Chp 3: Marza The Magnificent

    "Fook. You gonna blow up on me, now? We just got breakfast." Jangus' attempt at a joke fell flat, as the young girl sat there rubbing her temples, in visible pain.

   "Hey! Kid!" He kicked up the dirt at her feet, and she jumped with a start, coughing.

   "I'm sorry, Mister Jay. I just… it's... my head again. It's like I can hear… everything."

   "Jay, kid. Just Jay. I told you to drop that Mister s**t, makes me feel old. I ain't old… yet." He swung a line off his shoulder, three freshly caught trout dangling from the end. 

   Two days had passed since the incident, and the girl remembered none of it. He placated her questions with a slightly… expurgated version of the truth, and she seemed satisfied for the time being. Painting himself as a hero of happenstance, that happened to be within earshot, he claimed to have rescued her away from the OSR, and whatever cruelties they may have had in store for her. She was gullible, even for a child.

   Squatting down next to the child where his pack lay on the ground, he rummaged around inside and came up with several objects; an antique utility knife with an elegantly carved bone handle, a pair of elk leather water skins, and a small, wrapped parcel. He emptied the contents of this into one of the water skins and handed it to the girl. "Drink. Drink it all."

   The girl obliged happily, sucking at its mouth to hasten the flow. Water dripped down her chin as she gulped away.

   "You're dehydrated. The Aeth… the magic can do that to you, if you don't know how to control it. It'll dry you right up, till there's nuttin' left. Can you control it?"

   The girl shook her head no, withdrawing the bottle only to gasp for breath and add "well… sometimes I can. I think." before returning to the water.

   "Hmph." Jangus grunted disapprovingly. "How many times has that happened before?"

  The girl held up two fingers.

   "Hmph. Twice already. You're lucky to be alive, kid. Most don't make it past the first."

   With an extended gurgling noise, The water was drained completely from the bottle, and the girl caught her breath, as she watched Jangus begin to clean and dress the fish. "How do you know so much about me?" She asked, with no small amount of awe.

   "I'm old. I know things." Jangus answered quickly, nearly caught off guard by the question.

   "I thought you said you wasn't old, yet." She said, just as quickly.

   "Yeah... So. Two things, kid. One: shut the fook up. Two: put the pan on the fookin fire." 

   The girl wiped her mouth on her sleeve as she rose, and walked straight up to the ex-agent, The absence of fear palpable in her aura. "Bug."

   "What?" Jangus looked up at the small girl in disbelief.

   "My name's not Kid. It's Bug. And it wouldn't hurt you to be polite sometimes."

   "Well ok, Bug." He smiled in amusement. "I'm sorry. Now… please. Put the fookin pan on the fookin fire?"

   "You know you're real mean for a good guy." She said, as she scooped up the lightweight camping pan and smacked him on a muscular shoulder, then making an about face, calmly walked towards the fire, setting the pan at it's edge, on a bed of red and grey coals.

   Jangus flinched, laughing. The fish were nearly ready for cooking. He made the final slices along the skin, and carried them to the fire, placing them on the pan. The two listened to the fish sizzle in silence for a while, before it was broken by Bug.

   "When can I go back home?" There was no hope in her voice.

   "You know you can't. They'd just find you again." That was the truth of it. She could never go back home again. The best she could hope for was to start a new life somewhere far from here. Until she breached again. (Goddamm it. She's just a kid. They wanted me to fookin kill a kid…)

   "...I know." She said, crouching down to flip the fish gingerly with her fingers. She didn't rise again when she asked "What happened to Teryan? Did I kill him, too?"

   "What?! Who'd you kill? The fook's a Teryan?" Jangus' eyes widened like dinner plates in surprise.

   "Teryan. I had to go live with Teryan after…" The normally composed and calm girl was suddenly shaking and crying openly. "After…" she waved her arms in the air helplessly. "My mo...mo... mommmm!"

   "Fook. Aw, Kid… Bug. Look… I… I'm sorry. They sent the Shroud. They don't leave witnesses. We're lucky we got away at all. Teryan… Look, it's not your fault. Ok? Any of it. Fookin' OSR b******s…"

   (Not just a kid. A kid who's lost her fookin ma. But why? She's fookin smart. Gifted, too. She's definitely trainable, with the right guidance.)

   "...I'm so sorry." Grabbing a stick from the ground, Jangus stuck it through the gills of all 3 trout and removed them from the pan in one swift motion. 

   Wiping her eyes, Bug turned and stood up. "I know..." She blinked through tears, and gave a sudden start, a look of alarm on her face.

   "No, you don't. What? What's wrong?" Even as he asked the question, he knew. He could feel the presence behind him. He didn't know how he hadn't noticed earlier. Probably the kid's fault. He spun around to see a diminutive creature, waist high, and light purple of skin. Its hair was a deeper shade of violet, and worn up in pigtails, which it was currently using to dab at the corners of pitch black eyes, as tears streamed down its lavender cheeks.

   "You. Poor. THING!" Its voice betrayed it as a woman. Gnomish, perhaps? Jangus had never seen anything like it before. She rushed past him, ducking effortlessly under his swift attempt to restrain her like he had been moving through tar and she, a vacuum. In a flash, she was on the young child, cradling her in her arms and cooing reassuringly. Bug's apprehension dissolved the instant the woman embraced her, and she fell to quiet sobbing and sniffling.

   "What the fook? Who the fook… how did you fookin'?" He pointed at the space the woman should have occupied.

   "Oh hush, brute. Can't you see this poor child is in pain? Yes, you are. Aren't you?" Bug sobbed in reply. "See? Now, now. It's ok. Marza's here. You're with Marza and nothing's gonna hurt you. What's your name, child? No, no! Don't tell me!" She held a finger up in Jangus' direction, silencing him before he even thought to answer. "Sophia. Yes. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. There, there. Yes, yes. Sophia. You have a good cry on Marza now, Sophia. And You!" The same finger that hushed him now beckoned. "I see 3 fish. Are you so rude as to make a lady starve?" 

   "I…" he began to reply

   Marza instantly cut him off. "No, of course not. Quickly, now. Before it gets cold." Jangus found himself obeying the strange creature, out of sheer curiosity. Or at least, so he told himself. "Good, good. Yes, thank you. Ah, trout! My favorite. Come child. Eat, eat! You'll need your strength. Rest, and eat, while Marza The Magnificent recants a tale. This is a particularly good one, mind you. About a young pureblood boy that learned to control his powers all on his own. Yes, yes! I know! Now settle down, Sophia, and listen to Marza…"

Reviews

[Papaya]

Enter Marza like a bolt of lightening. Nice!
Great dialogue again. At this point an explanation of who the OSR are should be coming and what that acronym means. Was there a reason you italicized "expurgated". That tripped me up.
I hate when I'm reading and I come across a word I don't know. It loses me a little. Good stuff though overall.

[Dripping Chocolate Madness]

Yeah a lot of that was left open for future campaign building. The OSR was actually something he asked me to put in, to fit the characters into the world. I guess they were a pre existing group in his game-world. I never did find out who they really were, but I imagined like a really violent big brother (1984).

[Papaya]

Ok. Got it. I figured they were the bad guys.

[Dripping Chocolate Madness]

I wish it were that simple... Knowing our DM, they were gods or something.
He once made a circus out of bug people, then made the ringmaster my grandmother. Who was a giant gross bug-hag.
She told me stories, while I napped on her lap. I refuse to let The DM win lol.

[Papaya]

Lol! That's funny.