James and Kass were walking under the sweltering glare of the sun high above, with not even a single cloud in the sky as far as the eye can see. The two had probably been walking for a good half hour in silence, neither really knowing what to talk about. Kass had a lot of questions coming to mind, but every time she was about to speak it seemed a new one would take its place.
James was having a similar dilemma, too many questions but no idea where to start without making himself look like a complete retard.
Eventually a question won the war raging inside Kass's mind.
"So what's with the bottle? Don't much see that kind of glass work often round here. Cept for the baron whenever the merchants come to town. You one of them?"
James was about to answer when he noticed something odd, Kass's accent struck him as slightly Southern but wasn't quite right. More so it sounded like what you'd get when an average Joe tried faking a southern accent.
"Uh.. I think so, well I mean I must be since I got all my shi... stuff stolen. I don't really think people would be willing to ditch a body in the river just for a few coppers and the cloths off their back."
Fucking hell, I don't even know what these people even call their money and here I am spinning bull shit that I'm a merchant. Shit what if they have a registration? or a merchants guild? Christ help me if they got lie detection magic. Also holy shit did I really just think that like it was a natural question to ask...
While James was spiralling deeper into his train of thought he didn't notice the frown Kass was giving to his answer. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew everything the man just said was a lie. It was clear as day, just the same as if he were a child caught red handed stealing fruits but still insisting they were innocent.
She wasn't sure if she should trust her instinct however, It had been wrong before when she trusted old Harlsons word that he was robbed. She fell for it and gave the man a few coins to make the difference so he could pay his tax, but later found out he'd just spent it all on a prostitute. She could just be allowing old grudges to cloud her judgement, just assuming he's lying because the scenarios are so similar.
As the two were getting lost in their thoughts time flew by, eventually passing the few houses at the edge of town.
Noticing where they were Kass was finally able to pull herself from her thoughts. Nudging the man next to her that looked like he had blanked out, laughing a bit as he nearly jumped onto a near by fence from being startled out of his thoughts.
"Welcome to C̶l̸a̸r̸a̸q̴u̵a̸s̴ ̴o̴p̷p̷i̸d̸u̷m̸"
Kass gestured in an almost comical fashion towards the town proper, making sure to draw attention to the sight of a cart full of Shit filled buckets being tossed into the river.
"Claraquas oppidum?"
Siren town? or wait... Clear waters town! Fuck man who the hell named this place?
James was trying to focus on the words being said, but even just focusing for a few seconds made his brain burn. It was like someone was rubbing hand sanitiser over an open wound inside his head. Giving up on his little experiment to pay attention to Kass's introduction, James smelled it before he saw it. The smell sent him reeling as he started coughing up his lungs.
Holy fucking hell, and I was nearly drowning in that? How the fuck am I even still alive!
Clear waters was an honest to goodness Old fashioned village spreading out from the centralised river. Aside from the strangely nice looking shingled roof tops, the walls were clearly made of some type of muddy clay plaster and not a single glass window could be seen among them.
James saw a few people bringing their own Shit buckets to the riverside to toss in, as well as a few others tossing away what looked like scraps of food or old junk. All of it was just being mindlessly tossed into the river as if it were the most natural thing to do in the world.
Noticing the disgusted look the man gave to the sight made Kass feel even more like her instinct from earlier must have been wrong, as that look is almost exactly what most merchants make whenever they come to Clear waters for the first time.
"Come along now, if you're going to get one of the good rooms for the night you best make reservations early. Briths place tends to fill up fast when evening comes."
James didn't need to be reminded twice as any excuse was a blessing to take if it got him away from the river. Leaving the sight and smell behind James followed Kass through the dirt streets towards the opposite end of town. He noticed the further from the south end they were the better looking the town became. There were more and more people as well, some rushing about doing chores while others were going door to door collecting goods or taking coin in exchange for bringing peoples buckets away.
James almost wretched at the reminder of what he'd just smelled, he'd hoped there would at least be some kind of plumbing in the nicer area of town but was sadly met the sights before him.
"Has no one ever heard of a toilet around here?"
The question made Kass look at the man quizzically.
"What's a... toy lette?"
