Tweek
Tweek was cold.
The Colorado air was frigid, not that he could do much about it. The Manbearpig pelt definitely helped keep some of the cold out, but his bare torso was entirely numb at this point. Then again it had been his choice to stay dressed like this, mostly because a barbarian with a shirt wasn't all that scary. And if he was going to be a barbarian at all, the least he could do was be scary.
Besides, I can probably get away with stealing Craig's cloak for part of the meeting.
Twitching, Tweek shrugged his shoulders to settle his fur pelt and glanced to his side. Just as he'd predicted, Craig was there, his cloak pulled up around his face and his hands hidden beneath it. There was blood on his clothing, but Tweek satisfied himself with the knowledge that it was someone else's blood and not Craig's. Another successful mission. He couldn't help the flutter of pride in his chest as he considered it.
As they crossed the road, a group of Elves rose up from the bushes with weapons drawn, but one look from Craig had them crouching back down. It used to be they would have been attacked, now, no one but the most powerful Elves dared mess with either of them. Shivering, Tweek pressed on ahead of Craig, urging the boy to hurry up.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the horizon, instead of letting them drift around like he often did, Tweek asked, "S-so, do you think we got anything useful from –ngh- them?" His feet crunched through the fresh and old snow, leaving a clear trail behind him. There was something about the sound that was uniquely satisfying.
Craig was silent for a moment before saying, "Well we know that we're not imagining things, so that's something." Tweek frowned slightly at that because he knew that Cartman thought they'd been making things up. At least now we have proof. He wouldn't turn away evidence, would he? Who would do something like that!? He didn't like it, but then, he didn't like most things that had to involve Cartman so was that any real surprise?
The whole thing had started several weeks ago when an entire patrol had been taken out by a guerrilla-style attack that they hadn't been able to pin on anyone. They hadn't even seen who was doing the aggressing, it had been mostly arrows, thrown spears and rustling bushes. Despite Token's insistence that this didn't follow any of the Elves' previous attacks, Cartman had maintained that it was nothing but Kyle being a 'sneaky Jew'. After that, it had been a constant fight to protect themselves against an enemy that their leader wouldn't even admit existed.
Tweek originally hadn't wanted to believe that there was someone out there that the game moderators were hiding from them, but after Craig had been wounded by a glittery spear that had come out of nowhere, he'd changed his mind. Someone was out there attacking them and if they didn't deal with them, then they were just going to get picked off one by one until there was no one left to fight. This was the first official lead they'd gotten, and while it was pretty terrible, it was better than nothing.
"We have a location," he pointed out to Craig, unhooking his small thermos from his belt with shaky fingers and opening the warm container gratefully. As the expresso calmed his nerves somewhat, Tweek continued, "That –rrr- means we have somewhere to start."
Tugging down his chullo with a gloved hand, Craig flatly said, "It could be fake, or it could be a trap." At those words, Tweek's stomach did a roll but he didn't let it show on his face, he just twitched hard and gritted his teeth. Jesus, they wouldn't lie about something like this, right? Why would they do something like that? What if they tell these people that we're coming? "But," Craig continued suddenly, blowing out a breath. "We know that the Bard deals with them and Philip did say they would try and kill us on sight. Why warn us if they were planning a trap?"
Tweek could think of half a dozen reasons just off the top of his head, but he clamped his mouth shut and didn't bring them up. He wanted this lead to be genuine, even if it meant that they were about to face a potentially unbeatable enemy. "He said that these people hate th-the Grand Wizard! Do you think that m-means anything?"
"No," Craig answered instantly. "Who doesn't hate Cartman?" Well, he had a point there, though Tweek was inclined to believe there was something special about how much this new threat hated the Grand Wizard if Philip had felt inclined to mention it. The whole situation stunk, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't think of who would be trying to take them down.
"Grr- The Elves pay them off!" Tweek reminded Craig, shivering and grabbing onto the handle of his club on instinct. "So does the B-bard! Doesn't that mean that they don't like anyone, not just us?" But the Noirette was already shaking his head, his brows furrowing behind his hat. Frustrated, Tweek let out an involuntary growl and pushed out, "What else could we offer t-to make them leave us alone!?"
"Considering we don't know who they are," Craig muttered, his eyes trained on Tweek, as blue and calm as ever. "We don't really have a good way of knowing what they might want." As they stopped in front of Kupa Keep, Tweek twitched and pinched his mouth closed. He didn't like it, but as always, Craig was right. Tweek knew that it made sense, but he wanted a solution now! This whole game of going into things blind was too much pressure for him to handle.
Shaking it off, Tweek let out a soft growl before running for the fence around the Castle. Using the window ledge beside it as a handhold, Tweek launched himself upwards and, with minimal scrambling, managed to toss himself up and onto the top of the fence before using the drainpipe to help himself down. Several Humans looked up as Craig flipped himself over the fence with a great deal more grace, but they settled back down once they knew who it was. After all, no one was about to question where Tweek and Craig went.
Having that much notoriety was a little terrifying, but Tweek was dealing with it as well as he could. Besides, Craig was there with him so it wasn't like he was alone.
As they both walked towards the Castle, Tweek looked around at the people huddled up around the small fire pits that had been set up. Noticing the new injuries on several of the warriors, Tweek twitched hard and let out an involuntary squeak. He didn't get it, and he was scared to find out. Even so, he refused to let it rattle him, he just clenched his hand around his club and took deep, shaky breaths.
Catching sight of a familiar face, Tweek raised his hand in greeting to Terry and Jesse, who were both sitting by the fire pit closest to the Castle. When they looked at him, Tweek noticed the cut above Terry's eye and the bruise on Jesse's jaw. Wincing internally, the blond bumped up against Craig, who looked over at the two soldiers. Brows furrowing slightly, the Thief drew in a sharp breath, but still tilted his chin high and gave them both a nod. As if emboldened by this, both injured boys picked their heads up and looked stronger somehow.
Walking up the drawbridge towards the Castle, Tweek was met with a blast of warm air as the magical fires inside whisked away a good portion of the cold. Twitching, blinking rapidly in an attempt to adjust his eyes to the darkness, Tweek looked at the gathered warriors that had been deemed important enough to be part of strategy meetings. Everyone looked grim, no doubt for the same reasons that the boys outside had been injured and it made Tweek's stomach twist. We can't handle any more bad news. Everything has been horrible already!
Looking away from the strategy map that Token had created weeks ago, Cartman raised an eyebrow and said, "Tweek, Feldspar. It took you long enough. I thought that perhaps the Elves had taken you both out." Frowning, adjusting his wizard robes, the boy said, "Well, sit down. We might as well start." The defeat in the boy's posture made Tweek growl involuntarily, he wasn't used to Cartman of all people looking hopeless.
Taking a seat next to Clyde, who'd been allowed to leave the sick tent for this, Tweek looked around at the faces of the other kids. The first thing that drew his attention was Butters and the bruise that was covering one of his eyes. The next thing he noticed was that Token was standing as well, his arms crossed and a frown on his face. As Craig sat down next to him and Tweek dragged the edge of the boy's cloak around his own shoulders on instinct, Tweek shot a questioning look at Clyde, who shook his head and frowned.
Oh god, what's happened this time?
Clearing his throat, Cartman said, "I'm sure I don't have to remind you all that we are in dire straits right now. Winter has not been kind to Humanity, in fact, if things continue as they're going, we won't last until spring." In front of Tweek, Kenny put his head down and beside him, Clyde hissed through his teeth. "We managed to take back the stick last week for a short period of time thanks to the efforts of Princess Kenny and Feldspar, but we lost it again. At this rate, we're headed for destruction."
Pacing before the map of Zaron, Cartman folded his hands behind his back and continued, "What is worse, even after the staggering losses we've already taken, we lost the Tweek Bro's territory today." Wait, what?! Letting out a yelp, Tweek twitched hard and stared at Cartman, who simply nodded gravely. Fighting not to grab for his hair, the blond shivered and looked over at Butters as the injured boys he'd seen outside started to make sense. But wait, doesn't that mean they'll attack us if we try to go there?! JESUS THIS IS SO MUCH PRESSURE!
From where he sat fidgeting, Butters piped up, "Ah, w-we managed to hold 'em back at th' cinema, b-but there was nothin' we could do!" Clenching his fists in his lap, Tweek tried to focus on the feeling of Craig's arm wrapped around him rather than the thought of his family's business being under the control of the Elves. "An' if that wasn't enough, we got shot at when we were headin' back!"
Letting out a huff of breath, Token tapped his foot and said, "Which is the next thing we should be focusing on, instead of complaining about how much we've lost." Rounding on the black boy, Cartman scowled and crossed his arms, clearly frustrated with the matter being brought up yet again. "We aren't going to be able to win anything if we're getting picked off, one by one," Token pointed out, not backing down. "Grand Wizard, I'm trying to do what makes the most sense."
"And I've told you," Cartman drawled, frustrated. "We don't have any evidence that there's anyone but Kyle and his sneaky Elves attacking us. This is all just a distraction tactic, we can't let ourselves be fooled by them. Besides, if someone new joined the game then they'd show up on the Game's Facebook page."
Shaking his head, Token carefully said, "Not if they were specifically leaving them out. There was something suspicious already about the fact that the GMs haven't been answering my questions about these surprise attacks, but the fact that I can't find any footage of the attacks? That means that they're hiding something, probably because they've been told to." Spreading his hands wide, Token finished, "Tell me that sounds normal Grand Wizard because I don't think it is."
"You don't have any proof!" Cartman exclaimed, exasperated. "Token, usually, you make good points, but this is not a good point. They're just Elves, not some brand new faction."
"Their weapons are pink and gold," Token fired back, expression darkening. "None of the Elven weapons look anything like what we're being hit with. Isn't that proof enough." From beside Craig, Tweek let out a soft squeak. Why do they have to argue this?! We have proof now, just call on us!
But Cartman and Token were too caught up to even look their way. Advancing on Token, Cartman pointed at Kenny and said, "For the love of god Token, Lady McCormick uses pink and gold weapons! The color of those arrows means nothing!"
"Don't you drag me into this!" Kenny protested hotly, his skirts fluffing up as he bounced in his seat indignantly. Tweek didn't blame him, he would have freaked out if anyone even pretended to implicate him as a traitor. "I had nothing to do with this at all."
"That's what I've been trying to prove!" Token said more loudly, cutting through Kenny's protests. Looking around, Token huffed and said, "Tweek, Feldspar, please tell me you found something today." As soon as his name was called, Tweek leaped to his feet, stumbling as Craig's cloak pulled on his torso in a way he hadn't been expecting. Finally!
"What are you talking about?" Cartman demanded, crossing his arms. "Feldspar and Tweek were out on our southern borders, right?" Wait, what?! Grabbing for his club to avoid screaming, Tweek's eyes jumped between the two boys, fear running through him. But Token told us to go to the Giggling Donkey! When were we supposed to patrol?!
Waving off Cartman's words, Token watched Tweek and Craig calmly as he said, "I sent them to the Giggling Donkey instead to gather intel, seeing as you wouldn't do anything about it." Before Cartman could interrupt, Token said, "Go on, what did you find?"
Glancing up at Craig, who had also gotten to his feet, Tweek shivered when Craig raised an eyebrow at him. Taking it as a clear signal that Craig was waiting for him to start, Tweek let out an involuntary noise before quickly saying, "Ngh- W-we went to talk to some of our informants at the Giggling Donkey about this new th-threat! After a bit of asking around –rrr- w-we discovered that there was indeed a new faction of people th-that were attacking the Humans."
Crossing his arms and glaring at Craig and Tweek, Cartman puffed out his chest and said, "I don't believe it. That's too convenient. You two only found what you wanted to find." He doesn't believe us?! Tweek could feel his shaking start to get worse as he stared wide-eyed at Cartman. Jesus, why doesn't he believe us!? Why would we be lying?
Then Craig's hand landed in his hair and Tweek could feel his courage start to return as the Noirette flatly answered. "We found exactly what we beat out of these people." As if Cartman's skeptical expression didn't affect him in the slightest, Craig continued in a bored tone. "The Human Mercenary we asked said that whoever these people are, both the Bard and the Elves are paying them off to avoid being attacked. Which means that whoever they are, they aren't on anyone's side."
Feeling emboldened, Tweek twitched to the right and said, "The Elf we questioned, who's the one who deals with these people on behalf of the Bard said that he wouldn't give us a name, but he gave us a location to find them at." Though the Grand Wizard pulled a sulking expression, Token nodded and smiled, as if this had been the right answer.
From where he sat, Clyde raised a tentative hand. "Um… I don't know what you guys think but I'm pretty sure we should be doing something about these people."
"I agree," Kenny said, no doubt still a little peeved at being implicated as a traitor. "I take it we won't be able to pay them off like the Elves?"
Craig shook his head at the same time as Cartman's yell of, "Oh hell no, we are not paying some group of warriors to keep them from attacking us. We will either convince them or we will destroy them. I am not bribing anyone."
"Th-they wouldn't take your money anyway!" Tweek found himself blurting out, twitching as he did so. "The Elves say that they hate you the most!" Eyes suddenly widening, Tweek clamped his mouth shut and took a nervous step back as Cartman narrowed his eyes in the blonde's direction. Oh god, why did I have to say that?! But it's true! So why wouldn't I say it?!
Quickly catching on to what was happening, Token chose that moment to butt in. "I think the more important question is where they say we can find these people." Looking at Cartman, who stood back a pace and held his tongue for the time being, the black Cleric looked back at Craig. "It's on Elven territory, isn't it?"
"Yep," Craig answered, rocking forward on the balls of his feet before rocking back to his heels. "Right in front of City Hall." Vibrating where he stood, Tweek waited for Token's verdict while his eyes traveled around the room. Cartman seemed to be accepting the news rather well now that he'd gotten over himself. Butters looked terrified and Clyde looked worried, which made sense, but it was Kenny's reaction that Tweek didn't understand. The boy looked almost peeved, like whoever this new threat was, they were more of an inconvenience than anything. What's that supposed to mean? They're dangerous, not just inconvenient!
Breaking the silence, Cartman said, "Well, that sounds wonderful. I totally have enough soldiers to just throw a few at a mission that's probably a trap." Jerking, Tweek stared at the boy, who had his arms crossed stubbornly. "The fact of the matter is that the Elves are still a bigger threat than this new faction."
"But we're never going to be able to beat the Elves if we're trying to deal with two different hostile forces at once," Token argued, furrowing his brows as his mouth twitched down in a scowl. "If this new threat is a smaller problem, why not deal with them first?"
"We don't have men t-to spare!" Butters exclaimed, his pale blue eyes wide and scared. "I mean, I jus' don't think we can do somethin' like that. If we tried, w-we wouldn't have enough to fight off th' Elves, an' they're always attackin' now!" Gesturing towards Butters, Cartman raised an eyebrow at Token as though this proved his point.
"Hang on," Kenny interjected, getting to his feet amid a flurry of pink lace. "Who said we needed to send a patrol? In fact, I'd say the smaller the better." When both Token and Cartman opened their mouths to object, Kenny held out a hand and planted the other one on his hip as he continued, in a louder voice, "These people are guerrilla warriors, they're more likely to come out if they think they can take out the threat if they need to. So send a couple Humans and call it done."
Narrowing his eyes, Cartman huffed but didn't argue. Instead, he tapped his foot and thought about what Kenny had said, an irritated expression on his face. Token, on the other hand, was tipping his head back thoughtfully. "These people don't like to be seen, we'd have to draw them out if we want to ever have a chance of figuring this out. You're right, two or three people would be a lot less threatening than seven or eight soldiers armed to the teeth."
Face morphing into a pleased expression, Kenny nodded, sweeping his hair behind his shoulders as he did so. "Exactly! And I'm not saying we don't arm the people we send, but I'd say this is going to turn out to be a more diplomatic mission than anything else. After all, they aren't showing their faces, they're not about to attack us like the Elves would."
"So maybe we send in one to draw them out an another to tail them when they show up," Token suggested, clearly already working it through in his mind. "That or draw one of them out so we can question them."
Annoyed that he was being ignored, Cartman interjected, "Okay, whoa, wait, I am not sending in two random soldiers into this mess." Looking about himself at the people there, Cartman's eyes landed on Tweek and Craig and his mouth split into a malicious smile. "Since they're so interested in this matter already, why don't we send Feldspar and Tweek to do it."
Shivering, Tweek looked at Token, expecting the boy to say no, but all he found was the boy nodding, a contemplative expression on his face. "That could work actually." Looking over at Kenny, Token shrugged. "Tweek could draw them out, Feldspar could tail them. They're both powerful enough to hold their own, plus, other than me, they already know the most about this. It makes sense."
Turning around to Tweek and Craig, Kenny gave a bright smile and pressed his hands together in delight. "Ooh that sounds like a wonderful idea!" he exclaimed, looking between Tweek and Craig, his baby blue eyes glowing with a terrifying excitement. "You two make just the bestest pair ever! What do you say, hmm? You wouldn't let us all down and say no, would you?"
With a twitch, Tweek clenched his hand around his club hard enough that his knuckles creaked so he wouldn't scream. Knowing that everyone's eyes were on Craig and he, the boy looked up at Craig jerkily and waited for Craig to stop glaring at Kenny so he could meet the blonde's eyes. He wished he could read the things that Craig was thinking in the boy's eyes, but from what he could understand, he knew that Craig was asking him if he wanted to do it. I don't, but I don't know if we have a choice. Shaking, Tweek jerked left and let out a soft, "Ngh~"
Expression smoothing out, Craig turned to the other boys as his hand went to Tweek's hair. As his long fingers ruffled Tweek's blond mane, the Noirette clearly said, "We'll do it." The moment he'd said it, Tweek felt his resolve return. Because as soon as he knew that whatever happened, he was going to be with Craig, nothing seemed quite as worrying anymore. Even once Craig's hand slipped back to his side, Tweek still stood straight and looked at the other boys with the confidence that he wished he could always show.
"Good," Cartman said shortly, his eyes narrowed. "You can carry out this mission tomorrow. Until then, this meeting is adjourned."
