Shade's mine. Miineeee.
Legally, he still belongs to Blizzard, though :(
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CLOVER
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"Wotcha lookin' at?"
Crandor jumped slightly, turning to the troll who had seemingly appeared out of thin air beside him. "Shade. Give a guy some warning, will ya?"
The lanky rogue simply shrugged and sat down beside him. The shaman resumed his daydreaming.
Around them their guildmates loitered, preparing for the fight that was coming up.
"Yer be smitten, ya know."
Oh for the love of...
"I'm trying to rest, you noisy jungle monkey. Go away."
The Troll snorted. "Ya not restin', mon. Yer be starin'."
A three fingered hand lifted to point in the direction of their guild leader.
"Starin' at da boss. Since yer sat down ten minutes ago."
That caught his attention.
"I'm more alarmed by the fact that you have been observing me for the last ten minutes."
The grin he received from the sneaky kleptomaniac was full of tusks and sharp teeth. "It be mah job ta look for gossip and blackmail materials, Cranky."
"Its Crandor, not Cranky." The exasperated orc corrected, more out of habit than any actual hope that the backstabbing fiend would listen.
Unperturbed, the troll continued as if the orc had not spoken at all. "But me be too nice ta blackmail ya, Cranky."
Pause.
"So... You an Clove..."
"There is no me and Clove, you demented son of a green baboon. Now bugger off and stop badgering me."
"Wokay. Me be goin ta chat with da boss den."
Shade did not manage to walk more than two steps before a small crater of earth erupted near his foot and held it in place.
"Give me one good reason I should not thunderstorm your lousy troll ass into the maelstrom." Lightning gathered in the shaman's hands.
The rogue looked up from where he was attempting to knock down the earth-bind totem with his throwing weapon. "Uh. Because me be yer favorite rogue?"
"I don't have a favorite rogue."
The earth totem toppled from the shrapnel that was thrown into it straight on.
"Ya don't. But yer have ta favorite Paladi- OW OW OW!" Shade hopped around as lightning crackled and licked threateningly at his bare feet. "Yer don't haf'ta shock me!"
"You deserved it. Now stop fooling around, break is over."
"Its not da end of ta discussion, ya know."
Crandor could almost -hear- the grin in the voice even after the smug bastard pulled on his skull mask again.
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***
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He should have known it would not have been that easy to shake the damn rogue off his case. The very next time he had been sent to act as back up healers, he walked straight into the group of their healing team and met with several amused stares and raised eyebrows.
Crandor had decided then that a certain rogue was not going to be getting any healing from him, ever. He was still grumbling about stinky, purple skinned monkeys when their restoration druid approached him, smiling brightly, and asked if he had really invited their guild leader for a picnic during the Valentine's festival.
"What?!"
"Shade mentioned that you had invited Clove for a Dalaran picnic. We were all curious, since that rogue is not the most reliable source of information." The druid looked a little too amused with the situation.
Forget about not healing him; Shade would be getting an angry fire elemental to play with when he next get a chance to see the elusive rogue. For now, he calmed himself by glaring at the tauren in front of him and stomping his way to his assigned position.
It was not until a week later that he managed to find the rogue.
Or rather, the invisible son of a bitch came to look for him. Again.
"Aye Cranky."
He amused himself for a whole of one and a half minute watching the troll yelp and run around with the fire elemental hot on his ass. Shade seemed to have gotten bored by that time and disappeared from sight, much to the fire spirit's ire.
"Wat was dat fer, ya barmy shaman."
"For whatever lies that you have told half the guild about me. Seriously. What the hell is wrong with you?!"
The rogue squatted down on the dusty ground beside him, producing a piece of cloth out of nowhere and proceeded to clean his daggers.
"Neva told a lie, mon. Only spoke da truth. 'onest."
Crandor looked at the purple skinned male beside him, frowning. "You told everyone that I had a date with Clove for Valentine's."
Shade nodded sagely. "Dat I did."
"That a lie if I had ever seen one."
The rogue gave no reply as he sheathed his daggers, standing up. He looked around, avoiding eye contact.
"Ain't no lie if Clove has agreed to it, Cranky dear."
Pause.
A loud rumbling was heard as the earth around them started to shake, and the air crackled with static charges. Still grinning, Shade took several steps away from the orc that looked like he was ready to commit a guildmate-murder. "Valentine be in two days, mon." Lightning arcs glanced harmless off a shadowy purple cloak that had appeared around their target. "Dalaran fountain, nine in da mornin'. Dun be letting da lady wait, Cranky."
And when the shadow cloak faded away, there was no troll in sight anymore.
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***
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Fifteen minutes to nine, an anxious shaman stood beside the Dalaran fountain. The sleeves of his new white shirt was too long, and he could not find a nice hat to go with his attire; the picnic basket felt too light in his hand.
Truth to be told, there was a fifty-fifty chance that the troll was, well, trolling him with the whole date thing. Maybe Clove did not even know. Shade could be hiding somewhere on the roof now laughing his lousy rogue ass off because Crand was being a gullible bastard.
Five minutes to nine. There were more people on the streets of Dalaran now, preparing to start the day. He stopped Aerith Primrose as she walked past him with her flower cart and bought a bunch of roses. A passing forsaken warrior saw his flowers and basket, and gave him a weird look.
Three minutes to nine. Cloveria walked into the fountain square in a long pink dress; the same forsaken warrior gaped and nearly tripped over his own foot. Crandor was positively sure he heard a troll voice laughing madly somewhere near the decorative statue in front of the bank, but the shaman was too busy gawking to worry about an invisible troll. Glowing green eyes met his, and the elf seemed relieved as she approached him. "Looks like Shade wasn't pulling my legs, after all."
And as the paladin slipped her hands into his, smiling up at him, Crandor thought that maybe, maybe; he does have a favorite rogue after all.
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~End~