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Date Posted: 15:25:34 01/04/02 Fri
Author: Tristan and Rowan
Subject: B-bugs?
In reply to: Isobel and Barry 's message, "These things really bug me..." on 13:47:43 01/04/02 Fri

Tristan could tell that Isobel was surprised by his show of gratitude. That irked him a little bit, and made him wonder why people always acts so stunned when he actually opened his mouth and said something. Maybe the fact that for once something nice had actually come out of his mouth had something to do with it, but that didn’t quite occur to him. Deep down he might have been aware that people saw him as sullen, rude, and far too quiet (but not shy!) for his own good, but it wasn’t the sort of thing he sat around thinking about on a daily basis.

He finished his second mant off with a sword thrust to its chest, making a face at the additional blood that squirted out of the thing’s torso toward him. He yanked his blade out and stepped quickly back, bending down to wipe most of the goo off it on the ground before using a clean part of his shirt for the finishing touches. For the first time, he noticed the slight sting in his side where the first monster’s sword had bit him, but it wasn’t any big deal. At least he decided it wasn’t, and Tristan was pretty used to ordering himself around, anyway. Actually listening to himself was the hard part.

He decided it was okay to sheathe his blade for now, since most of the mants were dead or dying by now. He was just about to do so when the sound of someone approaching made him look up. A smile brightened his face up as he watched Marz approach him.

“Can't I leave you alone for two minutes without you getting into trouble and hurting yourself?”

It took Tristan a few seconds to realize Marz was teasing, and the smile flickered from his face ever so slightly. He had some pretty bad experiences when it came to being teased. Fortunately, he’d learned by now that Marz’s jokes were all warm and good-natured, at least in reference to him. The smile returned sheepishly to his face and he shrugged slightly, a little ashamed to have been injured. He scowled at the thought of Val helping him, since he had the chronic belief that he didn’t need healers.

He thought picking up the extra swords was a good idea, but his smile faded once again when Marz mentioned the torn shirt. “But I don’t have any money,” he mumbled, fingering the hole in the fabric once again. Why the hell would Marz think he had money to replace the stupid shirt? He was the one who was always providing him with stuff he needed, anyway. I guess I should learn to be more independent, he thought glumly.

That was an odd thought since, unlike Marz, Tristan had spent most of his youth under the care of one older guardian or another. Spending money he’d had, but worrying about food, clothing, and all that sort of stuff had never been his chief concern. Maybe that’s why he tended to take Marz’s generosity in stride.

Before he could go into any more thoughtful detail about his money problem, though, a cry from above made them both look up into the sky. It was that damned Barry, being his usual loud, obnoxious self, fussing at Marz for some reason or other. Tristan realized by now that when Marz was being fussed at he usually deserved it, but that wasn’t really the issue here.

“Yeah, yuck it up, you leaky fleshy!” the skull cried, before opening his bony mouth and dumping a whole load of giant black roaches onto Marz’s head. Tristan watched on in horror as the things scampered through Marz’s hair and got lost under his clothing, their shiny bodies making awful crinkling noises as they bumped against one another. Possessed with his usual fear of such things, Tristan tried to back away, but his legs had suddenly gone to jelly. Before he knew it, the sword slipped from his white fingers and his eyes rolled back into his head. He collapsed on the ground in a faint with a dull thud!

~*~*~*~*~

Rowan was enjoying his new position as a scout immensely. He’d already decided how perfectly suitable for the job he was, since he was so clever and watchful and experienced about stuff like that. Also, he got to do it with Ravin, which was awesome, because that guy was really cool. Rowan hoped Tia knew he was up front here with Ravin, doing an Important Job, and didn’t think that he’d abandoned her to his own sister, no less. He hoped Jeremy noticed as well. Frankly, the kid wasn’t paying as much attention to him as he had a while back, and that kind of sucked. Rowan missed all the sugary stuff he used to give him, making him feel like his special, particular friend.

He, like Ravin, was a patient man, perhaps more so, because he didn’t find Marz’s warnings at all annoying. He thought the kid was maybe being a bit overanxious, but hey, that was okay. Everybody was kind of excited here about that assassin thing. He knew he was. He was just dying to test his own skills against a couple of those guys, to prove how truly great he could be.

Sadly, that wasn’t to be—at least not yet. Marz’s zillionth warning proved true for once, although it had nothing to do with assassins. Rowan made a noise of disgust at the sight of the mants that burst out of the ground around them, since he’d much prefer fighting more human opponents. Monsters just weren’t his bag! But, of course, he’d do what he could.

After his first kill, he looked around to see if anybody needed his help. Laurel was guarding Tia like an overprotective lioness, her barbed arrows zinging through the humanoid faces of any mants that got remotely close to their rock. Rowan’s eyes next sought out Jeremy, and here he had to shake his head. Why, the kid fought with no technique whatsoever! He had this strange stab, stab, swing maneuver, making Rowan wonder if he’d never had any sword training at all, crazy as that seemed.

In a matter of seconds, he was beside Jeremy, lending his support both physically and verbally. He thought it was important to tell the poor kid how truly splendid he was doing on the battlefield. And it wasn’t much of a lie. True, the mants were simple opponents, but Jeremy’s wild swinging left a lot to be desired as far as form was concerned. A couple times Rowan had to literally dodge out of the way himself.

“Ah, nice work, kid,” he panted, patting Jeremy on the shoulder as they finished their last enemy. Glancing around, he saw that most of the creatures were dead, and that not too many people appeared to be seriously injured. He noticed Val rushing toward the rock where now three women were crouched, and he couldn’t decide which would upset him more, trying to guess who might be injured.

“Let’s go see,” he muttered, grabbing Jeremy unconsciously and dragging him in the same direction the healer was headed, his eyes now fixed meticulously on the rocky outcropping.

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