"Shit," Felix cursed as he saw two people walking along the road, towards them. He threw a glance at Chan who looked up from his bowl of food. They had stopped for lunch and it would look way too suspicious if they just gathered all their things and ran. Chan turned to follow Felix's line of sight, a guttural curse in draconic as he turned back to Felix.
"What do we do?" he asked as Felix stood up. Felix rummaged through one of the medicine kits before pulling out a slim bandage.
"I'm gonna wrap your eyes and we pretend you're injured, alright?" he asked and Chan nodded, arms dropping to his side as he let Felix wrap his eyes.
"What injured me?" Chan asked as Felix fastened the bandage, carefully fixing Chan's hair a little. "A bear? Bandits?"
"Bandits," Felix said, sitting down again. Chan picked up his bowl again, eating slowly. Felix also resumed eating, eyes flickering every now and then to the two figures approaching. His heartbeat was speeding up as they got closer.
Then one of them raised their hands, giving Felix a wave. Felix glanced at Chan who simply continued to eat his lunch, unaware of what happened. Felix raised his hand to give the figure a wave.
They got closer and Felix's heart was by now racing in his chest. He could only see the face of one of the figures, as the other one was hidden under the black hood of his robe. The one who did not obscure his face was obviously human, with round ears and a sharp jawline paired with a strong chin. He had slim eyes, flickering around nervously as they got even closer and black hair just carelessly brushed to the side. They were both dressed in simple leather pants, worn with age and boots just as worn. The one with the hood was wearing a crimson west under the robe while the black haired man was wearing a pale green shirt, loose and top buttons open.
"Hello," he greeted, stopping as he and his companion reached Chan and Felix. If the one who didn't have his hood pulled up looked nervous, the one with the hood looked even more nervous. Felix didn't need to see their face to know that, as he could see the hooded person fiddle nervously with their fingers. This was rather unsettling.
"Hello," Felix greeted and Chan simply offered a nod in the direction the voice had come from. The guy looked Chan over and Felix could see his adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard.
"Did- I'm terribly sorry for asking but did this," he gestured towards Chan, "happen along the road?"
"Yes," Felix replied, trying his best to keep his voice steady. His heart was hammering in his chest as he kept looking between the two. God what if they figured out that neither Felix or Chan were human. "Bandits."
"Oh," the human said, inhaling sharply. "That's... that's not good," he continued, looking over at the hooded figure.
"Where are the two of you headed?" Chan asked, placing his bowl down and Felix could see both strangers tense up. By now his heart was hammering in his chest, so loud in his ears. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he was starting to suspect that maybe these two were trying to hide as well.
"Where are you headed?" the hooded one suddenly asked, a slight tremble to their voice. Felix looked over at Chan, swallowing hard. "Are you... a-are you humans?"
Felix blinked, staring at the figure as they pushed the hood down. It was a young man, a strong jaw but cheeks still a bit puffy, probably around Felix's age or younger. He had dark red hair with streaks of brighter reds and Felix could have sworn that he could see tiny, orange feathers hiding in there as well. He had wide eyes, his irises red with orange shifting around as he looked at Felix and Chan.
"You're a..." Felix trailed off before looking over at Chan. "You can take the bandage off," he whispered and Chan did as told, quickly unwrapping his eyes to look at the two strangers in front of them.
"We're heading towards Tremorndin," Chan said after a moment of silence. The red haired man looked over to his companion before back to Felix and Chan, a wide grin stretching his lips.
"We are too!" he said. "I'm Jeongin."
"I'm Woojin," the human said and Chan shifted his gaze to look at him. Woojin quickly held up his hands, taking a small step back as Chan narrowed his eyes. "I'm... I'm just trying to help Jeongin get away from here."
"You're a human," Chan said and Woojin nodded, shoulders dropping a little. Chan's already tense and guarded posture only became even more tense as he looked Woojin over, yellow eyes narrowed. "Why are you helping him?"
"I know how humans treat... magic," he looked over Jeongin who lowered his head, tugging at his sleeve. "And I know it's horrible. I don't want Jeongin to suffer."
"Can we trust him? He's a human..." Chan said, looking over at Felix. Just as Felix was about to say something, Jeongin cut him off.
"He risked everything to help me," he snapped and Chan inhaled sharply. Oh this wasn't good. Felix stood up as Chan stood up, eyes flickering between Chan and Jeongin. As he looked at Jeongin, it almost looked like Jeongin's hair was flaring up, the color brightening a little. Felix backed up a little. "I've known him all my life. How dare you question him?"
"I'm sorry little phoenix, " Chan hissed and Felix quickly moved over to place a hand on Chan's arm, pushing him back a little.
"Hey," he said carefully, looking between the two. Both Chan and Jeongin had a slight hunch to their stance, as if they were both ready to pounce. "Let's calm down and regain focus, shall we?" he continued softly, breathing a sigh of relief as Chan straightened his back. "You're helping him?" Felix asked, turning to Woojin.
"I am," he said, nodding slowly as he looked between Felix and Chan. "I know he won't be able to make it out of here without being found out. I-I just can't leave him. Or let him go on this journey alone."
"That's very kind of you," Felix said, glancing over at Chan. Chan didn't seem completely convinced but he relaxed a little. "Would you two like to travel with us?" he asked, placing a hand on Chan's arm before Chan could react. "We're safer in numbers," he added softly, more directed to Chan than to Woojin and Jeongin.
"I guess you're right," Jeongin said, not looking overly fond of the idea of having to travel with them but Felix was sure he'd come around.
"I'm Felix," he said, offering Woojin and Jeongin a small smile.
"I'm Chan," Chan said, taking a step back to return to sit down. "I guess we should finish up lunch so we can get going."
"We'll just finish lunch and we'll continue, alright?" Felix said gently and both Jeongin and Woojin nodded. They gave each other a glance and a nod before sitting down with Chan and Felix.
"I guess we'll take out lunch break here as well," Woojin said. Felix hummed, picking up his bowl as he looked between Woojin, Jeongin and Chan. The tension in the air was heavy but maybe... maybe it would work out.
