In social scenes 99% of the time Henri was in the driver's seat, steering them to awesome town, which naturally he was the king of, smooth talking the ladies and chatting their way out of trouble like a boss. Also, when they were in awesome town Henri was always heavily intoxicated so none of this was true.But he -felt- it was so that was the point.

Now, this was the other 1% of the time. The rare time that he'd actually shut his mouth and fade into the background, when he had work to do. This was Henri in well behaved ass kiss mode, in full throttle. He'd let Roland make all the big decisions, and he was glad he chose to take the meal because Henri didn't have it in him to ask and he was also hungry as hell. Mr Dufort was expecting him to do a good job and would surely hear about it if he acted up, and next to a legit workhorse like Roland, it wouldn't be hard for him to look bad.

For Roland it would probably be hilarious to see his smart ass friend politely recite his "yes sir, no sirs" without making some excuse, claiming that he couldn't fill the whole because a race of mole people begged him not to destroy their homes. They didn't exist anyway.

He followed Roland and Mr Colonel Dasari (who he only now just realized he'd seen around a few times but didn't know his name) into the Duncan's property for the first time. This Dasari guy seemed nice enough, and he offered him a polite nod as a sort of greeting. Perhaps soon, maybe after some food he'd open up a bit.

The way to the camp was clear, well marked out and even visible a few minutes from the gate. As the group of men walked, the Colonel kept up conversation, keeping it casual, and even making a few jokes here and there; although he was a professional, he also seemed to be a pretty easy going man; it was hard to not let your guard down around him, in fact.

“Kind of quiet, ... ah, Shri Bernard, is it?” the Colonel peered over his shoulder at Henri, "nervous? Guess we haven't made many fans in River's End."

In their defense, Colonel Dasari and his men were not here to make friends or solve trivial problems, either. He kept his men on a tight leash and kept them from causing too many problems in town, but some things did occur and he had to deal with them as they happened, on a day-to-day basis. If that meant not being accepted by the locals, well he could live with that; he figured this was probably Henri's problem, maybe he didn't fully trust the soldiers, or was under the same misconceptions of the rest of the town.

"You can relax a bit," Dasari said, "but keep it respectful," he clarified.

Roland coughed and it sounded not unlike the word "impossible". Strange, that.

The walk to the camp was clear and simple,marked out properly so even an idiot like him could find it, or so people didn't have to explain it with the language barrier between the Esconians and the people from Mercoras, he assumed it had to be more than just him and Roland since it was the Duncan's farm. It was weird he didn't see them around since it was their hole being filled on their land but whatever.The men bantered lightheartedly back and forth to eachother, and Henri kept quiet, so long and nobody tried to talk to hi-

“Kind of quiet, ... ah, Shri Bernard, isn’t it?” the Colonel peered over his shoulder towards Henri, "nervous? Guess we haven't made many fans in River's End."

Shit. What was he supposed to say to that. My name is Henri not Shri, he thought to himself. So they haven't made any friends in River's End, was his silence giving him the impression that he hated him? What was he supposed to say? "Don't worry handsome I'm your friend." didn't seem appropriate.

"Aherm well...no, no everything is good." He was sure to be as vague as possible, no it's okay you have lots of friends here or no it's okay I'm not nervous wasn't very clear. "Of course Colonel." Same with his o fcourse, he could be agreeing to relax be respectful or both.

Of course Roland knew what Henri -really- meant and snuck in his own two cents, which was greeted by a quick sneaky flash of Henri's middle finger when nobody was looking.

"Is that so?" the Colonel was skeptical, but if Henri didn't want to loosen up then there was no helping it. At the very least, the other 'guide' was a bit more welcoming; he was not concerned, or worried in the least, which was a nice change of pace.

When the group arrived at the camp, they would be greeted by a dozen more soldiers, all of whom were also armed, and sitting around the blacken pit of a since extinguished bonfire. Several tents were set up around the area, all made from the same canvas-like material, and a considerably delectable smell whiffed through the air. No doubt, this was breakfast.

“Pst,” Roland nudged Henri and pointed at a small hill that was almost obscured by the largest of the tents.

A small platform had been built onto the hill and a wooden frame atop it, a series of ropes were tied to the horizontal bar connecting either side of the frame, but the most alarming thing was that one of the ropes, tied into a noose, had a swollen body swaying in the wind.

Henri tried not to pout while he walked towards camp, thinking about what Colonel Dasari said to him. You can relax. The specially designed Esconian weaponry we're carrying are designed to make you feel relaxed, I mean just look at how relaxed all the soldiers are around the firepit right? Would you feel relaxed after some breakfast? We're serving little white Mercoran boys, it's everybody's favourite. Espeeeecially mine.

Actually, the closer and closer they got to the camp, the more delicious it began to smell. Breakfast might be better than he expecting, since it didn't smell like the steaming pile of crap on a bun he was sure he'd be forcefed. It smelled like it might be hasbrowns, something potatoey maybe? It was smart of Roland to agree to eat, now he was getting more hungry.

"What?" Roland nudged at Henri and pointed, he was pretty bad at taking hints. Obviously he wanted Henri to look at something, but try as he might all he saw were canvas tents, was it the tents? Yes they were very nice tents Roland but..

The swollen body from his dream. It was weird that something with that much weight could sway at all, but it creaked and swayed lifelessly. Appetite was completely destroyed. "Ro-rorooolaaaand!" He whimpered, and gulped hard at the sight, suppressing his urge to throw up that the aroma was now definitely not helping.

It was easy to tell when Henri was nervous, Colonel Dasari could see it but someone as close to Henri as Roland was could feel it, like Henri was grappling his intestines and twisting them to get his attention. In his mouth Henri's tongue was lashing out, trying to reach for his bandanna to chew it but he refrained, instead he gripped his pant leg so strongly that his friend could probably feel the vibrations of his effort. Maybe if he was drunk he wouldn't care as much, christ he wanted something to drink real bad.

Although just as bloated as the corpse from his dreams, if Henri took a moment longer to look at the hanging, swaying body, he would see that it was not the same corpse from his dream, but another Esconian, dead though he may be.

“What, what is it?” the Colonel stopped and turned around, halting Roland and Henri from going further; he had heard Henri’s whimpering and thought something may have been wrong.

Showing his experience, Dasari was quick to pick up on the source of Henri’s distress, though it mostly only required that he follow Henri and Roland’s eyes to the large tent and from there to the corpse.

“Oh,” it was a shame that he couldn’t fake surprise, he thought to himself, but these Mercorans really weren’t built of much, were they? Made soft by peace, he suspected.

“A traitor,” the Colonel said in a cold, venomous tone.

In an incomprehensibly smooth language, Colonel Dasari shouted out to his men, ordered them to cut the body down, and then let out a large, rolling sigh. The body was meant to serve as a reminder to his men that traitors would not be suffered, but if it was going to be an issue then there was no reason not to remove it.



The rest of the way to the camp went without incident. The captain and his men lead Roland and Henri into the second largest tent in the camp; it was a rectangular structure with a dirt floor and a line of tables stretching from one end to the other. On top these tables was a veritable feast of varying different types of food. Most of the foods were recognizable, though perhaps cooked different, but there were also some that no matter how hard either of the boys tried, it would have been impossible to place them; furthermore, there was a bowl of odd, white seeds in-between each man. Handfuls were taken liberally.

Hungry, Roland dove into this food as eagerly as any of the soldiers gathered. Even the odder dishes were eaten, though some had to be forced on him by the soldiers, but he did warm up to them after trying them, at least. The sight of the body was off putting, but he had seen some nasty stuff in his life; it didn’t matter to him so long as the guy was guilty of something, he decided.

“O’ m’n,” Roland garbled some words whilst stuffing his face. He grabbed a plate of something, a rich smelling, horribly plated, and completely unappetizing looking something; he pushed this towards Henri, almost spilling the contents entirely. “Try this!”

It seemed Henri's attempt to mask his discomfort had gone in vain. Colonel Dasari wasn't easily fooled, and if Henri didn't want people to notice what was bothering him he probably shouldn't be staring right at it. It was just too terrible to look away from, just like his father only darker. A corpse was a corpse either way, hung in plain sight like a Christmas decoration for all to see, was this normal for them?

"N-nothing Colonel." Henri gulped hard, as if he was trying to stomach the pure poison in the Colonel's words. A traitor. The body was obviously left as a reminder to the others, but of what? What was he hung for? Henri stayed quiet the rest of the way.

The food had not helped him as much as he hoped. Upon being led to the tent, filled with tables covered in food, he sat himself down next to his friend and ate in silence, graciously accepting everything that was offered to him without question. He didn't want answers, he didn't want to know what it was.

The dead body reminded him of some of the darker meats on the table. His stomach tossed but he smiled and enjoyed every bite. He didn't want to be hanging up there with the guy for not eating his food. To think he was actually looking forward to this. Before he was really genuinely hungry, and -wanted- to eat and probably would have cooled down after a meal, but everything leading to the kitchen killed his appetite and breakfast itself was an awkward social situation.

"Sure, why not." Any other table he'd sound more like OH HEY YA SURE WHAT IS THIS but not here and not now. Henri was eating like some kind of princess (he'd been called that by a few of the townsfolk) or whoever needs to practise proper manners at the table for whatever reason. Hesitantly, he picked up his spoon and scooped up a tiny amount, and ate it.

The look on his face was one of, surprise. He nodded his head once and raised his eyebrows, as if to say "hey not bad", which he eventually did but with his mouth.

"S'not bad." He looked back down at the concoction, holding his breath not because of the smell, but knowing that Roland probably passed him the nastiest shit and was about to break the news about what the hell he just ate. Roland was a bastard like that, he expected it.

Roland and a soldier opposite Henri appeared to be waiting for something, some kind of reaction. It would only take about five or so seconds after Henri ate the spoonful of food that a tingling sensation would start to prickle at his tongue, but as time went on, it would become much hotter, until it was a scorching, infernal heat.

“Ahahaha,” Roland and the soldier, eventually joined by the rest of the table, would start to laugh, and if not for the table itself, they probably would have literally slapped their knees.

In reality, Roland was not too sure what he had handed Henri; in fact, he hadn’t even eaten it, himself, but was sure just from the look of it that it was some foul stuff. The smell was enough to make his eyes water.

"Can't believe you freakin' ate that," he managed between gasps for air.

Fuckin manners, if anyone ever told him ever again that it was POLITE to eat the food your hosts offer you, they've never tried this. Walking straight into his friends trap for fear of offending the hosts was stupid, because they were definitely about to be offended now.

At first, he smiled politely, sweat pouring down his face which was becoming more and more red from the fire that was burning on his mouth. Inside he was salivating beyond control, constantly swallowing, on the verge of chocking on his own spit.

Henri kept his poke rface while he gagged a bit, still with his mouth shut, trying to disguise it. When he couldn't keep his mouth shut (as is often the case) he opened it slightly, covering it with his hand discreetly while he tried to cool his mouth with sharp cold breaths. But it didn't work, there was only fire, it scorched, it scalded it prickled it burned it HURT and it needed to be extinguished. He couldn't contain it any longer.

"OhmygodRolandyoufuckingbastard!" Without thinking he reached into his pocket and grabbed his flask, immediately draining the contents, then reaching for a slice of bread that he literally JAMMED in his mouth, quickly drinking more water while he was still chewing on the bread to hopefully create some kind of soothing anti firey rape paste in his mouth, eyes watering over, tears rolling down his face. While he chewed and drank, he gave Roland the finger, only a little more openly this time.

When the laughter finally died down, Roland put his hands in front of him, and gestured for Henri to calm down a bit. He was glad to see his friend somewhat back to his normal self, because he was just acting too weird lately. Thankfully, their hosts didn't seem all that bothered by the sudden outburst; honestly, Roland suspected that they didn’t care so long as the fun stopped when it was time for work.

For the remainder of breakfast, everyone seemed more calm, more relaxed, and any tension that may have been in the air before had almost completely disappeared after the good laugh; it was exactly what Roland preferred, and even if Henri didn’t enjoy it, it wasn’t entirely without merit. Roland may have broken the ice and used Henri as a tool, but at least he helped, right? Right?

After breakfast, Dasari gave enough time for the food to digest, before gathering everyone in the middle of camp, where the fire pit was; it was particularly kind of him to give everyone a break and it was probably for Henri and Roland’s sake, the breakfast included. He wanted to make a good impression, it seemed.



All of the soldiers were gathered in a circle around Dasari, who stood atop a wooden log his men had used for seating the night prior, and he was giving a rousing monologue on something or another in his native tongue. Roland wasn’t sure what he was saying, but all of the men seemed to be enjoying it. Eventually, the speech ended and his men started to leave the camp, no doubt heading for the excavation site.

Once the crowd thinned enough, Dasari approached Henri and Roland; he had a sack slung over his shoulder and stopped just short of the boys.

“Ready for work?” he asked, his tone more serious than the last time he spoke to the boys.

"Whew, my god." Eventually the fire in his mouth died down and Henri took a deep breath and sighed, imagining that smoke or steam would be blowing out his mouth like a dragon.Across the table his friend was gesturing for him to quiet down, and he gladly did, wiping his mouth on his bandanna before carrying on with his meal. It was a disgusting habit Henri had, that bandanna was constantly being used as a napkin or chew toy of some sort but after what happened, it didn't matter. There was no need to act so uptight now.

Well played Roland, well played. Although still careful with his words, and a bit soft spoken Henri finally indulged in some conversation. After awhile everyone was gathered in the middle of the camp, now it was time to work.

Henri still wasn't too sure what their job really was. Everyone was in the middle of the pit, and Colonel Dasari was giving the required motivational speech to get people excited about the huge task they had ahead of them. When they left for the excavation site that left him and Roland singled out and standing there.

"Ready for work?"

A sort of "of course colonel" might sound too casual or something, like how he spoke to Paige. Henri settled for a nod instead, ready to hear what the big job was all about.

Offtopic: Today's post brought you to by tequila, pain, and codeine. Sorry.

The colonel rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a second; he eventually hefted the sack from over his shoulder and revealed it to be misshapen, longer, and a sight bit heavier than it first appeared. A linen-wrapped object was poking just through the sack’s mouth.

“Well,” the sack hit the ground with a thud and clank, “I have something of a gift for you two. Something ... decorative," he said reluctantly.

Roland moved to pick up the sack, kneeling down in front of it, but not opening it just yet; instead, he looked up to Dasari as if to ask ‘what is this for?’

“You won’t use them,” he said while scratching at the side of his face, “but we can’t really... take you seriously without them,” ahem, “well, whatever. If you would like to learn to use them, that’s fine... I can teach you, later.”

Turning around, Dasari made as though he was going to walk off, but stopped just short, "Ah, yes, you'll meet Kum Bhatt on your way to the site. She will tell you what you're to do and if you have any questions, she’ll answer them.”

Finally, Colonel Dasari would head off after his men, leaving Roland and Henri alone, and with a gift they knew nothing about.

“W-what do you think that was about?” Roland asked.

Henri was eyeing the sack nervously, assuming that since this was a job about filling in a hole, the bag would have something like shovels in them. They were the only ones without one, but those shovels must have been, very short. Maybe it was a special kind of spade.

He backed away slightly when Colonel Dasari threw his bag on he ground. Whatever was in it landed with a hard clank and it would have sucked if it landed on Henri's toes. Also, they were definitely not shovels, everything Colonel Dasari said made them sound the least bit like shovels at all.

They won't use them, so they aren't shovels. They can't be taken seriously without them, and not being taken seriously for lack of a shovel was ridiculous, and Henri knew very well how to use a shovel without being told how to use it thank you very much. Regardless, Colonel Dasari did say it was a gift, so he'd have to accept it happily.

"Thanks Colonel." Henri waited til Dasari was out of earshot before he bent down over the bag, staring down at it with Roland, smiling.

""They're weapons Roland! Open it!" Despite speaking in a hushed town there was clearly excitement in his voice, like a kid about to open up a Christmas present. "I can't believe he's giving us these, I kind of hope we don't have to use them." Dasari said the wouldn't have to, but it was a worry of his, that and how pissed his mom would be if he came home with some kind of huge axe or something.

Weapons? Roland thought about it and it definitely made sense; in fact, he could not recall a single time that he saw an Esconian without a weapon.

"Alright, hold on," Roland replied and opened the sack and peered inside. To his surprise, Henri was actually right for once: two weapons were inside, sheathed, and tethered to a belt of some sorts.

“I’ll be,” he admitted and pulled the two weapons out.

The first one he removed was the quickest to get to and was wrapped completely in a white linen-cloth: it was heavier than the second, but balanced enough that it wasn’t unwieldy. The blade was wide, but its length was just above a short-sword. Removing the linen revealed that the blade had a line of dots worked into the metal and an indention ran up and down its length - and the hand-guard was a bit odd too: it wrapped around the hilt of the sword but was left open, and likewise, an extra, curved plate ran from the hand-guard and connected to the pommel.

The second blade was not nearly as visually impressive as the first; it was, to be honest, rather plain looking, and probably even a little disappointing after the first. The weapon was in a sheath that was part of a thick leather belt and seemed to situate behind a person’s back, to be drawn from the side. Unlike the first weapon, this one was not a sword in the least, but a knife. Its hilt was engraved in various symbols, none of which Henri nor Roland could hope to understand.

“So which one do you think you can use?”

Who got what seemed pretty obvious, but Roland didn’t want to push it on Henri.

Henri watched while Roland sloooowly unwrapped the presents. Weapons! With sheaths and belts and everything, like the ones he'd heard so much about. Henri let out a small "yes!" and immediately went for the bigger shinier of the two that his eyes were just naturally drawn to. It was more stereotypically swordy with some weird dot like pattern worked into the blade. Henri reached for the blade, grabbing it sternly by the handle. Without even making much of an effort he could feel the weight of the damn thing, and he was hardly holding it.

"Eheh, this one." He put the sword down careful, and sheepishly picked up the tinier of the two much easier. There were strange markings on the handle which he assumed was just Esconian for something, and it was a lot more knife like, curved backwards. To him it looked like a boomerang, but he doubted it would come back if he threw it. A knifearang. It had to be done, you'd just slice off all your fingers trying to catch it. He'd find a way around that.

Back to reality, he took the thing and stood up, awkwardly holding it with both hands, not entirely sure what to do with it. He'd strap the thing on but wasn't too fond of things touching his waist. "So I guess we should go see that KumBat lady huh?"