Drinks and Marriage Don't Mix [Closed]

Low on money. Low on food. Low on water. This day was shit and probably going to get shittier. Why the hell was he in this area anyway? Oh, right. He was lost. His map got fucked over in the last storm and he had no way to find how to get back to Arcadia. He knew he shouldn't have came to Cieria. What a pain. This place was so different than Arcadia. It felt half-dead most of the time, the deserts were brutal and the creatures who inhabited this place were just as bad. The people were different too, but there weren't many as different as what he just came across. A party? He looked around with narrowed eyes as he snuck through the shadows of the tents. It was night and it was easy for him to not be seen.

"The hell...?" he thought when he eyed some of the outfits he saw here. They seemed uncomfortable, or too comfortable. He began sneaking through the largest tents. Everyone else seemed to be at that weird ceremony going on outside. He took a few pain killers and bandages from the medical tent, though he didn't recognize a lot of what was here. He tossed some jewels, water, and food from the other tents into his pack, but then came to the final tent. This one was weird. There were a few cups of alcohol just sitting about. He could hear the people just outside, much closer than he really liked them to be, so he decided it was time to hurry his ass up before he got caught by these people.

He picked up any small thing that might not be valuable and tossed it into his pack. He then walked over to the table and raised an eyebrow at the cups that sat there. He picked on up and shrugged, deciding to take a drink just to be like 'yeah, someone was here', but that taste completely took him off guard. He swallowed, but ended up coughing louder than intended. He went to put the cup down, but before he did, he looked over to see a man and a woman standing there. Anton raised an eyebrow. He could get away if he wanted, but the woman walked over to him without any hostility showing, so he kinda just waited to see what was happening. "Husband?" he scoffed and took another drink of that bitter alcohol, shrugging off what she said and began walking out the back of the tent.

No hostility again. Anton turned back to her and looked back and forth from her to the cup. "Bled." he repeated that word. He looked to the cup and then to the cut on her chest. Did she put her blood into that cup? Yes, she did. She just said so. His face changed to the smallest bit of shock and some disgust. Did he just drink her blood? He closed his eyes and shook his head. Ignore it. He had to ignore it. That was gross. That was out there in some weird ass... The chanting going on outside. "Tradition." he completed the word for her. Did he just fuck something up? He did, didn't he? AND he was caught. They caught him and he stayed and listened and this... and holy shit. Marry!? "What happens if I don't?" he asked, his stone cold voice filled with annoyance. This can't be happening to him...

...
......
.........

Destined for shit. Anton rolled his eyes and shook his head. You've got to be kidding. Did he really just step in on her marriage ceremony? And now he was expected to take that spot? All because of a damn drink!? And if he didn't, this girl would be cast from everything she knew. He was a dick, but he wasn't so much of a bad guy that he'd allow that to happen. One problem though, he wasn't going to fucking have a wife. Him, a husband? That shit was laughable. Just because you 'married' here, didn't mean you were legally married in other places, right? No documentation, no court, none of the things that told people you were a couple. Anton wasn't about tradition in this sense. He was about facts, proof, and tangibility. If there was nothing he signed saying that yes, she's my wife, then she ain't his fucking wife, but he could act for a while if it meant she wouldn't lose everything. "Okay."

Being rushed by a group of people made him immediately regret his decision. He was ready to fight his way out, but was instead sat down on a chair. He expected to be tied, but was lifted. It was hard to keep his balance on that thing, but after a moment he got the hang of it. This woman tried to assure him this was normal, but no it fucking wasn't. What was wrong with these people?! With much disdain, he dealt with the attention, but not without a few moments of "I'm going to fuck these people up if they touch me one more time." The fact that he was outnumbered was the only reason he chose not to do something that stupid. There was one moment where he was ready to lash out toward her and it took everything for him to hold himself back. "Do not dare call me that if you value any bit of the life you lead." She'd leave when he would, huh? How about no-. Wait, did she say food?

Anton took advantage of that. He ate as much as he could and tossed some stuff he could preserve into his sack. He collected some water in both of his canteens and was content. He could leave at any moment now. So did this party mean they were married in her tribe? Or did he have to go somewhere else for that crap. It wasn't happening, but he needed to know where her mindset was. He'd mention it later. When that night ended, Anton was ready to go. He got his belongings, glanced to her, and then walked off. He knew she was going to follow. He'd have to deal with that now, but oh well. He had recently gotten rid of another pain in the neck, so it was possible to get rid of this one. Though, with her mindset of the words 'husband' and 'wife' being involved, that endeavor might prove more challenging than he wanted. With an annoyed grunt, he continued on, "She's gonna be a pain..."

They were only going to be traveling for a short time. He planned on sleeping tonight, but was not going to be sleeping there with so many people surrounding him. She said it. "Husband." Yep, great. He stopped walking and turned to her. "What?" he asked, shocked as hell that he answered so easily to that. It was wrong. "Anton. Do not call me husband." he demanded. That would ruin his reputation. He should have never agreed to this. Now he really was stuck with her. That party meant they were married and she thought other people were barbarians?! What a strange person. "I have no direction. I keep traveling until I feel like stopping. Why do you want to go to Arcadia?" Anton was interested in the way she asked about that. There was something more in her tone. She almost sounded like it was place she had heard about in some book and was excited to visit.

Good. She listened. She apologized as well. Interesting. Was she trying to get something from him? What do "wives" want from husbands? What was the point of all this? Her explanation about Arcadia was understandable. He wasn't sure whether he cared, but it's not like he had anything to do. Maybe she'll stay there with her brother too. Good, perfect plan. "We will go see if it is true or not." he said before realizing that her brother might actually be dead. If he's dead, he went all that way for nothing and is still stuck with this woman. He rolled his eyes and grunted out of annoyance.

Soon, Anton stopped and sat down to relax. This is where they would sleep. "Just make it taste good." he replied. He was always very stern and seemingly uncaring with his words. Anton actually rarely got to eat good food. Even rarer than that was someone else making it for him. He was used to hunting or stealing, depending on where he was, and he never got a hold of anything that had good flavor. If she could make something that didn't taste like stale bread, he'd be fine with it. What was more surprising was her fixing his bowl. It was like eating at a diner or having his own slave.

The food wasn't bad either. From what he could tell, she made it more on the mild side. Good choice. He ate in silence until she asked how the food was. "Good." was his reply. There was a bit of a 'shut up I'm eating' tone, but he did compliment the food with that single word. Once he was done, he laid down, using his sack as a pillow. He had no blanket and was used to this. It's not like he could afford one and those were more complicated to steal than a damn apple. "Sleep." he told her and rolled over onto his side. He could tell that tomorrow was going to be a longer day than he wanted.

Anton figured she'd end up closer to him than he'd like. She did. If she were able to talk right, he'd actually tell her something along the lines of "fuck off", but didn't feel like listening to the lecture she'd likely give with her broken language. Anton imagined something like "You husband. Me wife. Sleep together." Reminded him of childhood books where monkeys tried to speak Arcadian. He was about to sleep when he felt a blanket tossed over him. His eyes snapped open and he looked to her just to see her lay down and go to sleep. She was just sharing it? Weird. He narrowed his eyes and turned over to sleep. At least he'd be warm tonight. That was new for him. He had been getting used to the cold.

Anton woke to the smell of fire and something else. Food. he thought as he opened his eyes and looked over to her. She really was cooking again. He thought he'd have to search the trees for fruit or dig into the pack for the stuff he had taken from her tribe. He sat up and crossed his legs. He watched her in silence after she confirmed food would be ready soon. His stomach growled. He ignored it, but it was easily heard. She tried to keep up conversation again and asked about him sleeping last night. "Warm." he corrected, "I hope the blanket kept you warm last night and yes, it did."

Food was soon ready and it was a pretty good meal. "I could get used to having her cook every meal." he thought as he continued eating. He ate quickly, as he always did and began getting ready to go. He packed up his things and stood up. Their destination was Arcadia, right? Was he actually going to take her there? How annoying. Might as well since he had already come to the conclusion that he didn't have anything better to do. "Come on. Keep up." he told her and was off. The two traveled through the jungle. A path was created by those who commonly traveled this place, but getting lost was easy.

The area was really hot and very damp. The humidity was annoyingly high. Anton had a thin layer of sweat all over him by the time noon hit, but he didn't seem to show any discomfort. He didn't stop to take any breaks and was not even drinking or eating either, nor did he show any signs of doing so. Because of this, they were making pretty good time. One thing he said a couple hours ago was for her to not get lost. He wouldn't go in after her if she was stupid enough to step off one of the only safe paths through here. As they were walking, Anton suddenly stopped and looked around the jungle.

"Hide. Now." Anton looked back to her. It would be up to her to find a spot and find it quickly. A couple of seconds later, the sound of a horse drawn carriage came rushing around a corner. Anton merely moved to the side and allowed them to pass, but the moment they saw him, they began slowing down. He narrowed his eyes and watched carefully as they stopped in front of him. The man leading the carriage tipped his hat and greeted him. "Hey, there now... Sir, you in need of anything? I'm a traveling merchant and I've got a few... high quality items in the back 'ere." the man said. "You got a map?" Anton asked. It was the only thing he was interested in, since his had been destroyed. The man chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, but it's my only one. I don't have any extra to sell, however, if you take a look in the bac-..." "I'm not interested in anything else. I've got what I need. Leave."

The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously and stepped down off the carriage. He must not have known how tall Anton was because his demeanor changed when they were eye to eye. Anton had at least six inches on this man. "Well, look... Now, I don't have an extra map. As I said, I'm usin' the one I got, so if you ain't wantin' to buy nothin', then I'll be on m-..." The man tried pulling a dagger and stabbing Anton in the heart. Anton, however, was much faster and always on his guard, so the man's hand was grabbed before the knife could reach his chest. Anton turned the man around, slammed his head against the, carriage, and then wrapped his arm around his neck. Anton choked the life out of this man without any hesitation. The man flailed about, gasping for air, but without a single ounce of regret in his eyes, Anton snapped the man's neck and dropped his body off the side of the road. Anton spit at the dead man and began rummaging around the carriage for supplies, "You can come out now."

The woman came out, but kept her distance. Yes, good. She was learning. All he had to do was scare her? Then he should have killed someone back at her tribe. No, that's not scaring, that's scarring. There was a huge difference and he didn't like playing the mental game. He half-ignored her as she vomited. "I did." he replied and she went on. Anton walked back over to the man as she asked him questions, searched through him, found a ring of keys, and went back to the carriage. "He was in my way." was his response as Anton hopped into the back of the carriage. This carriage was a covered one and he kept the door shut. A few minutes later, he stepped back out without the keys and walked to the front. "Come on." He grabbed Meifeng by her arm and dragged her to the front. He sat her down and took the reins. "You know how to drive one of these?" he asked. If she did, he'd hand her the reins and tell her just to keep going the way they had been walking and wake him up if he's needed. If not, he'd turn them around himself and continue on to the next town.

Selfish was an interesting way to describe it. When she didn't know, but seemed to want to try, Anton did actually take the time to help her out and explain a bit. He was an asshole, but this wasn't that big of a deal. Now he could sleep and she'd leave him alone. Well, he had hoped. Why he expected her to be silent, he didn't know. As his eyes shut, she immediately began asking him more questions. He opened them again, looked up the road she was now driving on, and sighed. "No. It leaves a trail. I kill those who try to kill me first, always." Her voice had changed. He looked toward her and raised an eyebrow at the blank expression she had. "Enjoy it?" he was actually unsure of how to reply for a moment. He stared at her for a while, thinking more on that weird look she had than her question. "I don't go out and kill for fun, if that's what you're asking." Anton sat up and leaned in close to the side of her face, looking straight into her dull eyes. He was studying that change a bit.

"Is that what you're mad about? I ain't no cold hearted killer. You say put that man back there to sleep. That's stupid. He woulda woke up and tried it to someone else that couldn't kick his ass. Saved more people than I hurt back there. Bastard shouldn't have pulled a knife. And now we got a map, horses, more food, and a carriage to carry it all. Took it off some murderer." With that, he felt silent. Another fucking female gettin' him to talk more than he liked. Wondered if it was some sort of spell he got from her. "Women..." he thought and closed his eyes again.

Anton would not have been surprised if he woke up alone. It's how he liked it. If she ran off, it would be her life in danger, not his. That didn't happen though. Instead, she woke him up in town. He looked around and noticed that a few people were pointing and staring. He looked to her; She was dressed, so it's not like they were coming into town naked. He thought for a moment and realized. "Right..." he mumbled and was about to jump off the carriage when a woman ran up to him. "Sir, please. Where did you find this carriage?" He rolled his eyes and ignored her and walked to the back. The woman looked to Mei. "Where did you get this carriage? Was a man name Kenneth Drogg driving it?" A few other people began surrounding the carriage as Anton opened up the back. He could be heard asking "This your home town? Out. All of you." and a few moments later about six woman and girls hopped out the back. All of them were young, but three of them were pretty much children.

"You want a room or to camp? I don't care." Anton walked over to Mei and asked. Unfortunately, people began walking up to him and acting like they were going to touch him. He kept hearing thank yous and other terms of appreciation, but he didn't care. "Don't let them touch me." he whispered slightly to Mei and stepped behind her, "You can deal with this." Two of the girls in the back of the carriage had just been taken from here. There were four that weren't from here, but they were happy to just leave and not be sold into slavery like they would have been. Anton had saved them, but that wasn't his original intent. In fact, if he hadn't come across this town, he would have sold them off himself. He needed the cash. He just wasn't going to deal with the violence and rage that would have happened if he showed up and didn't give the girls back. Though good, it was for him not them.

Did she just defend him? Or was that her following orders? He did ask her not to let them touch him, but he meant just talk to them for him, not smack their hands like children trying to touch the glass object. Interesting. "I don't kill for fun. I didn't know he had them back there, but I have every right to defend myself." he explained as he tossed his travel sack over his shoulder. "And no, we're not camping. I want a bed." He led her over to the inn and tossed a couple gold out at the innkeeper. "You watch my carriage, feed the horses, and bring food to my room, I'll toss in six more, understood?" The innkeeper nodded at the thought of gaining a rather large amount of money. Usually a night at the inn here was a few silver, but he was tossing money around like it was nothing.

The two were led to their room. It was well decorated and said to be the nicest in the inn. It only had one bed, but it had a large bathroom and everything was of the highest quality. The innkeeper bowed respectfully and said the meal would be ready in an hour. Anton locked the window and lowered the curtain. He checked the bathroom and kept that door open since there was a small window with no locks in there. He also locked the main door and then finally decided to relax and kick of his shoes. "Relax." he told her and laid back on the bed. Anton began eyeing her. He checked her out, looked her up and down, but wasn't sure what to think of her. Isn't this the type of woman that men go crazy over? The breasts are big, long hair, young face, and big round ass. He didn't get it, but kept staring!