Behind the scenes chapter IV (part II)

"Well well well. I thought a lot about you, Nocturlos. But I never

thought I’d see you strip inside my store. Tell me, should I just stay

here and enjoy the show, or call the police?" Nocturlos recognized the

round voice. He buttoned up his pants, and turned around. He gave out

a muffled laugh. "Tina:" He said while giving her an embrace. "It's

good to see you again. Sorry, but you won't get to see me nude here

around. I don't do public places." Tina face turned red from the

flattering. She tried to keep a straight face, but was unable to.

"Now, what can I help you with today?" "My friend here needs some help

with finding his size for the pants. could you help him?" He said and

pointed at Nails.

 

"Uh, err...hello, miss..." Nails said awkwardly.

 

Tina giggled a bit, holding her hand in front of her mouth. "Waow.

What a cute, lovely friend you got there, Nocturlos. Tell me, I have

never seen him before. Where does he come from?" "He found us on our

last show of the tour, in London. He is our new guitarist." Nocturlos

relpied, giving her a smile. Tina bursted out in excitement, and began

to jump up and down. "A real British gentleman?!" She then grabbed

nails by his waist and held on to him. "Oohh, You're so soft, mister.

listen, I am done working in two hours. Please, let us go out walking

the streets, and I'll show you the town." She said, giving Nails a sly

smile.

 

Nails was taken by surorise at the shocking turn of events but he

politely tried to decline her, "Err, Nocturlos and the others are

giving me a tour of Norway. Th-thank you..." He stammered. Fuck, this

was getting awkward.

 

Tina licked her lips, and her lipstick was shining towards Nails,

before she turned to Nocturlos and asked. "Let me ask you. Does this

friend of yours play hard to get or something? Also, would you mind

switching places with me tonight?" She raised her eyebrows, and moved

her finger signalizing, she wanted him to come closer. "Don't worry,

I'll pay you." She whispered before letting out another giggle.

 

"Ehm..." Nocturlos began to think for a while. "I'll need a moment to

consider this, Tina. Meanwhile, can you help him find his size?"

 

"I was...erm, I was on the streets for a long time and well...err..."

Nails stammered more, helpless and not used to this situation.

 

"Just tell me which colour you are looking for, and whic model, and

I'll give it to you."

 

"Do you have any black and grey pants...for at home and going out?

S-something versatile and with pockets? C-comfy too," Nails said

trying to keep his composure.

 

Unfamiliar with The size- and model names, she began to list all of

them. " we have everything from slim fit to loose fit, in sizes from

W30/L30 to W40/L40... Let me look at you... I think You'll have a

W32/L33." She intentially picked a size too slim for him, followed him

to the fitting rooms. They found an unoccupied room, and They both

entered.

 

"Um, can you give me privacy while I'm putting it on?" Nails asked.

 

Tina giggled again. She let out a finger and stroke Nails under his

cheek. "Have you never been to a clothing store before?" Her plump

cheeks began to turn red as she catiously bit her underlip. "It's part

of my job, to see that They fit on perfectly. Therefore, I have to see

that you don't have any problems putting them on." She could see the

nervousity in Nails eyes, and she giggled softly again. "Don't worry.

I won't do anything uncomfortable to you."

 

Nails sighed, he was just glad he was wearing shorts underneath his

pants and almost quickly changed as soon as the old pants went down.

He carefully buttoned it, "Ugh...does this fit?"

 

She pretended to inspect, and after a few seconds, she said: "hmm. The

length is correct, but it seems like you need a size up in width. I'm

sorry. I'll go out and find a pair." She exited The dressing room, and

found the same pair of pants. This time in W33/L33.

 

He quickly changed again into the new pair, " This feels a lot

better..." Nails said, "I'm happy it's not squeezing me."

 

Tina replied with another soft giggle, giving him a cute. "Wow. You

look so handsome and sexy in that." She tickled Nailsm cheek with her

finger. "Now, I need to to take it off."

 

"N-no need, miss...I can do it," Nails said embarrassed and quickly

changed into his old pants and handed it to her, "Just give me black

and grey pants of similar sizes to this one..."

 

Nails nodded and quickly changed into his old pants, and handed her

the one he tried on, "Just give me several grey and black pants

similar to the size of this one," he said slightly embarrassed.

 

"Ok mister. Just stay here, and I'll come back soon." Tina giggled

before exiting The dressing room. By The pants section, Nocturlos was

waiting for her. "Tina...I have been thinking, and I'll let you have

my friend for The evening. But don't try to do anything uncomfortable

to him. OK?" Tina gave him a nod, before picking up the pants Nails

wanted; in The correct size, and returned to his dressing room.

 

"These are perfect...I wonder if I should get shorts too," Nails said,

"In case the weather gets hot."

 

More giggles came from Tina, and she tried to control herself. "I'll

tell you what, you are already very hot. You could wear shorts any day

without freezing. Which colour do you want it to be?"

"Got any dull green ones? Or something with stripes?" Nails suggested.

 

"I think we got green ones, yeah. I'll have a look." She came and

went, with a shorts in her hands. Unfortunately, it was one size too

big. "Therefore, I found this matching belt." She held up a black

leather belt, with a big buckle containg an open mouth with fangs.

 

"Um, sure, it's okay if it comes with a belt..." Nails said, "I'm sure

I can get some my size when summer kicks in."

 

Tina blushed a little by his words. She asked curiously: "So uhm...

Tell me, what is your size...?" She could see that Nails didn't

quite catch what she said, and therefore, she quickly added "...I-I'm

sure you will. Tell me, is there anything else you need?"

 

"Just extra shirts, sleeveless and long sleeves, and a bathrobe

too..." Nails said, "I did recently move in and while I was cleaning

my laundry, my towel slipped...so, a bath robe will be nice."

 

Tina began to blush again, a lot more than earlier. she tilted her

hair downwards, both for being a bit ashamed, and to get a look at his

crotch. She began to feel a tickle, and she suddenly jerked a little.

She became so embarrassed, that she just told Nails to get out and

find it himself. embarrassed, she sat down on the chair that was

there, and touched herself. Just like she expected, she was wet.

 

Nails was surprised that she decided to leave but he shrugged, he just

figured Tina was going to be busy with other customers. He got black

shirts both sleeveless and with sleeves and he found a mossy green one

with a tiger on it, before going over to the bathrobes and looking

them over. He carefully examined each of them over before picking out

a black one that looked comfy and fitting, "No more towel falls for

me-!" He said excitedly, at least now he won't go through anymore

embarrassments around the house.

 

Nocturlos could see Nails walking around, picking out some clothes. He

walked over to him and tapped him on the back. Nails startled, and

turned to see who it was. "Do you find what you're looking for?"

And by the way, Where's Tina?"

 

"Oh, uh, yeah...I got my t-shirts, and my bathrobe..." Nails said, "As

for Tina...I think she went for a coffee break or something..."

 

"Oh, well. She might come back soon. By the way, I made a deal with

her. She'll be your guide through the mainland tonight. Don't worry

about it, she won't do anything uncomfortable to you. I swear. And

we'll get to show you other parts of Norway. We do a lot of national

tours as well."

Nails looked at him in surprise, "Um...y-you mean a...a date?" Oh

fuck, he had no experience with that! He often saw guys pulling one

liners or trying to pull compliments, but he didn't want to hurt the

girl's feelings.

 

"Uhm... kind of, but I don't think that's what she's going for. Just

play along and do what you're told, and I think you'll be fine. Oh,

and just so you know, she really has a thing for British rodents."

Nocturlos almost whispered the last part, in case Tina were nearby.

 

Nails blushed, "Um...but, uh, what about Castor?" He stammered.

 

Nocturlos could see that people began to to stare at them with wide

eyes, so he grabs Nails's mouth, and tells him to stop it. "People

might think that you are that other guy from Orion wave, and I don't

wanna die yet. Don't worry, I'm sure it won't turn into such a thing.

But at the same time, I'm not very sure. Besides, Castor doesn't need

to know about it." He whispered the entire time, and when he was done,

he could see they had lost their attention.

 

Nails was confused by his and other people's reaction, he just wanted

to get to know Castor if he could. He sighed softly and Nocturlos'

hands aside, "I just...I just..." He rubbed his neck, he couldn't even

describe how he felt.

 

TIna returned, having changed some of her clothes. She tunred to

Nails, and told him to hand the clothes he was holding. "Let's head

over to the counter. I'll help you two out."

 

"Thanks miss," Nails said sheepishly and followed her to the counter

with Nocturlos.

 

Tina scanned all the clothes, and the total came on 2900 krowns.

Nocturlos happily paid for it. While he typed in the code, Tina gave

Nails her sly smile again, licking her lips twice. Her lipstick was

now shining like a lamp. She put Nails's clothes into a bag, together

with the receipt. She gave Nocturlos a throwing kiss. He and Nocturlos

then exited the store.

 

Nails walked with Nocturlos out, "Uh...I...never really had a date

before..." He blurted.

 

"Well, me neither. But I am sure that you will be just fine. Just

don't try to do something unusually stupid. Now, let's go to the car

and leave the clothes there, unless you want to put some of them on

now. But we'll do it by the car. people have a bad habit here to be

very sensitive towards nudity."

 

Nails blushed furiously, "D-do I really have to go on a date after we

buy the clothes?" He asked, "We couldn't schedule a time or place?"

Isn't that how dates normally work? He thought.

 

"Well I told her that we would be here all day, so around seven o'

clock, we have decided that she'll meet you by the gas station. She'll

show you the most important parts of the town, but besides from that,

I have no idea what she's going to do." They came to the car, and to

their surprise, Shane and Bloodlord stood there, waiting for them.

 

"Oh, uh, hey guys..." Nails said now even more embarrassed.

 

"Hey!" Bloodlord, while Shane just stood there, stroking his beard.

"We got a freezer. We also got to borrow a transport car, so we drove

it home, and placed it at the kitchen. Don't worry, it doesn't take up

that much space." A silent "blrurb" could be heard, and Bloodlord held

his hands on his stomach. "Yeah...All that work made me a little bit

hungry. Shane and I were thinking we could go to the Bursti Café, and

get some food. what do you guys say?"

 

"Uh...sounds good...but I'm a little busy..." Nails explained

sheepishly.

 

"With what?" Bloodlord asked curiously. "I mean... food is important,

and to be honest, I think we're all hungry. breakfast was three four

hours ago. Can it wait?"

 

"It's a well...date," Nails said.

 

Shane stopped stroking his beard, tilting his head up. "A..a date?" He

seemed very surprised by what Nails said, and he could feel stress

build up in his body. "That has to be a musician record!" Bloodlord

pointed out. "You've been in contact with civilization for like three

hours, and you already got a bite! Congratfuckingulations!"

 

Nails chuckled nervously, "R-really? Well, I'm not sure I'm gonna

enjoy this date," he said dryly.

 

"If you got any questions, just ask Shane. He knows everything that is

to know about dating. After all, he is the only one of us who has a

girlfriend, A really beautiful one too." Shane felt a bit sweaty. This

was very uncalled for, and he wanted to get away from this entire

scene as soon as rodently possible. But how. He tried to speak up

against Bloodlord, but he only ended up stammering.

 

"Uh...so you can help me with this date thing?" Nails asked,

"I...I...I can pay you back with helping me somehow after the

advice...uh..."

Shane tried not to look like a total pussy, standing there not being

able to give reply. Therefore, he straightened up, and said in a dark,

monotone voice: "You don't have to pay me anything. I'll talk to you

at the café."

 

"Oh, uh...all right..." Nails said rubbing the back of his neck.

 

"So...shall we go?" Bloodlord asked.

 

 

Nails nodded and followed them to the café. He sighed softly and

rubbed his head, he was not looking forward to this date. He'd much

rather cook dinner instead!

 

Shane was first in the line. When they entered the Café, he led them

to the back. it contained a sign saying: "Smoking is allowed within

this area". Some people were scattered around the tables, most of them

glancing towards the riders. Some of them happy that they had

returned, others not so much. However, they all seemed to be a bit

surprised to see that a new guy was hanging out with them. Not long

after, one of the waiters came over to their table to take their

orders Nocturlos asked for a plate of pork chop and a pint of "Odin's

mead". Bloodlord oredered a Valhalla burger and a "Berserker's foam"

beer. Shane went with just regular fries and a bottle of strong beer.

"So Nails. What are you going for?" Shane asked.

 

Nails rose an eyebrow at the selection, not knowing which was

technically good for his taste, "I guess I'll go for the hard apple

cider, and the smoky barbecue ribs."

 

"OK then. Turns out, it's my turn to pay for the food, so just wanted

to know what you wanted." Shane gave Nails a crooked smile, and

brought forth 300 krowns, and gave it to the waiter as he disappeared

into the kitchen to deliver the order. "So tell me, what have you two

been up to while we were fixing the freezer?" Bloodlord asked while he

cracked his knuckles,

 

"Eh, clothes shopping...finally got a bathrobe too!" Nails said his

tail wagging, "So be happy guys, no more towel mishaps from here!"

 

Shane's crooked smile quickly disappeared by Nails' words, and he

turned towards Nails giving a deadly glance. "Don't make me remember

that stuff again! Otherwise, you will regret it!" he snarled. "Now,

now." Nocturlos began. "And to believe that this comes from the Shower

joker, the guy who always pretends that his dick is a helicopter.

Unbelievable, eh?" He was expecting Bloodlord to laugh, but instead,

he looked at Nocturlos with serious eyes. "Maybe we should take about

something else instead? By the way, that's good news Nails."

 

"Um...sure, I don't mind if it'll make Shane calm down..." Nails said.

 

"It's not about that." Bloodlord said. Then he leaned over to Nails

and said: "I don't like the way Nocturlos talks right now. It could

lead to a language verdanists wouldn't be able to tolerate. remeber,

we are still in a bad spotlight."

 

"Err, it wouldn't hurt during my stay in the band I could donate to

shelters and orphanages, right? To put a better light on us?" Nails

suggested, "It's something I always wanted to do...not for PR but it

might help?" He added quietly.

 

"Hmm...I don't think this would be the most appropriate place to talk

about that. We could maybe talk about it tomorrow, since you're busy

for the evening."

 

"Y-yeah..." Nails sighed, "You're right..." He laid back in his seat,

his ears folding slightly.

 

After a while, the waiter came back with te beversges, and Nocturlos

suggested that they should raise their glasses, in favor of being back

home, and for the wish of a bright future. "Skål!" he, Bloodlord, and

Shane said as the glass clinged together.

 

Nails smiled, watching them and drank some of his cider from the beer

glass and relaxed himself due to the laid back atmosphere.

 

Bloodlord coughed a little, and put down his drink. "I had forgotten

how strong this beer really is...fuck!" The other riders smiled a

little, as Nocturlos wiped some foam off his lips.

 

Nails chuckled softly, before sighing a little and thought back to his

reactions over his feelings for Castor how he broke the stick in half

and had a breakdown. He felt heavily embarrassed and couldn't figure

out why he was acting this way, years had passed and Nails changed

with each passing of the time like a wave eroding a mountain side.

Fuck, you're supposed to be happy you got a place and something of a

family now, Nails thought to himself now feeling somewhat frustrated.

He drank more of his cider.

 

"Let me guess...Berseker spice had begun to expire?" Nocturlos asked

Bloodlord. "I guess, but this has been staying for quite a while after

that. Here, have a taste. Nocturlos took Bloodlord's pint and sipped

from it, only to cough like crazy afterwards."You're right, this spice

is a little bit older than it should be." "Fits the both of you."

Shane said with a slight chuckle.

 

Nails chuckled, "You can always another, I think? Since we're here to

relax, we can order different beers and toss 'em back?" He suggested.

 

Nocturlos looked at Nails with a mix of joking and seriousness. "Look.

There is nothing wrong with Bloodlord's beer per se, it's just been

staying for bit longer than usual, so the Berserker spice has begun

it's second phase, getting even spicier. By the way, even though we

are back home, doesn't mean we can throw ourself over the Edge and buy

beer like boozers, at least not here. One pint is 50 krowns, whereas a

six pack of the same beer costs 60 krowns. But you know...cafés." He

took another swig from his beer. The sweet taste of honey was tasty,

and felt good for an otherwise sore throat.

 

Nails noticed a pinball machine in the corner, and looked at

Nocturlos, "Wanna see who'll get the most points at the pin machine?"

He asked, his tail wagging, "We'd get some time to kill until the food

gets here."

 

"You're underestemating the employees here." Shane said, leaning back

in The corner of The couch. "They are very efficient. If you want to

play that Pinball machine, it'll have to wait. He told Nails to turn

around. Behind him, the waiter was approaching their table. He put

down their plates and headed back to The kitchen.

 

"Wow, it’s been a while since I saw ribs that glisten like this--their

own sauce recipe?" Nails asked as he pulled apart the barbecue ribs,

trying not to tip over his fries that came with it.

 

"Naturally." Nocturlos said while taking a bit from the pulled pork.

"Perfectly spiced." He added. As Bloodlord finished his bite of the

Valhalla burger, he said: "everything here is made from the bottom up.

Their sauces are actually desired over the whole country, but even

though they would have made even more money if they did, the recipees

are still a secret." From the corner, Shane dipped his fries in the

bbq sauce, and gave them nice coat of his desired spices.

 

Nails smiled and bit into the ribs, loving the tenderness and how the

meat mixed well with the sauce and spice, "Oof...oh crap," he had

forgotten how messy eating ribs could get and pulled out four napkins

and started to clean his mouth and hands, "This stuff is delicious..."

He said his tail wagging.

 

"Dude, chill. One should think you'd never eaten ribs before, also why

is your tail Wagging that much? Are you really so Excited over the

ribs?" Nocturlos took another bite, and washed it down with some

Odin's mead.

 

"Getting something this good was considered a luxury for me..." Nails

said sheepishly, eating some of the crispy fries to help deal with the

heat, "I-in case you've forgotten; so, I can't really help myself

getting excited just over ribs and fries."

 

"A luxury?" Bloodlord asked, looking up from the burger. "I mean it's

good, very good, but I wouldn't use the word luxury. Tell me, is there

something you haven't told us, Nails?" Shane stopped eating, and

leaned forward towards the others.

 

"Oh come on guys, I lived on the street...I just hardly had a meal

this good..." Nails explained, "I had to count how much money I earned

by entertaining people with Angel Shriek. I hardly had any meals, and

I had to scrounge garbage just to find something decent...but it was

nice when the can food drives came around. I dug around and found a

can opener, and making a small fire I can cook with that was what I

usually end up eating, I even ate leftovers...getting a meal was

better than dying."

 

"Well... That explains a lot." Bloodlord said, sipping a bit from The

foam of his beer. "Well then... Enjoy your meal." Shane said in a

monotone way, before continuing to eat the fries. "Yeah! Let's all

enjoy the luxuries of The North!"Nocturlos exclaimed. "Skål!"

 

Nails was confused by Shane's tone of voice, wondering how their

friendship was ever going to end up well. He drank more of his cider

and ate more of his meal as time went on.

 

When they were all eventually done eating, the waiter came back and

took away their empty plates. He asked them if they wanted any

dessert. Shane followed him over to the counter, and said he was going

to have four pieces of brownie la monde. One with vanilla, one with

brittle, one with chocolate, and one with pistachio. This was in

reality wasabi.

 

Nails stretched and waited, reading over a small menu card involving

the liquor and alcohol options.

 

"Looking for something special?" Nocturlos asked, as he finished off

his Odin's mead. Bloodlord still had half a pint left of his

Berserker's foam. Now and then he would take some small sips from it.

Strange though. This was his favourite beer after all.

 

"Nah, just looking what else I can have the next time we visit," Nails

said, "The cider was great though."

 

Nocturlos leant a bit backwards on his chair. "If you need any help,

or recommendations, just ask." Seconds later, Shane returned along

with The waiter, and The icecream. He placed them on The table, and

vanished.

 

Nails rose an eyebrow when Shane placed the green ice cream for

him, he grimaced a little, he wasn't a big fan of pistachio's...but he

couldn't wave off their generosity; maybe Shane was just looking

out for his health? Nails curiously sniffed it first, odd...it had a

much different smell than regular pistachio, it was a little shinier

than usual ice cream too.

 

"You Seem uncertain about that pistachio I bought you." Shane said,

taking a bit of vanilla scoop. "The reason it looks like a bit

different, is because it's homemade. All The icecream is. Go ahead.

It's not dangerous." The other riders had started with their brownies,

and The caramel sauce covering it was Absolutely magnifcent... As

always.

 

Nails had his doubts due to earlier, but homemade ice cream did look

shinier and smelled different than it being from the store freezer. He

picked out a little bit from his spoon, and slurped it in his mouth. A

mustard like taste invaded his mouth with a sudden blast of heat, he

held his throat and coughed, almost gagging, "Ugh-! Bleh-! This...is

not...goddamn pistachio! Ch-change my order to a regular Brownie A La

Mode f-for fucks sake!" He spat, coughing, before drinking down the

rest of his cider. Ooh, I can still taste the wasabi...he thought in

pain.

 

Shane laughted, while the two others were a little bit surprised.

"Good prank, huh? Sorry about that. There is no need to change The

order. There is only a thin layer of wasabi. The rest is regular good

old pistachio." He chucled a little, waiting for Nails's next

mouthful.

 

Nails glared and shaved a most of it off, before cleaning his spoon

and took another bite--only to feel another wave of wasabi invade his

tongue again. And his gags degenerated into another coughing fit to

the point the guys would be worried he would be choking. Nails fled

into the men's bathroom and ended up gagging into the sink before

coming back and signing a little, his fur seemed to have raised up

defensively and his hair had gone messy but he was too exhausted from

coughing to give another inch of anger.

 

Now all three of them laughed. Especially Shane. Finally, he too had

pranked Nails. This is gonna be fun, he thought to himself in between

the laughs. It was suddenly silent by a mysterious had that grabbed

his shoulder firmly. "You know, that wasn't very nice!" Nocturlos'

pupils schrinked to the size of two small dots. Bastialus!

 

"I'm technically not from Verda-Norway rather from Verda-London but

you really should treat your friend much better. Do I have to

notify the security guard of this place of your cruel jokes?"

Bastialus scolded them heavily like a bunch of children making the

boys shrink from him

 

his intimidating glare but the tone of his voice as well, "Just try to

behave okay?" He said before leaving to the counter, "May I have a

seafood platter with some sushi?"

 

"Who the fuck was that?" Shane asked, as Bastialus left their table.

Nocturlos tried to calm down, and said with a weak voice: "That's

Bastialus, appearantly Verda-London's greatest detective." "But why is

that fuckboy here if he's a detective in London?" "Nails and I saw a

feed on The internet this morning. They have managed to get a trace on

the restaurant incident. He is here to investigate. He may already

know it was us, so stay calm, and talk like gentlemen. Otherwise, shut

up."

 

"Is it okay to have it brought to the smoking lounge? I'd like some

Gold Feather sake to go with it as well," Bastialus added to his

order.

 

"Of course, sir. and one Gold Feather Saké. That'll be 250 krowns."

 

Bastialus pulled out his wallet and paid for his meal and drink, "Just

leave a drinking glass with the bottle," he said smiling. Nails looked

over his shoulder finding Bastialus much prettier than he looked

on TV, his tail wagged softly, if Bastialus wasn't hunting for

him...he'd call him cute.

 

"Look, we need to find something to talk about, fast." Nocturlos

whispered in a stressed manner. "He might get suspicious on us, and I

don't want to go to jail." There was quiet for a while, before

Nocturlos suddenly asked Nails: "So what do you think of

Verda-Norwegen, Mister Lindeman?" When Nails asked him what the fuck

he was doing, he replied with: "Just answer my question with a german

accent, OK? Giving away our real names now is a bad Idea."

 

German? Didn't help that Nails was absolutely horrendous at accents,

he was fine with learning other languages, but pulling off accents was

a different field. "Um...it's charmingly rustic!" Nails said managing

what he could to sound German. Bastialus sat down in the smoking

lounge on one of the chairs and pulled out a pack of ciga rettes that

had two white horses on a coat of arms on the brand before pulling out

one of the cigs, placed it away, and got out a very elegant looking

lighter.

 

Shane turned towards Bastialus. As the idiot he had been, he had left

his pack of cigarettes at home while he was taking a break after

putting the freezer in place. That shit was heavy. "Excuse me...excuse

me, sir? Could I bum a smoke with you?" he asked in his finest manner

possible. He had had a brief past with police problems, but those were

just wits sitting on their office asses all day long. This was a

fucking detective and all. A classy one too.

 

"Huh? Sure, I'm just waiting for my meal," Bastialus took out his

cigarette pack and offered it to Shane, when he had pulled one of the

cigarettes out, they were white, long, and elegant with their own

little design on the paper with the words 'GOOD TIMES' written in some

sort of gold leaf, "I hope you can handle this, it's strong at first,

but has a nice after taste..." He explained and took out his lighter

again which almost resembled a shiny pearl in its cover that had a

very elaborate art on it, it too had some sort of shiny surface like

silver, and when Bastialus snapped it open, it gave a sharp flame.

 

"I'll be fine. I've been smoking since the age of 17. That's the age

for Smoking here." That was actually a lie, but he couldn't say to a

detective that he had been breaking The law. "But they are a litlle

slim, don't you think? He recieved the cigarette, and the lighter,

lighting it and releasing a cloud of smoke into the air. He could feel

a hint of strong taste, but nothing comprehensable. And as Bastialus

had told him, the after taste was quite good. "Cool lighter by the

way. Did you get it from the company?" Shane pointed at the Sign

Bastialus bore on his left side. "Listen, why don't you come and sit

together with the rest of us?"

 

"Actually the lighter was a gift from someone, and I prefer these slim

ones from the usual cigs since they leave less of a mess," Bastialus

explained blowing out a cloud, "My co-workers tend to laugh at me,

saying they almost resemble lady filters, and this emblem is just from

the VLPD, my great grandfather was important to Westerdia so made an

emblem for me to wear," he puffed a little bit, relaxing, "As for your

last question, are you really okay with a detective sitting next to

you?" He smiled a little, "Nothing to hide, right?" He teased.

Bastialus was much more laid back than usual, having a break with food

and smoking must've calmed him considerably since this was during his

break.

 

"Not to be rude or anything, but if that's what your co-workers think,

then they are some assholes aren't they? Sorry the expression." Shane

let out a new cloud of smoke. Sure, I'm okay with a cop sitting next

to me. You are here to serve the innocent and protect society, not

fuck it up, right? I'm sure it'll be just fine.

 

As Shane and Bastialus sat down with the other riders, Nocturlos gave

Shane an expression that was meant to say: "What the fuck are you

doing?" Shane replied with: "Don't worry. We'll just ask him a few

questions about why he's here, and get the fuck out. I'ts not enough

that just you and Nails know about this dude's purpose here."

Nocturlos could feel stress was crawling up his neck, but he tried his

best to hide it. Instead, he took a bite of his krokan scoop and

brownie. When he was done, he Shook hands with Bastialus, and

introduced himself, as Thorstein. "So tell me, how come that you have

came to the remote mountains of Western Verda-Norway?" Nocturlos

asked.

 

Bastialus politely blew a cloud away from their food before answering,

"Just following a lead about someone fighting and killing three GLENN

agents, we haven't figured out their reasons, connections, or if

they're an ally or foe. It's not the best bread trail but leads are so

thin and far in between we'll take what we get..." He sighed tiredly,

"I hardly slept a wink in my hotel after scrounging for clues...and

I've been even more exhausted trying to find anybody suspicious but

nothing came up. I'm on break for a bit because the Norway police

chief noticed I looked like crap...I just hope my warning came

through, it's going to be repeated today...if GLENN is around..." His

expression looked grave, "I'd hate to see families made apart." Nails

started to look ill again, and his body trembled. Families made apart.

 

"First degree murder in other words?" Bloodlord said finishing his

Brownie la monde. This time, he took a swig from his Berserker's foam.

To Hell with it. It's nothing wrong with it. "Those clues you

have...have they led you to anything specific? I mean we'd be glad to

help, but these news came very abruptly on us all."

 

"I can't really say anything beyond that...only officials aware of

what happened and what GLENN is I can speak with, along with those

involved along with victims...I doubt 1st degree murder is a big

enough charge as well..." Bastialus said tiredly before his meal and

drank came on a tray, he popped open the saké before pouring it in a

glass and drank a bit of it, "Just be careful and look out for each

other," he added, snuffing out his cigarette.

 

"If there is one thing we can, it's that. Since the 90's, rodents of

our kind has been living life in a bad spotlight. Constantly on the

edge with everyone else. If you want to know what it's all about, ask

the police master." Nocturlos finished off his dessert too, and gave a

Final question: "what will happen to the ones. Involved? Surely you

can't escape murder."  Shane drank up his beer, and blew out more

smoke.

 

"Interrogations, confessions, before executions..." Bastialus

explained, "They'll be killed in a vaporizer containment pod where

there bodies will be nothing but dust.  Luckily it's quick and they

don't feel it, it's instant death."