29906554 - Tumblr blog

29906554 · 2 years ago

Text

Broken Bloodlines Chapter 1

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone! Arc two will now be gradually uploaded (im thinking every saturday but if someone has a better suggestion im all ears) also the chapters for arc two will be shorter for ease of reading.

(i know the general attention span of people has gone down cuz Internet)

this Story contains Vore, Dont like dont read. (not in this chapter but in future ones)

have fun reading!

and as always reblogs are appreciated! (Also ASK's are open so feel free to bother me!)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What? What did he just say?

I was looking at the man that had just titled himself my brother,

older brother to be exact.

That couldn't be, could it?

He was a full Blooded elf so technically it could be.

After all, I had no idea what my elven father did before he met my mother and subsequently ditching her.

And looking at him I could see the resemblance, he looked like a colorless and stretched out version of me, including that one stubborn strand of hair that would not leave from my forehead.

Though the rest of his hair was a lot longer than mine

But the fact that he was older likely meant that not only was I a Bastard but also the result of adultery.

Fuck.

And on top of that i had no idea what to do now, sure he was apparently my brother but i had absolutely no idea how to act.

He was essentially a stranger to me, but at least it didn't seem like he meant harm as he had not brought any weapons with him.

I was struck with the realization that had he done this just a month or so earlier he would have been executed by the old king.

Still, if he'd known about me, why was he here now? And not sooner?

“I- so wait, if you knew about me why did you only come to see me now?

Why not sooner? And why at all?

You could just have continued to ignore me like you did till now”

He had stopped smiling, but his face still looked like porcelain and kind of unreal.

Maybe that was just an elf trait?

I'd do my best to ignore the uncanniness of it.

He blinked before answering in the same melodic but kinda monotone voice.

“I did not know about you until recently as my mother told me the things our father did while she was on her deathbed”

Oh, so it had been a dirty little secret until the cheated on elven woman decided to come clean before moving on from this world.

Though there was no emotion in his voice when he mentioned his mother dying.

Strange guy, but I would give him a chance.

I had no idea about elven culture after all,

So that might be normal for him?

“What else did he do? Don't tell me we have more siblings”

He shook his head slowly and elegantly.

“He died five years ago before he could sire anymore children”

Oh, so both of his parents were dead, well both of mine were dead too since my mother had been dead for years, but frankly i did not give a fuck about a man i had never met and who decided to ditch my mom.

Then I realized something.

“Wait what's your name? You haven't mentioned it and you know mine so it's only fair if you tell me what to call you”

He seemed slightly surprised for a split second and I was almost sure I had imagined it as his face was as unmoving as ever.

“You can call me Fable, pleased to meet you Brother”

He did a little bow at the end of his sentence that I would attribute to elven culture too but to me it seemed quite unnecessary.

Also Fable surely was not his real name.

I knew Fae folk used aliases a lot as their names held power or whatever, but if he wanted to be called Fable I'd call him that.

Not that i had anything else to call him anyway,

and the alias did kinda suit him.

“Fable it is then, sounds nice, soo uh, what do you want to do now?

I could show you the Garden? If you want?”

Yeah, this was awkward, but showing him the garden was something simple and maybe we'd get to talk a bit more, somewhere were there werent that many people around, maybe get to know the guy a bit more than this weird introduction.

He didn't react much other than a soft nod, so I led him to the door.

Only to almost walk into Rikaad.

“Oh, hey Rikaad, how are you?”

He looked from me to Fable and back.

“I see you met the man that was asking about you”

I nodded and Fable just stood there looking at him,

I had to tell him that staring at people was considered weird at best and downright rude and creepy at worst.

“I- yeah, this is Fable, apparently he's my half brother”

Rikaad looked to Fable, having to tilt his head up a little at the taller man which he definitely wasn't used to, and then back at me.

“I can kinda see it now that you are standing next to each other,

but I have to say I was very surprised as an Elf walked in,

especially with the…history of this Kingdom.

But i'm glad that that is in the past now, so you two have fun, i have to read some letters Maringand sent”

Letters from maringand?

I really hoped they did not recognize him from the tower incident.

Eh, surely just bureaucratic nonsense containing congratulations on his new kingship.

“Probably just some paper stuff about you being king now, though i have no idea why Royalty is so obsessed with that”

He shook his head a little.

“Wish i knew, i for sure do not like it, and it wastes so much paper that it just takes up way too much space.

Well, i'll be off then, you make sure not to wander too far from the castle,

i still haven't found the paperwork about the Fae ban and i don't want anything to happen to you”

With those words he walked off to what either was his study room or what it was named or wherever they kept the mail.

I turned back to Fable.

“Did you see anything that interests you on your way here?

We could check that out first if you want?”

He just looked at me for a few seconds before responding.

“I did not see much aside from the plants, i came in through what i assume is the main door and the walk to the castle itself was rather short”

Right, the main door was maybe a hundred meters away from the castle, so what else could I show him?

Man this was not going well thus far.

Oh, I could show him my favorite rock, I liked to just hang out there after all!

Or was that weird?

If he thought it was weird I might be able to pass it off as human culture.

Or maybe I could just tell him it was my preferred place as a lookout at, Well, nothing really.

Yeah, I'd do that, and maybe I could ask him a bit more about Ardua, He was the Elven side of the family after all.

But what if he thought I was an idiot for not knowing stuff?

Maybe I'd try to finally talk to Oakley about it first.

I really did not want to be seen as an idiot not even an hour into meeting him, I'd ask Oakley first for sure.

I also noticed that while we had walked a bit around the castle Fable had not once spoken of his own volition other than when he greeted me.

Maybe he thought it would somehow be rude? I didn't know much about elven culture so maybe the host always had to speak first?

Aside from that, he seemed a bit…vacant, to say the least,

but not in the way Robin was, more like an empty vessel.

Fable was just there and not interacting with anything around him unless he had to or was told to.

He wasn't even reacting to the cat purposefully walking in his path, he just stepped over her and she seemed annoyed enough to slink off into the garden again.

Now while I had no idea what Elves were like I had to admit that this was.. Odd, very odd.

Or maybe it was somehow not allowed to interact with another person's pet? Was that rude for Elves?

Maybe he'd just read about human culture and responded how he thought he was supposed to?

It would explain why he was so weird, and the staring thing.

I'd have to tell him that people were unnerved by that.

Maybe some smalltalk would get him to open up a little?

Even if I hated smalltalk.

“So you said you are my older brother, how old are you then?”

He turned to face me while not breaking his gait whatsoever.

“I am currently twenty-one, and you are as i have been told eighteen, Is that correct?”

Finally he asked an actual question.

“Yes, im eighteen, as are half of my friends, I'll introduce you to them later, after i showed you around a little”

I’d title the rock as my favorite lookout, I had no idea if titling it as my preferred sunspot would sound weird or not.

Well, he had to know about Ardua so it might not be? Whatever the case, I did not want to look like more of an idiot than I already was.

Lookout it was then.

And we had already reached it,

I'd better warn Fable about the ledge though.

“Well, this is one of my favorite places at the castle, the boulder over there makes for a nice lookout and the stone itself has no jagged edges so you can sit on it without having to worry about getting cut.

You do have to be careful about the edge of the cliff though, it's not a hundred percent stable everywhere so keeping a few meters away might save you from falling down”

He still just stood next to me, but I could see he was looking all over the place, likely taking in the scenery.

Still, his face did not change, which was weird but maybe elves had different facial cues?

Then he spoke again, albeit still a little monotone.

“It is a pretty place, the rock looks worn down from years of humans walking over it and you can see very far out from here”

He was now looking over the edge of the cliff which was still a good few meters away, I now had to show him that the rock was safe to stand on as long as it wasn't wet.

“Yeah, you can see even further by standing on the rock itself, don't worry it's really sturdy, you just have to make sure you don't slip, come on i'll show you”

I walked up the rock and beckoned him to follow which he did.

Standing at the top of the boulder one could see really far away, And really far down too.

Id have to ask someone how tall it was exactly, surely SOMEone had measured that before.

There was a light breeze blowing, but it was so weak that there was no danger of suddenly getting swept off by it.

“What do you think Fable? Isn't this beautiful?

Can you see anything cool?”

He walked up next to me and looked far out, likely looking for something of interest, without shielding his eyes from the sun which was a bad idea so I'd make sure to get him to a more shadowy spot after this.

He answered my question, just as monotone as ever.

“I can see a fleet of boats, they have blue and gray flags on their mast’s”

I looked wherever Fable was looking and he was right, Some maringand ships, big ones too, all lined up in a nice row while sailing along the coast.

“Those are Maringand ships, Maringand is the neighboring kingdom, no idea what they are doing though”

They were in some sort of formation, maybe a sailing exercise?

“Whatever, not our Problem, what do you wanna do next?”

I'd like to get him out of the sun, he was a pale person so he'd definitely get sunburn if he stayed out of the shade too long.

“I do not know what else there is to see, i do not know the area”

Right, he'd never been here before.

How would he know where anything was? That was really stupid of me.

I'd just show him uhh, Oakleys tower!

Yes, that was in a more shadowy area too so he wouldn't get sunburn!

“I could show you Oakleys tower?

Oakley is a friend of mine albeit a weird one, very weird, but he's an okay guy if a bit silly and annoying at times”

I waved at him to follow and hopped off the rock back onto the grass.

Oh wait Oakley wasn't human either, id better mention that.

“Oakley isn't human, he’s, well i don't know what its called but he has birdlike legs and his arms are wings with a few fingers and a thumb”

Fable just stared at me as expressionless as he'd been since I saw him first like half an hour ago.

“With Wings and Bird Legs he might be a Harpy”

Harpy? I was pretty sure I heard that before, but I thought they had Feathers or something?

Maybe Oakley was also a Bastard and just didn't wanna tell anyone?

I wasn't about to pry though, He'd helped me too much as that I would invade his privacy like that.

“Well, maybe? I haven't asked him because i thought it was rude, and i've known for a few weeks now so it would just be awkward”

Continuing to walk through the denser trees I noticed Fable had to duck a lot more than I did, well he was taller by like a head.

“Hey, how tall are you anyway? It's something over six feet right?”

Asking for his height surely wasn't considered rude was it? I hoped not.

“I am six foot four exactly”

Was that tall for an elf? I wouldn't ask that though, I didn't want to be seen as more of an idiot than I was.

“Huh, i'm just five ten, well most of the time”

He seemed confused about the last part and I noticed he did not have an Ardua Bracelet, well Oakley had said they were rare and maybe he didn't know that this was one?

It was possible that they didn't all have the same design after all.

“Il show you what i mean later, here isn't enough space, and i want to show you around the Castle first anyway”

He gave a tiny nod and I shoved one of the bushes a bit to the side to reveal that we had reached Oakleys tower.

The askew building had seen better times but also a lot worse ones.

Oakley really managed to make that dusty hull livable again,

and he also put a hammock into the old Oak Tree.

It looked a lot nicer than before and I wondered how long it would take him to finish putting his stuff away.

“Donovan!”

I looked at the source of the voice and saw Robin sitting on the ground next to the herbs he had planted.

Right, he'd been busy with this while I went to the castle.

The cat was also there and Robin was using a long leaf of grass to play with her.

Robin didn't know that the pale elf next to me was my brother though, I'd better tell him before he heard it from someone else and got confused.

“Hey Robin! Come here for a sec, i want you to meet Fable”

He tilted his head in confusion and the cat snatched the blade of grass away from him.

He stood up and patted the dirt off of him while me and Fable walked fully into the little clearing that surrounded the tower.

“So this is Fable-”

I pointed at the elf.

“-and uhh turns out he's my half brother?”

Robin looked confusedly between both of us for a few seconds.

“i can kinda see that, you both got the hair thingy”

He motioned to his forehead and I knew exactly what he was speaking of.

He stepped in front of Fable who was almost comically taller than him.

“Are you okay? You are very pale”

Oh, Robin probably had never seen an Albino before, fuck.

I hoped Fable wouldn't take offense to it.

“Robin he's Albino, Pale is normal in that case”

He still seemed a bit confused.

“What's an Albino?”

He didn't even know what an Albino was in the first place,

I couldn't help but put my hand over my face at this.

“Albinism is just when the body does not make pigments, you know the stuff responsible for hair and skin color, that doesn't work in an Albino”

Now he seemed to get it, but i couldn't blame him, barely anyone knew what an Albino was as they were really rare.

He turned to Fable with a rather miserable expression.

“Sorry, i didn't know, didn't wanna be rude”

Fable just stared at him for a bit before he answered.

“No offense taken”

Phew, I only now noticed how tense I had gotten, and that I wouldn't have known what to do if they didn't get along.

Well, it seemed they did as Robin dragged the cat over and presented her to Fable.

“This is the cat that keeps walking around here, i like her, she's nice and fluffy”

Fable just stared at the Feline, did they not have cats wherever the Elves lived? Well as far as i knew Humans had been the ones to domesticate the little tigers.

And to the Cats credit she didn't seem to mind that Robin held her like a wet Towel which left her legs dangling over nothing.

“Mrow?”

Fable face was as unmoving as ever if slightly confused, Maybe Elves really did not have cats like this.

“You can pet her if you want, here like this”

I stretched my arm out and brushed it over the cat's head which caused her to purr.

Fable still didn't do anything, so I decided to be bold and took his arm and put his hand over the cat.

Now he seemed to get it and his slender fingers gently brushed between the cat's ears.

“She is soft”

Robin beamed at that and I couldn't help but smile at it even if Fable's expression was as neutral as ever.

Maybe he just wasn't a very expressive guy.

The cat put one of her paws up and repeatedly bapped at Fable's hand, as if trying to tug it closer, who in turn stopped and withdrew his hand.

“Mrew”

“I think she likes you!”

Robin held her a bit higher and the cat started twisting around to face him only to jump out of his hands and use her claws to climb over him and jump into the next tree.

“No wait, where are you going?”

Welp, cats will be cats, and maybe she was sour about Fable stopping to pet her.

“She’ll come back later, she always does, maybe she saw a bird or something”

He nodded and then turned back and excitedly pointed at the little Herb garden.

“Oh I got done with the plants! I put them so that they wouldn't obstruct anything! Do you think Oakley will like it?”

I looked at the stone enclosed patch under one of the windows of the tower.

He had arranged it really pretty, plants growing in between the freshly raked dirt and smelling of a variety of herbs I could only half identify.

I did recognize Parsley sage and thyme though and some rosemary too.

It looked really well done all in all, whatever Barsen was showing him when he had the time really paid off.

“I think he'll love it, hell, I love it, it looks very well made!”

Fable looked over to me for a second before he too took a look at what Robin had done.

“It does seem expertly made”

Was all he said but there really was no need for more words when that already was point on.

“What is expertly made?”

A voice came from above and I looked up to see the familiar winged form of Oakley perched on one of the trees.

He'd come back, and brought a big bundle of stuff with him that hung from a tree branch next to him.

That probably wasn't all of it, but surely the most important stuff for now.

“Oakley! Hey! Look, Robin made you a little herb garden!”

He dropped down from his perch and landed on his feet with practiced ease.

“So I see, practical, now I don't have to run all over the place should I need any of them, thank you little Ginger!”

Robin smiled really wide at the praise while Oakley turned to face me and Fable.

He froze for a second as he saw the Elf though.

“Am I in the right place or did I go wrong somewhere?

What's an Elf doing in Kamerasca of all places?”

He went up close to Fable and I somehow Doubted that my halfbrother would like that.

“Uhh Oakley that's my halfbrother, apparently my father had an actual wife before he met my mom”

Oakley blinked a few times in that birdlike manner of his before he looked back and forth between me and Fable.

“Hmmm, well there is an undoubtedly similarity, I can do a blood test if you want?”

A what? And what for?

“A Blood test? What do you mean by that? What for anyway?”

He tilted his head which once again reminded me of a magpie or crow.

“Basically i can use alchemy to see how exactly you two are related to each other if each of you give me a drop of blood to test it on”

Oh, so he could find out who was related to who if he had a tiny blood sample of each? That was kinda cool.

“i, well I guess we could, what do you say Fable?

Want to make sure you found the right guy?”

Fable however was just looking at Oakley, still not moving more than necessary.

Luckily he did answer me rather quickly.

“We can do that, even if i am fairly certain that i have found the right place”

Seems like my joke didn't land, maybe he just didn't have any sort of humor though.

Not that I would ever claim to understand whatever Humor Elves had.

Well, I didn't think doing that could harm any of us, so why not?

“Well, why not? Wait, do you even have the stuff you need to do that here?”

Oakley looked surprised for a second before he reacted.

“Fuckdamnit, i knew i forgot something, no matter you can just each give me a sample and i can do it later while you do... Whatever”

yeah, that sounded more like Oakley, and we could always get the result at a later point.

He procured two empty vials from somewhere in his cloak that seemed to hold way more than it feasibly should and handed one to me and the other one to Fable.

“Here hold this for a moment i'll be right back”

I looked at it for a moment debating on how the fuck i would get any of my blood into the vial while Oakley dragged the Bundle he brought trough the door with Robins help.

I glanced over at Fable who had opened his mouth and used one of his fangs to prick his thumb before he held it over the vial.

Smart, and also he had the same Fangs I did.

I don't know why but I had expected them to be thinner.

Maybe because he was a lanky guy.

But using his fang was a good idea so I tried the same.

I had to press a bit more than I thought as the skin was rather thick so I was a bit surprised when I finally managed to get through.

I might have went a little deeper than i wanted and it bled like fuck but at least i got enough to put in the vial.

“I would have given you tools to do that! You couldn't wait a minute???”

Both of us looked back at Oakley who had emerged from his tower and held a pair of needles in his hands.

Oh, yeah, why did I think he wouldn't give us something to do that properly?

That was really dumb from both of us, but at least i wasn't the only one.

Oakley pulled a bit of thin bandages out of his cloak and tossed them to me.

“Fucks sake, what did you even use?

Make sure that's clean and bandaged”

He then took the vials and went back inside where I could hear something clattering as well as a few curse words that followed immediately after.

Robin walked out after that, holding the cat again who had some weird herbs in her mouth.

Catnip no doubt.

“Sorry Oakley, I will try and keep a better eye on her!”

“Did you even name the little menace? You ought to do that soon or she'll only respond to cat, Now Scram! All of you!”

I turned to Fable who had put bandaged his thumb in the meantime.

“I think we ought to leave, besides we can get whatever the result is later”

I dragged Fable away from the tower while Robin went to bring the cat back to the castle, not that she would stay there if she didn't want to.

So now we were in the middle of the small woods that grew in the Garden.

“Soo uhh i basically showed you the only two interesting things in the Garden, there might be more but i don't know where, i’d have to ask Barsen about that”

Fable just looked at me and silently held out the rest of the bandages.

Oh, right, my thumb was still bleeding but I had gotten lucky and none of it got on my clothes.

“Thank you”

I unraveled part of the bandage and then wrapped it around the bleeding finger, making sure it held and wouldn't slide off.

Then I realized I had nothing to cut the rest of the bandage with,

well time to use my teeth again.

I really hadn't realized how sharp they actually were, or how useful they were when there was nothing else to cut stuff.

Fable was just standing there, seeming awkwardly out of place.

Well what else was there to do? I could see if we were able to find Barsen and ask him if there were any cool spots?

Or we could go back to the castle and I'd show him where I was staying.

Yeah that seemed like a good idea, and if we did meet Barsen on the way I could still ask.

“Well I have no idea what time it is but I think we'll go back to the castle and see whatever Oakley did tomorrow?”

Fable just gave a slow nod and I led him back towards the castle.

I did not see Barsen anywhere so instead I opted to show Fable the shed where I was staying.

I would not call it a shed in front of him though, I didn't want him to think the people here were mean and made me sleep in some random shed.

Which also reminded me that I had no idea where Fable was staying, Did he have anywhere to stay here?

If not I would ask Rikaad if there was a room that he could use,

or he probably could use the Loft thing in my room.

I had no idea how Fable was about privacy though, it was very possible that he'd prefer to have a room to himself.

Eh, for now I'd show him my place and then offer to let him stay there.

I still thought that the castle itself was an impressive build especially with being right on top of a cliff.

Looking over at Fable I saw that he was looking at something up ahead while we walked.

Craning my neck a little I tried to see what had captured his attention.

It was Nea, with a pair of crutches since her foot was still not very usable, and she was threatening Arthur with them.

Arthur himself was not very happy about that, especially as Nea managed to land a hit with the bottom of one of the crutches right to his abdomen.

Ouch, that had to hurt, I knew very well that Nea could pack a punch.

Oh wait neither of them had seen Fable yet, i'd better tell them then, especially the stab happy Nea.

Both were Guards and seeing a random person that definitely wasn't from the area in the middle of the castle would probably set off alarm bells in their heads.

Also I did not want either of them to punch Fable.

So I motioned to Fable that he should follow me and walked up to the two arguing Humans who stopped as soon as they saw me.

Nea still managed to jab his foot with her crutches though, earning an angry glare, before waving at me.

“Oi who's that with ya? I never seen a fellow that pale, or tall”

People really liked to point out that Fable was pale huh.

And Nea was of course as gruff as always, and on top of that no doubt still sour about being told to take it easy with her foot.

“I-uh that's Fable, as it turns out he's my half brother”

Nea simply gave a thumbs up and sat back down on the bench that was behind her while Arthur just stared back and forth between me and Fable.

Right, Arthur had the habit of being rather hostile to new people, especially to ones taller than him.

As I kind of had Expected Arthur came a bit closer and looked at Fable with narrowed eyes.

To Fable's credit he did not react negatively to being scrutinized like this.

In fact he did not react at all besides staring right in Arthur's face who seemed to get uneasy after a few seconds of this.

Then Nea hit his back with one of the crutches.

“Leave ta Pale guy in peace ya dumbass!

Ya ought to be more friendly to folks!”

Arthur did not take well to being assaulted like this though.

“OW! Stop hitting me!”

Nea stood back up at that and menacingly waved one of the crutches in his direction.

“I'll stop hitting ya when ya stop fussin’!”

Oh, had Arthur tried to tell her she shouldn't be outside right now?

“You're Not even supposed to be out here!”

Yep, he did, oh well not my problem.

And at least neither were now negatively engaging with Fable.

Instead they were negatively engaging with each other.

Fable however must be really confused by this display and I debated just leaving while Nea was beating Arthur with a now slightly bent crutch.

“Ow! Ow! Stop that!

I'm only here cuz the medics said to get you back inside!”

While they were busy I turned back to Fable who was just watching this unfold in front of him with the same unemotional expression as always.

“Yeah, sorry, we can just leave and talk to both of them later, when they are not in the same vicinity”

“Oi ya two dun have ta leave, i'll shut him up in a sec!”

I looked back at Nea who had grabbed Arthur and was wrangling him into a chokehold.

He did not look happy at that and tried to wriggle free but Nea had a tight grip on him.

Also his face started to get a bit red and I doubted he got enough air.

She'd let him go should he faint though, at least I was sure of it.

“Yeah uhh i'm not gonna ask what's going on, i really just wanted to introduce Fable”

I pointed at the Elf who gave a polite bow.

“Well, hello! How'd you like tha place so far?”

It was astounding that Nea could carry a normal conversation while having someone in a chokehold, but it was Nea so why was I surprised?

And at least Fable gave a somewhat direct answer for once,

maybe he was a tiny bit intimidated by her,

I wouldn't blame him if that was the case.

“The castle seems very well kept and the Garden is taken good care of, it is a fine place to be”

Nea stared at him for a second, then laughed.

“Ya don't gotta be so polite with me, i might be a high ranking Guard but ya don't have ta be such a mannerly fella!”

She dropped Arthur, who went down to the ground with a strangled wheeze, and grabbed both of her Crutches and for the first time seeing her today used them as she was supposed to.

“Well, I see like three medics glaring at me through tha window, so I better head back, see ya some other time!”

Looking at the castle it took me a few seconds to see what she meant but then I noticed that there were indeed a few people in medicinal getup looking out of one of the windows.

Nea herself walked at a brisk pace back inside, damn despite only having one functional foot she was really fast.

“That's what it took? Really?”

Wheezed a form on the ground and I looked down to see Arthur holding a hand to his throat and using the bench to pull himself up with his other one.

“Are you okay? I know Nea is unreasonably strong”

He muttered a few expletives under his breath before answering for real.

“Well the only thing hurt is my pride, and neck, but im fine otherwise”

I could see that his throat was rather pink in the places Nea had held him, and his face was still a bit red too.

“Yeah, you look like you've been hanged”

He glared at me for that comment.

“Not helping, at all, so wait a second that guy there is your brother?

Did I hear that right or did Nea squeeze a bit too hard?”

He seemed a bit winded but Nea definitely did not hold him that strongly.

“No, i mean, yes that's my Half brother,

and no i don't think Nea squeezed you that badly”

Well I fumbled that one badly.

Arthur stood up completely and stood once again in front of Fable, this time without narrowed eyes, and looked up at him.

“You are tall as fuck, and i didn't think i'd meet anyone with pointier ears than he has”

For someone who used to be royalty he sure didn't act like it, he was actually rather rude but that's just how he was.

Maybe living life with other people trying to mold him into something he wasn't had left its mark and now he refused to be polite out of principle.

Whatever the case, I wished he'd shove that attitude aside at least for a little bit.

But Fable gave no indication that this comment bothered him in any way.

But then again his face barely moved at all unless he was talking,

it was like a mask and a tiny bit unnerving if i was honest.

But I did not let that bother me, sure it was a bit hard to figure out what he was thinking but aside from that he was a really polite person.

Or maybe he was afraid of fucking up like i was.

Maybe introducing him to Arthur without telling the shorter man about it beforehand was a bad idea, maybe we'd better leave now.

“Well i was just about to show Fable where im staying,

you can continue with whatever you were doing though”

Arthur looked back at me then.

“Yeah, sure, my neck hurts now anyway so im going to check with a nurse to make sure Nea didn't strain it too bad,

you have fun or whatever”

He walked off into the castle while carefully holding his neck and i turned back to Fable ready to apologize for Arthur's dumb behavior.

“Don't mind him, he's not usually like that, he's just sour about Nea putting him in a chokehold”

Fable looked over to where Arthur had vanished for a second.

“That does seem like something to get upset about”

His comment was as monotone as it seemed to always be and I wondered for a brief moment if he'd ever suffered a throat injury.

If he did then i wouldn't bring it up, though there were no scars anywhere on him that i could see.

There was also the possibility that he was just like that, or he was afraid of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Well the last part was rather relatable so i wouldn't be surprised.

I led him back around the castle towards my place trying to remember if I had left anything just lying on the floor and if I put all the dishes away from when Robin or the others were there to chat.

The only thing I could come up with from the top of my head was that there was a dirt-filled mug that had some wood sorrels, or as Barsen had called them Oxalis, growing out of it that Robin had left on one of the mostly empty shelves.

Whatever, I'm sure it would be fine, I wasn't a messy person by any means, that and I didn't have much stuff to begin with.

Maybe that's why Oakley had called me a minimalist when he entered the shed for the first time.

Maybe I should call him messy as soon as he was done cramming all his stuff in the tower.

I was really glad that the entrance also had a smaller door that could be used by anyone not Ardua or Giant.

Even if it took a whole day to get installed I found it worth it, and the carpenter was paid a fair amount for it too.

Opening it I thought that maybe I should install a lock too at some point.

Whatever, I'd show Fable my place and then offer to let him stay in the loft thing that I rarely used.

I noticed that the doorframe was exactly as tall as him, any smaller and he'd have to duck.

Looking around my room i was glad that i had taken a broom to it just yesterday as it had been dusty as fuck.

I turned back to face Fable who was looking around a bit.

“Well, this is my place, what do you think?

Sorry if its a little messy i didn't expect company”

He looked around for a second or so more before he answered.

“You have quite the big room all for yourself, they must hold you in high regard”

Well that was not what i had expected him to say, but his comment got me thinking.

DID they hold me in high regard?

This was literally just a repurposed shed.

But they could have told me to go into Human form and sleep like that in one of the normal rooms like everyone else.

But they had taken the time and resources to help me build this, and had asked for nothing in return.

Well aside from the fact that i got used as a mattress sometimes.

I still wasn't used to actually having friends huh.

But I did my best to help them too when they needed it.

Especially Robin who sometimes wanted to just hide from the world.

In the week since the first incident with his panic attack hed only asked once to be hidden away after a storm had hit the castle.

There had been no damages but it sure had been scary, especially for someone as small as Robin.

That was also something i wasn't sure if i could talk to Fable about it, I was a hybrid so he might not have the doubled organs and if I started talking about eating people he'd think me crazy or a monster.

Then again it might also be plain rude in elven culture to do something like that, if they even could.

Yeah, I'd better not mention THAT part to him.

“I mean I guess? They are my friends after all, oh by the way do you already have a place to stay?

If not you can just take the loft over there, i rarely use it anyway”

I pointed to the ladder that went up to the aforementioned loft.

Fable Just nodded.

“I do not have prepared a place to stay, thank you for the offer, i will accept it with gratitude”

He really was a mannerly guy huh, He had even closed the door behind him.

“Well, is there anything you want to do? So far I just showed you around a bit, but what's something you want to do?”

He just looked at me, seemingly not understanding for a few seconds before he cautiously answered.

“I don't know what there even is to do in this place, but if you have a library i would like to spend time there”

A library? I'm sure the castle had one, if i found it in that absolute nightmare of a floorplan.

But hey! Fable finally had decided on something on his own!

Even if books weren't my type as I found most of them boring.

But maybe that was only because I was a slow reader and didn't have the patience for some of the thicker tomes.

“Sure! I'm not entirely certain where exactly in the castle it is but we'll find someone to ask, also just to warn you the floorplan of this building is an absolute nightmare and i think the architect might have been drunk”

Fable just stared at me, he really had no sense of humor huh?

Whatever, I tried, now to find someone that knew where on this nightmarish layout of rooms.

I led Fable back outside and debated for a second if we should go through the door right beside the shed or the main one.

There was a higher possibility of us finding someone if we went to the main one so that was the best bet I figured.

Going back to the front I got distracted by a commotion at the Gate that was built into the protective wall that surrounded the castle.

——————————————————————————

NEXT / PREVIOUS / OVERSIGHT

23 notes · View notes