"Sure is," Boar-back agreed. "It's especially common if you're nobility. Tanrial here has some skill with medicine, which is why we're having her stay. Her friend…..he'll make a good fighter, I guess, if we can ever bring him around to our side."
The fly, which by now had quite the gathering of other flies surrounding it, hummed thoughtfully. "Interesting….I had a fighting friend once. He was such a polite and charming young man! But alas, I lost him somewhere and just can't seem to find him. A shame, really….but anyhoo, enough about me. How's my dear Blue Tommy doing these days?"
(I gotta work today, but hopefully I'll still be around a bit)
Tanrial shrugged, “He’s an… interesting fellow from what I’ve seen of him. But he seems okay I guess, kinda weird but that’s your fault, really,” She kicked at a loose rock on the path, “I haven’t had much contact with him yet.”
"He's very suspicious," Boar-back remarked, leading them down a winding section of the path. "Won't even eat if he thinks there's someone watching. Nearly took out a guy's eye last year just for spooking him." He paused. "You leave this place, and Tommy goes back to normal. Is that right, or will it be more complicated than that?"
The flies flitted after the bandit in a sort of carefree way. "Well, he will certainly stop seeing and hearing things that aren't there, and will no longer think that his friends are his enemies. He might even learn to speak again, if you're lucky. But on the other hand, his pain tolerance will go down considerably, and some old injuries will start catching up with him once I'm no longer around to hold them off. You might want to consider keeping him away from the battlefield until he gets used to his new weakness again. Or you could always let me stay, and he'll remain a highly effective fighting machine forever…"
"Nope, no not happening. You're only going to cause more trouble with this group and turn more people like Blue Tommy," She shook her head, "He can recover, and there might be something I can do to help… some potion or spell or something…"
The flies sighed as one. "How heartwarming….maybe there is something you can do, my dear, who knows. I'm not really practiced in the art of fixing things I've broken, so I'm not sure how feasible it is. Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck sorting it out."
At that point, Boar-back came to a halt in front of a steep ridge and motioned for them to stop as well. "Hey, you might wanna pipe down if you want to get into this place unnoticed. We're at the border now."
The flies drifted forward curiously to survey the view. At first glance, the sweep of trees down below seemed just the same as the one they were in. "What am I looking at?" the flies asked more quietly.
Boar-back pointed. "See that patch of dead trees about a mile in? That's the main camp of the Devil-Birds. They own everything southwest of here–I'm not sure how big their territory is these days, although it can't be too big since they limit the size of their population. They like to leave traps in the woods to catch trespassers, so watch out for that. Have fun."
The flies swirled happily. "I thank-you both. This is going to be much more interesting, I can see already. Toodles!" The flies zipped off down the slope, and soon they were completely lost from view.
Tanrial sighed, relaxing her shoulders, “I’m so glad that things gone. I swear if I heard another word out of its mouth I’d flip. Let’s just hope it holds up its end of the deal.”
(I'm working all day today, seeya tomorrow)
"Mm-hmm." Boar-back surveyed the view a moment longer before turning and starting back up the path. "Well, we won't find out until we get back to camp."
As they walked, he glanced back at Tanrial casually. "Enjoy this little stroll much? You strike me as the wandering type, so I bet sitting around in camp this much has you kinda restless."
(All good, I've been busy all day today, anyway)
She shrugged a shoulder, glancing around the trees and bushes, "I mean, yeah. Once you get a taste of freedom it's kinda hard to go back to sitting on your ass all day doing nothing. But helping people is helping me sit still."
"That's good." Boar-back eyed her sidelong. "So rumor has it you're something like four hundred years old. Speaking as someone who's not so young himself, I would have thought you'd be ready to stop traveling and settle down somewhere by now. Or, are you still young by the standards of your people?"
She snorted, “I mean I’m not young but I’m not considered old, either. It’s like a weird grey area, really. I guess you could say I’d ‘settled’ before all of this, but traveling has always been enjoyable so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to help when we’ve come so far.”
Boar-back nodded thoughtfully. "And what were you and your friend up to, before you came here? Is he immortal too? Were you guys on some kind of mission together or something? Just out of curiosity."
Tanrial shook her head, “Nah, he’s human, probably as human as you can get. And… we were just helping one of our other friends deliver a package… yeah, um, we’re trying to get to the coast.”
"A package, huh?" The bandit seemed more interested at that. "And another friend? Where's this package and extra friend now?"
She sighed, “No clue. We lost him in the storm. I hope he’s okay, but you never know with a storm that bad.”
"Ah. Hard luck." They were almost back to camp by now, and Boar-back picked up the pace slightly. "And….the mysterious package? I guess it must have been with the other guy, since we didn't find it when we went through your stuff. Mind if I ask what it was?"
“Yes, I do mind,” She replied, picking up her own pace as the camp sight drew closer, “And you’re not getting an answer to that question.”
"Alright," Boar-back said with a shrug. "Let's see how Blue Tommy and Tinsnips are doing, hey?"
She nodded, pushing a branch out of the way for them both to walk under , “Sounds good to me.”
(I'm gonna be fairly busy today, I'm working this morning and also it's my birthday ^^ Seeya when I seeya!)
They entered camp and almost immediately they heard the sound of a commotion near Tinsnips's hut. Several bandits were gathered around it, all talking excitedly to each other. When one of them spotted Boar-back and Tanrial approaching, he waved and called out to them. "Hey! Boss! Tinsnips is cured! He ain't shakin' and attackin' people no more!" The bandit glanced at Tanrial eagerly. "Was it you? Did you do make him all better somehow?"
(Omg Happy birthday! I hope you have a good day and I’ll see you soon!)
Tanrial blinked rapidly a few times, looking between the bandit and Boar-back, “Uh, I mean, it was really a team effort, mainly the chief over here.”
(Thanks!! It's been pretty good so far XD I have a little time right now so I'll be around)
Boar-back gave a dry chuckle. "You flatter me. Where's Blue Tommy?"
"Blue? Um…." The bandit glanced around uncertainly. "Not sure….I think he was in his sleepin' spot last I heard. Probably taking a nap, he seemed pretty worn out." He pointed over at a small hut on the edge of camp.
(That’s good :) )
She looked to Boar-back, “it did say he’d be pretty drained, probably best to let him sleep for now and check back in on him later.”
Boar-back nodded. "You're the doctor. In that case, I think we're done here." He motioned for Tanrial to head back to her own shelter. "I expect we'll be having lunch soon. Keep me posted on things."
Tanrial gave Boar-back a salute, already heading in the direction he motioned too, "Will do. Get someone to call me when lunch is."
He replied with a wave and headed off to his own tent.
The next forty-five minutes or so passed quietly. Tinsnips eventually emerged from his hut, looking like a different person and complaining loudly that he'd lost 'the coolest shiny ever' in the woods outside of camp. Boar-back must have given orders to keep him from wandering off, though, because a few other bandits soon gathered around to distract him with food and a friendly pun battle.
As noon drew near, the sun became more and more hidden by clouds, as if another storm might be on its way. For the moment though, the air was calm and there was no sound of thunder from any direction, so no one seemed very concerned. Soon, lunchtime came and the bandits began stoking fires to cook with and bringing out portions of food for themselves.
Shiv came over to Tanrial, carrying two ancient plastic plates piled with edible plants. "Hey, I got you some lunch." She sat down nearby, seeming curious. "Where did you an' the chief go this morning?"
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