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Ashton breathed in the city air. Their eyes closed, taking in the smells around them. They had been in Jrusar for a while now and found the familiar scents comforting. Not necessarily pleasant, but recognizable in a way that grounded them. They would never admit it, at least not out loud, but these odd spires jutting up from the jungle floor had started to feel like home.
Ashton was sitting cross-legged on top of a carriage, ostensibly acting as the party lookout. A task they were not taking too fucking seriously at the moment. This was a job that literally anyone, even Fearne, could do. Well, maybe not Fearne. She tended to get distracted easily and they could clearly picture her blissfully smelling a flower while they and the crew were eaten by fucking shade creepers.
They scratched, absently, at the jade skin of one arm. Ashton had always thought of themself as inciting chaos. But Fearne WAS chaos and Ashton fucking loved it. It mystified their new friends, though, which they found fucking hilarious.
Friends . . . Not a word they used much. Still felt strange.
Ashton's mind briefly conjured The Nobodies. A quick recognition of their former crew, friends who left them beaten and bloody. Not that they blamed them. Ashton would have done the same fucking thing, if the roles were flipped.
But here they sat. Lookout for their new cobbled-together crew. On top of a carriage holding a lithe halfling, a large faun and, possibly, a small monkey.
The rest of the group had gone on a stealthy, fact-finding mission. Fearne had been left because she was many things, but stealthy was not one of them. Orym was one of the stealthiest fucking beings Ashton had ever met but he and Dorian were the only two who could keep Fearne in check and Dorian was needed for the mission. Something about having a fancy-pants patsy distraction. Ashton had volunteered to act as lookout. They didn't feel like being fancy today.
–
The carriage wobbled a bit and Ashton was shaken from their reverie. They heard Fearne's strong voice clearly.
"Well, it was just right there. Sitting on the table. How was I supposed to know it belonged to someone? Why would someone, who wanted to keep it, just leave it laying around like that? Any reasonable person would assume it was finders, keepers."
The carriage shifted again and Ashton got an idea of what was happening below. Fearne must have swiped something, again, and Orym was trying to get it back from her.
"You can't keep taking things." Orym's low voice answered. "One of these days you're going to steal from someone dangerous."
"Oh, don't worry . . . I can take care of myself. I'm quite dangerous, too."
Ashton could hear both resignation and affection in the reply. "I know you are. I just don't want anything to happen to you. We also don't need any unwanted attention at the moment. Like, say, being accused of thievery."
"Okay . . ." Fearne sounded like a scolded child. "I'll return the necklace. Just let me take it off."
More shaking.
"Oof! It's stuck. Oh goodness. I think it’s just stuck forever."
"No, let me try . . ."
"Ouch, you're pulling my hair!"
"Stop squirming, Fearne. You're making it worse."
Ashton needed to see this for themself. They leaned over the side of the carriage and stuck their purple-topped head through the open window. The sight that greeted them was fucking ridiculous. Fearne was seated on one of the carriage benches, her fury legs jutting out in front of her, hands buried in her mass of hair. Orym was standing on her legs, one foot on each, stretched up and over Fearne's chest and head. He also had his hands buried in her thick hair and was pushing it around like he was rooting for buried treasure. Really, if you thought about it, that was exactly what he was doing.
Ashton took in the scene with wild delight. They let out a little chuckle, barely audible over the din of the city. Fearne's eyes, well the eye not blocked by Orym's torso, met their's and a large smile crossed her lips.
"Oh, hey Ashton. How's it going? See anything out of the ordinary?"
Ashton didn't even try to hide their glee.
"Fucking boring out there. Looks wild in here. You two want some privacy?"
Orym sighed loudly and shot Ashton a look that would chill the hottest of soups.
"We're good. We just got a little necklace situation here. It got a bit tangled and the more I try to free it the more tangled it gets. It's like some sort of alchemy puzzle. How'd you get this on in the first place?"
"Well, I just opened the clasp and hooked it on."
Orym froze. "There's a clasp? Why didn't you say so?"
"Well, you didn't ask. Also, I kind of forgot and by the time I remembered it was already caught on one of my horns and, well, here we are."
–
Ashton neatly flipped themself off the top of the carriage and in through the open window. They sat down on the opposite bench and laughed openly, having a fabulous fucking time.
Orym abandoned the attempt to pull the necklace free and started searching in the mess of hair, horns, flowers and ribbon, for the clasp.
"You know, Fearne, in some places they cut off thieves' hands."
"Ooo . . . imagine," Fearne said dreamily while pulling her hands into the sleeves of her blouse. She began waving her "thief stumps" around on either side of Orym's agile torso. Ashton watched in awe as she swung her arms to and fro.
"Ha! Found it. Now I just gotta unhook it . . ."
Orym was still pressed against Fearne with his back to Ashton. He was wearing his usual light, leather armor that covered his chest and back. His sword and shield were leaning against the carriage bench and Ashton assumed he had removed them so as not to inadvertently stab Fearne. His arms were bare and Ashton watched sinued muscle move beneath tattooed skin as nimble fingers worked the clasp.
"Finally." The word was spoken quietly, and with relief.
Orym hopped off Fearne's legs, holding the necklace aloft.
"It’s just so pretty. Do we have to return it?"
"Yes. Just say you found it outside the tavern. Maybe they have a lost and found box."
"Really? What do you suppose they have in there? Ooo - I bet there's jewelry and . . ."
"Never mind, I'll do it."
Orym sheathed his sword, affixed the shield and leapt from the carriage. Ashton tracked the halfling across the road and into the tavern. Despite being smaller than almost everyone around, he had an air of authority and Ashton couldn’t understand how anyone could mistake him for a child.
Now, alone in the carriage with Fearne, Ashton started a conversation they knew would go fucking swimmingly.
"Fearne . . . if you could take anything from anyone, without getting caught, what would you steal?"
"Well, I don't know. Stealing is wrong, you know. And, um, I really just borrow things and don't give them back. That's not really stealing. And, um, humm, that's a great question . . ."
Talking with Fearne was its own chaos. Ashton was enraptured.
The contemplating continued out loud. As far as they could tell, Fearne was just listing the benefits of thievery using flowery language and Ashton was here for it. They had been known to boost an item or two, from time to time. Sometimes out of necessity, sometimes as a contribution to the fucking madness of the world.
–
Suddenly, a curious noise interrupted Fearne's dialog. Ashton watched as a small, furry head poked out from behind Fearne's shoulder. As she continued to talk, she pushed a hand out from the depths of her sleeve, absently skritched the little creature on the top of its head and kept right on talking as if the small monkey-like being had been visible the whole time.
". . . I guess I just appreciate the shiny parts of life. Isn't that right, Mister?"
Mister gave a tiny grunt in reply and climbed up onto one of Fearne's horns. He stared at Ashton, cocking his head back and forth as though trying to figure out what Ashton was.
Mister was not, in fact, a monkey as far as Ashton could tell. Sure, he looked the part. Hairy body, tail, vaguely monkey shaped . . . but what was not seen by the casual observer was the massive fucking expanse of arcane fire that was hidden just beyond his tiny lips. Ashton wondered what would happen if they stuck their hand right in there, amongst the teeth. Would their hard, crystalline skin burn? Melt? Fucking fascinating . . .
Mister continued to eye Ashton. Ashton looked back in wonder. Both had all but forgotten Fearne, who had begun a monologue on the wonders of opals.
Ashton couldn’t restrain themself any longer. They got up and shifted across to the opposite bench, beside Fearne. Mister made loud monkey squawks and shifted on the horn to face Ashton.
"Hey buddy, want a cracker?"
Ashton reached into their pants pocket and pulled out a small, slightly crumbled cracker from lunch. They stretched out their hand toward Mister, waving the cracker slowly back and forth. Mister, never one to pass up a bite of food, reached his little monkey hand forward and snatched it from Ashton's grip. He clutched the cracker with both hands and gave it a good sniff before popping it in his mouth.
Ashton watched in awe as the cracker was quickly consumed by a small roar of flame. Mister sat back happily and eyed Ashton again, in search of more goodies. Ashton was a little shocked that Fearne was not currently engulfed in flame. They shook their head slowly.
"Fucking fascinating."
"What?"
Orym had slipped back into the carriage, without Ashton's notice, and was sitting across from them on the other bench.
"Huh? Oh - just Mister eating. Crazy, right?"
The halfling gave a little shrug.
"You returned the necklace? Any pushback?"
"Nope. Said I found it outside. The owner had been looking all over for it. She was very grateful."
Orym shot Fearne a sidelong glance.
". . . can really light up a necklace with all that color. Um, what? Are you talking to me?"
Fearne looked from Orym to Ashton, a little stunned at the latter's presence beside her.
"No, just discussing the elements of life. So . . . opals. They sure are pretty."
"Oh, they are. I wish I could just find a pool filled with opals and swim around in them, letting the stones slide over my naked body."
"Um, huh. Quite the fucking visual."
Orym looked uncomfortable and they watched as he shifted on his seat.
Ashton was opening their mouth to say something brash, trying to get Orym's cheeks to turn a darker shade of pink, when Fresh Cut Grass was unceremoniously plopped into the carriage.
"Smiley afternoon to ya. I assume everyone is well?"
The small automaton was pushed forward by large, blue hands clutched around their waist. Dorian climbed into the carriage after FCG and shut the door behind him.
"We're fine," Ashton glanced around, "where are Imogen and the spooky one?"
Dorian let out an impatient sigh.
"Imogen and LAUDNA are going to drive. You know how good Imogen is with horses. Laudna volunteered to keep her company."
As if on cue, the carriage lurched forward into the afternoon traffic. Dorian sat down next to Orym and smiled at the halfling. He began describing the mission and how it had been a success.
FCG started to roll around on their singular wheel with the movement of the carriage. They reached out, grasping Ashton's knees, and slotted themself between them for stability. The yellow, metallic face looked up toward Ashton.
"I am very glad that everything went well today," FCG whispered, "I really like our new friends."
"Me too, buddy." Aston whispered back.
They had a hard time sharing their feelings with other people, but Ashton figured that Fresh Cut Grass wasn't a person, per se, so they could open up as much as they wanted.
–
Fearne frowned beside Ashton.
"That necklace was just so pretty . . . all gold and sparkly. I wish I could have kept it."
"Oh, goodness. What have you taken now?"
Dorian was shaking his head slowly.
"Don't worry about it. It's been taken care of."
Orym gave Dorian a small smile before turning back to Fearne.
"I know it's not as sparkly as a necklace, but here . . . "
Ashton started in wonder as Orym reached his open palm toward Fearne. In the center of his small hand a single, yellow flower sprouted. Ashton watched the stem rise up and the delicate petals unfurl.
"Oh, Orym . . . It's beautiful!"
Fearne leaned forward and plucked the flower from his palm. She closed her eyes, deeply inhaled its scent then carefully tucked it behind her long ear.
"This is more beautiful than any necklace."
Dorian looked quickly, back and forth, between Orym and Fearne.
"Orym, just keep giving her flowers. Maybe that will keep her from stealing everything."
"Um, I don't think it will but she seems to like them so, why not."
Ashton thought this sounded like as good a fucking solution as any. They settled back into the seat. Strong, green hands held FCG firmly in place as the carriage rocked along the road. They turned their head and looked out the window at the passing city. All the people rushing around with tasks to accomplish and folks to see; friends to meet up with.
"Not so fucking bad . . ." Aston mused in a low whisper.
"Pardon?"
FCG was looking up at Ashton again with their differently sized, blue eyes.
"Nothing, Letters . . . Just thinking out loud."
The small automaton nodded and looked as contemplative as a small, metal creature could.
"You look happy, Ashton, and that makes me happy."
"Thanks, Buddy."
Ashton patted FCG on their "hair" of frayed wires, then resumed their scan of the city. Maybe people weren't all terrible. Then again, maybe they were - who knew? But these people were okay, at least for now.