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Too *^%$ing cold! (Rina, may or may not turn adult-ish)

Started by Anonymous, October 02, 2011, 06:02:47 PM

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Anonymous

October 02, 2011, 06:02:47 PM
Well, that settled it. Mishka had her good points, but she was most definitely not a morning person.

She'd sat there in stony faced silence ever since they'd left sight of the city gates, hunched over, flatly refusing to either put on her coat or wear his. It was raining, for heaven's sake, and still she insisted on being stubborn and sitting directly under a particularly large, cold drip. She might have been grinding her teeth.

In fairness, she hadn't had much sleep!

He, on the other hand, was having a pretty good day. Everything had fit in the wonder tent - it seemed to have mysteriously shrunk, for reasons he hadn't yet figured out, but everything had fit. Maddox had actually been in a pleasant mood when he'd slipped out to the stables to get her harnessed up. The fire-bucket had still been smouldering away, enough to make his first cup of tea for the morning.

He was still working on that tea, balancing it delicately between his knees while he figured out how to arrange the reins.

"Cheer up, sad sack. You're on an adventure."

Anonymous

#1
October 02, 2011, 06:12:40 PM
Michael gave Sasha a dark glare, her hat pulled down firmly over her head. Her babies were along as well, bounding along the sides of the cart, thrilled to get to go on another adventure. They loved any chance they got to run around like mad things outside the city.

She had gotten hardly in sleep, packing and dealing with the while Murray thing. She had to make sure everyone she was leaving in charge knew what was going on.

But Sasha turned out to be one of those chipper morning people and Michael just gripped her tea mug tighter and refused to answer him.

Anonymous

#2
October 02, 2011, 06:20:08 PM
"Drink your tea, and then go have a quick catnap. There's a bed at the back of the tent. Maybe that will help."

He hadn't actually thought about sleeping arrangements yet. There was only one bed...and with the way the tent seemed to have shrunk - why was that, seriously? - he wasn't even all that sure he could still use it. And it was supposedly HIS bed!

Anonymous

#3
October 02, 2011, 10:58:14 PM
"Just what are you implying?" Michael's voice dripped ice and she straightened, her glare darkening even farther, "I'm not some delicate flower about to wilt."

Anonymous

#4
October 03, 2011, 03:02:53 PM
"Oh, I know you're not. If you were a delicate little flower, you wouldn't have insisted I cart you around...but, my sweet, you are scowling like someone just handed you a shit sandwich. And I know exactly how much sleep you haven't had."

He smiled as sweetly as he could, clicking his tongue absentmindedly at Maddox.

Mishka would hate his guts forever in five...four...three...two...

"You'll be much nicer company after."

Anonymous

#5
October 03, 2011, 04:14:20 PM
Michael gave Sasha a long, flat look. Then with one smooth, fluid motions Michael lashed out, her kick catching Sasha right in the back and sent him sprawling into the mud.

Anonymous

#6
October 03, 2011, 04:24:17 PM
"Okay then. You can drive. I'll stay down here and walk for a bit...at least I'm sort of confident your dogs won't kick me!"

Anonymous

#7
October 03, 2011, 04:33:09 PM
"They might eat you." Michael shifted forward and took the reins, content to leave Sasha to walk. Bastard talked too much.

Anonymous

#8
October 03, 2011, 04:36:27 PM
"But then what would you do when you made it to the tundra? They'll trust you a lot more if you have me...and no, taking my dead, lightly decomposed corpse to be stuffed is not an option."

Anonymous

#9
October 03, 2011, 04:40:00 PM
"You know, I feel that would probably serve me well. If you use that charm back home as much as you do in Connlaoth, I bet there are plenty of people that would relish seeing your dead, lightly decomposed corpse."

Anonymous

#10
October 03, 2011, 04:44:28 PM
"Things are different up there, and besides...you liked me fine last night."

At the look on her face, he burst out laughing.

Anonymous

#11
October 03, 2011, 05:02:16 PM
"I like you much less now. I have to say, I would feel a certain amount joy if someone brought me your corpse." The different part Michael just assumed meant they were all...barbarians or some such.

Anonymous

#12
October 03, 2011, 05:09:14 PM
"All right, all right. I'm sorry. I just thought you might want to catch up on the sleep you didn't get."

This could be a long trip if she legitimately didn't like him. With her, who could tell?

Anonymous

#13
October 06, 2011, 12:58:24 PM
"I'm aware of how much sleep I had. And we'll get along a lot better if you stop treating me like I don't understand my own limits." Michael took another drink of the tea, glad for the warmth. She was grumpy and she was not going to listen to Sasha patronize her to Hyoite and back.

Anonymous

#14
October 06, 2011, 08:36:52 PM
Sasha shrugged.

"As you wish."

She would have her way, if that was how she wanted it. It's not as though he wasn't content enough walking anyway. Might even do him some good to stretch his legs, and while they were still so near to civilisation the roads were still fairly good; no mud to ooze between his toes, no ice to cut his feet.

"I do have one question though...whatever it is you're after, you're not going to get it as Sir Michael Weiss, Mordecai Grand Master and Grand Poobah of All. We're cautious around your lot, no offence meant. What convenient lie would you like to use?"

Anonymous

#15
October 06, 2011, 08:46:23 PM
Michael's lips quirked into a small smile, "Grand poobah. I like that, though I wouldn't say of all. I'm not the Grand Duke after all. But, no. I was hoping you had some suggestions for what would best work. I need to find where these mages are hiding and I need to blend in."

Anonymous

#16
October 06, 2011, 08:52:50 PM
"Erm. Define 'mages'. and define 'hiding'?"

Anonymous

#17
October 10, 2011, 03:31:58 PM
"Mages, magic users. And they are sending magic against the Grand Duke. We need to find them and eliminate them. Is that clear enough?

Anonymous

#18
October 10, 2011, 06:04:42 PM
Um. Well.

This could be an interesting mission she'd dragged him on.

The simple fact was...mages were useful. As good as any armed man, sometimes. Better even, in certain places - he had to say, he'd rather have one mage on hand to drive off an angry bear than one guy with a spear, or even one of those Connlaoth flintlocks. Or for a child, a sick one or a lost one, something to keep them safe and lead them out of the ice. Or on a whaling boat, a charm to keep the little skiffs from flipping over and killing half a dozen people in less than a minute.

Whatever worked was good when it meant you were safe and warm and fed. Simple as that.

A skillset like that wasn't something to overlook, anyway. It was just plain impractical, having it fall into your lap and then not using it...or at least, that was how the sionadyaki he'd known usually saw it. They might not be so keen to give up a magic user who was otherwise pulling their weight, all for the sake of a country and a man they owed nothing to.

Those who still DID feel a tie to Connlaoth were usually the exiles, the newcomers...and who would begrudge them a bit of anger for a place that had never wanted them in it?

Explaining that to Mishka could be hard though! And she was probably observant enough to know when something wasn't being said...well, shit.

Anonymous

#19
October 16, 2011, 09:21:21 PM
"What?" Michael gave Sasha a withering look, not impressed with his silence, "Let me guess? You are a sympathizer then?" He was probably one of the ones who had never seen a mage lose it, the violence and destruction they could cause. Or seen the shattered effects of magic use on the land, "Will this be a problem?"
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