Work Text:
Lylli
Chapter 2
How the hell did I end up here? I was supposed to be at the hide-out right now. But then that ethereal asshole showed up all like ‘You have a mission. To kill Jason Gravil. No more explanation. Bye. Oh, and you will most likely die. Have an amazing day’
But I haven’t had a room since… when? When I was a baby?
The room had a window that overlooked yards and roofs. The other houses were lined up into messy blocks with zero continuity. Every house was a different height, color and probably planned by a different architect, if any.
The window was a circle, which was nice. The room was right under the roof, so the ceiling was slanted, and one of the windows was poking out of the roof. The walls were covered by a light brown wallpaper that surprisingly was only peeling from the corners of the room and near the ceiling.
I sat on the bed which was so soft I felt like I would fall through it. Ash would love this place. If only she was here. There wasn’t much for me to put away. I had foolishly left it all on the ship when making my way out. I heard some tapping sounds from the roof, but when I went to investigate suddenly Jason said from downstairs:
“Dinner's ready!”
I shouted back “coming” and thought that I could get used to this sort of life
When I was halfway down the stairs, the smell hit me. The amazing smell of warm chicken soup and toast.
“Sorry, this isn’t a grand dinner or anything, but I didn’t have much time or groceries, and I didn’t want to keep you waiting ‘cuz your surely hungry and…” he didn’t have a chance to finish his very scrambled sentence I hugged him
“Thank you! I haven’t had a proper meal in like a month. Especially soup.”
“No problem. I have enough time and resources to make you meals. You won’t have to go hungry.”
I let go of him, grabbed a plate and rushed into the kitchen where I saw a pot on a wood stove next to a plate of toast. I eagerly took a ladle, scooped up some soup, and carefully poured it into her plate. I took a slice of bread from the plate, gazing at Jason as if asking for permission before taking it.
“Go ahead. I just warmed it up to go along with the soup, and was bought anyway so not much love put into it. And, there is more if you want some.”
I rushed to the table and started to slowly slurp up the soup
“Careful! Its hot!” chided Jason from the kitchen
“Damn! It really is hot! But it’s also really good.” I said, my tongue burning
“Nice to meet someone who doesn’t have high standards when it comes to food ‘cuz I ain’t the sort of guy that can cook”
“But as it turns out you can make some amazing soup”
We ate in silence for some time until I spoke up
“This city must really be a shit show if somebody is trying to buy a person that passes by”
“The city as a whole isn’t that bad. Just the cellar.”
“The cellar?”
“That’s what we call this part of town. The part that you tried to kidnap me in is called the middle ground. And the best part of town. Where the merchants live and all that is called the roof or the attic, both for a smaller part of it. The roof is the part where people live. The attic is the part with all the establishments like the spas, brothels, you get the point”
“So, it’s like a house?”
“Exactly. In the old language it meant ‘residence of the god’. So, yeah. Like a house”
“Of the god? What God is said to live here?”
“They said that…”
The dinner was interrupted by a crash that came from the living room. We rose from the table and rushed into the room.
“Who is that?!” Jason asked
After a pause a figure dressed on orange and brown emerged from the fireplace
“Ash? Is that you?”
“Lylli! I was so worried for you” said the familiar figure that was emerging from the fireplace
“Ash dust yourself off first will you? It was a pain to get the soot out of my clothes and hair the last time.”
Thank the gods she also got off of the ship. Now I won’t die alone .
As I was prepared for a hug Ash slapped me!
“What the fuck was that for??!!”
“For sneaking off the ship! We got kicked off and almost arrested and possibly killed because of you! What were you thinking??!!”
“Someone told me to get off.”
“Who?! Who made you leave your grew and family behind?!”
“I'll tell you later, ok? It’s a long story.”
“So, mind telling me who this is? I heard the name Ash so I'm going to use it.”
“I'm Ash, Lyllis friend from the military.” She said, stretching her hand out for a handshake, Jason promptly declined.
“Ash. Do you also plan on staying here?” Said Jason like he had decided something life changing.
“I could. The others can take care of themselves for a night.”
“Lylli,” said Jason, who had been quiet for most of the exchange “is it ok if she sleeps in your room tonight? The other guest room is a bit cluttered.”
“Sure. We have shared a room for a quite long time so one more night won’t hurt.”
I grabbed her hand and dragged her upstairs
“What the fuck was that?! Who was that? Who talked you into abandoning us??!!”
“I don’t know. ok? And that was Jason Gravil, he basically adopted me after I tried to kill him but…”
“You tried to kill him?! Why? You told me you would try your best not to kill anyone!”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, we have nothing, but time so get talking” Ash said as she sat down on the bed “Hot damn this bed is comfortable. What are you waiting for. Get talking.”
Lylli sat on the floor and began explaining “When I was making the first round on the ship there was some guy that materialized in front of me and told me that I needed to kill some guy called Jason Gravil. He made such a ruckus that I didn’t want to notify the actual crew of you all being there, so I fled. I wasn’t very on board with all the ‘kill a guy you don’t know because I told you to’ business so when he started to beg for me not to kill him in exchange for a place to sleep and protection I agreed.” I saw Ash's brain slowly processing all the information I just dumped on her, and I thought it to be for the best to just shut up.