The Sorrows Can Swim

[Griznuq]

The question struck a cord with Laren, and a sore one at that... What did he think?? They wanted his opinion on the situation? The question sorta pissed him off...

"What do I think??" He asked incredulously. "What could I think?? I think this place is freakin cursed! I think I'm out here, defending this place that seems to be full of some sort of combination of creepy foul magic, subterfuge and bad bloody luck!

Every time I get involved with something lately, it either figuratively or or quite bloody literally! blows up in my face! And why the hell am I doing it?!"

He could feel his ears turning red with anger. He knew that it wasn't directed at any in the room, but he also couldn't stop it from coming out at them.

"My family is gone now, and I?m the only one of my line? And I have no idea what I?m doing. I don?t know what I?m going to do, I don?t know what I?m supposed to do, and I?m not even sure what I?ve already done!

My dreams are haunted with memories that are either someone else?s or simply have never happened. What do they mean? Who knows?

I have no family left to my knowledge. Who knows what Kit?s full story is? However it goes, I?m sure it?s? disturbing to say the least. Maal has gone through only Maal knows what, and I?m not sure I even wanna know. Ragnar bearly even speaks?  We?ve got a wizard who would rather shoot arrows than cast spells, and a cat / humanoid who doesn?t even KNOW what he?s lived through or what he is?

And don?t even get me started on things blowing up for no reason? Of course, I KNOW that there?s got to be a reason for it. Whatever it is, I?m sure it?s not natural.

Every day seems like an uphill battle. Why are we fighting? Why bother? What?s left for me to fight for? Do these people genuinely care about what happens to me after just a month?s worth of association? Of what consequence could one silly Halfling  really be?"

His breath came laboriously and his knuckles ached in clenched fists. he forced his fingers to open, and took a deep breath that he let out slowly. His audience's eyes were wide, and more than one mouth hung agape.

"I'm far to sober to be awake at this time in the morning," he said. When neither of the brothers moved, he decided that he's help himself to a glass and filled it himself.

"I've been trying to drown my sorrows since I got this blasted place, and as my luck would have it, they can bloody swim."

[Wildfire]

Julius took a sip from his glass of wine and said, "Nope...no interruption at all. We were just discussing the recent events about town..." Julius paused and took another sip from his wineglass, "...of which you have been a large part of."

Keltan glanced to Laren and said, "You've been on the front lines for much of this...what are your thoughts on the matters? What does your gut tell you in regards to it all?"

At once all four them were staring at Laren. Their eyes seemed to pierce him straight through like lances. It was an intensity that Laren had never seen from the twin brothers. Though their manner was light, their eyes spoke of something far more elusive but quite serious. Only in the last days of seeing his father had Laren ever witnessed a look quite like that.

[Griznuq]

The situation made Laren more than a little uncomfortable. He never was very good at knowing the boundaries when poking fun, so he shied away from doing so, especially when the target was someone in a position of power.

Laren pretended the question was never asked. "Am I inturrupting anything? I could certainly come back another time... Lord knows I should get a little sleep... If I can manage to actually fall asleep anyway..."

[Wildfire]

Garret said, ?Laren, don?t those two look somewhat out of place at the ?kids table?.  How I love to see the taller ones view things from a similar point of view that we have to. Except instead of being too small they?re too big!? Garret laughed and Eldan lightly poked Laren with his elbow, nodded his head, and continued by saying, ?We don?t blame you two, of course. You just didn?t know when to stop growing! Silly big men.?

Julius and Keltan looked at each other, rolled their eyes and knew that they had to endure the mocking assault by the Halfling twins and wondered if Laren would join the fun.

[Griznuq]

Laren took it all in stride. At this point, he wouldn't be surpirsed if they handed these rings out with every mug of ale in the town.

"Don't mind if I do... " he said in a subdued tone. He was very aware of the dark swollen sleep circles beneath his eyes.

[Wildfire]

Peering into the kitchen Laren saw four faces staring back at him. Two of the faces were Garret's and Eldan's. The other two were Julius and Keltan the innkeeper of The Thornhedge.

The room was filled with smoke from Garret's and Eldan's pipes and all four had mugs of ale. On their right hand middle finger each were wearing the Hawk ring that Laren had become familiar with as of late.

"Laren," Garret said with feigned surprise, "how are you doing in this early hour? Come and sit if you like. Would you like a pint of bitters?"

Julius smiled as did Keltan hoping to put any surprise that Laren might have harbored to rest.

Eldan stretched forth his hand with a soft brown leather pouch and said, "I have some fine tabac here if you'd like to relax a bit." His tone was friendly but had a hint of seriousness to it.

[Griznuq]

The purple smoke gave him pause. This was something certainly out of the ordinary. Then again, this was Threshold... Who know what was "Ordinary" anyway...

The decision to ignore the smoke was a conscious one. It wasn't like him to ignore the unexplained, especially when it was between him and his ale. Perhaps complete ignorance wasn't the way to go... He instead chose avoidance, and went off the road and around the smoke.

About a hundred paces away from the stump, Laren took a look up and down the streets. He was beginning to feel a little bit uneasy. Not quite paranoid, but clearly not at ease.

Feeling a tad foolish, he asked himself what he expected to see anyway, and further, what would he have done had he seen anything. Whatever it would have been would have seen him too, and he'd rather the thing didn't know that he knew that... He shook his head to try to free himself of the foolish feeling.

There's no room for such childishness anymore.

He pushed open the door to the stump. The room glowed dimly in the light from only two of the twelve lanterns that hung around the walls. There was no one at the bar, and no one at the tables... But there was a feeling like someone was there. Of course someone's here, Garret and Elden live here. Now stop being silly. It was strange having to be so stern with himself. He'd never done that before.

He walked to the end of the bar and peered through the door to the back room, ignoring the feeling that he was being watched.

"Does no one sleep anymore?" he asked no one in particular. He exaggerated his tone a bit to convey that he was only fooling.