Sorcerer Hunters

"Starstone"

Chapter II

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"You're boring, you know that?" Carrot did an ungainly headstand as he watched his brother flip through a book so big that it nearly covered his large desk. When Marron did not reply, he attemped to push himself up and walk around on his hands.

"You've had your nose stuck in that book for days" the elder Glaice brother complained. "Haven't you found what you're looking for yet?"

Marron looked up as Carrot overbalanced and tumbled over, narrowly missing a stack of books and inkpots. "No, but I think I'm getting closer. It's actually easier to translate than I thought."

Carrot curled over and balanced on his head again. "Yeah? So when do you think you'll find what you're looking for? And what are you looking for, anyhow?"

Marron sat back and rubbed the back of his hand against his eyes. "I'm researching magical defense strategies that were used back during the Sorcerer's Wars. If we're going to hunt sorcerers when we've finished our training, we should know as much as we can about how they defend themselves, and how we can defend ourselves against them."

"You've got problems," Carrot stuck his tongue out at his brother. "If I so much as get a whiff of magic... boom! Biiiiiig scary monster, people screaming... crashing buildings... and Chocolate and Tira... Man, ever since they hit puberty..." Face bleak, he curled out of his handstand and sat on the floor shuddering. "But anyhow, I'm probably not really gonna be any good at hunting sorcerers."

Placing a silk ribbon on the page he was reading, Marron got up and walked to his brother, offering a hand to help him up. "You'll be good," he assured him. "You're really good with people. Better than Gateau, even, and the girls. You just don't apply yourself."

"'You just don't apply yourself'" Carrot mimicked. "You sound like Big Momma!"

"But it's true," Marron insisted. "If you'd only..." He sighed. "Well, anyway... What did you want to do? You want to go out, don't you? That's why you came to the library."

"You know me too well, little bro!" Carrot grinned and clapped Marron on the back. "It's getting late. Why don't we head downtown and get something for dinner?"

Marron smiled at his brother. "It's Sunday evening. All the school girls are coming back from the lodge on the coast right now, aren't they?"

"Heheh" Carrot chuckled. "Can't get anything past you. Come on, or we'll miss them!"

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Marron shuffled along behind his brother, holding up his overlong robes to keep himself from tripping as he tried to keep up with his brother's long stride.

"See that one?" Carrot asked, pointing at a young blond girl who was walking along the other side of the street. He winked at Marron. "I bet she's just sixteen, and looking for a man to love her and keep her happy her whole life."

"I'm really not interested," the Marron replied. Carrot's hand's twitched dreamily as the older brother bent his neck to watch a gaggle of giggling, beachwear-clad girls cross the street and walk into a restaurant. Marron watched them go, one hand clenched on his brother's shirt to keep from losing him in the crowd. "I guess I'm not old enough to like girls yet."

"Bah, I liked girls by the time I was twelve," Carrot said. "It's because you never take your head out of those silly books of yours. I guarantee you–A weekend at the beach with those bikini-clad cuties and you'll want to have your hands all over them, and–" he cackled, a faraway look in his eye, "–once you're older, assuming you inherit the same attractive, manly looks as your older brother, the girlies will come runnin' for the luvin'!"

Marron sighed and continued walking, his grip dragging on his brother's shirt and forcing Carrot to snap out of his daydream to follow him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of blond hair on a tall build, and glanced down a street.

It was their friend Gateau, leaning against a wall. He was holding a tall, curvy brunette in his arms, very close to his body. As Marron slowed to watch, his friend pulled the brunette closer and leaned towards her face.

"Come on, come on," Carrot started walking forward again, and Marron was pulled forward unexpectedly. Stumbling to keep from falling, the younger Glaice brother shook his head. Had Gateau just kissed that girl?

"Now that's just too bad."

Marron looked up to see what his brother was talking about. He followed the line of his brother's sight to see a young couple sitting next to a fountain, running their hands through the water. "What's bad, brother?"

"That absolutely scrumptious redhead has no idea whatsoever that she could be having the night of her life right now if she had decided to date me and so she's stuck with that poor slob next to her. It's just too bad. Maybe I'll ask her again tomorrow, and she'll agree this time."

The redhead was beautiful and, if Marron could use his brother's comments to judge, quite sexy. She was probably in her late teens. The man next to her was taller even than Gateau, with long, curly blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. "You asked her to date you?" he asked, after a moment's thought. "When?"

Carrot was already ogling another girl. "This morning just before lunch. But that's ancient history. I'm sure there's another honey-bunny around here that would love to take advantage of–hm, take advantage... that sounds good..."

Marron watched as the blond man said something to the redhead, who responded by laughing. The blond, in turn, smiled at his girlfriend, his grin wide and almost, to Marron, infectious. The redheaded girl cuddled into her boyfriend's arms while Marron watched. "I think she's happy with the guy she's with, brother." Flexing his empty fingers, he looked around. "Brother?"

"Oh, won't you please go on a date with me? I promise I'll show you the best time of your life!" Carrot was across the street, kneeling in front of a trio of girls, who had backed up against a wall to avoid him. Marron carefully crossed after him, grabbing onto his shirt again. "I'll take you out, I'll romance you, I'll take you to dinner or to tea or to lunch–heck, I'll take you to breakfast if that's what turns you on–"

"Get away from us, you creep," one of the girls said.

Another piped in, "If you're that desperate, get a whore. God, what kind of wierdo tries to pick up girls with his little sister tagging along?"

"Yeah, that's just sick," the third one agreed as they walked away, leaving Carrot kneeling in the street with Marron's hand on his shoulder.

"...Little sister?" Marron whispered.

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