Several more weeks had gone by, and Basil had adjusted well to his new circumstance as the cook of the Bugbears. During this time, he continued to expand his Recipe Book, sightsee the Empty Lands, collect new food resources, upgrade his present skills, and make connections amongst the other Bugbears. A little fact that didn't go unnoticed by either the other male Bugbears or the chief, Burr, himself.
One such evening, when the men were resting after a raid before heading back to the camp where they left the woman and children, the topic of Basil had been broached by one of his men. A subject that was brought up quite frequently by a member of his tribe who liked to get under his skin and bolster. Always to annoy him in a show of superiority in self-control and not strength.
That same Bugbear, named Bruim, chastised Burr, "Oi Chiefy, yous seem to be getting soft lately."
The other men all chuckled at his expense, making Burr growl and snarl back, "What are you mouthing about Bruim?"
Bruim smiled wryly at this and pressed forward, "That man scrimp you've been keeping around. We haven't eaten him yet. Why? Man scrimp are tasty."
Burr snorted and told him, "Man scrimp has been feeding us, teaching the misses, and watching the pups. He's useful. Nothing else."
"Are you sure? You've never shown your strength against him. All new tribe members come to know your strength and veracity, but not the man scrimp.", Bruim pointed out, getting thinking looks from the others. Seeing this, he pushed on and said, "Perhaps yous is going soft. Then maybe it's time yous no longer stay as-.", but before he could finish that sentence, Burr shot up and roared directly in his face so loud that everyone else went quiet and backed away in fear!
Bruim was the only one not to back away, but his look showed how scared he was. Especially with the furious Burr glaring down at him with the rage to rip his throat out!
"No one is going to be Chiefy other than me! You want to be Chiefy!? Then earn it and fight me! If yous think yous has the strength.", Burr angrily offers, making Brumi back down. "Never say I go soft! I never soft! I strongest! That's why I Chiefy!", he proclaimed to the other cowering men.
xXx
When the men returned from their day of hunting, they were, as usual, greeted by the females and children before sitting on the grass for a hot meal around the fire. The female served the males and the children their portions before serving themselves. But instead, the females were all served by a smiling Basil. Something that irritates Burr to no end.
Here was his captive, smiling as he was being forced into servitude. Most humans would've given up, ran, or begged for death. But not this one; he stayed and did everything with a smile. He was even making nice with the women and children. This is why the topic of him being soft even came up. Things would be different if he had shown even an ounce of fear daily, like when he first found the boy. But now he had to show he was still the most formidable, bar none, and insole fear into Basil.
Silently gnashing his teeth, he yelled, "Man scrimp!", quickly walking over to him; Basil gave a curious look as Burr growled, "Give me another!", and held out his empty wooden plate.
Basil blinks at the demand, then says, "Sorry, Chief, but you know the rules. No one gets a second helping unless everyone else has eaten their first portion. And the kids are still eating.", Burr narrows his eyes at this, and only panics for a moment, Basil offers, "But I can get you another glass of-."
"You give food, now!", Burr demands in a yell while jumping to his stubby legs and leering over him, causing the whole tribe to look over at the commotion.
Shrinking down and backing up, Basil lightly argued, "But-But, that's the rules. The rules you made, and I haven't eaten yet."
But Burr interrupts him and proclaims with a snarl, "Yous no eat! Yous no Goblin! Yous not tribe! Yous slave! Yous listen!"
"But-.", Basil tries to argue to de-escalate the situation.
Burr roars at him, then brings up his ten-foot arm to strike down on him! Basil squeaks in fright and covers his face and head, being reminded of the beatings his family and wife would give him, only for the blow never to connect as it was slapped out of the air by another long set of arms! A loud gasp made its rounds in the camp after the attack was interrupted, and upon realizing that he hadn't been beaten, Basil cracked open an eye. Only to see a very angry Brex standing in opposition to a very shocked Burr. Burr was so stunned that he couldn't even say anything in response!
The only thing he could muster was a small yet surprised sounding, "Misses?"
"What's wrong with yous, Mister!? Yous no harm man scrimp!", Brex yelled at her husband in a roar.
Getting back his nerve, Burr snarled back, "Misses no tell me to not harm man scrimp!"
"Mister will listen to misses! Burr acting like brute! Not Chiefy!", Brex argued back.
Surprised by her continued insubordination and strong vigor, Burr argued back in her face, "Mister is no brute! Mister is Chiefy! Never stop being Chiefy!"
"No!", Brex yelled back.
"What!?", Burr demands.
"Misses says no! Yous not following rules or acting like Chiefy! Mister, go sleep away!", Brex screamed in a roar as she pointed outside the camp border.
Looking out and back better the camp and to his wife in shock at her boldness, Burr commands, "Mister will not sleep away, misses!"
"Mister will sleep away!", Brex argued.
"No!"
"Yes!"
From here, they divulge from broken English to something far more animalistic! For Basil, listening to them was like watching two animals trying to intimate one another before a fight. All they did was roar, scream, and make all kinds of gargled sounds. If this were arguing for them, he'd hate to see and hear full-blown insane gibberish.
Looking back, he saw that the other Bugbears were giving a wide berth to the quarreling couple and trying to make themselves small and unnoticeable. Basil also wanted to "peace out" but feared what would happen if he tried. With nothing to do but stand there and watch two pseudo-bear men roar at one another, Basil wanted to know what they were saying. Suppose they were even talking in a language in the first place. Suddenly, his Appraisal skill kicked in, seemingly by itself, and a window popped open as the two Bugbears continued their verbal assault.
Gobbledegook- the native language for all known species of Goblinoid.
Well...that explained that question.
Finally, their arguing seemed to have come to an end when an exhausted-looking Burr turned and left the camp sight, non-existent tail tucked between his legs as he melded into the darkness beyond the campfire. The last thing he saw was Burr looking back for a moment, but only for a moment, with an unreadable expression on his face before he turned away. Once Burr is gone and things calm down to a degree, Brex approaches a still jittery Basil. However, she asked him the following question which caused his concerns to be restated.
"Man scrimp okay? Mister not hurt you?", she asked while looking down and over him, lifting his hair to check, and turning his face about; much like a mother would to check for injuries.
Still shaken and hollow-headed, Basil shook off his distant mind and her hand as he replied, "Yeah, I'm fine…but what just happened?"
"Mister, feel little again and act badly. No doubt Bruim again.", Brex explained in vague detail.
Thinking about her words and trying to assemble them, he finally concluded and summarized, "So his…masculinity was being questioned and challenged? And so he had to look big so everyone wouldn't think he was?"
Brex nods in confirmation, only to see Basil looking past her. When she turned around, the whole tribe was staring at the two of them. Something that Brex didn't take nicely to as she roared, "What everyone staring!? Eat, clean, and sleep! Burr still Chiefy so long as I Lady Chiefy! Any bad feelings?", she scanned the crowd, seeing no one dared even to make eye contact until she spotted the tribes haggler. She exclaimed in threatening offer, "Bruim?!"
Bruin looked off even further than the others, lowering his head and trying to look small. Satisfied with the reactions she got, she grunted, and everyone got up to begin cleaning.
Brex turned back to Basil and told him, "Man scrimp should eat now. Now that think of it. Not seen man scrimp eat in days. Man scrimp sick?", she inquired with a concerned expression.
"Yeah I'm fine, it's just magic.", Basil assured her.
Though, in truth, he didn't feel like eating at all. Thanks to his Biological Storage, he didn't feel hungry...ever. And since he was constantly eating or sampling the many dishes he and the Bugbears made together, his Food Bar was always refilling. But that wasn't the thing on his mind at the time; now, it was about Burr. He understood why Burr did what he intended to do, but he felt like there was more to the story. After all, back in his old world, he was seen as a wealthy businessman with more money than he knew what to do with and a beautiful wife with nearly all his children being successful themselves. But that was the biggest lie the media ever thought. So he knew there was more to Burr and even the society of Bugbears he didn't quite understand.
So while the others cleaned up for the night, Basil snuck off to find and talk to Burr. Once he was out of range of the fire, he grabbed a nearby stone and cast his light Spell on it. His constant use of this spell for weeks increased his Light Magic, and Light turned into Lantern and then Spot Light. Lantern allowed him to cast light in a straight line from an object that already had the Light Spell on it and use it like a flashlight or lantern, while Spot Light allowed him to cast light in his hand, creating a ball of light that would fly over his head, allowing him hands-free access. So he set off into the dark.
Luckily, he didn't have to travel very far as he came upon a mound of fur sitting in the middle of the field where they were camping. It was Burr's back; how he knew this was because Bugbears had darker backs and lighter fronts…also he didn't see sharp teeth right away and could smell the pungent odor of their natural body musk punching his nose. It appears that Burr had not noticed he was there, but he knew that wasn't the case. Burr just ignored him, so he decided to go to the front, where all the killing parts were and saw the Bugbear chief sulking as he looked to the ground with the corners of his eyes all wet.
With Basil looking directly at the chief, nearly face to face, with his curious 'head empty' expression and shining a light directly in his eyes, he finally stirred and snapped at him, grunting in controlled irritation, "What man scrimp want!? Come to gloat? To laugh?"
"No.", Basil tells him simply.
"Then what want?!", Burr growls at him.
Standing off to the side a bit, to not provoke an attack, Basil explained, "I wanted to talk to you. About…back there. What was up with that? Sure, you've grunted and growled at me a few times, but you've never tried something like that before. I thought you were smart enough then to act like some mindless animal."
"Yous think I animal?!", Burr demanded while baring his teeth as he jumped to his feet.
Basil explained in more detail, not backing down this time from his bark, "I said, 'I thought you were'. As in, I had confirmed knowledge you were smarter than an animal. Until…you know. So why?"
Burr deflated just as quickly as he got roused up. Sitting down with his arms lying out, he said, "Yous wouldn't understand."
"Then help me understand.", Basil offered while sitting down beside him,
"Why?", Burr questions back, looking confused.
Basil shrugs and counters back, "Why not. You know I could have run away at any time or even attempted to kill you in your sleep or poison you or any number of other things, but I don't.", Burr has nothing to say on that point, so he looks away while snorting in frustration. They stay silent until Basil pipes up and asks, "Does it have to do with you being the leader?"
Eventually, Burr finally breaks, and he begrudgingly explains to the man, "I…am Chiefy. Been Chiefy a long time since I have. Goblins take the biggest and strongest to become Chiefy. If yous Chiefy, then yous always have to show yous biggest, and most importantly, strongest! All the time!...all the time."
"Sounds exhausting.", Basil comments before thinking about it to himself and paraphrasing, "So your culture demands that your leadership is determined by the biggest and strongest punch fighter and fight puncher in the group. And that leadership position must be upheld until someone is better than you?"
"Man scrimp seems to understand.", Burr agrees.
"And anyone, no matter what, could be Chief.", Basil asks further.
Burr nods and tells him, "Even lady folk can become Chiefy. Brex almost became Chiefy once."
Surprised, Basil looks back at the camp and sees Brex moving a boulder twice her size! Slowly turning to face forward again, he tells him, "I can see why you like her."
"She was strongest lady folk and wouldn't allow anyone to mate unless they beat her. I did.", Burr told him with a reminiscing and nostalgic look in his eyes and voice.
Thinking about this some more, Basil comes to a roadblock where he asks Burr, "So when a Bugbear, regardless of them being male or female, becomes Chief, what do you call them?"
"Chiefy.", Burr tells him.
"I meant for females.", Basil corrects himself.
"Chiefy.", Burr tells him again.
Sweat dropping at his lack of explanation, it fell upon Basil to fill in the blanks. So he thought to himself for a moment before clarifying, "Okay, then if your mate, Brex, is called Lady Chiefy, 'cause she's your wife. What would it be if she was Chief and you weren't?"
"I'd be Lady Chiefy.", Burr answered.
"So it sticks no matter what gender you are.", Basil says in a hushed tone, nodding to himself in confirmation.
"I must keep position as Chiefy no matter what. Can't show weakness, fear, or softness.", Burr stationed his point.
"I'm guessing that this Bruim character was the cause of it?", Basil asks.
Burr nods and tells him, "All Goblins want to be Chiefy, Bruin most of all. Try to find and point out flaws to say I shouldn't be.", he then takes a deep and heavy sigh as he adds, "Besides, I have to stay as Chiefy until death."
Confused by this statement, Basil inquired with concern, "Why? Doesn't that seem a bit extreme?"
"Me Poopa was Chiefy, and his Poopa before him, and so on.", Burr tells him while looking off into the distance and making weird hand motions.
Noting this in his head, Basil summarizes aloud, "A long line of Chiefs, one generation after the other. And I'm guessing that your son will have to inherit the same legacy, which…puts a lot of pressure on you."
"Man scrimp do understand.", Burr huffs a sigh while looking off to the side as his shoulders slump from the apparent weight of it all.
"More than you realize.", Basil agrees as he leans back to look up at the clear night sky and half-moon. With curiosity striking Burr, he gives his full attention to the man as he rants to him, "It may seem hard to believe, but I used to have a life before this, and it wasn't a happy one. I always had the weight of expectations placed on me, all the time. Sometimes, it felt like I was drowning or being suffocated. And worst of all…worst of all, no matter what I did, it was never good enough."
"What yous mean?", Burr questions.
Closing his eyes as he took a deep sigh to calm himself, Basil regaled him, "Imagine setting a goal for yourself or having one set by another person. You set off to achieve that goal, and in the end, you do. Sometimes, you do even better than originally thought and come out with flying colors. But once it comes to the attention of the person watching you or setting the goal, they tell you you didn't do what you were asked. And you were told that you failed."
Surprise and anger exploded across Burr's face, and he exclaimed in a complaint, "What?! That make no sense! If yous goes to do something and yous do that something, then you win. If yous dont, yous fail. If yous do even better than what yous wanted, even better! Simple as that."
Basil agrees with his sentiment with a nod before divulging with sadness, "And you're right. But imagine that they lied to you about what they really wanted, or expected it to be even more, or changed their minds about what they wanted and ended up not telling you."
A furious scowl appeared over Burr's snarling face, and he exploded in a yell, "That's wrong!"
Basil sighs as he lays back and looks up at the sky, telling the Bugbear, "That was my life. My entire life."
Clutching his fists and anger, Burr tells the man, "If Goblins do that, then Goblins have arms ripped off!"
Looking off to the side, Basil comments, "I should've expected that."
"If that true, then why does man scrimp still smile and laugh when we tell you to cook or watch pups? That not remind you of past?", Burr inquires as he begins to calm down.
Basil smiled as he looked to his side and said, "Not at all. Sure, you guys are more...cut-throat, but you've never tried to attack me, except for today; you live a simpler life, you give tasks I accomplish and never say I didn't do it right or well enough, and you've always been thankful for what I've done."
Burr looks confused by his words and tells him, "Of course we thank you. All Goblins do part for tribe. Even pup is thanked for bringing fire sticks."
Looking back up to the starry night sky, Basil replied with a grin, "Well, I'm not used to that sort of thing. So when I get to hear it, it makes me…smile. And nowadays, I feel more…at peace."
"Man scrimp really understands.", Burr says in a hushed tone.
"Sorry, what was that?", Basil asks.
"Nothing.", Burr says quickly.
After that, the two of them stayed silent and watched the stars while listening to the sounds of the insects and other tribe members cleaning up for the night. Nothing was said between them, but it was apparent that both had become comfortable enough to relax in each other's presence.
After a time, Basil finally got up from his spot on the grass and told Burr, "You know…your wife is pretty cross with you. Maybe you should apologize; she just gave you the Bugbear equivalent of 'go sleep on the couch'."
"Apologize? For what?", Burr questions back in a demand.
Rolling his eyes at the question, Basil informs him, "Acting like a brute, for starters. And allowing your masculinity to become toxic."
"Chiefy has to be strongest and without apology to be Chiefy!", Burr asserts while hitting his chest.
"Well, maybe it's about time for a change.", Basil says as he rises to his feet. Hearing this and becoming intrigued, Burr gives his attention to the man. "A good leader doesn't have to be the strongest to be in charge. A good leader listens to their people and makes decisions based on them so that everyone can come to a partial agreement. Even being kind or vulnerable is a good quality. Shows that their leader is still mortal, and when they're down, they have to step up.", Basil tells the Bugbear.
Burr thinks on this for a while, opening his mouth many times as if to speak but never saying anything. Only to finally put on a downtrodden expression and mannerism as he shamefully admits, "I don't know how to do that."
"Let's just start with apologizing to your wife.", Basil tells him while offering his hand.
Burr looks at his offer and has to do his best to repress his smile. Only for both of them to quickly realize that Basil trying to help Burr to his feet was not a good idea. Thanks to the bugbears' disproportionate arms, Basil had to take several steps back to get the limb to extend to its entire length. Once he did, however, getting him up was a more extensive ordeal than needed, as even though the bugbear had stumpier legs, he was still highly compact and heavy. Which eventually led to the two of them giving up and just letting Burr stand on his own. With that, the two of them walked back to the camp.
Once they got back into the light of the fire, everything went quiet as Burr appeared, and taking note of this, Brex turned to see what the silence was all about. Only to see her husband walking in.
"Mister? I told you to sleep away!", she demanded while pointing her finger back into the darkness.
When Burr didn't listen, Brex tried to roar at him, only for Burr to cut her off as he said in a slightly meek tone, "Misses did say that, but Chiefy wanted to say…", once he got her attention and intrigue he took a deep breath and tried to say, "C-Chiefy wanted to say."
Burr tried a few more times to finish his sentence, but no matter what he did, it wouldn't come out. Whenever he tried to force it, he would make noises or disturbing expressions that looked painful to pull off. At this point, Brex, alongside anyone else witnessing this, has been completely turned off, and we're backing away from their seemingly possessed leader.
After a long while, Brex finally asked her husband in concern, "Is Mister okay?"
Suddenly, Basil appeared behind him and exclaimed, "Hold on, I've always wanted to do this."
Without a moment of hesitation, he used his Magic Cooking to manifest a frying pan and whacked Burr on the back of the head! Although the attack was anything but complicated, due to the Bugbear's natural durability, it was still enough to get the attention and horrified expressions of everyone present from his bold action! No one attacked the chief unless they wanted to claim the title or die! This granted him some respect among the males.
With whatever it was holding Burr back, he quickly rubbed his head and took his wife's hands while saying in a low tone, "Mister wants to say sorry to Misses."
"Really?", Brex asked back in surprise.
"Don't make me repeat.", Burr grunted back, looking unamused.
Looking back at Basil and seeing the two next to each other, along with the sight of him whacking her husband fresh in her mind, she didn't have to think long before confirming, "Oh. Well…Misses forgive Mister."
Burr smiles at his wife, and the two embrace in a tight hug before embracing again in a passionate kiss. Seeing this unfold, Basil clasps his hands together, puts them at one side of his face, and admires aloud, "Awww."
Only for the passion to quickly turn raunchy when they both began to use more of their mouths and other oral parts to show affection to one another, causing Basil to regress from his previous stance and exclaim in disgust, "Ewww."
Only to hear more disgust as the other Bugbears around him began to share his previous sentiment. Making the boy even more disgusted and unsure of Bugbear culture. So he left the couple to their own devices and went to join the children in the sleeping pile. He just hoped their affection wouldn't go too far since there was no privacy among them, and even though he didn't need sleep, he still liked to do it.