Baka-Moyashi

Ruby tapped one finger against his arm, just about the only restless gesture he would allow himself as he watched Wally from a distance. Granted, the distance was only about a few feet, still easily within his reach, but this was the farthest apart they’d been since they reached the mainland together for this… Hattoween thing. Hollow eyes flicked away from his charge for a moment to take in their surroundings cautiously. Hallogrove was a distant cospe backlit by the setting sun, reddening leaves further stained by the sun until the whole thing shone like a rippling pool of blood. All around them were stalls and booths lit by fairy lights and candles in similarly warm colors. There was chatter and conversation that filled the area like sand in a bottle of seashells, settling heavy in all the nooks and crannies until the whole place felt filled up in a way Ruby wasn’t used to. After spending his whole life either in the dark depths of a single mountain cave or on the quiet

The boat rocked beneath them as Wally leaned over the side to look into the murky water of the Boreli river. Behind him, sitting squarely in the center of the boat, Ruby reached over to steady him with a single big hand, evidently concerned that one wrong wave would tip him overboard. Mort chuckled from the bow, where he was steering them through the sluggish waters. “Ain’t no need for concern, boy,” he rumbled, grin stretching his grizzled face. Ruby’s nose wrinkled at the diminutive and ignored him. Mort, undeterred, continued. “The Boreli is sluggish enough through here that there ain’t no need to worry about undertows or currents…” A rougish smirk split the old Bakiri’s face, “just the critters that make Hallowgrove’s waters their home.” “Critters?” Wally scuttled back towards Ruby, away from the apparently dangerous waters, to plaster himself to his friend’s side. Ruby’s answering growl, directed straight at the one who scared Wally, was loud enough to ripple the water

“Boys, you have a letter.” Wally looked up at the sound of Bastion’s voice. True to his word, there was a letter printed on thick, heavy duty paper in his prosthetic hand. At his side, Ruby also looked up, a question in the crinkle at the corner of his mouth. “What’s it say?” Wally asked, reaching up to receive the letter from the tall human. “Have a look for yourself,” Bastion replied, a perplexed look stealing across his face. In under five seconds, Wally understood the expression. He’d never seen a letter with characters like this before. He ran his hand over the strange looking corruption, but the ink felt no different to him than the regular text. “Printing error?” He asked, looking up at Bastion, who had crouched behind him and Ruby. “Doesn’t make sense that they’d print something like that on something this official looking,” he said, waving the envelope with its wax seal as proof of his claim. Ruby disregarded the chatter and actually read the letter. “That says