9/20 - Underground town - morning

A series of light knocks on my door wakes me up. The sound is the loudest thing in this dark, quiet room. My throat is dry and my tongue feels bitter as my eyes try to adjust to the darkness. The knocking continues as I stumble out of bed. Can’t a guy wake up in the morning in peace!?

“Okay, okay! Just wait a damn second.” I lumber to the door as I wipe my eyes. I open it to see Vella standing in front of me, smiling like usual. “Vella, what are you doing here?”

“I came to get you? How else would we meet up?” True, I don’t know where she lives. “...I am sorry to have abruptly awakened you.”

“Nah, it’s cool, just come a bit later next time. A guy needs to get the best sleep he can.”

“Again, I am sorry.”

“No sense in apologizing, not like it’s a big deal… Anyway, can you give me a minute, I need to get dressed.”

She eyes me, from head to toe. “But you’re already dressed?”

“Missing the jacket.” I head to the closet, getting the jacket that’s hanging on its door. I throw it on and put on my shoes. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“You’re quite mindful of your attire.”

I close the door behind myself. “Of course, a cool guy always has style on his mind. Plus, back home, your style is crucial.”

“Wow, that sounds like our village’s rules.”

“Village rules?”

“We’re supposed to conduct ourselves in a lady-like manner. We must dress appropriately, we must not act undignified, and we must never go outside.”

“That all sounds like a pain in the ass.”

“It’s not that bad. As long as we are able to follow those rules, we can live.”

“Okay, the dignified stuff, but why can’t you go outside?”

“Because the elder said so.”

That sounds like a shit reason. If that were the case, then why was she outside?

“If you can’t go out, then why were you?”

“Oh, well… I was bored.”

“Damn, you’re a rebel.”

“Oh, no, I don’t want to rebel, it’s just… I wanted to go out, so I did.”

“No need to be modest. I do what I want sometimes. Though, I try not to cause trouble for others nowadays.”

“So you were a handful?”

“You bet, but I grew up, became wiser, and if I say so myself, matured. See, I’m starting to even grow a beard.”

“I don’t see any hair.”

“To the untrained eye, maybe. But with eyes like mine, I’m clearly growing in a beard. It’s only a matter of time before I exude even more cool guy energy."

"I think you already do."

"Oh stop… But go on!"

Walking down the hall, a few guys are moving through the hall with their escorts. They’re brimming with energy as they’re getting close with them. Talk about a lack of personal space, huh?

“What do you wish to do?”

“I don’t know. You got anything you want to do?”

“Since you’ve asked, maybe we can explore together?”

“Hmm, I guess we can do that, but what about breakfast?”

“Oh, yes. There’s a small kitchen in this guest house, so let’s use it.”

She leads the way to the kitchen. Opening the door, we see other guys in here sitting on dining tables. Their escorts are doing most of the cooking. The girls are scrambling all over the place in there, trying to get what they need, but they’re pushing, stumbling, and nearly dropping stuff trying to move around in the small kitchen. This is too painful to watch.

“Wait here a moment,” I tell Vella.

“Where are you going?”

“Just going to do something in the kitchen.”

I march into the kitchen, whistling the moment I made it inside. The girls bring their attention to me.

“Nice to have your attention.”

“Excuse me, but you should go back to the dining area. You’ll get hurt if you aren’t careful in the kitchen.”

“Please, I’ve been cooking in the kitchen since I was 8, I know what I’m doing. The organization here is awful. You’re all trying to cook for the guy you’re with, right?” They give a single nod. “ Here’s the problem, it’s too small in here for all of you to be cooking at once.”

“Then what do you want us to do?”

“Simple... Anyone have paper and a pen?”

…

Slamming the paper on the counter and putting the pen on top of it, the guys and Vella give me a bewildered look.

“Okay, here’s how we’re doing this: come here, write what you want on the paper, then write a number based on where you are on line.” The guys mutter amongst themselves, giving me wary eyes. “You guys deft? Come and write a damn order, or eat nothing at all!”

The whispers turn to complaints as the guys direct them towards me. Mostly saying they want the girls to cook for them.

“Mr. Proxy, they seem to be angry,” one of the escorts says.

“I can see that, and in that case… C’mere, you punks!”

…

I place a plate on the counter, ringing a bell I found in the kitchen. “Beef Mong stew with a side of water for number 13!”

“T-thanks.”

“No problem, dude.”

A guy shuffles to the counter, dully grabbing his tray. Nothing out of the ordinary, nope, not at all… With that, we finished our orders for everyone in the dining area. We had three people cooking while the others would help get ingredients and cooking tools. Thanks to my experience as head-cook of the army, I know how to manage people in the kitchen. Yep, just another skill to add to my list.

“Thanks for helping us, Mr. Proxy.”

“We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“No problem, I was just in the neighborhood. But remember, make sure you guys act like a team when cooking. If you all move around without any coordination, you’ll get hurt. Got me?”

“Yes, sir,” they all say in synch.

“All right, I’m out.”

I swagger out of the kitchen. It feels so damn good to be head-chef. Though, I never got to make myself anything. I wanna go back and do so, but I can’t be bothered; I’m not even that hungry.

Approaching me, Vella has a plate in her hands. “Excellent work. Here you are.”

“Whoa, where did you get this?”

“I was able to persuade one of the men to give me their food.”

“Really? I feel kinda bad for the guy… But I’m hungry, so it’s whatever!”

Taking the plate from her hand, I go to town on the food.

“I didn’t know you could cook,” Vella opens with.

“Cool, right? Good at fighting and good at cooking. I’m da man!”

“Is fighting really a talent?”

“Course it is… To me it is.” Well, since I ain’t hungry and I got nothing to do, what the hell am I supposed to do now? “Vella, is there anywhere to go around here?”

“Hmm… We can go to the weapon museum.”

A shock goes through my body from the mention of the weapon’s museum.

“What are we waiting for, let’s go!” I jump out of my seat, running out of the small dining room. Excitement runs through every part of my body from just wanting to see this place… Actually, how do I get there? Scratch that, where’s Vella?.

Underground town - Weapon’s museum - morning

I push open the door, ecstatic to get inside. What awaits in this place are weapons in display cases, weapons also being propped up outside on finely carved, artistically designed tables. Sets of armor are on full display outside of glass cases. Each varies between design, weight, and feel. Yet, each is crafted with a careful, elegant touch to them that is made to last.

“Isn’t it amazing?”

“Y-yeah! Even if all you do is look at them, you can tell that each piece of armor is perfectly crafted. Do you know who made them?”

“No, we don’t.”

“How come?”

“We’re the first people to live here in a while..”

“That smarts. Wish I could’ve told them they did a bang-up job on the weapons and armor.” Then who made all this stuff? Why leave it here? Ah, that doesn’t matter to me; I’m not Richard or Quincy, I’ll let them do the uncovering. “Vell, let’s look around.”

She drops her smile, looking awestruck for some reason. “Vell?”

“Yeah, Vell. Short and simple. Why is it so surprising?”

She recoils from my question, becoming even more surprised. Her expression perks up with her usual smile. “Y-you don’t have to give me a nickname. I’m not worthy of such--”

“Can you stop that?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, can you stop acting like I’m a king? It’s kind of weird.”

“O-oh, I’m sorry, please--”

“Stop! Listen, we’re both around the same age, right?”

“I suppose.”

“Then that means we’re both kids. Stop acting like you’re my maid and just act like, ya know, a kid.”

I might be overstepping a little, but I can’t help but get annoyed by it. Vell hangs her head, staring at her feet. Shit, I overdid it, didn’t I?

“Hey, um, I…”

“Proxy, you must apologize for yelling at a woman!”

“You’re right, I have to! Huh?” A late reaction kicks in, failing to realize that Alex is the one who said that to me. I turn to face him, he’s wearing armor that’s way too big for him. He looks like he’s wearing a turtle’s shell around his whole body. His head is the only thing poking out of it.

“Apologize!” I start laughing from the sudden urge. Him telling me to apologize is just too damn funny when he’s wearing that thing. “...Why are you laughing?” Unaware of the hilarity, Alex asks with a dead serious expression.

“Just…just take a look in the mirror,” I tell him while laughing my ass off.

He stands in front of the mirror that’s on display behind himself. “Oh my…” He starts howling in laughter, the armor jiggles up and down as he does. “I look ridiculous!”

That comment only makes me laugh even harder. I’m kneeling over on my knees, clutching my stomach. This is just too much, I’m seriously going to die from laughter… After a solid 2 minutes of laughing like a pair of lunatics, we calm down.

“Alex, you good?”

“Yes, I am fine. I must admit, that was quite hysterical.”

“You said it. Vell, you…” Her head bobs a little, her body quakes. “You still upset? I’m sorry if I was acting like a jerk, so--”

A loud, uncontrolled laugh interrupts me, Vella roars with laughter, grabbing her gut as she turns away from us. Even if she does, she’s still laughing louder than me and Alex combined.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry! It’s just...you two were acting funny!” She kept laughing for a minute until she was barely able to calm herself. “...Sorry you two had to see that.”

“It’s cool, you’re just having fun.”

Seeing her laugh like that breaks the wall between her treating me as someone higher than her, since she’s acting looser.

“Proxy, and umm…”

“Alexander is my name, it’s a pleasure to be in your presence.”

“Alexander as well, thank you for the laugh.”

“I am happy to see you are feeling better.”

“Yeah, and again, sorry for making you upset.”

“No, I wasn’t upset, I was just unsure of what to do when you asked me to stop treating you the way I have been. It’s not easy for me to act casual around others…”

“Why?”

“I just… I’m not good at treating people as equals.”

“That is no good!” Alex raises his voice. “You should think of everyone as your equal, and you shouldn’t think lowly of yourself either!”

“You think so? But we’re supposed to treat guests like kings. If we don’t, then we would be improper and going against the definition of lady-like. And I can’t do that!”

“You are not improper for acting like a child. And as for being lady-like, I have no idea what that would mean, but I believe however you act, that is ladylike, because you are a lady, no?”

“That’s right. Who cares if you’re improper or not, as long as you're not acting like an ass, then you’re good. So don’t worry about being proper or whatever the hell, let’s all have some fun.”

“Fun...?” Once again, her happy expression disappears, only this time, it turns into a smirk. “...You wanna have fun?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Then I have a suggestion. See those shields?”

She points to the ones hanging on the wall. They seem big enough for someone to stand on.

“What about them?”

“We’re going to have fun.”

A tingly sensation sparks up in my spine. A giggle escapes me, I don’t know where this is going, but I have a feeling this is going to be fun.

"Proxy, can you help me out of this armor? It is quite difficult to move."

"Oh, sure man... Why are you wearing this anyway? Chip convinced me to."

I would laugh but that's low, even for him... Well, it's still kind of funny,