He was tired.
Everybody noticed it except him, it seemed. He didn't see anything wrong with how he was sleeping for longer and longer each night, and waking up more and more exhausted. He didn't notice the shadows growing darker around his eyes with every passing morning that he woke up aching and sore.
His friends noticed. They told him he was pushing it. They told him he needed to take some time out of his work or else he could collapse, and what if that happened when he was in the middle of a duel?
It took a while. His job was important. He carried the wellbeing and security of an entire world on his shoulders and couldn't afford to let it go undefended for any longer than he could possibly allow.
Eventually, he relented.
He took some time off.
O-o-O
It had been a while that he'd wondered what lay on the far side of the Cavern Sea, but had never had any reason or opportunity to explore. The closest he'd come was the occasional longing look at the vast expanse of green waters that stretched far beyond the horizon, riding past the shoreline on his way home or to somewhere that needed the aid of a Shane.
And now...
Now was his time.
The ride was longer than he had anticipated. Not that he had expected it to only take five minutes, but his mecha spent almost four hours cresting waves and surfing across the waters and only after he was beginning to lose hope did a shoreline come into view, far into the distance though it was.
By the time he reached it, he was more tired than ever. His hands were sore from gripping the handlebars for too long and he suspected that sores were developing on the insides of his legs.
Nevertheless, he had arrived.
And he was far too tired to search for any place that would allow him a bed to sleep in, so he parked his mechabeast under a tree and curled up in its shelter, sleeping nervously, but soundly.
O-o-O
It wasn't a very large town, but it was something. Perhaps there was an inn he could spend the night in so that he didn't wake up with Arachnets spinning webs over his ear as he slept (which he had expected Burpy to prevent). The people seemed friendly, if understandably a little suspicious of the newcomer, and were very impressed when they saw that he had an Infurnus slug.
They asked him if he was McLinden.
When he asked what they meant, they rolled their eyes and laughed, and said that this meant he was not.
Rather than failing to understand, he continued exploring the town, and found a poster on a noticeboard advertising a celebration. A masquerade ball in the next cavern, Bootleg Cavern, in honour of a brave and daring rebellion that had led to the emancipation of all serfs in the Northern Caverns.
He didn't understand what most of that meant.
But he figured that a ball, masquerade or otherwise, would be rather fun.
O-o-O
It wasn't easy finding a suit on such short notice, and neither was it easy finding one that would fit him, or a mask that wouldn't make him look like a fool. He was far more grateful that this strange new realm accepted his currency than he was concerned that all he could find was one that was ocean green and decorated at its furthest corners with silver rhinestones.
At least he had been able to procure a matching tie, so he wouldn't look completely foolish. The shop he'd visited had even, free of charge, provided him with a tiny mask for Burpy to wear.
