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"tech? I don't want to alarm you-"
techno groaned, sitting up in bed groggily. he felt uncomfortably warn, sweat on the back of his neck. a nap in the middle of the day would always do it to him, why did he have to be so tired?
"but we're broke" Phil slammed one of the drawers of the brown wood dresser shut. he had on the same green blouse as the day before, which was strange as normally the two would pay the barkeeps wife to clean their clothes for the two to get at the end of the day.
"what do you mean broke?" techno's eyes narrowed, pulling his long pink hair up into a bun. it was lopsided but that didn't matter a whole lot to the man anymore. they didn't have a mirror anyways.
"we don't have money." techno usually loved hearing the lizards and birds chase around outside in the tree out the window but suddenly it all became grating.
"thats- Phil, we have money. remember the quest we finished last night? we got 100 mora from that."
"...it's 120 mora for a night here, techno."
"...since when-" techno flinched hearing a squak outside. the scaled creature had won their game, it seemed, as the winged lizard bit down.
"since forever. you just never had to worry about it, being a vampire and all"
"the class isn't even like a real vampire philza-"
"well, besides your nocturnal struggles, we still need a way to get money. fast." Phil rolled his eyes, gesturing techno to come over to him "come on mate, let me fix your hair."
techno was tempted to snap back at that but...it was Phil. how was techno supposed to deny the man anything.
"what's your bright, money making idea?" techno asked, trudging over to sit on the hardwood floor in front of Phil.
"well, you know how old the building is and this tavern owner is..." techno was spacing out hard. he couldn't pay attention to anything beyond how pretty Phil looked sitting like that. the morning light streamed on his face, his emerald eyes glimmering with chaos but techno loved that chaos.
Phil's hands carreded through his hair, techno giving a gentle sigh and glancing up again at the man. "oh- sorry mate-"
the emerald right on Phil's finger had gotten stuck in techno's hair, him flinching but smoothing his face back into a gentle smile.
the man's hat was a little crooked but techno didn't mind that either as Phil kept talking. then Phil rambled some more, gesturing for techno to get up
"...and they're really difficult to get rid of but..." techno nodded along like he could truly pay attention to anything about the situation.
"...we could totally do it if we got a good vantage point..." and down the stairs they went, techno smiling as Phil told him about ai pathing and fight patterns. he didn't really need to get anything beyond 'hit and kill' for how he played. but he liked hearing Phil speak, it made him feel warmth in his chest. there was a reason techno didn't just join Phil's streams, he watched them without even saying anything in chat.
down the stairs, down a hall, turn a corner, past lanterns flickering. Phil's words carried him out of his situation, barely noticing before he was hit in the face with a cobweb.
"whoa mate, you okay?" techno was sputtering, brushing off his face.
"where are-" techno froze, looking ahead.
blue light streamed in from a large hold in the cave ceiling, crumbling rocks and cobwebs covering the cavern. there were lizards with wings lounging around, some on rocks in the lights and others flying in swarms around the center.
a large blue and translucent egg sat in the very middle, webs and creatures drapped upon it.
"... Phil- Phil what are we doing here-"
"I've been telling you about it the whole time-" Phil laughed, turning to face techno "have you been listening?"
"when you said a quest I thought you meant a fetch quest! not an infestation of acid spitting sky rats!" techno gestured frustrated.
"come one, wivverins arent that hard to kill."
"I WATCH ONE MURDER FIVE BIRDS THIS MORNING-"
"if we kill this egg, it's like- the spawning grounds. it'll take weeks for it to regenerate. and, it's for 500,000 mora. you've been nodding the whole time."
"...the spawning grounds? like the area with a major boss fight with a warning for people under level 50?"
"yeah, we'll be fine" Phil brushed off "you already agreed as well. it's for the tavern keep! you love that guy!'
"hEH-"