Import: DQIX Quest Log
Ezra Evans

Rating: K

Warnings: slight AU

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Quest IX, which is the marketed property of Square Enix and Nintendo; I'm just letting a few alternate versions of my mates and myself run around wreaking havoc.

Author's Notes: I originally intended on posting these five at a time, and I almost managed it, but then my DQIX muse poofed for Q005 and never came back. Subsequently, this has been sitting around for a while.
Part of my Import series, which spans several fandoms and involves me and my mates running around wreaking havoc. Realistically. Or so I hope. :B
Here's hoping I don't make a fool of myself. Or maybe I will on purpose. DQIX quests can do that.

[Q001] One Good Turn

You've been asked by a girl called Questelle in Angel Falls to go and find a Tangleweb. Try investigating the big spider's web on the other side of the river just outside the village. Keep your eyes peeled for something twinkly...

The girl—he thinks her name might be Estelle—had told him that yes, there was a giant spider's web just across the river, and yes, it was deserted, and no, he would not have to worry about a giant spider because the thing was deserted, and would he pleasepleaseplease answer all her prayers and get a tangleweb for her? And of course he'd consented, thinking that even if he'd lost his wings and his halo and wasn't technically a Celestrian anymore, he was still Angel Falls' guardian. Besides, he reasoned to himself, the monsters in the area were easy enough to defeat or outrun or chase away.

Except that the spider's web was not as deserted as he had been told and he certainly did not expect to have to fight another giant monster so soon after the one in the Hexagon. The enormous spider was slow enough that he would have easily been able to flee under normal conditions: the problem was that in the process of trying to retrieve tanglewebs he had ended up accidentally using a few on himself, not to mention the web itself sticking to his sandals and slowing him down.

Naturally, he tried to run. He was perhaps fifteen feet from the edge of the web when the spider's shadow descended upon him, an ominous warning that he would not be able to get away. Regretting that he had been so close to escaping, he turned to face the monster. However, as he braced himself as well as he could against the quivering web, raised his sword shakily, and tried desperately not to topple over, he heard a faint twang and hiss and saw a shaft of wood protruding from one eye. The spider pulled away, enraged with pain but also confused and bewildered, and he took the opportunity to scramble the remaining distance backwards off of the web, aided by pushy hands that tugged him viciously to safe ground. He turned and ran for the trees the second he reached solid ground without a second glance back at his savior.

A pale-skinned, green-haired girl slid down the nearest tree trunk and bounded past him, bow and arrow raised. "Get out the way, mate, we'll be done in a mo'!" He spun around, bewildered, only to hear her shout, "Hey, save me some of the experience, won't you?" followed by an inarticulate name that sounded something like 'Étroonj.'

'Étroonj' shouted back incomprehensibly.

Well, he'd gotten what he'd come for, and the odd pair seemed fine without him. He let out a brief sigh and hurried back to Angel Falls.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you!" Questelle cried, hopping up and down on the spot. He waved her off tiredly (though not before she managed to give him a sleeping hibiscus) and vaguely wondered why she hadn't offered any Benevolessence before remembering that the Fyggs had bloomed and that the great tree of Yggdrasil would not need any more spirit of gratitude and that as a not-quite-Celestrian he probably wouldn't be able to collect it anyways.

"Hey, you! Guy with the sword!"

He turned, startled, automatically reaching for the weapon at his hip.

"It is you! Hey, Ezzer, I found him!" a redheaded girl called, delighted.

Her green-haired companion appeared as though she had Zoomed there. "Really? Excellent! How are you? Well, you're walking and talking so I suppose you're alright."

"Sorry about the spider!" the first girl chirped.

"Yeah, we were in the grotto down below when it came along and chased us up," the second added.

"Bit off a bit more than we could chew with that one," the first laughed.

"So we decided to wing it before it could bite our heads off, and so we would have more room, 'specially since as an archer I work better at a distance," the second explained.

"Except when we got out, you were there," the first frowned, "But you'd disappeared while we were fighting, so Ezzer here was worried you'd gotten attacked by some other escaped grotto monster or something. I'm E'trange, by the way, spelled E-apostrophe-T-R-A-N-G-E."

"I—er—" he stammered, bewildered.

"Funny name, isn't it?" the archer smiled. "But she won't tell me her first name, so E'trange will have to do. I'm Ezra." She stuck out her hand. "You?"

He hesitated for a moment before offering his hand, a shy smile, and his name.

You found a tangleweb for Questelle in Angel Falls, and she gave you a sleeping hibiscus in return. She told you to look for twinkly spots, as they show there's an item in that location. You can do this quest as many times as you like.

o m a k e

He hesitated for a moment before quietly admitting, "Enoch," and, since he had seen other humans shake hands, awkwardly extended his own.

Ezra grabbed his hand enthusiastically. "No kidding? We heard about you!"

"Saved a lady from the Hexagoon, didn't you?" E'trange agreed, exchanging a sly look with her partner when Enoch nodded mutely.

"Say, you're pretty new at this adventuring business, aren't you?" Ezra began, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"We just met up in Stornway not long ago," E'trange cut in, smirking as she elbowed Ezra's side.

"But after that last hullabaloo with the spider, we figured we could do with another partner, so…" Ezra continued blithely, ignoring E'trange.

He blinked as she dropped off, tilting his head slightly. Ezra's grin faded a little.

E'trange burst out cackling. "You from Batsureg or something?" she snickered, clapping a hand against Enoch's back and ignoring his wince. "Ezzer here's a little vague, so I'll clear it up for you: Will you join us? Or, I dunno, is it the other way around? We've not got much planned, see."

He was stunned into silence.

Ezra began to open her mouth to say something, except that his mouth was already open and was in fact just closing. He wondered when he had said it.

"Okay."