Liam was caught, tugged by his hand with enough force his shoulder felt threatened. The captured hand was under considerable pressure, Bunny's grip was stronger than his by a fair margin. She was casually displaying the sort of strength that should not have been viable for someone a full foot shorter and a third his weight. He was effectively a hostage, no chance of escape. Not that he was going to complain, she seemed to be practically vibrating with anticipation. The important factor was that it was the bounding sort of enthusiasm and not the impish type. The aspect looked like she would've started dancing if that could've somehow made them get to their destination any faster.
Winding their way through the streets, Bunny’s guidance took them in a gentle curve, following a road that followed the houses at the inner edges of the beak. The contents at either side of the road were stark and in sharp contrast to one another. On one side, there were a few large estates with beautifully kept and illuminated gardens; on the other were a conglomeration of mud-brick buildings that Liam could only describe as a triple-storied, cobbled-up shanty town. To be fair, it was a very nicely cobbled-up shanty town, clean, no signs of chipping or aged paint, and compressed to a handful of street blocks, kind of as if M.C. Escher had tried to design a ghetto.
But it was hard to believe any of the fat-cats in the city would've allowed for such a place to even exist anymore, or at least that was what he thought until Liam spotted the activity nearby. Most everyone moving around the place was well-dressed and equally well-groomed, with a not ignorable number of armed guards discreetly spread about. Perhaps the reason the buildings had been kept was out of some sort of historical reasons rather than economical.
Doeta, like many of the larger cities in this world, was millions of years old. Each and every one of them had long histories involving populations coming in, building up, and eventually abandoning it for one reason or another (typically Gods or monsters being the cause), before coming back a millennia or two after. No doubt the very first iterations of the city were far lower into the ground, perhaps low enough that they could've pieced together this was a monster's mouth and not a claw (there were other mouths further down, ones with sharp teeth).
“Here we are,” Bunny declared, finally releasing his hand. “The betting house, well, A betting house, one of the more exclusive ones. This is the rich-people betting house; there are four other legal ones, and something like twelve that will lock their doors if they suspect there’s a guard anywhere nearby.”
“That’s... you found out about all of this pretty quickly.”
“Thanks! It was nothing to an awesome divine aspect like myself. Now come on.” She snatched his hand again and pulled him towards the building.
A guard near one of the entrances scowled at their approach, preparing to intercept, but Bunny pulled out a gold coin from somewhere in her tunic and tossed it at the guy. The guard's attitude changed pretty quickly, opening the door for them, earning a few quiet glares from the others.
The inside of the building was lavishly decorated with thick rugs, dark oak beams, and columns interspersed throughout a café-like room with dozens of tables divided by semi-transparent silk curtains. There was a faint scent of incense lingering in the air, mixed with a herbal flowery smell.
“Don’t you need a spell to make coins? Or do you have a special storage now too? I think I’m sensing Origin might have let you a bit too loose.” He kept himself talking in English, finding it comfortable. Even during his conversations with Maridah, the Goddess hadn’t used the language casually the way Bunny did. Perhaps she hadn’t fully pieced it together before they’d split up?
“The spell is called nimble fingers and empty pockets,” Bunny let out a small chirp, drawing the attention of a volar woman dressed in what Liam could only describe as ‘modest-harem-wear.’ “Table for two, private,” she tossed a gold coin at the waitress, who hastily bowed and led them to an upper floor.
“You couldn’t have just bought your way in…”
“Of course not, I just found out who owned the place and convinced them to make me a member,” Bunny shrugged, turning to the waitress and quickly giving a few instructions to her in a whisper too low for Liam to catch any of it. She followed this by slipping a few silver coins as their guide hastily acknowledged the order and left.
“What was that about?” he asked.
“Surprise.” Her eyes twinkled as she took the lead again, navigating the dark wooden corridor and past the various doors until stepping into a balcony room, with a low table and cushions for chairs.
It was becoming clearer that the people in Doeta preferred furniture at shin level, and to replace chairs with either cushions or legless chairs if you were feeling fancy.
The balcony hung over a small interior courtyard. There were people mingling underneath, but their voices didn’t reach them. Liam approached the veranda, finding a glimmer etched on the wooden railings. “Privacy enchantment?”
“Wolf will help it along to make it work as advertised; you wouldn’t imagine how many people around here like to poke their ears into others' business,” Bunny sighed, gesturing at the cushions. “Now sit.”
Eyeing her for a moment, he obliged, crossing his legs.
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She plopped herself down on his lap, wriggling as she glanced over her shoulder at him with a mischievous grin.
“Nope.” He scooped her off of his lap and dropped her on the cushion next to him.
“What, you don’t like my current form?” She glanced down at herself. “I’d even worked something out to avoid the you-know-who,” she wiggled her brows at him. “Wanna see? I've got all the fleshy bits, anatomically correct in every...” Bunny stopped, frowned, and looked down at her chest, poking it with her finger. “Forgot mortals have that stupid heartbeat thing. Anyway, now I have a pulse, I am at a comfortable level of body heat, and I have holes. I will now proceed to rock your world.”
“I will preface this with ‘flattered but no thanks’.” Though Bunny’s tone had been mostly joking, he knew it was best to set things straight. “It’s fun, but I would prefer to keep things at ‘friendship’.”
“With benefits?”
“I’ll call you my best friend in this world if you drop the benefits.”
Bunny tapped her finger against the table. “You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll take it.” She looked too happy about it for this to have been the surprise. A smile that faltered as she reached out to shake his hand. “Wait, you said THIS world.”
“You’re never going to be a better friend than xx6969gangstalife6969xx. He was with me through thick and thin for many years, and I just met you a month or two back,” Liam replied nonchalantly, his gaze lingering on the people below.
“What is… what kind of name is that?” She asked, blinking rapidly.
“A dumb one, but that’s a story for another time.” He chuckled. “So, how is this work related?”
“It’s a betting house.” She shuffled a bit, digging underneath the table to pull out two cups. The interior of the cups was made of wood, but the exteriors were covered in brass, with geometric patterns depicting some sort of scene involving plants. “I was thinking that we could use mortal's dumb fixation on coins to our advantage.”
“How so?”
“The prize for winning the climbing competition is to personally meet the Emir, right?” She pulled several small containers from under the table. “And if we have more gold to spend, then we can hire more people, so…”
He chuckled. “I might be interested in competing, if only to see how far I can go. But there’s no way I’d win.”
“Duh.” She rolled her eyes. “I originally wanted to be the one showing off, but that wasn’t going to work out since any bit of scrutiny would show I’m an awesome divine self. But you know who’s built for stealth? Wolf is built for stealth; nothing short of some sage-level spell would be able to tell she’s anything other than whatever she’s pretending to be. She can do all that mortal junk great too!”
“...Junk?” He raised a brow.
“You know, all that dumb blinking, expelling moisture, being smelly… all those annoying things you mortals can’t help yourselves from doing.” To make the point, she stopped breathing, and as she did this, a thousand other things shifted about her. It was as if she’d suddenly become an animatronic; her movements became fluid and perfectly smooth, without a tremble or a shake, no blinking, no minute little hints of being alive. “See?” Her voice spoke out without moving her lips.
Liam’s expression stiffened for a moment, a cold trickle running down his back.
Bunny giggled, life seeming to return to her movements, but it was obvious that everything about it was a conscious effort for her.
“So what’s my input in all of this?” He broke out the question, pushing the conversation forward.
“For Wolf to compete, she’d need to stop being your shadow.” She squirmed a little. “We all agreed that if you suspect there might be danger, or think that having her away from you is uncomfortable, then we shouldn’t try this. The same goes if any of us find any hints that the Weaver is plotting something.”
Before he could answer, there was a light knock on the door.
“Ah, here it is! The surprise.” Bunny leaned over and gave a single knock on the door to signal the waitress to enter.
The woman was carrying a bronze kettle, a wooden jar with fresh water in it, and a box made out of woven reeds. She carefully placed all three items on the table and, with a bow, left them alone.
Liam’s eyes locked on the kettle instantly, his nostrils flaring in recognition of what had just been brought.
“Surprise!” Bunny picked up the piping hot kettle by its searing surface, entirely unbothered by the heat, and poured the rich black liquid into his cup.
“Is this…?”
“The Bunny-nose certified, best legally purchasable coffee in the city. The real bestest best one is somewhere in the Emir’s place, but that one can’t be bought, and Origin said I wasn’t allowed anywhere close enough to try and steal it.” She put down the kettle, looking at him expectantly, smiling from ear to ear with a hint of nervousness. “I hope it’s comparable to what you had in your world.”
He blinked down at the cup, closing his eyes, inhaling the rich aroma. Carefully, Liam cupped his fingers around the mug, bringing it closer and giving it a tentative sip. “It’s perfect.”
Bunny fidgeted. “Oh, uh, really? You said you liked it with milk, and there’s some honey and goat’s milk here, which-”
“I’ll get to that,” he took another long sip, the near-scalding elixir making its way down his throat and leaving a warmth in his belly. Liam put the cup down, looking at her with a smile. “Thanks, this was a great surprise. I couldn’t have asked for a better one.”
He barely had time to see her eyes widen and her face flush before Bunny abruptly poofed, spontaneously returning to her original tiny black rabbit form. Without a moment's hesitation, she hopped onto his lap, burying her face in the crook of his arm.
“You ok?” Glancing down at her, he reached out to scratch her between the ears.
“You better remember my generosity.” Bunny proclaimed, the tiny ball of fluff snuggling into his arm. “I’m your best friend.”
“Yup, best friend in this world.” He laughed, scratching her between her ears. “Do you want some?”
“Wolf said the last thing anyone needs is for me to have a metabolism capable of experiencing caffeine.” Bunny replied. “Also, it’s too bitter, I prefer chia.”
Seeing wisdom in the hunter-aspect’s words, he used his free arm to pour himself milk and honey into his cup, stirring it to a dark brown, and then gingerly sipping the hot beverage. Meanwhile, Bunny took the chance to excitedly narrate what she’d been doing today, and it had been a LOT. The aspect had been buzzing with the hope to let loose now that she was allowed full access to her abilities, and she’d been very busy.
“Wait, back up.” He muttered, catching on to the rambling. “You destroyed a gang!?”