Another day, another session of doing whatever needs to be done for Solars! Not necessarily enjoyable at times, but it's honest work and today's job is actually leaning more towards the interesting side. The Beanies received a request for some help babysitting kids in an orphanage after an, erm, unfortunate incident involving copious amounts of glitter befell one of their employees.

The Beanies had some reservations taking up this job since:-
1. They were small enough to be grabbed by a kid on one hand.
2. They were light enough to be thrown around by a kid.
3. Kids tend to not be hygienic.
4. What if the Beanies fail to entertain the kids and the latter tries to make their own fun through physical manipulation, or worse, magic!?
But sadly for the Beanies, the other jobs available for the day were either not worth the trouble, too advanced for the Beanies or combat-related. Demony found this turn of events exciting though, and hoped that the winds of misfortune would blow in the direction of those saccharine twits.

Matters got ambivalent when the orphanage stated they managed to find another replacement and was therefore not in need of the Beanies' assistance. They were saddened to hear that, though at the same time somewhat relieved since it meant they didn't have to deal with pesky children. The Beanies certainly wished every now and then that they were taller and bigger so they could actually give bear hugs and not be as fearful of sudden high-momentum kicks sending them flying.

Anyway, the Beanies no longer had anything to do, so they were slowly making their way back to their wagon outside Sol City, distracting themselves with the sights of the housing districts as they walked along dejectedly.

The guild had been fairly quiet that day. With no major decisions or disasters happening, he decides to take the opportunity to leave and head into the city for a bit to stretch his muscular but aching legs. Paperwork was not his favorite so honestly any chance he had to get out and get some fresh air was a welcome respite from the clerical monotony that seemed to plague him at ever turn.

He had just arrived at Sol city and wondered if any of the local taverns were open. Well, any of the taverns that had no issues with Minotaur’s or had permanently banned him for “ wonton destruction of property” or some nonsense. As he looked around the narrow streets, there were just a few people walking around, pretty much minding their own business. That was just fine by him. No trouble today. No being chased by guards. No weird monsters to hunt down. Just a drink and maybe a game or something. Boring was the theme today. B O R I N G. And then something odd caught his eye.

It was a bad habit. Being a fighter, he was always on the constant lookout for an attack or an arrow to the snout or something. Most of the time it was quick motions or something out of ordinary. Like inexplicably tiny creatures just walking down the street like it was nothing. He had been all over the world and met, or so he had thought, pretty much every sentient creature out there. So when creatures so unique crossed his path, he couldn’t help but notice. There were too many weird things from the otherworldly fae recently to just ignore it.

Shaa steps in front of the small beings and looks down at them curiously. They didn’t seem hostile but he was ready in case this went sideways. He says in as friendly of a tone as possible. Ummmm hey guys. Don’t mean to be nosey but… whatcha doin?

The Beanies stopped as they noticed someone standing in front of them and asked what they were doing. It wasn't anything new; there were bound to be people curious enough to approach them every now and then, and for their part, they were generally trusting enough to not immediately assume bad intentions, which allowed their good natures to shine through first and prevent any misconceptions in the naughty department.

As the Beanies looked up to find the person's face, they realized the latter was a really tall Minotaur with horns longer than an individual Beanie, and scars could be seen all over his muscular body. Still, it would not do well for the Beanies to be judgemental since practically everyone and everything was already taller and/or bigger than them by default anyway so the only thing that truly mattered was the degree of harm that could possibly be inflicted on the former. Which tends to blend really easily anyhow once it reaches "capable of physically or magically harming a Beanie" due to their sheer fragility as a trio of plush toys so it barely mattered. Demony, who was a distance away from the Beanies, carried itself to a nearby lamppost to observe. It hoped some of those subconscious fears the Beanies buried deep in their souls would surface from this interaction as the Minotaur would certainly seem terrifying from a less charitable point of view.

"""Hello!""" The Beanies replied in near unison and waved their arms at the Minotaur.
"We were supposed to have a job at the orphanage down that street today," Star turned around and pointed at one of the turns along the road they were walking away from.
"Then they said they found a replacement," Goody's ears flapped forward onto their face and they hunched forward, head downcast and hanging their arms down as the words came out.

"So now we're just going back to our wagon," Chili ended their response to the Minotaur's question with a rather bored tone as they flailed their stiff arms. "We're up for anything if you'd like our company," Chili raised their arms diagonally upwards to signal openness, and Star and Goody nodded as well to show approval.

So. He starts carefully measuring his words. An orphanage opted not to let living dolls watch over children? This was probably a smart move on behalf of the orphanage. They probably had a pretty small budget but, even so. Well it’s never fun to lose a job I suppose. Tell you what. I was headed over to a local tavern that I know that is….open to “ all sorts”. I’m sure they would welcome you ..all with no issue. What do you say you follow me and we can swap road stories. Like, where you all come from and what not. Who knows? I might even have a couple leads for you for work. 

What was he doing? There was a really solid chance these things were possessed by some demon or something that would emerge and try to eat his face off. Sure, they were cute and fluffy and all that but there was no way they were what they appeared to be. He should just walk away and not be involved, but that was not in his nature. Leaving these creatures to their own devices was just asking for trouble. To put his mind at ease, he needed to make sure they weren’t eating brains as a side gig.

It’s just this way, follow me.

He motions the trio to follow him down an alleyway. At the end of the alley, a dim yellow light pours out a footless entry. The typical tavern smells pour into the street as patrons make their entrances and exits.

"Tavern?" Chili's eyes sparkled at the thought of food and drink, their hands raised to under their head.
"Stories?" Goody perked up and straightened their back.
"Leads?" Hard to find jobs when you're no taller than a beer mug, so Star was interested too.
"""Sold!""" The Beanies cheered in unison and followed the kind Minotaur down an alleyway that admittedly made the Beanies feel a little uncomfortable. Still though, the Beanies weren't ones to turn down other people's generosity so they soldiered on and made their way into the tavern.

On the way, the Beanies figured it was a good time to introduce themselves. There's always time to make new friends, after all.
"Oh, we haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Star," Star rushed to the front of the Minotaur, turned around to walk backwards and raised their right hand up.
"Goody is Goody," Goody followed Star to the front and hopped sideways as they waved their two arms.
"Chili!" Finally, Chili rushed forward and made a beeline for the tavern, unable to contain their excitement any longer.
"And..." Star's head swiveled left and right before slightly squashing towards the middle in annoyance. "Oh great, Demony's missing again."
Goody stopped and looked around behind them for Demony too but there was no sign of it. Oh dear. Goody hoped this didn't spell trouble for them later.
Just to be safe, Goody decided to try describing Demony to the Minotaur so he knows. "Um, Demony is, how should Goody put it... Smoky and grey? It's about as big as the three of us Beanies combined, has bear ears like Goody's, and it's been moving kind of like how a cat does since we got here." Goody squeaked out meekly with some concern in their voice.

Anyway, the Beanies have now arrived at the tavern.
"One bread please." Goody placed their order politely.
"Make that two!" Star chimed in.
"Oh Chili wants to try kebab, but the steak is tempting too..." Chili would be salivating if they had a tongue.
"Chili-plush!" Star pointed at their near-empty coin pouch while shooting a glare at Chili.
"Okay okay, Chili have bread too," Chili's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

Outside the tavern, Demony was positively pissed at the turn of events and, against better judgment, attempted to pounce at the Minotaur's face to sour the budding relationship.

Did you say Demony? Shaa asks quizzically. Arghhhh he knew it! Cute little fluffy guys and a friggen demon rolling around. He would have to keep a careful watch for it and be ready just in case. Well it’s very nice to meet you all. My name is Shaa Rhunn. There the tavern, let’s head on in.

The group grabs a table and the tiny creatures place their order. Shaa himself opts for a nice stew and extremely large mug of ale. Just go ahead and get what you want guys, my treat. He watches them carefully as they order various normal food items. No indication that they are anything weird like the blood of innocents so that was a good sign. From off to the side, Shaa can feel something coming at him. He makes a quick snatching motion with his right hand and snags a shadowy creature out of mid air. I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark here, Demony? The shadow creature looked to be about the same size as the others although a bit more on the shadowy side. The only question was, was it dangerous?

Shaa grabs a large loaf of bread and tears the end off it with his teeth. He then proceeds to jam Demony snugly inside of the loaf of bread to keep it from “attacking” him again. He places the loaf on the table and continues the conversation. Hope you don’t mind. He says pointing to the shadow bread. So tell me, where are you all from? Me myself, I am from kind of from all over. I was born in the Ashlands but really raised by …. Well we will just say I call Kings Valley home for all intents and purposes. I have to say, in all my travels, I have never met beings such as yourselves. More food comes over and Shaa offers a Kebab to Chili. Nobody goes hungry around me buddy, dig in.  He starts into his stew and waits for their reply, all while keeping an eye on the now shadow stuffed loaf of bread.

---

Fighters Sense
Deflecting Palm

The Beanies couldn't help but giggle when they saw Demony jammed inside bread like some kind of cat loaf thingy. Demony silently seethed in anger. Being freed from that blasted storyline might've actually been the worst thing to have ever happened to it.
"Demony is um, harmless. Probably. Maybe. To everyone else but us, anyway." Goody tried to work out a charitable description for Demony and failed utterly miserably.
"Demony can apparently only eat our emotions, you see," Chili continued.
"Demony might be a meanie, but we don't want it to die so we keep it around. Even if it likes to cause trouble for us." Star ended.

The Beanies have heard the names Shaa described in passing, but since they couldn't read they had no way of putting names to places. Not that they've ever travelled out of Sol City yet, but still.

The Beanies looked at each other as they wondered how best to describe their origins.
"Well... It probably sounds entirely ludicrous, but we're actually from a storybook." Star started.
"Our story was supposed to end with us becoming friends with Demony!" Chili raised their arms as they described the story, slightly glaring at Demony as the words spilled forth.
"Then we were suddenly in Charon," Goody put on an awkward expression as they couldn't find a better explanation that would help Shaa's understanding.

"Don't mind if Chili does!" Chili happily takes the kebab and began nibbling away at it. Don't ask how. Star and Goody continued eating their bread too, before a thought crossed Star's mind.

"Mr. Shaa, you say you have never seen anything like us?" Star looked up at Shaa and tilted their head curiously. This could be a business advantage. Star doesn't really know where their business acumen comes from when their story never elaborated on such a trait, but it is coming surprisingly naturally to them and has been more helpful than not, so they weren't complaining.

Shaa stopped eating his stew and put his spoon down. Had he heard that right? These creatures had been brought to life..from a story book? He had seen a lot of really really weird things in his travels, this had to be up there. Maybe not the absolute weirdest, but definitely up there. This had the stink of the friggen mages guild all over it. Imagine that. Being able to write a story and bring the characters to life. This was an evil wizard’s dream come true.

Came to life from a story eh? Shaa found it extremely difficult to be nonchalant with creatures that could fit in his pocket, if he had pockets. I hate to break it to you but you are the only beings I have ever met that came out of a story book. It’s ummm kind of unheard of. He picks up his spoon and goes back to his stew. Were they even real? They were eating like they were alive. Then again, the shadowy one apparently ate emotions so there was that. Did he have some sort of responsibility to deal with…whatever the heck this was? Then again, they were alive. No matter their origin, they were living beings now no matter what he did. Might as well just roll with it.

So…do you at least know who wrote your book or where it is now….just out of curiosity. He takes a long pull from his mug. Someone or something might even be looking for them. He takes a Quick Look around the tavern. No one dares make direct eye contact with him and he doesn’t see anyone paying special attention. Shaa thought that itself was pretty weird, a Minotaur having a conversation with children’s toys. He steals a piece of meat off one of the kebabs, tosses it in the air and catches it deftly in his open mouth. The chunk of mystery meat slides down his throat, burning a bit as it slides down.

"Star-plush is not surprised. Us Beanies are a rarity wherever we go!" Star sounded pretty proud with that statement, though 'wherever we go' felt larger than just the storybook.

Hearing the question about their author from Shaa, the Beanies looked at each other and at Demony. Demony shook its head, thinking that if it knew, it would be honest with the Beanies since it would very much like to meet their author to murder the life out of whoever it was for writing such a crappy storyline for it.
"We don't know who our author is," Chili stated with a hint of sadness as they lowered the kebab for a moment.
"We did find our storybook, but the pages and the cover were completely blank," Goody looked to the side, trying to subtly gesture at the direction of their wagon, though they had looked at the complete opposite direction from where it actually was.
"Star-plush does recall someone saying we were from the Land of Wonder or something. Don't think we've been there before though." Star shrugged, not understanding the significance of the statement that just came out of their mouth and continued nibbling away at their oversized bread.

The Land of Wonder. It didn’t sound like anything he had ever heard of before. On the other hand, things had been crawling out of other dimensions into their world for almost a year now. Could these creatures be related to the dark Fae that had been encroaching on their world. They certainly had that “ cute with a bit of menacing” about them. But they came from a book. That means someone somewhere out there knew all about them. Somewhere.

Nothing but a blank book hunh? Not much of a start. That’s what you little guys need right, a way to start. It was a mystery. Not really in his wheel house through. This was more a weird lost and found then anything super sinister. Well I told you that I may have some leads on some jobs for you. I am the Captain of the Fighters Guild. We get all sorts of requests from everyone. Most make sense for us but others ….well…they may be like your speed. Requests like…oh…finding missing pets. Judging fishing contests. I think I saw something the other day about hunting down a runaway bride and I guarantee no one has picked that one up yet. He chuckles a bit at the thought that the last one might actually be a little dangerous.

Anyway, if you all want me to, I can throw some things your way. It’s up to you..or you….or however you all handle that kind of thing. He takes another pull from his mug. If they took some missions from the guild, he could keep an eye on them. He would have to be satisfied with that for now until he had more time to look into their mysterious origins. What do you say we head over to your wagon. I’d like to take a look at that book, if you don’t mind.

The Captain of the Fighter's Guild sounds like a very important job. Should such a person with authority really be spending so much time with three generic little Beanies such as themselves?
"Um, is Mr. Shaa okay with the time? Mr. Shaa's job sounds important," Goody meekly asked worryingly. It wouldn't do well for them to bother Shaa too much than they already have.

The Beanies listened intently to Shaa's descriptions of quests. The Beanies have most definitely been helping with finding missing pets quite often ever since they got here, enough that they've actually gotten pretty good at handling animals. Even if they were generally terrified of the animals possibly biting or clawing or dirtying them. Well, maybe not Chili. Chili takes taming them as a challenge. More avenues for those kinds of quests can't be a bad thing though so the Beanies didn't mind. Judging fishing contests definitely sounded like a Chili thing too. Chili's eyes were already sparkling in excitement at the idea. Looking for runaway brides... Erm, maybe not. Relationship problems were far beyond what the Beanies were comfortable with. Anyhow though, that Mr. Shaa was willing to help them made them happy Beanies.
"We'd be glad to have more jobs!" Star exclaimed joyfully.
"Goody would love to help more people," Goody's eyes were forming smiles.

"More jobs equals more money for food!" Chili was the usual Chili.

Blargh. Why do things keep going the Beanies' way? Demony is feeling like it's never left the storybook. Actually, no. This is way worse than being inside the storybook. At least the storybook had predetermined flows it could milk for all its worth. There was an interesting matter Demony has noticed though. The more the Beanies helped people, the bigger it seemed to be getting. It has taken pains to keep itself dense and retain the same size, but it should be able to exact its revenge soon enough. Demony snickered to itself, glad that it had no facial expressions to speak of or it would be giving away too much.

Back to the Beanies, they were more than glad to oblige Shaa's request of seeing their now blank storybook and quickly finished up their food to get a move on.

The Beanies led Shaa to their wagon - christened The Travelling Beanbag - that was hilariously oversized relative to themselves and stuffed with all sorts of furniture parked outside Sol City, and the three hopped aboard together to find and carry the storybook over for Shaa to see.
The storybook itself had a hard, thick white cover and the pages were of good-quality white paper, if flipped regularly enough that the edges were no longer capable of causing paper cuts. There was nothing out of the ordinary that the Beanies and Demony could sense from it.

Shaa laughs a bit. Thank you for being considerate but I have time. One of the beautiful things about being in a guild is that we all work to cover each other. Other than a never ending pile of paperwork, I have time. It’s fine. It was true for the most part. He had a job that never really had an end. There was always something going on. A new request. Supply runs. Battles. Infighting. One thing after another. He had learned early on that if he didn’t pull himself away periodically, it would lead to burnout which wasn’t good for anyone.

He picks up the book and does a quick thumb through of the blank pages. With magic strong enough to bring fiction to life, he had half expected the book to be possessed or give some other indication of being special. But, as far as he could tell at first glance, it just felt like a normal book. A little abnormal because everything was blank as a Frostgale blizzard but otherwise ordinary. There was still a chance this book may be some sort of talisman tethering them to this world. If he destroyed the book, it may send them home. But did they even want to go home? He turns the book over several times and then hands it back to them unscathed.

Well, you were right. Just a bunch of pages. Just to be safe however, you may not want to mention or show the book to anyone else for now. As your origins are….we’ll say “somewhat in question” , it may still have significance to someone out there. Our mystery author maybe. I dunno. Better safe than sorry squish faces. 

Hmm. The Beanies hadn't thought about things from an operational security perspective, but if that's what Mr. Captain of the Fighter's Guild says, they should probably take it seriously.
"""Okay~.""" The Beanies take the book and responded in unison, opting to refrain from mentioning they had already told someone else. Should be fine though, right?

It was then they heard continuous thuds. Oh, Demony! They'd carried Demony back to the wagon, but it was still stuck in the same bread loaf Shaa stuffed them in. Demony was pushing up at the bread angrily trying to break free without giving away its power level. The Beanies immediately got to work freeing their shadowy frenemy, and soon Demony was out of the bread loaf! It knows better than to mess with Shaa now, so it is just watching him warily.

"(Should we ask Mr. Shaa for a tour of the Fighter's Guild?)" Star wondered.
"(Goody no wanna trouble Mr. Shaa,)" Goody shook their head.
"(Chili say yes! Fishing contestttttt,)" Chili spread their arms widely and excitedly.
"(It's settled then! We're going,)" Star placed their arms on their hips.
"(Okay...)" Goody wasn't exactly pleased, but it was two-to-one and it was too dangerous for them to be alone anyway.

"Mr. Shaa! Would you mind giving us a tour of the Fighter's Guild?" Star asked, with Goody and Chili also looking up at Shaa.

The surly Guild Captain blinks in surprise. Oh you all want to go now? He says with a bit of a surprised tone. It was getting dark and although the guild was not that far away, night travel wasn’t advisable in this area. Due to the sheer number of guards and VIPS in the city, the criminal elements tended to work the roads outside the city to try and grab people while they were mobile. Shaa himself didn’t worry about that too much as he was usually the kind of being people avoided finding in the dark. However with a wagon and, less intimidating creatures as companions , they would probably be more of a target.

Ummm it’s getting too dark to travel. It’s probably better to pitch camp for the night and we can leave for the guild hall and Martial Academy in the morning. As a matter of fact, it’s probably time to start a fire. Shaa takes a quick circle around looking for dry tinder. When he finds enough for the night, he forms a circle of stones and tosses the dry branches and logs in the middle. He leans over and breathes fire on the branches setting them ablaze. They are soon all alight, the branches are cracking and popping, casting a soft glow into the coming night.

His work done, he sits on the ground near the blaze. Taking a stick, he pokes at the fire, turning one of the logs a bit to give the fire room to breathe. He motions his new companions to join him. Take a seat. But not to close. I’m not sure how flammable you all are.

Oh my. The Beanies had been having so much fun with their new friend that they'd forgotten to pay attention to the time, it seems.
"Oh, it is getting dark. Oops. Sorry. Tomorrow's fine," Star rubbed the back of their head, cheeks slightly reddened at the faux pas.
"Would Mr. Shaa like to sleep inside the wagon, or use a tent[1]? We have one with us," Goody inquired Shaa about his preferences, running under the assumption that Shaa is staying with them for the night.
"Bought the tent before we realised it was too big for us to possibly keep stable on windy days," Chili shared their embarrassing anecdote on why they even had one when they also had a wagon.

"Don't mind if we do!" Star and Goody were making their way to Shaa's side, before they turned around to drag Chili away from the campfire and confiscate the little morsels of food they'd snuck away from the tavern just now.
"No Chili-plush no! No cooking!" Star was glaring angrily at Chili. After all, the little morsels were impossible to cook without getting very close, and Star wasn't about to have to patch everyone up including themself by way of literally replacing the cloth, cotton and beans on their arms again.
"Us Beanies are unfortunately, flammable," Goody looked at the campfire rather fearfully while holding the confiscated food items on one hand, and added "Chili gets burnt at least once a week from cooking. We end up getting burnt too for some reason."
"Nothing will keep Chili from cooking. Nothing!" Chili shakes off Star and Goody's arms holding theirs, snatches the food back from Goody, and was hopping towards the campfire with their arms spread wide like a goofball, only to be pinned to the ground by Demony. Star and Goody end up on the ground as well, as though pushed down by some invisible force. Nothing like a justified opportunity to do a little harm to the Beanies, Demony thought.
"Ow." Star could certainly never get used to this.
"Thanks Demony," Goody had an awkward expression in their eyes as they raised their arm to gesture their appreciation.
Demony then gently brought Chili to Shaa's side - still not about to get on the Minotaur's bad side, nope - and Star and Goody, now free from the invisible push, followed suit and sat near him with a respectable distance from the fire.

The lull of the dancing campfire and unexpected kindling of friendship has apparently left the Beanies feeling fuzzy and safe, and they soon fell asleep next to one another.

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[1]Tent (item)