-Two days later-
Looking at Setanta, Culainn says, “I need you to go grab me all of this. It is a list of tools, and metal I need to continue my work. Engraving so much has worn out my tools, and I need to reforge all of the things you broke.”
“REALLY!?”
Aurelius holding back a smile says, “Look how happy he is to be contributing!”
Setanta moves to punch Aurelius, but stops midway, and says, “You shouldn’t tempt me, or I might accidentally kill you.”
“Then I will laugh at you from the grave at you for breaking your promise.”
Culainn says, “Take Aurelius with you. He is quite aware of the things I need.”
Aurelius looks shocked, but Setanta calmly says, “Fine.”
“Ehh, are the two of you sure about this?”
“Stop being a baby and come along,” Setanta says as he grabs Aurelius.
Setanta drags Aurelius out of the shop, which causes him to whisper, “This might be a good time for me to look around so I can plan my escape.”
Setanta ears twitch and he turns back to Aurelius, and says, “You know I can hear you?”’
Aurelius puts his hands on Setanta’s shoulders and says, “Well does it really matter since you are going to be helping me with my escape plan anyway.”
Setanta picks Aurelius up by the legs and then begins to spin him around in the air, which causes Aurelius to say, “Hey you promised no violence?”
“I don’t consider this violence.”
“LIAR!”
Setanta peers his eyes around and notices the looks from the beastkin around them peering at Aurelius. He then jumps on a nearby roof saying, “Let’s head over there first.”
As Setanta moves through the roof at high speed, Aurelius screams, “I am going to die, humans were not meant to move at such high speeds!”
“Nonsense, you humans are far too easy to fling around to not be able to handle such speeds.”
“You evil child!”
-Break-
With giant bags in his arms, Setanta says, “That was a bargain. We got all of this for half price.”
“It must be because you are the son of the king, they must love to get in your good graces.”
“I doubt that most people in this providence sort of see my father as a mascot as well as a king.”
“A mascot?”
“He is strange to some people, apparently he has been like that since he was a child. It is like his brain is sort of misaligned, and I think it was only due to Scáthach that he can at least pretend to act like everyone else.
Due to that he is rather casual with most of the citizens here and has a good relationship. He even helps out with a lot of the festivals in person, so many kinds of see him as a mascot to love instead of a king to fear.”
Aurelius pauses for a moment and revisits the memories he saw of Lugh leading an army of beastkin. Lugh eyes deny his name as they were devoid of light, and his body was covered in blood from head to toe as if it was clung to his flesh.
His men beside him released an intense aura that could boil the very air itself, and the very idea of fighting him felt like a snare from the god of death.
“That frightening man is seen as a mascot?”
Laughing, Setanta says, “Haha, yeah.”
Looking through his heap of things, Setanta says, “I think I dropped one something back at the shop.”
“How can you even tell that everything in the bag is wrapped.”
“I can hear the little sounds they make as they hit off other pieces of metal, and I have been looking out for one, but it hasn’t made any sounds.”
Pointing to a wall, Setanta says, “Go wait over there, I will go and grab it then head over here in no time.”
Setanta drops his stuff next to the wall and then jets away.
Aurelius then stands against the wall quietly. However, he starts to grow tense as he notices the stares of countless beastkin as they pass him.
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Gorias is a bustling dense city, and the amount of people that move through it on a daily basis is an intense sight to behold, but for all those that walk past Aurelius, whether young or small they stare at him, which terrifies him.
Aurelius starts to sweat, his heartbeat speeds up, and he breathes more and more trying to gather as much air as possible. He rubs his hands to together and looks at them trying to distract himself but it all doesn’t work.
He continues to feel nervous, and suddenly the world around him starts to spin. The beautiful harp music that one can hear around Gorias starts to pervert and distort as Aurelius hears it.
He shuffles his feet again and rubs his hands against each other with an increasing intensity. His eyes wander rapidly trying to find something to become fixated on, and he starts to say, “Nero, Lillian, Claudia, Marco, Ante, Aetius, Domita. It will be ok, everything will be ok, soon I will come find all of you so just wait for me.”
Then as this chaos continues to go on Aurelius is hit on the back, and then he turns around to see an old woman who says, “Don’t lean against my store.”
He slowly moves forward while making apologetic gestures, and he starts to stare around faster and faster looking for a place to stand but also trying his best to avoid eye contact with those around him.
The world becomes even shaker than before and the beastkin who passes by him looks like mere flashes of colour, which freaks him out and increases his breathing even more, and even that earns more scorn from those around him increases his anxiety causing him to start walking about without any form of spatial aware.
He continually bumps into beastkin due to this which intensifies his issues, until a group of beastkin walk right into Aurelius's shoulder and as they do one of them exerts more force than necessary and knocks him down.
The beastkin who does this looks down on Aurelius and then says, “Watch your step human.”
Aurelius instantly responds in the beastkin language, “I am sorry, it won’t happen again.”
Aurelius quickly covers his mouth as he realizes what he has done, but it is too late as the group of beastkin he had run into have already grabbed him and picked him up.
The one he ran into him says, “What did you just say?”
Aurelius starts to speak in the saviours song like he has been doing strategically around Setanta, and says, “I said so-.”
The beastkin lightly headbutts Aurelius, and says, “If you think a member of the Tuatha Dé Dannan memory or hearing is as bad as a human you are sorely mistaken, so either say the truth right now or I will show you how much stronger than humans we are.”
Aurelius in the beastkin language says, “I am sorry.”
The man then shouts, “DO YOU THINK A DIRTY HUMAN LIKE YOU HAS ANY RIGHT TO SPEAK OUR LANGAUGE! YOU HAVE INSULTED OUR VERY EMPIRE!”
The beastkin in the area all stop and start to take a look at this sight that plays out before them. Those who merely had looks of disgust soon changed their expression to looks of anger, but none of them except the men in front of Aurelius get aggressive.
Yet their animosity is clear and sends shivers down Aurelius’s spine.
But despite feeling worse than ever, Aurelius says, “I am sorry for that, but I didn’t choose to learn it by choice. I won’t ever speak it again, so please let me go. Because I am sure fine men like you have better things to do than to beat up a slave like me,” with a bright smile on his face.
The man then punches Aurelius which lands him on the floor holding his face in pain, his body moves reflexively as he rolls on the floor trying to spread out the pain.
Yet in that state, he manages to turn himself around, and with a harmless smile he says, “If you really want to spend time with me, I can ask the future master of Gorias castle to allow us to go on a date, but my heart already belongs to another, so it won’t go far.”
The beastkin ignores him and says, “I am sick and tired of your smug attitude human!” Then tries to strike Aurelius.
But Setanta falls from the sky right onto the beastkin arm planting it right into the ground, and then he jumps up and kicks the beastkin in the face right into an alleyway.
This causes the others in that beastkin group to look at Setanta and then one says, “Did you just defend that human?”
Setanta sticks up his family crest, which is sewn onto his sleeves, and then he says, “Did you just touch the property of the Red branch?”
The group becomes docile, and then one of them says, “Where sorry.”
“Go then and leave the city by the time night comes.”
Setanta picks up Aurelius and their stuff, then says, “I thought you would have punished them more, knowing your personality.”
“They are clearly from out of town simply judging by the way they carry themselves around. Gorias is far more tolerant of humans than other beastkin providences, so it is simply to be expected. They knew no better, but I cannot say the same for the people here.”
Setanta look around glares at all those in the area who lower their heads.
He then turns his head back to Aurelius who looks like he is mere moments away from passing out or throwing up. With his eyes Setanta can see his body is trembling ever so slightly, so he says, “Are you okay?”
Aurelius then begins to tickle Setanta, and says, “I am doing fine, your fur is so soft I just feel like it could knock me out.”
He smiles and as he does one could swear that he had never been better, despite the physical evidence showing otherwise. So Setanta pushes his fur against Aurelius.
-Break-
-Two weeks later-
Location: Culainn Smithy
Looking down at a sword with engraves, Culainn pass a green and gold substance within it, and then he wipes it off. What remains is that the green and gold substance has gone into the engraving bringing colour into them.
Aurelius then says, “Is that gold?”
“Yes. The green liquid you see here is from a rather nasty-smelling plant, and when put together with the gold dust it crater a paste that while keeping a rather beautiful shine looks far too dirty to be seen as actual gold to the common person.
Though after it hardens, the green liquid is very easily washed off allowing you to get accepted to the gold. I think this will be a nice way of helping the families who have lost a parent.”
“That’s rather nice. Just so you know I have lost a parent as well.”
“I am not giving you any.”
“What a spoilsport.”
Turning around, Aurelius looks at Setanta who is making the paste, and says, “He finally has something to do.”
Setanta jumps up and puts his hands on Aurelius's face then says, “Hey I helped derust the swords.”
“A child could do such a thing. So, you're right, you did help.”
“HEY, YOU JUST TRIED TO CALL ME A CHILD!”
Confused, Aurelius says, “But you are?.”
“Technically, I am a dog, So I age in dog years. Hence, I am older than you!”
Aurelius says, “So now you're ok with being called a dog?”
Setanta kicks him in the face and says, “I am a wolf, not a dog you dirty human!”
“MAKE UP YOUR MIND!”
Culainn then says, “Setanta you got some of the paste on you.”
Taking off his top, Setanta says, “Oh crap.”
As Setanta Strips Aurelius says, “What the hell?”