(Eliza and Kavyle!) A Day in the City

Rose took the cups to the kitchen with a hint of a smile on her face and didn't notice that one of her many daggers had fallen from her belt and onto the floor. Hydra sniffed at it and snorted. "That one's seen action recently. . .A little spooky if you ask me." Hydra didn't like bounty hunters for obvious reasons. "She killed some kind of large reptile it seems. The boots she's wearing smell like the dagger." She settled in next to Lykos and sighed.

The house was slightly warmer than she thought it would be, and noticed that the elf had a fire set up in the den. She opted to stay away from the fire and sniffed at one particular book on a lower shelf. It was full of letters and mementos: Hydra had unwittingly opened Rose's most prized possession. The sound of a plate hitting the ground startled the dragon and Rose was frozen in the doorway. It didn't stand to reason in Hydra's mind that Rose would be angry, but the fact remained that she was emotionally distressed.

Lykos nodded, eying the dagger for a moment. “But a job’s a job, I’m sure,” he whispered. “Maybe it was the best she could find.” Now that he was broken away from his book, he followed Hydra with his eyes until she sat back down. As soon as she did, his focus went right back to the volume in front of him, trying to find the word he had left off on. He found it to be at the end of the page and just flipped it to the next one.

When the plate hit the floor, his gaze shot up and his eyes widened in surprise. Not realizing that Hydra had pulled anything out, he stood up and grabbed hold of the table. His cane fell to the floor again. “Are you okay?” he asked, genuinely worried. He knelt down and picked up his cane before standing with it and hurrying over as fast as his crutch could carry him. Getting to his knees in front of Rose, the man began picking up shards of the plate, careful not to cut himself. He never quite noticed the look on the elf’s face, focused instead on getting rid of the hazards that lay threateningly across the floor. It might not have been his place or job to pick them up, but he was almost needlessly careful now.

She was knocked out of her trance and she immediately started picking up the pieces of the broken plate. "No, no, please. . .I'll take care of the plate, please just get that book away from Hydra. I'd rather she not destroy THAT particular book." She gave no rhyme or reason as to why, but she hoped her urgent tone would say it all. That book contained all her letters from her family back home and several things that they had sent to her.

Shakily she took the broken plate back to the kitchen and retrieved her dagger. "I'm sorry for startling you, Lykos." She offered no explanation for her odd behavior just sort of stayed in a slight daze. "Dinner's cooking it will be ready in about half an hour."

Hydra shrank back from Rose sort of fearfully. This was a total 180 from her behavior not 5 minutes ago. Perhaps there was more to this elf than just what could be seen.

Confused, Lykos stood up with his cane and set the broken pieces he’d picked up onto the table. He looked back at Hydra to make sure she put the book up, then back at Rose for any sort of explanation. None was given, of course, and he was left with curiosity. Why would merely picking up a book invoke such a reaction?

Lykos sighed and walked over to Hydra. While the elf was still in the kitchen, he pulled out the book and flipped through it carefully. When he couldn’t find anything particularly interesting about it –sans the loose papers – he tucked it back into its place safely. “I think it’s just some sort of diary,” he whispered to Hydra on his way back to the chair. Instead of sitting back down, however, he closed the nigh finished book and set it near the center of the table. Leaning precariously on his cane, he scanned through the titles of the remaining books. A few of the recently placed volumes seemed to be able to help him fix his knee while at least three of the first few books showed some promise in his other, more prominent problem.

“Hydra, have you found anything?” he asked, not expecting an affirmative reply.

Upon returning she gave a small idea as to what warranted her behavior. "I keep letters from my parents in it. I haven't seen them in a very long time." There, that was that! Now if only the subject could be left in peace, she'd be happy. She came and went another time or two fixing things up and then finally bringing out hot bowls of vegetable stew. "Dinner is served." After setting Hydra's bowl on the ground for her she sat at the table across from her guest.

"Have you found anything useful to your cause?" She sipped her soup lightly and jumped when Hydra sneezed. "Sorry." the dragon sniffled. "Pepper makes me sneeze." The elf returned her attention to her new employee and felt her ears twitch. "Tell me a little about yourself?" she inquired quietly. When she happened to glance down she noticed a chunk of ice on the floor, presumably from the little ice dragon having just sneezed.

Well, if that was all… thought Lykos. He sat down in the spot designated by the bowl and glanced down at Hydra for a moment. When he looked up again, he fixated his gaze on the stew. “Not yet, but I know this will take a lot of researching. Honestly, I don’t even expect to find the cure within this year.” His eyes darted back to the dragon when she sneezed, but just shrugged it off, opting instead to have a bit of the stew in front of him. The ice on the floor didn’t slip past his attention, however, and he had to hide a chuckle.

Lykos looked into Rose’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if she wanted a life story or just a random fact. Finally, he settled on, “I’m cursed,” since that worked as both.

The stew was good, at least. He even complimented Rose on it, though it was only a few seconds after his previous statement, so it seemed as though he was changing the subject. Well, he was, but not on purpose. It wasn’t uncomfortable or anything; he was just trying to be polite.

When he looked her dead in the eyes she nearly froze. "Oh, that's horrible." she replied with a bit of a frown. "Bless you." she said gently patting Hydra on the head. She looked away from Lykos nervously and finished her soup. "Care for a second helping?" It made her happy to know her cooking had improved since she left home. She pulled every book on curses that she had and set them on the table. "Every book to do with curses I own. Want me to help you research?" she asked.

She'd already pulled a book from the stack, she was just waiting for the OK. Hydra too had nudged a book off the table and started to look through it. It wasn't just that she felt bad for Lykos, but it was also that she thought he'd be genuinely happier if he looked more human. "I'll help too Lykos! You can count on that!"

The wolf wagged his tail a bit and smiled as best as he could. But when he noticed that it looked more like he was baring his teeth, he stopped and thanked them. Feeling more comfortable around the two, he pushed his hood back and opened up another volume.
As he read, his ears pushed back in concentration and he moved a clawed finger carefully along each line. Glasses were possibly the only thing that could add to his scholarly look.

After a few days, they were nearing the last of the books; the “unread” pile was diminishing while the books they’d already scanned through were strewn haphazardly across the table as it became more and more apparent that the cure would not be an easy one to find. On the bright side, however, Rose’s house was getting cleaner and cleaner the longer it took, and Lykos had discarded his hooded cape on the guest room floor.

One day – after about an hour of reading – he stood up and started gathering up the books on the table, only leaving the ones that they had yet to go through. Placing them in a neat pile on the ground in front of the bookcase, he began putting them back up in an agreeable order. Honestly, he was getting irritated at the lack of progress. But at the same time, he had known from the beginning that they weren’t going to find it. It was just disappointing to know that he had probably been right.

As he started putting the books away she sighed sadly. "I'm sorry that this didn't help." She didn't especially like the idea that her new friends might not stay around. She went over and helped put the books away, when she pulled out an old worn book and looked it over. "If you decide to stay around a little while longer, I recommend this one for entertainment."

Hydra had decided earlier on not to sleep in the house, and was quietly snoozing on the porch. "You are more than welcome to stay if you so choose." It wasn't something she said to people too often, but she honestly meant it. Not only was she benefiting from having company around and someone to clean her house, but she had also made someone very happy by helping them out. Hydra meandered in a short while later and sat by the stack of books watching them put the books away.

“I appreciate the offer,” Lykos began, pausing in his work and weighing the next few words carefully. He had also enjoyed the stay, and it had been nice to be in the company of others. Friends, even. When was the last time anyone had been willing to see past his unfortunate exterior?

He bit his tongue lightly to bring him back into the present. In his mind, he searched for the but statement, something to justify his leaving. Lykos knew he couldn’t just leave without reason. That would be… that would be… He didn’t even have a word for what it was; bad just didn’t cover it quite the way he wan – no, the way he needed it to. Why was he trying to convince himself to leave?

It took a bit to settle his mind, but he did eventually finish his sentence. “And I’d be more than happy to stay. That is, if you would be okay with it.”

Looking at Hydra, he hoped she’d stay, too. He would miss her otherwise.

Hydra nudged Lykos and sighed. "I can't stay here forever, but I can stay for a few days every now and then, if Rose will let me?" When the elf smiled and gave consent she just about froze her little patch of floor. "Yay!" It was nice to know that she had a bigger family than she thought. She definitely didn't feel quite so hollow anymore. Now if only she could thaw out Rose's floor where she'd frozen it. . .

Rose sort of laughed at Hydra's excitement spell. "I've gone from being completely alone in this giant house to having two friends living here." She finished putting away the rest of the books and pulled out a book on herbal remedies. "Since I apparently don't have anything to help your curse, think we can find something to help your ankles?" There were all sorts of ways to help people get stronger, it was just a matter of finding one that suited "him".

Lykos smiled a little when ice spread across the floor, though it had taken him a second to realize that it had been a spell and not… err, something else.

He nodded, then, when Rose mentioned the side-effect to his curse. “Though, if it helps us find the cure faster, it’s my knees that are bad, not my ankles.” The wolf-man wasn’t really sure if it would change the treatment needed, but he wanted to make certain that nothing went wrong. If nothing else, he wanted to be able to walk on his two legs without a cane.

Getting up from the floor, grasping his aforementioned crutch, he half-limped over to where the elf stood. He looked at the book she held, then back at the shelf. He started browsing through the different books, trying to find a related title and even pulling out the more vague volumes to skim through the inside. By the time he was through, six books were stacked neatly on top of each other.

“We don’t have to do this right now,” he said. “It’s a nice day.”

After watching her guest she figured he probably wanted to get out and do something rather than read all day like they'd been doing for a week or so. "I do keep a couple of horses behind the house if you want to go riding?" She didn't do much in the way of recreation so she didn't know exactly what he wanted to do outside. "I don't go out much other than for work, but if you want to go out and do something I'll be happy to go with you."

She remembered there was some sort of festival going on today. What was the theme again? Oh bother she couldn't remember! "Knees or ankles doesn't usually muck up a remedy for your joints, but thank you for clearing it up anyway. There's a festival of some kind going on today if you wanted to see what that's about?" she offered. "It's better than sitting around the house all day at least."

Lykos thought about her offer. Horses? He hadn’t ridden one in such a long time. But surely he could still remember how? But would it be different now? Would a horse even allow him on its back? What if it was afraid of him? What if it threw him off or kicked him? So many things could go wrong.

And then the idea of going on a festival… that would mean tons of people. However, it would still be fun, wouldn’t it? At least to see the activities? Maybe he’d even participate! Who knew, he might just enjoy himself.
With a nod, he replied, “Yeah, let’s do that. Let me just go put on my clothes.”

He walked to his room and tied the cape around his neck, not putting his hood up just yet. Placing his cane before him with each step, he was back in the main room within just a few seconds. “Ready?” he asked.

In the few seconds that Lykos was gone, she pondered dressing "normally" for once. In her case, that meant something other than black, brown, or dark colors similar to the aforementioned ones. Was it worth the trouble to make him wait for her to change? That was her real dilemma. She did take a moment though to change into something a bit less, for lack of a better word, drab. "I'll be right back."

She ran off and reappeared about five minutes later in a plain white shirt and a long light blue skirt and a cinch at her waist. Her serpent skin boots were good enough for any festival. "A day that's supposed to be entertaining demands a wardrobe change, yes? Ready to go when you are." It had been a VERY long time since she'd worn anything that wasn't 75% darkly colored, and this was about a good a time as any to try and act normal. Having a social life was going to be tough, but so long as nothing got out of control, what harm was there?

Lykos nodded with the closest he could come to a smile. “Yes, I suppose it does.” However, he made no move to go back to his room to change into nicer clothes. Nothing really fit him, anyway. Er, nothing good, mind you. And everything looked strange on him – or was it he that looked strange in them? More than likely the latter. He could pull off strange all on his own.

A few discussions and minor setbacks later (Were they going to ride the horses? Who needed to use the bathroom?), they had arrived in the main part of the city, where the festival was being held. Lykos had needed to cover his nose at first, due mostly to the overpowering aroma of food and the underpowered stench of people in general. It was like his first day in the city all over again, but nobody was in a hurry like the last time. Everyone lollygagged about, eating purchased treats and making small talk. Someone juggled long, colorful rods while vendors tried their best to catch the attention of the people around. Overall, it seemed like a great time to Lykos.

Rose for once had left all her weapons at home and tried to look happy. "I see this was the better suggestion, you're actually smiling, Lykos." Try as she might she couldn't feel like she was having fun. Overall she felt rather sad, for one reason or another. One being that she felt so awkward out among other people, two that she was out in the open with no weapons whatsoever, and three that she missed doing things like this with her family.

She felt like she should've stayed home and read books all day rather than coming out here to a festival that she had no idea about. It was apparently some sort of flower festival as there were petals everywhere. To make matters worse she was highly allergic to roses, rather ironic but also very sad as she thought they were a lovely addition to an otherwise bleak world. She resisted the urge to sneeze several times and glanced at Lykos. "I'm sorry I'm such a stick in the mud. I-I'm very awkward around people when it comes down to it."

With a subtle wag of his tail, Lykos remembered coming to a festival once. It was the first day of a month he had never thought held significance (to this day he still couldn’t remember which month it was); the air had started to get warmer and the trees regained the beautiful green they had worn the spring and summer before. Of course, he wasn’t technically supposed to have gone to the festival – and it was certainly not in Didienne! He had snuck off that afternoon to go see it. It had definitely been fun, and he had definitely been punished for it afterwards. It had been worth it.

Back in the present, the wolf man had to keep from making a face as he watched Rose hold back sneezes. He sincerely hoped she wouldn’t break out in any kind of rash. “It’s okay,” he said anyway. “Should we get away from all the flowers? You don’t look so well.”

He held out his clawed, furry hand to lead her off if she so chose to leave that area. Lykos was mostly sure that there was more to this festival than roses and other specially bred flora.

She sniffled a little from her runny nose caused by her allergy to roses. "I hate to say it but yes, I'm afraid we have to move away from them. Perhaps we should find something to eat?" When he offered his hand she didn't refuse it. "Thank you, Lykos." She began walking away from the massive amounts of flowers and looked at some of the artwork that was on display throughout the square. "It's amazing what talent people have."

She looked at her friend with a bit of a wider smile. "You have any special talents? I know you love reading, but do you have anything else you like? A favorite food perhaps?" He seemed to like the stew she made fairly well, but that wasn't something she cooked every day. In point of fact she usually ate lots of vegetables when she could get them fresh. Meat wasn't a very large part of her diet, but she did on occasion eat beef or chicken, never pork she plain didn't like the taste. As they got further from the flowers, Rose started to look less like she was getting sick and more like she was genuinely happy to be there.

“Yeah,” he replied, “It’s almost time to eat anyway.” He led her away from the rose petals and baskets of wildflowers, still holding her arm and not even the least bit self-conscious of his fur. Rose and Hydra made him feel accepted, despite his knowing that anyone else would be unnerved. When she brought up the talent people had, he nodded. “I’m a bit jealous, really.” He laid his ears back, not quite embarrassed but definitely not proud of anything. “No, I don’t have any real talents. I was lazy as a child, and I never wanted to do much of anything. Nothing important, at least…” Ah…. food, food… “I like pastries. Those are good. How about you? Talents? Favorite food?” His words came out in slightly awkward speeds.

Lykos was glad that Rose was looking better. It somehow didn’t seem fair for him to enjoy his time while she suffered. Though, he couldn’t really relate to her allergies, as he’d never had to go through any. So he assumed it was painful.

“Hey, look at that,” he said suddenly, pointing to a small tent. “What do you think is in there?”

"Knowing this is a festival, probably a fortune teller. I could be wrong though, it might be another art gallery." He mentioned talents and she almost laughed. "I don't consider most things I'm good at to be talents. Cooking I think is my only talent, and I like cream puffs, those are my all time favorite food. Mother and I used to make them every so often. I have the recipe at home, but I haven't made them in ages. Did you want to investigate the tent then, Lykos?"

Food could wait if curiosity got the better of them both. It was starting to get the better of her for sure, she wasn't so sure about her friend though. Perhaps after this outing they'd do a little grocery shopping and do some baking back at the house. Cream puffs, pastries, spring festival, it was perfect! She'd have to dig out the recipe though, and that was gonna be a needle in a haystack.

“Oh,” he replied. “If they are your favorite, then you should make them.” Lykos was more curious than anything now, just like Rose. He really just wanted to go into the tent, and when she asked if he did, he nodded calmly. “It’s worth a look around.”

He led the way to the opening, carefully navigating the somewhat rocky area with his cane and attempting to avoid stepping on the stones with his bare feet. The wolf looked back at the elf to be sure she was following and caught up before opening the tent flap itself.

Inside, a young man was hunched over some kind of cards that Lykos had never seen before. He was dressed in fine clothes; his trousers looked like it belonged to royalty while his shirt seemed to come from a wealthy merchant, he wore white gloves – perhaps from a butler? – and his eyes were a deep, captivating blue. He looked up when they entered, catching Lykos’s gaze with his own before latching onto Rose’s. Then he stood to greet them.

“Hello, Rose. Lykos. I was wondering when you would arrive.”

"You know us, why don't we know you?" she asked narrowing her eyes. This felt odd to her, she'd never met this person before and yet he knew both of them by name. Just her luck that she had no weapons in case this was a trap like the last time she got curious. "Who are you, fortune-teller?" With a glance at Lykos she eased up if only slightly. "From past experience most human fortune-tellers are not very good at their chosen trade."

Life still went on outside the enclosed space they stood in, that was a start at least. Coming in here was starting to feel like a very bad idea. Again trouble came up in the middle of everything. She sneezed again and sniffed a little as she looked around waiting for an answer. Her allergies had made her slightly cranky it seemed. After this little adventure was over it was home to make pastries, she decided.

With a friendly smile, the man bowed slightly to the both of them. “Perhaps I’m one of the few that actually know what I’m talking about, dear Rose,” he said, the corners of his lips moving to a teasing grin, knowing full well how he was portraying himself. The fortune teller stood straight and looked first into the eyes of Rose and then to Lykos.

Then, still skirting around the subject of his name - or any other questions, really - he asked of the wolf-man, “Are you still looking for a cure? It will take much longer than two years, you know.” As he spoke, the man moved his hands around. His right hand even once reached up to touch Lykos’s chin, much to Lykos’s dismay. The wolf-man quickly jerked away from the hand.

Lykos put his own hand on Rose’s shoulder to steady himself. Same as the elf, he was beginning to think that perhaps this had been a bad idea. He had honestly thought that it would be fun to mock afterwards, but this fortune teller was either real or an enemy. Or both, maybe.

"You WILL answer me fortune-teller." she remarked. She held herself still and tried to steady her friend. It was tricky balancing him with one shoulder while still staying in a defensive position. Needless to say it was tough not to say 'don't touch him', but she reminded herself that saying such a thing would likely give the wrong impression. If this guy so much as tried to shake her hand she'd deck him.

Her impatience was getting to her and soon she debated just helping her friend out the door. Likely she wouldn't get her answer, and if she got an answer at all it was likely as not to be a lie. Lying to Rose Axelheim meant quite a bit of trouble for anyone, especially if she was already in a bad mood. Never before had she been to see a fortune-teller, and today was the worst day to run into one in her book. "Well out with it, what's your name, boy?"