to not risk himself, he decided to go back to the inn and tell the guards of the fleeing thief to get some backup.
“B-bye,” Kyrlahni stammered, slightly relieved that their issue had wrapped itself up rather quickly.
Watching on as the duo eventually departed the room, she reached out to shut the door a few seconds later when she could no longer see them, secretly hoping that the gesture was enough to ensure their privacy.
“So, uh, onto the task at hand, I suppose?,” she asked, finally turning back towards Muvoso and producing the stone, mostly in an effort to convince both herself and The Chronicler that it, in fact, still remained in her possession.
Muvoso glared sharply at the pair until Kyrlahni closed the door, upon which he finally pulled the lightstone back out as his eyes began to readjust to the darker setting. When he was finally able to discern the odd chunk of engraved rock, his expressions drew out for a second into a vicious look of confusion at the piece, but immediately settled into a pleasant, tired smile as he looked up at his guest.
“My apologies, I thought for a moment you might have stolen it.” He gently took the rock from her hand and studied it with his fingertips before returning it after a second or so. “I was told you might have some questions for me regarding… Everything.”
“Stupid high-ranking Okotan, thinks he’s so much better than us becuase he’s the chronicler. Making me prove its my scythe, threatening me because someone stole my scythe and I tried to get it back.” Tekan grumbled as he and Karx left the inn, his cloak wrapped around him. “Karzahni take them all.” “Oh come on Tekan, don’t be like that. From what I’ve heard it’s not all his fault, he’s like that to everyone.” Karx said cheerfully in an attempt to calm him down, at least a bit.
“Yeah, yeah, still can’t believe he was chosen over you.” Tekan huffed. “Can you blame em though? If anything it’s for the best, there’s no way I’d be as serious as him.” Karx said, chuckling in embarrassment. “Besides, if they had I’d never have met you or found my love of rumours! If anything the mask makers probably saw I’d find a better path if they didn’t choose me.” “Pfft as if.” Tekan scoffed. “If anything it was random or they just didn’t like how you looked. Don’t know what they missed out on either.” Tekan said as he reached over and gave Karx a small pat on the head.
“Now them, we going to your house or what? I can bet you want some help fixing up the damage.” He said, cutting Karx off before he could respond to his last statement, a look of surprise flashing across Karx’s face.
“W-what? What damage?” “Really?” Tekan said, raising an eyebrow as he looked over at the nervously chuckling Karx. “One, you usually do some kind of experiment the day before now and two, I heard a couple Okotan conversing about strange explosions and lights coming from one of the houses near theirs and it’s not to hard to guess which they were talking about.” Tekan stated, Karx still chuckling. "Now come on, you’re house won’t fix itself.
“That would’ve been quite the accomplishment, considering that I was less than three feet away from Lord Hokku, and Velmes was watching me like a hawk,” she said, trying to lighten up the mood a little. “You give me far too much credit.”
Pausing briefly, the Ga-Kotoran quickly decided that it would be best just to get right back down to business.
“But yeah, aside from deciphering this mystery text and looking out for some special metal while I’m up there, they weren’t exactly very forthcoming about much else in the way of details. Understandable, though, considering today’s… earlier events.”
Her thoughts briefly drifted back towards her encounter with the thief in the street as she spoke, only for her to forcefully push them aside as she snapped back into reality.