FA+
Shop
874
Views
Views
6
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 89
File Size 171.3 kB
Report this content
More from RaddaRaem
Listed in Folders
Shady Impressions:Deceit,Dragons, and Dances with Gravity#10
Not every hard fought victory leaves you feeling satisfied, as Jem can easily attest to. Shaking off the disappointment at having left the dragoness Kaya frightened rather than grateful after her rescue, Jem and Russo take a breather to gather themselves. Pondering the little details, the mage and rough collie work to concoct a believable alibi to explain away their already tough to swallow escapades.
Major props to
Mannoth for being my awesome editor for this chapter! Give him some love, he be an amazing writer who also tends to write about fuzzies of the larger variety.
Icon is courtesy of
9aia
FIRST , PREVIOUS , NEXT
Chapter 46
“You’re awfully…” Russo bit down on his tongue at the feeling of lurching forward, Jem’s posture slackening while he sighed. “Quiet.” Arms wrapped around the rough collie’s puffy mane of fur, the human gently bobbed up and down with the canine’s gait. “Surprised you haven’t chewed me out yet for orchestrating this colossal fuckup behind your back.”
Jem merely continued to plod forward, breath billowing out from his muzzle and back towards his piggybacking passenger.
The human’s teeth clacked together softly. “That…” His attempt at baiting the warrior into their normal routine had fallen flat on its face. “You are allowed to complain at me, you know.”
A lengthy pause preceded Jem’s response, as if he was weighing whether or not it was worth speaking his mind. Remaining silent would communicate the same message more or less unchanged. “I’m not really feeling it today, Russo.”
It was disconcerting seeing his moral compass so tight lipped and sullen. “Look, I know I completely glossed over the whole team part of teamwork.” Russo couldn’t help but notice his friend’s ears perk up subtly at the half-formed apology. “Guess I’ve been kinda lashing between one extreme and the next. Going from thinking I can do everything on my own without any help, to trying to do everything on my own so I don’t endanger the people who are supposed to help me. One of these days I’ll nail down the happy medium between the two.”
“At least you’re trying.” Green eyes bobbed to the sides of their sockets, the closest the collie came to directly acknowledging the human. “It is an improvement.”
For a time, they walked in silence. Jem’s paws gently packed down the snow beneath them, his furred legs and torso carving a path towards the plumes of smoke still billowing up from the village on the horizon.
What limited conversation that had been carried on between the two was stilted and forced. No use in trying to let the words flow naturally then, the mage convinced himself. “Okay, what the hell happened back there?” Russo grumbled at the collie’s ears clamping down against the side of his head. “You’ve hardly said a word since you got back from dragon slaying.”
“Can…” Slouching forward, Jem sighed in frustration. The mage’s chin thrust forward from the momentum. Resting against the base of the fur’s neck, it prompting the rough collie’s lips to pull taut. “Can we not talk about this right now?”
“Was it Kaya?”
“What did I just ask you?” Every time he blinked, Jem could see the dragoness staring back at him fearfully; her pupils dilated and wings quivering, Kaya shrinking back under his soft gaze. “Yes and no.”
Holding his tongue, the human eased up on his prodding and allowed the fur to continue at his own pace.
Russo was safe and the job was done. Together, they accomplished far more than what had been expected of them, even when the herculean task of putting down a dragon was dropped into their damn laps on a moment’s notice. Even knowing that, Jem was left feeling distraught and disappointed.
“When I killed that red dragon, Kaya wasn’t relieved or awed by what I’d done,” Jem at last elaborated. “She was frightened.” His gaze settled on the ground at his feet. “It wasn’t a composed, elegant, or fair fight by any means. But it wasn’t supposed to be! I did what I had to, ending it quickly so Greg couldn’t harm me or Kaya.” He shook his head, loosing free the clumps of snow caught in tangled clumps of fur upon his head.
Jem eyed the human peripherally; still silent. “She didn’t see a warrior that had honed his craft and body for years to dispatch the foe before him. No, just a giant. A monster, brutalizing the beast before him. I mean…” Frustration present in his voice, the canine snapped at the air. “I know what we just did was thankless work, doing the right thing purely for its own sake.” The fur bristling on the back of Jem’s neck poked painfully at Russo’s cheeks. “Sometimes though I… why bother? Why bother using the strength given to me if all it’s going to do is frighten people?”
Every further sentence, every subsequent combination of words, consonants, and vowels that tried to form on Russo’s tongue slid back down his throat.
“When you displayed your magical prowess you earned Kaya’s respect. What do I get when I try to do the same and demonstrate my mastery of my own size and strength?” Jem’s rant tapered off with a tired sigh. “Fear and loathing.”
Come to think of it, Russo had yet to see his best friend in action at his full height and strength. “I… don’t really have anything to say to that.” It was the only response he could come up with that didn’t have to be forced through the thin gaps between his teeth.
“I guess I’m just…” Don’t say jealous, don’t say jealous, don’t say jealous, “conflicted? The last two times we’ve been in a pinch like this, I’ve fallen back on my gigantic stature to get us out of it. It makes me feel so, it’ll sound stupid, but, incompetent.” Jem’s floppy ears drooped down sadly. “Like I wasn’t a good enough swordsmen to fend off those assassins before. And it felt like I had given up before I even took a swing at that dragon now.”
Eyes half lidded, Russo’s breath travelled along the side of the collie’s head. “You feel incompetent? I’m the one who got my ass kicked in both of those scuffles, you fucking clean house, and somehow you’re the one who isn’t up to snuff?” Arms dangling over Jem’s shoulders, the mage pulled up a limb and bapped the back of it against his friend’s muzzle prompting a surprised erf. “Let’s not forget it was a two on one fight with those assassins. And I’m having some trouble seeing why you wouldn’t opt for the safe and smart route for fighting a goddamned dragon.”
“Even so…” The backhanded encouragement lifted Jem’s posture, “I wish I was strong enough that I didn’t have to rely on my size when things go sour.”
“Sounds like you want it both ways. Don’t want your gigantism to be a crutch, and don’t want people to freak out should you do so?” Resting his head against an armored shoulder, the exhausted mage let his eyelids droop.
His biceps pressed tightly against the human’s legs jostling back and forth. “…Wishful thinking, I know.” Jem couldn’t help but smile at the tired yawn that slipped free from Russo’s mouth following the decrease in turbulence. “Even if it’s nothing more than an ideal, it’s still something to shoot for.”
“Let me know how that works out for you,” Russo mumbled into the inviting mane of fur brushing against his face. “Think Kaya’ll be alright?”
Was that genuine concern the mage was showing? For someone outside his extremely limited circle of friends? “Hard to say.” Heh, maybe those lectures really were starting to sink in. “She was about as banged up as you were when I found her. I wouldn’t really know if dragons can just shake off a beating like that.” Though both she and Greg did survive plummeting straight out of the damn sky, as did Russo! Masking the mixture of relief and admiration in his voice, Jem carried on. “Still can’t believe you fell from the heavens themselves and lived to tell the tale.”
“Neither can I.” Eyes closed, the human wobbled back and forth on the flimsy boundary marking sleeping and awake. “Not like I remember much of it.” Which in retrospect was probably a blessing. Being able to recall seeing the ground rushing up towards him was something he could happily live without.
“In any case,” Jem gently nudged at the mage with his muzzle, “Kaya was happy to hear you were still in one piece. I asked if she wanted to see you off before we all departed our separate ways, but she declined.”
“Like she’d want anything to do with us after this,” Russo wryly laughed.
Resting his chin against his left shoulder, Jem’s eyes followed the trail of paw prints back to where Russo made landfall. Snow continued to fall steadily, filling in the craterous tracks the collie had left after billowing up in size. Good, at least there’s one thing I don’t have to cover up. “Given what all she told me… I suppose I can’t really blame her.”
“Yeah.” Even with his fluffy friend’s grip holding him tight, Russo’s jaw bounced painfully against the bolts in the row of tempered steel plates covering the collie’s shoulder blade. “Ever figure out what it was that prompted old Greg to do fly-by arsons in the first place?”
“Unfortunately.”
Groaning, Russo exhaled deeply. “I’m not gonna like the answer, am I?”
Jem shook his head side to side. “When you steal from a dragon, some sort of retribution is to be expected.”
“Dumbasses.” Parting his eyelids, talk of the no-name village’s greed aroused the human’s own. “Hmmm you know, with Greg gone…”
“Absolutely not,” the warrior interjected before Russo could even finish articulating his thoughts.
Mustering just enough energy to sound more irritated than sleepy, the mage pressed the collie. “Why? We know those bastards aren’t going to pay us back for any of this.”
Mouth clamped shut, Jem allowed the human to tire himself out before replying.
“Why not claim dibs on the spoils? We practically deserve it after all the bullshit we suffered through. Pfff, not like they should see a sliver of it.” With a groan, Russo’s head tilted to the side and smacked into the straps of leather linking Jem’s shoulder plates to his chest piece.
The rough collie had missed hearing said what he could never bring himself to voice. “Not that I disagree with you,” he pressed his moist nose into Russo’s unkempt hair to verify he was still awake. “But it’s not like we’re in any shape to lug any of it back home. Have my hands full with you as it is.”
“Fiiiiiiiiiiine.”
“Besides, Kaya showed an interest in claiming it as her own and…” The edges of Jem’s lips curled down. “It’s not like I was going to bully her into reconsidering.”
“I can live with that,” Russo conceded. Better her than someone else.
Rubbing his chin against his mane, the collie scratched at a niggling itch. “Don’t be like that, it’s not like we’re going home empty handed.” A bloodied fragment of a scale tumbled out from a furry knot, scraping against Jem’s armor during its descent. “Dragon scales are extremely rare and sought after, we won’t be left wanting for compensation.”
Still garbed in Kaya’s borrowed attire, Russo’s coat pockets were stuffed taut with ruby reminders of their shared fight. They clacked together with soft wet crunches, blood and sinew still draping from their undersides. Ideally that’d draw a lot less attention towards them than the clink of coin.
“That and people are a lot more likely to believe us when we say we slayed a dragon if we come home bearing the cutting shields adorning one as opposed to a sack of gold.”
Eyelids slowly drawing the curtains on his vision, Russo felt his limbs stiffen. Twitching his fingers, an electrical tingle of frayed nerves snapped back at the human. He could hear, but not feel, his fingers twiddling against the curved metal clasped to Jem’s chest.
“Gonna tell everyone the story of how you went and fucktupled in size to smack around a dragon then?” Winter weather scrunching underfoot, Russo’s mind clung to the rhythm the sound of packing snow adhered to. There was the first loud crunch from his furry companion’s broad paw pressing down into the piled up flakes, compacting an entire colony of white particles in his wake. A brief pause followed. Then came the drawn out crunch as the canine’s heel and sole lifted off the ground, clumped together ridges of snow expanding and settling in the absence of collie bearing down on them.
“I…” Floppy ears held themselves straight up in the air for an instant, “Shit,” before they flattened against the sides of the fur’s head.
“You’re just now realizing this?” It was simultaneously hilarious and depressing how woefully inexperienced Jem was at covering his ass with a remotely believable alibi. “When you say I killed a freaking dragon and present proof of it, people are going to ask ‘Well how’d you do it?’”
Whining, the canine’s tail worriedly sank between his legs as his pace slackened.
“You’re going to have to tell them something.”
Dammit. Weak barks spilled from Jem’s muzzle while he choked on his words.
I’m not going to be able to sleep soundly until this is taken care of, am I? “Augggggggh.” Russo’s eyes clenched shut as an exasperated sigh made itself known. “Want some help?”
“Yes.” The collie’s response was curt and immediate, having anticipated the offer of help and just barely restraining himself from outright pleading the mage’s assistance.
Oh Good God. “Well,” Russo paued; he was never going to get to sleep at this rate. “It can’t be that hard to bullshit something up. Greg was already half-dead when you found him.” It irritated the mage to no end that for all he did during those hellacious aerial acrobatics, he wasn’t the one that got to call himself a dragonslayer. He was just the guy that helped. “What do we got to work with?”
Burying his muzzle into his mane, Jem tugged at hardening splotches of red matting his otherwise pristine white and brown fur. “It needs to be something believable first of all.”
“I flew through the sky on the back of a dragon,” the human counted off on his fingers for good measure, “got batted around hundreds of feet in the air like a bad habit, was half-eaten, and for good measure took a twirl around a tornado. I kind of doubt anyone will pull apart the seams in your half of the story given it’s a hard enough tale to swallow as it is.” Glaring up at his armored ride, his disapproving gaze was met with a nervous and toothy smile.
“That... makes all of my ideas seem suspiciously tame in comparison.” The collie continued nuzzling into his thinking beard, struggling to stoke some ideas. “Dashing and slashing at gaps in his scales, weaving over and under the lumbering tree trunk thick limbs swatting at me, it all seems so… boring?”
“Make up your damn mind.” Snow continued to pile on the mage’s head, locks of brown hair poking through his wintry white hat. “First you were uncomfortable with the thought of lying and now you already want to make them as badass as can be?”
“No no no no no it’s not like that!” Teeth bared, the rough collie’s lips pulled back while he sucked in air between his teeth. “I just,” Jem’s head bobbed side to side uncomfortably, “want to make sure our stories are consistent is all!”
Uh huh. Eyes glazed over, Russo’s mouth stretched wide to allow an ear splitting yawn safe passage out into the open air. “What did you even tell everyone the last time this happened?”
“Last time was easy,” the fur confessed when his gaze met the mage’s. “I saved you and fought off the assassins. That’s all anyone needed to hear.” It did have the added perk of being entirely truthful. Minus a few extraneous details here and there.
That’s still lying, just by… oh forget it. “That’s not gonna fly this time.”
“I know,” Jem You quietly acknowledged.
Shoulders slumping forward, Russo found himself sinking with Jem’s posture. Rolling his eyes, the human found his attention resting on the warrior’s waist. An icy mist pooled out from where the hilt of his sword rested against its sheath.
“What’s the deal with the sword?” Tapping the side of his foot against the blade, a belch of artic air escaped from the sheath’s confines as the sharpened metal rattled within it, coating Russo’s legs in a layer of frost.
“This?” A padded thumb flicked at the worn leather coating the hilt. “That’s right, you weren’t here for that. Suppose you could call it a gift.” He shivered at the thought of wandering that graveyard once more. And maybe a little from the plunging temperature. “From Tedrah’s first guildmaster.” Pressing a clawed finger against the crossguard, Jem lifted the sword up by the thin strip of steel running perpendicular to the blade. Russo’s gaze followed the hilt as it rose up from Jem’s side, curiosity showing through his tired and glazed over pupils.
“It’s cursed, freezing anything it comes into contact with.” He pondered for a moment. If he were to have sliced the ruby dragon with such a weapon… Jem could imagine thrusting his weapon deep into Greg’s flesh, fountains of ice exploding from the puncture wound. Layers of frost spreading along the winged reptile’s body like a ravenous glacier, snaking under his scales and painfully parting them from their owner...
Jem shook his head. “Say, Russo.”
“Hmmm?” Face down, the mage’s forehead rubbed against the rough collie’s shoulder with every swing of his gait.
“So it might be just a teensy bit disingenuous, but I think I found another way to explain how we came across these scales and therefore, slayed a dragon. Do you mind if we take a quick detour first? Just to make extra sure it all checks out?”
Russo could feel Jem’s tail wagging beneath him, the tip of his tail brushing against his backside. “Are you going to go and poke at a corpse with your cursed sword?” He jostled gently between the fur’s arms, leaning gently to the left while his companion pulled an abrupt u-turn. “Jem.” Once more they walked on in silence, the snow rhythmically crunching underneath Jem’s heavy paws. “I didn’t hear a no. Jem. JEM.”
“It won’t take that long, promise! Think about it, I won’t technically be lying. Plunging my sword deep into Greg’s side, his scales and muscles rupturing as ice wriggles its way into his veins.” He stabbed at the air with outstretched fingers to emphasize his point. “I’ll just conveniently leave out the part where that happened when he was already dead.”
“Oh for fuck’s sakes.”
And so Jem poked at a battered and broken corpse hissing and hemorrhaging heat in the freezing temperatures while Russo took a nap in the snow
Lurching awake after being hefted over the collie’s shoulder, Russo’s breath was forced out his lungs. His dry throat ached from the wracking painful coughs that his broken ribs were somehow still able to put some oomph behind, yellows and reds of mucus and blood speckling the snow at their feet. “So you’re okay with twisting the truth crooked,” the painful pressure that threatened to snap his torso in half let up as he was eased down along Jem’s back into piggyback position, “but white lies are where you draw the line?”
“What would you have me do, Russo?” Tone heavy and defeated, the warrior waited for a response. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, the mage might somehow know of a better way to approach this.
“Nothing.”
“What?” Turning his head to the side, thin whiskers poking out of the collie’s muzzle tickled against the human’s face.
“Just sit back and let me do enough bullshitting for the both of us. Lying to the old man’s face is nothing new.” Those airy whiskers of Jem’s brushed against his nose, Russo slamming his eyes shut in response. “Would you stop that.” Sighing, he let out a relieved heave of air when the canine’s doggy breath quit wafting along his cheeks. “Jem, I may not like living up to your standards, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire them.”
Tail wagging gently, the fur simply couldn’t stop smiling. This is what he had been missing so terribly these past few months. One good word deserves another, after all. “And I may not always look too fondly on your… uhh… pragmatic approach, but it has its merits,” Jem concluded. Ehh, close enough.
“Does that mean,” Russo couldn’t even finish voicing out half-hearted threats without yawning, “you’re going to let me tear into those no-name bastards that lured us out here?”
“Hehe." Stifling his laughter, Jem noted that the mage wasn’t exactly all that threatening while sleepy. “I’ll think about it.” Even if they do deserve it, not like we’re in any position to dole out punishment. One paw set down before the other at a falling pace. If he was lucky, Jem could stretch out their trip that much longer until Russo finally fell asleep. “But, just so you know, our priorities do conflict. You want to harass the locals. I want to get you properly patched up. Get your rest in so you can teleport us home.”
“Awwwww.” A pathetic moan was the vocal response Russo provided. “Can’t we smack them around first? Even a little bit?”
“Russo you can’t even stand on your own two feet, much less throw a fist.”
Quit being right all the time. “Just… I don’t know, swing me around so my arms smack into them or something?” He demonstrated by letting his limbs drape along the collie’s chest, swishing side to side in sync with Jem’s steps. “It’ll still be me beating them up, that way you won’t have to feel bad about laying a finger on them.”
He’ll nod off eventually, the fur kept repeating to himself, while Russo struggled to compose coherent sentences.
“Bravest of warriors, we knew that-” The mole’s simultaneous salutations and congratulations were cut short by the thick calloused palm wrapped tight around his pointed star-tipped nose.
“Stop. Just, stop.” Jem growled. His fingers unfurled themselves slowly from around the village leader’s nose after he felt it bob up and down in his grasp. “The dragon is dead and what remains of your home is safe from further harm.”
“T-truly? You well and truly mean it? Oh thank you!” Hands clasped together, the mole went right back to pouring on the charm.
It had taken all of a handful of utterances for Jem to already tire of listening to the mole. “What can I say,” struggling to shore up any enthusiasm, his voice was dry as the crisp and crackling air around them, “the lot of you provided all the inspiration we’d ever need to fell such a foul beast.” Audible gasps and oohs welled up from the crowd gathered round.
The collie’s green eyes skimmed over the onlookers, waiting just long enough for their weary faces to light up with relief, long dormant hopes and aspirations welling to the surface. “The thought that you’d continue to draw in well-meaning help to their doom carried us ever onward. We bore this burden so that those baited into following in our footsteps wouldn’t have to.”
“Ah,” the villagers collectively muttered. Shoulders slumped, tails snaked between legs, and the throng of eager eyes all cast their gazes downward.
Watching their spirits sink had proven far more rewarding than the rough collie thought it would. Rehearsing that speech on the walk over, to a captive and sleeping audience, had definitely worked wonders. “I could stand here and talk at you-” His spiel was interrupted briefly by Russo gently snoring on his shoulder. “Talk at you over my soundly sleeping friend, but there are much better ways for us to be spending our time.” Snorting, Jem’s flared nostrils puffed a cloud of breath into the mole’s face. “You have livelihoods to rebuild and I have wounded to tend to.”
“R-right,” their leader mumbled in embarrassed agreement. “Is there, umm, well I…” Clawed fingers dug into the mussed and greasy fur along his arms. “We both know there’s nothing we can possibly do to repay you for what you did but uhhh...” Hoo boy, seeing off victorious vanguards of virtue usually wasn’t supposed to be this awkward and painful. Going through the motions had never been this caustic for everyone involved. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
Tail whapping methodically against his leg, Jem paused to consider the opportunity presented to him. He had said what needed to be said… but as was evident with Russo, sometimes a message needed to be repeated, if not ground in, before it was finally taken to heart.
“Now that you mention it, I do have one request.”
The fluffy warrior’s stoic and unchanging expression made the mole immediately regret his offer. “Y-yes?”
“If you had been beset upon by that ruby dragon completely unprovoked, I could understand why you did what you did. I certainly wouldn’t condone it, but I could empathize with your plight. What you did though?” He didn’t bother masking the irritation in his voice at this point. “Against your better judgment, which I’m starting to question if you ever even possessed, you brought all of this on yourselves and proceeded to drag everyone you could down with you in some vain hope they’d save you from yourselves.” Not a single person could bother to look Jem in the eye. Everyone in the village had conveniently, and simultaneously, discovered that their own two feet had suddenly become the most fascinating things in the world, demanding their full attention at this very moment.
Bristled fur stood up in patches along the back of his neck and tail amongst the patches of matted and dirtied fur. “If you’re going to stir up trouble, you better be capable of handling it yourselves. Because if, or heavens forbid, when you do, we’re not going to drag your asses out of the fire next time.” Turning his back on the masses, Jem maneuvered through the piles of ice and ash caking the ground. Broad heavy paws left deep indents in the freezing quagmire. Gusts kicked up the embers from the still smoldering mess of broken homes the duo left behind, black and orange contrails dancing in the air as the smoking refuse painted the wind currents.
Plodding up to the archway marking the village’s entrance, Jem tilted his head back. Burnt to a blackened crisp, fiery red veins snaked through the two pillars holding it aloft. Even after all it had been through, bathed in hellfire and the unforgiving cold, it stood. Perhaps it was a testament to the folk that lived here?
“Can’t say I never indulged you, Russo.” Leaning to his side, Jem swung his shoulder forward, carrying Russo’s own limbs along with the momentum. Stiff and heavy limbs belonging to the mage gently tunked into a pillar. Deep splintering cracks formed at the sites of impact, spreading out en masse as flakes of jet black wood belched off its surface. The pillar practically vaporized in the explosion of woodchips and ash, the smooth slab of wood laid atop it that proudly proclaimed the forgettable village’s name swinging down and smashing into its lone remaining support. Punching a hole clear through what remained of the other pillar, the stalwart entrance crumbled in on itself. Whistling innocently, the completely not at fault collie contentedly carried forward, smiling every now and then whenever Russo sleepily nuzzled into his mane.
Darkness smothering his vision, a wracking bout of coughing awoke the human. Bringing his fingers up to his eyes, Russo rubbed away the hardened chunks of sleep caught around against the sides of his nose. Motionless, he lied there until his chest heaved up and down in quick succession, wet and sticky bile catching against his arms while he coughed. Blech. Alright, where am I this time?
Russo twisted his head side to side, discovering that a pillow rested beneath his noggin in the process, tussing up his hair. Daring to crack open an eye lid, it parted slowly, the flaps of skin pulling apart more sleep caking them together. High above him, planks of stained wood pressed against one another creaked gently. Stifling another cough, another large slab of wood registered in his peripheral vision. He willed his hand to move, pulling it out from beneath a pile of blankets, cotton pressing upon his limb from above and below. Alright, so he was in bed. Bed is good. His limb, heavy, tingling, and unresponsive, smacked loudly into the wooden construct at his side. Sounds of metal creaking registered in his ears, the pull handles on some drawers no doubt. Okay so that was a dresser.
Craning his neck forward, the muscles keeping his head attached to his shoulders ached terribly. Bandages were wrapped around his chest, the dark splotches staining their white surface visible even in the low light. “We made it home?” The empty bed on the opposite side of the room and general layout confirmed that this was indeed a guest room at the Tedrah guild. “Hell if I know and hell if I care.” Whatever the means of their return were, he wasn’t going to question or complain about them. Alone in his provided respite, Russo’s mind began turn.
That’s right, with a sigh he dragged his left arm back up onto the mattress. He had defied a direct order from the old man to accompany Jem on that mission. Flagrantly blowing off his suspension would not be looked upon kindly, and the only penalty more severe than what he had already been doled out was outright expulsion.
Wonder how much longer I’ll get to call this my home away from home. He’d find out one way or another soon enough. Another heavy sigh escaped his lungs while he felt himself sink deeper into his bed. I can be proud of what I did though, right? I didn’t make things worse this time? Staring up at the ceiling, Russo wasn’t able to convince himself one way or the other on how beneficial or detrimental a role he had played. Nobody died at least, he huffed to himself in consolation. Gyorrkith’s broken and half-buried corpse came to mind. Nobody important died, he corrected himself.
“So…” he mouthed aloud. “Here I am. Alone. In the dark. Beaten and bruised.” Brows creased flat against his forehead. “Now’s as good as time as any to get one of our bullshit chats knocked out.” A deafening silence that stretched on for minutes was the response Russo received. “I know you can hear me.” Cranky and irritated, the human continued arguing at the darkness. Grumping aloud, he swatted at the air above him. “Fucker. Making me feel like I’m a crazy person talking to myself.” Resigning himself to his brief moment of peace, he nestled into the mattress and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake him once more.
FIRST , PREVIOUS , NEXT
Major props to
Mannoth for being my awesome editor for this chapter! Give him some love, he be an amazing writer who also tends to write about fuzzies of the larger variety.Icon is courtesy of
9aiaFIRST , PREVIOUS , NEXT
Chapter 46
“You’re awfully…” Russo bit down on his tongue at the feeling of lurching forward, Jem’s posture slackening while he sighed. “Quiet.” Arms wrapped around the rough collie’s puffy mane of fur, the human gently bobbed up and down with the canine’s gait. “Surprised you haven’t chewed me out yet for orchestrating this colossal fuckup behind your back.”
Jem merely continued to plod forward, breath billowing out from his muzzle and back towards his piggybacking passenger.
The human’s teeth clacked together softly. “That…” His attempt at baiting the warrior into their normal routine had fallen flat on its face. “You are allowed to complain at me, you know.”
A lengthy pause preceded Jem’s response, as if he was weighing whether or not it was worth speaking his mind. Remaining silent would communicate the same message more or less unchanged. “I’m not really feeling it today, Russo.”
It was disconcerting seeing his moral compass so tight lipped and sullen. “Look, I know I completely glossed over the whole team part of teamwork.” Russo couldn’t help but notice his friend’s ears perk up subtly at the half-formed apology. “Guess I’ve been kinda lashing between one extreme and the next. Going from thinking I can do everything on my own without any help, to trying to do everything on my own so I don’t endanger the people who are supposed to help me. One of these days I’ll nail down the happy medium between the two.”
“At least you’re trying.” Green eyes bobbed to the sides of their sockets, the closest the collie came to directly acknowledging the human. “It is an improvement.”
For a time, they walked in silence. Jem’s paws gently packed down the snow beneath them, his furred legs and torso carving a path towards the plumes of smoke still billowing up from the village on the horizon.
What limited conversation that had been carried on between the two was stilted and forced. No use in trying to let the words flow naturally then, the mage convinced himself. “Okay, what the hell happened back there?” Russo grumbled at the collie’s ears clamping down against the side of his head. “You’ve hardly said a word since you got back from dragon slaying.”
“Can…” Slouching forward, Jem sighed in frustration. The mage’s chin thrust forward from the momentum. Resting against the base of the fur’s neck, it prompting the rough collie’s lips to pull taut. “Can we not talk about this right now?”
“Was it Kaya?”
“What did I just ask you?” Every time he blinked, Jem could see the dragoness staring back at him fearfully; her pupils dilated and wings quivering, Kaya shrinking back under his soft gaze. “Yes and no.”
Holding his tongue, the human eased up on his prodding and allowed the fur to continue at his own pace.
Russo was safe and the job was done. Together, they accomplished far more than what had been expected of them, even when the herculean task of putting down a dragon was dropped into their damn laps on a moment’s notice. Even knowing that, Jem was left feeling distraught and disappointed.
“When I killed that red dragon, Kaya wasn’t relieved or awed by what I’d done,” Jem at last elaborated. “She was frightened.” His gaze settled on the ground at his feet. “It wasn’t a composed, elegant, or fair fight by any means. But it wasn’t supposed to be! I did what I had to, ending it quickly so Greg couldn’t harm me or Kaya.” He shook his head, loosing free the clumps of snow caught in tangled clumps of fur upon his head.
Jem eyed the human peripherally; still silent. “She didn’t see a warrior that had honed his craft and body for years to dispatch the foe before him. No, just a giant. A monster, brutalizing the beast before him. I mean…” Frustration present in his voice, the canine snapped at the air. “I know what we just did was thankless work, doing the right thing purely for its own sake.” The fur bristling on the back of Jem’s neck poked painfully at Russo’s cheeks. “Sometimes though I… why bother? Why bother using the strength given to me if all it’s going to do is frighten people?”
Every further sentence, every subsequent combination of words, consonants, and vowels that tried to form on Russo’s tongue slid back down his throat.
“When you displayed your magical prowess you earned Kaya’s respect. What do I get when I try to do the same and demonstrate my mastery of my own size and strength?” Jem’s rant tapered off with a tired sigh. “Fear and loathing.”
Come to think of it, Russo had yet to see his best friend in action at his full height and strength. “I… don’t really have anything to say to that.” It was the only response he could come up with that didn’t have to be forced through the thin gaps between his teeth.
“I guess I’m just…” Don’t say jealous, don’t say jealous, don’t say jealous, “conflicted? The last two times we’ve been in a pinch like this, I’ve fallen back on my gigantic stature to get us out of it. It makes me feel so, it’ll sound stupid, but, incompetent.” Jem’s floppy ears drooped down sadly. “Like I wasn’t a good enough swordsmen to fend off those assassins before. And it felt like I had given up before I even took a swing at that dragon now.”
Eyes half lidded, Russo’s breath travelled along the side of the collie’s head. “You feel incompetent? I’m the one who got my ass kicked in both of those scuffles, you fucking clean house, and somehow you’re the one who isn’t up to snuff?” Arms dangling over Jem’s shoulders, the mage pulled up a limb and bapped the back of it against his friend’s muzzle prompting a surprised erf. “Let’s not forget it was a two on one fight with those assassins. And I’m having some trouble seeing why you wouldn’t opt for the safe and smart route for fighting a goddamned dragon.”
“Even so…” The backhanded encouragement lifted Jem’s posture, “I wish I was strong enough that I didn’t have to rely on my size when things go sour.”
“Sounds like you want it both ways. Don’t want your gigantism to be a crutch, and don’t want people to freak out should you do so?” Resting his head against an armored shoulder, the exhausted mage let his eyelids droop.
His biceps pressed tightly against the human’s legs jostling back and forth. “…Wishful thinking, I know.” Jem couldn’t help but smile at the tired yawn that slipped free from Russo’s mouth following the decrease in turbulence. “Even if it’s nothing more than an ideal, it’s still something to shoot for.”
“Let me know how that works out for you,” Russo mumbled into the inviting mane of fur brushing against his face. “Think Kaya’ll be alright?”
Was that genuine concern the mage was showing? For someone outside his extremely limited circle of friends? “Hard to say.” Heh, maybe those lectures really were starting to sink in. “She was about as banged up as you were when I found her. I wouldn’t really know if dragons can just shake off a beating like that.” Though both she and Greg did survive plummeting straight out of the damn sky, as did Russo! Masking the mixture of relief and admiration in his voice, Jem carried on. “Still can’t believe you fell from the heavens themselves and lived to tell the tale.”
“Neither can I.” Eyes closed, the human wobbled back and forth on the flimsy boundary marking sleeping and awake. “Not like I remember much of it.” Which in retrospect was probably a blessing. Being able to recall seeing the ground rushing up towards him was something he could happily live without.
“In any case,” Jem gently nudged at the mage with his muzzle, “Kaya was happy to hear you were still in one piece. I asked if she wanted to see you off before we all departed our separate ways, but she declined.”
“Like she’d want anything to do with us after this,” Russo wryly laughed.
Resting his chin against his left shoulder, Jem’s eyes followed the trail of paw prints back to where Russo made landfall. Snow continued to fall steadily, filling in the craterous tracks the collie had left after billowing up in size. Good, at least there’s one thing I don’t have to cover up. “Given what all she told me… I suppose I can’t really blame her.”
“Yeah.” Even with his fluffy friend’s grip holding him tight, Russo’s jaw bounced painfully against the bolts in the row of tempered steel plates covering the collie’s shoulder blade. “Ever figure out what it was that prompted old Greg to do fly-by arsons in the first place?”
“Unfortunately.”
Groaning, Russo exhaled deeply. “I’m not gonna like the answer, am I?”
Jem shook his head side to side. “When you steal from a dragon, some sort of retribution is to be expected.”
“Dumbasses.” Parting his eyelids, talk of the no-name village’s greed aroused the human’s own. “Hmmm you know, with Greg gone…”
“Absolutely not,” the warrior interjected before Russo could even finish articulating his thoughts.
Mustering just enough energy to sound more irritated than sleepy, the mage pressed the collie. “Why? We know those bastards aren’t going to pay us back for any of this.”
Mouth clamped shut, Jem allowed the human to tire himself out before replying.
“Why not claim dibs on the spoils? We practically deserve it after all the bullshit we suffered through. Pfff, not like they should see a sliver of it.” With a groan, Russo’s head tilted to the side and smacked into the straps of leather linking Jem’s shoulder plates to his chest piece.
The rough collie had missed hearing said what he could never bring himself to voice. “Not that I disagree with you,” he pressed his moist nose into Russo’s unkempt hair to verify he was still awake. “But it’s not like we’re in any shape to lug any of it back home. Have my hands full with you as it is.”
“Fiiiiiiiiiiine.”
“Besides, Kaya showed an interest in claiming it as her own and…” The edges of Jem’s lips curled down. “It’s not like I was going to bully her into reconsidering.”
“I can live with that,” Russo conceded. Better her than someone else.
Rubbing his chin against his mane, the collie scratched at a niggling itch. “Don’t be like that, it’s not like we’re going home empty handed.” A bloodied fragment of a scale tumbled out from a furry knot, scraping against Jem’s armor during its descent. “Dragon scales are extremely rare and sought after, we won’t be left wanting for compensation.”
Still garbed in Kaya’s borrowed attire, Russo’s coat pockets were stuffed taut with ruby reminders of their shared fight. They clacked together with soft wet crunches, blood and sinew still draping from their undersides. Ideally that’d draw a lot less attention towards them than the clink of coin.
“That and people are a lot more likely to believe us when we say we slayed a dragon if we come home bearing the cutting shields adorning one as opposed to a sack of gold.”
Eyelids slowly drawing the curtains on his vision, Russo felt his limbs stiffen. Twitching his fingers, an electrical tingle of frayed nerves snapped back at the human. He could hear, but not feel, his fingers twiddling against the curved metal clasped to Jem’s chest.
“Gonna tell everyone the story of how you went and fucktupled in size to smack around a dragon then?” Winter weather scrunching underfoot, Russo’s mind clung to the rhythm the sound of packing snow adhered to. There was the first loud crunch from his furry companion’s broad paw pressing down into the piled up flakes, compacting an entire colony of white particles in his wake. A brief pause followed. Then came the drawn out crunch as the canine’s heel and sole lifted off the ground, clumped together ridges of snow expanding and settling in the absence of collie bearing down on them.
“I…” Floppy ears held themselves straight up in the air for an instant, “Shit,” before they flattened against the sides of the fur’s head.
“You’re just now realizing this?” It was simultaneously hilarious and depressing how woefully inexperienced Jem was at covering his ass with a remotely believable alibi. “When you say I killed a freaking dragon and present proof of it, people are going to ask ‘Well how’d you do it?’”
Whining, the canine’s tail worriedly sank between his legs as his pace slackened.
“You’re going to have to tell them something.”
Dammit. Weak barks spilled from Jem’s muzzle while he choked on his words.
I’m not going to be able to sleep soundly until this is taken care of, am I? “Augggggggh.” Russo’s eyes clenched shut as an exasperated sigh made itself known. “Want some help?”
“Yes.” The collie’s response was curt and immediate, having anticipated the offer of help and just barely restraining himself from outright pleading the mage’s assistance.
Oh Good God. “Well,” Russo paued; he was never going to get to sleep at this rate. “It can’t be that hard to bullshit something up. Greg was already half-dead when you found him.” It irritated the mage to no end that for all he did during those hellacious aerial acrobatics, he wasn’t the one that got to call himself a dragonslayer. He was just the guy that helped. “What do we got to work with?”
Burying his muzzle into his mane, Jem tugged at hardening splotches of red matting his otherwise pristine white and brown fur. “It needs to be something believable first of all.”
“I flew through the sky on the back of a dragon,” the human counted off on his fingers for good measure, “got batted around hundreds of feet in the air like a bad habit, was half-eaten, and for good measure took a twirl around a tornado. I kind of doubt anyone will pull apart the seams in your half of the story given it’s a hard enough tale to swallow as it is.” Glaring up at his armored ride, his disapproving gaze was met with a nervous and toothy smile.
“That... makes all of my ideas seem suspiciously tame in comparison.” The collie continued nuzzling into his thinking beard, struggling to stoke some ideas. “Dashing and slashing at gaps in his scales, weaving over and under the lumbering tree trunk thick limbs swatting at me, it all seems so… boring?”
“Make up your damn mind.” Snow continued to pile on the mage’s head, locks of brown hair poking through his wintry white hat. “First you were uncomfortable with the thought of lying and now you already want to make them as badass as can be?”
“No no no no no it’s not like that!” Teeth bared, the rough collie’s lips pulled back while he sucked in air between his teeth. “I just,” Jem’s head bobbed side to side uncomfortably, “want to make sure our stories are consistent is all!”
Uh huh. Eyes glazed over, Russo’s mouth stretched wide to allow an ear splitting yawn safe passage out into the open air. “What did you even tell everyone the last time this happened?”
“Last time was easy,” the fur confessed when his gaze met the mage’s. “I saved you and fought off the assassins. That’s all anyone needed to hear.” It did have the added perk of being entirely truthful. Minus a few extraneous details here and there.
That’s still lying, just by… oh forget it. “That’s not gonna fly this time.”
“I know,” Jem You quietly acknowledged.
Shoulders slumping forward, Russo found himself sinking with Jem’s posture. Rolling his eyes, the human found his attention resting on the warrior’s waist. An icy mist pooled out from where the hilt of his sword rested against its sheath.
“What’s the deal with the sword?” Tapping the side of his foot against the blade, a belch of artic air escaped from the sheath’s confines as the sharpened metal rattled within it, coating Russo’s legs in a layer of frost.
“This?” A padded thumb flicked at the worn leather coating the hilt. “That’s right, you weren’t here for that. Suppose you could call it a gift.” He shivered at the thought of wandering that graveyard once more. And maybe a little from the plunging temperature. “From Tedrah’s first guildmaster.” Pressing a clawed finger against the crossguard, Jem lifted the sword up by the thin strip of steel running perpendicular to the blade. Russo’s gaze followed the hilt as it rose up from Jem’s side, curiosity showing through his tired and glazed over pupils.
“It’s cursed, freezing anything it comes into contact with.” He pondered for a moment. If he were to have sliced the ruby dragon with such a weapon… Jem could imagine thrusting his weapon deep into Greg’s flesh, fountains of ice exploding from the puncture wound. Layers of frost spreading along the winged reptile’s body like a ravenous glacier, snaking under his scales and painfully parting them from their owner...
Jem shook his head. “Say, Russo.”
“Hmmm?” Face down, the mage’s forehead rubbed against the rough collie’s shoulder with every swing of his gait.
“So it might be just a teensy bit disingenuous, but I think I found another way to explain how we came across these scales and therefore, slayed a dragon. Do you mind if we take a quick detour first? Just to make extra sure it all checks out?”
Russo could feel Jem’s tail wagging beneath him, the tip of his tail brushing against his backside. “Are you going to go and poke at a corpse with your cursed sword?” He jostled gently between the fur’s arms, leaning gently to the left while his companion pulled an abrupt u-turn. “Jem.” Once more they walked on in silence, the snow rhythmically crunching underneath Jem’s heavy paws. “I didn’t hear a no. Jem. JEM.”
“It won’t take that long, promise! Think about it, I won’t technically be lying. Plunging my sword deep into Greg’s side, his scales and muscles rupturing as ice wriggles its way into his veins.” He stabbed at the air with outstretched fingers to emphasize his point. “I’ll just conveniently leave out the part where that happened when he was already dead.”
“Oh for fuck’s sakes.”
And so Jem poked at a battered and broken corpse hissing and hemorrhaging heat in the freezing temperatures while Russo took a nap in the snow
Lurching awake after being hefted over the collie’s shoulder, Russo’s breath was forced out his lungs. His dry throat ached from the wracking painful coughs that his broken ribs were somehow still able to put some oomph behind, yellows and reds of mucus and blood speckling the snow at their feet. “So you’re okay with twisting the truth crooked,” the painful pressure that threatened to snap his torso in half let up as he was eased down along Jem’s back into piggyback position, “but white lies are where you draw the line?”
“What would you have me do, Russo?” Tone heavy and defeated, the warrior waited for a response. Hopeful that maybe, just maybe, the mage might somehow know of a better way to approach this.
“Nothing.”
“What?” Turning his head to the side, thin whiskers poking out of the collie’s muzzle tickled against the human’s face.
“Just sit back and let me do enough bullshitting for the both of us. Lying to the old man’s face is nothing new.” Those airy whiskers of Jem’s brushed against his nose, Russo slamming his eyes shut in response. “Would you stop that.” Sighing, he let out a relieved heave of air when the canine’s doggy breath quit wafting along his cheeks. “Jem, I may not like living up to your standards, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire them.”
Tail wagging gently, the fur simply couldn’t stop smiling. This is what he had been missing so terribly these past few months. One good word deserves another, after all. “And I may not always look too fondly on your… uhh… pragmatic approach, but it has its merits,” Jem concluded. Ehh, close enough.
“Does that mean,” Russo couldn’t even finish voicing out half-hearted threats without yawning, “you’re going to let me tear into those no-name bastards that lured us out here?”
“Hehe." Stifling his laughter, Jem noted that the mage wasn’t exactly all that threatening while sleepy. “I’ll think about it.” Even if they do deserve it, not like we’re in any position to dole out punishment. One paw set down before the other at a falling pace. If he was lucky, Jem could stretch out their trip that much longer until Russo finally fell asleep. “But, just so you know, our priorities do conflict. You want to harass the locals. I want to get you properly patched up. Get your rest in so you can teleport us home.”
“Awwwww.” A pathetic moan was the vocal response Russo provided. “Can’t we smack them around first? Even a little bit?”
“Russo you can’t even stand on your own two feet, much less throw a fist.”
Quit being right all the time. “Just… I don’t know, swing me around so my arms smack into them or something?” He demonstrated by letting his limbs drape along the collie’s chest, swishing side to side in sync with Jem’s steps. “It’ll still be me beating them up, that way you won’t have to feel bad about laying a finger on them.”
He’ll nod off eventually, the fur kept repeating to himself, while Russo struggled to compose coherent sentences.
“Bravest of warriors, we knew that-” The mole’s simultaneous salutations and congratulations were cut short by the thick calloused palm wrapped tight around his pointed star-tipped nose.
“Stop. Just, stop.” Jem growled. His fingers unfurled themselves slowly from around the village leader’s nose after he felt it bob up and down in his grasp. “The dragon is dead and what remains of your home is safe from further harm.”
“T-truly? You well and truly mean it? Oh thank you!” Hands clasped together, the mole went right back to pouring on the charm.
It had taken all of a handful of utterances for Jem to already tire of listening to the mole. “What can I say,” struggling to shore up any enthusiasm, his voice was dry as the crisp and crackling air around them, “the lot of you provided all the inspiration we’d ever need to fell such a foul beast.” Audible gasps and oohs welled up from the crowd gathered round.
The collie’s green eyes skimmed over the onlookers, waiting just long enough for their weary faces to light up with relief, long dormant hopes and aspirations welling to the surface. “The thought that you’d continue to draw in well-meaning help to their doom carried us ever onward. We bore this burden so that those baited into following in our footsteps wouldn’t have to.”
“Ah,” the villagers collectively muttered. Shoulders slumped, tails snaked between legs, and the throng of eager eyes all cast their gazes downward.
Watching their spirits sink had proven far more rewarding than the rough collie thought it would. Rehearsing that speech on the walk over, to a captive and sleeping audience, had definitely worked wonders. “I could stand here and talk at you-” His spiel was interrupted briefly by Russo gently snoring on his shoulder. “Talk at you over my soundly sleeping friend, but there are much better ways for us to be spending our time.” Snorting, Jem’s flared nostrils puffed a cloud of breath into the mole’s face. “You have livelihoods to rebuild and I have wounded to tend to.”
“R-right,” their leader mumbled in embarrassed agreement. “Is there, umm, well I…” Clawed fingers dug into the mussed and greasy fur along his arms. “We both know there’s nothing we can possibly do to repay you for what you did but uhhh...” Hoo boy, seeing off victorious vanguards of virtue usually wasn’t supposed to be this awkward and painful. Going through the motions had never been this caustic for everyone involved. “Is there anything we can do for you?”
Tail whapping methodically against his leg, Jem paused to consider the opportunity presented to him. He had said what needed to be said… but as was evident with Russo, sometimes a message needed to be repeated, if not ground in, before it was finally taken to heart.
“Now that you mention it, I do have one request.”
The fluffy warrior’s stoic and unchanging expression made the mole immediately regret his offer. “Y-yes?”
“If you had been beset upon by that ruby dragon completely unprovoked, I could understand why you did what you did. I certainly wouldn’t condone it, but I could empathize with your plight. What you did though?” He didn’t bother masking the irritation in his voice at this point. “Against your better judgment, which I’m starting to question if you ever even possessed, you brought all of this on yourselves and proceeded to drag everyone you could down with you in some vain hope they’d save you from yourselves.” Not a single person could bother to look Jem in the eye. Everyone in the village had conveniently, and simultaneously, discovered that their own two feet had suddenly become the most fascinating things in the world, demanding their full attention at this very moment.
Bristled fur stood up in patches along the back of his neck and tail amongst the patches of matted and dirtied fur. “If you’re going to stir up trouble, you better be capable of handling it yourselves. Because if, or heavens forbid, when you do, we’re not going to drag your asses out of the fire next time.” Turning his back on the masses, Jem maneuvered through the piles of ice and ash caking the ground. Broad heavy paws left deep indents in the freezing quagmire. Gusts kicked up the embers from the still smoldering mess of broken homes the duo left behind, black and orange contrails dancing in the air as the smoking refuse painted the wind currents.
Plodding up to the archway marking the village’s entrance, Jem tilted his head back. Burnt to a blackened crisp, fiery red veins snaked through the two pillars holding it aloft. Even after all it had been through, bathed in hellfire and the unforgiving cold, it stood. Perhaps it was a testament to the folk that lived here?
“Can’t say I never indulged you, Russo.” Leaning to his side, Jem swung his shoulder forward, carrying Russo’s own limbs along with the momentum. Stiff and heavy limbs belonging to the mage gently tunked into a pillar. Deep splintering cracks formed at the sites of impact, spreading out en masse as flakes of jet black wood belched off its surface. The pillar practically vaporized in the explosion of woodchips and ash, the smooth slab of wood laid atop it that proudly proclaimed the forgettable village’s name swinging down and smashing into its lone remaining support. Punching a hole clear through what remained of the other pillar, the stalwart entrance crumbled in on itself. Whistling innocently, the completely not at fault collie contentedly carried forward, smiling every now and then whenever Russo sleepily nuzzled into his mane.
Darkness smothering his vision, a wracking bout of coughing awoke the human. Bringing his fingers up to his eyes, Russo rubbed away the hardened chunks of sleep caught around against the sides of his nose. Motionless, he lied there until his chest heaved up and down in quick succession, wet and sticky bile catching against his arms while he coughed. Blech. Alright, where am I this time?
Russo twisted his head side to side, discovering that a pillow rested beneath his noggin in the process, tussing up his hair. Daring to crack open an eye lid, it parted slowly, the flaps of skin pulling apart more sleep caking them together. High above him, planks of stained wood pressed against one another creaked gently. Stifling another cough, another large slab of wood registered in his peripheral vision. He willed his hand to move, pulling it out from beneath a pile of blankets, cotton pressing upon his limb from above and below. Alright, so he was in bed. Bed is good. His limb, heavy, tingling, and unresponsive, smacked loudly into the wooden construct at his side. Sounds of metal creaking registered in his ears, the pull handles on some drawers no doubt. Okay so that was a dresser.
Craning his neck forward, the muscles keeping his head attached to his shoulders ached terribly. Bandages were wrapped around his chest, the dark splotches staining their white surface visible even in the low light. “We made it home?” The empty bed on the opposite side of the room and general layout confirmed that this was indeed a guest room at the Tedrah guild. “Hell if I know and hell if I care.” Whatever the means of their return were, he wasn’t going to question or complain about them. Alone in his provided respite, Russo’s mind began turn.
That’s right, with a sigh he dragged his left arm back up onto the mattress. He had defied a direct order from the old man to accompany Jem on that mission. Flagrantly blowing off his suspension would not be looked upon kindly, and the only penalty more severe than what he had already been doled out was outright expulsion.
Wonder how much longer I’ll get to call this my home away from home. He’d find out one way or another soon enough. Another heavy sigh escaped his lungs while he felt himself sink deeper into his bed. I can be proud of what I did though, right? I didn’t make things worse this time? Staring up at the ceiling, Russo wasn’t able to convince himself one way or the other on how beneficial or detrimental a role he had played. Nobody died at least, he huffed to himself in consolation. Gyorrkith’s broken and half-buried corpse came to mind. Nobody important died, he corrected himself.
“So…” he mouthed aloud. “Here I am. Alone. In the dark. Beaten and bruised.” Brows creased flat against his forehead. “Now’s as good as time as any to get one of our bullshit chats knocked out.” A deafening silence that stretched on for minutes was the response Russo received. “I know you can hear me.” Cranky and irritated, the human continued arguing at the darkness. Grumping aloud, he swatted at the air above him. “Fucker. Making me feel like I’m a crazy person talking to myself.” Resigning himself to his brief moment of peace, he nestled into the mattress and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake him once more.
FIRST , PREVIOUS , NEXT
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 120 x 89px
File Size 171.3 kB
Listed in Folders
Okay, tired-mind action review go! >:o
So, boy where do I even begin? Well, I guess like this: I love this series. Like, honestly Radda you've created a really awesome world populated by some of the most enjoyable characters that I have ever read. You've got this really awesome way of combining a great blend of characterization, a compelling storyline, and comedy into the stuff that you do; and that's something I really admire about you!
Russo is just... the best. Like honestly, his whole no-mystical-magical-BS personality is fun to see whenever he's put up against some 'ancient test' that he finds a loophole for or just completely circumvents with ease. I like that he's trying to work around his inherent laziness, and that he see's it as a personal flaw. And of course, his interactions with Dark make it so that he just has the worst luck with the kinds of enemies he runs into. Seriously, seems like he would put a kraken in Russo's toilet if it would amuse him enough to see!
Jem is adorable :3. Like seriously, he makes a good contrast to Russo what with how hard he works at everything in life, and the fact that he seems to be unable to say 'no' to any request for help, no matter how ridiculous it is. He also makes for a good moral compass, and a very effective motivator for getting Russo up and out of bed some days, it seems. X3 I hope we'll get to meet his tribe at some point in the future, as his whole back story sounds very interesting indeed, and not to mention you seem to be building towards something epic with Argost and his suspicions about giants size changing abilities.
Even the more minor characters and supporting cast are really fun, and pretty decently developed. Tyr, Morgan and Xis were a really interesting group of characters to get to meet. Morgan being a badass white mage with one of the coolest spells I've ever seen, and Tyr and Xis having a funny little summoner/summon relationship, with Xis' eventual respect and actual caring for Tyr's safety being a really nice thing to see. Hell, even Nadie who only had a few scenes pretty much became a favourite of mine right off the bat! Dax I've always found a little annoying, but I get that he's kinda the 'insistent/overager little brother' kinda guy, and it is pretty funny to see his enthusiasm mash with Russo's, uh, lethargicism. :V Hell, even in the most recent arc I really enjoyed Kaya's character. I found her to be really compelling and interesting and, if anything, I would have wished for even more elaboration on her backstory.
If I did have one criticism, it's how you switch points of view. I found that, especially in the fight with 'greg', it was difficult to tell who exactly was talking at some points, since the POV would change from line to line. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't follow the battle at all, but it definetly gave me cause to go back and re-read at a few points.
So there you go! Really love what you've done so far Radda, and I cannot wait for more.
So, boy where do I even begin? Well, I guess like this: I love this series. Like, honestly Radda you've created a really awesome world populated by some of the most enjoyable characters that I have ever read. You've got this really awesome way of combining a great blend of characterization, a compelling storyline, and comedy into the stuff that you do; and that's something I really admire about you!
Russo is just... the best. Like honestly, his whole no-mystical-magical-BS personality is fun to see whenever he's put up against some 'ancient test' that he finds a loophole for or just completely circumvents with ease. I like that he's trying to work around his inherent laziness, and that he see's it as a personal flaw. And of course, his interactions with Dark make it so that he just has the worst luck with the kinds of enemies he runs into. Seriously, seems like he would put a kraken in Russo's toilet if it would amuse him enough to see!
Jem is adorable :3. Like seriously, he makes a good contrast to Russo what with how hard he works at everything in life, and the fact that he seems to be unable to say 'no' to any request for help, no matter how ridiculous it is. He also makes for a good moral compass, and a very effective motivator for getting Russo up and out of bed some days, it seems. X3 I hope we'll get to meet his tribe at some point in the future, as his whole back story sounds very interesting indeed, and not to mention you seem to be building towards something epic with Argost and his suspicions about giants size changing abilities.
Even the more minor characters and supporting cast are really fun, and pretty decently developed. Tyr, Morgan and Xis were a really interesting group of characters to get to meet. Morgan being a badass white mage with one of the coolest spells I've ever seen, and Tyr and Xis having a funny little summoner/summon relationship, with Xis' eventual respect and actual caring for Tyr's safety being a really nice thing to see. Hell, even Nadie who only had a few scenes pretty much became a favourite of mine right off the bat! Dax I've always found a little annoying, but I get that he's kinda the 'insistent/overager little brother' kinda guy, and it is pretty funny to see his enthusiasm mash with Russo's, uh, lethargicism. :V Hell, even in the most recent arc I really enjoyed Kaya's character. I found her to be really compelling and interesting and, if anything, I would have wished for even more elaboration on her backstory.
If I did have one criticism, it's how you switch points of view. I found that, especially in the fight with 'greg', it was difficult to tell who exactly was talking at some points, since the POV would change from line to line. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't follow the battle at all, but it definetly gave me cause to go back and re-read at a few points.
So there you go! Really love what you've done so far Radda, and I cannot wait for more.
Even though we've talked about this plenty before, I really ought to provide a reply! First off, thank you immensely for reading through the entirety of the tale thus far! I know that this story's monstrous length probably just scares people off at this point, but it's very reassuring and wonderful to hear that Shady in and of itself kept you coming back of your own accord. I know my style of storytelling has changed a bit over the years as I've been progressively adding onto it and I hope the gradual changes haven't detracted from anything over time. Once again, thank you West!
Written from the get go as someone who is genre savvy, Russo is a ton of fun to plop down into varying situations. He's got the right amount of selfishness, apathy, and loyalty all mixed together to make for amusing entrances and exits into just about whatever comes his way. The mage does and doesn't care about what happens, depending on who all is involved.
Jem is... I guess I was just trying to do something kind of different with him! A reluctant giant of sorts, someone who can easily bully his way through any encounter but tries not to. Like he's aware of the relative few giants that harass folks and as opposed to using that same bigness and power for good he'd sometimes just rather not use it at all. And yes, we will eventually get to meet the rest of his tribe. XD
Regarding side characters... I am just really bad at making throwaway characters is all! It is one my many weaknesses, trying to build up and develop just about every side character that pops up for any amount of time. Want to make them into people, not props, after all! Tyr and Morgan and Xis became fast personal favorites of my own and I'm likely to bring them back up sometime. Not sure why, but scholarly and beefy Nadie became a rapid fan favorite too. I'm sure a couple more side characters shall continue cropping up along the way.
Appreciate the criticism! I do realize my transitions between speakers aren't always labeled clearly. Do kinda just flip back and forth between people too and I can certainly see how that can be jarring! Thank you for pointing that out and I shall attempt to remedy the problem!
Thanks again for the kind words and critique, West. Means a lot to me, and I hope future chapters continue to entertain! :3
Written from the get go as someone who is genre savvy, Russo is a ton of fun to plop down into varying situations. He's got the right amount of selfishness, apathy, and loyalty all mixed together to make for amusing entrances and exits into just about whatever comes his way. The mage does and doesn't care about what happens, depending on who all is involved.
Jem is... I guess I was just trying to do something kind of different with him! A reluctant giant of sorts, someone who can easily bully his way through any encounter but tries not to. Like he's aware of the relative few giants that harass folks and as opposed to using that same bigness and power for good he'd sometimes just rather not use it at all. And yes, we will eventually get to meet the rest of his tribe. XD
Regarding side characters... I am just really bad at making throwaway characters is all! It is one my many weaknesses, trying to build up and develop just about every side character that pops up for any amount of time. Want to make them into people, not props, after all! Tyr and Morgan and Xis became fast personal favorites of my own and I'm likely to bring them back up sometime. Not sure why, but scholarly and beefy Nadie became a rapid fan favorite too. I'm sure a couple more side characters shall continue cropping up along the way.
Appreciate the criticism! I do realize my transitions between speakers aren't always labeled clearly. Do kinda just flip back and forth between people too and I can certainly see how that can be jarring! Thank you for pointing that out and I shall attempt to remedy the problem!
Thanks again for the kind words and critique, West. Means a lot to me, and I hope future chapters continue to entertain! :3
Stupid FutureWesty! Making the first giant comment I've seen so far just before I was planning on doing it!
Mumble mumble, grumble grumble; -was gonna do it an' stuff...
Anyway! I'll try despite it's redundancy, 'cause honestly this more than deserves a couple (dozen) reiterations.
But where to start?... Hmmm...
I suppose I should start at the beginning; going back and seeing a message saying "Oh yeah, this is a one time thing" when I was redirected there by chapter 44's "First" button managed to make me laugh. Seeing how this story developed out of something that was supposed to be a one-time thing was awesome! Seeing how you tried your best to stop its progress way back when was nerve-wracking considering how awesome it was, but fortunately I knew just how far it would lead. Well actually I don't, considering it's ongoing, but at least I know the only way it's gonna die at this point is with you in a coma or something!
Russo is just plain awesome- the exact opposite of a Gary Stu while at the same time not being a reverse-Gary-Stu-Who-Is-Just-a-Product-of-the-Author-Trying-to-Be-Different! He's like an actual person! Jem is also awesome, but kinda falls into a more Gary Stu style mode, being all moral and stuff while also having a sad back story, but nonetheless he's still awesomely original- he seems like that's actually who he is rather than just being a placeholder with a name. So it really makes me happy that there's an actual moral character out there who somehow manages to avoid being instantly slandered with the ghosts of fan-fic-writers past! That's really difficult to pull off. And his dynamic with Russo is awesome! How he manages to be both anathema and compliment to Russo's general demeanor- how Russo can be forced into do-gooding despite his near anti-hero status (poor dead dragon whose name I already forgot, though. Not Greg- the one who needs to check out that necrosis of his before it kills him. Ya'know? Poop Greg, too- he just wanted his stolen and totally-not-ill-gotten gold back).
I must say, though, i don't really get Dark. I mean, sure, he's doing everything for the sake of entertainment and he has a hands-on approach and all that is believable, but that he picks on Russo like he does is rather strange for me. Of course we've barely seen any of him as of yet, so I'm sure there's gonna be some... *snicker*... Light shed on the matter as he goes on (cue cancerous flashback to the maaaaagic crest of honor). I have no idea how he;s gonna be beaten, but I'm sure it's gonna be awesome.
As for A... Anthony? Adrian? Whatever-that-dark-knight-dude's-name-is (Checked: Argost!), I don't know how he really factors into all this. I get the feeling he was supposed to be the driving force behind the plot before Dark stepped in to handle things and now he's sorta be upstaged. But no matter! He's still an awesome character and his personality matches his magical style (earth magic) quite fittingly!
Other than that the only other piece of (hopefully constructive) criticism I think I have to offer would be sorta what Westy had to say: it's sometimes difficult to figure out which POV we're dealing in. With me it's not so much about who's speaking so much as realizing half-way through a page that I've been reading about Jem when I thought it was describing what was happening to a far-off Russo.
Now stop reading this already and just go write more of the story before I start to cry from desperation! I'll be eagerly staring at my computer screen waiting for it to show me you wrote a new chapter now.
... Any minute now...
Mumble mumble, grumble grumble; -was gonna do it an' stuff...
Anyway! I'll try despite it's redundancy, 'cause honestly this more than deserves a couple (dozen) reiterations.
But where to start?... Hmmm...
I suppose I should start at the beginning; going back and seeing a message saying "Oh yeah, this is a one time thing" when I was redirected there by chapter 44's "First" button managed to make me laugh. Seeing how this story developed out of something that was supposed to be a one-time thing was awesome! Seeing how you tried your best to stop its progress way back when was nerve-wracking considering how awesome it was, but fortunately I knew just how far it would lead. Well actually I don't, considering it's ongoing, but at least I know the only way it's gonna die at this point is with you in a coma or something!
Russo is just plain awesome- the exact opposite of a Gary Stu while at the same time not being a reverse-Gary-Stu-Who-Is-Just-a-Product-of-the-Author-Trying-to-Be-Different! He's like an actual person! Jem is also awesome, but kinda falls into a more Gary Stu style mode, being all moral and stuff while also having a sad back story, but nonetheless he's still awesomely original- he seems like that's actually who he is rather than just being a placeholder with a name. So it really makes me happy that there's an actual moral character out there who somehow manages to avoid being instantly slandered with the ghosts of fan-fic-writers past! That's really difficult to pull off. And his dynamic with Russo is awesome! How he manages to be both anathema and compliment to Russo's general demeanor- how Russo can be forced into do-gooding despite his near anti-hero status (poor dead dragon whose name I already forgot, though. Not Greg- the one who needs to check out that necrosis of his before it kills him. Ya'know? Poop Greg, too- he just wanted his stolen and totally-not-ill-gotten gold back).
I must say, though, i don't really get Dark. I mean, sure, he's doing everything for the sake of entertainment and he has a hands-on approach and all that is believable, but that he picks on Russo like he does is rather strange for me. Of course we've barely seen any of him as of yet, so I'm sure there's gonna be some... *snicker*... Light shed on the matter as he goes on (cue cancerous flashback to the maaaaagic crest of honor). I have no idea how he;s gonna be beaten, but I'm sure it's gonna be awesome.
As for A... Anthony? Adrian? Whatever-that-dark-knight-dude's-name-is (Checked: Argost!), I don't know how he really factors into all this. I get the feeling he was supposed to be the driving force behind the plot before Dark stepped in to handle things and now he's sorta be upstaged. But no matter! He's still an awesome character and his personality matches his magical style (earth magic) quite fittingly!
Other than that the only other piece of (hopefully constructive) criticism I think I have to offer would be sorta what Westy had to say: it's sometimes difficult to figure out which POV we're dealing in. With me it's not so much about who's speaking so much as realizing half-way through a page that I've been reading about Jem when I thought it was describing what was happening to a far-off Russo.
Now stop reading this already and just go write more of the story before I start to cry from desperation! I'll be eagerly staring at my computer screen waiting for it to show me you wrote a new chapter now.
... Any minute now...
Aww don't feel bad, West didn't beat you by that much! Well, I guess I'm glad somebody finds it humorous that this has become the greatest failure of a short story in recent memory. XD At this rate my dubious title has been sealed for, as you said, I don't intend to stop writing this for I honestly don't know how long. Although I am currently taking a little break right now to try and edit and tidy up the earlier chapters. All forty-six of them.
Glad you've enjoyed reading about Russo's antics! That's probably the highest praise I can think of receiving, being told one of my characters actually conducts himself in a manner a real person one. Thank you very very much for kind words! From the start he was purposefully created to be genre-savvy and a bit close to breaking the fourth wall territory. A somewhat competent individual who prefers to take the lazy way out whenever it presents itself, often by completely subverting traditional tropes. Basically someone really fun to poke at and see how he breaks expectations.
As for Jem, I was not aware there were ghosts of fan-fic-writers past I needed to be wary of. I am glad to have somehow dodged their malicious and slanderous influence! The interplay between someone who tries to adhere by the rules and someone who actively flaunts them pretty much sums up Jem and Russo's interactions in my head. Jem doing the good Russo can't be assed to do while Russo does the not so good Jem can't bring himself to commit.
Also, I think the undead dragon you are referring to is Knoch.
Shed Light on the situation? The pun, she burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrns. There is a method to Dark's madness... so to speak. Hopefully when I get to elaborating on what the darkness incarnate is actively and subtly pushing Russo towards, it might make a little more sense! That and he's just a bit of a jerkass/bully in general. Hehe and glad you approve of Argost! Was rather disingenuous of me to paint him as the big bad before Dark rolled in, but there are big plans in store for the armored dude.
Appreciate the criticism! That's something for me to not only work on for my editing but with future chapters as well! Annnnd might wanna peel your eyes away from that screen for a bit. Gimme some time to finish this bout of editing first before I can tear into a new chapter, please. XD
Glad you've enjoyed reading about Russo's antics! That's probably the highest praise I can think of receiving, being told one of my characters actually conducts himself in a manner a real person one. Thank you very very much for kind words! From the start he was purposefully created to be genre-savvy and a bit close to breaking the fourth wall territory. A somewhat competent individual who prefers to take the lazy way out whenever it presents itself, often by completely subverting traditional tropes. Basically someone really fun to poke at and see how he breaks expectations.
As for Jem, I was not aware there were ghosts of fan-fic-writers past I needed to be wary of. I am glad to have somehow dodged their malicious and slanderous influence! The interplay between someone who tries to adhere by the rules and someone who actively flaunts them pretty much sums up Jem and Russo's interactions in my head. Jem doing the good Russo can't be assed to do while Russo does the not so good Jem can't bring himself to commit.
Also, I think the undead dragon you are referring to is Knoch.
Shed Light on the situation? The pun, she burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrns. There is a method to Dark's madness... so to speak. Hopefully when I get to elaborating on what the darkness incarnate is actively and subtly pushing Russo towards, it might make a little more sense! That and he's just a bit of a jerkass/bully in general. Hehe and glad you approve of Argost! Was rather disingenuous of me to paint him as the big bad before Dark rolled in, but there are big plans in store for the armored dude.
Appreciate the criticism! That's something for me to not only work on for my editing but with future chapters as well! Annnnd might wanna peel your eyes away from that screen for a bit. Gimme some time to finish this bout of editing first before I can tear into a new chapter, please. XD
Comments