Azereiah

The Two Sides

Brick swung the sword at hip level the instant Misha started moving towards him. He had a five and a half foot reach advantage over her, and she was surrounded on both sides by knee deep water. His blood started pumping like it never had before, and he felt properly alive for the first time in years. A massive smile spread across his face mid-swing, and he wanted to see how she would try to avoid it.

The Two Sides

Brick, sensing the stress in her voice, took a single step forwards, not breaking eye contact for a split second. She would snap pretty soon. He wondered to himself which way she would run - towards him or towards her camp. The water was obviously doing no favors for her feet, and she'd have to make a choice quickly.

Still, he felt the adrenaline slowly building up, no matter how confident in his own skills he was.

The Two Sides

Brick continued standing where he was, stone faced. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of further responses unless she decided to cooperate. He expected her to try to cross the river at any moment.

The Two Sides

"Then Fabine can blow it out his ass."

Brick placed both hands on the hilt of the sword and stood silent and motionless. Whatever happened next would likely be very, very fast.

The Two Sides

Be it confusion or disgust, Misha's response meant he was getting somewhere. He wasn't entirely sure where he was getting - but it was somewhere.

"Well, pardon-fucking-me for trying to keep everyone here alive. Now, if you're not going to tell me what happened, then you might as well get out of here. Or do something else. Not my problem. We're not getting anywhere with this as it is."

He readied himself to move if she decided to attack.

The Two Sides

Brick looked daggers at Kianna. He was not in the mood for that shit.

"I'll explain her for you, then. That cat did something stupid, you dragged him out of the river, and she's worried about him. She probably thinks we're going to do something unpleasant to him or hold him hostage or some shit like that. Oh, and she's probably going to try to kill one of us if we don't cool this little problem down quickly. Good enough, or would you like to hear it from the end of that dagger of hers?"

He stood up again and picked up the sword, digging the tip into the gravel and looking toward the riverbank.
"If you're not going to get out of here, you freezing to death isn't my problem."

The Two Sides

Brick glared at Misha, believing absolutely nothing she just said. Still, if he were going to try to work towards any sort of understanding or try to help anyone, he'd have to be pretty careful in conversation. There was a time to be an asshole, and this wasn't it.

"Kianna, you should get back to camp, warm up some. You're probably freezing your ass off right now."

The Two Sides

Brick pointed a thumb to Kianna, who was still behind him. "That was as much for her benefit as for yours. He's gonna be okay. Our healer's with him now - as far as I'm concerned, he's a friend of a friend."

He sat down on top of his sword again. "Mind telling me what happened?"

The Two Sides

Brick stood up again and dusted the gravel off of his legs. This time he looked directly at Misha, and spoke loudly enough for her to hear him easily. The sword remained on the ground.

"You already know you've been seen, and yet you still approach. I take it you're not going to try anything stupid."

The Two Sides

"If you're able to make it now, we should probably put the cat in that jacket. He might be breathing again, but he's still on his way out if he doesn't warm up fast. Do you know him?"

Brick stretched his arms and legs a bit, almost accidentally dumping his foot in the river, and leaned back to relax. Judging by Kianna's behavior, whoever it was out there wasn't a Rabin - but they hadn't been attacked just yet, and as far as he knew, he was a total unknown to every one of the Broms except Fabine.