Beyond Chaos – A DiceRPG

The amber eyes glistened with incredulousness, the tiny green girl side eyeing her father. It had been a calm first week of the chilly month, the children studying, playing, napping, then greeting their father and mother when they returned from their work. However, after five days of studying at school, the children could stay at home for two days to study with their family and complete their chores.

Her father usually left for work that day, but he remained.

“Jirot, Jarot, let’s go bully babo Dogek a little,” Adam said.

Jirot stood, pausing a moment, waiting for her father to make a joke, but she reached out a hand for her brother, who allowed his elder sister to guide her.

“Kaka,” Virot said, following her elder sister, waiting for the two to separate so she could hold both her elder sister’s and brother’s hands.

Adam blinked. He had asked for two, but six had appeared, but what could he do?

Dogek wasn’t sure what was happening, but as the six charged him to bully him that day, what could he do?

As Dogek hosted the six, the twins who loved to bully him, their younger sister who took after one of them in particular, as well as the triplets who would often greet him as he patrolled the Front Iyr.

Kirot glanced aside, towards an Iyrman who was currently resting atop one of the gates, a bow to his side. He was older, in his sixties, perhaps his seventies, with a short blade and dagger at his side. His beard was short, shorter than the last she had seen, as though it had been shaved at the beginning of the month.

‘Mister Tarvol?’ Kirot thought.

“Babo, daddy is not working today?” Jirot whispered, having leaned in, covering her mouth with a hand, tickling his ear with her breath.

“How fortunate,” Dogek replied, for half the time they met, the girl would complain her father was working.

“Yes…” Jirot smirked slightly, sipping her tea.

Adam stretched out his muscles, taking his children around the Iyr to greet the various Iyrmen, finding many also doing the same, greeting the other Iyrmen about, gathering together to eat, talk, dance, and more. Eventually, the half elf approached the business, where the various businessfolk gathered, though he noted the distance between the newcomers and the old timers.

“Hello!” Jirot half exclaimed, greeting the businessfolk who all glanced towards the newcomers, the girl waving her hand towards them all, storming her way to her cousins, her ahms, and her ailas, leading the rest of the her siblings.

“How are you all acclimating?” the half elf asked.

“Well, thank you,” Mohammed replied, for he was perhaps the only one who understood what the word meant.

“If there’s anything you need, please let me know, or one of the others, the Managers and the Leads,” Adam said, smiling towards the group awkwardly. The Front Iyr had graciously provided, and the half elf had yet to thank the Iyr appropriately. ‘I’ll send word to Elder Lykan.’

Rick noted the half elf’s look, following after him, along with the other Leads and Managers the half elf had motioned to. Dunes, Amira, Jonn, Fred, Rick, Cobra, Viper, Python, Brittany too, each were gathered by the half elf.

“I understand it’s a little awkward with the newcomers, but I’d like for you to try and bridge the two groups together,” Adam said, half whispering. “Rick, Fred, Jonn, I want you three to focus on it the most. Ah, Brittany, you should too, and… Cobra, you as well, I want them properly assimilated into the business.”

“In what manner would you like them assimilated?” Rick asked.

“You know, during lunch times everyone eats together, sometimes you and a few others should go sit and eat with them, ask them about Gold Port, their home, tell them about their own stories of how you came here, just… grow friendly. Rick, no, Jonn, for now you’ll be their main Manager, if they have an issue, they should come to you. They’re more familiar with you, and, well, also, you know, you’re the most neutral between everyone, in the sense that they’re familiar with you, and you have the least ties to the old guard.”

“Yes, Executive,” Jonn replied.

“These guys, they’re going to end up becoming great warriors like the rest of you, especially four of them, and I can’t have all the big dogs of the crew at each other’s throats. I’m not saying that’s what it’s like now, but it’s good to smooth everything over immediately, and… I know how people can get sometimes, and though I trust you all, I want to make sure everyone understands that… you know, you know?”

Adam’s vague statements were awkward to parse through, but the figures nodded their heads, vaguely understanding the half elf’s point.

“Also, we’ve got Manager Jonn, but there are a couple of other Johns, so let John know he’s Archer John from now on, and the other John is…” Adam paused, since Father John was a little awkward, but Hard Worker John could imply the other John isn’t as hard working. “Spear John? No, no.”

“Young John?” Dunes joked.

“Yeah, well…” Adam rubbed his chin lightly, already feeling a light growth upon his face, since it was nightval. “Guard John? They’re both guards, though. Enforcer John? Technically he is my personal project, like Nobby is Jurot’s. Enforcer, ah, but Nobby’s my number one enforcer, so…”

“It is not that you are terrible at naming, but that naming is difficult,” Dunes mused.

“Yeah.”

“Steel John?” Amira offered.

“Steel John is cool, but I think the Adventurer’s Guild might take issue with, so how about Steely John?” Adam offered.

‘In times like this you think twice?’ Dunes thought.

“Iron John, for the assimilation,” Fred spoke up.

“Alliteration?” Rick asked.

“Yes,” Fred replied, his cheeks flushing.

“Iron John is really good,” Adam whispered. “Iron John. It has the same issue as Steel John, but… it is really cool.”

Adam entrusted the group to understand what he had meant, though after a short while, an Iyrman approached him.

“Is this about John?” Adam asked once they had stepped away, causing Nirot to raise her brows in shock.

“How did you know?”

“I know what I know,” the half elf replied.

‘In times like this…’ Nirot thought.

“I’ll have you spar with him daily as practise, but you really should make your intentions clear to him quickly, so I can spoil my nephews.”

“His heart is still wounded.”

“State your intention, but tell him not to be burdened by it, because a fool of an Executive will protect him, even from you,” Adam said, partly as a joke, though half way through his words, he wasn’t sure he would be able to, since Nirot was a Rot, his own cousin. “No, tell him the other grandson will protect him from you.”

“…”

Adam walked around the block to consider his thoughts, though they stopped, seeing his daughter bullying the triplets.

“Garaeth, who gave you permission to be so cute?” Jirot asked, brushing the boy’s cheek, fixing the boy’s hair. “Owaen, Tristaen, you think I will forgive you too?”

The aura in the air was quite terrible, however, for the newcomers were watching with shock, their hearts not at ease with the fact that the tiny green skinned figures were so close with the children they had watched over. The old guard waited to see if anything would happen, as though daring the newcomers to act up, though even they were still not entirely certain of how they felt about the pair.

Unfortunately for all them, it just so happened it was that child too, the most troublesome child of all.

“I forgive you,” Jirot said, bringing the boy’s head in close, kissing his forehead.

“Ji!” Adam half exclaimed, coughing. “Jiji, haha, you silly girl! You can’t go around kissing children’s foreheads, you silly girl.”

“Why not?” Jirot asked.

“You can do so for family, but you can’t do it with stranger’s…” Adam paused. “You can’t do it to those unrelated to us, you silly girl, for family.”

“Garaeth is family!” Jirot argued. “Kako is going to marry mister John!”

Nirot blinked, and as Jirot turned to catch her eye, the little girl asked her for support, while her aunt wondered what she had done in order for her niece to bully her this way.

“…” Adam remained silent, his face scrunched up as he did his absolute best not to break, for his daughter was certainly his daughter. “That’s right! Nirot, hurry up and seduce him so I can spoil my nephews already!”

John blinked, glancing aside towards his companions, each of whom were equally as bewildered.

Unfortunately for them, Laygak howled in laughter, tears almost slipping down his face. “Jirot, my Jirot! You cannot bully your kako like this!”

“I cannot?” Jirot asked.

“You cannot,” Laygak replied, half choking in laughter.

Jirot glanced aside to Nirot, then to her father, then to John. “Hmph. I will show mercy, just this once.”

“Also, you can’t go around kissing other boys, since my heart isn’t ready,” Adam said, wincing slightly. “I will tell mummy you are bullying me too much.”

“You deserve it, dahddy.”

“This time, mummy will be on my side,” Adam said, his voice neutral, and not the playful kind of neutral.

Jirot frowned, rushing up to her father. “Sorry, dahddy, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Adam whispered, picking her up, planting a kiss on her cheek, the girl kissing his cheek in return.

“I can kiss you, dahddy, because you are my dahddy,” Jirot informed.

“Ah, of course.”

“Of coas.”