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Chaos (old)
Humans are... Weird

Humans are... Weird

Yerin Aelis stepped down from the carriage after her father, helped down by Rokvur. She glanced at her surroundings and noticed a dark and shadowy forest, which were clearly far more untamed than the well-groomed hunting grounds back home. Then, Yerin noticed an enchanting scent in the air and breathed in deeply. Turning to its source, she saw the perfectly cooked rabbit on the table, and felt vaguely confused. They had been eating rabbit almost every day, to the point that she was sick of it. However, the aroma of this rabbit was enough to reawaken her appetite. She wondered who had gotten cooking duty today. Taking a seat across from her father, Yerin flicked her white hair over her shoulder and picked up a fork and knife. Upon her first bite, Yerin's red eyes widened in surprise, before preparing to take her next mouthful. The quality of the food surpassed even that of the Aelis family's personal cook. As the cook of a family of Grand Dukes, the cook was definitely among the best of his profession, so it was practically impossible to surpass his skills for anyone except the royal chef himself. And after a moment, Yerin realized that the only seasonings on the rabbit were salt and pepper; this made the feat even more impressive. After finishing the food as quickly as possible without breaching etiquette, Yerin turned to Rokvur.

"Who cooked this?" she asked, her tanned face expressing her curiosity, "And why didn't they cook our other meals as well?"

Rokver responded politely. "A lone traveler joined us on the road today, young miss. He was the one who caught and cooked the rabbits. His name is Fenrir"

The carriage was mostly soundproofed for comfort purposes, and so neither Yerin nor her father had known that a new addition had been made to their group. And Rokvur had not asked them for permission either; he had full authority over the travel arrangements, as long as they arrived at the Capital safely. As the captain of the guard, he at least had that much trust. Yerin's father, Trevor Aelis, surveyed the other travelers, who were preparing for the night. Upon sighting a slightly short figure wearing cloak, with its cowl pulled low over his head, Trevor politely greeted the him, expressing his gratitude. "Many thanks for the meal, Master Fenrir."

The figure glanced their way and gave responded with a brief nod, before turning back to the pelts that he was treating. Yerin frowned angrily. The figure was clearly a commoner who had joined the caravan for the sake of safety. While he had indeed been useful for the meal, that merely made it so that neither party would owe the other; he had paid for his safety with food. But Fenrir was not showing the proper respect for a Grand Duke, as a commoner. He had responded to her father's thanks with a quick glance and a nod. He hadn't even removed the hood covering his features. Yerin opened her mouth to complain, but was interrupted by a quick word from her father. "Yerin," he said. Her face darkened. She did not understand why her father was so lenient to this commoner, but she obeyed his firm command.

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 ~~~~~~~

Trevor Aelis mentally sighed in exasperation. His daughter had originally been quite kind to everyone they met, but ever since that annoying scion of the Fars family of Dukes had begun his one-sided pursuit of her, she had slowly become easily angered and prideful. The girl was fifteen now, and was quite irrational and would get angry at even the smallest perceived slight, though she always stopped after harshly scolding the offender, seemingly retaining some sense of restraint. According to his wife, who was far more knowledgeable about these affairs than he, her change was caused by a combination of adolescence and bottled up anger at the Fars boy. She could not shame the Fars boy directly, as the two houses were only separated by one rank. And so, she used commoners as an outlet for her frustration. As a father, Trevor felt helpless, and hoped that she would overcome this quickly. He was one of the more progressive nobles; while he did acknowledge that nobles were the ones who held the most power in the country, he did not hold as much prejudice against commoners as many nobles did. And so, while he did not feel that the boy's response was the most appropriate for the situation, he didn't feel that it was to the point of being offensive. It helped that the rabbit was delicious; if Fenrir had not been a total stranger, Trevor would have hired him as his chef on the spot. After all, even if the food was delicious, a noble of his status had to be wary of poison and the like.

~~~~~~~

Fenrir cocked his head, slightly confused, after sensing the exchange between the two nobles. So far, humans had seemed to act just like demons, minus the influence of the Void Soul. However, that noble girl, apparently named "Yerin", had acted quite strangely. If she had simply held excessive pride, he would have understood; after all, he had met many demons who held the Sin of Pride, and had once carried it himself. However, he could tell from the fluctuations of her soul that her anger was not directed at him, while the father had showed a flash of sadness along with a tinge of anger, which had also been directed elsewhere. After a moment's consideration, Fenrir saved the interesting interactions for later pondering, deciding that he did not have sufficient data at the moment. For now, he came to a temporary conclusion:

Humans are weird.