Fandom: World of Warcraft
Pairing: Male Orc OC x Male Human OC [Romantic]
Rating: Teen
Content: Alternative Universe, Theramore joins the Horde, Bigotry in a fantasy setting, Worker abuse, Alcoholism
Date originally written: 6th June 2019
Summary: Thomas and Korgah spend some time over lunch getting to know each other.

Thomas felt like he was barely alive when he’d woken up.

The work he’d done the day before had been gruelling and hard on both his body and mind. The ocean waves had been uncharacteristically violent towards his boat, and he’d ripped the bloody net on accident when he’d tried to pull it in.

When he’d returned back from the water, he hadn’t been able to bring in as many fish as he’d have liked. It had just been far too dangerous and wild out there on the sea that day, and Tom’s father had been furious about it, telling him that he wasn’t working hard enough and that he should’ve tried to stay out there longer to catch enough fish for at least half a day.

Tom spent most of the day having to repair the net while his father scowled at him.

He’d been physically and emotionally exhausted when he’d gone to bed, so it was no surprise that when he woke up, he felt like absolute arse .

He’d laid in bed for a bit of a while, trying his best not to fall back to sleep. He did eventually gather up enough strength to sit up and rub his eyes, and he opened up the window by his bed, looking out.

From what he could tell, it looked as though it was almost midday. The sun was getting close to being in the middle of the sky, and he could see the many citizens and visitors of Theramore going about their business. It seemed to be a relatively busy day, and Thomas was thankful that today was his day off.

He stretched his back and limbs, and grabbed the book off the bedside table, opening it to where he’d placed his bookmark, and started to read.

Tom spent about 10 minutes silently reading, trying to muster up the courage to exit his room and make himself a cup of tea without gaining the ire of his father, when he suddenly remembered something crucial.

He was supposed to go out to lunch with Korgah today.

Thomas immediately abandoned the book, just barely managing to put the bookmark back into it as he rushed around his room, attempting to find something nice looking (that perhaps didn’t smell like fish) to wear.

Tom internally reprimanded himself for not being able to remember something so important. He’d been counting down the days until the weekend, pushing himself through each day, knowing that on the weekend he’d get to see Korgah, and all the bullshite he’d experienced throughout the week would be worth it.

But the day before had completely ruined his focus, making him annoyed and frustrated with his father’s inability to care about his health or wellbeing. It was a wonder he’d remembered that today was even the weekend at all.

Thomas just hoped that he wasn’t late, and that if he was...that Korgah would understand and could forgive him for his tardiness.

He was out of the house in almost 5 minutes, just barely remembering to take his coin purse with him, and he’d practically sprinted toward the tavern that he was supposed to meet Korgah in. He’d gotten a few looks from passersby when he’d gotten a little too close to knocking a woman over, but otherwise, nobody seemed to get in his way or try to slow him down.

He was panting when he finally got close to the tavern, and he stopped a few shops away, bending over and resting his hands on his knees as he attempted to slow down both his heart and his breathing.

He at least wanted to be somewhat put together when he entered the tavern, regardless of if Korgah had arrived yet.

Thomas straightened back up, checking himself over and straightening out his clothes before he walked the rest of the way, as if he hadn’t been wearing himself out by just trying to arrive on time.

When Tom opened up the door to the tavern and stepped inside, he looked around. There were a few patrons here and there, minding their own business and eating food as they spoke amongst themselves. No one seemed to notice him when he walked in, and he was almost thankful.

He took a look around, and felt his nerves spike just a little when he realised that he didn’t see Korgah anywhere.

He quickly took a seat close by one of the windows, in the corner booth. He grabbed one of the menus from the table, and skimmed over it. He couldn’t really focus on anything he was reading though, worrying far too much on if he had given the wrong directions, or if Korgah was somehow running late or couldn’t show up because of unforeseen circumstances...

Thomas waited for an agonising seven minutes, and he was starting to lose hope that Korgah would ever show up, when he heard the door open, the bells above ringing as someone entered.

It was Korgah, and Tom breathed a huge sigh of relief, and his face broke out in a grin.

Korgah was looking around, and he too brightened up when he saw Thomas sitting in the corner. The orc tried not to look at the other patrons who seemed to be staring at him in slight confusion, and he went over to where Tom was sitting when the human waved him over.

The seat was...a bit short for Korgah, admittedly. He felt like he was attempting to sit in a seat made for an orcish child rather than an adult, his knees scraping against the underside of the table, and his legs spilling over into the next seat. He was capable of sitting at the booth, that much was clear. It didn’t mean it was very comfortable, though.

“Throm’ka, Korgah. It’s good tae see ye again.” Tom said, giving the orc a tired smile. Korgah returned the smile, but noticed the exhaustion in his eyes. “Throm’ka, Thomas Wesley. It is good to see you as well. I hope you are doing okay.”

“Oh, I’m alright. I've only just woken up a bit ago! Slept in a bit too long, I think."

Korgah chuckled at that, and picked up one of the menus. He was not quite as good at reading Common as he was speaking it, but he managed to understand most of the names and ingredients for the meals. He scoured the menu for something that looked familiar to him, but found that most of the food had many different ingredients of plants and vegetables that he’d never heard of before. He wasn’t against trying new stuff out, but it’d be a lot easier if he at least knew what half of this stuff was.

That was until he saw fish and potato wedges with lemon.

He knew what fish was, he knew what potatoes were, and he knew what lemons were. The fish and potatoes together made some sense, though he was very confused about the lemon. Weren’t they supposed to be really sour? And...what did crumbed fish mean?

He supposed he would find out. Korgah didn’t think humans could do anything too horrible to screw up the delicious taste of fish, and he was always surprised by the various ways humans cooked potatoes in order to make them interesting, so he decided he was going to go for the potatoes and fish.

Thomas decided on some crab for himself, stating that he rarely if ever got to actually eat crab despite catching them every other week. To him, it was a delicacy- a treat he only got to indulge in once in a blue moon.

They both ordered their food, the waitress seemingly unperturbed by Korgah sitting across from Thomas (though Korgah believed she might have just been hiding her surprise to not offend them), and then they waited patiently for their food.

Tom felt just a tad bit awkward. He thought Korgah was a pretty decent fellow, but he just wasn’t sure what exactly he should say to an orc. He wanted to impress Korgah, he wanted to show him that humans weren’t as shy and weak as everyone thought. But he really didn’t know where he should actually start. Maybe find common ground? He wasn’t really sure, but he started asking questions anyway.

“Ye know, I never actually asked: is Kal’Grok yer mount? Do ye like, ride her or anything? Or is she more of a hunting partner? Are ye a hunter, actually? Sorry, I just assumed.”

Korgah took a moment to process what Tom had just said, confused by the multiple questions being asked at once, before he answered.

“I do not ride Kal, no. She is too...independent and stubborn for that. She is more of a hunting partner, like you said. You are correct that I am a hunter.”

“Right, I thought ye might have been. So, what kinda game do ye usually hunt ‘round here?”

“I usually go after the tougher game, like the crocolisks or the spiders, and the occasional serpent or hydra when I see one. It’s not too different from the game I used to hunt in Durotar, though there were more scorpions than there were spiders.”

Thomas seemed a bit surprised at the spider hunting, his eyebrows going up. “Oh, what do ye usually do with the spider parts? I can’t imagine anyone here in Theramore having much use for spider legs...or spider guts.”

Korgah gave a small chuckle. “I mostly kill them for their venom, it’s quite valuable for making poisons, which I occasionally use on my arrows when I’m not killing something that’s going to be consumed.”

“Like another spider?”

“I know a few people who love eating spiders, actually.”

Tom’s eyes widened, and he went a bit pale at that, and only caused Korgah to chuckled more. “It’s not too bad, though it depends on the species of spider. I’ve tried some myself. I do prefer scorpion meat, though.”

“I... oh. Can’t say I’ve ever had spider or scorpion meat before..”

Korgah gave him a cheeky smile. “Perhaps in the future.”

“Oh...I bloody well hope not..!”

They both chuckled quietly, trying not to disturb any of the other patrons in the restaurant. They were having an enjoyable, mellow conversation, and as they continued to talk, both Korgah and Thomas relaxed a bit more. Thomas certainly found it easier to find things to talk about after his somewhat meek icebreaker.

Their food eventually arrived, and when Korgah looked down at his plate of food, he was slightly confused.

The potatoes were there, cooked and covered in some specks of green, which he naturally assumed to be some type of herb to give the potatoes some flavour. The lemons, too, were also there, on the side. But what he’d assumed must be fish...didn’t look like fish. There were no scales, no obvious tells that what he was looking at even used to be fish, just two thinly cut oval-orange-things with a strangely rough texture.

“Um. Is this the fish?” Korgah asked, pointing at the strange things that weren’t the wedges or lemons.

“Yup! That’s them. If yer curious about why they don’t look much like fish, it’s ‘cause the cooks descale ‘em and cover ‘em with bread crumbs. Gives the fish a real nice texture, ye know.”

Korgah tilted his head slightly. “Bread crumbs?”

“Aye, bread crumbs! Quite common tae see fish covered in bread crumbs in human recipes. Might seem strange but it’s quite alright, actually!”

Korgah nodded in understanding. At least he knew he was actually looking at fish, now.

“And uh...the lemons?”

Thomas grinned. “Well, ye just grab ‘em and squeeze the lemon juice over the wedges and fish. Really adds tae the taste!”

Korgah hummed curiously, starting to eat the wedges, letting the taste linger on his tongue before he swallowed. “Aren’t lemons sour? I haven’t tried them myself, but...”

“Aye, they are quite sour if ye decided to bite right into one! But if ye squeeze the lemon juice over the fish and wedges evenly it won’t be anything like biting right into a lemon!” Thomas explained, cracking open his crab and fishing out the delicate white meat inside.

Korgah looked back down at his plate, and grabbed one of the lemons and gently squeezed the juice onto the fish and wedges like Thomas had instructed, and when he ate more of his food, he was surprised to find that the taste of the lemon wasn’t quite as sour as he thought it would be. Thomas had been right, it seemed. Or perhaps humans tasted sourness more intensely than orcs? He couldn’t be sure.

Either way, he enjoyed the taste, and as he started to eat the fish, he came to the conclusion that the odd choice of covering fish in bread crumbs and then cooking them like that made a bit of sense, now that he was eating it. The outside had more of a ‘crunch’ too it than fish usually did, and Korgah found that he didn’t mind the change in texture.

“Ye liking it?” Tom asked, after a bit of silence.

“Yes, I am. I wasn’t really sure what human food would taste like, but I like it. The flavours aren’t quite as strong as the flavours you’d find in other Horde cultures, but it’s not as bland as others have told me.”

“Glad tae hear it! I think maybe next time we should try some orcish food. Haven’t tried other food besides human and dwarven. Would be interesting tae see what the flavours are like!”

“I’d like that. There’s not many orcish restaurants around Theramore, so I’d have to cook it at home. Would you be alright with that?” Korgah asked.

Thomas gave him a cheeky smile. “That’d be lovely! I’m sure Kal-wolf would be happy tae see me as well.”

Korgah chuckled quietly. “Yes, I’m sure she would.”

As they continued eating, their conversation moved onto more familiar territory. Specifically, Tom's job as a fisherman.

“I know you already told me about your intense work schedule the last time we spoke, but I wanted to know if there were others that helped you with the fishing or the market stall besides your father? It’s just that I haven’t really seen anyone else with you when you’re working...”

“Oh no, there’s nobody else that helps me. Just meself and me Da, and that’s it.”

Korgah’s own eyebrows went up, this time. “Really? It’s just you and your father? Does he do the fishing too?”

Thomas shook his head. “He used tae when he was a bit younger and more fit, but he’s been gettin’ on in his old age and can’t really do it as much anymore. He mostly mans the stall and does the paperwork, and I do all the heavy liftin’.”

Korgah huffed at that. “No wonder you look so tired...it seems as though if you tried to take even one day off, the whole stall would be out of business for that day, assuming you don’t get imports.”

“Aye. No pressure or nothing..”

There was a moment of silence between the two as they ate, and Korgah could tell that bringing up Thomas’ work wasn’t a good idea. He sighed and broke the silence.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn't have brought up your work. I realise it must be really stressful to have to think or talk about it all the time, and that it would be the last thing you’d want to think about on what is supposed to be your day off.”

Thomas looked up at Korgah, and gave him a kind smile. “Aw, mate. Ye don’t have tae be sorry. It’s not really that big of a deal, I just wish I’d get a little bit better treatment from me Da, and that I’d get a paid a bit better, ye know?”

Korgah looked confused, then. “You’re not paid well?”

Tom shook his head. “No, not well at all. Da spends most of the gold on his whiskey...or any other type of booze he can get his hands on. Barely have enough gold left after a whole weeks worth of work tae even make the business better or hire another fisherman, let alone have any gold left for personal spendin’! It’s bloody hell, tae be honest..”

As Tom looked up at Korgah, he could see Korgah’s confused looked turned into an unhappy one. It was a bit hard to tell with the large sharp tusks in the way, but it looked as though he was frowning.

“Your father dishonours your family business, and your family name. That is shameful.”

Thomas only seemed surprised at Korgah’s words for a moment before he nodded in agreement. “Aye, it is shameful. But what other choice does a lad like me have? It’s not like me father would actually let me take over the family business for him, even if I could manage tae do a far better job, ye know? He’s got far too much pride tae ever let me prove him wrong, even if it would make our lives better.”

Korgah hummed in contemplation. “The situation you are in is a hard one. It is a shame you cannot sort it out like how orcs do.”

Thomas tilted his head in curiosity at that. “And how is it that orcs would sort this situation out?”

“By fighting each other in a duel to decide who truly is worthy of running the family business.”

Thomas laughed then, his face lighting up in amusement. “Oh, I’d definitely beat his arse! The old bastard can barely walk, let alone fight! Oh, if only I were an orc so I could actually use that tae solve me problems, I wouldn’t bloody have problems no more! I’d start beatin’ the crap out of everybody who tried to start shite with me!”

It was Korgah’s turn to laugh then. He was delighted to hear of Thomas’ approval on orcish problem solving, and how enthusiastic he was about the idea.

“Perhaps you should do it anyway? You are a member of the Horde, now. Other members of the Horde who are already familiar with orcish ways of solving problems would respect your decisions, and could vouch for you if anyone had doubts.”

Tom looked a bit surprised at that. "Yer serious? Ye think I could actually get away with that?"

Korgah huffed. “Of course you could. Even the Warchief would understand and respect the outcome of a duel. If you wished to take control of the family business by duelling your father, the terms of the duel would be bound by orcish law.”

Thomas seemed to be very surprised, then, and he looked as though he was seriously considering duelling his own father. “Do ye think orcish law would override the current human-made laws in Theramore?”

Korgah thought about it for a minute, scratching his ginger beard thoughtfully. “I’m not sure, truthfully. If you really wanted to be certain that the duel would be bound by orcish law, it’d be best to do it in another Horde city or town, like Orgrimmar.”

Thomas deflated, then, and went back to picking white meat out of the crab on his plate. “As if I’d ever get me Da to travel outside of Theramore now that we’ve cut ourselves off from the Alliance...it’s a nice thought, though.”

Korgah was unsure of what to say in responses, and so decided to remain silent as they continued to eat. Korgah’s mind was swirling with all sorts of thoughts and ideas. He wondered to himself just how shameful Thomas’ father truly was. He was clearly shameful enough to publicly insult an orc by calling them a green-skin , so he wondered if he was like that towards humans as well. If, perhaps, Thomas’ father was simply a dreadful person to begin with, and his bigotry only made him worse.

They ate in silence for only a minute before Thomas started to talk again.

“Tae change the subject...do ye have any friends here in Theramore?”

Korgah seemed to light up a bit at the subject change, and at the prospect of being able to speak about one of his friends.

“Yes, I do actually. One of my tauren friends from Thunder Bluff move here to Theramore about the same time as I did. He’s...quite tall, even for a tauren. We go on hunts together sometimes, if I want to hunt bigger game than just crocolisks. He’s been my friend for many, many years.”

Tom sat there eating and listening intently as Korgah spoke, asking questions here and there about Hau’ne, about what Thunder Bluff was like, and Tom seemed to just soak up everything that Korgah told him.

Once Thomas seemed to have exhausted Korgah of all of his interesting anecdotes, it was Korgah’s turn to ask some questions.

“What about you? Do you have any friends here in Theramore?”

Thomas shrugged a little bit in response. “Ahh...not many, unfortunately. The one friend I do speak tae a lot is a dwarven lady that works at one o’ the inns...I don’t get tae see her much since where she works is a bit close tae where me Da tends to hang out on his own free time...it’s caused some problems before...”

Korgah seems to stiffen a bit at that knowledge, and exhales a sigh through his nose. “With the way that you speak about your father, and from I’ve seen of him...it doesn’t seem like he’s a very good person.”

Korgah almost wanted to take back what he’d said immediately after it came out of his mouth, seeing the look on Thomas’ face, which was pained. The regret didn’t last long however, as Thomas sighed and nodded.

“Yer right. He’s not a very good person. At all. Very bigoted, very set in his ways. Always angry, always blames his problems on other people. He’s very unpleasant to be ‘round.”

Korgah furrowed his brow. “Why do you still speak to him, then?”

Thomas was quiet for a while before he replied.

“I...I don’t know...some sort of family obligation? Financial reasons? Hard tae say...but it’s not like I’ve never had the thought of running away from it all and going back to Ironforge...something I can’t even do now! He just makes things so bloody difficult for me. And miserable.”

There is silence once more between them. They had finished eating their lunch, and were simply sitting there now, across from one another as they talked. Or, well...didn’t talk, in this case.

Korgah sighed again.

“It seems that no matter what I try to say in order to make good conversation, it backfires on me, and I make the mood worse. I am sorry, Thomas Wesley.”

Thomas looked up into Korgah’s eyes and gave him a soft smile. “It’s not yer fault. I’m just a bit of a miserable twat, tae be honest.”

“Twat?”

Thomas laughed and nodded. “Aye, a twat! It’s a bit of a rude word for a lady’s, well...” Thomas gestured towards his lower area. Korgah’s eyebrows went up in surprise.

“Oh...”

Korgah was unable to say anything else. A miserable twat? Did he even want to know what a miserable twat was supposed to look like, and why that applied to Thomas? He shook his head of his thoughts as the waitress came by to take their plates away and pick up the gold from their meal, both Korgah and Thomas getting out their coin purses.

“Um...so, what are the orcish rules for when ye’ve invited a friend to lunch and it was yer idea?”

“Both usually pay.”

Thomas nodded his head in understanding. “Then I guess we’re both paying.”

They give the waitress their gold, which was thankfully not much, but they both remained seated, not entirely sure what to do with themselves, before Korgah spoke up.

“Would you like to go for a walk, Thomas? I find that walking with friends can help to clear ones thoughts...”

Thomas smiled. “Sounds like a good idea tae me.”

They both walked along the streets of Theramore, talking and enjoying each other’s presence. Korgah asked questions about different things about the city that he’d been wanting to know about, and Thomas answered him with far more information than Korgah ever thought he would get. They pointed out different things to each other about the humans, dwarves, orcs and trolls that they saw, and what certain types of clothing meant, how you could tell if a human was a tailor or jeweller just by looking at their hands, and what a certain type of piercing meant on an orc.

All in all, they learnt a lot about each other’s culture, and about each other as well. They eventually found their way to one of the parks in Theramore, and sat together on a bench, deciding to people-watch in comfortable silence.

Thomas did eventually turn to Korgah, though, and started talking again.

“Ye know...this was probably the most fun I’ve had talking to someone in like three whole years!”

Korgah was surprised at that. “Really?”

Thomas gave him an incredibly bright smile. “Aye! We should do this again! If...yer up for that, of course.”

Korgah smiled back. “I would like that, Thomas Wesley. You have opened my eyes about humans, and the other newer members of the Horde...I would enjoy speaking to you more.”

“Perhaps we could go for lunch again, like we talked about before? Orcish food this time?”

Korgah was pleased. “Yes. Next weekend, on your days off. You might not see much of me until then, as I will have to gather the ingredients, which might take a few days.”

“Aye, that’s perfectly fine! I can wait if have tae!”

They settled back into their comfortable silence, watching the people walk by. Some people looked at them curiously, but otherwise, they were not bothered by anybody else.

When it was finally starting to get a bit a late for the two of them, they eventually both stood up and said their farewells. Korgah would have walked Thomas home, but Thomas made it clear that if his father even saw him walking side by side with an orc that he would get an earful, so instead, Thomas walked Korgah home.

When they finally arrived at Korgah’s home, Tom was about to simply say goodbye and then walk off, but Kal’Grok, who had been taken care of by Korgah’s tauren friend for most of the day before being dropped back off at Korgah’s place, came barreling out of the house, and started licking Tom all over his hair and face.

“Agh, Kal! Yer gonna lick me face of if yer not careful!” Thomas said, laughing as he did. Kal merely whined and huffed as she excitedly greeted him, her tail wagging faster than the propeller’s of one those fancy military aircraft Thomas had once seen.

Korgah laughed loud and deep at the sight of his new human friend being attacked with kisses by his loyal wolf. The two seemed to get along quite well, and it eased his heart a bit to know that Kal’Grok and Thomas liked each other so much.

Perhaps that was why he got along with Thomas so well. No other human had been able to gain his wolf’s affection quite like Thomas had, and Korgah always trusted Kal’s judgement. Perhaps she just knew Thomas was the most trustworthy and open minded human in Theramore.

Either way, she was the one who had led the two to each other, so Korgah could hardly complain. Especially as he watched the two interact, Thomas petting Kal’s unnecessarily thick fur as she groomed his hair by licking it entirely out of shape.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough o’ that, now. I don’t have any fish on me unfortunately, Kal. Ye’ll just have to wait for another day, alright? I gotta go back home before me father gets up me arse about being late. Alright girl?” Thomas then gave a Kal a kiss on her snout, and it made Korgah completely melt at the sight.

Thomas turned to Korgah and smiled that bright smile at him again. “I have tae go now Korgah. I’ll see ye next weekend, aye?”

Korgah nodded. “Be safe, Thomas Wesley.”

“I’ll do me best!”

Thomas then waved goodbye, and walked off, heading back home.

Korgah spent the rest of the night petting Korgah’s fur as he thought about what he was going to cook for Thomas next weekend.