-Rookie-

Lain can be pretty scary if she wants to be…

I’ve only known her for a couple days now, but surprisingly, it is easy to forget just how dangerous she is. About the fact that she most likely is no longer human and that she is insanely strong despite her small frame. She acts like a normal twenty-year-old woman, cracking jokes, flirting, smiling, laughing, and talking about hobbies and things she likes. Sometimes I can even forget about the grey skin, the tail, the black and gold eyes, horns, and claws and just see a normal girl.

And then she flips the switch.

The happy and bubbly girl, starved for human interaction gets buried and the demon comes out. When she is moving about stealthily, killing a monstrosity several times her own size, or even just gutting the carcass of a huge boar that she killed with her bare hands. Just to make a point.

If anyone points a gun at her Kobold friend, they will die. That promise was made as almost a joke, spoken by her bubblier side. But I could see the little demon shining through behind those yellow halos of her eyes.

Even now, as she leads the way to her home located just a bit north of the base, she is dragging the corpse of a boar that could have taken a grizzly bear in a fist fight. She doesn’t seem to be slowed down in the slightest despite its undoubtable massive weight as she happily hums to herself a little tune.

The guards that were sent to escort us, seem plenty cowed by her performance. To make matters worse, Sandy and Sanders have smelled blood in the water and are having a fun time telling them all about Lain’s fight against the Fluffy not Dragon, Dragon.

She must really care about this Kobold of hers…

Moving to walk up next to her, being mindful to give the carcass she is dragging a wide berth, I ask her about the Kobold.

She immediately lights up with a smile.

“Oh, she's a big sweetheart. Absolutely adorable and super fluffy! It won't be too much longer and then you’ll get to meet her.”

She tells me all sorts of things about Sky. Her tail wagging happily behind her, doing little curls as it dances along.

Then she grows a bit more serious, looking a bit forlorn. She tells me about how Sky got left behind by her troop, how she believes that she might be the reason that it happened, how she swore to be responsible for the little Kobold and take care of her.

“Lain, I’m sorry if this comes off as rude. But the way you talk about Sky almost makes it sound like you think she’s a person… You do know that they are monsters, right? Very intelligent monsters, yes. But not really people…”

She seems a bit angry and hurt about me saying that but, she controls herself.

“What makes you think that, how much have you interacted with Kobolds?”

“Well… Honestly, not much… I’ve mostly avoided them whenever I would see them, and I was always in big groups, so they would avoid us to. From what I’ve heard from others, they are little scavengers and thieves. Smart enough to use tools… Just smart little monsters, a bit more dangerous than goblins but much cuter and not worth bothering with.”

“And that’s all you know about them?”

“Uhmm, yes? I’m not sure about others, but that’s all I know…”

“Oh…”

She seems to relax a bit.

“Well, they are people. They are basically still in their tribal phase right now, but interacting with humans will probably accelerate their development in the future. While we were living here, Sky and I managed to find another troop, a bit to the east of your base. We went to their village that they built in the treetops. Sky was able to do a bunch of trading while she was there. Trading claws, teeth, and fur from the bear I killed, for a bunch of stuff from the village. She basically walked in there like she was a millionaire, throwing money around and buying whatever she wanted.

“We got to stay the night there, staying in their little huts built up in the trees. Kids running across rope bridges and playing in the branches. Some of them even playing with dolls and toys that the Kobolds scavenged.

“I even killed a monster for the village, brought it back and the village had a feast and threw a party that lasted all day and night. They even know how to ferment berries to make wine apparently… It was fun.”

“They have villages…?”

“Yup, they also have their own language and are smart enough to learn English, if they care enough to try. They have customs and rules, proper procedures for conducting trade, and a system of honor that I am still working on figuring out. And yes, they are little scavengers and thieves. But they are people first and monsters second.”

“Next you're going to tell me that goblins are people…”

“Ha!? Hell no; goblins are goblins. Hand one a book and they’ll try to eat it. Not even smart enough to use the paper to wipe their own asses.”

“Ok, that makes what you’re saying sound much more believable. If you had tried to tell me that goblins are people too, I would have thought you were off your meds or something.”

She laughs at that, and our group takes a turn into a cul-de-sac. She smiles happily as she looks towards a one-story house sitting at the end of the circle.

“Home sweet home.”

She turns back and gets everyone’s attention, “Remember what I said, you keep your guns pointed down and away from Sky! This household practices proper gun safety.”

I can see the demon wake up in the back of her eyes, but it is quickly gone as she cracks a big smile.

We walk the rest of the distance to her house, and I get to take in the place. Out front is a small garden growing potatoes, some racks are set aside for drying hanging meat, and there are also a number of weird totems placed about the yard with strange writing on them, made from wood and bone.

When I ask Lain about them, she says that Sky commissioned the local Kobold village’s shamans to erect them. She tells me that she doesn’t know what they are for exactly, but she guesses that they are for keeping beasts away. Basically scarecrows.

There are also some odd symbols painted on the walls of the house and some of its neighbors that Lain tells us the Kobolds painted with the blood of the monster she killed. Sky was apparently happy to have them, and probably believes them to be wards or something. Lain didn’t care one way or another, just so long as Sky felt safe and happy in the house.

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Approaching the house, Lain drags the carcass up to the garage door before opening it and dragging it the rest of the way inside.

From inside the house there is some noise as someone moves about. Probably having heard the garage door open.

Lain give a big yell, “Sky! I’m home! I brought back some food and friends!”

The noises inside of the house grow louder and soon the door is being thrown open. A small blue figure darts out of the house and throws themselves happily screaming into Lain’s open arms.

“Lain, Lain, Lain, Lain! You're back! Gone to long! Make Sky worry! I missed you!” She yells happily into her chest, a big fluffy lizard tail happy swinging around behind her.

Lain smiles happily and pets the blue being’s long dark blue hair.

Wait… Kobolds don’t grow hair on their heads, they have fur…

I look over the Kobold that appears to be trying to burrow its way into Lain’s chest. She stands at about four feet tall; very tall for a Kobold when the army has them listed as ranging anywhere from two to three feet average.

She is wearing a set of overalls with a hole made for her large tail to stick through and a black t-shirt. Her arms are mostly bare of any fur, being an olive tone and leading down to remarkably human looking hands, her fingers ending with little claws.

Her legs, which are covered by her overalls, do not end with little pawed feet like a normal Kobold, but instead appear to be a mix between animal and man. She is standing on the balls of fluffy feet as she hugs Lain.

Eventually Lain gets her to calm down as we are all watching, stunned by a Kobold that looks quite different from what we were expecting.

She soon realizes that she isn’t actually alone with Lain right now. Refusing to let go of her she turns her face and looks at us fearfully. We are shocked by what we see, freezing as we are greeted by a face that makes no sense.

Kobolds are supposed to have a dog like face and head, a short muzzle ending with a little black nose. Almost as if a dog had mixed with a lizard and had learned to stand upright.

Her face doesn’t look like this.

Her face is that of a beautiful young woman in the middle of changing from that of a dog. She has lips and a small mouth, her nose looking like a muzzle shrunk down and slowly changing into a small human nose. Her eyes are big and yellow and the skin of her face matches that of the olive tones of her arms. Adorning her head is long hair of a deep dark blue, darker than the bits of fur that can be seen beneath her clothing. The sides of her head, no longer the rounded shape of a dogs, but built to accommodate a human's jaw and facial structure, have two big floppy dog ears hanging down. The way they drop accentuates the fear that can clearly be seen in her eyes as she gazes at us. Holding Lain even tighter as she tries to hide away from us. Her pushing herself against Lain causes my eyes to find what I believe are the start of a pair of small breasts. Almost unnoticeable until she was pressed tighter against her.

While I’ve never really taken the time to study Kobold Biology, they are not supposed to look like this. She looks almost human.

“Lain… you said that Sky… This is Sky, right? You said that she is a Kobold… Why does she look, why does she look like this?” I ask her.

Sky, hearing my words, moves behind Lain and hides, refusing to let her go.

Lain simply smiles and continues to pet her head, as if she is just a shy little girl hiding behind her mom from a stranger at the mall.

“Yup, this is Sky, sorry she’s being a bit shy. Also, I don’t really know why she looks like this. She just started changing one day. Her hair grew out and she got taller. She’s been losing her fur in some places and her face is looking more human. She changed even more since I left to follow you guys. She was more Kobold like a few days ago…”

She gives Sky a curious look and thinks for a bit.

“Hmm, taking a random guess, it might be because of all the monster and mutated beast meat I keep feeding her. Maybe also because she is living with me? Perhaps she is changing to better fit in with her environment?”

She shrugs, “I don’t know. All I do know is that she is freaking adorable, and she just keeps getting cuter.”

Sky seems to blush a bit at hearing this, but Lain doesn't appear to notice.

She bends down a bit and whispers something into Sky’s ear, grabbing her hand and then pointing over to the carcass of the boar that everyone had quickly forgotten all about.

Sky seems to perk up a bit when she sees the boar that easily dwarfs her small size. Her tail behind her starts to happily wag again until she looks at the strangers standing in her house. She whispers something back to Lain and they have a silent conversation as we all wait, too confused to be able to make any comments.

Eventually their little conversation comes to a close and Lain turns to us.

“Sorry about that everyone, like I said, she is being shy. How about everyone come on inside for a bit and relax. It’s not too much further to the base from here, but I imagine that you all could use a break. I’ll grab the letters while you wait.”

She turns and leads us inside, holding hands with Sky as they go. Walking in we are brought to an old living room. The space is clean, but a bit cluttered, and the floors are freshly swept. There is an assortment of couches and chairs covered in blankets and pillows, and an old leather recliner. A table stands at one wall with a pile of books, a bundle of bones and giant claws, and many little trinkets and baubles.

The ground has a large black furred hide being used as a carpet, while the walls have many shiny baubles hanging about and shining in the light from the window.

“Feel free to sit wherever you like, except for that big nest of blankets and pillows over there; that is Sky’s favorite spot. Oh, and uh, please excuses the clutter, Sky went a bit nuts with her trading... Uh, if you like, I can make some coffee? One pot should be enough for everyone I think…?”

She looks a bit frazzled as she tries to figure out how to handle having so many guests.

The Seargent slowly sits down in the recliner, “That is quite alright Lain. You don’t need to worry about serving coffee or anything. You had a letter you wanted us to bring back with us, didn’t you?”

“Ahh! Oh, that’s right, sorry. You guys probably want to hurry and get to the hospital! I’ll be quick!”

She turns and runs down the hall, her voice trailing back to us that she will be right back. Sky remains in the hall, hiding a bit behind the wall as she peeks in at all the strangers sitting around her living room.

I sit down and give her a little wave and a smile as everyone else mills about awkwardly. “Uhm, hi. You're Sky, right? It’s nice to meet you… You do understand me, right?”

She locks eyes with me and gives me a look over. Smelling the air for a bit she gives me a glare. “I am Sky, yes. I understand you, yes… Lain teaches me words, to read books.” She smells the air a bit more and looks at me angrily, which just ends up looking like a cute little pout.

Her eyes flash with what looks like she just realized something, “Lain is mine! You can’t have her!”

Sky lets out a long series of angry sounding, trilling chirps, raising up her hackles and baring her teeth. Behind her, her tail smacks the ground before she turns and runs away down the hall to wherever Lain disappeared to.

“Uhm? Did I do something…?”

Over on one of the couches, Sandy starts laughing as she points at me, “Hahaha, The Rookie is a Homewrecker! Hahaha….! Ah! Ouch… ah ok, still hurts to laugh…”

“Homewrecker!? What are you going on about?”

Lain comes running back in and Sky resumes peeking from behind the corner.

“Sorry, that took so long, I had to find where I put them…”

She hands over two letters to Sgt. Lenz, “Here you go, the first one is for my family. The second is a short letter politely requesting that Sky and I be given entry. I don’t know how much it would actually help, but I figured that something is better than nothing…” She says scratching at the base of her regrowing horn.

Sgt. Lenz accepts them and stores them away, “I’ll make sure that they are properly delivered. I can’t make any promises on how long it will take, but I can promise that I will do everything in my power to see you safely enter and be reunited with your family. I owe you my life, and I take my debts very seriously.”

He holds out a hand and she takes it, giving him a firm shake.

Pulling himself up and out of the recliner with a pained groan, he gives the order, “Alright everyone, lets head home; I’m fucking tired.”

As I stand up, Lain comes over and gives me a hug, “Let's make sure to hang out when I get on base.”

A bit shocked at first, I return her hug, “Sounds fun, I’ll have to give you a tour.”

Looking over her shoulder, I see Sky staring at me with murder in her eyes. Her little claws are digging into the wall and leaving tracks.

I let go of Lain and show Sky my hands, before slowly backing away. Lain doesn’t seem to notice as she goes to say goodbye to the others.

Oh… so that what Sandy meant when she was calling me a Home Wreaker…

I make a point of not getting too close to Lain, to try and appease the angry little Kobold, and soon enough we are on our way out.

We walk down the road while Lain waves goodbye and Sky hugs her from behind.

It was a short visit to their home but was certainly an interesting one. About an hour later we arrive back at base, the sun drawing close to setting. Paramedics are quick to take Sgt. Lenz and Sandy from us before rushing them off in an ambulance.

The rest of us have reports and lots of paperwork to look forward to before we get to have any proper rest…