Reid awoke as the sun set, stretching out one limb, staring at the fuzzy foreleg and dark hoof at the end. "Not a dream then, unfortunately." He let his limb fall back to the thin mattress of the Priwen bunk he was laying upon. Jonathan let out a sigh as he rolled off the bunk, landing on his hooves with a quiet clop. He scowled at the floor before he rose to his hind hooves and stretched, wings fanning out behind him. Letting the leathery appendages rustle to a close, he shuffled about the room, gathering up the tailored pants, and set about the task of getting his new, oddly shaped legs into them and his tail through the hole in the back. Task accomplished, he moved over to the lone chair in the room, coat and shirt draped upon it, pulling one of his stakes from where his coat lay. He tested the weight of the wooden tool in one hoof, nodded, then pocketed it. He shook his shirt out, and draped it over one forelimb, shuffling sleepily to the door. Only for a knock sound on the wood before the door was opened, a large body blocking the frame.
O'Connor looked down to observe the sleepy looking ekon pony standing in the room, eyes bleary and blinking up at him. "Good evening, Dr. Reid. Wanted to come up and make sure you were awake." The large man backed away letting Reid shuffle out, groggy hoofsteps near silent as he moved through the hall. "Though I'd let you know one of the rookies went out and brought you back some blood from the butcher. I've got it here in a bottle if you'd like it now." He held out the bottle, shaking it softly.
"Thank you, Mr. O'Connor." Reid took the proffered bottle, turning around as he quickly drained it. A content rumble rattled his chest, "Much nicer then, well…" Jonathan trailed off, clearing his throat and diverting his gaze once he caught sight of the Priwen second's pet rat poking its nose over Beamard's scarf. "Well, I much prefer it to my usual fare." He placed the now empty bottle back in the larger man's waiting hand. "I doubt just letting me know there was blood waiting was the only reason you came up to find me, Mr. O'Connor, not that I don't appreciate it." Jonathan trailed slightly behind him, "May I ask what brought you up here to seek me out?"
Beamard nodded, "Just wanted to make sure you had enough time to wake up and be ready for your spar with the boss." He rolled his shoulders as they passed some other Priwen members in the hall, a mix of shock and disbelief quickly turning into gossip. "I'm also to make sure no one gets any funny ideas about trying anything in your current state."
One ear rotated back to catch the gossip flying about. Reid nodded. "Yes, thank you for that." The ekon gave a jaw-cracking yawn as he followed behind Beamard, fangs flashing unintentionally, spooking one recruit as they walked by. He couldn't help but chuckle when he heard them mutter under their breath "Teeth like that do not belong in a horse's mouth."
Once the pair had made their way downstairs and to the mess hall Reid was amused to find McCullum leaning protectively over his breakfast, waving his fork at Babic and Bonner.
"I told the both of you, I don't care that I'm a tiny feckin' horse right now!" Geoffrey punctuated with a jab of his fork, "neither of you is taking my damned bacon!" He wrapped one foreleg around the plate, pulling it closer to himself. "It's a damned luxury, times being what they are, and if you try and weasel mine away from me, I. Will. Break. You."
Vukasin slowly inched his hand towards the plate, "Horses don't eat meat, Boss, can't be good for you." There was a glint of mischief in the large Serbian archer's eyes.
Eyes tracking the plate, planning out the best way to try and liberate their boss of his bacon. "Vuka's right, Boss." Vincent's own fingers slowly creeping for the salted strips of pork. "Wouldn't want to make yourself sick before your spar with the good Doctor."
With a growl, McCullum slammed his fork into the table, embedding it deep in the wood inches from the pair's thieving fingers. His free hoof scooped up his ration of bacon as he promptly shoved the strips in his muzzle, glaring at his captains while he slowly ate it.
The captains quickly pulled their fingers back. Vinny holding his hands up in surrender. "Okay, Boss, you can keep it." Warily eyeing the fork sticking out of the table. "Fuck, but you don't need to be that mad about it.
Babic poked at the piece of silverware sunk into the wood, giving it an experimental tug, and grunting when it refused to move. "Boss really drove it in." Vuka leaned back. "You vant bacon that badly, have it, but don't cry to us vhen it makes you lose fight to good Doktore."
Geoffrey scowled at them after he finished his prize. "Oh shove off, there was a bit of meat in the stew yesterday an' I was just fine after eating it." He reached for the fork and quirked an eyebrow when he noticed how far down into the wood it was. "Huh, didn't think I slammed it that hard." With a hoof wrapped around the handle, he gave it a swift yank, jerking the table up, sending plates and cups rattling as he pulled the fork out. The hunter looked between the warped tines and bent head of the fork and heavy wooden table they were sitting at. "Alright, maybe the leech was onto something about possibly being stronger like this." He placed the warped utensil down as caught sight of Jonathan and O'Connor's arrival, though it was hard not to with the silence and eyes bouncing between the two men turned ponies. "Ah, glad ta' see you're finally up and about, Reid."
The ekon shook his head as he made his way over to the table, taking a seat amongst the heads of Priwen. "You really should be more careful, McCullum." Reid picked up the bent fork examining it with a critical eye. "The stunt you just pulled alone points to you having physical strength on par with some of the vampires I've encountered."
Geoffrey was handed a new fork as Beamard and Bishop joined them. With a nod in thanks, he turned back to his breakfast, spearing a bit of egg on his fork. "Huh, ya' really think so?" He chewed on his meal, contemplating the implications of such a thing. A quick sip of coffee, and the hunter had a smirk on his face. "That'll make this spar a little more fair then, leech." He only got a flat look in return.
The Priwen chaplain sat in his seat, slightly dumbfounded as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that the two most arguably dangerous men in all of London, one of which was the easily the most powerful vampire in the city, if not the country, were, in fact currently small, talking, equines. He noticed Reid wasn't wearing a shirt, and that seemed to be the sticking point for his brain. Bishop cradled his head in his hands, "It's too early for this." With a sigh, he lifted his head, staring at the ekon-turned-pony. "Dr. Reid, why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
An ear flick in the captain's direction. "Ah." Jonathan looked down at himself, one hoof running through his hair before he turned his attention to the chaplain. "Since I'll have to spar against McCullum here soon, I thought it easier to simply not wear it, as I don't want to ruin the only shirt I have at the moment that fits." He flared his wings out carefully, not wanting to slap anyone with them. "Besides, these, Mr. Strother, make putting on shirts a fair bit more complicated and time consuming than normal." He folded his wing against his back, head propped up on folded hooves.
Bishop rubbed his temples at Reid's explanation. "Alright, I can't really fault you for that." He sipped his tea, "And I take it the both of you are ready for said spar?" He let his gaze wander between the transformed pair.
At that question, McCullum's grin turned positivity vicious. "Aye. I've been wanting a rematch!" He threw one hoof out to jab in Reid's direction.
Jonathan gave Geoffrey a flat look, slowly pushing the hoof out of his face. Softly, he started, so the bulk of Geoffrey's troops wouldn't hear him. "Need I remind you hunter, when we fought, you'd doused me in orichalcum powder, had UV lights at your disposal that you made liberal use of, and a drop of King Arthur's blood you imbibed." He tapped the toe of his hoof off at each point. He gave him a slightly smug grin. "All that, McCullum, and you still lost to a, how did you describe it?." Reid tapped his chin in mock-thought, "Ah, yes, a half-starved newborn."
Geoffrey growled as he proceeded to shove his food into his muzzle, glaring at the smug ekon across from him. As soon as he finished, he drained his coffee, and pushed away from the table, hooves clopping loudly as he matched to the door. "I'm going out to do some practice swings."
A sigh left Reid's lips. "I suppose I should get used to swinging around a weapon like this too before we start." He slipped away from the table, rolling his shoulders as he followed the route McCullum had taken.
Once they were reasonably sure both Geoffrey and Jonathan were out of ear-shot, Vukasin and Vincent gave each other a look, turning to the room at large. "So, who wants to place a bet on who's gonna' win this spar between the Boss and the good Doctor?"
The room fell silent, then a clamor of shouted bets echoed around the mess hall.
Some time later saw both Jonathan and Geoffrey standing out in the cleared area combat training. Both men-turned-equine facing each other, wooden sparring swords in hoof.
Beamard came out to the center of the ring, casting a glance at the pair. "Alright lads and lasses! We're going to go over the rules for this spar, just to make sure everyone's on the same page." He held out a hand as he began ticking them off. "No lethal blows. This is meant to help you both adjust to your current forms, not be a fight to the death." O'Connor turned to Reid, "Now, Dr. Reid, I'm going to have to ask you to limit your use of your Ekon abilities. As such, only your shadow-stepping is allowed, or blood barrier if it's to avoid what would be a lethal blow, should one of you mis-judge a strike. Anything more than that can be worked out on some test dummies later."
Jonathan gave the large Priwen second a nod. "I can agree with those terms so far." He let himself ease into a combat ready stance, eager to get a better idea of how to defend himself. And he may be starting to admit to himself he craves the action of combat now, after everything.
A sharp grin spread over Geoffrey's muzzle, "Aye, I can too, it'll make this a far fairer fight." He briefly turned his attention to Beamard. "What other rules do you have for us?" The flat of his wooden blade tapping against his shoulder. He was impatient to start this brawl.
"Next," Beamard gave both of them a very serious glare. "No hits to the groin, face, ears, or in Dr. Reid's case, wings if you can help it." He crossed his arms, radiating seriousness. "I know in a real fight, there's no such thing as dirty tactics, but this isn't meant to be one."
He pulled himself out of his readied stance to offer Beamard a shallow, but sincere bow. "I do thank you for that consideration, Mr. O'Connor." Jonathan really didn't want his nose broken again, despite how fast it would heal.
"Aye, thank you, don't need this giant target getting smashed in just yet." Geoffrey ran a tentative hoof over the bridge of his muzzle. No, he'd rather avoid matching the leech on that front.
The ekon sent the hunter across from him a flat look. McCullum just offered him a cheeky grin and a shrug.
O'Connor just shook his head at the two, clapping once to draw attention back to himself. "Last rule, the match will be over if one of you is knocked out or surrenders. Or I think things are getting too heated. Are we clear, gentlemen?"
He quickly bent back into a ready stance. "Crystal, Mr. O'Connor." Reid answered, fangs bright in his near-feral grin.
McCullum's grin was just as sharp for all it lacked the fangs. "Aye. Let's get this started, O'Connor." He shifted his hold to a two-hoofed grasp on his weapon's hilt. "I've a leech to thrash."
He gave a shake of his head before stepping back out of the combat zone. Beamard's loud voice booming, "BEGIN!" A raucous cheer rising up from the Guard.
Jonathan was a whirl of shadows as he leapt at Geoffrey, wooden sword lashing out at the hunter.
He pulled his sword up just in time to catch the heavy blow of Reid's blade against his own. The strike jarred McCullum some, pushing him back slightly, but not as badly as he expected. "You'll have to try harder than that, leech!" With a heave, he broke the lock, forcing the ekon back.
When McCullum took the opportunity to strike at him after knocking him off balance from the shove, Reid let himself melt into shadows and attempted to curl around to strike at the hunter's side. Only to be met with another heavy blow. Jonathan managed to catch it against his sword, deflecting it enough to cause Geoffrey to stumble. He tried for a quick strike at the hunter's knee in an effort to buy more breathing room.
The hunter swung around to lock their blades in another block, pulling it up in an effort to land a slash across the ekon's chest. A laugh rang out as he asked, "Aw, come on now Reid, did ye' not learn how to swing a sword at whatever fancy toff school ye' were sent to?"
Jonathan snorted as he ducked under the blow, pulling the stake from his pocket as he flipped it around, aiming to drive the blunt butt of it into Geoffrey's abdomen in hopes of stunning the man. "Too busy keeping Clarence in one piece."
The blow jarred McCullum, it sent him staggering back a pace, a grunt loosed as he dug his hooves into the ground under him. "That was dirty, Reid." He returned the blow with a swift jab of the pommel to the ekon's chest.
"Oof!" Jonathan had the wind knocked out of him as he skidded back, wings flapping to steady him. "Not according to the rules laid out, it's not." He launched himself at McCullum, a swift slash aiming to catch him across the chest.
Geoffrey managed to hop out of range of the strike. The hunter lunged forward, all the force he could muster barring down in an overhead swing, narrowly missing Jonathan with the cratering blow as the ekon shadow-stepped to the other side of the fighting ring. Both fighters froze as the noise quieted to a hush, watching as a good portion of the wooden blade went sailing off.
An uneasy murmur ran through the crowd as everyone took in the wide depression McCullum had caused where his weapon had struck the hard packed earth. The hunter lifted what was left of his practice blade, poking in disbelief at the broken edge with one hoof.
A loud clap rang out as O'Connor stepped back into the ring, causing both men-turned ponies to jump, and the Guards watching the fight to quiet again. "Alright, I think that's a good enough reason to call the match." Getting a nod from both McCullum and Reid, the Priwen lieutenant turned to face the audience. "I declare this match a draw!" He suppressed a grin as he saw both Vinny and Vuka discreetly pay the few others smart or lucky enough to bet on a draw before ducking out, just as the shouting resumed.
Reid was ready to bolt, until he realized it was shouts of excitement and cheering for how exciting the spar had been for as brief as it was. There were some dissenters, but what he could catch was largely complaints about lost bets. That caused him to chuckle as he sank to the ground. He turned to catch McCullum's gaze. "I'm very glad you missed that last strike, hunter."
A snort left McCullum as he bounced the hilt in his hoof. "Aye, you and me both, leech." He gave the ekon a look. "As much as I complain about ye', I'd rather not have possibly caved your chest in by mistake." He tapped his hoof to his chin. "The Ascalon club though, that's another story."
His ears flattened to his head as he realized that was a very real possibility had he not managed to evade in time. The thought of it happening to the members of the Ascalon club though, allowed his ears to ease forward again, an amused chuckle slipping from his lips. "I can't say I'd be sorry to see that happen to them, myself." He hummed briefly, "As enlightening as this has been, hunter, I think it might be best if we slipped back inside for now."
The pair made a quick retreat back into the base while the rest of the guard was roaring about in excitement.
The next night saw Reid and McCullum out practicing with the training dummies, for safety's sake, to get a better feel for what they could do in their current equine forms.
They started with gauging their strength. More specifically, testing how McCullum's strength compared to Reid's.
Jonathan demonstrated he could exert just as much physical force as Geoffrey had, just without breaking another training weapon. He'd slammed down his forehooves as much force as he dared, leaving a fairly sizable crater himself. After repairing the damage he'd caused, Reid took it upon himself to help train McCullum to have better control over his currently heightened abilities. And as they trained, the pile of broken wooden blades grew.
"Argh!" McCullum's temper was spiking higher with each ruined weapon. He rounded on Reid, jabbing the ekon in the chest sharply with his free hoof. "Ye're a feckin' terrible teacher, Reid!" He shoved the jagged bit of hilt near the other's head. "That's another one broken!"
A calm look was on Reid's face as he pushed the wood out of his face. "I would argue otherwise." He pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. "We've been at this for about two hours now." A quick glance at the small mound of broken wood. "This one lasted rather longer than the last one. More than ten minutes." He closed the watch, one hoof being laid on the hunter's shoulder. "We haven't even been at this for a full night yet, Geoffrey, it will take time, but you're already improving with your control."
Geoffrey sighed, tossing the broken hilt to join the rest on the growing pile. "I know," He scrubbed at his face with his hooves. "I just… I want to get back to some kind of normal." He crossed forelegs in front of his chest. "I was thrilled with this sudden gain of strength at first but…" He tapped the ground in thought. "I don't want to hurt any of my troops." His ears rotated a bit as his mind turned. "Or be a risk because I snapped my weapons in a fight."
"I know, hunter." Jonathan gave his shoulder a brief squeeze. "But that's why we're out here practicing." He patted him on the shoulder before moving over to the barrel of sparring weapons. "Now," he pulled another wooden blade from it, and walked back over to Geoffrey. "Shall we continue, McCullum?" He offered the other the weapon hilt first.
With Geoffrey back to trying to tame his new found strength, Jonathan was seeing how well he could use weapons with triggers, using a borrowed crossbow. It was going fairly well, only failing to actually pull the trigger in roughly one out of every ten tries.
A hum left him as he looked over the crossbow. "I wonder…" Reid let the shadows and blood that normally reinforce his claws manifest, noting they were roughly in the shape of talons branching off from his hooves. He thought of curling his fingers into a fist, and watched as the shadow claws curled in towards the frog of his hooves. As he picked up the crossbow, and was pleased to note they curled around the grip, and what would be the index digit was poised ready to move to the trigger, held parallel to it. "Fascinating." Another ten pulls while keeping the claws manifested saw all of them successful.
McCullum felt one ear turn to track the steady soft 'twang' and 'twack' of the string releasing and crossbow bolts being buried into the targets. He lets muscle memory take over for the training, he's found, like what Reid suggested for being able to hold things, the less he thinks about it, the longer his blade stays in one piece. "How's your trigger testing going, Reid?" The repetitive motions soothed him, to the point he could almost feel his new power humming under his skin.
"It's going well, only failing once in about every ten pulls before I tried using the reinforcement for my claws." Reid held up one forehoof, flexing the constructed talons. "I believe they help me mentally map the sensation with something I see. Makes it more real, in a way." The ekon turned to McCullum, a quip ready, but he lost his voice when he noticed something different about the practice weapon in the hunter's hooves. His jaw hung open.
A snort left Geoffrey as he caught sight of the other's surprised expression, letting his weapon fall out of ready position, tapping the tip lightly into the dirt. "Aye, and what's caused the silver-tongued Doctor to be at a loss for words?" He turned to face the Ekon, weapon held loosely.
Jonathan's jaw shut with a click, pointing one hoof at the wooden blade as the claws of blood and shadows evaporated. "Your practice blade," Pale, blue-grey eyes tracking it as he backed up a few steps from Geoffrey. "It's… it's budding." He gestured to it. "I think it's somehow living wood again."
"..It's what?" McCullum stilled, looking at Reid. His own mouth went dry as he slowly turned his head to look at his blade. Small branches seemed to be scattered off random points. He lifted the blade to get a better look, noticing there were small, green buds dotting the branches. Geoffrey stared dumbfounded.
He ran his hoof through his beard, looking Geoffrey up and down. "O'Connor?" Jonathan suggested.
McCullum took a deep breath, held it, and then let it blow out in a sigh as he nodded to Reid. "Aye, best to go see him."
A knock sounded on the library doorway, alerting O'Connor that he had company. He glanced up and noticed his boss was there, looking nervous as he made his way in. Curiously, Dr. Reid was trailing a good distance behind. "Alright Boss, what happened this time?" Beamard gave the ekon a look as he seemed to be putting as much distance between McCullum and himself as he could. "And why is the good Doctor acting like you rolled around in holy water?"
McCullum wordlessly placed the wooden practice blade in front of his lieutenant. Looking between the weapon and the large man.
"Sir…" O'Connor trailed off, gingerly picking the weapon, turning it over in his hands carefully. "This sword's live wood." He brushed over the delicate buds with care, trying to inspect every angle he could. "The pommel's even sprouted roots." Beamard turned the weapon so McCullum could see for himself. "Well, I suppose that explains Dr. Reid's behaviour." He placed the blade down, pushing himself away to stand. "Now, any idea how this happened?"
He shook his head, "No, I was just…" Geoffrey ran his hooves through his mane. "I was going through my practice forms, trying to get a handle on this new strength." He started pacing. "I thought I'd take Reid's idea and not think on it too hard." He mimed holding a sword, going through the motions of a swing. "And I just," he let his hooves drop, a sigh dropping from McCullum, "got lost in the motions, it's soothing."
The large Priwen second motioned for the pair to follow him as he left the library, grabbing the budding blade as he left. "And did you notice anything unusual or different while you were practicing, sir?"
Geoffrey covered his mouth with one hoof, ears rotating in thought. "I…" He started, "I could almost swear I could feel power humming under my skin." He pulled his hooves away, looking at them.
"I take it, Mr. O'Connor, we're going back outside to see if we can replicate the phenomena?" Jonathan enquired as he followed as far as he could politely from the suddenly live wood blade. "And I'm going to guess you'd like to see if it continues to grow if planted."
A good-natured laugh left Beamard. "Aye, Doctor." He cast a quick glance over his shoulder. "If we can get it to happen again, we might have a better idea of where to go from here," He hummed lightly scratching at his chin, "and possibly a new angle for me to look into for research."
"So," McCullum began, looking between O'Connor and Reid. "Why are we testing this in the garden?" He gave the two of them the most unamused look he could muster, tapping the flat of his new wooden sword against his thigh.
O'Connor looked up from where he was planting the budded practice blade in a pot. "Well, one to see if you can do it again." After a few moments, he gave a nod, and stood, brushing off his knees. "And two, to see if it has any effect on the environment around you."
"And I'm over here so I can still observe," Reid chimed in with a roll of his hoof from a good ten or so feet away. "While also avoiding any adverse reactions the plants could cause me due to my… condition." He finished with a soft clop of his hooves as he brought them together.
With a snort, McCullum shook his head, muttering low to himself. "Condition, that's a new one." Louder, he asked, "alright, what exactly do you two tossers want me to do to test this?"
Jonathan motioned to the blade Geoffrey was holding. "Try going through your practice sets, hunter." The ekon tipped his head to one side, hoof brushing through his beard as he thought. "You said it relaxes you, yes?" He gave McCullum an assessing look, "something you can go through the motions of and just… be for a while."
"And while you do that sir, we can take note of anything that goes on." O'Connor added, stepping back some. "While it might not help, it can't hurt to have another set of eyes and another mind working it through."
The hunter gave the two of them a flat look, before lifting his blade and beginning to go through his sword sets. The fact he could still go through the full motions of his practice swings despite his surprising change in species was calming, soothing. A piece of normality despite everything. He let the motions carry him through the set, that feeling of power building under his skin again.
"Curious," Reid mumbled, watching from a distance a slight hum of energy seemed to be emanating from McCullum's direction. His sharp gaze picked up the wooden sword starting to sprout branches, and looking at the area around the hunter showed the plants growing as well. "Very curious." The ekon made a wide circuit around the affected area, running his hoof through his beard.
Beamard kneeled out of the range of Geoffrey's sword swings as he checked the plants that seemed to be affected by McCullum's proximity. He checked the health of the plants, noting they were healthier, and oddly, even the soil seemed to be of a better quality. "Well, it does seem the Boss is having an effect on not just the plant life, but the soil too."
He let his mind turn over what he knew so far, muttering low while he paced. "Soil, plant life…" Reid looked up at O'Connor, "Perhaps we should try testing with a few more materials?"
A nod from the large bear of an Irishman was his response as he stood. "I'll go get a few other things to try." Beamard hurried away, a mental list of what he thought might be worth testing.
He returned roughly fifteen minutes later. "Alright, let's see…" He trailed off noticing how much larger the plants Geoffrey had been training near were. "Well, I think we can solidly say the boss is having an effect on plants."
"A little help?" McCullum asked, holding up the foreleg he'd had the sword held in, roots from the pommel now wrapped around it. "I'd rather like to have this off my person, if it's all the same to you." He gave a firm shake of the leg to show how it stuck to him. "Someone," he gave the ekon standing far back from the now verdant area, "are useless in helping with this."
Reid gave the hunter a flat look, before he gestured to the large green zone surrounding the other. "I can not help you without badly harming myself, McCullum." He tilted his head, "Do you truly expect me to wander into a toxic zone when we knew Mr. O'Connor would return soon enough?"
The Priwen lieutenant interrupted what he was sure would build into an argument. "Sir, why don't you come over here and let me get that unwound from you." He placed the bundle down, moving towards McCullum.
"Fine." Geoffrey huffed, walking over to meet Beamard, holding out the plant bound foreleg. He chewed on the inside of his cheek while his second was carefully unwinding the stubborn roots. "So, what were the two of you plotting while I was apparently super-charging the garden?"
A motion to the bundle back behind him, O'Connor drew his attention there. "We were wondering if the energy you were putting off could affect things other than plants and soil."
That caused McCullum to give the pair a questioning look. "I was affecting the soil?" At the confirming nod, he tipped his head back, shaking out his foreleg now that it was free thanks to his lieutenant. "Alright, that sounds like something worth finding out," He rubbed at the limb to chase out the lingering bit of numbness. "So, what did you grab?"
Further testing showed McCullum seemed to be able to strengthen various metals. Having Reid repeat the tests showed no changes to any of the weapons.
Beamard had been taking notes along with Jonathan. "Alright," the Priwen second scratched at his head, "so, it seems the boss is able to improve and reinforce things that have a tie to the land." He pointed the pen to Reid next, "Whereas the good Doctor doesn't seem to be able to do anything like that." O'Connor tapped the pen to the notebook, "However, you said you had managed to achieve lift with your wings earlier, despite their size meaning it should not be possible." He shut the notebook, humming. "While it's not a lot, it's still more than we had before."
"Perhaps we'll finally make some headway," Jonathan said, going over his own notes.
With a huff, McCullum shook his head. "Aye, we can hope, but I'm not going to hold my breath." A growl from the two Priwen members' stomachs signaled this was a good time to stop. "But first, food."
As the group made their way in, Geoffrey was struck with a thought. "...Where are Babic and Bonner? It's been too quiet."
Babic and Bonner were outside the archives, checking to make sure no one was nearby. Vincent took watch in the doorway, most of his attention out on the hallway. "You remember the bet, right, Vuka?"
A low rumble of amusement left the Serbian archer. "Da, I touch pony necklace, you give me half your booze rations," he answered lowly as he padded in as quietly as he could, looking for the box it had been stored in.
"If," Vinny reminded him, "you can grab it without winding up like the boss and the Doc." He let his leg bounce in nervousness, he was not looking forward to getting chewed out if they got caught.
Vuka paused in his search of the boxes, "Remind me vhy you be big baby about magic necklace?" He made a near silent noise of triumph as he found the right box, spotting the black and white pendant sitting at the top.
Still focused on the hall, Bonner threw a distracted answer back to him, not noticing Babic creeping up on him, the cameo held out in his hand. "Because I don't want to risk exploding, or whatever the fuck would happen with magic messing around with my illness." He quickly craned his neck around when he felt something touch him.
"Baby-" Vuka started, pressing the magic necklace to the sniper's bare arm, only to be cut off as it lit up with a flash of multi-colored light as it shocked the two of them. The Serbian juggled the necklace, shaking his hand before quickly dropping it back in the box. "Oops."
Vincent gave Vukasin a deeply unamused look as he rubbed at the spot on his arm. "If I explode, I'm haunting you."