A/N: This is a series of little stories, related only in that they involve characters from my other stories, but it shouldn't be necessary to have read any of the rest of it to understand these (I hope they're intelligible by themselves, anyway...). I may add on to this once in a while with a few more tidbits.

Muzz: Engineering Trainer

-Nearly ten years ago-

--

Now is probably not the best time to be reconsidering, Galmak thought. He peeked one eye cautiously over the log. The fuse looked… well, the fuse looked gone. He ducked for cover just in time to avoid the blast of heat and smoke racing outward across the ground as a massive fireball launched straight into the air.

"Whoooee!" Muzz coughed, standing up beside the orc. The very top of the goblin's carrot-orange hair was singed and the tip of his long, green nose boasted a blackened smudge. "That's not bad, not bad. You say you can make a bunch more o' those suckers?"

"I didn't say I could make a bunch more," Galmak said doubtfully. "I'm… uh, slightly short on gold and I don't have the parts for too many."

"Parts, eh? Parts aren't a problem. I'll getcha the parts. Just show me how to make 'em too and we'll really get going. I can see this being the beginning of some beautiful destruction." Muzz grinned and sighed with a faraway look in his eye.

Free parts for building explosives to his heart's content? "Well, in that case…" The orc stuck out his hand and the goblin snapped abruptly out of his scheming.

"Deal," they both said and grinned.

The sound of hooves pounding on dirt drew nearer and suddenly a young tauren careened out of the undergrowth, flailing wildly at the bushes snagging his armor.

"Did I miss it?" he panted. "Oh. Oh, I did." He snorted dejectedly at the nearby patch of scorched ground and bomb bits.

"I told you you would if you left," Galmak said, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "The fuses aren't that long, Vek."

"You couldn't just… pause it?"

"Pause it? Pause it? You can't pause those babies! Those babies are unpausable!" Muzz crowed. "Maybe that should be our slogan. 'They're unpausable'? No… no, I guess not."

"Unstoppable?" Chetvek suggested thoughtfully.

"Unstoppable," the goblin repeated. "Eh, we'll let the marketers come up with that. We're the destructioners! We don't need any slogan besides 'let 'er rip!' or maybe, 'cover yer asses!'"

"Understand I have to see a profit from this," Galmak crossed his arms and eyed the excited goblin. "I've got training to think about. Old Vazario won't teach me anything more until I've paid him. And I'm, uh, a little behind on that."

"That old bastard," Muzz snorted. "I could teach him a thing or two. Anyway, you're talking to me about profit? Whaddaya think my middle name is? It's Zhxugx. You know what that means in Goblin? It means 'splendid.' And how do you think I made my first ever profit? Oooh, yeah, that's right." Muzz nodded in satisfaction and kicked a charred chunk off the log.

Galmak was none the wiser, but what the hell. "Alright then. Vek, you in too?"

"In? But I didn't really do anything. I don't blow things up very well, Galmak. They never seem to blow up right." The tauren shook his shaggy mane and puffed out a resigned sigh. "I really think I'm better off sticking to my herb picking."

"You don't have to blow anything up," Galmak reassured him.

"Leave that to the prooo-fessionals," Muzz added.

"You can just stick around and watch," Galmak finished.

Chetvek grinned. "Well, sure then. I don't mind watching things blow up. As long as they're things that don't mind blowing up," he added with a frown.

"My bombs don't mind," the orc said. "And the rest of the stuff we'll evaluate on a case-by-case basis."

"Case-by-case basis sounds profitable," Muzz agreed. "No wasting materials that way. We'll have ourselves a profitable business in no time and you'll have your gold for training! Then maybe we can move on to bigger things!"

"But where do all your skills come in?" Galmak asked suspiciously. "I thought you said you could teach Vazario a few things?"

"Well, I could… if I wanted to," Muzz said slyly.

"How about teaching me?"

"You don't have the gold!" the goblin said gleefully.

Chetvek blinked at him. "But aren't you business partners now? Isn't he going to have to teach you how to build his bombs?"

The goblin muttered and looked up askance at Galmak. "Alright, alright. Case-by-case basis, like you said! No deep secrets! None of my special formulae! No prototyped, patented, or premium products! Just the basics. In exchange for teaching me to build those magnificent little packages of destruction!"

Why should an engineer pay for his training when he could build explosives for it instead? "Now you've really got a deal," Galmak grinned.