Adventures of Mabatsekker and Kat-Chi: Part 6

As the two rose up, they stared at each other. Time seemed to have become meaningless for the two. Their gazes were like glass, until Maba's eyes fixated on the trapdoor, which lead to the attic they were in; It seemed to shake all the time, and giggles came from underneath. Maba let go of Kat, who then seemed a little disappointed. Maba walked to the trapdoor, sneaking as quietly as he could, and then, he heard a familiar grunting, as someone seemed to be there shooing all the prevous gigglers away. Maba ripped the trapdoor open and gave whoever was down there a punt in the head.

"Ouch", went the blonde person beneath. Maba faked his best smile as the person rose his head up, with his woking eye twitching as he saw Maba's fake-smiling head: "So, what's up, Gar?" Maba went like he hadn't hurt a fly. Gar had his usual apathic attidude going, and pretended like it never happened, and coughed, as he started talking: "Ahem, Miss Zol sent me here to pick Kat-chan up. It would seem that you and Miss Zol have their passports and paperwork done, but in order for us to even get out of town, We should get the papers done for me and Kat-Chi aswell..." Gar went, until Kat-Chi peeked behind Maba's shoulder, her cheeks a wee red from possible embarassment

Kat started: "Uhh, sure. Let me just pick my belongings.. We're leaving tonight, right?", until Maba remebered, and then just blurted: "Crap, I totally forgot! The mission stated that we're to leave tonight already!" ("That means my dinner by the river is SCREWED"), he went on: "Uhh, where's Zol? I need her help as we go down to the armory to pick up the carriage, as well as my gear!"

Gar coughed again and shut his working eye: "Miss Zol is waiting just outside the Church dormitories, and she had the same general idea. I don't have to remind about hurrying, hmm?" Maba stared at him, "Right..." and then jumped down from the trapdoor, forgetting it was almost 9 feet to the ground: "Tch.. tch.. OUCH!!", but he rose up fairly quickly, and ran to to the door, smashed it open, and looked around for Zoliphian, where ever she might've been waiting. "..Uhh, Mabatsekker", he heard behind him, at a rather low voice, which continued "Mind your manner next time", Zoliphian said, as she grasped her nose, which was red freash from the impact the swinging door had caused as she lied on the ground.

Maba's eyes broadened and he practically begged for forgiveness as Zol got up.. until he noticed it was really was 'just' Zoliphian. "Uhh, sorry?", he went, until he got sucker-punched right in the middle of his nose. It didn't bleed, but it hurt. A *LOT*. while graping his nose as well, Maba started: "Mokay, ghyou ghot phat ghyou ghanted. Should ghe ghust gho tho ghe awrmowy?" Zoliphian replied with a smirk: "Excatly what I had in mind. Shall we?", as she showed the way down to the armory. They walked their way to the amory, and to Maba's dormitory, which was surprisingly clean. Even Zoliphian was impressed: Gar's room only had a bed and a table with a chair, so it was naturally empty, but for a young soldier, Maba had his stuff neatly ordered up. "So, you must have a maid or someone cleaning the place up?" she asked.

Maba was digging his closet for his travelling chain mail set, but he still replied along with the clinking sounds: "Nah, *man, my gauntlets really need a polishing* I'm just getting prepared, you know?" Zoliphian just ignored the young man working in the closet, as she checked out the various portraits in the working desk, or what seemed like one: Some of him and Kat-Chi, even one with all four of them, Mabatsekker, Kat, Zoliphian and Gar. She turned the one of just her face-down, as it had certainly caught her side which she didn't like; Smiling at the artist, who was probably Mabat himself just wasn't her best side.. more like a cold stare was what she was good at. One particular pair of items hanging on the wall interested her: A moose head with a leather whip underneath it. She asked Maba: "Hey, what's with the moose head and the whip? Were you a circus trainer or something?" Maba glanced her and replied: "Nah, those supposedly belonged to my grandfather. The head has been quite well-preserved, don't you think?" Zoliphian: "So, was he a hunter or something?" Maba glanced back, again: "No, he was a really bad carriage driver"

Zoliphian smirked at the thought and checked at the gear Maba had already put up to the desk: A chain-linked shirt and some greaves, some blades and a short sword. The most peculiar item was a tome, most likely his spellbook. Her own spellbook wasn't anything impressive, as she preferred to carry her collection of spells in a scrollcase tucked away somewhere in her cape. Her weapon was a pair of knives slipped inside her bracelets; with them, she never felt threatened.. then again, with someone as big as Gar around, who needs to fear her anyway? Maba was done with packing, and started dragging his travel package to the stables where their carriage was, along with a pony. Te stablemaster signalled it was Okay, as the pny's own food was paked to the cart aswell. Maba heaved the bag of equipment to the cart, and walked alongside the poney as they went outside, to pick Gar and Kat-Chi up. Zoliphian just sat in the back of the cart, wondering how the two had their paperwork going. Hopefully, Gar wasn't spacing around in his own mind, or otherwise it would hurt Zoliphian image bad, if Kat-Chi had to do any of the writing for him.

As they approached the guildhouse, Gar and Kat-Chi were outside, with Kat apparently talking about something. Gar had his working eye shut and he just smiled like there was not a care in the world, until the half-elf's ears picked the sound of Zoliphian falling down from the cart and swearing pretty much all the profanities she could do in Common, elvish, felinish or any other language she could. "NEXT TIME, DON'T DRIVE OVER THE BIGGEST ROCK YOU FIND, BOREON!!" she went on as they arrived. "Miss Zoliphian..." Gar went and walked to her side, and took his usual, serious and stern self. Zoliphian calmed down as he noticed people were looking at her confused from the windows of the guild. Kat suggested that they should go to her dormitory to pick her stuff up. Maba interrupted, and then proceeded heaving something heavy from the cart, and handed it to Kat-Chi: "Your previous mace had a wooden handle, and that was the previous reason it broke.. the handle is cold steel now, so it shouldn't be that much heavier.."

Kat-Chi held the mace up with no problem at all, and thanked him for it. After Mabatsekker, the mace was her best friend on the heat of battle. She swung a few practice swings at her invisible enemy, and then tossed it back to the carriage. "What about Gar? I know Zoliphian is not much into close contact, but I presume you have something to compliment your strenght?", Maba asked in a 'by the way' fashion. Gar coughed, and pulled out his most impressively decorated bastard sword. What he never told to others was the fact he had grafted the decorations to the sword himself. Maba had his own one-hander pulled out, but it pretty much paled in comparison. Zoliphian muttered to herself: "It's not the size of the sword, it's how you use it.." and proceeded to snickering to herself at such a thought. "I beg your pardon?" Kat-Chi asked a bit confused. "Nothing, nothing, just thinking about Joh.. things!" She replied with her hand swinging like she was trying to fend a mosquitoe off. Kat gave her a blank stare and then suggested that they'd pick the rest of Gar and Zoliphian's equipment, and after that, they'd go to the church to pick the child up along with Kat-Chi's belongings.

Like expected, all Gar had with him was a spare change of clothes and unexpectedly, a fine, well-polished shield wth fine, intircate runes embedded into it. when questioned, even by Zoliphian in the past about it, all he could give it was a silent stare. Zoliphian, on the other hand, had several cloaks and such with her, and a pair of daggers, in case her hidden par would get ruined, or used up. They loaded the dark and silent pairs stuff to the cart, and they went bqack to the church, where their equipment gathering had gotten its start from: Once again, the kids went happily cheering as Kat-Chi returned, and Maba got a strangely happy glance from the pony as several children were climbing on his and Kat-Chi's shoulders. Zoliphian, apparently ignored by the children, asked, like there really was nothing else to ask "Why do you tolerate this, Kat-Chi?" Kat-Chi just kept looking at Zol and her monotonic expression, but finally answered: "Just getting prepared, that's all!" Zol 's eyes broadened up, and then turned to Gar: "Not a *WORD* out of you!" after this, she turned to herself and thought ("But.. but.. she isn't even.. I mean.. Master Maba.. waitaminit.."), but was interrupted as Tenchimar stepped outside from the wooden doors of the church. "Sareon, Dermin, Kent, Zoliphian, I'd like to introduce you to little Tiria here.." the elderly teacher-priest nodded in the direction of the young girl standing behind her.. Something was truly odd with her, as she shunned the sight of the outside..

What happen? Someone set us up with: To be continued