Bracken stared at the ceiling, in frustration.
She was bored, she was hungry, she was out of chocolate milk, and her guard was a stick in the mud.
Glancing over, she watched Min Ti casually read her book as if the hunter wasn't bored out of her mind either. Honestly, of all the people she could be stuck with, they chose Min Ti? The one guard that probably wouldn't talk to her much at all? The one guard who wasn't even supposed to be a guard in the first place?
Ugh…
Who cares…?
Roland surely didn't.
It was his idea after all…
He'd confiscated her rocket boots, her prototype inventions, her tools, her weapons… All because he'd found out she'd nearly got hit by a monster. She sighed in agitation.
Even the pillow fort Leander panic-built wasn't as cool as before…
Gah! She needed to get out of here! But how?
Something Zip had told her before suddenly popped to mind. She didn't want to do this, but if it worked, she'd probably be better off. Taking a quiet, deep breath she prepared herself.
"MIN TI!" The hunter jumped out of her fur at the sudden shout, nearly dropping her book in the process. Turning sharply to the engineer, the glare in her eyes could freeze fire.
"What?" She snapped just as fiercely.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you…" Bracken glanced away awkwardly. Min Ti just tutted before turning away again.
"What do you want?" She asked as she closed her book and set it on the side for now.
"Can we go to Broadleaf?" The casual question and curious head tilt had Min Ti giving her a look.
"You want to go to Broadleaf? You expect me to agree to that? It's too far." Bracken frowned a little.
"Aw, please? I bet you've never even been there before!" She tried to argue her case.
"No. I'm not taking you to Broadleaf." Came the firm response.
"Why not?" This was probably the longest conversation anyone had ever got from this dogfolk.
"It's too far." The simple response made Bracken pout a little.
"Aw… If it's too far, can we go to Goldpaw instead? I've never been there myself, and with you there I can't really get into much trouble…" She trailed as her eyes lit up with hope.
"Goldpaw? Why would you want to go there?" Min Ti threw her a confused glance.
"I don't know… See the sights? Try the food? Check the place out?" She listed as she counted on her fingers. "Maybe fly in the zeppelin to get there so it's safer?"
"Wouldn't you rather stay here? Out of trouble?" The hunter crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll get in trouble if I stay here much longer anyway… And it won't be too bad! Leander owes me a favour so he could cover for us!" Her optimism seemed to be the falling point.
"… And you won't get into trouble?" Bracken shook her head immediately. Sighing in defeat, Min Ti growled a little.
"Fine. But as soon as you start misbehaving, I'm bringing you back here." The engineer cheered, even as the hunter pointed a warning finger at her.
"Woo! Somewhere other than Evermore!" Bracken leapt to her feet, before grabbing her typical overalls from the drawer and practically teleporting to the bathroom to change. "Adventure!" She called as she returned in her usual outfit with her favourite goggles. Snatching her Leafbook as she passed, she slipped it into one of the utility pouches on her belt before Min Ti could grab her wrist.
"Calm down and slow down. If you get hurt, we won't be going anywhere." Bracken rolled her eyes before she lead the way out of the room and down the hallway.
Maybe Min Ti wasn't such a stick in the mud after all!
Just what had she gotten herself into?
Min Ti just stared as Bracken fiddled with the controls on the zeppelin with a childish gleam in her eyes. When Evan had come to her asking for help, she could hardly say no after the help he has given her over the time she'd been his subject. Though it seems she'd bitten off more than she could chew with this request.
Min Ti? A guard? Ridiculous!
Honestly, why she'd accepted Bracken's request to leave when the hunter had been specifically told not to let her leave the castle was beyond her. She suspected some kind of foul play in that conversation but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"Hey, look!" Bracken suddenly called to her as she frantically pointed at something. Min Ti casually wandered over to her before glancing out the window to where she was pointing.
"I thought we were going to Goldpaw?" The hunter questioned with a suspicious glance at Bracken. Below them, they'd just flown over Ding Dong Dell.
"Well, there's no harm in flying around a little bit first, right?" The engineer smiled innocently as she turned her attention back to the controls. "We'll be there in just a tick." Min Ti sighed and shook her head. Why didn't that fill her with confidence?
"Let's just get this over with before you get into any more trouble." She grumbled as she spied her hometown in the distance. Wow, zeppelins moved fast.
"Spoil sport…" Bracken mumbled, seemingly knowing darn well the hunter could hear her. Tutting at the immaturity of it all, the dogfolk took the co-pilot's seat.
Already, she could tell this was gonna be a very long day.
