Rough Draft Coye Vol 3 Ch 5

Coye’s morning had taken a strange turn, and he now found himself sitting at Suzette’s kitchen table for the second day in a row, while she and his date prepared breakfast for the three of them.

As weird as this was, he was relieved to see that Shayla was right. Not only was there no catty tension between Byng and Suzette, but the two seemed to get along without a hitch.

“I think the eggs are just about ready. Be a dear for me and grab them, Byng?” Suzette asked, as she was busy flipping over some sausages that she sliced into thick patties.

“Sure thing!” Byng was fetching a loaf of sliced bread from the pantry, but when she returned she inhaled the scent of the eggs and found them delightful. “These are really good-looking, do you mind if I season them? I wanna see if I can get ‘em a little closer to how we do it back home!”

“I have no problems with that. Darling?”

Coye didn’t know what the eggs were like wherever Byng came from, but he didn’t have any objections, either. “Um, go ahead?”

“Sweet,” Byng took the frying pan and with a spatula she transferred the eggs to a plate where they would stop cooking. Next, she hopped up on the counter with her bare feet and opened up the cupboard Suzette indicated was where she kept her spices.

Byng spent a minute straight sniffing and sampling all the different herbs, salts and spices until she jumped back down with an entire armful of containers.

“Whereabouts even is your home, if you don’t mind my asking?” Suzette asked.

“You ever heard of Grurguhrohk?” Byng said.

Suzette paused after arranging the bread slices to make rows upon rows of sandwiches. Cocking her head, she answered, “Isn’t that... the Orc Homerealm?”

“Yup, but I’m gonna stop you right there. If I was an Orc, I’d be a whole lot bigger.”

“Ah, alright then. Then that would make you-”

“I’m not a Goblin, either.” Byng cackled. It was clear she’d had this talk with gods know how many Karnallians, and it didn’t offend her to have to correct them.

“Ah,” Suzette became flustered. “Please, forgive my ignorance...”

“No, it’s cool. I get it. Everything that has green skin is either an Orc or a Goblin to you people,” Byng jokingly shook her head, leaving Suzette’s level of composure to drop even more.

“T-That’s... I didn’t... um...” she busied herself with placing slices of cheese on each sandwich.

Byng started laughing hysterically and patted the older woman on the back. “You’re good, I just like to mess with people.”

“Well, consider this old lady messed with,” Suzette sighed with relief. “But that leaves the question. What are you?”

Byng was finishing up seasoning the eggs now, and she gave Suzette a grin. “I’m a Gengaggi. It’s a bit complicated, but you can think of us as sort of a sister race to Orcs.”

“I’ve never heard of your kind before. Darling, have you?”

“N-No, I don’t know much about other Realms besides Sylvandiel...”

‘You probably know more than me,’ Shayla assured him.

“You’ll pick up the basics bit by bit,” Byng grinned, then took up the spatula yet again to start transferring the sausage patties onto a plate.

“I do have one question about you, but I’m afraid it might be perceived as... somewhat offensive...” Suzette looked away uncomfortably.

“Spill it,”

“Your scent is... unmistakably pungent. Is that common among your kind, or-”

Byng gave the older woman a drawn-out stare.

Coye felt a wave of second-hand embarrassment.

Shayla almost burst out laughing. ‘Oh, shit.’

“Did you just ask if my entire race is smelly and dirty?”

Suzette nearly dropped a sausage on the floor out of shock. “N-NO! I-”

And then Byng started laughing again. “I don’t think so, but back home we definitely don’t bathe as much as you folks do. Guess it’s been a while since my last soak, but hey, shorty over there seems pretty into it.”

The second-hand embarrassment became first-hand as Suzette gave Coye a puzzled look. “Darling?”

“T-That’s an exaggeration,” he defended himself, hanging his head and blushing. “It’s not like I think she smells good or anything, it just, um-”

Suzette sighed and shook her head. “Boys. I’ll never understand them...”

“Seriously though, is it that bad...?” Byng lifted one of her arms and dug her nose into her pit, the resulting aroma causing Suzette to take several paces away and cover her nose with her hands.

“Sweet fucking Goddesses above and below,” she cursed, then looked at Coye to find that the boy was put in a daze. She darted out of the kitchen and as she did, Coye saw a look of pure embarrassment on Byng’s face.

Suzette returned with a small container of scented oil. “Arms up,” she said in a demanding voice.

“Uh,” Byng looked at Coye for help, but he knew he couldn’t go against Suzette’s whims. This was her house after all, and if she didn’t want to put up with a stinky Gengaggi then that was well within her right.

With no other choice, Byng lifted her arms and blushed as Suzette poured oil onto her hands and massaged them into her armpits. Byng started to laugh at the sudden tickling sensation, but it was over soon enough.

Suzette sighed with relief, but looked at her hands in disgust. She started washing them in a nearby basin of water. “There, that’s... slightly more tolerable...”

“S-Sorry... I don’t usually hang around other people, so, uh...” Byng shrunk.

“I’ll forgive it this once, but I feel like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other from now on. If I pay for it, will you start accompanying me to a bathhouse every so often?”

“B-B-Bathhouse...?!” Byng shrunk even smaller, backstepping as if to protect herself from the threat. “Er- I dunno, maybe? We’ll talk about it next time! Shorty, back me up here!”

‘Damn, she really doesn’t like baths.’ Shayla laughed to herself.

Coye saw the desperation on Byng’s face and felt compelled to help her in some small way. “Um, I think it would be good for you, but... is breakfast almost ready? I’m getting really hungry, Suzette.”

It was like a switch was flipped inside her brain. Suzette dropped all other worldly concerns and looked to the young man with pity, clasping her hands together. “Oh, Darling, I’m so sorry. Give us just a minute and everything will be all set!”

Byng looked at Coye, surprised at how easily she backed down when her man needed to be provided for. Even he hadn’t expected it to work quite that well, and it embarrassed him.

‘Can’t say that the woman doesn’t have her priorities figured out,’ Shayla shrugged.

With a renewed focus on meal preparation, Byng and Suzette continued their work. They made light conversation along the way, most of it centered around Coye. Suzette grilled the young Gengaggi like an overprotective yet well-meaning mother who was trying to protect her son.

“So, Byng. How long have you known Coye for?”

“Man, I wanna say a year, maybe? We met pretty soon after I first rolled into town and joined the Guild, and we’ve had all sorts of run ins since. Ain’t that right?”

“Er, yeah...”

“And how do you feel about him?”

‘Man, she cuts straight to the point!’

“Wha- Suzette, you can’t just-”

“Tricky question! I guess you could say I respect him, but it’s a whole lot more than that. I’ve wanted a chance like this to get to know him better for a long time, so I’m really glad he had the balls to ask me out.”

“Hm, I can certainly relate to that...”

Coye felt the sting from such a barbed comment.

“Do you... go out with other boys often, Byng?”

“Suzette!”

“No way,” Byng laughed as if this was a normal question and not a gross violation into her privacy. “I’ve never done this kinda thing before. I’ve been waiting a long time for someone like him to come around.”

“Oh, good. It’s just that Darling is a sensitive boy, and I would hate for him to have a bad experience with someone who only wanted to use him and be heartbroken.”

Shayla felt hypocritical because she could understand Suzette’s concerns and even shared them to a degree, but still felt she was going a little heavy handed. ‘You might wanna speak up if you’ve got any objections to mother hen’s behavior over here, baby.’

Coye liked being doted on, but he too felt this was a bit much. “H-Hey, can you stop already? You’re embarrassing me...!”

Suzette looked at him and frowned. “Oh, dear. I was only trying to look after your best interests! There was just one other question I wanted to ask.”

It took him a moment, but he nodded his head and slumped into his seat. “Fine...”

“Do you need any birth control, Byng? I keep plenty of Succu-bye on my shelves, and-”

“SUZETTE! We’re just going on an adventure together!”

Byng looked at him, and then smiled mischievously before turning back to Suzette. “How much gold are we talking about, here?”

Coye made a loud whimpering noise as he died of embarrassment, while all three of the girls laughed at him and his adorable suffering.

Once Suzette’s inquisition finally ended, the meal was complete.

Breakfast consisted of sausage, egg and cheese sandwiches, hash browns, and a side of diced heartroot and mushrooms. There was coffee as ever, and the three dug in.

Coye and Suzette learned then that food in Grurguhrohk must be phenomenally salty, if Byng’s style of seasoning was anything to go off of. She used just about every type of salt in the pantry, it seemed, and yet the taste of the eggs somehow weren’t overbearing.

They also got to experience Byng’s table manners, or rather, her complete lack thereof. She tore into her sandwich like it just insulted her personal beliefs, and her coffee was downed in one continuous, messy swallow. Her behavior was so unbelievably bad that Suzette didn’t even have it in her to try and teach the girl some class, knowing that it would be like teaching a fish to breathe air.

Shayla was a little upset about how hard it was for Coye to sneak scraps of food into his hat, but she let it go for now since there’d be chances later on to get her tiny hands on one of those sandwiches.

Thanks to Suzette’s habit of cooking in bulk, there were plenty of sandwiches leftover by the time they were done. Coye suspected this was on purpose, as she immediately got up to package them for the two adventurers. Given how good they tasted, neither minded the idea of eating them again for lunch later on in the day.

“Told you I could cook!” Byng stuck her chest out with pride as Coye finished the last bite of his sandwich. She only helped with the eggs and the hashbrowns, but it was proof enough that Coye was convinced.

“Yeah, you really can...” he smiled and wiped his lips. “Thanks, both of you. Everything was so good.”

“Think nothing of it, Darling,” Suzette appeared and placed two packages onto the table, which Coye deposited into a belt pocket and Byng into a pouch she wore around her thigh. “You have no idea how much fun this was for me, why, it’s almost like having a little family all to myself...!”

‘Kind of a weird family since in this metaphor you’re fucking your mom and if all goes well, your sister,’ Shayla smirked.

Coye ignored the crass comment and focused instead on Suzette’s wholesome feelings. “I thought it was nice, too.”

“Can’t remember the last time I cooked or ate with anyone else,” Byng said, punctuating her sentence with a loud burp. “Gotta be two or three years ago since I left my tribe, at least!”

Finally, something in Suzette snapped and she allowed herself to pick up a napkin and wipe the various messes up from Byng’s lips without her consent. “I’d love to make it a habit so long as your hygiene improves, young lady.”

“Gah,” Byng flailed backward in her seat. “I get it, I get it! We’ll see!”

Suzette pulled away, seemingly happy enough with the cleanup job. Coye had himself a laugh, and even Shayla was digging the positive vibes.

“Now, then,” Suzette pulled her chair and sat down. “What sort of adventurers are the two of you going to be taking on today, hm? Nothing too dangerous, I hope.”

“I’d like to know, too,” Coye said as he looked at Byng.

“Alright, I guess I can tell you a bit about the plan now that we’ve had a nice meal. There’s something I’ve wanted to do with you for a long, long time now, shorty.”

‘As if that wasn’t obvious,’ Shayla rolled her eyes.

“A-And that is?”

“I don’t really think there’s a word for it in the common tongue,” Byng tilted her head and thought about it. “So there’s this thing that two hunters go on, right? We call it a Zurgahrah, and it’s a pretty simple two out of three challenge where the winner gets a secret prize from the challenger. But... if the challenger wins, then I’d get a prize of my choosing from the loser.”

‘Well played, you sexy Goblin...’ Shayla smirked and stroked her chin.

“Oh, my.” Suzette opened her mouth wide. “That sounds so exciting. What would he win from you? And what would you ask of him?”

Coye swallowed nervously as the girl looked him straight in the eyes. There was a hint of lust in her expression, made even more obvious once she licked her lips.

“Giving it away like that would be bad luck for both of us! It’s gotta be a secret, or else Kurhkakk, Master of Beasts and Arrows won’t bless our hunt!” She then added with a menacing cackle, “And neither will Sherge, either...”

Suzette looked to Coye for clarification, but he shrugged. He barely knew a thing about the Twin Goddesses of Karnalle, let alone the Gods of other realms.

“All I’ll say is that it’s definitely a prize you want,” Byng leaned over the table, her smile brimming with excitement. “You might even say it’ll change your life!”

Coye thought to himself how his life had already gone through so many massive changes in the last week, and yet, he found he didn’t mind the idea of yet another change.

“Alright,” he smiled back at her and averted his eyes from shyness. “I’ll take you up on this, uh, Zurgahrah of yours.”

‘Good call, baby,’ Shayla wondered what side of this conflict she should play. If she sabotaged Coye then Byng would get her prize, and Shayla had a pretty good idea where that would go... but she didn’t have it in her to not support her boy and she resolved to make sure he won.

Suzette gave Coye a round of applause. “Good luck to both of you! You’ll have to make sure to let me know how things turn out.”

Byng stood up and laughed, “Oh, I’m sure you’ll be the first to hear...”

Coye was about to get up to follow after Byng, who was making for the exit, but she paused and turned around. “Why don’t you chat with Suzy for a few, shorty? I need to do some stretches before we get going, and you said you had a problem you needed to talk to her about.”

“I... I did?”

“Oh, did you now?” Suzette exchanged a knowing look with Byng and nodded her head. She assumed that Byng was somewhat in the know toward Coye’s little ‘problem’. “Leave things to me, I’ll make sure that my Darling is in tip-top shape for your little challenge.”

“Thanks,” Byng smiled and scratched her head. “I already got kinda close to giving up the goods earlier, so... I thought it’d be safer this way. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it! Have fun, shorty, I’ll be waiting.”

“Wait,” Coye could barely follow along, but Byng left before he could say anything to her. By the time he looked back to Suzette, she had seemingly disappeared from view. “Huh? S-Suzette...?”

‘Look down, dummy,’ Shayla clued in him to the milf who was dirtying her dress by crawling along the floor under the table.

“Ah!” He almost jumped from surprise as she approached between his legs.

“Sounds like you’ve been a naughty boy,” Suzette purred as she undid his belt. “What exactly did you do to her, hm? Tell me all about it.”