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Entry 2 The Journal of Kai Aynsthil {Continued}
31st day of Midsomner, 166A.S.
...I feel myself recharge as I continue to write while laying in the sun, it's hard to describe what sunlight seems to do to this new body of mine. I guess I could compare it to a kind of thirst, imagine walking all day in a desert with little to no water then stumbling upon a fresh, cool oasis. Laying in the warm afternoon sun is akin to taking the first sip of that thirst-quenching, life-saving water; I haven't appreciated days like this since my youth! There is a downside, however, as it would seem my veritable cornucopia of weaknesses now include night-time and the indoors...
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"Rraaargh!" You jump the unsuspecting creature, only briefly considering that anything larger than a particularly short man could throw you back to the ground with ease. You collide with your stalker and the both of you tumble to the ground. Success.
*Hurrk* Grasping at your foe, you wrap both your diminutive claws around its scaly neck. You look down at a surprised Skaldring, his eyes wide with fear. Allyn comes up behind you with his sword drawn.
"What does he want?" Your friend questions you. Looking over the scaly beast trapped in your claws, you figure he isn't going anywhere so you get off of the lizard. With shaky legs, the Skald gets up, wrapping himself up in his tattered cloak. He looks at you with wide eyes.
"Alright, spit it out, why were you following my friend and I?" You begin your interrogation, you slip the hammerlock out of its resting place by your side and level it at the creature. You still don't really know what to expect from the weapon and the Skald doesn't really appear to recognize the threat as he cocks his head to one side.
"Ooh, sso shiny!" The lizard seems to have lost his focus, "It'ss not pressent for me, yess?" The Skald reaches for the hammerlock with a dopey smile and you pull it away, putting a clawed hand on his snout. You put the weapon away before the situation becomes embarrassing. The Skald makes a little grumble of disappointment.
"Hey, focus, we asked you a question, why are you following us?" you try to put a little more emphasis on your words this time, he looks at you confused.
He seems to ponder something for a moment as if not sure what to say, then "Oh! It'ss becausse beautiful skald-lady should not be without her entourage!" What? The Skald gives you a worried look, "I ssee you with no guards and no harem and you are out of your nest and-" You clamp his snout shut with both your claws and look him in the eyes. You're really glad the creature that came around the corner is your size.
"Why. Are. You. Following. Me?" You can hear Allyn stifle a little laugh behind you. *Mmf-fmff-mf* The Skald tries to say something through your grip. You let him go.
"Sorryssorryssorry, misss! I did not mean to causse undue conssern!" The lizard pleads with you, "It'ss jusst I-" He cuts himself off not sure what to say, "I... I thought maybe I could join your... entourage?" The Skald looks a bit like a lost puppy, you start to pity him a little, but why does he need to follow you?
"Why?" You ask one more time, something is a little off about this Skaldring. He looks around as if searching for an explanation.
"I..." He begins slowly, "You wont believe, but it iss true, yess! I don't know where I am or what I am doing here... I just remember leaving my nesst-family and then... nothing." There are small pools of water forming at the corner of his large, amber-coloured eyes. "I think therre was ssupossed to be ssomething important! But I don't know...!" His voice starts to break a little as the tears escape his eyes.
Godsdamnit, The little thing really does seem all the more pathetic now, you look at Allyn, "Should we really take him?" Your friend shrugs and takes a look at the supplies you've brought.
"Well, if he can hunt his own food... We've got enough supplies..." He looks back at you with a smile, "I think we should help the little guy out, it doesn't seem right to let him wander these streets lost and confused." You let out a long sigh, you know it's the right thing but you can't help but feel like you'd rather not have the headache of an amnesiac Skald follow you around.
"Okay...Okay, you can join us on our journey, but only until we find out what happened to your... entourage? Family?" You're not sure what he is looking for. The Skald seems equally unsure. Great, You think, We'll be walking in to mortal peril with a Skald that can't tell a spearpoint from his tail... and another one that happens to be going through an existential crisis of her - his - own. You flush a little at your little internal slip up.
The Skald shakes off any reservations he may have had about his own goals and replaces it with an excited grin. Skald grins do look off-putting. "Oh! Yess, I will be very loyal guard-sskald to the fair lady! It'ss what my nesst-mother said I am good for! Maybe one day I'll earn fair lady's favor and be selected as a personal consort...?" The newly emboldened Skald moves up to you and presses in close.
Consort? You look into his eyes, his pupils have dilated a little and there is very little mistaking what he meant by that word. You feel something poke at your loincloth. Looking down you see the Skaldring's shaft has escaped its protective slit and is pointed squarely at your own soft spot. You're sure you can hear a faint *snap* in the back of your mind as something breaks. You're eye twitches.
Your heart-racing, and not sure what else to do, you just raise your arm and bring your little claws down as hard as you can. *Scraff!* You strike the amorous Skald across the snout, leaving three distinct, red lines where your claws raked him. He backs down immediately, whimpering and whining, "I didn't mean- I ssorry, I- It'ss jusst no Sskald-lady iss without-!" You decide to cut off his babbling.
"That's enough!" He quiets and you decide to take the opportunity to lay some ground-rules, "First of all, no more of this Skald-lady shit, the name's Kai and that is what you'll call me." You make sure to lay the point across hard, there will be no more mistaken advances in the future, the Skaldring nods "Second, I'm not your average Skald, so don't expect me to act like one. If I do something strange, it's because I wasn't raised the way you were..." Deciding you'd rather not break this Skald's brain by trying to explain your transformation, you will just let him chalk up your idiosyncrasies to being 'just-different'.
The Skald looks a little confused at this, but lights up a little and says, "Ah! You can call me Kro-Jin! Or Jin as most of my egg-siblings would call me!" Well, looks like your little, Skald-friend has a name.
"Very well, Kro-Jin, right behind me is my best friend, someone who's been with me through the pits of damnation and back..." You lean close to the lizard and lower your voice, "His name is Allyn and if you ever think about causing us trouble... He will break you." You can hear the pop of Allyn's knuckles, as he cracks them, echo through your large ears, you're sure it does the same in Jin's. You can hear an audible gulp come from the lizard as he vigorously nods his understanding.
You turn your back toward Jin and crack a smile up toward Allyn when you're unable to hide your mirth. Sure, scaring the poor thing may not have been very nice, but neither was stalking you and then whipping his dick out. So you figure you're about even, you certainly feel better.
"Come on," you wave for Jin to follow you, "let's go find someplace to set up for lunch, I'm hungry and I forgot to eat breakfast..." You and your companions head out of the alley and finally exit the city. It's a fairly pleasant, if quiet, walk through the surrounding countryside. Definitely much nicer than the overcrowded, noisy, smelly streets of Old Town. Your ears perk up a little more, you didn't realize that you've had them practically hugging your skull the entire time in the city to muffle the sounds of industry.
The sun is high as it approaches its noon-time apex and the feeling of its rays on your scales gives you a little more bounce in your step than what you had this morning. You notice Jin has removed his cloak and is essentially naked as he trails off to your side, you blush a little, but thankfully nothing is 'hanging out.' Allyn looks at ease, as if a passing worry has finally been lifted, he is definitely more at home in the open country fields than in the city... You were like that, too.
At last, you find a suitable place to stop for a break. Jin goes off into the surrounding brush, saying he needs to find a 'Good-branch' so he can fashion a weapon for himself. Allyn starts the fire and pulls out some of the preserves and begins cooking. You sit by your friend and look at a map to decide your next move...