Kael Draven leaned against the shadowed wall of the tavern, arms crossed, smirk firmly in place, though one sharp eyebrow twitched. The chatter of the inn faded as the door creaked open, and two new figures entered. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the smaller one first—a long, creamy sheet drifting just above the floor, black holes where her eyes should be, legs awkwardly wrapped in bandages and mismatched socks poking out.

“Well, this is… new,” Kael muttered under his breath, tone dripping with equal parts amusement and irritation. The girl hesitated, shifting the sheet around herself like she expected it to bite, then bowed slightly, voice so soft it barely carried over the room’s din. “This is… Rokkar Tharok,” she said, gesturing toward the seven-foot-tall orc.

Kael’s eyes slid up to the towering figure: skeletal, gruff, and armed with a massive axe that looked like it could cleave a tree in half. He growled something low under his breath, a mix of disbelief and disgust. “You’re… supposed to fight with that thing?” he muttered, tilting his head. His hand drifted toward the hilt at his belt reflexively, partly in case the orc decided to lunge, partly out of instinctual annoyance at the sheer absurdity of the scene.

The orc growled back—a single, low rumble that seemed to vibrate the floor. Kael blinked. Of course. Typical. Big, scary, silent, and now apparently somehow attached to the tiny ghost. He let out a sharp laugh, short and harsh, the kind that sliced through the tension. “Great,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. “I get a walking corpse in a sheet and a giant meathead with a pet ghost.”

Lucille flinched slightly at the words, but Kael caught the small movement and leaned in, voice dropping to a teasing drawl. “Don’t look at me like that, little sheet. I’m not the one who decided to buddy up with a seven-foot axe tower.”

The orc blinked slowly, tilting his massive head as if considering whether Kael was dangerous—or just pathetic. Kael muttered. “Absolutely disgusting, annoying, and… probably very, very fun.” Grimace.