Julian's House
Nested away in a small house among houses in the village is a middle-aged werewolf, who for convenience chose to keep his mostly human features. Although there weren’t only of his kin living here, as the name would imply. Indeed, there were more people from different origins that soon became a community in the place they call home. Julian would have been fine living this way until his death, as there wasn’t really anything else he aspired to be, perhaps he had everything he needed to know, and he would be alright with that.
But the man was not necessarily living as a hermit, he still socialised when needed and did lend a hand to people needing his help. After all, knowing and building tools or pacifying feral animals who were in the vicinity were some of the tasks he took upon himself as he felt fit to do it with the others. It was for his kids’ sake after all, even if his marriage to their mother is no more, he was still a father and it was his responsibility to look out after his children when his ex-wife couldn’t on occasions.
A nearly peaceful life even with all the ups and downs, which is ideal for him, it would however soon come to an end.
Isolated but peaceful was the theme of the village as a whole, with its perilous cliff faces keeping most outsiders away. But today it seemed those natural defenses had failed...
But the only sign of any anomaly at Julian's home was the face, framed by his window, waiting for him to take notice.
It didn’t take long for the man to notice that there’s been activity near his house.
…Oh, it’s that weird kid from a few blocks away. Julian has seen her on multiple occasions but rarely interacted with her. It was a surprise to see her in his surroundings, as he expected the kid to goof off elsewhere.
Still… Without making her wait any longer, he opened the door and stuck his head out. It did annoy him slightly at the idea of being watched without any reason; in fact, it made him uneasy but still… If she needed something, Julian wasn’t going to ignore her.
“… Yes? How may I help you?”
She'd already spun to face him, though she hadn't stepped back from the window. She just brushed her gloved fingertips across her lips and laughed—an oddly refined sound for someone who'd just been silently staring through a stranger's window.
"Ah, gracious as always, Mr. Volkov~! But it is not I who needs help. In fact, I'm not sure they've realized it themselves yet, hmhm..." She looked out to the cold, pale sky for a moment, the breeze stirring her bangs, but faced Julian again without further comment.
"You've time for another project, I imagine? I foresee at the very least a few wagons in dire need at the moment. Or, rather, they will be, very soon."
The weird kid wasn’t going to change. Hardly any surprise there at least.
Julian just let her do her act, ready to close the door if she was fooling around a bit too much. Fortunately for the girl, her words caught his attention, despite the odd way of her speech. Needing help? Project? What could she possibly mean by this? There’s no way she could predict the future like that on a whim.
Intuition, on the other hand, is a skill. So, he supposes anything to kill the time is better than eventually rotting away after the routine tires him.
Pursing his lips in thoughts, he initially considered calling it bullsh*t and refusing said project. But on the other hand, if it really does happen, would it be any better to do nothing and regret it after?
There’s only one way to find out and wasting his skills away would be a nightmare to him, so another point in the girl’s favor.
“… Sure, I do.”
Julian grabbed his tools nearby and tucked these on his belt before gesturing at the weird kid to lead the way there.
"Hmhm, I thought as much~"
She nodded at the gesture and smoothly turned on her heel, pausing to watch the sky for another moment before continuing ahead.
"We'll come to find them at the Rushing Waters, I believe. And if you're curious about my stake in this, well! We don't often have travelers here, wouldn't you say? Certainly not a whole caravan's worth. So if I'm to start my following, I believe this may be my finest chance for some time. And powerful though I may be, actually working with technological repairs is, hmhm... not my specialty, da?"
Her boots thumped along the stone path, her stride sure. She extended a hand upward briefly, though anyone not already watching may not have seen why...
Some of the girl’s speech goes through his ear and exit on the other. In other words, some nonsense. But she did say quite some relevant information as well, a whole caravan, she said?
“Alright then, I get it. I’ll do what I can to help them then.”
Julian really didn’t mind but he would have appreciated if it was approached more directly. Either way, he understood what it was about, and the tinkerer was ready to assist. He walked alongside, looking for any sign of said wagons. Noticing her movements, he wondered if it was the wagons where the kid’s looking at, the ones needing his help? It’s been a little while since he had been at the Rushing Waters himself. Already, Julian’s attempting to look more attentively at what might be wrong with the caravan’s state first.
"Of course, of course~ Do excuse my rambling—I sometimes lose track of what information those of a more normal ilk still desire."
Rushing Waters
When they reached the Rushing Waters, there's already a fair crowd assembled—despite the girl's claims, it seemed like she could have simply seen the caravan earlier. And a rather large caravan it was. There were several wagons worth checking, but they certainly couldn't do it with all these people in the way.
Upon a second look, maybe the crowd wasn't all there for the condition of the caravan. It seemed some healers were whisking a stranger away, but there were no other clues about that situation besides the faint tang of blood in the air.
An older-looking woman with a leader's headpiece stood tall near the center of things. She eyed the healer crew as they left before looking around to see what other business needed tending to.
“… It’s fine.”
Julian kept himself from saying anything more before reaching the place—Huh. Yeah, there’s no way she’d have predicted it. Either way, he wasn’t going to lecture her on her made-up stories but… There was still an inkling of truth in her statement.
… Man, there really was a crowd today, it was impossible to do a through check of all-
Hm?
Even the village's merchant, that Julian only knew mostly for his antics, got curious all sudden, staring at the caravan with an unusual focus.
"…"
"Thank you, thank you." Paying no mind to the merchant, the girl continued to tag along. Julian, on the other hand, crossed his arms as he approached the woman at the center. If people from the caravan try anything funny with the inhabitants here, they’ll be dealt with.
“Ahem. Mind if I ask what’s your business, madam? That’s quite a crew you’ve brought.”
Said woman stared down haughtily at the wolfman for a moment. "It's best to introduce yourself before making demands of others."
"Of course—please pardon me," the girl said, as if she'd been the one to start the conversation. She did a little flourish with her hand and bowed. "Aphina, known as Morozova, lost daughter of Odin and goddess of hidden knowledge."
The woman stared at her a moment. "Well, then. I suppose you know exactly what I think about that, do you?"
Aphina still smiled. "You act as if you're alone in the sentiment."
"I'm sure I'm not." She folded her arms and turned back to Julian. "I'm Bas, and this is my caravan. Most of it." Her eyes flicked towards the direction that stranger had been carried off to. "We were headed to Labhinn for some trading, but apparently we made a wrong turn along the way. A couple of wrong turns. We appreciate your circle's hospitality while we make the necessary preparations to set out again."
It’s not like the merchant was looking at the girl. Mostly, he was still observing the situation. In any case, it looks like Julian had to hone his conversational skills outside of the circle a bit more. Waiting until Aphina finished speaking—so that was her name. Why did it take him this long to get her name, he’ll never know (he didn’t bother to ask her actually). Actually, most of the times, Julian had nicknames ready for everyone he wasn’t close to. Good going.
… In any case, Julian scratched the back of his ear, slightly sheepish, before regaining his original composure, after Aphina and now Bas spoke.
“I apologize for the way it sounded, I’m Julian Volkov.”
A pause.
“Well, if that’s just that… Sure, take the time you need to recuperate.”
Bas lifted an eyebrow. "Yes, thank you for your permission," she said drily.
A bit farther behind Julian were a woman and her two children in her arms looking. The one notable thing about the woman and her kids were they all had the same attributes as Julian, the ears and tails.
“Julian… What did I tell you about setting an example with your attitude for Mischka and Orel?”
“Yaryna- Don’t just jump on the conversation like that!”
Yaryna shook her head at her ex-husband, but soon looked at the leader.
“Hello. I’m Julian’s ex-wife, Yaryna. I apologize on behalf of this man. Please do make yourselves comfortable, and if there’s anything you need in the meantime, we’ll do our best to provide it.”
The kids meanwhile, were looking at their father, unsure to interrupt the conversation but clearly wanting to talk to him.
Bas seemed amused by Yaryna's entrance. "Men, eh?" She gave a terse nod of greeting. "So long as you don't chase us out with pitchforks, we ought to handle ourselves just fine for a while yet." She frowned. "Well, there's Cortik, but he's already being seen to. And whatever apparently possessed our navigator to get us all the way up here, but—now I'm just complaining." She waved it off.
Despite Bas’s dry tone, Yaryna’s smile didn’t seem to waver. She sighed at the woman’s next statement, oh so that guy was Cortik.
“Men, indeed… Well, then I’ll let you be.”
It seemed that even after Bas’s words that nothing much changed about Yaryna, if only a more curious look at the people there that arrived, and her children decided to go on the ground. After a bit of muttering, Yaryna let them go.
Julian wasn’t all too pleased with the situation at hand, but he knew when to keep quiet, lest he unintentionally cause any more problems. All that he will do at this moment is listening while letting Yaryna take the charge. Sometimes you know when to let other people pick up.
Aphina had been muttering something herself in the meantime, though she wasn't facing any of them. Only after a deep frown etched her features did she turn back to Bas.
"It's a bit more troublesome than you're letting on, I'm afraid. Mr. Cortik's medicine isn't easily found this far from the coast..." She sighed. "We can surely hope the healers have an immediate treatment, but it's only a matter of time before he's endangered again, isn't it?"
Bas looked shocked at Aphina's comments, lips set in a thin line, before muttering something about "must have met him before" and leaving it at that.
… One of the kids tugged at their father’s sleeve, prompting him to kneel. Oh, so Yaryna did let them go because both wanted to talk to him. Alright.
“Yes, Orel…?”
“Papa… I could have sworn this strange artist guy know some healing?”
“Him?”
Julian wasn’t very subtle while pointing at the merchant, by the way. His daughter spoke up in turn.
“Yeah, I saw him tending to himself the other day and a few people in here too. Why don’t we ask him?”
“I… Suppose it can’t hurt to try?”
Aphina looked amused by Orel's comment, a hand held up to her smiling lips. She glanced to the merchant. "A fellow strange one, hmm~?"
When Julian turned around, he noticed that he was observed. The guy behind the table with his craft was looking at him unamusedly.
“You know I’d notice if I’m being pointed at, right? So, what were you talking about? And what’s the deal with this caravan?”
Oh. Oh no, he’d have to explain. Well, okay. Julian gave the summary to the merchant, who then went in a deep thought.
“I see… So that’s what happening. I can’t guarantee I know what’s going on, but I can try to help. And I have the basic meds if needed.”
Julian then made the “how much” gesture at the merchant.
The blond man sighed before talking.
“We’ll talk about price later; I know I need money but… You know what? I’ll volunteer to help.”
A smirk appeared on the merchant’s face.
“Since you made a sh*tty impression in public after all.”
Julian groaned.
“Thanks for the reminder, kid. Hey… What’s your name?”
The merchant chuckled at this.
“Took you forever to ask names huh? How many people have you not bothered asking names to? Just call me Flora, for now.”
Julian wished Flora would word this differently, he had his own reasons, okay? Anyway, Flora went to clear his table then check one of his bags, to look for the contents. Alright, that seemed to be it.
“Hmm.. Well, I’ll get closer then.”
As close as the merchant could be, without feeling like he’s butting in; in fact, he did want to take a close look, but would he be allowed? That’s to be found out as he left his place to approach the center.
Aphina continued to tag along, even as they caught up to the nearest healers' cavern. She scanned the usual faces there with a brief frown. "I'm not certain they look interested in a merchant's help, knowledge of healing or otherwise..." She turned to Flora. "He'll be in need of Lodurr's Tears once this incident has settled down. Rare medicines aren't precisely your shop's specialty, are they?"
While Julian is busy with his kids talking to him while they watch what Flora is doing, the older man still paid attention to what the two were talking about. Yeah, no doubt they were the weirdos of the town but... Not in a malicious way. Either way, the charge was up to them.
...
While Flora appreciate Aphina tagging along, he wished she'd stop him and tell him before he got too far. Because this was very important to know.
"Hm, yeah, I figured but I'd have thought better trying than doing nothing. Although..."
He frowned.
"Lodurr's Tears... Yyyeah, that's a name I haven't read in a while."
"Of course. Best to say we made a valiant effort... though I suppose it makes unfortunately little difference in this case." Aphina sighed and cast a look back where stalagmites filtered out full views of any patients.
Flora sighed, crossing his arms.
"No yeah, you're correct. I have basic medicine in case people lack these but rare medicine... Especially this one, I've been searching for specific medicine to help people with ailments but they're been incredibly hard to stock, or to find."
She nodded sadly. "I can't imagine how much more difficult it must be if you don't already know where to look."
He looked at her one last time before returning to his place, though by walking back the same pace.
"I'll search one last time in my belongings but I'm afraid you're right. By the way, how did you know this was what he needed?"
She kept pace with him and smiled. "Why, it's my business to know. Or perhaps that isn't quite the word... My domain? Hmm."
"Indeed..."
Her domain huh? Flora guessed he and Aphina aren't much different in behavior. in potentially giving weredad a headache with their clownery
As the girl talked and Flora paid attention, he finally went back to look through his belongings, this time much more meticulously.
Once, twice... Pressing his lips together, thrice... A deep frown. Then slamming his fist on the ground.
"Da*n! I don't have it."
Aphina watched Flora's careful search, in case he managed to overlook something... or in case she just wanted to know his inventory for later. The more information the better, generally.
Julian on the other hand had never really left where he was.
"Need help, kid?"
"No thank you."
Flora's dry tone toward the werewolf got him to step back, raising his hands up.
"Woah there. What is that thingmajig you're looking for really?"
"Lodurr's Tears. Do you know of it?"
Julian could only answer in shrugging.
"Yeah, I figured."
He sighed, getting up.
The werewolf looked worried if anything, but he really had no ideas to contribute to that, so he opted to stay quiet until more information come in.
Aphina hummed. "Yes, I'm afraid Mr. Volkov is better suited to the repair of objects. But both sides are needed here, da?" She peered toward Bas, but the leader seemed occupied again.
After Flora wrapped up his belongings, he now decided to stay quiet and observe the crowd as he did before.
Julian, on the other hand, heard his name mentioned, his ear not so subtly twitching in curiosity. Ah, finally? What took them so long, was Aphina right after all?
The werewolf raised an eyebrow at ‘both sides’. What did she mean by this? But hey…
… He frowned, looking far in the horizon.
“…?”
… Even if he didn’t see what was going on, his hearing’s still at its perk. Is something else coming this way?
The man wasn’t the only one to notice. Yaryna and their kids too were oddly alert, looking around, prompting a few other villagers to look at the source of the sounds.
Flora, on the other hand, might not have much hearing left but he saw the expressions, thus was also looking around.
Something’s wrong.
Aphina's head tilted at the shifting reactions, but she was well aware some had better hearing than humans... She held a hand out in front of her mouth, whispered something, and flung it back down.
By then, even the humans could hear a grating sound coming closer. Like claws on rock, or a beastly chitter. Perhaps a bit of both.
While the shopkeeper didn’t quite hear the sound, the air was still tense.
Aphina sideeyed the caravan. "I don't suppose you lot brought some friends with you?"
Bas didn't turn towards her but did put a hand on the hilt at her waist. "Not on purpose."