Some Time Before…

Marcus sighed, sidestepping the blade aimed at him easily, not even bothering to lift his guard.

"You know, hot as it is when you're brooding, I'd like it if you took me a bit more seriously." Chastity grumbled, taking another swing at him. Marcus didn't understand why she had insisted he keep his promise to train her now of all times. I should be out there looking for them… not here training rookies.

Marcus stepped into Chastity's guard, grabbing her sword hand and pulling, sweeping with his leg at the same time to knock Chastity's feet out from under her. At the last moment he relaxed his grip, quickly sliding his arm around her to stop her colliding with the ground and almost negligently putting the tip of his blade against her chest. "Is that serious enough for you?" He threw back, the challenge in his eyes clear.

Chastity took a moment to catch her breath and glared up at him. "I thought the point of this was to make me better, not feel worse."

Marcus couldn't quite stop the growl of frustration from escaping him as he stood her up straight, handing her her dropped weapon again. "And I thought you'd put swordplay behind you since you discovered your magical music."

"Well with all the shakeup happening at camp, I thought I'd better brush up on it just in case." Chastity replied, lifting her sword again.

Marcus sighed. "Chastity we've been at this for a solid hour…"

"Oh come on Marcus, I know you have more stamina than that." Chastity let some of her normal teasing tone enter her voice, eliciting a goran from Marcus.

"Look, enough already. You have your music. It's incredibly useful in battle. Leave stuff like this to me, hm?" Marcus shrugged. "Swordplay isn't your forte. And that's fine. After all, I can't play music to save my-"

"Hm?" Chastity perked up. "You can't play music? Like at all?"

Marcus got the sudden feeling he was venturing into dangerous territory, but he wasn't sure how he got there. "Uh… No? Chastity in all the time you've known me, when have you ever seen me even try to play an instrument?" But Chastity wasn't listening anymore. Without another word she dashed forward, grabbing Marcus' hand and pulling him back to camp. "Hey hey hey where's the fire?!"

"We're solving this problem right now." Chastity said as she dragged him along. "No brooding bad boy is complete without at least one musical talent."

Thus began Marcus' instruction in the mysteries of the musical arts. At least, that's how Chastity would put it… Marcus grumbled hours later as he sat in Chastity's cabin, sheets of what to him appeared to be chicken scratch on lines littered about the floor. In his hands he held the latest of the multitude of instruments Chastity had attempted to get him to "feel a connection with". First had been a Lyre, similar to hers. That had lasted all of five minutes. He had hoped it would be followed by something a little easier if he had to indulge her, but the difficulty had only seemed to increase from there. Now he was sat on her bed, carefully plucking the strings of a guitar in the way she had been showing him before now.

"Well I guess this one isn't totally a waste of time…" Chastity mused, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully.

Marcus sighed, putting the instrument aside. "Chastity, can we stop now? I don't understand anything that you've said since we've been back here. Chords, Dynamics, Clefs, Keys…"

"It's not that hard to pick up Marcus." Chastity replied matter-of-fact, picking up the guitar and putting it away. "Maybe if you weren't being such a baby about it, you could get it down."

Marcus sighed. "What is this actually about Chastity?"

"What do you mean?" She asked innocently. Chastity and innocent don't really go together…

"All of this. Out of the blue you ask me to train you, which you haven't asked for in months. When I do you take it far, far, more seriously than you did before, yet somehow you're worse than you were then-"

"Gee, thanks." Chastity bristled.

"And then you bring me back to your cabin to teach me music. Music. And not once in those hours of music did you make a sex joke. Not once did you even seem to notice that you had me, alone, in your cabin." Marcus stood and walked to Chastity, his eyes boring into hers. "So tell me. What is this really about?"

Chastity looked up at him for a moment. It seemed that after he had said it, she finally realized the golden opportunity she had taken for granted. But it was too late to even try to take advantage of it. Marcus could almost hear her thoughts racing before she crossed her arms and threw him a defiant look. "Fine. Fine! You think I haven't noticed how rough it's been for you lately? How hard you're taking… everything." She caught herself before rubbing salt in the wound, but her meaning got across. How hard I'm taking my friends leaving me. Attacking me. Abandoning me… "So I thought to maybe help you get your mind off things. But for the past month it's been like you've been avoiding me. Hell, even Maddie's hardly seen you during the day."

Marcus flinched, though he didn't back away. He knew he should be there for Maddie more, her friends had gone missing too after all, but he couldn't just sit at camp. He had to keep searching. Somehow. So he spent his days sneaking out of Camp, checking their old hideouts in the outside world. He'd been steadily moving further and further away, till he could barely fit the travel into one day. He'd have to figure out an excuse for leaving Camp for a while to check any further out…

"And there you go again. Hello, Earth to Marcus! Are you even listening to me?" Chastity's voice cut through his musings. "Look, I don't care what you're doing during the day, I really don't, but when you disappear, Maddie comes looking for another friend to spend time with. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sneak away with a hot guy when Maddie is throwing you puppy dog eyes?" Chastity ranted, and though they weren't particularly close, Marcus could still see through the facade she put up. She was worried about Maddie. And Maddie was worried about Marcus.

Marcus sighed. "Alright, alright. I get it. I'll be more… present alright?" Though that means I'll have to stop searching for now… or bring Maddie with me… Marcus couldn't keep the scowl from his face as the thought crossed his mind. He couldn't do that.

"Look… Not that it's any of my business, or that I particularly care…" Chastity's stance softened. "I just don't want to have to deal with it alright. Stop brooding so much already dammit. Like, brooding is hot and all but it's like lube."

"Like… Huh?" Marcus said, caught entirely off guard by that statement.

"A little is hot and exciting. Too much and it's a mess. A mess I don't really want to clean up." Chastity finished, a small smile appearing on her face.

Marcus stared at her for a moment before bursting out in laughter. He couldn't help it. That statement was so ridiculous, so… Chastity that he laughed. Laughed like he hadn't in months. Chastity's almost insulted expression that he would dare laugh at her genius comparison didn't help matters.

Finally getting ahold of himself, Marcus shook his head. "Alright, fair enough. I'll try to avoid making any more messes you feel you have to clean up, and I'll keep Mads busy so she doesn't cut as much into your 'private time', how's that?" Marcus couldn't believe those words left his mouth, but after a laugh like that, she deserved a little ridiculousness from him.

Chastity nodded, seemingly satisfied, before hesitating. "Wait… that's your nickname for Maddie? Isn't 'Maddie' nickname enough?"

Marcus shrugged, starting to feel more like himself. "Probably. But everybody calls her Maddie. Just seemed fitting to give her one myself." Marcus couldn't help a cocky grin coming over his face. "Part of the whole 'brooding bad boy' aesthetic I guess. Those close to me get their own nicknames."

"So what's mine?" Chastity asked without missing a beat.

"What?" How does she keep catching me like that…?

"What's. Mine?" Chastity asked again, her eyes starting to get that cold edge to them again. Gods how do I keep getting myself in these situations… "And it better not be something dumb like fucking… Chaste. Or Chas." Chastity practically gagged on the last one, enough to bring a smile to Marcus' lips. Glancing around quickly, Marcus realized the answer was right in front of him.

"Songbird." He said, making sure to sound almost too sweet. If she can tease… So can I.

Chastity looked up at him, for a moment looking unsure and vulnerable before her demeanor returned to normal. "Really…? That's what you came up with? Sounds sappy and romantic. Couldn't you come up with something sexier?"

Marcus shrugged, walking to the door and opening it, allowing the breeze to enter the cabin, brushing against the wind chimes on the cabin porch. Adding his own magical touch with his fathers gifts, Marcus called a few simple notes from the air, making a short melody and harmony. "Why not? After all, you gave me a new appreciation for music." He said with a small smile, turning back to her.

He wasn't quite sure, but he thought he caught her blushing before she quickly turned away to gather up the sheets of music that had been ruffled by the wind as she replied, "Fine. Songbird it is."