Three Day Waiting Period [Rondun, Tetrosabier, Ugz]

Well that purse was certainly lighter. Probably about four years’ worth of coins all dumped out in an attempt to douse the fire that was clawing inside his chest. Too bad he can’t do it as effectively again next time since he only have the silver and gold coin purse left. Now it would be simply too optimistic for him not to get some sort of retaliation from the Lamian. Which was unfortunate since he wasn’t wearing his usual set of armour, because he wasn’t expecting a fight, he was more expecting some creep trying to scam new and young players. The good news was he is wearing his new chain mail and as usual his thick fur covered up that fact completely.

He had enough run in with assassins and he generally was careful around with them. Not distrusting them all like they are a villain in disguise, but maintain enough wariness and know they can back stabs you any time. Another reason he really didn’t want to come with Ugz today, but what can you do? He is your little brother, and coming with is the only way to protect him. Even if Ugz doesn’t seem to want it.

Rondun walked behind Ugz slowly, carefully navigating the tables. He looked at the pot of tea with final forlorn look before meeting with Tetrosabier’s gaze. Oh. Oh he knew he was not wanted in the lessons. However one does not become a paladin without endurance and perseverance. He smiled pleasantly at the bird Lamain before ducking a little to pass through the doorway as well. He slowed down a little to make sure he could keep both his companions in his sight.

Ugz, to his credit, doesn’t seem to notice their tension, which was just as well. He needed to be a good influence to his brother. The coin debacle doesn’t count, it just happened to be an efficient way to rid yourself of loose change that one accumulated through the game. He listened in closely to the conversation, ear twitching and in full attention. His eyes never left Tetrosabier’s back.

Tetrosabier walked for a short period of time, coming to a small and narrow alleyway.   Listening to Ugz talk about his first mission,  Tetrosabier laughed heartily

"Let me guess its for Terry Witicher, right?" He laughed again.  "He is a made up character,  the agency wanted to test how long it would take for you to figure that out."  Tetrosabier turned to the tall rabbit and frowned.

"Your not going away are you?" He spoke impatiently,  almost like it was an atrocity that he was still in Tetrosabiers presence.  He sighed.  "Well the most you could do is make yourself useful." Tetrosabier saw the distrusting look in his eyes.  Like a fire was burning underneath that pile of fur that was only fueled by Tetrosabiers existence.  

"Let us play a game of hide and seek."  Tetrosabier spoke cheerfully.  He quickly interrupted any comeback from the small ball of fury with "And yes I know that it is a game for children,  but it is very useful in the art of being an assassin.  Knowing how to properly hide from angry henchmen will come in handy a lot more often than you would think."  He turned to Ugz and smiled.

"Now watch carefully,  I only want to have to do this once."  Tetrosabier walked out into the center of the alley.  Crouching down he lept upwards into the air.  Activating the fly ability, his jump was more that enough to get him to the top of the short building and swiftly onto the roof.

Very quietly he ran to the side of the building that faced the street where they entered.  Using the rest of his fly, he came down behind the rabbit without a noise."Do you see what I did there?" Tetrosabier spoke suddenly, hoping to get some reaction from the duo.

In truth, Ugz was perhaps more aware of the tension between Tetrosabier and Rondun than his brother might have liked. He just approved of the fact. He didn't trust the bird-man either. There was just something... slimy about the guy. Something that made Ugz not trust him right off the bat. It didn't help though that Tetrosabier had made the little goblin wait three days. In fact the whole idea of the avian being untrustworthy could have been because of that one thing. Ugz had a tendency of holding a grudge.

Tetrosabier led them out of the cafe and to a relatively close alleyway. He started to explain what he had planned and before he was even done Ugz was scowling. The last thing he wanted was to play some sort of game with this guy! He wanted to kill things! That was the whole point of being an assassin. Yet, before he could begin to argue the much taller man explained that the ability to hide was an important one when being chased down.

"I can hide just fine thanks." He frowned at Tetrosabier. In truth people hardly noticed him to start with. He was small and easy to overlook, so he blended in well and if he disappeared into a crowd it would be very difficult to locate him indeed given that he was so much smaller than the average avatar. Lots of people wanted to play tall avatars like Tetrosabier, playing a smaller one like himself was more rare.

"Now watch carefully, I only want to have to do this once." A moment after his words the bird-man went flying upwards, crouched down, and rushed across the rooftop to the other side, and dropped back down behind Rondun. Ugz turned himself around, frowning deeply at the lamian. "Do you see what I did there?"

"Showed off?" Ugz shrugged. "All I saw was a lot of you running around on rooftops. What's the point of that? I can't fly."

He really didn’t expect Tetrosabier to openly acknowledge him trailing behind, refusing to leave. It doesn’t quite matter he wasn’t going to at all until he know his little brother won’t be bullied. So all the reply he gave was a closed eye smile with tilted head. Something normal people would just find cute and adorable.

After a brief explanation of the lessons – which was surprisingly sound since Ugz draws instant attention whenever he could not hold in his patience. He was mildly surprised that the Lamain would demonstrate immediately in front of them. His ears already twitched and track the man through the sky and landed behind him. He did not even bother to turn around until Ugz finish speaking.

Rondun was a seasoned paladin. He has done enough escort missions to look out for all the signs of an assassin. It didn’t take him long to develop the ability to maintain a constant vigilance on all area - particularly skywards. He debated in his head whether to openly explain the principal of Tanuki Gakure no Justus, where human beings have been long conditioned to not check anything above a forty-five angle mark. That might be too much.

“Oh. It seemed you want to take me out?” He said, smiling placidly. “Now you wouldn’t do that just for show would you? Not when you don’t know everything about your mark.”

It was something he learned would separate a good assassin with a bad one. The bad ones were the one that come in with a knife and honestly believed that it could break through scale armour of a paladin and then challenge him to a fight. Those he could dispatch without even taking out his mace. Good ones give him trouble. The good ones do their best to use his charge’s personality and weaknesses against him. Separating them, tripping them or tried to snipe their target from well out of his range of attack. He has learned slowly to counter them, how to position himself, layer armour on vulnerable weakness and then research beforehand. Knowing which guild and which assassin they sent. Then there was nothing for it other than study and train until he could keep off all the assassins. So far not bad, but he knew he could be better.

Rondun smiled. “Are you planning to make me a practice mark?”

He did say to be useful? And what’s more useful than study more possible ways an assassin would hurt the one he protect.

"All I saw was a lot of you running around on rooftops. What's the point of that? I can't fly."  Ugz voice dripped with attitude.  Tetrosabier looked to Ugz and frowned.

"What I did is called an evasive maneuver.  And I figured that you wouldn't be able to fly.  Hence why I picked up this for you." Tetrosabier pulled back his cloak, revealing a contraption that looked polished but simple.  He tossed it to Ugz.

"That," he said, pointing to the device, "is a jet pack.  That is what took me three days in the exutaran lands.  I will allow you to keep it,  but it is only a temporary thing.  Should just last as long as a couple seconds at a time before needing to recharge." Though that wasn't the reason Tetrosabier had spent all that time there.  Really the device was an exutaran toy, but it still worked for the purpose he had gotten it for.  What had taken up most of that time was the fact that he was too much a cheapskate to teleport.

“Are you planning to make me a practice mark?” The rabbit seemed almost impatient.  Tetrosabier smiled.  He was glad the rabbit man was at least astute.  His fluffy composure and wide eyes made him seem cute, but within one meeting Tetrosabier could already tell that there was more to him.

"Yes!" Tetrosabier spoke with much energy.  Turning back to Ugz he crouched down his back arched wildly, making him seem just as tall as the goblin.  The smile on his face gave the impression that this movement had not phased him.  His calm eyes were as green as poison.

"Your job is to reach your companion and,"  he turned back to the taller one, standing up to meet his height."Your job is to keep him from reaching you by tagging him with this rod."  He pulled out a long narrow rod that bent under its own weight.  The wire-like pole was tipped with beads,  as to make it less sharp.  He tossed it over to the fluffy figure.

Stepping back,  he looked between the two of them.  He cleared his throat and stated"The rules are this,  Ugz," he pointed his long finger at the goblin.  "Your job is to tag your friend here by any means necessary, and your job is to keep him from tagging you."

Leaning in closer to Rondun, he whispered loud enough that Ugz could hear, he said "And don't go easy on him,  remember that in the real world if he fails, he could end up dead, so dont hold back."  Tetrosabier believed that as a "bodyguard" the rabbit would hope for the best for Ugz, and tried to play off that.

"Ugz will have half a minute in order to hide, after which Mr. Rabbit-Man," he said with an underlying tone of sarcasm, "will walk down to the end of the alley.  Ugz will have until you finish making it to the end to tag you."  He grabbed the fluffy shoulders of the bunny, feeling the hard chain-mail underneath.  Without missing a beat he continued with his motion.  He pushed them to the other side of the wall and shouted out towards Ugz.

"Time starts now." Turning to Rondun,  he glared directly into his eyes.  "I am dead serious, do not go easy on him."

Suddenly, and without warning Tetrosabier tossed something to Ugz and the little goblin fumbled with it. He nearly dropped it to the ground, but at the last moment was able to save the bulky contraption. "Didn't you say that you were late because it was supposed to be a lesson?"

For a long moment he stared at it suspiciously, but the moment that Tetrosabier revealed it's function he couldn't resist grinning broadly. Flying! That was so cool! He might have made fun of the bird-man for it, but he had to admit that it sounded like a lot of fun. Enough fun that he missed most of what Tetrosabier said after that. He caught back up when his brother spoke up and his excited grin faded to something less certain. His brother the practice mark. He hated the way that Tetrosabier said 'yes' so enthusiastically. Much as he was endlessly frustrated with his brother the last thing he wanted was to kill Rondun. The very idea made his brow furrow.

It seemed though, as though it was more a game of tag than it was anything else. "I thought you said that we were going to play hide and seek, not tag." He put one hand on his hip and juggled the jet pack with the other. Tetrosabier took the time to explain the 'game' but the explanation only made Ugz look grumpier and grumpier.

"Yay. So rather than killing a real mark I have to play kid's games? That's lame." His opinion didn't seem to matter. Tetrosabier led Rondun away and while the pair were distracted Ugz ran down the alleyway to set up his trap. Then, more stealthily he wound his way to his hiding spot. It was a simple enough plan that his devilishly clever mind came up with.

The moment that Rondun came down the alleyway; the jet pack came flying right at him!

He was disappointed a little. Mostly because this man has unwittingly destroyed his plan on learning more assassin tricks to look out for. Also because now he has to verse his little brother, who was now complaining very openly on how lame this whole situation was. Rondun kept back the tired sigh.

As Tetrosabier start to explain the game and tossed him the pole, Rondun grabbed it from the air. Carefully he bent the pole, checking the flexibility and see if the tip was indeed covered safely. Once he was satisfied he followed Tetrosabier out, completely ignoring the sarcastic name. Naturally he was warned not to take it easy on his little brother.

“Of course.” Rondun chuckled. “Ugz would try and throttle me if I do.”

And what good would it be for him to go easy on him and then let him fight another paladin who was less kind? Much faster to deter him by showing him what a typical bodyguard he will be coming across when he takes on regular jobs. Or further encourage him. He wasn’t quite sure how Ugz respond to tough challenges, guess this would be a time to find out. Bonus now he can be certain that the man doesn’t know they were brothers. The less the man knows the safer he feels.

Unfortunately the grab that he couldn’t dodge revealed the hard chain mail to the man. It was a loss, but in such a small enclosed space there was nowhere for him to dodge a grab without making a scene. So he merely nodded at the second warning and continue down the alley way.

Of course knowing Ugz he would no doubt want to use the jet pack immediately. Getting near the end of the alley he could hear the tell-tale sound of engine revving. Jetpack really wasn’t the stealthiest equipment, at least in a quiet alleyway. So Rondun equipped his shield in one hand and keep the pole in his other. Planning to use the shield to encourage his brother to either stop or turn away. Whichever path he chose, it would be an opening for him to tap his brother with the pole.

Soon he heard the sound of jetpack coming right at him. He put up the shield, letting the metal pieces open up and spit out all the flames. The jetpack crashed right into it. Muscle memory clicked in and Rondun instantly parry with his shield and to slam the jetpack to the wall. It more or less melted into a blob of metal and hit the floor with a pathetic whirl. Rondun loosen the grip on the shield a bit. Then he turned to the Lamian.

“So you took three day to get a toy for your student. Do you actually take your job seriously?” He asked. Even with those words, there was no real anger or annoyance in it. Not much of anything really, one could think he was just reading something aloud.

While he was addressing Tetrosabier, Rondun has kept one of his ears tilted towards the ground and another skywards. Essentially took in the alleyway. It was clever for Ugz to use a distraction, but he need to keep in mind that since a rabbit is a prey animal, they were always vigilante in any potential attacks. His kept a solid grip on his equipment and his leg poised to leap at the slightest movement.

Hearing the lamian rabbit talking about how the goblin would kill him for taking it easy,  Tetrosabier chuckled.  From this statement Tetrosabier found humor in two things,  the fact that he believed it, and the fact that this man had just given away his relation with Ugz.  No self respecting bodyguard would call the person they were protecting by their first name without addressing them with the proper title first.

Not wanting to give Ugz the advantag, Tetrosabier counted to twenty five.  He didn't want Ugz to know that he was going to send in the target early.  It would teach him that in the real world there was never an advantage.

Tapping Rondun on the shoulder he quietly motioned that it was time, pointing at his wrist and then the alley.  As the rabbit walked towards the corner of the alley,  Tetrosabier pulled out an identical pole.  As much as he disfavored protecting the tank,  it was part of the task.  

Tetrosabier followed closely to Rondun, nearly walking on his feet.  He stood facing away from The bunny,  waiting for any sign of the boy.  As they continued down the alley,  Tetrosabier started worrying that Ugz would not be able to tag Mr. Bunny-man.  Hearing the jetpack whirring behind him, he took a moment steal a glance back.  He watched as the jetpack ran from out from behind the dumpster.

Making a move to stop it,  Tetrosabier watched as Rondun smashed the front of the shield directly into the contraption.  He winced as he heard the sickening thud of the toy hitting the wall.  He stole one more quick glance at the wreck to make sure that his apprentice was safe.  Seeing the empty pile of melting iron gave Tetrosabier mixed emotions.  He was glad that his pupil was safe, however it still meant that Ugz was still ready to attack.  Very clever using a distraction,  however I do not think that it would have helped much.  Tetrosabier had not intended for Ugz to succeed.  The goal of this exercise was something that Ugz would need to know if he was going to succeed in this bussines.  He wanted to teach Ugz when to know when he doesn't have a chance.

“So you took three day to get a toy for your student. Do you actually take your job seriously?”

"It is not a toy."  Tetrosabier grumbled.  "I did not expect you to use a shield like that.  I got you the pole for a reason.  They are not built to handle an immense blunt force."  Motioning behind him to the end of the alley, he hoped that Rondun would understand to get to the end of the alley.  Readying up for an attack from all angles,  he kept Ronduns flank safe from all attacks from the rear.  He left no opening for attack.

If Rondun have eyebrows, it would have lifted ever so slightly, however having a rabbit head give him long eyelashes instead. So all the reaction he has for that was, “I did not use my full strength and the jetpack literally melted like cheap plastic.”

He did move as he was motioned for, but looked as if he has something more to say. Instead he shut his mouth abruptly to poke Ugz that was just behind Tetrosabier’s heel. “Hold on a minute Ugz, let me finish talking. Then you can try and kill him.” He said without quite realizing he just revealed his brother’s location. To be fair, Rondun has been keeping an eye on his little brother for years, it just felt natural for him. Looking down and around for him to make sure he was alright and that he didn’t run off too far. Which was a problem even when he could only crawl around as a baby, he was surprisingly fast and took the effort of the whole family to find the new born. It just happen he caught the sound with the one ear that was tilted towards the ground.

“Then why even get a jetpack? There must be other equipment to give that wouldn’t break at first combat. It’s not even stealthy, I can hear the engine easily in the alley.” He was slowly slipping into tutoring role, when he would talk with other tutors exchanging ideas and update each other with the ever changing curriculum. Now he was genuinely curious on Tetrosabier’s choice of classes. What order of skills were he trying to instil first? Was the talk about stealth a lie at the start and it wasn’t the lesson brief?