King Duncan of Araluen poured some more wine into his glass while he listened to the Ranger commandant, and one of his closest friends, Crowley Meratyn, tell a story about one of the assignments he and Halt had gone on.
"They looked absolutely freezing!" Crowley laughed, "It was very unprofessional of you Halt."
Halt just shrugged. "So?" he asked, "It worked." They were talking about an assignment the two friends had been sent on around ten years ago. They had to track down some bandits that had been rumoured to be a bigger threat than they were. According to the locals, the group of misfits had been dealing with witchcraft and demonic rituals, summoning supernatural and paranormal beings to help them wreak havoc on the villagers. Halt and Crowley had of course found that these rumours were all false and a lie made up by the bandits themselves. But they still had stolen an object that was quite valuable and essential to the local healer, and she needed it back. So Halt had thrown the bandits leader and two of the other group members into a nearby lake, which was freezing cold as it was the middle of winter at the time.
"Yes I guess it did," Crowley agreed. "For a group of people that claimed to be summoning and dealing with demons, they were absolute cowards. All Halt had to do was threaten to keep them in the water all night and they immediately told us what we needed to know!"
"I wish every group of bandits we have to deal with was that easy," Halt muttered into his mug, which was full of coffee as usual.
"Although it may seem unprofessional," Duncan piped in, "it was still effective. I say it doesn't really matter how you two do things as long as it gets the job done. And it doesn't break too many laws."
"Exactly," Halt said, looking at Crowley, "And it's not like they didn't deserve it."
"True," Crowley agreed again, "But it's still a funny story to tell." He looked out the window and saw that the moon was well high in the sky. "When did it get dark?"
Duncan laughed. "It's been like that for ages now, Crowley."
"What sort of ranger are you if you can't even tell when the sun goes down," Halt teased his friend.
Crowley glared at him, although he didn't fully mean it. "Well I'm sorry," he said, "But I was too busy entertaining you two with my hilarious story to pay attention to the sky."
"Ah yes," Duncan said, a grin spreading across his face, "Because this is the face of someone who is very entertained," he motioned towards Halt's bored expression. Crowley waved his comment aside.
"That's because Halt's already heard it before. He was there after all."
"Just because you were talking that doesn't mean it's a good enough reason to miss the bloody sunset," Halt said, "It's not something that takes that much effort to notice."
"Whatever," Crowley mumbled, "It doesn't matter."
"No it doesn't matter Crowley," Duncan agreed, "What does matter at the moment, at least to me, is sleep."
"What?" Crowley cried out, "It's not even that late yet!"
"It's the middle of the night you idiot," Halt said, "We've been wanting to leave for ages now but you wouldn't stop yapping about your stupid stories."
Crowley mocked offence, 'How dare you. My stories are high quality tales. Very sophisticated. They should be written down and put into the castle's library for pity's sake!"
"Sure," Halt said sarcastically. "Well I'm leaving. I've got to go back to Redmont tomorrow and I've got to get up early."
"I've got to get up early as well. But I'll see you later," Duncan said.
"Boring," Crowley grumbled as Duncan and Halt stood up and left the room, which belonged to Crowley himself.
When they closed the doors behind them, Crowley also got up and went to his own bed. They had a point, he thought. They all needed to get up early for work. They always did.
I know at the moment it says there is only one chapter, but trust me that will change. I hope you enjoyed this very short opening chapter, I promise the next ones will be longer, this is just a prolouge thingy. Also, this chapter and one other chapter is the only happiness you will get in this fic. If there is any other happy moments in this fic, my apoligies, it was completely on accident and was not supposed to happen. I will do better next time. Even the parts with some comfort I will still try to make angsty.
I will try and update and get the actual thing started, and I would say that the next chapter should come soon, but realistically, that ain't gonna happen. It's probably going to be another two months before I update again, for the reasons that I have many other WIPS to finish and I'm lazy as fuck. And school. So if I don't update for another year, just remember I haven't given up or forgotten, I'm either dead, or am just very slow at updating. I have like tons of The Outsiders fics to write and finish as well, and the people that recommened them have probably completley given up hope or forgotten that I exsist.
Speaking of reccomendations, if you have any requests for a fic you want to read and want me to write, you can send them to me either here, or on my Tumblr accounts that-one-enby-ranger or that-one-enby-ranger-fanfics. I also do Good Omens requests which you can send to the Tumblr account everythingsallticketyboo or here, and The Outsiders requests which you can send to pony-has-a-pepsi-addiction or here.
Thanks for reading :)
-That One Enby Ranger