after being done with that debacle, the group makes it to one of the vendors. It was a wolf on the smaller side, with shorter fur. He was also one of the few wolves who actually used blades as werewolves grew in intelligence and mastered culinary arts.
They were hung up right behind him. Funnily enough, the meat smelled just fine to him as it was. there was no need for it to be cooked at least to his nose.
Harken walked up to the vendor. "Hello sir, you might remember me?" He said, making a big smile.
The man shook his head. "I heard you from twenty feet away. What is it that you want anyway?"
"My apologies for the disturbance of your business, but worry not. Me and my friends tend to work expensively. If you are to give a few specialty slabs of meat, I'll give you expensive furs, and spread word of this place."
Suddenly, the the butcher didn't seem so angry anymore.
"Say no more my friend, I hope not to bother you!" He said as he began grabbing a blade and a meat piece.
Within minutes, they had a vast assortment of plates of food. Kebabs with meat on them, plates full of seasoned legs and arms of creatures he wasn't quite sure of, and more.
They were resting on small wooden plates and bowls. Jairo was released while Ariel held a bowl on each hand, with Nero holding two plates, Harken holding a blast with a bowl on it, because if anyone was going to be extra, it was him.
Maribel also held a blow in hand, leading the charge. "Come on. We have to hurry if we want to get a place to sit."
Nero of course was having none of it. "I don't see you carrying this much food. Maybe you could slow down, I'm going no faster. "
Eventually they came to the river on the outskirts of the villiage, and all sat down in a circle nearby, while making sure not to drop anything.
Nero was digging into the meat of a weird bird creature. Maribel began taking bites out of her kebabs. 'What word do they have for those? No way the name them the same.'
Cutting through his thoughts, Ariel nudged his arm, catching his attention. As he craned his neck in her direction, he saw that she was holding a piece of meat that she had ripped off, holding it towards his face.
Seeing his shock, she pushed it closer. "Will I have to open your mouth for you too?"
shaking his head, he bit down, taking it from her hands. Leaning back, he felt his tastebuds take off. "Its…so good!"
She grabbed another piece and they repeated the cycle.
watching Ariel feed Jairo with one hand while being simply enamored with his reaction, her eyes seemingly mystified, Harken looked away.
"Those two have to get a room." He said as he turned to Nero. They rarely agreed to much, but this was the truth. It felt like all three of them were third wheeling.
"Yeah. It feels like I shouldn't be seeing any of this. I don't exactly like to intrude."
Harken then looked to Maribel who didn't seem to mind. "Why aren't you disturbed?"
She stopped eating and turned to him. "Who said I wasn't? I can hear much better than you two, so it's not hard to filter out."
"Lucky you." Harken said, shaking his head.
Just then, the trees seemed to shake. Looking up, Jairo saw multiple winged birds with yellow and orange feathers flying overhead. Just one of them was a little bigger than him.
But only their silhouettes.
He was going to lean back, but Ariel pulled him in. Damn, it was hard not to try and push things further when she was coddling him like this.
"What are those things?" He said, looking overhead for any more.
"Their are plenty of winged creatures in these forests, but we call them blazer beaks. Because of their fiery colors, they are said to be able to catch on fire when fast enough. I know you're not from here, but these things come around every year. They are hard to miss."
that was new. So this Jairo from the past isn't even supposed to be from this part of society. Where did he come from? Were their more werewolf settlements?
Just then, many footfalls could be heard from far away. Maribel didn't even seem surprised. "If it weren't for me, we'd be behind all of them, never able to see the Blazers."
Jairo was confused. "Why don't they just…go to other places? Surely they don't just come here." He began scratching the back of his head at the thought.
"No, but they fly so fast that you barely saw them. They need to constantly be around bodies of water for when they stop to drink."
just then, the modern human brain began cranking the gears. "Has anyone ever ridden on top of them before?"
Nero looked at him with shock, his eyes wide. Maribel visibly almost choked on her food. Harken was outright laughing.
Ariel held his face in her hands. "Are you kidding me? Didn't you just say you could barely see it? You don't wish to get yourself killed do you?"
He put his hands on her face as well. "It's difficult not to try to kiss you right now."
Ariel seemed to have frozen the moment he uttered these words. As he opted to continue, a hand came in between them. It belonged to Maribel. "Even I have my limits."
"Thank you. I didn't want to have to do it, but it was getting obnoxious." Harken said, pointing at the two of them."
Jairo looked to Harken surprised. "Were obnoxious together, you're obnoxious all on your own. What made you think it was you're turn to speak?"
Harken looked like he was going to say something, but stopped midway, waving back at him. "Whatever."
This obviously left Harken a bit pissed but their wasn't much he could say after putting the team in danger, so he decided to leave it.
That was one reason for Jairo to be happy. The next was that he had found something to take off of his bucket list. He was going to ride one of those things. Those Blazer Beaks.