(03-15-2015, 02:46 PM)imsoemokthx Wrote: (( Is this still opened up?((This is more of a closed backstory! We saw each other in the QS the other night, feel free to bug me in game!))
It's an easy thing, killing a man. Some will tell you otherwise, but do not trust them.
Yet the shortest path is not always the safest.
And it is sometimes best to stop and build a bridge along the way.
R'elend sits in silence as his Chocobo steadily trods across the shifting sands of the Sagolii. Its saddlebags were full to bursting, containing years of reports, letters, mail, and his meagre personal effects.
He could still see the garrison behind him, carved into the rusty red stone of a desert bluff. It wasn't a bad place, he reflects, for a desert prison. Defensible, cool during the day, and warm at night, fed by underground aquifers. Yet a prison it had been. As it fades into the distance, for the first time in years, he allows himself to relax. He laughs even, the strange spontaneous laughter of a slave who has found themselves free.
As he does, one of his Chocobo's panniers opens on its own, the wicker lid popping up. "Glad you're enjoying yourself, R'elend." The ruddy face of Sasafaru appears, streaked with sweat as basks in the desert winds, "I nearly baked to death in there. If you wanted to kill me, you could have just done it back in the camp."
R'elend laughs again, ruffling the Dunesfolk's sweaty black hair. "Oh captain my captain. Does your carriage displease you?"
Sasafaru frowns, reaching for a nearby water skin and taking a deep drink, "Much about this displeases me, you oversize feline..." He looks at the vanishing bluff behind them, "But tis better than the alternative. You're sure this captain of yours will help us?"
R'elend nods, "Aye, she'd jump at the chance to take the two of us. Brass Blades of the Lily. She asked me to sign up, once before, but fool that I was, I decided to join the Blades of the Tulip instead." He sighs, "Thought it would be quieter, out here in desert... and my debt collectors were starting to get more insistent. Hopefully she's still alive."
Sasafaru widens his eyes and punches R'elend in the side, "Hopefully!?" He shouts, "You, you... mangy cat. I faked my death and lost my commission for you, and you give me hopefully?"
The miqo'te rubs his side, "Calm down, you overgrown popoto. One as tough as she, I'm sure she's still around. We fought on the outskirts of Carteneau together, a woman like her doesn't die easily." R'elend flicks the Lalafell in the nose in revenge, "I can still go back you know. Let you ride on, I'm still close enough to walk back to the garrison, explain what happened."
Sasafaru rubs his nose, "R'elend... you know I can't..." He shakes his head, "You know how it is in the blades, so much of our loyalty is bought by coin." He looks up at the taller male, "Makes those bonds that aren't, all the more important."
R'elend makes an imitation vomiting noise, "Captain, I feel sick. I came dangerously close to feeling emotions there."
Sasafaru blushes then releases a flurry of punches into the side of the laughing R'elend. "You, good for nothing, flea bitten..."
The miqote winces with each punch, before finally catching a small hand, and holding it firm, "I'm all those things and more, Sasafaru, and despite all that, you're almost the best friend a man can ask for."
Sasafaru pauses, "Likewise R'elend, though..." He tilts his head, "Why 'almost'?"
"Ah..." R'elend clears his throat, "Well you don't have any tits."
Sasafaru nods sagely, "Ah, tits." He relaxes back into the pannier, "I'm sure they'll be plenty of those for you in the city R'elend."
R'elend yawns, "All attached to bitches and whores though."
Sasafaru chuckles slightly, then is silent for a time, "Oy, R'elend, something else important."
R'elend doesn't look back as he scans the horizon, "What might that be?"
"I'm not a popoto!!!"
