"What happened to you, boy? You know what, I don't even care: I need Roland and you for a job," he was still shaking away a headache, but Mr. Dufort was quite a bit more composed now. "Tomorrow, I need you two to help the Emperor's slaves--sorry, "the Emperor's servants"--to the Duncan's farmstead. Dunno if you heard, but a hole opened up on the Duncan’s lands and for whatever reason, these Esconites or Esconians or whatever they call themselves were sent to excavate it. ”

Dufort shook his head, it was pretty clear that he barely understood what was going on, and the value of a sinkhole or anything gotten from a sinkhole was lost on him. Well, that wasn’t his problem, anyways, and he didn’t have the people to spare on such a ludicrous request.

“Their leader said he’d pay you two well for the help,” he offered. If anything, this should make Henri and his boy a bit more forthcoming with the request. “Don’t know how much, ‘course.”

Dufort was quiet for a moment, took Henri by the shoulder, turned him around on his feet, and pointed off into the distance: he was pointing at a large, dark-skinned man with scars decorating his body. He was shouting orders.

“That’s him,” Dufort said. “Tough lookin’ fellow, ain’t he? He’ll meet you and Roland at the gate to the Duncan’s tomorrow mornin’. That sound good? Of course it does, boy. Of course it does.”

Dufort lightly pushed down on Henri’s shoulder: Dominance was being established.

“Tell Roland if you see him, alright? Now get! The docks ain't no place for a kid to play.”

Dominance was being established, Mr. Dufort was bigger than him and on top of him, short of having his cock up his ass this was a pretty complete and absolute sign of control. It seemed him and Roland were being put to work whether they liked it or not, and the man he was to meet definitely wasn't the kind he'd want to disappoint either. Henri could hardly get a word in while Mr. Dufort politely took a shit all over his plans for today. All he was supposed to do was go to the docks, and get some breakfast. Roland disappeared to god knows where and poor Paige...

Paige still needed to find her brother.

This was an absolute train wreck. He had to leave quick before it got any worse, but not without doing what he came here to do. Smiling, he nodded and agreed to everything Mr.Dufort had to say. Why yes Mr.Dufort I would love to fill in a hole! Of course I would like to wake up at the crack of dawn to wallow in the dirt! Blah blah blah...

"Yes of course, I'll tell Roland right away!" He walked away a few steps before turning back around "Have you seen him anywhere? Also I hate to bother you but this nice young lady lost her brother." He tossed his head in Paige's direction. "Could you please help her find him?"

The larger man stopped attempting (playfully, of course) to intimidate Henri and thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. He hadn't the foggiest as to where his son got off to, but he had seen him in passing not all that long ago; he shrugged and pointed off into the distance.

"The boy came from that monstrosity," it was clear that Mr. Dufort was pointing at the behemoth that was attached to his harbor; he wasn't happy about it, either. "Didn't say where he was goin', but he shouldn't be too far from here, son. Try by Ol' Bruce's shack," Roland's father shifted his pointing index finger from the ship to another side of the docks, where Henri would find Bruce’s place.

“And no, I don’t know nuthin’ about no one’s brother but my own, and I don’t got time for him, neither. Now get on, I've got things to do."

And with that said, Henri would be forced out of Mr. Dufort’s personal space. Quite literally, in fact, if he was too stubborn to take a hint and move on with his questions and whimpering and old women missing brothers.

The path to Old Bruce’s shack was neither treacherous nor dangerous; in fact, it was not even all that far from where Henri currently was, but it was a slight bit of a chore to actually get to. Locally, he was known as the best net maker in River’s End; honestly, his hands were something else. He could tie a knot and weave a net like nobody’s business, but the way to his home was blocked by boxes and nets and discarded fishing supplies--most likely caused by everything being shifted opposite the large ship and its cargo.

"Bruce's shack?" Henri sounded surprised with his answer. Why the hell would his father even suggest Roland was there? They came to get some fish, the shack had nothing to do with it. His friend was making less sense than Henri, drunk. Even when Henri was loaded he wouldn't think to look at a giant steel ship and then a shack for food. Growing hungrier and hungrier by the minute, his patience was beginning to wear thin.

"Will do." He gave Mr.Dufort a dead pan response, waiting til he has his back turned to roll his eyes. A simple no would have sufficed, an attempt would have been better since now he had Roland and Donald to find. If he couldn't find his friend at the shack he would just go home and get something to eat there, but not before he did something about Paige, he just couldn't figure out what.

It was obvious that he didn't have any clue what to do when he approached her, when he talked it was like he was formulating a plan in his head while he spoke. He tried to break the news to her delicately also, in case she wanted to turn him into a newt or something.

"I'm sorry but he hasn't seen your brother, but um...what does he look like? We could try looking for him?"

When Henri walked away from Mr. Dufort he would hear something not unlike 'that boy just isn't right,' but he would not know for sure; then again, he probably was not brave enough to confirm it, anyways! Regardless, Henri would find that Paige was standing a fair distance away and staring off into the distance, towards the endless ocean. When Henri spoke to her, she would turn around and close the distance between each other.

“Ah? Is that so? Don't you worry about that now, y'hear?” Paige smiled kindly at Henri and gave an uncaring shrug about the news; instead, she gestured towards her luggage and offered to take it back. “I am sure he will turn up eventually and he probably won’t cause too much mischief.”

She quite blatantly disregarded Henri’s questions about her brother; it was probably going to be impossible to really get a straight answer from her on that subject, in fact. Despite her cruelty towards Henri’s sense of curiosity, Paige pointed off towards the same area that Mr. Dufort had and smiled at Henri, winking: “I have a good feeling about that direction, Henri. I think you’ll find your friend there, but as for me, I’m heading into town. It doesn’t take much to tire me out anymore, I’m afraid.”

Unless Henri protested, Paige would take her luggage and head into town.

Offtopic: Sorry for the horrible post, I really wasn't feelin' it, but I wanna start posting more and not delay it 'cuz of a lack of inspiration, y'know?

Henri ignored the underhanded comment made by Mr.Dufort and continued on his business, with more cares and concerns right now than what his friend's dad thought of him. His opinion wasn't news to Henri anyway, and you can't exactly start shit with your friend's father. It wouldn't be good for either of them.

What Paige said made Henri relieved, though he did his best not to show it. Finally he could get his business done but not without feeling bad. "Really?" He handed her luggage back to her slowly, because he wasn't entirely sure if she meant it. "Well I hope you find your brother, sorry I couldn't help." He said this while returning her things to her.

Quickly he glanced backwards where Paige pointed and hoped she was right. If not he'd be heading back to town just like her. "Maybe I'll see you around town then.It was nice meeting you. Bye." Convinced that Roland wasn't going to be at the shack he hurried along wanting to get the disappointment over with.

Offtopic: You and me both this is post is soulless and undead. I struggled so hard to come up with this miserable thing. Ffffuuuuuu

"I will," Paige nodded reassuringly. "He will turn up eventually."

With a smile and a wave, Paige would casually disappear into the crowd of people yet still gathered on the docks. It would not be until after she left that Henri would feel a small change in the atmosphere, like a hole had been left in the woman’s wake, but given how happy he was to have her gone, he might not have noticed or cared enough to question it. In the end, even if Henri did recognize the feeling, given his lack of knowledge on the subject, he would have been hopelessly confused by what it meant. It was best to just move on...

The way to Bruce’s shack would be a relatively easy one, aside from all the clutter... There was not but nets and crates in every imaginable nook and cranny of the long, semi-neglected wooden bridge that lead to the old man’s home. Still, for a strapping young fellow such as Henri, scaling the occasional crate, or walking over a net or two was not all that particularly hard to do; instead, it was the smell of spoiled fish and other such rot that might have done him in. Luckily, after a while, one barely even managed to have a strong enough sense of smell to be bothered by such things! After a good ten minutes, Henri would find that along with the clutter, the wooden planks of the docks would also begin to fade way, and instead lead onto a dirt path, one that showed the signs of regular use.

Following this relatively short dirt road would lead Henri smack dab in the middle of Bruce’s land, Bruce’s unimpressive shack being the crown jewel of the land, of course: it had four walls, a window, a door, and a tin roof. Honestly, there was nothing breathtaking about the structure aside from the fact that a living, breathing man was actually capable of sustaining life in the winter months while living in such a pitiful excuse for an abode. Disregarding that, Henri would notice a still lit fire pit, an appetizing smell (especially given his lack of food for the day!), and two men, one familiar and one not quite so.

The unfamiliar man would be the first of the two that Henri would be drawn to, to look on him was an almost involuntary act, and for good reason, too: He was a tall man, lean, too, but powerfully built in his own right; he had platinum hair, trimmed all around, but curling up in the front; and his eyes were an unnatural violet, sinister and inherently freighting. Oddly, the man was dressed in the remains of a three piece suit, his jacket had been misplaced, the shirt underneath that had been ripped in several places, and his pants’ legs were soaked enough that one would believe he fell into the ocean.

The unfamiliar man’s hand was outstretched, placed atop the shoulder of the other, who Henri would instantly recognize as Roland, and it was clear the two were discussing something. Roland appeared almost out of it, though; he swayed a little and his eyes were oddly empty and devoid of any semblance of life. The unfamiliar man smiled and Roland nodded, they laughed and joked, and seemed to be having a good time.

As soon as Paige left Henri left right away, in fact he sped walked away from the tent and didn't look back, trying to make himself scarce as fast as possible before she changed her mind and decided she -did- want his help searching for her brother. Irritating the crowd of people he eagerly pushed past, he noticed a dreary and uncomfortable feeling about him, like something was missing. This didn't bother him too much because he chalked the emptiness up to his stomach in a literal sense. Of course he felt empty, he was. Hopefully there would be food in that God Damned shack.

Luckily for Henri the path was clear and he could zip along without worrying too much about the welfare of his naked foot. Crates be damned, his path to his meal was going to be in a straight line, and he wasn't going around anything, it would take too long and he didn't have the patience. He marched right over them as if they were steps, ignoring the smell that would have made him puke if he was still hungover, continuing his straight line to the shack.

Even the pitiful decrepit wooden shack was a sight for sore eyes at this point. It was such a miserable excuse for a home (like a child attempted to build their own tree house) that the whole town wondered how anyone could live there. Day after day Bruce demonstrated how just by being alive and living in it, most importantly there was a sweet delicious smell coming from the house. It was food, even if it wasn't for him he wanted to kick the door down and take it.

It was fish right? Or maybe some waffles? Henri didn't wait to find out, he didn't even knock or announce his presence, the fact that his friend Roland was inside was an invitation enough for him.

*BANG!*

"HEY RO-!"

The other man's presence didn't only startle him, but it literally disgusted him. he couldn't put his finger on it but if you asked Henri he would describe it as "a face that just -needs- punching." The curly white hair reminded him of those fancy white curley wigs judges wore, or some kind of cartoonish maestro or something ridiculous. His drenched outfit looked the part as well.

A judge and a mermaid alien old lady, he'd gone through quite a bit to get this snack.

"GUH!? WHAT'S GOING ON HERE, YOU TOLD ME I WAS THE ONLY ONE!" Dramatically mimicking a woman's shrill upset voice he parked himself next to Roland, then switched back to his more dry sarcastic...male voice.

"Seriously I leave you alone for one second and you've got men grabbing all over you." To make a point he shoved the man's hand off of him, without so much as a hello or an excuse me. This setup didn't seem right, especially not with Roland looking so, out of it. Was it the drink? The food? If it was the food he bet it was the stranger with the annoying face.

He couldn't take the stranger in a fight but secretly he hoped somebody bigger than him would just-"By the way, way to ditch me back there. So who's your friend?"

Offtopic: Actually, the food is cooking on the fire pit and they are both outside the shack. It's cool though, I could have probably did better in description.

As Henri approached, some recognition showed in Roland’s face, he smiled, and started to greet his friend--and it was a tad bit too late. Before Roland could get a word out of his mouth, Henri had already moved in for the proverbial kill, and shoved at Donald, his new acquaintance; truthfully, this was a pretty bad move because Roland had seen Donald do some pretty cool shit today. He was pretty sure Henri was no match for the other, larger man. Hell, Roland wasn’t a match for him!

“Whoa! S-stop, hold on a second!” Roland grabbed a hold of Henri and pushed him back a little, away from Donald by quite a distance. Donald, however, did not even seem remotely interested in Henri, and just sort of shrugged, forcing his hands into his pockets and watching the scene. “You can’ just go up to a bro and shove him around, man. The hell’s gotten into you, anyways? One second you’re with me and the next you’re gone, and plus, I was helping Donald here find his sister. I figured you knew your way ‘round enough that you didn‘t need me to hold your hand, man”

Roland seemed exasperated for a moment, like he was tired and his chest felt heavy, but he ignored it and took a deep breath; he let go of Henri and ran a hand through his hair through force of habit. Sighing, he gestured towards his new friend:

“Henri, meet Donald,” he said. “Donald, meet Henri. Okay? Alright, Donald here got separated from his sister and we walked around for a bit looking for her and then we came here to grab a bite to eat from Bruce, Bruce usually has some fish for me on account that I bring him venison sometimes. Even got some for you, but didn’t know where you had wandered off to.”

Sure enough, if Henri looked at the fire pit, he would see the spit with fish, and the fact that they were close to being done.

“God, don't be such a woman."

A momentary silence followed and then Donald cleared his throat, smiling a wicked smile as he did so.

"It's quite alright," he mused. "Not many take to me right away, but they almost always do."

Donald sounded so full of himself, so arrogant... There was an almost ostentatious quality about him. He garnered attention, but it was not the kind most people would have wanted.

"At least you found your friend, Roland. You should cherish your friendship; because I have a feeling you'll need it."

Donald paused to chuckle, before long he would look out towards the ocean, barely visible though the tree line surrounding all but the path leading to Bruce's property.

"Hey!" Henri removed Roland's hands from him in the most kind and passive way he could, but quickly. He complied with authority figures well enough but Roland was not one of them, and he felt he'd met his quota of complying for the day. His expression was strongly angry, eyebrows all furrowed and lips all pouty. It made him look childish, even his "hey!" sounded less like a warning and more like the whining protests of a little kid, and it would continue.

"Pfff I hardly touched him and YOU'RE," there was some finger pointing now." the one who disappeared on ME! And you-" The mention of Donald's name stopped Henri from carrying on his rant, eyes widening with realization. Now instead his head was in his hand, swaying back and forth to himself in a facepalm position, muttering Donald's name to himself.

"Donald Donald Donald."

Henri took a large breath and collected himself. The hand holding comment seemed pretty underhanded and admittedly stung a bit. Being treated like a child burned him to the core, (even though his attitude wasn't helping his situation one bit), but he knew, or hoped Roland didn't mean it, and arguing with him wasn't worth it. Especially not over Donald. Donald the douchebag, donald the smug creepy sonnofabitch. Donald, frikken DONALD!

"Ya well that's funny because his sister Paige is in town looking for him.So..." He wanted to add "So you better get going faggot." but he held back and instead kept his commentary to himself. Sure enough, just like Roland said there was a fire and a piece of fish that looked very ready to eat roasting by it. This changed things.

"Oh thanks Roland." The presence of the food visibly changed his mood. Sitting himself down next to the fire he helped himself to the spit of fish and delicately began picking bits off to eat with one hand, ooching and owching quietly to himself because it was still hot, but he was too hungry to wait for it to cool.

"Nyehdon'tbesuchawoman."

Before putting a tidbit in his mouth he mocked Roland's woman comment to himself and enjoyed his meal, until Donald opened his mouth. Everything he said made him lose his appetite. There were no words to say to him, it was just too obvious how conceited a comment like that was. It was baffling.

"ya I'm sure. Wait what?"

That sounded exactly like a threat. He wanted to get up, and cram the spit in his eye but he wouldn't since Roland seemed to like him so much.

So instead he would sigh, and stand tall between Roland and Donald, only with much friendlier and incredibly false intentions. "Look Donald, let's start over okay? I didn't mean to be such a bitch it's just..."He threw in some honesty about his behavior, and showed some humility.Hopefully a stuck up guy like Donald would get off on people saying how wrong they were.Casting his eyes to the ground looking ashamed, he looked as if he couldn't face what he was about to say to himself. "I told your sister I'd help her find you ya know? It feels wrong that we're just sittin here while she's in town worried sick." Fiddling with his fish, he looked into it deep in thought, as if he was tearing himself up over Paige.

Maybe an acting career would be much more suitable for Henri.

Once again, Donald just shrugged and seemed completely uninterested in Henri’s antics; truthfully, it was almost as if he took one look at Henri and decided the young man was just not impressive enough for his attention; it was like Henri was below Donald in some way. Well, at least there was no open hostility...

“Ah? Oh,” Donald smiled and clasped his hands together. “So she chose you, then? I’m sure you made a wonderful guide.”

His words were laced with a fair bit of sarcasm, but it was still far from hostile; instead, it seemed more like a way to push Henri’s buttons and stir up some trouble.

After a few seconds more, Donald would turn from facing the obscured ocean, to facing Roland and Henri, and smiled once more, the slight glint of pearly white teeth showed just between his lips.

“I suppose I should get to my sister, then? She wasn’t expecting me to jump ship so soon,” he said while turning away from the two young men, to the road, and taking a few steps; curiously, he stopped after a moment and then turned back to face Roland and Henri once more: “We’ll be staying at the mayor’s manor, probably. If you’d like to stop by and say hi, I’m sure my sister would appreciate it.”

And then he left.

It would take a moment for Roland to say anything, like he was waiting for Donald to be out of earshot or something, and during that time he’d take to sitting by Henri, grabbing his own fish, but not quite ready to eat it yet, letting it cool (thanks to Henri’s demonstration of how stupid it would be to eat it while still hot from the fire!)

“Pretty weird...” Roland admitted. “Why didn't they just meet up at the mayor's?"

Henri was struggling very hard to keep it cool. It was so incredibly obvious that Donald was a huge arrogant prick, yet he never said or did anything outright that would validate Henri losing his shit over him. This Donald knew exactly how to get under somebodies skin in a way that nobody could approach him without looking like the bad guy. Just tiny bit by bit, comment by comment. All he could do was pretend like it didn't bother him and his fake smile was beginning to crack a bit. He kept nibbling on his fish to help squash his rage.

There was nothing he could say at the moment, because if he couldn't say anything nice he wouldn't say anything at all, and he had no idea what he meant by being chosen. The sarcasm bothered him, but he'd keep eating his fish. Donald would probably get some kind of sick boner if he got a reaction out of him. He didn't want to give Donald a boner.

Instead he would play Donald's game. He couldn't possibly stay to bother them knowing that his poor sister was worried sick and waiting for him in town. That would make -him- the jerk instead. Either his plan worked or Donald was just humoring him, at the very least he was leaving. When Donald turned around to get his final glance at the pair, he'd find Henri still smiling, waiting for him to go. Finally when he was gone, he let it all out.


"Wow that guy is an asshole." He said sitting back down and getting himself comfortable now that weirdo wasn't there anymore. "Because he's full of shit that's why." Now he was picking beneath the bones of the fish to get at more meat.

Roland nonchalantly tossed the remains of his fish behind him, wiping the sides of his mouth with his forearm, and slumped a bit, stifling a yawn as he did so.

"I guess," he said in disappointment. Roland wasn't too sure what all the animosity was for, Donald seemed like a pretty cool guy to him, and eventually, Roland decided it was just jealousy on Henri's part. After all, Donald hadn't really done anything to be hated for... Sure, he was a little odd and spoke all weird, but maybe that was just how people were from where he was from. He wasn't about to hate someone for being different, that wasn't how Roland rolled--Henri needed to chill out.

“So, anythin’ interestin’ happen for you? --” He paused for a second, thought on it, and then added: “Did all that fuss over the big ass ship simmer down? Dad was so red in the face I walked right past him without a word.”

Roland was changing the subject, probably in an attempt to calm him down. He wasn't exactly raging either, it was just that he was incredibly suspicious of Donald, nothing added up between him and Paige. He'd have to explain to Roland exactly why, and by the end of it he was certain Roland would agree that Donald was an alien out to probe their butts. It made perfect sense. Just like the whipped cream moat.

"Mm!" Henri was working on a large mouthful of fish. Holding up his index finger as a signal to Roland that he should wait a second, he hurried through his food. He had quite a story to tell once he was done. "So okay...ya your dad wants us at the Duncan's farm for work tomorrow mornin, we're fillin in that hole AND.."

It was coming, first Henri threw his fish remains aside like Roland did, and was picking some meat out from between his teeth with a long pointed bone, probably the fishes rib. "I ran into Doooonald's" his name was said with a sneer "sister Paige. The lady is old enough to be his grandmother! They can't be like...siblings! Besides, Donald isn't really Donald's real name! Paige said they both don't have names and keep switchin them around, not even last named because apparently they don't belong to a family or even a COUNTRY!"

His eyes lit up the more he kept describing how weird it all was. Henri was one for stories, he liked making them and he liked hearing them and this, this was too weird. Boring shit like how he met Paige was left out, it wasn't nearly as interesting. "SO!" Now it was time for his miraculous conclusion. "I'm thinking either some kind of wanted criminal, or aliens from another planet.Think about it/

“Why the hell would he care about a hole on the Duncan’s stead?” He demanded, and rightfully so: it made no sense to fill in that hole; in fact, that was a pretty daunting--no, scratch that! It was an impossible task. Now, Roland hadn’t heard too much about the sink hole that showed up on the Duncan’s land, but he had heard it was huge, and deep, too! Either Henri got his information wrong or his dad had lost it. It was more likely the former than the latter...

Of course, Roland found himself thinking, Henri, in typical Henri fashion, wasn’t going to stop with just one confusing thing, and instead, he apparently found himself compelled to go the extra mile:

Truly, Roland couldn't believe what he was hearing! Maybe Henri was still drunk or something, because what he was saying made absolutely no sense. Sure, there was something suspicious about Donald and his sister, but criminals or aliens? There was no sympathy or heart in those claims!

“Naw, man--” he started, deliberately shaking his head to emphasize the disbelief --”They might got somethin’ to hide, but there’s no reason to start with the crazy talk, is there? There’s perfectly sane explanations for alla that, ain’t there? Maybe Paige adopted Donald when he was too old to call her mom or somethin’, right? I dunno what she told you, but Donald said they were from Prompt,” Roland pointed out into the distance, where he guessed Prompt may have been, and continued speaking: “Maybe they’re exiles, that’d account for what Paige said, I think.”

“Aliens,” Roland turned his head and spat. "Next you'll tell me the dead can walk."