Something about this place has definitely made me more prone to cheesy one-liners.
"Ahoy! It's me, ahoy! I found the place, Miss Kara! Oh wow! Perrin is awake now! Hi Mister Perrin sir!" June chirped obnoxiously loud as he hobbled around on his little feet, "Look it's me, I'm a finch! I found the place, Miss Kara!" He continued to boast before transforming back into his boy form. "What place?" I looked over at Kara who was still being stubborn and not responding to me. I sighed and looked over at June next, who looked like he was going to burst.
"What place did you find, June?" I asked with a small smile and he jumped up excitedly. "Hostel! Twins! Let's go!" He blurted out almost incoherently and grabbed my wrist tightly. I shrugged, not really having much of a choice, and let him drag me off. Kara trailed behind us with a semblance of a smile on her face, which made me feel a lot better about the given situation.
Kara Clarke. Something seemed to flicker when I said her name as if she didn't know how I knew it. Honestly, I wasn't sure how I knew either, but something about her being here wasn't adding up. It didn't make sense that both June and I died and reincarnated, but she was simply taken from our world and brought here because of me. Maybe she died as well but didn't want to talk about it. Which reminded me of something else.
"Hey June, do you… remember how you died?" I asked hesitantly and ran a hand through my hair, a smile that reflected how nervous I was plastered to my face. The pep in his step slowly came to a stop and he looked back at me with a very ominous look before giving me a cheerful smile, "Nope!" He then proceeded to skip ahead and I frowned a bit.
"You feel it too, right? Something isn't adding up about him, but… we should be patient, Perrin. He'll tell us everything when he feels he can trust us more." Kara spoke up as she placed her hand on my shoulder. My shoulders grew less tense at her touch and I nodded a bit, "Yeah. No, you're right. I should be more patient with him." I heard her soft giggle and saw the sweet smile I was so used to seeing right before my very eyes. It felt so new and best of all, it was for me.
I wonder if she knows how fast she makes my heartbeat. I'm sure she could hear it now. Man, that's embarrassing…
"You've already grown so much, Perrin." She said softly before walking off to catch up with June. For a second I felt my heart stop and the air leave my lungs. It felt too short for any sort of character development to happen, but if she was saying so then… It must be true. I sighed and followed after them, bringing up the rear of our odd trio.
We ended up at a shaggy building with a dangling signpost labeled "HOSTEL," and I could only assume this was the place that old lady was talking about. "Okay, so a pair of twins here should be able to get us into Isla Ila Abab, but they're tricksters apparently. So be on guard. June," Kara crossed her arms as the boy started to wander off. He stopped in his tracks when he heard her call his name and turned back with a chipper smile, "Yes Miss Kara ma'am!" I stifled a laugh and hid my face in my arms. "He's totally a leash kid." I muttered under my breath and she nudged me with a scoff, "Do not say that!" I laughed, refusing to hold it back any longer as I shrugged, "What? I won't apologize 'cause it's true!"
"Are you making fun of me, Mister Perrin sir? I'll poop on you again!" June stood up to me with a smug grin on his face. I stopped laughing almost immediately and gritted my teeth at the thought. "Excuse me, what." Kara's eyes flew open and she looked between the two of us with a look of disbelief. "Don't ask," I looked at her, my face flushed from embarrassment before shooting a glare at the little instigator, "And don't talk about it."
Her mouth opened once more to say something else when the hostel's door flew open with an absurd amount of force. We all jumped and June instinctively shifted into his helpless little finch form to hide on Kara's shoulder. I moved her behind me and had my hand on the hilt of my katana almost instantly as a pair of tall masked figures walked inside. Now, we weren't the only ones there, but everyone else was exhibiting NPC behavior, so their reactions weren't nearly as important as ours. For some reason, I was feeling this tingle down my spine. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing upright, but I couldn't understand why. It was as if they were giving off this… aura, and that I had the ability to sense it.
"I'm getting a bad feeling from them. You and June should head over to the bar and keep your distance." I whispered to Kara, keeping my gaze on the shady figures as they shifted around the room oddly. "Perrin, absolutely not! I'm the one that's meant to protect you! Stop trying to be noble!" She hissed back at me and nudged my shoulder aggressively, "Plus, we look the most out of place anyway. Confronting them as a threat won't make the situation any better." She explained and grabbed my wrist away from my sheath. "H-Hey-!" I stumbled after her as she pulled me towards one of the empty dining tables.
"Hey, the Bucchi twins are back from the isle!"
"Maybe there's another bounty?"
"Those damned mercenaries keep runnin' the tourists away!"
All around where we sat, the whispers were becoming deafening, but for some reason, it wasn't loud enough to drown out the ominous silence that consumed the hostel ever since the apparent twins walked in. They wore goggles that shielded their eyes and thick scarves that masked the rest of their faces. They were tall, like… egregiously tall, and it left me feeling even more intimidated than most basketball players did. I gulped quietly and tried to play off the fact that I was staring, but part of me felt like it was just a tad bit too late.
"Shit, they're coming over here!" I said between gritted teeth as I rubbed the back of my head nervously and leaned back in my seat anxiously. "Perrin, calm down!" Kara snapped at me and I snapped forward in the seat out of fear and smiled nervously, "My bad!"
"Hey… Hey, you! You… You were starin' at me, yeah? Yeah! What was that all about, huh? Huh!" His voice was slow as if he had low blood sugar and was tired… and his words came out in a weird slur. It left a creepy vibe in the air and I shrunk back in my seat. But it wasn't working, he kept leaning forward, and since I couldn't see his face, I felt all the more terrified. "Huh… Why were you starin', huh? Don't you know who we are? I'll pluck your eyeballs out and eat 'em, shrimpy." He started to laugh and it came out as a low drawl that was infinitely more creepy than his actual voice.
"Back off." Kara piped up and held her arm out in between us with a scowl on her face. In between her fingers was a kunai or two, and I silently sighed in relief. I know I said I didn't want her to protect me all the time, but this was definitely one of the times when I needed her to fight for me. I'm just using my resources as intended. There was a silence that resonated between the three of us, and it felt even more suffocating than before.
"Oh my, Azul, don't be so mean. They're tourists, clearly. I doubt they have even seen our faces." The other tall identical figure came over and pulled the first guy away. His voice had a formality to it that was off-putting in a disturbing way. He was oddly punctual with his words and his tone reeked of smug intentions that made my stomach do somersaults out of fear.
Kara didn't lower her arm though and looked between the two, "Are you the twins from the isles?" The second one rocked on his heels and gave a slight nod, "And if we are? Are you meant to be seeking passage into Isla Ila Abab?" He crossed his arms and she hesitated before lowering her arm and leaning forward a bit, "Yes, and we were told that a pair of twins could make that happen."
"Follow us, travelers." The less sleazy one gestured towards a room in the opposite corner that had a curtain shielding its contents from the guests. I glanced over and stood up abruptly, "Uh, not to be an asshole, but that looks super sketchy. Also, we haven't even seen your faces or anything to prove that you won't like… murder us back there." I looked at them both but of course, the sleazy creepy one wanted to protest. "Follow us or die." He seethed before letting out this eerie cackle.
"Y-Yeah, okay… Kara, um… ladies first, haha!" I laughed nervously and gestured for her to walk ahead of me. She rolled her eyes and made her way over to the room before disappearing behind the flourish of the curtains. "You next, traveler." He pulled the curtains open for me as I approached and I gulped before heading inside myself.
The room was dimly lit and barren beside the hanging lanterns. A couple of cushions lay around the floor and I watched as Kara sat herself down on one as if that was the natural thing to do in this unnatural situation. I took a seat on the cushion near her and looked around, feeling as though I had just been kidnapped. Wouldn't kidnappers keep their prisoners in rooms like these? I swear I'm not crazy!
"Okay, travelers, we are the Bucchi twins. I'm Suzo, and this is my twin brother Azul." Suzo pulled his scarf down and it unraveled just a bit to reveal his face. I heard Kara gasp and I tried not to make much of an audible or visible reaction, but it was hard not to do so. As he slid his goggles up and slid off his headscarves, she shuffled more and I heard the slight sounds of her kunai shifting between her fingers.
"No… You're gasters! But you're also human…? How are you hybrids?!" Her voice rose the more she tried to make sense of it, but I kept quiet since I was still unfamiliar with the fiends of this world. "Oh my. Now you see why we mask our identities? Have you ever heard of anyone reacting kindly to gasters? Let alone us monstrosities?" Suzo shook his head and had a forlorn look on his face. "Hey… hey! Put those away or I'll crush ya!" Azul started getting antsy as he removed his masking garments as well. "Kara…" I muttered and gently pushed her arm down to put her at ease, "Like you said, let's not be aggressive." I whispered and gave her a reassuring smile. It seemed to help and she sheathed her kunai back in her garter, "Okay, explain yourselves." She crossed her arms and I nodded, "Please?"
"It would be a lot easier if we showed you, no? After all, you did want passage onto the isles, no?" He grinned and the chills I had before came back. His glowing purple eye matched the same purple smog that the gaster guy from before disappeared into and was a huge contrast from his other brown eye. Half of his face was illuminated and showed the outline of his skeleton, but only because the room was barely lit. I could see the lengths of his somewhat crooked smile, and I couldn't tell which unsettled me more about this situation. It also didn't help that Azul matched his appearance almost perfectly, with the exception of his eyes being in reverse and his hair the same way. The mixture of silver and black hair was a weird combination, but just like their hybrid mess, I assumed it was involuntary.
"So you'll take us there?" I asked what seemed to be the obvious, and Azul smiled big, showing his oddly shaped teeth as he did so. "It's full of Terrors, shrimpy. Maybe ya shouldn't go after all." He laughed and Suzo gave a slight shrug, "He brings a valid point. It's not too late to save yourselves."
"No, we need to go there." I clenched my fists and rose from the cushion. Kara followed suit and gave a solid nod, "Take us there. We can fend off Terrors just fine." She grinned with her gleaming confidence shining through like always. It was contagious and made me feel better about traveling into the unknown. Suzo chuckled as he and Azul dawned their masks once more. He walked over towards the curtains and pulled them back for us once more with a slight bow.
"So be it, travelers."