Grind House

In the city, death did not matter so much so long as you had the funds, and your body was found. It was still an experience she’d rather skip.

With a forced laugh, Alma stood back up. “Well Anon,” she told the wiurn with all the cheer she could muster, “we ain’t checked the house yet, ‘ave we?” She looked over to the house, to the pair of great doors that might just admit a wiurn if it crawled across the ground like a miner in a small tunnel. “And those doors are plenty big tah let yah in. C’mon, follow me!”

Alma took a few steps towards the door before looking over her shoulder, glad to see the wiurn pulling himself upright. He usually only went into a deep sleep after a heavy feeding, something that she had learned to do only after a particularly hard training day. And while the sandwich had been heavenly, she doubted such a small piece would cause the same effect.
[37]

Both of the doors stayed open without any special effort required from Alma, and she called to Anonymous again as she stepped from the wooden porch into a room that looked more at home in the mines than any house. “Always heard dragon’s like caves,” she muttered as the slap of Anonymous’s feet against the stone followed her. “Guess their god is no different. Probably like to be where all the gems are.” She laughed at that, glancing back at the wiurn as they crossed the room. “Not that I can blame’em. Lot’s of pretty gems out there. I’d probably live in a cave too if it meant the walls were filled with treasures.”

Which none of these were to her first glance, but the ceiling was another matter entirely. The room was lit by what appeared to be glowing crystals floating through the air like bees around a hive.
[39]

"Right," Alma said, feeling a bit like a twit as she folded her arms across her chest. "We ain't gonna reach that lot anyhow. If the mansion gives us sme, great, else we'll leave that lot alone. Alright with you?" Anonymous seemed to be staring at the wall behind her, so Alma nodded. "Good idea. Let's see what the other rooms have in store for us. Hopefully something a bit more in our reach. " And less potentially dangerous, but she did not need to tell the wiurn that. Mostly because he was a wiurn, and the few words he did known did not include any idea more complex than do one thing when said.
She employed one of those words as she walked to a doorway, more like a hole in the wall if she was honest, and called for Anon to follow her. He did so immediately, snapping his head away to face her before crawling after her.
[41]

She did not expect him to try to use it on her, what owner that took their beast out would, but he was not the brightest of her beasts. “No offense, but yer a bit of a doofus,” she told him with a shrug, turning just in time to hit the wall with her shoulder. Bouncing back a step from the wall, she looked to her right to see the doorway had somehow shifted several feet from where she had expected. With a laugh, she told Anon, “Seems like I’m one too. Good pair, us two.”

This time Alma watched the doorway as she reached it, walking through without any issue. It was a big one, made for beings of a much larger size than herself, and Anon was able to follow her without so much as scraping a spike on his back against the ceiling.

And she had somehow missed the doorway. Alma chuckled again.
[43]

In the end, Alma and the wiurn left the room without a sample of the beautiful water in the pool. She could bring herself to trust it any more than she did the crystals swimming over it, their silent dance unnerving considering that this was to be the month of the dragon god. And dragon’s were not known for sharing their wealth, unless someone was lucky enough to receive it as a gift straight from one.

With the mansion the way that it was, she did not want to risk triggering it to spawn some horrific dragonbeast to fill that role. Anon could be helpful enough based on his sheer size, but he was hardly trained to fight.

No, that would come later. Instead, Alma focused on the next room, this one with a ceiling full of stars. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that the stars were in fact stars rather than some new crystal display.
[Anonymous-22.0
45]

Gawking at the ceiling, or rather the distinct lack of one now that night had somehow come hours early, Alma might not have noticed the trove or pair of fighting beasts near it. But the sound of snapping jaws, and a grunt from Anonymous as he tried to push the unraveling bandages covering his head past her reminded her of the dangers of the mansion. Night or not, there were bigger threats to deal with than a potential change in the mansion’s shape.

The beasts looked less like dragons than Anon did, even as his constant shifting as he tried to push past her towards the fight caused the bandages to hand looser, his shape beneath them less defined. A quickly hissed, “Stay,” kept him from running over her, another command following that to cut off the growl she expected would have followed. While she doubted they were dragons, she had little intention of angering the things that called the mansion their home. The smart thing to do would have been to leave them to their fight, sneaking back to the room with the pool, and from there the entrance.

But the pile of items just beyond the tussling beasts was no small hoard, her eyes catching the glitter of light off crystals as her gaze darted back to the beasts with every snap of the jaws. Her hands tightened into fists, then she forced them open as she, still very aware of the giant unravelling beast at her side, greeted them with a bright though slightly subdued as she forced the words from her chest, “Howdy. Lovely night, innit?”

[-]

Moving any closer to the pair of beasts was the last thing Alma wanted to do, which happened to be quite an issue as they were in front of a pile of treasure that was what she wanted to move towards.

One of the two looked up at her after she spoke, it’s glowing eyes making her wish Anon was in front of her rather than waiting quietly behind. She held a weak grin, the expression faltering and her gaze slipping past the beast to some spot on the grey wall beyond it as she tried to remember if there had been any warning about these beasts. Was eye contact and a smile a challenge, or would it take her attempt to not look at it as a signal to attack?

She had to wait a little longer for a response as the other one bashed into the first, and Alma was wondering if simply waiting for the two to finish their fight and leave would be viable when the first beast cocked its head towards her.

“Um. Hello? It’s nice tah meet yah both.” She tried to keep her tone cheerful, like the sort used when you weren’t sure if a suspect could send your brain dribbling through your ears with a look. And for all her gut was muttering that approaching the weird antler-dogs was a terrible plan, she took a few steps towards them with one gloved hand raised out for them to sniff. Please be like houluh, she thought as she stopped a short distance away, hand out like she was some lady and expected them to kiss it. “Got a lotta rare things, huh?” She paused, then added with a quick bit of inspiration, "Almost as pretty as you lot." It never hurt to compliment a mansion beast.
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