"Arjo, what the fuck?!" Kaiden screeches at the sight of his beaten-up brother crashing through the door. Of course, he helped him to walk over the nearest couch so he could rest a little, but not after he smacked him on the head.
"OW! You're making it worse!" Arjo glared at his younger brother, but he faltered and whimpered when he was shot with a much deadlier glare.
"I would totally make it worse if you keep fucking yourself up, you worthless piece of shit!" Kaiden sneered, wanting to grip and pull out every patch of fur on his older brother. But he knew he wouldn't do that, and he didn't mean anything that he said to him earlier. Sniffling, he leans against Arjo's shoulder and whispered, "I-I'm sorry for cursing and hurting you further, brother... I-I'm just so worried that-!"
Arjo shushed him with a bloodstained smile. Kaiden was a bit enthralled with that smile, but then he thought it was very creepy so he hurried to get the medkit in the basement.
'My little brother's getting older too, I suppose...' The older wolf-man thought with a sigh.
These two wolf brothers, Arjo and Kaiden, are just simple inhabitants of Hearth who are trying to survive like everybody else through the leader's strict policies and rules. But as time passes to them, they grew poorer and poorer until Arjo decides to try to find a suiting job to sustain their living. But Arjo, being a hot-headed and brawny wolf-man, is always prone to being in fights and getting kicked out of the job easily. You can think that Kaiden could've been better and much nobler, but Arjo doesn't really make his younger brother work. Not after learning that Kaiden has heart disease and easily tires out.
'If only Mom and Dad didn't leave us...' Arjo clenches his bruised fist after remembering their parents once again. They didn't leave the brothers as if they died in an accident or something; they left them to abandon them. It happened when he was 10 years old while Kaiden was still 5. And the poor wolves have struggled deeply to live on the streets and camp out in the prickly forests ever since. Arjo grew to hate and seek vengeance on their parents. 'One day, I will make sure that you'll regret leaving us behind...'
"This is really surprising..." Kaiden's voice snap Arjo back to reality, he had been watching his older brother with his arms crossed.
"What's surprising?" Arjo cocks his head in confusion.
"That you're thinking. You don't really think," Kaiden says in a playfully mocking tone.
The older wolf-man would've glared, but winced instead at the feeling of cotton damped in alcohol suddenly hit his arm wounds. Just the medicinal reaction of it seemed to be much hurting than being punched in the guts earlier. "T-That hurts...!"
"Well, I would like to think that being beaten up hurts more than this," Kaiden nonchalantly states as he wiped off the bloodstains surrounding the wounds.
It took Kaiden a few minutes to fix up his brother's wounds and bloodstains, which was making Arjo feel lucky to have a caring brother like him. They love each other and they would never turn each other down, not like their parents. Their current lives are difficult, but their brotherly bond surely became much stronger. Kaiden's the only one that he has right now, and he'd die if he left him too.
Kaiden suddenly taps his brother's head leaning against his shoulder. "Say, Arjo?" He spoke with a bit of nervousness.
"Hmm?" His wolf ear flicked slightly.
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
The younger wolf-man gently strokes his brother's fur as he mutters, "Can I join the singing club with Tabi?"
That's when Arjo pulls away and gave Kaiden an annoyed look. There's no way that it's going to happen. "You know I hate making you work when-!"
"The singing club isn't a workplace, brother. Tabi will teach me more singing techniques if I sign up to him." Kaiden explains with a huff.
'Why does he even had to love singing?' Arjo sighs in irritation.
Unlike Kaiden, Arjo dislikes singing. Not that he has a grudge on the activity himself, but his voice isn't really the type for singing. And he's always jealous of his younger brother because of his angelic voice is much better than his own that sounds like a moaning elephant in heat – Kaiden likes to tease him with that.
'At least it makes him happy though...' Arjo thought with a hinting smile.
"Your face is saying yes. I do hope it's a yes." An excited Kaiden interrupts his thinking once again.
'He's a total spoiled brat since birth, I'm sure of it...' And then Arjo groans in defeat, his beaten-up arms raised in the air. "Okay, okay."
"YES! OH MY GOODNESS! I LOVE YOU BROTHER!" The younger wolf squeals happily.
Arjo laughs at his brother's jumping up and down on the wooden floor. It was always a pure joy to see him very happy like this, like his problems on their everyday living just fades away from the mere sight of Kaiden's antics of excitement. This is one of the moments of his brother that Arjo would always remember and treasure until the end of the day.
'I love you too, Kai...' The older wolf grins.
And then the unexpected suddenly happens.
THWACK!
"KAIDEN!" Arjo screams at the sight of his poor younger brother. Oh, the horror of what happened!
...
...
"I'm okay, Arjo!" Kaiden just laughs away from his situation, like nothing serious really happened.
Well, they didn't really expect that the floor would be so fragile. Kaiden managed to break through it, making his body stuck on the hole that his jumping made. At least there was ground beneath the floor, and Kaiden was now standing on sandy ground.
"You clumsy little shit." Arjo helps him up after recovering from his shock. They frowningly looked at the quite big hole that revealed the sandy ground just beneath their small house. They just built this home last month after Arjo saved enough money to hire some helpers, and then it had gotten a bit crusty so easily. "It'll be next week before I fix this up, you know."
"I know, sorry about that." Kaiden scratches his head awkwardly. And then an idea struck him. "Hey, why don't you get a slave to work for us?"
Arjo raises an eyebrow. "A slave? You expect me to order around a creature who can barely understand our language?"
"Sometimes I think you're more of the 'Big, Bad-Headed Wolf' than the 'Big, Bad Wolf' though." Kaiden chuckles at his brother's stern glare. "There are beastmen slaves too, not only the common human slaves. And even if the human slaves don't understand our language, all slaves are well-trained to do household chores as I do in this house every single day."
"So, are you implying that I'm treating you like a slave here?" Arjo gives him a stern look.
Kaiden smiles innocently. "Maybe. But you're my favorite brother, so I don't really mind." He really loves his brother and would always be loyal to him. They only have each other to rely on anyways.
The older wolf-man smirks at that. Maybe he could get a slave to help them with their living. 'And maybe I should choose someone that will take care of Kaiden when I'm away...'
~~~~~~~~~~
"D-Dad! Put him down!" Seth yells at his father who has the peculiar human on his arms. His sadistic smile and the way he held the unconscious creature; those signs just meant a bad idea. "Dad, he's not a slave for sale!"
"And whose slave is this boy, hmm?" Seth's father glared. "He doesn't look like he's owned, and this funny looking collar on his neck doesn't seem to be locked."
'Shit...' Seth curses. He just left the human boy in the living room to get some medicinal herbs for his injury, but he didn't think that his father would be coming home so early today. If it was Gerard then maybe he could've fooled the tiger-man, but no, it's his father who's infamous for being the Slavemaster.
He needs to think of a plan. His father would surely put the human in the prep room first. There, the boy would suffer more injuries than his head concussion. Seth feared that he might die there before he could even be put in with the other slaves.
"I-I captured h-him at the forest. I was g-gonna show him to you after I p-prepped him..." Seth reasoned out, regretting that he stuttered on his speaking. 'I hope he takes it. And the boy would surely kill me later...'
His quickly-thought plan was simple; get his father to sell the human boy to a beastman that he could trust the boy's safety. If his father doesn't mind Seth to be the one to put the boy to the cellars, then he can be assured that the boy would live until someone buys him. For now, he's hoping that his father would believe that he had already 'prepped' the boy.
The rugged-looking bull-man raised a thick eyebrow. "You said he's not for sale."
Seth nervously shook his head. "W-Well, I already have a buyer for him." 'Please don't ask the fucking name...'
"And who's the buyer?"
'Major shit...' He can't just say any random names at this point.
Suddenly, a mysterious voice spoke within his mind. "Tell him that the buyer would be Arjo, a wolf-man from the Moon Valley."
... Seth didn't know whether to trust that voice or not. But since he got no other safe choice, he blurts out, "H-His name is Arjo, a wolf-man from the Moon Valley."
The way his father looked at him was really nerving. Is he doubting him? Seth's pretty sure his father is doubting him now...
"... Here." And the burly bull-man passed the unconscious body to his son. Seth was surprised that he had let him go eventually, but he didn't let it show on his face. With a huff, he states before leaving the room, "And make sure that wolf pays double for this one."
It took a full minute before Seth sighed in relief. That was a close call. He didn't get to explain to the human boy that his father is actually a notorious Slavemaster. He's really worried about the boy's fate – yes, Seth had gotten pretty fond of him in the short time that they met. Because he had never met a human that could understand beastman language and even talk with him. This human boy in his arms is such a special creature.
But there's another thing that worries the bull-man.
While tending back the wound on the human's head, Seth wonders on who just spoke within his mind. Its presence somehow faded after helping him come up with the human's supposed buyer named Arjo. Was the voice telling the truth? Should Seth trust some being that he couldn't figure out?
'And I wonder if this wolf-man named Arjo knows that he's going to buy this human...' Seth thought before wiping off the sweat from the human's forehead.