The Streets and Connecting Alleyways

Maelik shook the bag of gems and with only one look he could estimate the total worth of the bag, a talent he picked up after spending waaaaaay too much time with the Lord of Greed. Judging from the stranger's words they were expected to care for the child for an extended period of time, that meant they would need a great deal of supplies. The demon tossed the bag up and down in his hand, the clicking of gem against gem filling the silence in between the unknown father's words.

"I understand what you mean, demons are much the same with the notable exception of not leaving them out in the wild. Generally they just get eaten by bigger, stronger demons. He'll be well looked after, his safety will be our top concern. You can go with peace of mind."

Maelik bent down and picked Klur up, cradling him with stunning gentleness for a monster such as he. Rocking the kid back and forth in his arms the demon pondered how to best raise the kid while he had him.

His demonic instincts told him to simply take the child out of sight and be rid of him, taking the gems and Lum and going about his business. But his common sense told him that was a terrible idea, Lum would no doubt leave him and it was just plain irresponsible to leave kids running about on their own.

Maybe Lum would have a better idea with what to do with him? Maelik thought, because he certainly couldn't draw much else other than, 'make him stronger, self reliant, educated and trained.'

Kematian tried to discern what she was talking about, and ultimately dropped this issue of hand-holding. He nodded and replied to her with "Hmm. I can tell you sometime, sure. Maybe today."

Her answer seemed to light him up with excitement. He had explored ruins of older dwarven cultures, alongside those of humans and extinct races. He watched her and smiled brightly. "I used to go into things like that! Probably different from the halls you saw... several hundred years difference. But I did explore things like it. There was plenty to... ah. You know." The subject of looting from a place like she had lived seemed very wrong. "But yeah! Underground. I liked the underground, but too long down there can be a bit annoying. The monsters sometimes come back."

Lum booped the cult on the nose, smiling at him. She adored children, though she had never had any of her own. Now that she thought about, she had never even been a baby sitter. Still she was confident that it would all work out.

"Hello little one, I'm Lummie."

Maelik watched with a gooey feeling inside as Lum played 'nose bop' with Klur, was that how one treated a child? Was that how 'play' was conducted?

The demon winced a bit as the young orc rubbed his nose against his pauldron, he hoped that there wasn't any snot on his shining armor.

"Soooo... What do we do now? Go back to my room or do you have a child friendly place of your own? Someplace with sharp objects and various other health hazards to teach him how to handle himself and such."

At Klur's kicking insistence Maelik moved his quizzical gaze back to the little tyke.

"What does he want Lum? WHAT DOES HE WANT!?"

The orc child bubbled out of his mouth as he cried, kicking more violently and whining as he continued to reach towards Lum's nose, obviously failing to reach it now. It got to the point that Klur's right foot accidentally caught onto Maelik's forearm, continuously kicking which caused it to move, sending him falling downards with wide eyes. However, this could easily be stopped, as he was still holding the child with his other arm.

Lum gasps in horror as the child goes flying into the air. With a second thought she leaps into the air after him. She is not fast enough to get to him before he starts to descend, but she simply catches him in a cushion of light magic. She soon retrieve the child mid air, and cradling him in her arms descends rapidly. Safely on the ground she glares at Maelik.

"Well there will be no massage for me today."

She then turns her attention Klur, smiling down at him. In a voice so sweet you could serve it on ice cream, she says.

"Is my little sweet pea okay?"

Kematian was amazed. A dragon? Those were hard to deal with. And with little dragons, at that. And a dire bear. Kematian had never heard of such a thing, but he had seen dire wolves. Maybe they were similar?

Then she asked after his other adventures. Oh, he had plenty of those. "I've seen lost cities, temples, ruins... not really as many haunted castles. Castles were rarer where I adventured. More desert than stone."

Kematian nodded. The heat was punishing on him, too -- especially in full armor. He had to resort to living underground to keep cool. Fortunately, since he often explored underground ruins, he was out of the daytime heat and nighttime cold. The sand was still a problem, though. He did not actually take to wearing that until his trip back from the desert, during which he was exploring mountain castles in the winter. A select few castles, but still castles.

"Well," he replied, "I seek adventure. I had fought my way from the wilderness of Gauldin to Asgeir, and fought on the rooftops of the pagodas in Katashima. I became... bored with the adventuring in the wilderness." He looked down and scoffed, blushing slightly. "But then I realized that I had never really explored a city before. Kingdoms and civilization were the last place for me to adventure. So I'm exploring..." he sought the word, "society now." He laughed to himself again. It must have sounded absurd.

Continuing on his trend of reflecting questions, he looked to her and asked, "So what about you? Why did you leave the dwarven halls?"

"Exactly!" he laughed. So she was familiar with this situation! His life just became so much easier.

Her recounting seemed to touch him, despite Kematian having never had a friend before he arrived in Isra. He felt that he could somehow... relate. He didn't know how. Maybe it was some deeper human understanding, an innate knowledge of how people worked. "Yeah," he managed to get out. "That is a coincidence. I guess I'm staying here, now, too. Since I bought that house." They were presently approaching the Moonlight Eclipse, set away from the rest of the city and its proto-industrial dirt. "Looks like we're just about there. I've never actually been inside. I hope it's okay." Making sure Moon was happy with the establishment was of the highest priority.