Chapter Text
CHAPTER FIVE; LUNEHOUNDS IN LITTLE STAR
Smokey's Point of View: 27th of Isek, year 1,991 Fifth Era
Smokey blinked blearily at the empty plate in front of her, eight am was far too early for any creature, no matter the species.
Back in her lunehound pack, the pack would sleep for six hours, wake up, socialize for a few hours and eat a small meal, then sleep another six hours before starting the day.
She, on the other hand, felt as though it was never enough .
She sighed, stood up and dumped her plate in a nearby tray dispenser. She put her hands in her pockets and trudged over to the front door. She hadn’t even bothered to warn her new guard she was stepping out, she was just too tired to think. She stood at the curb, and prayed that the new kid remembered to call a cabby, as unfortunately, she had not.
Eventually, the new kid, Authearus, came over to her carrying two cups.
“I thought you might need this,” he handed her the cup and took a sip from his own.
“Is this coffee? I haven’t had this stuff in loops, you are literally a god, thank you, so, so much,” she took a long swig from the cup.
“Ever since I started drinking it a couple strands ago I can’t imagine not having it.”
Smokey choked on her coffee, “Oh Sythis, I hope you called a cabby, I forgot!”
Authearus smiled wide and toothy, it looked almost silly, “yeah I did! And I’ll pay for it too! You’re the one helping me after all.”
“Oh you don’t have to do that.”
“Well, yeah,” he laughed, “I don’t have to, but I want to,” he shrugged, “plus you’re being super nice, it’s the least I could do.”
“Fair enough I suppose.”
Shortly after smokey replied, the cabby arrived and they both boarded.
“Can you uh, please take us up to the cabby port in Little Star?” Asked Smokey to the driver as Authearus handed over a few notes.
The driver nodded and snapped the reins on the unicorns.
“Thanks for speaking with him,” Authearus whispered, “I’m not fantastic at talking to new people."
Smokey smiled, “you’re doing just fine with me!”
After they spoke, the ride was long and silent as both creatures sipped their coffee and stared out the window. When the cabby stopped at the port, both creatures got out and walked in.
“Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for helping me. I wasn’t expecting any creature to be so friendly to a stranger from some outcast lunehound pack like me,” he said.
“Creatures are a lot nicer outside of the lunehound packs than they tell you they are,” Smokey responded, “sometimes I think it would be better if more lunehounds left their packs for a bit to see what the outside world was like too.”
Authearus nodded in response and Smokey flagged down an attendant, when they arrived over to the two lunehounds, Smokey spoke, “Hey, hi! My friend here left his bag in one of your cabbies, can we take a look?”
“Oh sure hun! Just follow me to the back,” the attendant responded.
Smokey turned to Authearus, who chewed nervously on his red turtleneck, “See? Not a big deal,” she smiled.
They both walked to the back, and Authearus spotted his bags right away, “Oh thank Sythis!” he cried, “I was worried I’d lost them! Thank you so much!” He said to the attendant.
Authearus picked up his bags, and they both walked out of the port, all with Authearus holding a giddy smile over his face.
“Alright Authearus, do you want to head home?” Smokey asked as they reached the curb.
“Actually,” he replied, “please allow me to treat you to lunch! It’s the least I can do.”
Smokey’s stomach rumbled at the thought, “Yeah, okay, I know this place that serves the best jackalope you’ll ever taste.”
Authearus towed his bags behind him as Smokey led them both down the street, and into a small diner not too far from the cabby port. When they entered, a shapemasker in an apron led them to a small table, and handed them the menus without a word.
“You’ve done a lot for me already but.. No never mind,” Authearus shook his head, and started to chew on the sleeve of his turtleneck.
“No, what is it?”
“I’m a little nervous around people, so I wondered if you’d tell the waitress my order?” He pointed at an item on the menu.
“Yeah no problem! I understand it’s a little stressful to live somewhere where every creature knows you, only to move where they don’t. It’s scary at first.”
When the waitress arrived, she smiled at the two, “anythin’ to drink fer you two?”
“Uh, yes please, can I get a Catsi, and my friend will have a..” Smokey watched Authearus point to the menu again, “lemonade, thank you!”
The server nodded, stuck her pen in her hair and walked back in the direction of the kitchen.
When she left, a voice spoke up from across the diner, "Oh my Sythis! Is that you Authearus?"
Smokey looked at Authearus and almost laughed, he was currently hiding his head in the neck of his sweater as the mystery creature made their way towards their table and sat down.
"Hello, Majesty.." Authearus said, muffled by fabric.
Smokey took a good look at the creature that sat beside her now. Majesty's skin was a medium grey, and her hair a dusty black, with a long tufted tail the same color. The most striking detail however, were the large green horns that curled back from her skull. Majesty was a soulbeast, or part one at the very least. Soulbeasts were infamous for their volatile temperament, but Majesty was animated and friendly. The girl noticed Smokey staring and smiled wide.
"See anything you like?" She laughed.
Smokey sputtered, "uh, no it's just that, you're well.."
"A soulbeast! Full blooded third ring in fact."
Smokey's eyes widened, "a pure bred third ring, that's, that's rare in captivity isn't it?"
Authearus groaned, now trying to fully merge himself with the table they sat at with varying degrees of success, "please for the love of Sythis don't encourage her!"
"What are you doing in Creature?" Smokey asked instead.
Majesty shrugged, "Following Authy here to war,” she smiled wickedly, “he’s.. Shy. So I thought if he had a friend come along he’d have a better time!”
“I’m right here you know,” Authearus muttered.
Smokey laughed and shoved her shoulder into Authearus, “You are kinda shy.”
He didn’t respond, and instead tucked his head into his turtleneck.
It didn’t help that the waitress came to take their orders then, but Authearus refused to speak to her, and Smokey had to order for him instead.
It hit Smokey just then, “Hey, hate to ruin the mood, but I just came from the literal woods, I don’t have notes.”
Authearus waved his arms around, the too long sleeves flopped up and down when he did, “I already said I'd cover, don't even worry about paying me back. Once we get our first paychecks, I promise I won't even notice the twenty missing notes!”
“Thank you, are you sure? I'm certain I can repay you when I start earning from the mansion as well.”
Authearus waved it off with a smile, and instead changed the topic of conversation, “What are you doing in creature? We didn’t see you at the new recruit tour.”
The waitress came before Smokey responded, and placed the food down on the table.
Eventually, after taking a bite of her food, she responded, “I have.. extenuating circumstances. I moved in the night before, I got my own little private tour.”
Majesty laughed and dipped a fry in her ketchup, “aren’t you fancy,” she picked her glass up with her tail and took a sip from it.
“That’s so cool, and also not even fair,” Smokey said as she marveled at Majesty’s skill.
Majesty smiled while Authearus responded, “Yeah, she likes to show off,” and he shoved her with his shoulder.
Majesty stuck her forked tongue out, “and who wouldn’t?”
“How did you two meet?” Smokey asked as she carefully placed another bite under her bandana, “not a lot of friendly opportunities outside of your own pack in the wild.”
“My pride sits right next to his pack!”Majesty said and stuck her tongue out at Authearus, “sometimes we’d trade furs and meat. I met him when I started working on the trade routes!”
“And you’ve been my loving nuisance ever since,” Authearus groaned.
Smokey paused for a long moment before responding, “are you two… nesters?”
Authearus spluttered and Majesty took it as a chance to respond uninterrupted, “I haven’t gotten him to say yes yet!” She laughed.
When Smokey, Authearus and Majesty returned to the mansion later in the afternoon, they parted ways with a farewell, and Smokey waltzed through the front door.
“I hope you had an exciting afternoon,” a voice spoke, barely a few inches from Smokey.
Smokey spun and came face to face with Ira, “Heyyyy, so how was your day? Eventful? Yeah, me too, anyway I’m gonna g-”
Ira grabbed onto Smokey’s hood as she attempted to make an artful escape, “I enjoy the fact you’re making friends dear, but you still have to follow the set rules.”
Smokey gestured to the window that showed Sol still high in the sky, “I’m home before curfew!” Ira tapped a foot, and crossed her arms, and Smokey groaned, “I’m eighteen loops old, woman, I don’t necessarily need to tell you when I’m going to leave the mansion just because you’re my mother ! There are sixteen loop olds out there killing creatures, I could be far worse,” Ira squinted her eyes, and Smokey relented, “fine, fine I’ll tell some creature before I leave the grounds.”
“Better,” Ira responded, “and don’t forget that there’s a law about to go into effect stating you’re not an adult until twenty one loops. Sythis knows they should raise that bar even higher.”
Smokey rolled her eyes, “You only say that because you think creatures should be older before fighting a war they were born into. You’ve said that since I was a whelp.”
“And I’ll continue to say it. I was-”
“Only sixteen loops when you signed up to fight and the war killed your best friend and the other went missing, I know,” Smokey looked down at the ground with a huff.
Ira placed a hand on Smokey’s shoulder, “you’re my first squeaker, forgive me for being a little protective my dear.”
Smokey smiled under her mask, and placed a hand over Ira’s, “I do.. and I’ll be careful, I promise..” Smokey frowned, “speaking of Alex, did you know Cody is their kid?”
Ira sighed, “even if it didn’t state so in their recruitment letter, I would have been able to tell from a mile away.”
Smokey snorted back a laugh, and Ira pushed her back off in the direction she had been originally heading, and started towards her office.
Smokey stepped away and up the steps to her bedroom, only to narrowly avoid ramming into Cody on their way out of their own room.
Cody smiled wide, "hey! I got you something, let me go grab it!" And without waiting for a response, they spun and waltzed back into their room, letting the door click shut behind them.
When Cody returned, they held a small box wrapped in blue paper and decorated with a small silver bow.
"It's a 'welcome to the sector' gift. Usually they do goodie bags for the new recruits, but you didn't exactly sign up the normal way.. uh, anyway, here!" They tripped over the last part of their sentence, and handed the box to Smokey.
Smokey shook the box a little, then tore open the paper, only to be greeted with the box for a brand new hand top, "please don't tell me you bought this. There has to be something else in this box," Smokey said.
Cody smiled once more, "open it to find out!"
Smokey cut the tape of the box with her claws, and opened it fully, and pulled out the new hand top, "I've.. never owned one before, can you show me how to..”
Cody nodded, and showed Smokey how to turn the handtop on, and how to mess with a few of the settings, “I set it up for you.. If that’s okay, I uh, even gave you a username, the password and how to change it is in the notes, and I friended Kitty and myself for you.”
Smokey masked a sniffle, “thank you, that’s.. That’s really cool of you.”
Cody ruffled a hand through their hair, and looked down at the floor, “yeah! If you need any help, let me know. The charger is in the box.”
Smokey hugged the package to her chest, patted Cody on the shoulder with a nod of gratitude, then started to head off to bed, before she turned back to Cody once more.
“Are those feathers in your hair?”
Cody ruffled their hair again, and sure enough a few golden feathers fell from their head and onto the floor, “dammit!”