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Date Posted: 00:57:46 01/08/02 Tue
Author: Tristan and Rowan
Subject: For now at least
In reply to: Corum, Valhorek, & Erlic 's message, "A place of solitude" on 20:13:11 01/07/02 Mon

Tristan sighed with relief when Marz decided to give up on carrying the swords. He hadn’t been looking forward to helping him lug the stupid things around, but he would have tried. He wasn’t about to start a potential argument over them! Marz’s idea of stopping by on the way back was utterly ridiculous, of course, but he went along with that, too. Some time between here and there, he could work on making him think otherwise, assuming he didn’t just forget about them in the first place.

Seeing Jeremy trudge off with a scowl on his face made Tristan smirk. The little punk could do all he wanted to do, but winning over Marz was obviously simply beyond him. After all, Marz was supposed to be exhibiting his most greedy side in all its glory right now, and he did happen to have one arm slung around Tristan. It was really kind of sweet, and Tristan was pleased with himself for not being half as embarrassed about it as he used to be in the past. He was getting used to the idea that most of the others knew about him and Marz, too. Anyway, if the matching earrings didn’t tip them off, the large, black dragon tattoo on Marz’s upper arm surely had to.

Tristan glanced up at the sky when Marz did, narrowing his eyes as Barry came swooping in from above. He, too, was expecting another disgusting mouthful to come pouring out of the skull, and he took an advertent step back, feeling like a dolt for doing so. Giant, sword-wielding mants didn’t faze him one bit, but the thought of being smothered by little creepy crawlers turned him whiter than a ghost. Fortunately, Barry contented himself with some sarcastic comment about the swords before flying quickly off.

“I really need to have a talk with Corum about his choice of friends,” Marz muttered, finally tearing his eyes away from the floating skull to glance at Tristan again. Tristan, of course, temporarily forgot that he’d asked himself the very same question Barry had just asked, and simply nodded his head in agreement. But when Marz went on to say he planned to bribe the skull somehow to make him harass Justin a bit, Tristan couldn’t help frowning. Somehow, he didn’t think Barry would be all that swayed by a few gold pieces. The only thing he seemed to be truly addicted to was women, which didn’t make any sense at all to Tristan, for more reasons than the obvious, of course—Barry had no body! Sure, he could understand succumbing to the pleasures of the flesh (boy, could he! Okay, don’t think about that right now, there’s a good dragon…), but Barry didn’t…well, he didn’t even have any flesh. He didn’t even have a body!

He shook his head, deciding he would never come to understand the inner hormonal workings of a disembodied skull, even if he spent all day pondering it. Soon, Erlic and Ravin came to hustle them all back on the trail again, and Tristan kept quiet, trying to think of how to get Barry to do what they wanted while Marz went on and on about how great it would be to see Justin drenched in a pile of tarantulas. A brightly colored head bobbed somewhere ahead, catching his attention, and he glared again at Jeremy. Corum didn’t seem to mind the freaky-haired kid at all, though, as the two were walking side by side, Yorik swaying slightly atop his perch on Corum’s staff.

That’s when it hit him. Another skull! What they needed was another skull!

“Marz, shh, shut up,” he hissed excitedly, moving to cover his mouth, “You’ve got it all wrong. Barry won’t care about how much gold you offer him.” Assuming you have any left, he couldn’t help thinking wryly. “He doesn’t have any use for it. I mean, what’s a stupid skull going to do with money, huh?”

Marz didn’t look too happy with the sudden flaw in his fabulous new plan to get back at Justin, so Tristan pressed on quickly. “No, look—what’s the only thing he really, really likes?” He waited expectantly, but no answer was immediately forthcoming. Marz looked as endearingly dense as ever. “Women!” he whispered, frowning at him. “So all we have to do is tell him we’ve got a hot date lined up for him, and he’ll do whatever the hell we want him to do. He can make Justin’s life a living hell!”

Before Marz could open his mouth to ask how on earth they were going to find a girl who’d agree to such a ridiculous plan, Tristan looked purposefully over at Yorik, a slight grin finally curling onto his face. The hard part, of course, would be convincing Corum of the idea, but he had no doubt in Marz’s ability to persuade his best friend to do just about anything, no matter how stupid sounding.

“Did you bring any of that make-up from the bath hall?” he asked, nudging him with one elbow. “It’s simple: all we do is dress Yorik up and tell Barry it’s his hot female cousin visiting from another country or something. It’ll be great!”

Marz could tell Tristan was pretty excited about his new plan. Not only was he smiling more than usual, but he was actually talking like a normal person!

~*~*~*~*~

Rowan wasn’t too happy about their latest hosts. Okay, normally he wasn’t too comfortable around large groups of humans, on account of their being quite a bit bigger than himself, but these genies were a frigging nightmare in comparison. The guy who came to greet them was at least a foot and half taller than he was! He was built like an ox, too, his burly muscles rippling under his cotton vest. Rowan gulped and gave a sidelong glance at Ravin, who didn’t look at all worried. Well, that made him relax. If Ravin was cool, then so was Rowan.

As they were led into the camp, he still couldn’t quite shake the thought that even the women in this place could squash him like a bug if they wanted to. Of course, after he got over his initial nervousness, he learned to appreciate the women, including all their much larger assets, if you know what I mean. He got to wondering how a little guy like him might approach a girl like that, and how, if one thing led to another, they’d manage to….

“Welcome to the Ghost Lands,” boomed out a great big voice. Rowan snapped out of his little fantasy and realized they’d entered a tent. Reclining before them was a monster of a man even bigger than the one who’d come to escort them. He introduced himself as a sheik, which made Rowan smile broadly. Hell, if there was one thing he knew how to deal with, it was people who thought they were of noble blood! He tossed a wink at the guy’s overly large daughter, making her giggle. Now, why couldn’t Isobel and Tia wear dresses like that every now and then? He loved having his female companions at his side during an adventure as much as the guys, but he didn’t think it’d hurt for them to show off their pretty bodies every now and then.

Rowan got lost in his own head as he thought about Tia doing a belly dance, before he was jerked back into awareness again. They were led from the main tent into another, where a large amount of food and drink had been prepared for them. That was fast, he thought, raising an eyebrow. Must have a mage or two hanging about somewhere. He glanced at Ravin, wondering if he’d thought the same thing. The thief opened his mouth to suggest that they rest here for awhile, where he was immediately bombarded with uncertainty from Isobel.

“Can’t know anything for sure, kitten,” he replied instead, giving her a roguish grin. “But I don’t think you’d suggest we pack up and leave already, huh? Not unless you’ve been faking that limp for the past couple hours.”

He whirled around when he felt someone come up behind him, his smile fading somewhat as Erlic bent to whisper something into his ear. It was quite possibly the last request he could have expected, so he was a little stumped at first.

“Sure thing,” he finally whispered in reply, “I’ll tell you anything you like. Why the sudden interest, anyway? Oh,” he shook his head, holding up one finger in warning, “Don’t let Laurel hear you asking me about it. She doesn’t like what I was, you know. I don’t know what the hell’s wrong between you two, lately, but this sure as hell wouldn’t help simplify things!”

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