(TFOR) Chapter 12: New Folks

Tane followed the direction of the commander’s body gestures. It resembled the three conspicuously dressed people he almost met and talked to before the attack. The woman who attracted the color of lemons chose to walk towards Tane first. In detail, she was wearing a yellowish costume, undifferentiated from what he saw earlier. The coat with a hood attached was clearly original and boring, but the leather one-sided backpack was something new to Tane. It had mini-figures of colorful dragons hanging from the long strap strangling down her shoulders, apart from her dark brown neck-length hair which heavily contrasts with the other aspects of her outfit. Dyeing would definitely make her disappear in a wide field of blooming sunflowers. Other than that, the triangular sunglasses were certainly something to remember, but under the shades were two marbles of different tones, she has Heterochromia, Tane noticed. One painted a color of bright poppies and the other, a straight non-questionable white. The mildly strange thirty-looking woman stopped in front of Tane and spoke without waiting to be noticed.

“Hello? Can’t you see me? Back there I waited for you to talk to me, but you wouldn’t turn back. Ugh, How disrespectful. You aren’t one of those lunatic pentevians right?”

Tane paused for a second, considering how rude she was. He was going to debate about his religious state but decided not to answer and would rather wait for what’s to come and for someone who actually cared about his, still now, lost finger.

“You aren’t going to talk? Useless bum. Don’t let me use force on you. Psh, you people always underestimate women.”

“Hey, cut it out dumb nuts. I don’t need no fights going on around here”, The Leader defended.

“Sir? Is there a toilet around here?” a higher-pitched voice separated the talk.

“There’s one across the pavilion, but some bits got damaged by the Spear -12. Sorry about that, the roof is currently getting fixed though”, informed The Leader.

“That’s alright, thank you so much,” the less mature voice answered quickly and the boy that Tane saw earlier ran, following the directions without waiting to release his fluid wastes.

When the kid skipped back from the loo a few awkward moments later, Tane could also notice the details of this boy’s figure. A not tall nor fat kid whose mind wandered with imagination and pure creativity. A lovely light brown peasant-made shirt, enough to sustain his life for a long time before the growth level starts shooting up wildly at the age of twelve. The shorts. They looked very dull and humble, but a kid wearing it won’t make any critiques heard in the public, along with the tiny shoes of modesty and ragged dirty laces. Then, the kid began.

“Hello mister, I’m Harold. Nice to meet you”, he handed over a hand for a shake of contagious friendship.

Tane couldn’t just completely ignore a greet of an adorable little kid. The nice and awkward ‘Hello’ to a stranger was a great remembrance of the innocent 10-year-old Tane. The maturely then continued, short of making the ‘Hello’ even more awkward.

“Oh, uh, Hello Harold. Nice to meet you too.”

“Where is your pointy finger?” inquired Harold.

“I think--”

“Do you know why we are here?”

“Uhh--”

“Hmm, you might need some Green Reflex Orbs. I have some, right at my grandmother’s place though! She’s a true specialist at medical concoctions. Right, Nina?”

“You told me five times, Harold. Hear another word of your granny and that pig would be in your mouth,” The sensitive lemon girl replied, pointing at a wild brown boar. It looks innocent and confusing as much as it should be, despite the complaints of the human. Harold sobbed slightly.

Leader couldn't argue much, as the conversation got more and more intense. He forgot what he was going to do and listened to the painstaking dialogue.

“Isn’t that so right? Mrs. Grumble. I waited all these years to show you how strong I am. You ain’t more smarter than me alright? Now, shut up so we can start the exam.” The last macho voice was heard. The footman stepped forward to confront Tane. Tane turned towards the last test-taker.

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