Hailie looked like a drowned mouse. No, quite literally. I chuckled at the sigh of her hair flattening to her head, cloak dripping, boots dripping with every step as her limbs squelched when they squeezed. She probably didn’t know how properly dry herself off, either... Probably had someone who bathed her, too, so when she made an attempt to dry herself, it went about as good as it can be. She kept trying to shake her arms like a cat that fell into a bathtub, which only made the water fly all over my face, and I squinted to make sure none hit my eyes. "Can you be less violent?" I muttered, ducking away as another cold spray hit me. "Oh, hee~ Sorry, sorry! It’s just... It’s just so slimy!" she said, flailing her sleeves again. "Alright, we can dry up at the inn." I said, pointing towards the place that was written on the note. We made it through Toreno’s narrow streets until we found the place, an inn with one of the most suspicious name in history. A fairly tall building with hanging lanterns and a wooden sign carved into the shape of a streaking star. It looked cozy, respectable, even a little too clean for a place that’d presumably host murderers or mysterious NPCs... Because at night, travellers would look for stars, and a comet is a star, right? So, a liar’s guide, ba dum tss. As soon as we stepped in, though, the innkeeper; a man in his thirties with clean shaven beard standing behind the counter glared at us, he looked ready to commit homicide. His expression shifted from polite to disgusted in about half a second. "Absolutely not, out. Out!" he yelled, flicking his hand at the door like he was herding stray dogs. "You’re dripping all over the floorboards! You filthy outsiders are going to get mold all over my place!" "Wait, we just need to..." I sighed and reached into my bag, pulling out my Glock-19 and shot him dead with three well-placed rounds to the center mass; chess, just like how I was trained in basics after I got drafted to World War 3. Just kidding, of course... Even though I wished it was true, in reality, a loud clink "Why didn’t you say so sooner, dear guests?" Instantly, his tone melted like butter, he flashed a grin so fake it could’ve been carved out of wood. "Please, please, take these towels! Fireplace will be right up, make yourselves comfortable!" Two seconds later, Hailie and I were in blankets, hot chocolate and marshmello on hand... Figuretively, of course. The innkeeper gone from disgusted to servile, lighting the hearth and even bowing slightly as he offered us the "most exclusive" rooms upstairs which included fresh fruits... Which was probably a codeword for prostitution, if I understood it correctly. Ann’s wisdom rubbed off. Money really did make people forget their dignity. "We’re here to look for a friend," I said once he’d finished his little act. "He’s supposed to be staying in one of the rooms upstairs, mind if we check around?" He hesitated, mouth half-open to refuse, "Well... That’s..." until I tossed another ten coins across the counter. And very professionally, he opened his jacket to let the coins slid down to his pant pockets presumably. "All yours, madams," he said with a grin. With that, I’ve experienced one one-hundredth of what the Sonders feel like every day, I’d assume. So, we climbed up the narrow stairs, Hailie somehow got a cup of grape juice from the innkeeper which she kept tight near her chest as she ascended with a satisfied smile. The wood creaked under our boots as I observed the dimly lit hall, smelling faintly of wine and damp pine. I turned to Hailie before we reached the first door. "As we planned... When you see him, just try and say ’Blueberry,’ okay? Like... I want some blueberry pies or something, don’t point, don’t scream, don’t do anything else. Just that word." "Yes, madam!" she said, giving a millitary salute so serious I almost laughed, she looked like a five-year-old pretending to be a secret agent. We stopped at the first door. I knocked gently. "Come in." I heard a voice yelled out. So I opened it halfway... And instantly, I regretted every decision that had led to this point as my faced twitched. I saw a man’s bare ass as he was having fun with his girlfriend (presumably) in a doggy style position. He stood upright, back turned against the door, while she knelt on the bed. Probably two players... God fucking hell, but like, WHO THE FUCK SAYS "COME IN" WITHIN THIS CONTEXT?????? The guy looked over his shoulder at me, his face sweaty and annoyed. "What the hell do you want?" "Oh my god!" Hailie squeaked, covering her eyes in shame and embarrasment. "Uh... I- Uh..." I froze, trying to think fast, we needed her to see his face. "Hailie, open your eyes!" The man pulled his hips out of his girlfriend’s ass... So I also, looked to the ceiling as he approached us, avoiding eye-contact with his little friend which was most definitely pointing at me right now. I took a step back as he murmured something, quite annoyed, before starting to close the door, muttering curses. Read full story at 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩•𝗳𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝕟𝕖𝕥 He was going to close the door before Hailie got a good look... So panic set into my soul, this was only the first door out of four on this floor, so maybe we could skip this, but like, what if it’s him? Logic stopped working, my brain decided to turn off and let instinct take over, and when it did, the best possible thing to salvage was: "Wait! We wanna join!" Hailie, the man, the woman on bed all looked at me. The man blinked, opening the door up again to face us, Hailie’s hands dropped from her face in pure shock. Our eyes met the man’s for half a second before Hailie turned around and walked straight into the wall like it was a timeout corner. "Blueberry?" I asked, desperate. "No!" she said, muffled into the wall. I slammed the door shut so fast I nearly broke the hinges, almost shattering his cock too if he was one step closer to the arch of the door. "WRONG ROOM! HAVE FUN, SORRY!" I yelled. The guy yelled back something I didn’t catch, but he didn’t try to pursue me, so I didn’t have to dick-capitate him. "Oh... Oh no... Ugh... Oh my lord-" Hailie was absolutely traumatized... Considering how she was sheltered her whole life, I could only assume this was her first encounter with something like that... Hell, she may even had never held hands with a boy before. She was standing with her face pressed against the wallpaper, both hands holding her cranium. "Oh lord... That was such an ugly site... No... No no no no no." ... I didn’t know what to say. "...Cory." She replied. "Do you want me to check the second door first?" I added. She nodded weakly, sounding like she’d aged ten years... Welp, I popped her cherry on that, that’s for sure. I sighed and knocked on the next door. The door cracked open just enough for me to see glowing amber eyes and fur. A dog woman with sharp fangs and bigger muscles than mine was gnarling her teeth as she stared me down for exactly one second before slamming the door shut. "Probably not that one either," I said dryly, sighing in relief, "Not everyone’s in this inn for... That purpose." Then came the third door, I knocked, and footsteps came to the door. It creaked open slowly, revealing a man who stood inside. He was not particularly young, and not old either, somewhere in his late twenties, maybe early thirties. He had dark hair slicked back, a sharp jaw, and eyes that looked almost... translucent, like stormglass. His coat was worn travel leather, hood half-down, and there was something unsettlingly still about him, like the air around him didn’t move. "Evening... Sir," I said casually. "Sorry to bother you, but I found this money sack in the hallway. Is it yours?" I held up a random pouch that I stuffed my own gold coins in. "Money..." He frowned slightly. "I don’t think I lost any." "Could you take a closer look? Maybe you dropped it earlier." I stepped aside, letting Hailie have a clear view of the guy. And she did, slowly, turning toward him almost reluctantly, and it took a few seconds until her eyes met his. Then, at the exact same moment, thunder cracked outside admist the rain, shaking the entire world. "Blueberry!" Hailie shouted. The man’s pupils widened. Before I could react, he spun around, grabbed his bag, and dove straight through the window with his head tucked. Shattering the glass with the momentum of his body, letting the raindrops burst in. "GET BACK HERE!" I yelled as I dashed through the window myself, landing with a front roll "I JUST WANT TO TALK!" I look back to see Hailie jumping down, landing on all four limbs awkwardly.