Family and Friends: X
The tour was probably the worst part. Riu walked down the marble halls with Adleth and Herod in tow. It became evident just how different they were from her. 'Why couldn't I bring the drunk.. Or even the cultist!' She thought, cursing to herself. "And uh. This is the master bedroom.." Riu bit her tongue as Adleth and Herod gave another light hum as an answer. Did they care? Did they find it a bit stuck up? She shook her head, now wasn't the time for confusion. "Anyway, I'll uh. Go ask my aunt if she's heard anything about our missing guy.." Riu said, turning to the two stragglers.
"Oh- yeah," Adleth responded, looking around as if she had only just woken up. "I'll.. head back to my place for a bit; gotta sort some things out," Adleth said suddenly as if she was dying for a reason to leave the fancy palace.
"Oh, sure." Riu bit her tongue and gazed at Herod. "So, do you want to come with me?" Riu asked hopefully, not wishing to be alone with her aunt, hell she rarely ever wanted to be alone in this place. Herod's forest-green eyes looked bored and dead.
"Sure," Herod remarked with a slight roll in his throat. Riu sighed a breath of relief and walked towards her aunt's room.
"Oh- yeah, uh, the exit is just down sta-" She went to speak to Adleth, but she saw nothing, no elven girl standing there like the woman had just disappeared. "To the left.." Riu wondered where that girl had disappeared to. She shrugged, strolling on her heel, and continued marching down the marble hallway, carefully keeping Herod close and away from random rooms. Not that he needed it; she kept shooting him glances, gauging his bored expression. As if he'd expected something else of her that he wasn't seeing. She knocked on her aunt's door. "Eroh'wis!" Riu yelled. "Auntie, I need to speak with you" She looked at Herod, realizing she should. Probably prepare him. "Oh, uh. This house may look nice and all but. Um, my Aunt Eroh'wis. She can be a tad.." Riu thought for a moment but only a moment, as she could hear her aunt approaching the door. "Disorganized." She ushered quickly.
"OH MY RIU!" Riu flinched as the door swung open, and her aunt came out, enveloping her. "What is it you need, sweetie?!" Eroh'wis turned around and walked deeper into the pit. Riu turned to see Herod's reaction. It was priceless, his mouth was agape, and his eyes were practically bulging.
"I know. Just.. don't say anything." She told him quickly before walking into the room.
The room was a mess; the floor was lined with various pieces of trash and newspapers. Crumpled-up pamphlets and torn-up books sat in every corner, honestly? It looked better than usual, and the whole place reeked of cats. Looking around the corners of the dark mahogany room, Riu counted five cat's in total, lying in various positions and on multiple things.
"My Riu sweetie!" Eroh'wis said again in her trademarked ear-piercing voice. "What can I do for ya?" Riu's aunt took a seat on her bed and stared at her with those huge golden eyes. Eroh'wis couldn't have been older than forty, but Selune, did she try to cover that up with fresh makeup, constant hairdos, and insane outfits. Riu looked down at her aunt's strange mixture of bright orange, baby blue, and light purple dress layered with different fabrics. Eroh'wis's hair was pushed up in a crazy twist, what the kids were all doing, her aunt would usually say, with soft features and bold colors. Riu couldn't help but almost chuckle at her amalgamation of a look her aunt always displayed. "Oh, sit, sit," Her aunt said, motioning towards cat fur-covered chairs. "And who might you be?" Eroh'wis said, pointing her little cane towards Herod.
"I'm.." Herod hesitated for a second as he tried to breathe in the cat room. "Herod.." Riu smiled palely before turning her attention back to her aunt and away from the cats.
"Look, Auntie." Riu tried her best to put on her pleasant voice, "Uh. I'm kinda doing something, and I was wondering if you heard anything about this abduction that happened outside the skewered dragon?" Eroh'wis instantly frowned.
"Now, what is a lovely girl like you doing investigating abductions!" Eroh'wis practically screamed. "Oh sweetie, I don't want you to do anything dangerous now like your parents; you just stay on the sidelines; we can find a nice old man for you, ok" Eroh'wis stood up and started tearing through various books she knew had no purpose.
"No. I'm just helping with an investigation- oh. Please don't get out the picture book.." Riu shook her head as Eroh'wis tried her best to show Herod a set of pictures.
"Aasimar, huh? Didn't notice." Herod remarked, seeing her wings in a photo.
"Yeah.." Riu grumbled as response. "Auntie if we could really.. Just.." Eroh'wis started fussing with Herod's hair, and Riu just shook her head.
"If you're wondering about abductions, adrenaline junkie!" Eroh'wis said while flipping through photos. "Then you're gonna need to tell me more!" Riu nodded, finally getting somewhere. Quickly catching her aunt up on the situation, Volo and the missing person. "Hmm.." Eroh'wis sat for a moment thinking, her eyes cast up at the ceiling. "Come to think of it. I did hear something about a cart" Eroh'wis inhaled deeply and grabbed one of the many papers crumpled up on the floor. "Yeah!" Eroh'wis pushed the paper towards her, seeing a barley scribbled on half of the story Riu read the lines. "There was a cart like that outside candle lane! A warehouse over there. A Friend is telling me it was Zhentarim owned!" She nodded with the new information.
"Oh, my Selune," Riu gripped the paper. "Where. Which one?" Eroh'wis only smiled at the question.
"So.. we done?" Herod asked from the corner, trying to push layers of cat fur off of himself. She shot Herod a quick glance.
"Yeah, we're uh, done." Riu got up and thanked her aunt. "Thank you! I. I'll see you after we're done!" She pushed Herod out of the room.
"Vulity, that was a LOT of cat hair!" Herod cussed, using his sword to scrape the hair off of him. Riu was pretty sure that wasn't safe or a good idea.
"Hey!" Riu bit back, "She told us what we needed to know!" Riu felt the familiar clicking of the marble floor under her as they walked from Eroh'wis's room.
"I mean.. that WAS a lot of cat hair." Herod reminded her. "Anyway, you fancy people got something to eat?" Herod strolled faster down her floors as she rolled her eyes.
"Sur-" Riu started running after him.
"God, you people are rich!" Herod spun around the room, staring at the walls of the kitchen. "Seriously. You hire others to wipe your ass or something?" Riu grits her teeth in response.
"Ilene, could you prepare something for us. Guest.." She strolled to the little dining table before her as a ready servant pulled out a chair for Herod and herself. "I would remind you not to speak profanely in a household like this." Riu replied, trying to regain some semblance of nobility in her speech. It wasn't easy, this dusty-haired, self-assured anti-whore. I was making a mockery of her home! "And what exactly happened? I thought you were too bored to care about the place." She studied Herod's green eyes as he looked at the ceiling. They were young and full of energy; Riu could be sure there were no ill intentions just looking at them, though she would remember to look a little deeper later on.
"Yeah, I was, but then I found true boredom in a room full of cats you weren't allowed to touch, so suddenly, this house full of fancy shit is way more exciting." Herod shot back, grinning.
"Offensive," Riu responded, annoyed. "And why, is it, you bothered coming with Adleth and me if this is how you feel?"
"Oh, sorry, I say something wrong?" Herod faked an ounce of sympathy. "It's cause I wanted to make sure you wouldn't act like a whore." Riu banged her fists on the table.
"I swear to all the gods if one of you calls me that one more time!" She stood up and eyed Herod angrily.
"Let's not lose some feathers," Herod replied as a plate of chips was placed before him by Ilene. "I didn't say you were a whore." Herod grabbed a large batch of chips and shoved them into his mouth. "Mostly just whore tendencies!" Riu rolled her eyes.
"You confuse me." Riu said softly. "Really, Really confuse me." Riu sat back down and took the golden lauded plate before her. She licked her teeth, pulling at her robes until she undid the front, setting them down behind her. She had no interest in wearing such thick material in the summer anymore. Herod fell silent, staring at her; she was wearing normal adventuring gear with leather straps, shorts under a leather skirt, and a blue corset tunic that fit well under her scale mail armor.
"Well. I will admit you don't need to act like a whore to get attention." He concluded, staring at her. Riu waved him off after her face grew hot.
"It's summer, Warlock; besides, these are covered in cat hair anyway."
"Hey." Herod swallowed a chunk of chips. "Why exactly did you take this job? It's not like you're hurting for cash.." Herod inquired, referring to the large house around them. Riu pursed her lips, looking at the table.
"My various reasons are pretty irrelevant; I just want some adventure and thought this could be fun." Riu replied. She combed her chest-length snow powder hair out of her eyes; his expression looked unconvinced. "What about you? Are you. In need of a coin?" Riu quizzed awkwardly.
"I mean a bit." Herod replied, patting his side. "Mostly just focused on honing my skills, though; I want to get stronger." He said plainly. "Not that I care to tell you much, was just curious on why a noble would want to do all this.." Herod stood up.
"Oh, are you- done," Riu replied, surprised he had stood up a mid-meal.
"Yeah, I think we should go meet up with the others; after all, they must be missing us." He joked back to her. She wanted to look at the floor and feel embarrassed. It was her first day at a party, and already she felt as if she'd done the wrong thing. She had heard so much about adventure in her youth and read so many stories, and she did only what she thought was right.
"What about Adleth?" Riu jumped to the elven woman.
"I'm sure she'll meet up with us in a bit. A girl like her doesn't want to miss payday." Herod replied as he walked to the door. "Uh, Servant. Person. Bye." Riu sighed, not liking Herod's tone. Was this normal with a new party? She finished discarding her robes, picking up only a new black cloak. The house was stuffy and suddenly felt awkward; she never felt that comfortable in it.
"Goodbye, Ilane; take care of her while I'm gone." Riu told the maid and friend before departing the home with Herod.