Elkay grunted and grumbled as something poked him in the side, just underneath where his armoured chest carapace ended. Elkay was tired and grumpy and didn’t want to be disturbed, so of course here was someone to annoy the heck out of him. When turning over and pulling a blanket over himself failed to get the poking to stop, Elkay finally opened his eyes, snarling at whoever was pissing him off.
“What the fuck do you want?”
To his surprise, the person standing over Elkay was Rethais, the one Rethan who was supposedly his superior. Glancing over at the clock in the corner, Elkay realized he had massively overslept. It was 10am. He was supposed to have woken up at 8am.
Immediately, Elkay changed his tone, apologizing profusely. Rethais simply shook his head, sighing.
“You clearly needed it.”
“I have been oversleeping far too much lately. It is wrong.”
Rethais shrugged. “Well you can fix that later. We have a slightly bigger issue at hand. One that only you can deal with.”
Elkay rolled over, then slowly made his way out of bed. “Sure. Let me put some armour…”
Before Elkay could finish his sentence though, Rethais dropped a set of armour on top of him. Not any of Elkay’s own armour sets, but probably some of the most boring, basic plating and padding Elkay had seen in a long time. Nothing but grey.
“It is plain, yes, but the only armour of yours I could find stinks of… I am not sure what.”
Sighing, Elkay threw the armour on, then followed Rethais out of the room, pausing only to look the door on the small concrete bunker Elkay currently called home. Rethais led him through the quiet street, up to one of the guard towers. He then pointed out, into the distance.
“What?”
Rethais tutted. “You do not see it?”
“See what?”
“That smudge of orange and black on the landscape.”
Elkay squinted. As he did so, the orange and black dot moved. It moved slightly closer.
“There is a Banikan out there, Elkay. I need you to deal with it.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
With yet more sighs, Elkay made his way back down the guard tower, out of the town gates and towards the orange smudge. He hadn’t taken any weapons with him, but he knew he didn’t need them. Taking any sort of weaponry near a Banikan was a surefire way to be stabbed, trampled or gored.
As Elkay approached the Banikan, the Banikan seemed more at ease and more eager to approach. As it did so, Elkay realized who this being was.
“Atteh’Kus, what are you doing here?”
The Banikan shifted its weight. Was it embarrassed?
“I need… somewhere to stay. Somewhere safe. Somewhere sheltered.”
“Why?”
Atteh’Kus again shifted his weight, bouncing erratically. “Bad times. Bad times will come. Am without a home. As are you.”
Elkay shook his head. “Actually, I have a home right here. But you being here is unsettling to the many displaced Rethavok who live here.”
“I can offer services. I protect! I patrol! All this for one thing! Shelter!”
“You just want shelter?”
“I will hunt on my own. No food required.”
Elkay sighed, shaking his head some more. “I will have to talk to the other Rethavok…”
“May I come with?”
“… Yes, sure, why not?” Elkay tutted, heading back to town. “I mean, it cannot hurt…”
Atteh’Kus seemed to smile and purr at the same time, then chased after Elkay, wagging his tail happily. “Thank you!”