New Hobbies and Miscommunications

Even with the spiky tops of his hair, Karol only reached to a little over five feet tall. He was what Raven referred to a late bloomer. It was due this his lack of height and unwillingness to behave like a jerk that he was tossed around the busy Dahngrest street like a kicked stone.

Good manners had no place in the chaotic open-air markets on Dahngrest's west side. Merchants and guildsmen of all shapes hurried to various destinations with ruthless urgency. Poor Karol could barely see the afternoon sun let alone his quickly moving quarry. It was a miracle that he managed to stay upright.

Pushed and shoved this way and that, Karol pumped his short legs with a sense of building urgency, yelling, "Hey, Yuri! Wait up!"

He fought valiantly against the raging tide of Dahngrest residents, but to no avail. Karol could not keep up with Yuri's long purposeful strides, and willingness to elbow and force his way through the mob of shoppers. It was only by the glint off a, keep-sake bodi-blastia, and the flash of long dark hair that Karol was able to keep Yuri in view.

He was struck suddenly from behind, this time a hammering blow landed between his shoulder blades and Karol pitched face first into the dirt. A hurried "sorry, kid" was uttered, but the culprit disappeared just as soon as he appeared.

Now at the mercy of an apathetic populous, Karol could scarcely save himself from getting trampled into an unrecognizable pulp. A sharp-heeled boot crushed his hand and Karol let out a strangled yelp.

Suddenly a savage snarl ripped through the market, clearing the shoppers like a frightened flock of birds. Fearing that a monster had somehow slipped into the city, Karol pulled himself up quickly, only to stare down the long pointed muzzle of a scarred one-eyed canine.

Karol exhaled harshly and sat back on his rear to catch his breath. "Thanks, Rapede,"

Pipe clutched between his teeth Rapede swayed his head from side to side as if daring anyone to even look at the young Brave Vesperia leader the wrong way. With a snort and a shake of his blue fur Rapede trotted off to the outskirts of the crowd, clearly wanting Karol to follow by the look in his single intelligent canine eye. Karol hurriedly complied.

Three dark back-alleyways and a dusty side street later, Karol finally spotted Yuri angrily making his way towards an achingly familiar Hunting Blades Headquarters. Karol swallowed, he'd never get used to that huge metal-banded door. At twice the height of a man the door looked better at keeping something or someone in rather than serve as an entrance.

Pausing to catch his breath, Karol helplessly watched as Yuri aggressively pushed into a large crowd milling about the huge metal doors. Almost instantly Karol spotted Clint. The massive Hunting Blades leader towered over everyone, looking more like an ancient stone guardian than flesh and blood human.

...

Yuri finally managed to shove his way to the front when Clint sidestepped in front him. Glaring at the boulder-esque obstruction to his path, Yuri forced his gaze upward to meet the other man's eyes.

"What?" Yuri clipped, his stormy grey eyes narrowed with impatience.

"Adults 50 gald. Children 25," Clint recited the prices by rote. He looked down and spotted Rapede sitting at Yuri's feet and added, "… Pets 10 gald."

"I'm not here for…" Yuri looked around, annoyed, "whatever it is. I'm here to pick a guild member."

Yuri tried to step around, but Clint moved, easily blocking Yuri once again. He then repeated.

"Adults 50 gald, Children 25 gald. Pets 10."

Sneering through his teeth, Yuri said, "I said I'm here for Judy-"

Clint looked down and folded his muscular arms, his patience also wearing thing. "No one gets through unless you pay," he said in a deep gruff voice.

"Then call her for me." Yuri bit back.

Clint's reply was immediate and mockingly succinct, "No, money. No, entry. Next!"

Then to prove his point, Clint accepted a handful of money from a portly man with thinning hair who looked oddly eager to get in.

Yuri was about to raise another argument when Karol stepped in with the money already in hand. His childish face was smudged with dirt, which made him look younger than his 13 years of age. Not to mention, the towing Hunting Blade leader always made him nervous.

Clint took the money with out a word.

Yuri waited for the big man to get out of his way, but the burly man did not budge.

"Well?" Yuri asked snidely.

""Read the sign," Clint pointed to the roughly painted sign to his left. No weapons."

"Bullshit," Yuri replied instantly.

A shadow fell over Clint's stoic mask, "No. Weapons."

"Please Yuri," Karol pulled on Yuri's arm fearfully. The last thing he needed was for his guild to start causing trouble. Not while he was deeply buried in his quest for official recognition for Brave Vesperia.

Yuri ground his teeth but threw his sword on a table piled high with enough weapons to fetch a king's ransom.

Yuri looked incensed, but when the large man stepped to the side he stalked in darkly with Rapede following sedately. Karol hurriedly thanked the Hunting Blade leader and rushed after Yuri and Rapede.

When the metal gates closed behind them Karol looked around. The place was just as huge and intimidating as he remembered. Weapons lined the stone walls and equally deadly individuals loitered about. There they found a long hallway backed up with a curiously longer queue than the one outside. Yuri cursed, but did not fight the press of humanity as it slowly worked through the hall and out into a sprawling courtyard.

…..

Later, Karol was once again deserted; both Yuri and Rapede were long gone. This time he stood at the rear of a rowdy crowd, cheering, jeering and pumping fists. Once again poor Karol's height disadvantage became apparent, he couldn't see what was going on.

Exasperated and desperate Karol squirmed his way between bodies and dangerously swinging elbows. What felt like an eternity later, he heard a familiar voice shouting over the din. Karol looked up and spotted someone walking the ring's fence as if were second nature, yelling and scolding unruly spectators as she did so.

Karol blushed to his ears.

It was Nan.

…..

Nan was busy keeping the more rowdy of the large crowd from climbing into the expansive training ring. With nimble feet she quickly stalked back and forth kicking and swatting at anyone who dared get too close.

"Nan! Nan!"

The young Hunting Blade stopped and peered into the packed spectators. She spotted Karol diligently weaving his way through the human press. He looked flushed and about to faint.

Heaving a large sigh, Nan launched her nimble body into the fray swinging, effectively clearing enough space so that Karol could catch his breath. He always was a little helpless at times.

"What's? What's going on here?" Karol asked, between ragged breaths.

Nan's face darkened and Karol feared he said the wrong thing.

She balled her fists at her sides as if to hold her temper in check. "It's been like this ever since she started showing up," Nan said sourly with an agitated wave into the ring, where lo and behold stood his missing guild mate.

"Judith!"

Suddenly feeling exhausted, Karol felt that he should have known that Judith had something to do with this commotion. And what was she doing? Wearing a training gi, which was more clothing than he'd seen her wear in months, and happily circling the only Hunting Blade member who never failed to leave him with the occasional nightmare. Tison.

"I don't see why though! You'd think these idiots had never seen anyone train before…" Nan crossed her arms in a huff, almost ranting to herself.. "Why would Tison a agree to this-this nonsense!"

Nan recalled the exact day that leggy Krytian showed up at the guild. It was bad enough that she walked in like she owned the place, but for master to drop everything and… errr…

"At first it was just the guild members that wanted to watch Master Tison train… her," Nan hissed. "But then the next time she showed up the whole blasted city was at our doorstep!"

"So…" Nan looked angry and embarrassed, and grudgingly admitted, "We're selling tickets. To boost to coffers."

Another cheer ripped through the crowd, this one louder than the last. Both Karol and Nan snapped their attention back to the ring.

There was Judith happily seated, looking rather proud of herself. Upon further inspection it appeared that her seat was a sweating and panting Tison who was bent on all fours like a table top in the dirt.

A murderous vibe chilled Karol to the bone. He looked over and Nan who had her fists clenched into white knuckled balls and bearing her teeth in a constrained snarl. Karol stepped to the side, only be nearly knocked to the ground as Yuri appeared out of nowhere and vaulted over the fence in one smooth motion. Some days Karol just couldn't win.

…..

The training ring was large, even larger than the one he trained in as a former knight in Zaphias. This gave Yuri enough time to nurture his raging temper as he closed in on his target.

Judy…

There she was, gi slightly fallen open revealing sweat kissed skin. She was winded, that much he could tell by the distracting rise and fall of her chest, but that did nothing to make that lackadaisical smile he both loved and hated disappear.

Oddly enough, the creepy Hungting Blade that Yuri was developing a healthy dislike for did not seem to be in any hurry to throw off Judith's added weight, despite his own sweaty and breathless appearance.

It was Yuri's furious approach that Tison's self preservation instinct kicked in, and he gently got to he knees and all but shuddered as Judith slid off his back. Gods this woman was going to drive him insane. If only she wasn't such a good student. For what she called a "new hobby", Judith was a very quick study in hand-to-hand combat.

"I'm going to clean up," he muttered before quick stepping away. Tison felt that it was best not to be present for what was to transpire between the two. In the short days he'd gotten to know Judith he could conclude that he wasn't the only one frustratingly mystified by her curious personality.

"Hello," Judith smiled at Yuri casually as if the situation were completely normal. She gave him a once over with her crimson eyes and with that same smile, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Where to start?" Yuri ground out. "One, you disappeared. Two-"

"I recall telling you that I was going out."

"For almost a week?" Yuris said harshly raking his fingers through his long hair. "Two, it took three days tracking Ba'ul to see if he knew anything. Do you know how hard it is to communicate with him?"

Yuri didn't add that he could have sworn the entelexeia was laughing at him that day, or that somehow Rapede miraculously served as a quasi interpreter. That scene still made Yuri's head hurt just trying to make sense of it all.

"Three, you disappeared!"

"You said that twice so far."

"But that's what's wrong!" Leave it to Judy to give him gray hairs.

"You're angry. Because you were worried…" It was a statement rather than a question. Judith was still working on the ins and outs of interpersonal relationships.

"…Yes," Yuri admitted suddenly felling tired. "Look, I know you like to do your own thing. But at least let us know what you're up to."

What was he, her father? Sometimes moments with Judy felt so surreal to Yuri.

"Hm, seems rather constrictive, and one sided," she eyed him accusingly. "… but I will give this a try," Judith said with a carefree shrug.

"Good now come on, lets go home."

"No can do, I'm afraid. We've sold out on tickets for the next two training sessions. I'll be here till the end of the weekend."

Suddenly Yuri's temper evaporated. He dropped to the ground in cross-legged heap with his head cradled between his hands.

End