"Nothin' much," Ango said cheerfully.
"Cleaning with Doctor Brandon," Shiv replied, poking at the fire. "I also did part of my schoolin' after you left. The doctor's letting me read his medical books so I can get better at helping out."
Muddybones took a deep whiff of the soup. "I hunted for scraps in the woods with Birchblood and Tinsnips here." He waved at two of the other Scavengers–a blond girl wearing nothing but blue clothing and a squinty young man wearing a large sieve as a hat. "We didn't find much, but was something to do. How 'bout you, Kali?"
"I talked with the chief and the doctor," she said cheerfully. "And worked on my stupid arm. I swear, if it's going to be this difficult in making, then I'm going to scrap it altogether." She shrugged.
Tinsnips tilted his head, and the colorful shards of plastic attached to his cracked sunglasses jangled. "You're making a new arm? I make stuff out of metal too. I like to make art."
Muddybones groaned. "Don't get started on your "art" again. It's a waste of good scrap if you ask me."
Taran laughed. "Is there really such thing as 'good scrap'? There's scrap, just scrap, until someone gives it meaning, and makes something out of it."
(Sorry, had to work this afternoon)
Muddybones snorted. "And that kind of talk is what makes you a Fighter, not a Scavenger. Clearly you've never seen good scrap next to bad scrap before. It can be incredibly hard to know the difference sometimes, but if you've got an expert eye–like I do–the good scrap shines like a starry night sky….."
Shiv plopped her chin in her hands and sighed with deep boredom as Muddybones rambled on. Ango caught her eye and stifled a laugh, then leaned over to Taran. "Can you reach the soup from where you are? I think it's done cooking."
(It's fine!)
"Yeah, I got it." Taran helped dish some out to everyone, every single word of Muddybones' going straight through one ear and out the other. She jerked her head at him. "Are you guys sure that he's sane? Because I think he might need to be checked out, mental health wise."
"He's just got a giant ego," Birchblood replied. Apparently, her speaking was a rarity, because even Muddybones turned to listen. "Trust me, he's actually one of the more stable ones. All the real crazies hang out with the Fighters."
Shiv nodded. "Yeah, a lot of the Fighters are messed up 'cause they like hurting people more than anything else. Or they're like Blue Tommy, we think he sees and hears things that aren't there. Some of us Scavengers might be…..weird in the head, but at least we're not dangerous."
"I dunno," Taran said, balancing her soup bowl on her knee and brushing her hair from her face. Her bad arm hung limp by her side. "I've met a few bad Scavengers, and good Fighters. Some of the Fighters I know would give their life, their income, and their sourceof happiness just to save some ungrateful kids from abusive parents. And some Scavengers I know would kill anyone, steal anything, to get enough money and power and fame. It all depends on who you meet."
Muddybones rolled his eyes, but Ango looked thoughtful. "Huh. I mean, there are nice and not-nice people on both sides. Blue Tommy's actually pretty cool as long as you don't spook him. And anyway, none of that's really important, right? We're all part of the same tribe, so the chief says we should work together, like a family."
"Tell that to Florida and her cronies," Muddybones muttered, angrily gulping down his soup. "Kali, if you start hanging out with the Fighters more after this, make sure you don't believe a word she says, aright? All she's good at is picking fights and bullying people."
"Well, if I do start to hang out with her, and she does something I don't like, you might have a few more crippled Fighters." Taran smiled beautifically. "I mean, you didn't hear it from me, of course. I'm just an innocent little newbie who will go along with anything anyone says."
Muddybones snickered gleefully. "I knew you were okay, Kali, from the minute I first saw ya. We won't breathe a word, will we guys?"
The others shook their heads with varying levels of interest. Ango helped himself to more soup. "By th' way, does anybody know when the next raid's gonna be? Chief hasn't made any announcements yet, but he must be makin' plans."
"Doesn't he have helpers to help determine when he will do more raids?" Taran asked, finally eating some soup herself. "Or does he do it all by himself?"
"Um…" Shiv shrugged. "Well, Renzi helps him organize things, and I think he has some spies 'n scouts watching the other bandit tribes, but mostly it's what he decides. If he wants us to do anything tonight, we'll find out after lunch. That's when he usually makes announcements and stuff."
"I hope we don't do another looting mission so soon," Muddybones remarked with a yawn. "I'm still tired after the one last night. If the chief doesn't have any plans, I'm taking a nap right away."
"Do it. Even if he has some plans, it's better to get some rest than none at all." Taran helped herself to another bowl of soup. "So, how long have you all known each other for?"
"Quite a while," Muddybones replied. "Outta this group here, I've been part of the Hounds the longest. I've been around long enough to remember when Boar-back wasn't in charge. I was real young back then, though. Then there was Shiv, we found her orphaned in a village and got her to join. Then not long after that, Ango showed up from way back east, sayin' he was supposed to find the chief for some reason. He had a letter for the chief and nobody knows what it said—not even Ango, right pal?" Ango nodded. "Anyway, the chief read it and let him join. That was a while ago now. Birchblood and Tinsnips are the newest pair here besides you, Kali. Tinsnips used to be a part of a different gang that we swallowed last year, and Birchblood has 'bout the same backstory as Shiv."
"And how come you all stick together? Why not join other groups?" Taran abandoned the spoon and held the bowl up to her lips, tipping it up and drinking straight from the edge.
Muddybones flopped back onto the grass and put his hands behind his head. "By 'groups', do you mean other friend groups, or other bandit tribes?"
"Friend groups. I mean, I saw Shiv and Florida and you yesterday. Why don't you hang out with her? Or are you guys just the weird ones, and hang out with everyone?"
"Well," Muddybones said off-handedly, "I'm a bit of a big name here in camp, so I usually mingle with whoever I want. And Shiv and Ango just enjoy making friends."
"I don't really mind Florida," Shiv added hesitantly, trying to ignore Muddybones's glare. "She's funny. And really brave. Anyone can hang out with anyone, as long as we all do our jobs right at the end of the day. That's why nobody thinks it's weird if a fighter like you has lunch with a bunch of Scavengers. Blue Tommy does it all the time."
"Hey," Ango said, perking up. "There's Blue now. Blue, come sit with us!"
The lanky man eyed them from across the clearing, then sighed and walked over to join them, crouching warily at the edge of the group. Shiv passed him a bowl of soup and he drank it without looking away from them. His arms and shoulders were covered in small scars as if he'd been through quite a few fights in his day.
"Why Blue?" Taran asked, studying the new arrival with a sharp gaze. "Any reason for the nickname?" She put the bowl down and wiped her mouth.
Blue Tommy wordlessly pointed at his eyes, which were the color of the sky. He seemed to be the type of personality who didn't back down from a staring contest, and gave Kali an equally sharp look, not even blinking.
"Never seen eyes that blue anywhere else," Muddybones remarked. "Now Tommy here was one of the first bandits to swear loyalty to the chief when he took over. I think they actually came to the tribe together. Rumor has it they're related, but–" Blue Tommy hissed through his teeth and shook his head. "–yeah, I don't think it's true. They don't even look alike. My guess is he just owes the chief a favor for something that happened way back. We may never know."
"Don't feel like telling?" Taran asked, winking at Tommy and then looking to Muddybones. "I understand that. Telling people things that are actually of use is hard, I agree."
"Got that right," Muddybones yawned. "Even I hide great mysteries from you people. Anyway, I guess the chief ain't gonna make any big announcements today, so I'm off to get some sleep. Wake me if anything interesting happens."
"Bye," Ango called, then glanced at Taran. "What about you, Kali? Do you have any secrets?"
"I dunno." Taran stretched her flesh arm over her head, popping her joints. "Depends on what you call secrets. Not really, though, in the textbook sense. I'm just a brute Fighter, nothing special."
Shiv looked a bit sceptical, but Ango nodded. "Well, I think good fighters are special, even if they don't have secrets." He stood up and brushed himself off, kicking dirt over the fire to make it less lively. "Hey by the way, d'you wanna go meet Danthony? I was going to help him brush some of the dogs next."
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