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(Before the fic starts, here is some art of Klu & Beefcake by a close friend!)
Drip. Drop. Drip…
Drop.
Klu paced nervously back and forth, pausing every now and then as she heard the drops of water hit the cobble floor. She couldn’t tell how long she’s been in this cave/jail cell hybrid. Yes she might’ve shot a few arrows at some Kobolds and even killed one,, the others did worse though! She shouldn’t even be here, she kneeled when that God Kobold told her too!..
At least she had Roger in the same cell as her! Somewhere..? She hoped she wasn’t alone at least. Klu could tell that Presilla and William were in the cell across from them from the sound of William removing Presilla’s shackles—hearing the heavy metal release made Klu quite glad that the Kobolds didn’t shackle her wings together or something along those lines. The gull couldn’t tell if Araza was in the same cell or in the one across from her,, as far as Klu knew Araza wasn’t here.
Speaking of not being able to tell if people were there or not,, Klu actually couldn’t see too far in the cell. There were no lights to be seen close by, only two at the very end of the halls, just enough to see if anyone walks down, not enough to be able to look around comfortably.
Klu felt her wings ache, it wasn’t often she had to keep them pressed against her back for so long. The cell felt claustrophobic, Klu was a fan of the open sky and endless sea, being in a dark cell where she couldn’t even see the walls made her heart race.
God’s, what I wouldn’t give to smell the ocean salt again. Klu thought to herself before going to lean against the jail bars to see if her party was completely and utterly alone. She looked down one hall, only seeing that it ends with a turn—she wasn’t able to see anything worth mentioning to her friends.
There was only silence, occasionally broken by the pitter patter of water dripping from the ceiling.
..Well, at least for twenty or so minutes. Klu had never liked being quiet for too long, it made her skin crawl. “Did you know that crabs can actually be as small as five millimetres? Could you imagine being that small?” She chirped, rocking back and forth on her talons as she looked into the darkness, maybe Roger would humour her and actually respond! Lords above knew that everyone needs a morale boost.
Klu heard steps, then finally saw Roger appear in front of her, that draconic skull had never looked so annoyed, tired, mad, and a whole conglomerate of other emotions.. Which was surprising because all that was present was bone to emote with.
“Klu.” Roger began, looking the bird dead in her eyes and putting his sharp, skeletal fingers on her shoulders, “The whole reason we are in here, is because you said it was safe. You flew up and made sure that the way we went was good to go.”
His purple flame that rested in his socket flickered, it was clear to even the simplest of minded animals that he was blaming Klu for everything.. Which was fair, it was technically her fault for leading the group straight into a Kobold patrol.
“It’s not my fault! I-,, I just thought the little lizard guys were animals! I was so high in the air!” She stuttered her words out, “I didn’t know they were,,” Klu sighed, hanging her head down and looking up at the skeleton with her eyes, “I didn’t know they were Kobolds..”
“And, and! Besides,, it was either little lizard guys or that goop- Swish! You saw what happened to them, and whatever possessed them is still in that forest and I know that everyone else would’ve also picked the beach!”
Roger tightened his grip on her shoulders, not saying anything. I should’ve shot her when she first landed on our ship. Roger thought, snarling slightly as he kept eye contact—not wanting to give Klu a chance to slip out of his grip.
Drip. Drop. Drip.. Drip.
Klu’s posture straightened, her wings folded tighter against her back, she now truly felt like a bird in a cage. “It isn’t my fault! If anything it’s Presillas!” She uttered, she hadn’t ever spoken about her friends like that in her life,, well until now.
The silence after she spoke was truly deafening, the drops of water had stopped, the air felt colder, and Klu could feel Roger's breath on her feathers and somehow she could feel the stares of the other party members.
“Not fair.” Presilla called out from the other cage, sounding a bit disheartened. “Did all I could do.” She was right, there wasn’t much else she could do, but Klu was just looking for any sort of way out of this situation, she didn’t want to become dinner just from one bad choice.
There was a moment of nothing, Roger’s fingers loosened before slightly shoving Klu and heading back over to a dark corner of their shared cage. Klu let out a shaky breath, feeling her body relax slightly before a wave of shame washed over her.
She liked Presilla, she wanted to research more about her species but now,, if they ever got out, Klu wasn't certain if Presilla would ever wanna talk to her again.
Klu took a seat on the cold floor, ignoring how it was slightly wet and rested her elbows on her knees, looking down at the cobble and just letting the words already said sink in more. “I’m, I’m sorry,, Presilla.” Klu offered weakly, not bothering to look up, she wouldn’t be able to see the shark anyways.
Klu stared at the floor for a while before starting to look around again, taking note of the bioluminescent specks on the ceiling, at least she knew how tall this cage was. She hummed to herself as she scooched over near some wall, finally being able to see it after a few awkward seconds of moving along the cold ground.
The walls were covered in thick mud, it looked like there were some tally marks scratched into it, ten, twenty, thirty-five.. There was a splatter of something that covered the rest of the marks, but it looked like whoever was scratching these in made it around forty days..
The air was dry and stale, the smell offered no sign of what would happen in the future—no smell of the oil off of a freshly polished sword, no smell of alcohol, not even the smell of freshly made arrows. Klu could only get hints of the old blood that was stained on the wall,, which she moved away from after fully recognizing that it was blood.
After a good,, hour? It was hard to tell with zero time indicators, there were footsteps from the right hall, Klu perked up, maybe food was being given to them? It’s been hours, maybe even a day or so since she’s eaten something, some fish or maybe even some fruits if she could sweet talk the people..?
But as the figures came into view she instantly recognized that pink skin. Araza. She was actually alive! Klu let out a little sigh as she saw Araza round the corner. “Araza! Goood morning! I,, I think it’s morning?” Klu piped, standing up and heading over to the cage bars, letting a smile run across her beak before dropping it at the sight of a small, stubby Kobold.
“I’ll be back with some guards, don’t even think about praying to,, to whatever Deity you believe in. We catch you doin’ it? Your hands are gonna be broken.” The Kobold spoke with a snap, shoving the young girl into the cage and walking away.
Klu didn’t get a response from her fellow pink friend, and she wasn’t going to push her luck with talking to the party after what just happened a while ago. Instead, she let out a little huff and began to pace around in the minimal space she had–she didn’t want to tread near Roger, she didn’t need to feel his claws on her feathers once more.
Klu perked up when she heard the sounds of more footsteps, no pleasant thoughts ran through her head this time. She knew it was the guards that Kobold had mentioned earlier, curiosity got the better of her and she decided to peek out through the bars, starting with the right side–she saw a particularly large Kobold, his scales rugged, scratched and gouged after years of his profession.
Klu shuddered slightly, feeling a weird chill down her spine before slowly turning her head over to the left. The guard that rounded the corner was a far larger Kobold, nearly taking up the size of the hallway itself; he had large turned out horns. For some reason Klu wasn’t as afraid of this guard as she was the former. This heftier Kobold just seemed like any other creature, someone who needed coins day after day.
Roger sat curled in the corner facing the wall, he had spent over 300 years inside a cave and he didn’t exactly want to be back in a confined space for longer than a minute. His skeletal tail dragged and thumped against the cobble, stewing in his own anger, he would rather be in the same cage as Presilla when she’s raging over spending more than an hour with Klu. Idiot bird. Should’ve clipped her wings, wipe that smug grin off her,, beak. Roger thought, teeth clenching as he just stared at the dry, cracking wall.
All my research, all my memories of past friends.. All that time spent on refining my inventions, my notes, my blueprints.. Everything,, everything is gone. I’m never going to get them back. All because of two fucking mistakes. I couldn’t even do anything about it.
On the other side of the cage laid Presilla and the others. The large shark wasn’t in the brightest of moods—no one was—but for Presilla’s case, being blamed by the newest ‘member’ of their crew?
To be belittled by Roger? To have the weight of not being good enough weigh on her spine heavy enough to crack it? It wasn’t a mood that would have anyone whimsical or beaming with joy. Presilla checked over what she had, as expected the Kobold’s had taken anything that could be used as a weapon, but as she was checking her pockets in case she had anything that could be of use for escaping she felt something hard and metal, something familiar.
Pulling the object out and getting a good look at the thing she recognized it as the metal wind-up shark Roger had made for her, a reminder of his apology, what he had called her all that time ago. A pet. Nothing but a weapon. Something to be used until useless.
Her brow furrowed, the emotions that had been once calmed down now resurfacing, a pet. Just a weapon. The memory came back in full force, along with multiple others, instances where she should’ve taken a bigger risk, attacked those guys instead of the other guys..
She can’t be the one to do all the destruction, can’t be the one to kill constantly, she was still a living creature that felt guilt after what she's done. To be reduced to a weapon, to something that couldn’t feel nor think.. It made her blood race, if Roger was going to tear open old wounds this shark clearly meant jack shit. Presilla wasn’t going to hold onto an empty apology, so with a heavy huff she slid the shark across the floor and into the other cage.
Roger’s thoughts continued to spiral, being finally broken by the sound of metal sliding across the cobble—turning his head he saw the shark Presilla had slid over, he frowned, sitting up slightly while reaching out to pick the small shark up.
He didn’t want to think about Presilla at this moment, he didn’t want to be reminded of the person he called a pet, something he had called useless countless times before. So with a sharp, grating and crunching sound he broke his creation, if she didn’t want it, neither did he. He slammed his gift into the ground.
The remnants of the shark now laid in pieces, the once touching memory of their friendship, of his attempt at an apology now broken into chunks by his own hand.
The silence following was hard, after Roger had destroyed the shark he waited a moment, staring down at the broken pieces before inhaling deeply and going back to being curled up, his tail’s tip flickering back and forth as the rest of the cell went quiet.
Deathly silent. Enough so to trigger one of the guards to check on the prisoners, make sure no one was escaping,, or killing themselves.
Breaking the silence there were footsteps coming from the left of the hallway. The guard Kobold with the horns had to make sure that no one was hurt, the job was just keeping track of where the prisoners were but it would be more useful to the Kobold God if they were alive.
Klu perked up, she had previously gone back to the tally marks, sketching her own crude version of various sea creatures and trying to avoid the awkward heaviness of an already shaky friendship now ruined once more.
She stepped forward towards the bars, peeking out between them to watch as the guard shuffled his way over, Maybe I could chat with him? He doesn’t seem like he’d be mean.. Klu thought, tilting her head to the side as she weighed the options; Risk embarrassing herself and possibly getting threatened by a large Kobold or get herself some company and get a chance at some food maybe? Klu liked the possibility of the latter more.
Swallowing her fear, Klu leaned against the long bars, squeezing her head through them and looking over at the approaching figure, he blocked most of the light from his side of the tunnel so all Klu could see was his silhouette. Which,, was big.
Klu felt her posture tighten, her wings compressing against her back once more, but it wasn’t the deep fear she had felt when she first woke up in the cell, it was kind of like an anticipation? Klu enjoyed talking to anyone and everyone despite the situation, it was a storm of sea angels moving about in her stomachs.
When the guard finally stood in front of Klu and Roger’s cell he cleared his throat before speaking. “Good?” He spoke simply, it was a bit obvious to tell he was more brawn than brains.
Klu simply stared for a minute, taking in the deep red colour of his scales, the large horns that pointed out farther than his head, the large scales that made it look like he had natural armour 24/7,, Klu couldn’t help but commit every detail to her memory, storing it away in her brain so she could write about it in her journal… If she ever got it back.
“All good?” The Kobold repeated, his gaze shifting from Klu to the curled up skeleton in the back with shattered metal around him. “What happen?” His brows furrowed, moving to open the cage so he could check on the other person in the cage.
Klu collected her thoughts and shook her head slightly, moving away from the bars before putting on a smile, “All good! I don’t really know what happened– But! I can assure you no one is hurt or trying to escape!” She chirped, hoping to score some brownie points by sucking up. “No need to worry! We wouldn’t try to escape with someone like you blocking the exit!” She tried some humour, giggling slightly as she leaned back against the entrance.
The Kobold looked back at Klu, the laughter from the bird faded out into awkward chuckles before finally settling into silence, “Okay.”
Both of them stared at each other, not really sure of what to say, captor and prisoner,, what was there to talk about? “Hey how are you? Kill any escapees lately big boy?”.. Not exactly a social setting, but then again, Klu was never really socially smart.
“Soo.. I’m Klu! Klu Gullstudy!” She said as she held her hand out, just for it to be rejected by the crossing of the guards arms. She didn’t pull away though, she kept her hand there. “What’s your name?” Klu asked, expecting some typical Kobold name like ‘Dug’ or ‘Bappu’ or some other weird and unexplainable name..
He took a moment before responding, “No name.” He mumbled in a low tone.
“No.. No name? You have no name?” Klu asked, feeling a bit bewildered. Someone like him surely had a name, right? He looked to be decently old, he couldn’t have lived this long with no name at all. “You’re kidding with me, right?”
When Klu got no response her smile faltered, and then a frown began to spread on her beak. “Oh.. Uhm,, Do you mind if I call yoouu..” Klu looked the big guy up and down, trying to come up with any name in her mind, she didn’t know how Kobolds got named, maybe she should just give him some Aarakocra name?
Something based on his looks? His looks!
“Beefcake! You know- like, I mean–” Klu stopped when she saw his expression, some mix of confusion and maybe even happiness? He seemed to be serious about having no name but being called Beefcake seemed to have brought a little sparkle to his eyes.
“Do– do you like the name Beefcake?” Klu asked hesitantly, hoping to not have offended him by giving him a name based on how big he was.
“Not bad, Seem nice.” Beefcake responded, the slightest hint of a smile at his muzzle. “Beefcake.” He repeated, his thick tail gave a little wag, dragging across the ground.
“Yeah! Okay, Beefcake,, uh..” Klu hummed, she wanted a segway into asking for food but she didn’t want to rush it and revert the progress she had just made. “Oh! Uhm,, If I could- maybe,, bother you about some.. Food? Maybe?”
“I- I totally get it if you can’t bring a prisoner food and I would hate to get such a hard worker like you into trouble!” Klu immediately followed, she was hoping to lay the sweetness on thick so she could get some leftover fish maybe. “If- if you can’t get me any food I’d be just happy with some fresh water..?”
“Food?” Beefcake grumbled, Klu shut her eyes, expecting a harsh response.
But it never came, instead she heard shuffling—opening her eyes she noticed Beefcake walking away, she worried that he would just go back to his post and not bring her some morsels. Klu let out a small huff and went back to her crude drawings of the sea creatures.
She wasn’t exactly sure how much time had passed but the other guard had to trade shifts with an equally as gruff looking Kobold, a bit smaller but you could tell she’s seen some battles.
Beefcake just,, wasn’t there at his end. Klu felt her shoulders fall, a breath leaving her as she accepted that she wasn’t going to get food, speaking of–the thought of a freshly smoked salmon filled her thoughts, her stomachs grumbled as she imagined a perfectly cooked fish meal, vegetables..
She leaned against the wall as she sat on the ground, humming to herself as she waited for her party to calm down so she can go back to being chatty.
Eventually Klu heard the familiar heavy steps, the shuffling against cobble, Beefcake! He was back! Maybe he wasn’t angry at Klu for ‘over-stepping’ by asking for food!
Klu immediately sprung to her talons, heading over to the bars and sticking her head out, turning to the left side to see Beefcake approaching with what looked like a bowl.
She reached out her hand to wave, “Oh! Hihi! Beefcake- you’re back!” She said quickly, a smile across her beak–she didn’t exactly feel fear anymore when she saw him, it was a bit more like,, excitement?. Klu took a small step away from the cell when Beefcake finally got to it, wanting to give him a little bit of space.
Beefcake crouched down to Klu’s height, offering the bowl to her, “Food.” He spoke with a slight smile across his muzzle, his eyes holding something softer than before.
The bowl clearly wouldn’t fit through the bars, both of them noticed it,, Beefcakes attempt was to move the bowl to its side so it can fit through—but doing that would make everything in it spill out—so Klu had to reach out her hands to cover his, stopping him from tilting it.
“I can fit my head through and drink from it! Don’t worry!” Klu chirped, letting her hands linger on his for a moment, feeling the rough scales against her feathered palms before moving them to the bottom of the bowl, giving him a little nod to assure him that she won’t drop it.
Beefcake moved away a little, giving Klu some space but sticking a bit closer than before, which did earn a weird look from the other guard present.
Klu looked down at the bowl, noting some of the ingredients inside.. Oh,, meat. She sighed, she didn’t like to eat meat, if anything she was more of a pescitarian if anything and this definitely looked like,, well Klu didn’t want to inspect it too much. I mean,, I could always pick it out? I have to eat something.. Between sticking to her diet and getting rid of her hunger—her hunger won.
So Klu decided to start picking out anything that looked like meat, she wasn’t sure where to put it but Beefcake had stepped closer, offering an open hand for Klu to place the meat. She smiled at him and mumbled out a small ‘Thanks’ before placing all the meat into his palm. “Sorry- I just,, can’t eat meat,,” Klu said as she finished picking out all the meat, shaking her hand to get rid of the juices on her fingers.
“All good.” Beefcake responded, downing the small pieces in one bite. Klu stared at him for a minute before looking back down at her bowl, now it was filled with broth and mushy looking vegetables.
Not the best meal I’ve had in a while.. Klu thought to herself, But,, I guess an upset tummy is better than starving. She began to sip gingerly from the bowl, enjoying the small moment between her and Beefcake.
“So,, uh,, what’s your favourite meal?” Klu asked, she wanted an excuse to chat and if he wasn’t going to be all stiff and tough with her she was going to take every opportunity. Beefcake didn’t respond for a minute, he was a bit busy chewing the tough fat on the meat, “Eat anything. No hate food.” Beefcake responded, talking with his mouth full of food.
The two finished their small meals, and eventually the other Kobold came to shoo Beefcake back to his post, scolding him for getting too friendly with the prisoners who were supposed to be punished. She gave Klu a glare before taking the bowl and grumbling about Aarakocras and how they were annoying hollowbones who were only good for their feathers.
Drip drop.
Klu hummed herself a tune, one when back when she was a kid, the one that her mother used to hum to her when she couldn’t stop fussing as a little fledgling. There were no other sounds except Klu’s humming and the small pitter patter from the ceiling, the two of them harmonizing and bringing a small sense of calm to quite a bleak setting.
Eventually the little melody was broken by the sound of rock against rock, the sound of bashing minerals drowned out Klu’s simple humming and left a coarse sound ringing in everyone’s ears. Klu stood up, feeling more confident and nosey since she had just buddy-upped with a guard.
Peeking out the bars she looked down the right hall, noting the Kobold who had her arms crossed, still looking annoyed. Klu then turned her head to the left, where Beefcake was.
She couldn’t exactly make him out, only his silhouette. He seemed to be hunched over, back turned towards the cells as another rough grinding sound rang out. Beefcake was clearly focused on,, either breaking open a rock or just hitting rocks against each other for the fun of it.
Eventually the sounds stopped and the familiar shuffling could be heard, Klu hadn’t moved, she was just watching Beefcake as he did what he dode. He was holding what looked like a big rock, like, a big rock. When he got close to Klu’s cage he shimmyed the object behind him the best he could before standing in front of the bars and looking down at the bird.
“Brought you,” Beefcake began, reaching behind him before pulling out a very,, very thick stone bracelet. “This. For you.” The stone bracelet was big enough to fit around Klu’s neck, and it would probably hurt her real bad if she tried to wear it.. Forget about flying with that thing on.
Klu’s eyes widened, letting out a soft coo at the sight, “You,, made me that?” Klu asked, feeling her feathers puff up slightly, she didn’t get many gifts like this–she travelled too much, never made any close connections so receiving a gift—something handmade, it made her heart flutter. Klu just stared, not really sure how to react, for once in her life she was actually speechless.
Klu eventually looked at Beefcake, noting the smile, the way his eyes shined, how the far away light at the end of the halls painted his scales with a harmony that only an angel could paint.. All Klu could do was stare. She hadn’t felt anything like this, it was a deep feeling, a feeling she wasn’t sure had a word—even so, Klu wasn’t sure if she’d want to name it.
Another soft coo left her, a smile spreading across her beak. “I,, I don’t really know what to say.” She mumbled, eyes going back to the bracelet. It looked rough, jagged, but it was hers.
He made it for her.
“Take.” Beefcake put the bracelet down, rolling it through the bars and towards Klu. “Gift, for Klu.” He spoke with a low tone, not exactly wanting to get scolded by the other Kobold. “Klu nice to Beefcake.”
Klu could feel her heart melting, if it wasn’t for the bars in her way she would’ve hugged Beefcake and never let go. “You- You really didn’t have too..” She mumbled, running her fingers over the uneven surface of rock, “I mean, I- I don’t think I can take this with me when- when we’re uhh,,” Klu didn’t want to finish her sentence, the thought of what was going to happen in the future.
“Beefcake make sure take.” He piped in, his smiling fading slightly as it dawned on him. “Court.” He said simply, he knew that he would have to say goodbye to Klu, lose the one person who had shown him kindness after all these years.
“Yeah,,” Klu let out an awkward laugh, “You- you think they’ll be soft on us?” Klu joked, trying to mask the deep fear she felt for the scenario. “I- I mean, I’ve only been to court once in my life! It- it was in a small town, they were mad since I had fished in their ‘sacred ponds’ or- or something..”
“...”
“..What?”
“Beefcake miss Klu when gone.”