Username + ID#: Takura. 186503
It all started with her brother.
Barold had run out of butcher paper for his work, and he’d decided it was about time to go into town to pick up another roll of it. Hopefully they’d have a big enough roll of it so he wouldn’t need to come back into town again, since he wasn’t exactly one for leaving the house more than he needed… Despite what he enjoyed doing for his work.
Giving the door to the shop a push, he heard the ever familiar jingle, and he stepped into the cool air of the craft supply shop. The shopkeeper gave a wave to him as he entered.
“Hello, Barold! It’s been a while!” She gave him a smile, and he adjusted his glasses.
“Ah, yeah. Finally ran out of paper, so I’ve come to collect some more.”
“Well, we should have plenty. Let me know if you need anything.”
He gave a nod, clearing his throat as he made his way to the aisle where he knew the butcher paper rolls were stored and he scanned the shelves over. After a minute, he spotted it - of course it was on a shelf taller than he was. Barold was too proud of a man to ask Lorelai to help with grabbing it from the shelf, so he was determined to get it himself. Standing tiptoe, he stretched to get a grip on the parchment roll - struggling, he managed to tug it down, but didn’t manage to catch it (or himself) in time, and he and the roll met the floor with a thud.
“Aye carumba, little dude - you good?”
A voice he hadn’t heard before came from the end of the aisle, and he grumbled. “I’m over thirty!”
Getting his bearings after unceremoniously hitting the floor, he saw who spoke to him - a taller kalon, with blonde-to-brown hair and four eyes. “Oh, geez. You need help up?”
“I can handle myself.” Barold shifted on the floor before he got up, hoisting the roll of butcher paper up with him. “Thank you for asking, though.”
“No worries, my dude.” The other replied. “Name’s Mars, by the by - you?”
“Barold.”
Mars stifled a small sound of laughter. “Cool digs, my bud. I’ll leave you be. My sister’s probably waiting for me to get back with what she needs for whatever it is she’s up to.”
“Mm?”
“Yeah, my twin sister. She said she needed paint for somethin’.” Mars replied, and he mumbled afterwards, “wouldn’t be surprised if it’s related to pyrotechnics.”
Barold cleared his throat. “Well I’ll leave you to that. Thanks for offering to help.”
With that, Barold had left to make his purchase and immediately took his leave back home.
The next time he ran into Mars, he was with two other people - a tall woman, and a kalon with curly brown hair and folded ears. He tried to avert his gaze, to avoid being seen by Mars, but he had no luck - all three of them spotted him, and the girl whispered something to Mars.
“Hey, lil’ dude!” She called to him. “Hey, c’mere!”
Oh, no.
Taking a breath, he made his way over to the group of three, and the woman looked at him. He could see that the tip of her tail & her ears were alight with flame.
“Is this the dude you said you saw at the craft place?” She asked, in particular to her brother. Mars gave her a nod.
“Yeah.”
She gave a small laugh. “Aye. The name’s Venus.”
“Are you the one who was doing pyrotechnics?” Barold asked, and he saw her expression shift for a moment.
“How’d you figure that out? You’re not a cop, are you, dweeb?” She asked, her voice dropping low.
“Wh-- no! I study astronomy!” Barold replied, sputtering, and Venus’ expression shifted and she laughed.
“Good! Promise you won’t tell.” She gave him a thumbs up. Mars seemed to roll his eyes, sticking his tongue out.
“You know we could just magic ‘vwoop’ away from the cops, right sis?” He asked, brow quirking. The third kalon, who’d been silent the whole time, tilted his head.
“Hey, uh.. I ‘unno if this dude should be hearing this.”
Venus and Mars suddenly paused, and the two of them shot each other a look that Barold didn’t like the energy of. The two of them started to whisper.
“Crispin’s right,” Mars started, “He probably shouldn’t have heard that.”
“Well, what should we do, then?” Venus replied.
“Should we kill him?”
“No!” Venus replied, baffled, “That’s the last thing we want!”
The two whispered between them before they looked back to Barold, and he swallowed. Suddenly, Venus grabbed his wrist, and the four of them made their way into an alleyway away from public viewing. Mars let out a sigh once they were tucked away.
“Okay, listen. So, unfortunately you’re going to have to stick with us from now on.” He said. Barold narrowed his eyes a little.
“Why’s that?”
“You know pure well that, like..” Venus started, however she trailed off a moment later.
“For one, we do crimes, like..” Mars interjected. “A lot of crime. I’m pretty sure we’re wanted felons at this point.”
“What?!”
“Yeah.” Venus grinned. “It’s pretty cool. We’re pretty good at hiding, though.”
“And so unfortunately, you’ll be one of us by association.” Mars nodded. He looked over to Crispin.
“How’d you get caught up in this?” Barold asked, and Cripsin blinked in surprise.
“Oh, I was sort of just friends with Asrophael when he met Mars.” He waved his hands for a moment, giving a laugh. “So I suppose I’ve always been involved.”
Barold swallowed.
“So, dweeblord, you’re part of us now. So you can stay with us if you want.” Mars gave a tilt of his head. “It’d probably help.”
“Can I collect my stuff?”
“Yeah.”
Venus gave him a look. “Don’t mind Mars. He’s nice once you get to know him, honest.”
Barold wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but he gave Venus a small nod. Her smile shifted to be something warmer, and he looked away after a minute, feeling something in his chest.
A part of him, at that moment, knew.
