Time: 31:35, Day: Kiviber, Week: 3, Month: K?rgoyde, Year: 36651

  The Lucky Cask tavern was surprisingly welcome, and uncharacteristically warm. Even here, with firelight and laughter, Hollow’s End pressed against the shutters like a held breath, waiting. Especially once Ayanna had gotten drunk enough to demand her way out of the back room, pushing her way past Grim and through the door, almost knocking Vezzy over. She even managed to have better control of herself, despite the immense tug of Chaos Magic Essence flowing from deep below Hollow's End, and the highly potent Asp’s Tongue she was drinking.

  “Ugh, what is wrong with this woman? Who the hell even is she?” Vezzy asks Lilith, refilling her tankard with Bloodfire Whiskey, “And how did you wind up finding the reclusive Beast God? What exactly have you and your dead thing been up to?”

  Lilith smiled drunkenly, swaying from side to side on the stool, softly laughing to herself.

  “Are you even listenin’, Firebug?” Vezzy asks, her expression that of a concerned mother, “Of course not, you're drunker’an Fibble.” Vezzy let out a laugh, shaking her head and going to collect and clean tankards.

  “Oh great Beast God! Please give us your blessing!” Several Beast-Folk surrounded Grim and were kneeling and praying to him.

  “I'm not that kind of deity. Can't you just let me drink in peace? Do I really have to command you all to leave me the fuck alone?” Grim said his tail swaying and twitching with agitation, his tankard empty.

  “But, Beast God, we are only here to offer our services to you.” A young boar Beastkin spoke up, smiling giddily at Grim.

  “And what if your services aren't needed? I am a God because there are none who have stood against me and lived. That's no reason to worship me or expect me to deliver divine blessings or whatever. I'm neither God, nor an Origin.” Grim said with an agitated flick of his tail. His tail struck the floor, sounding like a while despite its fluffiness.

  “What about body’s then? Surely, you can find a use for us in that manner.” A Naga woman slithered up to Grim, her hand sliding up his thigh, dangerously close to his—

  “BACK OFF SNAKE BITCH! THATS MY BEAST GOD! FIND YOUR OWN!” Ayanna stumbled into the Naga woman, knocking her over. Ayanna's wings fluttered violently, as she tried to stretch them out, her hands missing her hips as she attempted her power pose.

  “Ay, maybe you should sit down before you fall down. And thanks for trying to help, but there's no need to pretend there's anything between us.” Grim grabbed Ayanna by the shoulders and pulled her to him, their faces inches apart.

  “Nothing between us because you're too scared you'll get addicted to me.” Ayanna's drunken words agitated Grim even further, as she struggled to focus on looking him in the eyes, “Stop. Stop moving so much, I'm trying to yell at you for not loving me!” Ayanna poked Grim’s bare chest hard enough to break the skin, yet he just continued glowering at her as his tail continued to whip against the floor.

  “So what are we even supposed to do? Syren wants us all dead, but wants to take Ay’s heart, and honestly Vez, I just want to go somewhere quiet with Lilith and fuck like crazy. Especially after the whole ‘Strangle’,” Elstraya stands up and tries to imitate Ayanna, “thing. That was too fuckin hot. She literally made their armor eat them, Vez, I thought I was going to squirt all over myself.” Elstraya's eyes widened and she looked over at Lilith who was still smiling at nothing and swaying back and forth, “Well, I'm sure she didn't hear, and I know she won't remember.” Elstraya laughed, strained.

  “You know, El, for being the only one here with an unnatural body that can't get wasted, you're the one that talks the most when you come here. Maybe you just need a friend.” Vezzy said, wiping out a tankard with her apron, her whiskers twitching.

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  “You're probably right, the only time I get to vent is when we're here. Otherwise, Lil will just go beating the shit out of whoever pisses me off.” Elstraya rolls her eyes and slumps over the bar, “Ugh, and now all this extra shit. You know that bitch had the audacity to name Lilith and I as traitors for helping Ay. . .” Elstraya sits back up, too perky.

  “I take it there's a secret there?” Vezzy leaned in close, her whiskers twitching frantically.

  “Yea, but it's not really mine to tell. You'd have to ask—” Elstraya goes to point at Ayanna, but is completely flabbergasted to see her straddling the Beast God’s lap, gripping his face and fully making out with him while the crowd of Beastkin watches eagerly.

  “Seems she's a little preoccupied at the moment, El.” Vezzy laughs, shaking her head, “Well, regardless of what's going on with you all, as long as you don't cause me problems and pay for your drinks upfront, then you’ll always have a home here. Should I get the room next to yours ready? Or are you not staying that long?” Vezzy asked, waving Fibble over to her, and then pulling her dagger out and using that to wave him over.

  “Might as well, we will probably be here at least for a couple days. Although, none of us really have anywhere to go, so it may be longer. I don't really know what's next for us, and that's the most terrifying thing.” Estraya took on a more saddened depressed expression, once again slumping forward onto the bar.

  “Gods damnit woman!” Grim shouted, shoving Ayanna off his lap as he stood up. His aggravation finally reaching its peak. He took in a deep breath and let out a roar that shook the entire building. All the Beastkin that surrounded him knelt down, out of a combination of instinctual submission and fear.

  “Now will you please, fuck off and let me drink in peace!” Grim shouted, and only Ayanna stood back up, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Her wings fluttered violently to help her find balance, her tail jerking back and forth to help as well.

  “You sexy wolf thing, Lupin! Shut your mouth, and kiss me like you mean it!” Ayanna rocked back and forth, her arms shooting out to help her balance herself, and then with a smile, she jumped at Grim again, knocking him to the floor as she fought to kiss him.

  “Oh, there's the answer to how we managed to find the King of Recluses. She's had a thing for him ever since she was a small girl, and—” Elstraya looked up at Vezzy, a curious look on her face, “You know, Vez, they never actually told us how they managed to find each other in a 477 mile wide forest full of all sorts of dangerous creatures.” Elstraya eased her way back upright and looked at Grim and Ayanna, wondering how exactly they'd met and what exactly was going on between them. Clearly Grim was strong enough to keep her off of him so why was he pretending to fight her off, if he wanted her to go away he could make her, easily.

  “Seems to me like they don't really know what to expect from one another. He's much stronger than that, we all know that, but yet even as he fights her off. He's carefully positioning her in ways that she won't hurt herself too much. He's even letting her overpower him. If it wasn't for the fact that we can feel his presence in our souls, I wouldn't even think he was the God of Beasts.” Vezzy laughs, “You should probably call it a night though, you look more dead than usual, and Lilith is gonna scramble her brain if she keeps rocking like that.”

  “Yea, I probably should, but maybe let's watch Kelevra get tortured a little longer.” Elstraya said, propping her head up on her palm as she rested her elbow on the bar.

  “Is it really torture if he just goes along with it?” Vezzy asks, a soft laugh coating her tone as she looks over at her own pain in the ass husband.

  The night at the Lucky Cask ended in a blur of laughter, shouting, and Ayanna throwing herself at Grim one too many times—or maybe Grim pretending to fight her off, who knows. At some point, Fibble passed out mid-story but didn't start snoring until the story had ended. Lilith finally slid off her stool, threatening to fight the ceiling for pushing her, and Elstraya had to drag her overly-drunken wife upstairs before she set something on fire.

  When the tavern shutters rattled at dawn, and Vezzy could finally let loose her iron grip on her dagger's hilt, the warmth of the night was gone. Hollow’s End was waiting outside—silent, gray, and hungry.

  Grim sat at the window with his tankard, watching the mist curl through the crooked street, eyes sharp despite the hours without sleep. Elstraya was already awake—not that her undead body would allow her any sleep—quill scratching across a floating page of Veystracis.

  Lilith snored into a scorched, sticky table covered in empty tankards and half drank bottles.

  Ayanna groaned from the corner bench, her wings twitching irritably under the weight of her hangover. She buried her face in her arms and mumbled something about “stupid wolf gods” and “too much Asp’s Tongue.”

  Vezzy’s voice cut through the haze like a blade, “Get your asses up or there’ll be no food for any of ya’s!.”