Frog Inspector

These are the two horses. The big one is a belgian draft, and the small one is a british miniature horse.

Also someone who is good with horses please help me idk what I’m doing or how to write them. I don’t really know their behavior or how to properly care for them, or how to properly write out either of those for my stories 😭

Message me if you think you could be of help. I have some questions. 😓

Dedicate

By Kellen K.

“You always look so freaked out when you do this.” Ferdinand said in his deep voice.

Curious ignored him. He was too focused. It had been about two weeks since he found that ancient gold coin. With the wealth it had brought him, he decided to purchase a couple things, actually. First, a horse. Not just any horse, but a big, male, light brown, Belgian draft horse. He bought a wagon for the horse to haul as well. Of course, he also bought a stable to keep him in, and tools for taking care of him, though, admittedly, he didn’t really know much about that. Lastly, he also bought a pony. Due to Curious’ dwarven height, he’s already reached the tallest he’ll ever be, which is four feet tall. There was no way Curious was going to be able to ride a giant draft horse because of this, he got a pony so that he has one to ride, too.

Curious gripped the reins tightly, focusing hard on the horse in front of him, watching it follow the path back home. Curious sat upon the left-hand side of the driver's seat of his new wagon. Ferdinand was sitting next to him, looking down at Curious.

“You’re just gonna ignore me again, aren’t you?” Ferdinand said, leaning back and letting out a loud and annoyed sigh.

“Why did you even put the ring on if you’re gonna act like this?”

The truth is, Curious really didn’t wanna put the amber ring back on. He never does. He hates it, but he’s still learning and getting used to riding horses and wagons, and he really doesn’t want to be alone. It’s scary. A shiver runs down his spine as he thinks about the ring. Upsetting memories cross his mind, so he lets go of the reins, yanks the ring off his finger, and drops it in the pouch tied to his belt. As he did, he heard Ferdinand try to say something, but as soon as the ring left his finger, Ferdinand vanished into thin air. As he picked the horse's reins back up, he felt scared. He didn’t like being alone, driving the wagon, but he hated wearing, or even seeing the ring more than that. Curious took a deep breath, and continued to guide the horse along the path.

Fifteen minutes pass, and with only a few hiccups along the way, Curious arrives home. He carefully guides his horse right next to the stable. Once he has the wagon fully parked, he lets go of the reins and sighs a breath of relief. As he is about to get off the wagon, he looks down and to his left. Getting onto the wagon was one thing, but how exactly was he supposed to get off? The wagon was fairly big, and Curious was fairly small. Well, he didn’t have much of a choice, did he? He twisted his body so he was facing the seat of the wagon. He gripped the side of the seat, and began to lower himself down. He propped his right foot onto something sticking out of the side, though he couldn’t see what it was. He began reaching his left foot out, wiggling it around, trying to find something to step on, but he wasn’t finding anything. He began frantically flailing his leg, hoping he would accidentally kick something, indicating that there was something to step on, but this proved to be a mistake.

Due to his aggressive motion, Curious’ fingers slipped off the wooden seat. Shock filled his body, as he fell backwards, hitting his back against the ground with a thud. The wind was completely knocked out of him. Curious, however, had never experienced this before, so he had no idea what was happening. For the first time in ages, he began to make audible noise from his mouth, as he was desperately gasping for air, trying to fill his lungs with little to no success. He grabbed onto his throat with both his hands, and began to flail and roll around in the dirt in a panic, as if it was going to help him breathe. Slowly but surely, he regained the ability to breathe. His panic reduced along with his flailing. He laid in the dirt, staring up into the blue sky. There were only a few clouds out today. That’s a shame. Curious likes clouds.

Curious turned his head to his left a little, spotting the horses he had forgotten all about. The big draft horse was still tied to the wagon, but had his head turned to look at him lying on the ground. The pony stood close by, staring at him as well. Curious laid there in the dirt for another moment, not really wanting to get up. Curious knew it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway. He closed his eyes and thought about the clouds. He thought about how they drift across the sky, sometimes quick, sometimes not. He thought about how sometimes the sky doesn’t even look real, but else would it be? He thought about how some clouds are big, some clouds are small. Some clouds are light, some clouds are dark. Some clouds make rain, and some clouds make snow. Curious really likes clouds.

What happened after he drifted is hazy, but he knew it was a dream. One that perhaps his brain blocked out for reasons unknown. The only bits of it that Curious remembers were being surrounded by people, who were shooting a strange orange liquid out of their mouths like a jet stream. He remembers fear. He remembers the feeling of suffocation. He remembers grabbing onto something, but doesn’t remember what. Despite him being trapped, suffocating in the sea of orange, grabbing onto this thing allowed him to breathe. Not escape, but breathe.

Nonetheless, Curious was woken, out of breath, and covered in sweat. He swung his arm out, throwing the blankets off of him. He sat himself up and placed his right hand against his chest, looking down at his legs. As looked down at his orange cloak draped over him, he came to realize that he was sitting on his bed, when he initially fell asleep outside. He didn’t move at all, and kept staring at his cloak like his mind was completely blank. Finally he snapped out of it and quickly stood up, now standing with his back facing his bed. It didn’t make sense, now that he’s thinking about it. He turned his head to the side, shooting his eyes all the way to the left to see the window next to his bed behind him. It was dark out. He reached over to his right and picked up the alarm clock on his bedside table, and held it inches from his face. It read 5:49 AM.

As he set the clock back down, he rubbed his eye, yawning underneath his cloak. He was still sleepy. As he was about to lay back down, he glanced over at the window again. The horses. He forgot about the horses. Worry set in, as he realized. The horses probably ran away by now, he needed to go check. As Curious navigated the dark house, he thought about how he ended up in his bed somehow. It just didn’t make sense. Despite this, Curious let go of the thought, as he had more important things to worry about. As he walked through the kitchen, he began to reach for the doorknob connected to the front door. He firmly gripped the knob, and just as he was about to turn it, he froze.

Curious didn’t dare to move an inch. He’s always had good hearing and eyesight, and he was pretty sure he heard something. He closed his eyes, and listened. The wind blew against the house, sending silent creaking through the air. Crickets chirped from the grass. Frogs croaked. Then, he heard it. A jingling sound, followed by multiple footsteps. There was certainly more than one person. Not to mention, the jingling sounded familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. For the first time in a while, Curious was in his serious mode. Despite the fact that he wears an orange cloak, stealth was his specialty. He needed to be sneaky in his past, so it was something that he was forced to be good at. He picked up many tricks in his life, and now it was time to use them.

Curious crouched down, not letting go of the doorknob. He continued to listen, trying to catch any clue of what might be going on outside. He kept hearing that familiar jingling, along with footsteps. He could tell it was near the east side of the house, to his left, but he couldn’t pin point the exact location they were coming from. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter, and tightened his grip on the doorknob, focusing on the sounds as best he could. This time, he was able to decipher some new information. Among the footsteps, he distinguished that there were three sources of the sound. Two of them, he believed, were his horses, or at the very least, some kind of hooved animal, and the third he believed to be a person. It’s hard to differentiate footsteps on soft ground, but luckily Curious has always been perceptive like this. Now that he was fairly confident on what was causing the sounds, now he just had to figure out who it was, and what they were doing here. It certainly doesn’t happen often, but it was time for Curious to use his strongest skill. It was time to be sneaky. He looked down at his black leather boots. Big boots like these are not normally very quiet footwear, but these were no ordinary boots.

About a year ago, Curious went into town to stock up on food, and he encountered a halfling advertising some kind of business. Curious made the mistake of locking eyes with the halfling, and when he did, his fate was sealed. The halfling was pretty darn good at his job, and managed to get Curious to humor his advertisement. He was advertising a business where you can send a letter to their company, requesting an item to be enchanted, or requesting to buy an enchanted item. You could even sell enchanted items to them. The halfling told Curious that just based on how he looked, he looked like he was “certainly the stealthy type.” That comment still creeps Curious out to this day. He doesn’t like the idea that someone could know things about him just by looking at him. The halfling offered him the magic black leather boots that he is wearing now for five gold pieces, which apparently was half the original price. The halfling claimed that the magic boots were enchanted with magic only found in powerful elves born with an innate type of magic.

The boots, despite how big and clunky they were, didn’t make a sound when being used. He let Curious try them out, and the halfling wasn’t lying. Even when Curious was trying to make noise by stomping or kicking the ground, there wasn’t a sound to be heard. Curious would be lying if he said that he didn’t want the boots. They matched the boots he already had, and stealth was his specialty, so this would make stealth be a complete breeze, but on top of all that, they were just really cool. Luckily for Curious, the halfling knew sign language. He doesn’t use it often, only when he feels that he really needs to convey something. He signed to the halfling that the boots were amazing and that he really wanted them, but five gold pieces was just more than he could afford. Sure, he had savings for fun stuff like this, but Curious always had bad spending habits, in the sense that he finds it really difficult for him to spend money. Not only that, but he had just bought groceries, so he only had a little money left on him.

The halfling understood, and offered him one final deal. Curious could pay the halfling half now, and then the other half in a week, when he shows up to his house to seal the deal. If he can’t pay it when he shows up, he gets one hundred percent of the first payment back, no questions asked. Curious accepted this offer, and a week later, he was rocking his brand new magic boots.

Despite the silence these boots brought, unfortunately it was only his footsteps that were affected. Curious still had to find a way to open the door and get outside silently. Keeping his eyes closed, he focused himself completely on slowly and carefully turning the doorknob, as to not make a sound. After a few seconds, he was unable to turn it any more. He crept forward, his footsteps non-existent as he slowly pushed the door open, going slow enough as to avoid it creaking. The door didn’t have a history of making any kind of noise to his knowledge, but he wasn’t about to take any chances. He pushed the door open just enough that he would be able to slip through, which is exactly what he did, after slowly turning the doorknob back to its original position and letting go.

Curious began to move along the wall of the house to his left, stopping right at the edge. He adjusted his big, orange, witch-like hat, as he continued to hear the sounds of hooves and shoes against the dirt. Now that he was outside and could hear everything better, he was absolutely certain that’s what the sounds were. Curious took a deep breath, in through his nose, and out through his mouth, before peeking out from behind the wall. As he did this, he was faced with white fabric sheet in his face. The sheet was moving out, and then in. Out, and then in. Though Curious isn’t very smart, it didn’t take very long for him to figure out what he was looking at. He quickly looked up, seeing a face half covered by two large bumps coming from the fabric. The person’s eyes widened, as Curious jumped back in fright, accidentally letting out a yelp. Shock fell over him as he froze, placing his hands over the scarf of his cloak where his mouth would be, as he stared into the person’s eyes. It was too dark to see who they were or what they looked like, but Curious was more worried about the fact that he yelped out loud. Curious hadn’t spoken a single word out of his mouth for five years. This was the first time since…

Curious shook the thought, stared back at the stared figure in the dark. He was frozen. He didn’t know what to do. Should he run? Hide? Fight? Before Curious was able to panic any longer, the figure began to speak.

“Oh! You’re awake! Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you! I- I’m so sorry! Uhh, are you the owner of this property? And these horses?” The voice sounded like it belonged to a woman, though Curious still couldn’t see what she looked like.

Curious hesitated, unsure of how to answer. He didn’t know if this woman was trustworthy or not. Reluctantly, Curious slowly nodded to her question.

“You are? Oh, okay! Good!” She said, pausing before speaking again. “Well, maybe not so good. Um, I’m sorry but, this horse and pony are malnourished! Not to mention, they weren’t stabled, and you didn’t take the wagon off the draft! How long have you had them?”

The woman sounded very worried, and even a little bit annoyed. Curious, still unsure of who she was and what her intentions were, just stared back at her now. It’s not like he’s been very chatty in the past five years, so there wasn’t much he could do. He would try sign language, but it was far too dark to see anything.

“Uhm…H-Hello? Uh… I can see you, you know! I’m part elf, I can see in the dark!” She said in a bit of an impatient tone.

Oh! Perfect! He could try his sign language! Curious began signing at a slower than average pace, in case she wasn’t able to keep up. He was attempting to sign “Yes, I live here, and I got these horses a week ago.” The woman interrupted Curious in the middle of it.

“Uhh, uhmm, I’m sorry sir, I uh… I don’t know sign language. I’m sorry.” She spoke sadly, before speaking up again, this time more confident. “Ohhh! I get it! You’re deaf! That’s why you kept staring at me when I was speaking! Here, hold on a second, I think I have something to write with on me.”

By this point, the morning sun was just starting to peek out from behind the trees, illuminating the area just enough to kind of see her. She was tall. Maybe about six feet tall. She wore a long white flowing dress that went down to her knees. On her feet she wore big, clunky, brown boots. Ones you would see worn by someone who works outside a lot, on rough terrain. As for her appearance. She was heavier, made clear by the dress that seemed to be just a little too small for her. Her hair was a very dark shade of red. You would probably only be able to tell it was a shade of red up close. The hair was also in a ponytail that flowed in the wind behind her. Her skin was a little pale, and her ears looked pointy like an elves', but not quite. It looked like her ears were halfway between an elves’ and a human’s. Lastly, and what Curious noticed first, was her green eyes. Her eyes were a little further apart than normal. Curious doesn’t see stuff like that very often, so it caught his attention for a moment.

He watched as she patted down her dress in search of something to write with.

“Oh shoot, that’s right. I don’t have pockets.” She said angrily under her breath.

Curious shook his head frantically at her, putting a worried face on. He raised both his hands and pointed to his ears, before giving her a thumbs up with a now cheerful face.

“Huh? You can hear me?” She asked.

Curious nodded.

“Oh! Okay, good! I thought you might have been deaf.” She said, placing her hand on her chest and sighing softly. “So, anyway, yeah. Your horse and pony are underweight, and not being taken care of properly! I know it isn’t any of my business, but I used to work on a ranch and we would often take rescue horses. It’s just…something like this…I find it hard to look away from.”

Oh, she’s serious. To be honest, Curious doesn’t really know how to properly take care of horses. All he really did was hire some people to build a stable and a large fenced area for them to graze, and then feed them and give them water. He knew there was more to it, but he didn’t think it mattered that much. Curious looked over behind her, and saw that the horse and the pony had been properly stabled. She must have done that for him. Curious waited a moment, unsure of what to do. The longer he waited, the more annoyed she seemed to look. Curious could communicate with her if he could write the words down. Curious thought for a moment, before pointing to his front door.

“Oh! Are you inviting me inside?” She asked, tilting her head.

Curious nodded, exhaling sharply in a laughing kind of way. He thought the head tilt was cute. He couldn’t help but smile underneath the cloak’s scarf.

“Oh, yes. We should go inside. Maybe you could write down your responses with something in there.” She said, making her towards the door. Curious followed behind her, keeping his eyes down on the ground as he walked.

***

Curious was seated at his round kitchen table, with the woman across from him on the other side. Curious had a pencil and paper in front of him. He looked down at the paper, examining the edges amidst the awkward silence of the room. Finally, someone broke the silence and spoke.

“Well, umm… I guess I never properly introduced myself, did I?” She said, nervously looking to her right.

“You can call me Kate! Spelled with a K. You don’t have to tell me your name or anything. You don’t really owe that to me. Although I do owe you an explanation, don’t I?”

Curious shrugged. He wanted an explanation, but he didn’t really wanna ask for one. It felt rude. Kate looked down at the table in shame, as she opened her mouth to speak.

“I came to steal your horses. I’m sorry.”

Curious was taken aback. She was here to steal his horses? Why? That’s unforgivable! People used to be hanged for stealing horses!

“But wait! Let me explain!” She yelled, waving her hands in front of her, seeing that Curious was visibly upset.

“I was taking a walk the other day, and happened across your orchard. I saw your horses stabled, and noticed they were underweight and unhealthy. I tried, I really tried to not get involved, but I couldn’t stand around knowing two good horses were being mistreated!”

Curious looked down in shame. What Kate was saying is true, unfortunately. He doesn’t really know how to care for horses.

“The look on your face tells me that you knew.” She said calmly.

Curious reluctantly nodded in agreement. He didn’t deserve those horses. They should go to someone who would take proper care of them. Curious gently picked up the pencil, and was interrupted as he was about to write something.

“Hear me out. I’m actually currently looking for a job right now, and I happen to know my way around farming and ranching! I’ve dealt with much more than apples and horses. I could be of good use to you!” She pleaded, a sudden look of desperation in her eyes.

“Please! You can pay me the bare minimum, I just need a job that I can hold! Please! Please! Please!”

Curious raised his hands in front of him with a nervous look in his eyes, trying to calm her down. Curious lived alone. He’s been alone for a long time, and he partly wants to keep it that way. Although it might be a nice change of pace to have some company around. Not only that, but she does offer a hard bargain. She could help with the horses and the apples, and he’s definitely doing okay financially. Maybe he should actually hear her out on this.

Curious began to scribble down some equations on the paper, trying to do some math in his head. Kate tilted her head in confusion as she watched him. His handwriting was pretty bad, and he seemed to be struggling on simple equations. When he stopped scribbling, he carefully examined his work. In all honesty, he wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at, but he knew what he needed to tell her. He flipped the paper over and began writing. After a minute and a half, he turned the paper upside down, and slid it over to Kate on the other side of the table. Kate leaned in closer to take a better look at what Curious had written. Mostly because his handwriting sucked.

“yes you would be of good help on the orchard”

“i have guest room down the hall furthest door to the right you can stay there”

“one gold one silver one bronze a week ok?”

Kate sat up straight, as a huge smile grew on her face.

“Really?! You really mean it?! You’ll hire me?!” She said, her green eyes sparkling with joy.

Curious nodded.

“AHH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!” She squealed, jumping up from her seat and waving her arms in the air.

“Oh! Before I forget!” she said, putting her arms down, calming herself some.

“If I’m gonna work for you, I uhh… I would like to know your name, please.”

Curious nodded. He didn’t really like giving out his name, but he was certainly in too deep now. He had no choice. He reached across the table to grab the paper again, but wasn’t able to reach it. He was too short. Kate giggled, and slid the paper closer to him. He slapped his gloved palm onto the paper and pulled it towards him, as he sat down. He wrote down one word, before showing it to Kate.

“curious”

Kate looked at the paper. No, she was staring at it. Curious tilted his head in confusion. Kate’s eyes widened with shock, her mouth open. Curious’ heart sank. What was she doing? What’s going on? Does she know something? Does she know? Kate’s eyes locked onto Curious. The look in her eyes was that of someone who might have found out their friend was a serial killer. Her stare shot daggers into him.

“Where are you from?” She finally spoke, with a calm, yet terrifying and demanding tone.

It was clear she wasn’t going to take silence as an answer. Curious was scared, what was with this sudden change of vibe? He watched as she pointed to the paper he had written his name on. She didn’t have to say anything, Curious knew what she wanted. He shakily picked up the pencil and began to write, his handwriting worsened as he trembled. When he was done, he placed the pencil down, and showed her.

“mouneak”

She stared at the paper for a moment. The silence was deafening, and the tension in the room was tearing him apart. Suddenly, Kate sprung back up to her normal self like nothing had happened.

“Wait, you’re from Mouneak?! That makes so much sense! You must have grown up as a part of the preservation belief too, right?”

Curious was shocked, to say the least. He hadn’t met anybody who had even ever heard of that before. It’s true that he grew up under that culture, he just thought he would never meet another person from. He nodded in response.

“Oh! Well then, I guess I can tell you! Kate is actually just a nickname. My real name is Dedicate! You can call me whichever you like, though while we're in public, I’d prefer Kate.” She said, smiling.

The preservation belief was unique. Not very many people know of it, because the god of this religion, Previety, doesn’t want anybody to go preaching their gospel. They just want the belief to be more of a lifestyle. Some of the more strange practices in this culture have to do with names. Children of this belief are not given proper names until they are five years old. Their name will always be some kind of word that the parents feel describes them. Words such as dreamer, or creativity, or dedicate, or curious. Another thing is that this belief does not practice last names. There isn’t any real reason for this, it’s just something they do. Due to not having a last name, Curious hasn’t been able to research his family to see if any of them are still alive or not.

“So, you lived in Mouneak? You must have moved here after that whole southeastern section of Marinvia got evacuated, is that right?” Kate said, sitting back down from across the table.

Curious was wildly uncomfortable. He really didn’t wanna think about that, but he had to pretend that he was fine. He had to. Curious nodded.

“Yeah, same situation for me. We must have lived there at the same time then! I can’t believe I never saw you! Especially with that bright orange hat and cloak you wear.”

Curious awkwardly shrugged. A drop of sweat fell down the side of his face. Luckily for him, you can't be a bad liar if you don’t speak!

“I mean, it’s just crazy though. I still can’t wrap my head around it.” Kate said as she rubbed her chin.

“The world has never seen magic to that magnitude before. It had to be a magic artifact that did it, right? I mean, there’s just no way someone was born with that much innate magic, right? It would probably tear their body to shreds!”

Curious’ stomach began to churn, as a feeling of nausea swept over him. He secretly snuck his hand into the pouch tied to his belt. He firmly grasped the amber ring inside. He held onto it like it was the only thing keeping him alive. He knew what she was going to say next. He didn’t want to hear it. He wanted more than anything to run out of the room, but he had no choice. He sat, and listened to her speak.

“I just don’t get it… How was one singular person able to freeze the entire city of Ambrough in amber?”

Golden Curiosity

By Kellen K.

NOTE: Hi, I just wanted to let you know before reading that when I was writing this, I kinda abandoned the story for a solid month or two, before picking it back up again. So if my writing style randomly changes in the middle of it, you know why. I feel it’s also important to mention that in the time between abandoning the story and then coming back to it, I rewrote some of the protagonist’s lore, so if there are any inconsistencies, please let me know. Lastly, just so you know, I dropped it around the time the character Vance is introduced, then, again, picked it up again months later. Just so you have a timeframe on that. Anyway, that’s all from me. Enjoy the read!

The clouds slowly drifted across the sky, and out of the sun’s way, as it shined down on the clearing. In the clearing, there he was. Curious, seated on the ground, leaning against a rock with his eyes closed. Needless to say, he stood out among the scenery with his bright orange hat and cloak. The wind blew through his big, poofy hair, as he intently listened to the sound of the grass blowing around him, and the trees rustling further away. At this moment, he felt peace.

Despite what he wanted, Curious knew he couldn’t stay here forever. He had work to do. He told himself in his head that he would get up at the count of three.

“One…Two…Three…” he said in his head. However Curious did not move an inch.

“One…Two…Three..Now.” he said to himself again, but still, nothing happened.

The more he thought about having to get up, the warmer the sun felt on his face, and the cozier the grass felt underneath him, and the heavier he felt his body getting.

“This time, for real…” he thought to himself, taking a deep breath.

“One…Two…Three.” he spoke to himself, hoisting himself off the ground as fast as he could, pushing air out of his lungs. He stood there in the field with his eyes closed for a moment, before slightly peeking them open. He immediately squinted, the sun making it hard to see with his bright blue eyes.

Well, he was up, finally. He slowly stepped forward, getting increasingly faster until he was at walking speed. He looked down at the grass while he walked, which was up to his ankles. He adjusted his big, orange, witch looking hat to block some of the sun from his eyes. He tilted his head up slightly to see how close he was to the path. The path leads back to his house. It was a small house, only one floor and a couple rooms. The bare necessities. It was on an apple farm. He would pick apples and sell them to farmers so they could sell them. Curious knows that he could sell the apples and make the money he’s losing by selling them to farmers, but Curious also doesn’t really care that much. He’s getting by with what he has and what he’s been doing, so it doesn’t really concern him all that much.

Just as Curious was about to step onto the pathway, his left foot got caught on something. He stumbled over it, managing to catch himself from falling, and probably splitting his head open on the rock right on the edge of the path. Curious looked down at the spot where his foot got caught, and noticed something shining in the evening sun. He knelt down, and hesitantly extended his hand toward the shiny object, grabbing ahold of it with two fingers, and pulling it a little. It was small, and yellow, almost golden. With one pull, it came out of the ground. Curious shielded himself from the light of the sun, and held it up to his face so he could get a better look at it.

It was pretty obvious what it was. It looked like a gold coin. It was clearly very old. He could probably sell it for an okay amount of money, although keeping it would be pretty cool…He wasn’t sure what to do. What did he want more? The coin, or money? Curious, looked at the coin for a moment, before dropping it into the sack tied to his belt, under his cloak, and continuing down the path. As he walked through the twisting path, passing by trees, rocks, and nature, all he could think about was the coin. What should he do with it? He started to brainstorm.

If he were to sell it, he would want to get it appraised first to make sure it’s genuine. Luckily he should be able to afford an appraisal. Then he would go to the pawn shop and sell it there. However, doing all of this would require going into town, which Curious is always hesitant to do, and even worse, he would probably have to talk. Talk to PEOPLE at that. Curious stopped talking at all a long time ago, and there was no way he was gonna change his mind on that now. If Curious were to keep it, he wouldn’t have to go into town or talk to people, but then he wouldn’t get any money.

As he continued walking, Curious removed the coin from his pocket, looking at it in thought. The more he thought about this decision, the more anxious he became. It wasn’t overwhelming, but enough to make him speedwalk home. As the path ended, and Curious stepped onto the grass of the apple farm, he had made up his mind. At the very least, he was going to go get it appraised! If it’s worth something, he’ll sell it. If it’s not, he’ll keep it. He was slightly hoping that it wouldn’t be worth much because he didn’t want to be out any longer than had to.

***

Curious was always listening. For some reason, it calms him down. Normally, he would be listening to birds, the wind, the trees, but this time was different. Rather than the sounds of nature he had grown so accustomed to, now he was hearing the sounds of a different kind of life. Curious walked down the gravel road, trying his best to listen to his footsteps, but it was no use. The town was far too busy. All the sounds around him drowned out any chance of hearing his footsteps. He kept walking on the right side of the road, keeping his head down, and his face hidden by his cloak and hat. He didn’t want to bring any unwanted attention to himself, which is ironic given that he wears all orange.

Curious looked up, to get a better view of his surroundings. In front of him was one of the main roads in the town. The street was lined with shops and bakeries and restaurants as far as the eye could see. There was a street performer down the road who seemed to be part…lizard? Curious wasn’t sure…There are a lot of races, and it’s hard for him to keep track of it all. The lizard lady was painting a picture of two elves. A man and a woman. On the opposite side of the street, the side of the street that Curious was walking on, there was an open garage with a blacksmith, slamming a mighty hammer down onto red hot metal on top of an anvil. Curious found himself staring at the blacksmith, somewhat fascinated by what he was doing.

The blacksmith had a giant beard, and long, dark curly hair. He was huge as well. Definitely towered over Curious. Although that isn’t exactly a rare occurrence, since he’s only four feet tall. He wore large and bulky leather clothes and an apron, likely to protect himself from the heat of the workshop. The man’s hammering came to an abrupt stop, his hand still tightly grasping the hammer. He slowly tilted his head up, looking directly at Curious. A shiver ran down Curious’ spine. This guy’s stare was intense. He had the eyes of a war veteran. It looked like at any moment, that guy was gonna charge Curious, and crush him into a paste. Curious stepped back, and swiftly kept walking, making sure not to look back. After a moment, he could hear the sound of the hammer slamming against the metal continue, and he sighed a breath of relief.

The sight of the blacksmith really frightened Curious. More so than it really should have. So much so that he kept speed walking the whole way to the appraiser, even ignoring the ever so alluring scent of the home made pastries being made in the bakeries that line the streets. As he rushed, Curious closed his eyes and took deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. In through the nose, out through the mouth… As he continued this cycle, Curious felt his heartbeat steady, and his anxiety fade. As Curious opened his eyes to gain his bearings he realized he was still speedwalking. Without any time to react, he felt his face slam into a metal plate. It didn’t hurt, but the shock frightened Curious so much that he fell backwards onto the road, plooming a cloud of gravel and dust among the scene. As Curious waved away the debris, he heard a gentle voice speak out to him from above.

“Woah! Be careful there, little one! That sounds like it hurt!” The voice said in a deep soothing tone.

“Here. Let me help you up. Are you alright? What is your name, small one?”

Curious looked up, and saw the figure of a tall man towering over him. He was wearing a full knight’s armor minus the helmet. He had brown slicked back hair with a single strand dangling in the front, and a slight beard. However the most prominent feature was his horns. The horn on the right side of his head seemed to be broken in half. Curious, still processing what just happened, watched as the tall figure extended his hand toward him, offering help up. Curious stared at his hand for a moment, before deciding to accept. As Curious moved his hand towards him however, he noticed something. Curious’ hand was dug into his own leather pouch, clutching his amber ring that was inside. A feeling of horror and dread washed over Curious. He wasn’t actually going to do that, was he? That was just an instinctual reaction to a potential threat. That thought however caused Curious to panic even more. Was his instinctual reaction really to grab the very artifact that has tormented him with unbearable guilt?

“Oh dear, I’m sorry. I had no intention of frightening you. My name is Vance Chapman, and…”

Before the man could finish his sentence, Curious held his head in his hands, moaning and groaning in dread. Curious tried to breathe in through his nose, and out through his mouth…But it was no use. He was still panicking. He shoved the man’s hand away and dashed away further down the road. He spotted the pawn shop just ahead. That’s where he could get his appraisal. He wasted no time. People stared at him as he ran as fast as he could to the large, old fashioned, wooden double-doors to the pawn shop.

Curious swiftly pushed his palms against the two doors. This, combined with the speed he was sprinting, caused him to swing the doors open, followed by them hitting the wall with a loud crash. The sudden noise caused the old man sleeping at the counter to jump in his seat, letting out a “gyah!” Curious stood in the doorway, panting. He looked at the frail, old man at the counter with guilt. He looked away out of shame, but behind him, the doors were still open, and everyone in the area outside the pawn shop were looking his way. Curious panicked, and rushed over to each side of the door, reaching high for the doorknob, to close the doors. Quietly, this time.

He closed the doors, slowly, and gently, going at a snail's pace this time, letting go of the doorknob only when he heard the door click shut. He let go of the doorknob, finally able to get off his tippy-toes. That’s the struggle of being Dwarven, and Curious knew it all too well. Curious could hear the old man laughing behind him at the counter. His laugh was old and dry. It sounded like it was hurting him. His laughing stopped when it slowly progressed into a cough. He cleared his throat, and watched Curious turn his way, and let his palm slide off the door as he stepped forward towards the counter.

Curious let out an annoyed sigh, as he noticed the counter was almost as tall as he was. Just about eye level. Now that Curious wasn’t in panic mode, he was able to get a better look at the old man. He was very frail, almost just skin and bones. He had no hair on the top of his head, but he did have some thin, white hair on the sides. He had a white mustache and goatee. The old man seemed to be very shaky, and his eyes were always squinting. Finally, he wore an old tuxedo with a bowtie, though the outfit seemed to be pretty old and had clear signs of wear and tear.

The old man wiped a tear from his eye, and let out a joyful sigh as he leaned over the counter to get a better look at Curious.

“Woo-wee! I haven’t had a laugh like that since I had a full head of hair!” He said with a shaky smile.

His voice was just a little higher than you might have expected it to be at first glance. It was dry and creaky, with a little bit of rasp to it as well.

“Well that was quite the entrance you made for yourself, boy! You musta been dyin’ to get ‘ere! So do tell, watcha here for?”

Curious stared at him for a few seconds, trying to think of a way to convey what he wanted without using words. He tilted his head a little, and looked down some, scratching his forehead with his finger. His eyes angled downward, and looked rather upset.

“What’s the matter, boy? Parents never teach ya how to speak?” He said with a chuckle.

Curious was not amused by this comment, and furrowed his eyebrows. The man stopped smiling, and leaned back a bit.

“Oh. Uh, sorry ‘bout that, kiddo. Didn’t know theys was a complex thing-a-majig.” He said, his voice shifting into a more serious tone, before going back to his previous.

“Well, any-hoo, don’t fret, shorty! I’ve had a couple folk wander in here that ain’t too fond o’ speakin’!” He spoke, reaching down behind the counter, and lifting a small chalk board up, and extending it towards Curious as an offering. Curious hesitated, but grabbed the board and carefully began to examine it. The chalk board said as follows:

AVAILABLE SERVICES:

BUYING

SELLING

PAWNING

APPRAISAL

SHOE-SHINING

Curious found shoe-shining a little funny. It seemed funny and out of place, but nevertheless, he ignored it. He turned the board around to face the old clerk, and pointed to “appraisal.” The old man squinted his eyes, even though it seemed impossible to squint them any more, and leaned in closer to see what Curious was pointing at.

“Hmm… Oh! A shoe-shine! Can’t say we get many of those these days!” I said under his breath. Curious furrowed his eyebrows and tapped the word “appraisal” on the board a couple times, extending it up as far as he could to get it closer to the old man’s face so he could see it.

“Ohhh! Whoopsie-Daisy! My bad! You wanted an appraisal! Well that’ll be much easier on my back, I reckon!” The old man said laughing, and leaning back in his chair.

“Go ahead and throw the items on the counter while I grab my equipment, son.”

Curious pushed his cloak back, grabbing the edges of the brown sack tied to the left of his belt. The sack opened as he pulled the edges. Inside was a couple silver coins, two gold coins, a ring made of amber, and, of course, the gold coin he had found. He reached into the pouch, and pulled out the coin. He caught himself staring at the amber ring for a moment, before a shiver ran down his spine, snapping him out of it. He closed the pouch by pulling the two strings on its side. Finally, he reached his arm up, and placed the golden coin on the counter.

The old man proceeded to wheel himself out from behind the counter. The man was in an old, metal wheelchair, and was seemingly struggling to push himself with his frail, weak arms. Curious felt bad for the man, and he wanted to help, but he didn’t know how. Curious hesitated, but he stepped forward. He went behind the wheelchair, and reached up to grab the two handlebars. Due to Curious’ dwarven height, and the man, who Curious presumed to be human and maybe around six feet tall, the handlebars to the wheelchair were about eyelevel with him. He grabbed onto the handlebars, and began to push the man forward. As Curious did this, he felt a sudden jolt in the chair. He looked down, and saw the old man had tightly grasped both the wheels.

“Are you nuts, kid?! What in the Sam Hill do you think you’re doin’?!” The old man shouted at Curious, turning his body to face him, only to let out a groan and face his body forward.

“Ahg, damnit. That hurt my back.” the old man scolded under his breath. Upon being shouted out, Curious let go immediately, and backed away, backing up into the counter. He held his hands up like he was surrendering. He looked at the old man rubbing his back with a look of worry and regret on his face. “I was just trying to help.” Curious thought to himself.

There was an awkward silence as the man proceeded to slowly wheel himself to the bottom corner of the shop, where a shelf was nailed to the wall, lower than any other shelf in the shop. The old man slowly and shakily grabbed a tool box from the shelf, and placed it onto his lap. As he began to turn himself around in his chair to head over to the counter, Curious looked down in shame. He didn’t want to look at him. The guilt was eating him alive. Underneath his cloak, Curious gripped the sides of his arms and squeezed as hard as he could. He closed his eyes tightly as bad thoughts began to overwhelm him. He tried to breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth, slowly, but it was no use. He was slowly starting to hyperventilate. Curious was about to have a panic attack, but was interrupted when he heard the old man speak from behind him.

“It’s quite alright, boy. It ain’t that big a deal.” He spoke in a soft, relaxed tone. Curious whipped around to see the old man back behind the counter, taking various tools out of his tool box and placing them on the counter.

“I’d be lyin’ if I said it was the first time someone did that. Sure, it’s annoyin’. People seem to think that since I’m in a wheelchair, that that must mean I’m helpless, but boy lemme tell ya. If I was really helpless and unable to do anythin’ on my own, I reckon I wouldn’t be runnin’ a pawn shop from nine AM to five PM on Monday through Saturday!”

Curious felt a little better as he listened, and watched the man remove more and more tools from the toolbox.

“Although, lemme be honest with ya, kid.” The man spoke, his tone shifting.

“If you was anyone else, I woulda kicked your kiester outta my store without givin’ it a second thought. The only reason you’re still here is cause you’re that hermit who lives deep in the forest, over by Brother’s Lake.”

Curious’ eyes widened at this. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How did this random guy know where he was living? And the way he said it, too. It made him think that he was relatively known around town as a hermit near Brother’s Lake. This greatly upset Curious. He looked down, feeling a mix of sadness, anger, regret, grief, and shame. After he had escaped Ambrough, he fled west and went into hiding. He built a small cottage near Brother’s Lake and grew apple trees. The whole reason that he lived so far away from civilization was to stay hidden, but apparently none of that mattered, since everybody in town knows about him.

Curious felt tears well up in his eyes. He used all his strength to keep them back, but one fell down onto the wooden floorboards. Today was going horribly. This is exactly why Curious hates going into town. Nothing good ever comes of it.

“Okie-dokie, let’s take a gander and this here trinket you got.” The old man said, shakily picking up the gold coin from the counter, and holding a magnifying glass up to it. Curious quietly sniffled, and wiped away his tears, before looking up at the old man examining the coin. The old man turned the coin, investigating every crevice of every angle upon the coin.

“Huhhh…Well it certainly ain’t any gold currency we’ve been usin’ recently. Much different from the gold coins we been makin’. Tell me, son, where’d ya find this at?”

Curious looked to the side, not turning his head. There was an awkward silence as the he man continued to examine the coin.

“Ah, right. You ain’t the speakin’ type.” He said under his breath.

“Well it’s definitely real gold, I’ll tell ya that much. On top of that, it’s absolutely an ancient form of currency. This’ll certainly be worth somethin’.” The man placed his magnifying glass down onto the counter, and reached over to grab a piece of rolled up paper among the other tools. The man unrolled the piece of paper across the available counter space. Curious was not able to see what was on the paper, as he wasn’t quite tall enough to see over the counter. What he could see however was the man placing the coin on the center of the paper, and holding the two sides down, to prevent it from rolling up. The old man began to speak. Curious recognized it. It was dwarvish! Although Curious knew very little of it. He could read and write in it pretty well, but when it came to someone speaking in it, he knew very little. Other than a few random words here and there, the only thing he said that Curious understood was “use to capture.”

The man stopped speaking, and closed his eyes. The room went silent. Curious waited anxiously, wondering what all this was about, and what the man was going to tell him. Finally, the old man spoke.

“It sure is weird…Wonder how it's in such good condition after all this time.” The old man said, talking to himself. Though he was talking to himself, Curious listened intently, excited to hear more.

“Ah, family heirloom. That makes sense, I suppose…” There was another pause between speaking.

“Hmmmm yup. That’s that, I reckon.” He exclaimed, opening his eyes. Curious looked at him excitedly, bouncing up and down a little. He watched as the man rolled the paper back up, and began to put his tools away, slowly, one by one.

“This ‘ere coin dates back to a hell of a long time ago.” He said as he gently placed it down on the counter, tapping his finger on it.

“This dates back to before magic was even discovered! I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this, but this coin here is over twenty-thousand years old! It was kept as a family heirloom, but six years ago, the owner lost it. How sad!”

Curious couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The gold coin he had accidentally stumbled upon was over twenty-thousand years old! Curious couldn’t contain his excitement. He began to bounce up and down in joy, and shake his arms.

“Now here’s the kicker!” He said loudly.

“The owner of the heirloom is alive and well! And they are living in regret for losing the coin. Their family seems to have cut all ties with this woman because of it. However, this here is a pawn shop! And at a pawn shop, it’s finders keepers! So I’ll give ya a choice. You can sell it to me and get a huge payout, or you can skidaddle on outta here, and return it to its rightful owner. The choice is yours, kiddo!”

Curious stopped shaking his arms and bouncing. He had to think about this. There’s no denying that the amount of money he would get for selling this would be life changing, but is it right to do so? He said that the woman who lost it had her life ruined because of it. But how would he know that? There’s no way he could have. Curious was convinced that the old man was lying to him for some reason. There was no girl who lost it! Right? Yeah…That has to be it??

Curious held his hand up, out from underneath his cloak, and pinched his fingers together. He rubbed his thumb across the tip of his fingers.

“Ya want the money, eh? Well that I certainly can do for ya!” The man exclaimed loudly.

“For this, we’re lookin’ at around twenty-five hundred gold pieces.”

Curious’ jaw was on the floor. That was enough to buy a family home! Not only that, but a family home! Curious was right! This IS a life changing amount of money! He couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Afterall, nobody would get hurt in the end, since the girl is just made up! Curious quite literally began jumping for joy, and clapped his hands, making a pat sound due to his gloves.

“Alrighty, so since this ‘ere is a gigantic load of moolah, I can’t give ya the money right away.” He said, shifting his tone to be a bit less playful and enthusiastic.

“I can getcha the dough if you come back here in bout a week. I’d love to give it to ya now, but disappointingly I don’t have the kinda cash lyin’ around that can just buy me-self a house.”

Admittedly, Curious was a little disappointed by this, but he understood and was willing to wait. He nodded and gave the old man a thumbs up, indicating that he was fine with it.

“You got it, pal! I’ll hold onto this ‘ere coin in the meantime and keep it safe and sound for ya, and I’ll see ya in a week, kid!” The old man shouted loudly and cheerfully.

Curious gave the man a little wave, before he tucked his arm back into his cloak, and turned to exit the shop. As he reached the doors, he placed his palms against it, and pushed, but the door wouldn’t budge. He tried again, this time pushing harder. Still nothing. Curious sighed, realizing his mistake. He got on his tippy toes, and reached for the doorknob. Once he had a hold of it, he pulled this time, and the door opened. Curious slipped out, and shut the door behind him, before beginning his walk home.

As he made his way back through the busy gravel street, he wasn’t even remotely bothered by all the noise and commotion. His mind was too busy brainstorming on what he was gonna do with all this money! “I could buy a house in town!” He thought to himself. But Curious prefers the quiet. He would much rather live in a cozy cottage away from civilization. “I could hire someone to help at the apple orchard!” He thought. But it would be hard to find someone and convince them if he doesn’t talk.

Curious was drowning in his thoughts. He just couldn’t decide for the life of him! Before he knew it, he was back home, at his orchard. Curious slipped into his house. He slumped down into a kitchen chair, exhausted. So far, today has been a stressful but exciting day. Nevertheless, he was tired, and he still had to decide what to use his money on. If only he could ask someone for a second opinion. Curious suddenly had an idea. This idea excited him, but the excitement quickly turned into worry and fear. He didn’t really want to revisit this, but he was starting to feel like he was out of options.

Curious opened the pouch tied to the side of his belt. He stared at the amber ring inside, becoming increasingly nervous the longer he looked. Curious slowly extended his hand into the pouch, and pinched the ring with his fingers, lifting it out of the pouch. He started it, trembling. Memories flashed in his mind, sending a shiver down his back. Curious took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. He squeezed his eyes shut, and like ripping off a bandage, he shoved the ring onto his right ring finger. For a split second, his body was glowing orange, and a jolt shook his body. Curious kept his eyes squeezed shut. After about 15 seconds, he slowly opened them. He looked down at his hands. The amber ring was glowing orange. This greatly upset Curious. He didn’t want to look at it. He couldn’t bring himself to any longer. Just as he was about to pull the ring off his finger, he heard a voice.

“Let me guess. You need help deciding what to do with your earnings?” A deep voice asked. Curious looked up to see him. It was Ferdinand. He was leaning his back against the counter next to the sink. His foot was resting on the cupboard below and his hands were gripping the edge of the counter. He leaned forward, standing up straight, and crossing his arms.

Compared to Curious, Ferdinand was huge. Curious is about four feet tall, while Ferdinand was at least six feet tall, if not, taller. He wore brown leather armor underneath metal armor, fit for a knight. The metal armor covered his torso, arms, legs, and feet. He also wore fuzzy fur pants underneath the metal leggings. The metal armor had engravings made of amber all throughout it. Every piece had at least something. Ferdinand’s skin was dark. His black hair was made up of multiple long braids reaching towards the back of his head. He had a giant black beard reaching all the way down to where his bellybutton probably was. Lastly, this guy looked like he was at least 300 pounds of pure muscle.

Curious knew Ferdinand already, and he just wanted to ask him about what he should spend the money on. That’s why he put the ring on just now. Ferdinand looked down at Curious, waiting for a reply. Curious nodded.

“Hm.” Ferdinand sighed. He looked down in thought.

“I’m not sure. Have you thought about it?” He asked. Curious gave him an annoyed look. Ferdinand snickered a little at this.

“Ok. Dumb question. My bad.” He said, smiling. Ferdinand looked up to the ceiling, twisting the hairs of his beard in between his fingers.”

“How about a horse? And a wagon for the horse to pull? That would probably help get all those apples to town more efficiently. Plus you could sell a lot of more of them at a time.” He said as he gazed out the kitchen window, looking at the rows of apple trees outside.

Curious’ eyes lit up upon hearing this. He jumped out of his seat and furiously nodded at Ferdinand.

“So a horse and a wagon?” He asked. “Glad I could be of some help to you, Curious.”

Curious gave him a thumbs up as a way of saying thank you, and he quickly slipped off the ring. As he did this, Ferdinand tried to say something, but as soon as the ring left his finger, Ferdinand was gone. He dropped the ring back into his pouch, and walked over to the kitchen window. He looked at the trees, and the apples, and the grass. He heard the wind rustle amongst the leaves, and creak against the house. He closed his eyes, and imagined he was six years old again. He was with his mama in his village. She was teaching him to read and write in dwarven, and he was learning so quickly. This was a happy memory. So why does it make him sad? It was when things were peaceful, simple, and easy. It should make him happy.

Curious knew why. He just wasn’t ready to admit it. He’s lying to himself. Like he’s done for years. Some happy memories are stained with tragedy, and can’t be washed out. Curious couldn’t help but wonder where his mama was right now, and what she was doing. He thought about it, and tried to picture her in various places, doing various things. I tried to picture her riding a horse, but he couldn’t quite picture it correctly. So he tried to picture her doing something else, like sitting in her wooden rocking chair, reading a story to him while he sat on her lap. No, it wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right. No matter what he pictured her doing, it was wrong. Incomplete.

Curious became sad. He lowered his body onto the kitchen floor, and laid down on his right side. He realized what was wrong. Mama’s face…

So I posted this exact same thing a while back but I kinda found a better way to put it into words.

So, in EP 2 we see that NPCs are very human like and are unaware that they are NPCs at all. Alongside that, Caine claims that he can’t have NPCs in the circus with them because he might start getting mixed up on who’s human and who’s NPC. This leads me to Able.

That’s who I think Able is. I think Able is an NPC that doesn’t know he’s an NPC. I think he truly believes who he said he was. I think he truly believed that he was a human trapped in the circus, who also helped to create it, and the only reason he’s there is because Caine lost track of him.