woah what a boona log without mer chaos

[broroona]

[Blades slice through the air with a whistle and get batted away easily. disappointing but still effective. The dog was catching on. In a way, that made it more fun. With a faint grin, Baroona follows up, darting under the glaive as it knocks the other blade away–his free hand snaps the cord back so the knife will return. With his other blade he stabs deep into the jackal's thigh and slices out. Tear some ligaments, muscles, something. By the way the creature howls and falters, it seems to have worked.

A snarl forewarns him–he looks up, the other side of the glaive comes down. Baroona leans back just in time. The blade enters his thigh–an eye for an eye–where it would've met his back. Fatal blow avoided, but he still barks in pain as the end is pulled out. It starts to swing down again; Baroona doesn't wait to move. Pushing off his back leg, he shoves the jackal to the ground in a tackle, wrestling and cutting with it until–with a knife buried in its throat–it stops moving.

With a heavy sigh, Baroona sits up straight, wiping the sweat from his brow and fixing the cloth around his face. On the corpse's armor, he wipes his knives clean, draping the cord around his neck as he pushes off its body to stand...

And promptly falls over into the sand. Great.

Frowning, he tries again; fails again. He keeps it up, if only because falling helps him close the distance between himself and the well nearby.]

Comments

[broroona]

One's good enough.

[He needs more cigarettes, okay. That's pretty much his main motivation for wanting a way out.

Limping over to the well, he places a hand on the rim, turning his body towards Zelos.]

You got anything to carry water?

[luxuriant]

No.

[He watches Baroona for a moment before stepping towards the well himself. Keeping his distance but not too much of one, he leans against the rim of it and peers in before looking over to the guy.]

You didn't bring a canteen or anything? [Zelos personally doesn't need one, but he'd rather not focus on that part of it all.]

[broroona]

[Baroona shakes his head, watching Zelos from the corner of his eye.]

I don't have anything else but what I've got on me.

[And now, a dry look in his direction. Which is pretty much every expression of his so.] I wasn't planning on getting trapped down here, either.

[A beat. He uses his tongue to roll the cigarette across his lips.] Why didn't you bring one?

[luxuriant]

I don't have anything like that.

[To emphasize this and introduce something else, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little pouch. Taking a gel from it, he tosses it Baroona's way. It's red and like a jello type capsule.]

If you don't want to deal with magic, at least take some medicine for it. It's an apple gel. [He's really hoping at least that sort of thing is familiar (any of it? come on, any?) so that he doesn't have to explain or deal with more stubborn resistance.]

[broroona]

[Medicine, he can do. Catching the gel with ease, he looks at it, clearly confused. After a minute or two of staring at it, he looks up in disbelief at Zelos.]

This looks nothing like an apple.

[And looking back down at it in his hand, wiggling it a bit to test it. Nope, still doesn't look like any medicine he's ever had.]

Do you eat it?

[luxuriant]

Seriously? Man, all of this dealing with uneducated bumpkins is driving me nuts...

[He says it like he doesn't understand that people come from different worlds and cultures here. But alright, alright.]

It's a gel; it just tastes like apple. A little. Eat it and your wound will heal up.

[broroona]

["Bumpkin". Baroona frowns at the term but doesn't protest. It's true, more or less, and you can't protest the truth.

Looking back to the gel in his palm, he sighs softly, downing it in one go. It slides down easily, leaving both bitter and sweet tastes in his mouth.]

It's weird.

[Washing it down with some water that he scoops up in his hand before wiping his mouth clean and limping past Zelos.] Let's go.

[luxuriant]

It helped, didn't it?

[That sort of thing can't be denied. The mana goes straight to the wound to help in seconds. It's no life saver but it's a great substitute for a first aid in a pinch. He does move at the comment 'let's go', but there's a mildly incredulous stare that goes along with it.]

What did you come down here for, anyway? [Finally he voices a question like that, pointed stare not moving from the guy even as he relaxes with his arms behind his head.]

[broroona]

It was getting hard to breathe. Wasn't that the same for you?

[He asks the question but he doesn't really care about the answer, trudging on ahead with little care for the pain that's still shooting up his leg. The apple jell-o worked, the wound wouldn't get infected, the pain was less–what more could he ask for?]

[luxuriant]

So you were hiding.

[Casually enough. Just enough to seem insulting, probably, and that was done on purpose. Not like Zelos was one to talk, but he was curious. And that just leads to more questions.]

So why try to get out now? I don't think things are going to be improving any time soon.

[broroona]

Am I supposed to be ashamed of that?

[He pauses–mostly to exhale another cloud of smoke. The free moment does allow him to dig into his pocket, though. Withdraws the almost empty carton of cigarettes, jostling it so Zelos can hear how few are left.]

I'm running out.

[Pretty much the stupidest reason to place yourself in death's way, but whatever.]

[luxuriant]

Not really. Live to fight another day, right?

[He shrugs, though his eyes do fall on that pack only to laugh in disbelief. He has to stop in his tracks to wave it away and get things straight here.]

Wait, wait, wait-- you're telling me that you're about to deal with all that crap again for a lousy pack of cigarettes?

[broroona]

They're not lousy.

[It's probably the most emotional response Zelos has gotten from him aside from the magic freak-out: an annoyed glance over his shoulder. Amazingly, his voice only reflects a small portion of that irritation.

And the cigarettes are lousy but he's not picky. Take what you can get and be happy you can get any at all.]

Why does it matter?

[Stuffing the carton back into his pocket.]

[luxuriant]

Touchy, touchy...

[Resuming his steps, his hands slip into his pockets as he watches Baroona's back.]

I'm just curious why some serious guy like you is willing to risk his life to get a couple more smokes. It's pretty risky, you know? [Innocently.] But whatever! You can go on and do your shady stuff. I won't judge.

[broroona]

It's not shady if it's cigarettes.

[What.

Whatever. At least he's waiting for Zelos to catch up with him before moving again. Casts him a pointed look when they meet up with each other.]

Shouldn't you be the one leading.

[luxuriant]

I'm going!

[To emphasize how much he is in fact leading, he picks up his pace a bit. Leading him to his dumb cigarettes...]