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Chapter 1.06
Mentions
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Name | Text |
---|---|
Erin Solstice
|
Erin stared at the ant-creature, lost for words. Then it opened its mouth and began to speak again. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin shut the door. Then she bolted it. Where did she put the kitchen knife? |
Erin Solstice
|
A second, louder, muffled voice came through the door. A second bug-person? This one had a slight rasp to it, sibilant. Erin heard the two talking as she looked around. Weapon. She needed— |
Erin Solstice
|
Or windows. Erin looked around. Plenty of windows. She’d jump out one if she needed to. |
Erin Solstice
|
Someone knocked on the door again. Erin froze, and then went back. Very slowly, she opened the door. |
Erin Solstice
|
A giant lizard—no, a miniature Dragon that looked sort of like a Human stared down at Erin. He had to be at least six-and-a-half feet tall. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin shut the door, bolted it, and dragged a table in front of it. She could feel her heart pounding out of her chest as she pushed another table in the way. Knives were no good. He was huge! She’d have to jump out a window after all. She heard the first person, the bug-guy—he sounded like a guy—speaking drily. |
Erin Solstice
|
Were they talking? Erin listened hard. Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn’t hold anything. She heard them trying the door and finding it locked. |
Erin Solstice
|
One voice was higher than the other and had a strange clicking quality about it. Erin guessed that was the insect’s. The other, the lizardman, pronounced his words with elongated s’s. And they were both speaking in English. |
Erin Solstice
|
One of them was knocking on the door. Erin tried not to hyperventilate. Her eyes darted to the window. But she had to ask. |
Klbkch
|
“Am I a Dragon? Aha. Haha. Well, that’s just—oh, Ancestors bite me. I mean, do I look like one? I’m not even Oldblood, but maybe I do. Klb, buddy, what do you think?” |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin debated. Somewhere in her mind, she was trying to decide whether she should be laughing or panicking. And if she were going to laugh, would it be funny laughter or hysterics? |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin dragged the tables out of the way and hesitantly unlatched the door. She opened it and stared at the insect and giant lizard again. The insect just stared at her. The lizard, on the other hand, opened his mouth and curved his lips upward. It might have been a smile. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin’s hand tensed on the door. The lizard guy put his hand on the door and stopped her from closing it. She tried, but suddenly the door was locked into place. He gently opened it and gave her a lazy salute with his other clawed hand. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin hoped that was the case. She couldn’t budge the door an inch. But this wasn’t the time for flight, right? She took a different tack. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin opened the door slowly. The lizardman smiled and carefully stepped inside. The giant insect walked in too and gave her a polite nod. |
Erin Solstice
|
The two stared around the empty inn. Erin pointed to the table while keeping her eye on them the entire time. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin pointed vaguely back to the kitchen. |
Erin Solstice
|
What was a…? Erin shook her head. |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin went to get the plates. She heard the two sitting and chatting idly while she went to the kitchen. There she took a moment to sit on the ground and slap herself a few times. Then she got the plates. An idea occurred to her as she was filling the cups with water, and she poked her head out. |
Klbkch
|
“Well, I’ll gladly accept. Klbkch, you want any?” |
Erin Solstice
|
Erin stared. Here was an opportunity. She had two creatures who could not only speak English for some reason, but were also not inclined to kill her and were eating her food. There were so many questions she could ask about herself, about where she was, about everything really. |
Erin Solstice
|
It might be her questions would decide her ultimate fate. Probably not, but they were certainly important. But before Erin could ask any of the questions, including how a ‘Drake’ and giant ant learned to use a knife and fork, she had to ask again. |
Erin Solstice
|
The lizardman cleared his throat. It sounded weird to Erin; much deeper and bassier than normal. She was transfixed, as much by the surreality of having them eating with her as the fact that the ant man had excellent table manners and his companion did not—and the way they just—talked, bantered, even. It was beyond weird. |
Erin Solstice
|
Actually, everything was weird to Erin at the moment. Not least were the two creatures sitting across from her. |
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