"I agree," Mick said between mouthfuls. "We'd probably be long gone without Bernon to help smooth out arguments and stuff. I admit it's not something I have a lot of practice at myself."
"Hey guys," Bernon protested, "Don't sell yourselves short! You guys might just be introverts, there's nothing wrong with that."
Trouble frowned. "Introverts?"
"Oh, um, introverts are quiet people who get their energy from being alone. Extroverts are the opposite, they get their energy from being around people."
"Huh." Trouble looked surprised. "Weird. If we'd known that, we coulda solved the Great Debate of the Purple Flip-flops much quicker. Oh well."
Mike gave her a sidelong glance but didn't ask. "All that aside, I concede that we're a great team, us three, and I hope we can keep working together for a good long while."
(ooft, sorry I'm late)
"Wow, if you'd said that a few days ago, Mike I don't think I ever would have believed you," Tanrial elbowed him in the side, "But I agree, I hope we can still work together after this mess has been cleaned up."
He gave a little smile. "Agreed, Bernon?"
Bernon grinned. "Agreed! Friends forever!"
Tanrial shook her head in a laugh, "You got that right."
At that point the door opened and Dane walked in, deep in a discussion with Rick. They sat down at a nearby table, still talking so intently that they barely seemed to notice the others.
Mike eyed them. "Wonder what they're up to. Don't seem to be having a friendly chat, exactly."
"Probably discussing the fight or something." Tanrial sighed and sat down in a near by chair, "I wouldn't be surprised if they were."
(brb for a while, I'll reply when I get back)
(welp that took longer than expected sorry)
Dane seemed to be talking a mile a minute in a low, increasingly forceful voice. He barely paused for breath. Rick was listening, and his normally cheery face was dark–and more than a little threatening. Once in a while he took a breath and mowed over Dane's stream of words with a sentence of his own, which only made Dane talk faster.
Bernon watched with the beginnings of concern. "Seems like Dane's always getting in a fight with somebody. Think we should step in and ask what's going on before things get any more heated?"
(I'm probably gonna miss you by like a few minutes, but I gotta go to bed, seeya ^^)
"I say let's wait a few more minutes before stepping in," Tanrial frowned a little and didn't take her eyes of the two men, "We don't want to intrude and them get angry at us for no reason.
(Sorry, ended up being dragged to the beach, seeya soon ^^)
(that's all right, hope you had a good time!)
The discussion only went on for a few more minutes. Then Rick slowly stood up and, with utmost calm, addressed Tanrial and the others. "Pardon me, you three, but do you have a minute? It seems Dane and I are havin' a…..slight conflict of interest."
Dane turned around in his chair and glared at them. "Yeah, I think some of us could use some….discipline, perhaps."
Tanrial frowned at Dane, "What do you mean by that?"
(hhh dang it, thought I'd have a little more time today but I guess not, sorry. Pretty much gotta leave right away too)
Dane's gaze slid up to Rick. "Why don't you ask him?"
Rick kept his eyes firmly on Tanrial. "I'll state the facts and let you guys judge it. I was down by the other lake for a couple hours just now, as you know, and some of Dane's fellers came by a few minutes ago, huntin' deer. They spotted Miss Fear and Snatch just as I was leavin' and started threatening 'em. I couldn't stand there and let it happen, so I went back and taught those boys a little lesson."
Dane stood up as well. "He beat the living daylights out my soldiers! Over a forest beast and her devil spawn of a kid! Is that not enough evidence that this hooligan is not on our side?"
(That's fine, see you when I see you)
"Hey! Snatch and Fear are our friends Dane. And Snatch is not a 'devil spawn' thank-you. Rick had ever right to be angry if your men are threatening innocent people. Rick is on our side and I don't doubt that. Man up and get over yourself Dane." Tanrial snapped, glaring at him.
(thanks for tolerating my inconsistency lately ^^;)
Dane's eyes widened and he peered at the three of them as if only seeing them for the first time. "You…you knew about all this? About what he was doing? How can you allow that?"
Mike kept his voice level. "We can't pay him so we can't tell him what to do. His free time is his business."
"Hear that, pal?" Rick growled. "I can make friends with whoever I want, so lemme tell you that if your idiot soldiers come near Miss Fear again–"
"Gentlemen," Mike said sharply. "We didn't authorize a fight about it. We're all on the same side here."
Rick and Dane reluctantly backed off, still staring unblinkingly at each other. Dane spoke without looking away. "At least tell this guy off for attacking my men. They're down for the count, he can't just get away with that."
Mike massaged his forehead. "…..Give us a minute, okay? We'll talk it over. Bernon, Tanrial, let's step out of range for a minute."
(No need to thank me, it's all fine :) )
"Yeah, probably the best idea." Tanrial muttered, standing from the chair as the three of them headed outside, making sure they were far enough away so Dane and Rick couldn't hear them, "Dane really gets on my nerves."
"Me too. But he's right to complain about his soldiers getting hurt. Rick probably could have handled that without getting violent, knowing him."
Bernon frowned. "Well, what are we supposed to do then, get Rick in trouble?"
"Yeah, actually, at least a little. Dane might have been a jerk about it, but he legitimately didn't know that Fear and Snatch are friendly. I don't like it, but I think we should cut him some slack this time." Mike paused, then added, "Although we should probably give him and his army a talking to about judging others so quickly and harshly. We'll only be working together for a few more days, but this is getting ridiculous."
Tanrial nodded and rubbed at her face, “True. I don’t like this but it’s the right thing to do… sadly. We’ll give Dane’s men a talking to and Rick.”
Mike nodded and led them back over to the still simmering men. "Okay, so here's how this looks. Dane, your soldiers judged too quickly and acted violently in a situation that wasn't any of their business. You yourself passed judgement on a man when it was outside of your right to do so, and proceeded to treat him with intolerance because of it. This is not the first time you've done it either. Tonight after supper, I think we'll go over to your camp and have a little talk with your guys about tolerance of others, okay? Something needs to change here."
Dane narrowed his eyes but nodded shortly in acknowledgement.
"Now Rick, you were right to defend your friends, but we think you took it too far. Because you put those good fighters in the medical tent unnecessarily, you will be confined to the tavern and the immediate shoreline until tomorrow night's attack except in absolute emergency. Does anybody dispute the fairness of this punishment?"
Neither Dane or Rick spoke right away. Rick squared his jaw and thought it over for a minute, then nodded as well. "No sir. Sounds fair."
"All right. Let's all move on then, okay? We've still got a lot of work to do."
Dane turned and strode out of the tavern without another word. Rick sighed and made his way over to the counter for some food."
Mike took a deep breath and glanced at the other two. "Did I do good?"
(Oh for pet's sake I thought I'd have more time tonight but something came up and aghraahhgraghraa >m< sigh…. welp, I gotta go, may not be back on again until tomorrow OvO sorryyy)
(Das all good. I thought I’d have more time too but immunisations were today and school and what not so I’m sorry too, seeya soon)
Tanrial nodded with a small smile, “Yup. Rick even called you ‘Sir.’ As much as they hate this they’ll get over it. Fights happen.” She shrugged.
Bernon agreed and went back to his own seat. "Yeah, I'd say you handled that well, bro. Maybe you should go into management someday."
"In this economy?" Mike replied sarcastically, sitting down next to him. "I'd have a hard time finding anything decent to manage."
"Oh, you know what I mean. There's gotta be some small businesses out there, or at least an opening to start one. I think you'd be good at it, 'specially if it was in your field of interest."
"Hmm. Well while we're giving advice, I think you should be a journalist, Bernon. You love talking to people and writing it down. Maybe you can find a paper to work for somewhere."
"That would be pretty cool," Bernon said thoughtfully. "Who knows, maybe I will. What about you Tanrial? What would you like to do, y'know, if you could do anything?"
Tanrial furrowed her brows in thought, looking down at the table, “I don’t know, I never really thought about it but probably anything in the creative arts, maybe painting or woodworking or something but that’s not very stable.”
"That would be cool though," Bernon said as he finished up his meal. "I bet you'd be real good at it! There's bound to be somebody out there who'd pay you for it too. I've heard that there's more opportunity for artists on the west coast since there's a more stable economy there. And if that didn't make enough money on its own, maybe you could sell those potions you make sometimes, they're useful enough to be pretty valuable, don't you think?"
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