The Eternal Vigil

[Azzy]

Across the vast North-Western border of Avaren there were many watch towers and garrisons, all charged with the single task of providing a bulwark against attacks from the wastes beyond. Yet there was one fortress among, larger than the rest, which was build near the center of this defensive line. It was from here that the status of the defensive line and from here that quick response teams would be sent, should the need arise.

At the very tallest tower of this fortress, located in the center of the structure, Azrael spent the majority of his time. For neat the top of this tower was build a circular pool. It was about six feet across, one foot deep and filled with water. Above this pool, hundreds of small glass orbs slowly floated about. If examined, each one bore foggy images of some far-off location, one for each guard tower in the network. This was the seer's tower, Azrael's post. From this location he was able to monitor the entire border, watching for the trouble that inevitably arose. Constantly manned by a handful of seers, even when Az was not around, it ensured that the kingdom was never truly taken unaware.

With a sigh, Azrael rubbed his eyes. He had been looking from orb to orb for several hours now, making sure all was well. Yet now he descended his tower, leaving the vigil up to others for the moment. Right now he headed for the mess hall of this fortress.

He needed a cup of cocoa.

[Orca]

The shapeshifter was, for the moment, in his human form, though he grew more and more tempted to shift to something else as soldiers filled out the table he was sitting at. He was effectively pinned in by a girthy man on either side, each going off on topics that, while completely different at the root, were alike in their tendencies to be spattered with profanities and obscenities galore. He was a simple boy, Orca was, and most the words he didn't even understand, but he got the gist of it, and that was enough.

A squeak was driven from his lungs as the guy to his left accidentally elbowed him with one hammy elbow, followed by a grunted sorry. The young shapeshifter used the opportunity to squeeze out of his spot and trot away, still somewhat wide-eyed from the encounter. It was fine, really, he hadn't even been all that hungry anyway. Really.

Sighing, he turned to leave and found himself directly in front of the bossman himself, Azrael. Obvious relief swept across Orca's tanned face, and it was all he could do to keep himself from hugging the man. "Boss!" he yelped, sounding a lot more like his favorite alternate form than the human one he currently stood in. "You done wit' yer job for now? Want me t'grab ya food?"

The guy did something with the mini-lake up there, something that involved a lot of staring and muttering to himself. Orca himself had no talent with it, and therefore no interest either. His specialties lay more with the sword, the sling, and his amateur shapeshifting. He wasn't really sure why Azrael had chosen him to work for him, considering he was really nothing compared to most the beefy men walking around them, but he was sure the guy had his reasons.

...Right?

[Azzy]

Azrael's expression brightened somewhat when he reached the mess hall and was confronted by Orca. He considered the man to be considerably more pleasant company than the more stereotypical fighter-type. For whatever reason, whenever he chatted with Orca, he was filled with the random overwhelming urge to pat him on the head at times. Perhaps it had something to do with his shapeshifting?

Azrael had not originally been intending to stick around. Though he was ultimately in charge within the fortress, he often found that the company of most soldiers was somewhat discomforting. Perhaps it was something left over from a time when mages and warriors were segregated before the reunification? Either way, Azrael was not a fan of vulgar, idiotic banter and took any excuse to avoid it.

"Yeah, I'm done for the moment, and food sounds just about perfect. Though what I would prefer more than anything else right now would be a nice hot cup of cocoa. You should join me."

[Orca]

"Cocoa..." They'd never had luxuries like that where he'd come from, and even just working a couple weeks at Azrael's side had gotten him more-or-less addicted to the stuff. Hey, at least it wasn't alcohol!

"Oh, okay!" A grin appeared, somewhat rare for the usually public-shy boy; Azrael was one of the few people he got along with. Well, 'got along with' wasn't even the right word for it. It was more like... wasn't insanely anxious around? Yeah. Something like that.

"I'll umm, go grab the drinks?" He glanced around the somewhat crowded mess hall and blanched. "Y-You should find us a spot... I'll, umm, be right back with that cocoa, or, yeah..." And with that, the shapeshifter trotted off, trusting Azrael's influence and/or position to clear them a table, or something of the like. He could do that, right? Sure, sure he could. Azrael was so amazing, he could do anything. Duh.

[Azzy]

While he did like how Orca wasn't as over-the-top macho as most of the garrison, he also sometimes seemed to be a bit on the meek and stuttery side. Oh well, he'd probably get over it eventually. He just needed time to adapt?

"Hey, you bunch." He said, walking over to a random table where the soldiers appeared to have finished eating and were only currently chatting with one another. "Break time's over, move out to your posts, you're back on duty."

With some grumbling, they reluctantly gave up their seats and left the mess hall, likely to go resume their conversation elsewhere. Azrael didn't really blame them, as things were rather slow for the moment slacking off was to be expected. At any rate, now he and Orca had their own table.

[Orca]

He was back a minute later, holding two steaming tankards in his hands. He didn't have to search for Azrael's new spot; the clearance the soldiers gave him pointed him out easy enough. With a sigh of something akin to, again, relief, the boy trotted over to the man, setting down the mugs before them both before taking a seat at his side.

He tested the cocoa briefly, pulling back with a wry face. Still too hot, they'd have to let them cool. That was fine with him; even though there was still plenty of people around, he was next to his boss and protector, so slowly he unwound, losing some of his earlier jumpy behavior. Not all, but some. It was a start, right?

"So, umm," he began, holding his hands over the cocoa to soak in some of the heat from the steam there. "Didja see anythin' today? Or was it all slow like it is everywhere else?"

[Azzy]

"Thank you." He said simply as Orca returned. He smirked at the face Orca made upon trying his cocoa. Being a bit more patient of a person, he was perfectly willing to give it a few minutes when his cocoa would clearly still not have had a chance to cool off. He'd rather not burn himself if it was at all possible to avoid.

"Meh, the slower the better, as it means we're doing our job and people aren't dying." He said with a shrug. "Still, you'd think people would be more grateful to not be off fighting for their lives, but all they do is complain about everything. If you give 'em lots to do, they complain about being overworked, if you give 'em less to do, they complain about being bored. There is no middle ground."

[Orca]

He blew on the cocoa, but resisted taking another sip. He didn't want a totally burned tongue, no sir, not him. The young shapeshifter listened as his boss spoke, waiting until he had finished to even start thinking up a response. That's what was polite, right?

"That's pretty ungrateful of them, sir," he said honestly. "Shouldn't they just be glad they have work at all?" Unemployment had never been a big issue back home, really. There was always a task for someone for someone to do, and as long as you were helping you got fed. But he'd been to the city and seen the beggars there, people who could live for a week off what the soldiers threw out here. He just couldn't understand it. Probably never would, not how he was raised.

"It's so nice here, boss, I would never complain even if I was bored-er than anythin'." A nod of his shaggy head punctuated his simple but truthful statement. He just wasn't really the complaining type, unless, of course, it was about them cityfolk. Though, that was less annoyance and more outright fear.

[Azzy]

"Psh. Of course, we condemn complaining, yet in doing so we end up complaining ourselves. Only for us, we're just complaining about complainers. How about that?" Smirking still, he lifted his cocoa and blew on it briefly before setting it back down on the table. Probably still too hot.

"Though I guess, ungrateful as it may seem of them, so long as they end up doing exactly as they are supposed to and don't fuck up all the time, I don't honestly care what they are saying about me or their job." Not to mention, keeping in mind the recent hardships that had fallen upon the kingdom, it was probably better to complain about something minor than try to think about everything they had probably lost already.

"Hey there! Quit that!" Azrael yelled across the room. Evidently a 'friendly' match of arm wrestling had not gone favorably for one of the parties involved and they had decided a better test of strength was to try and pin their opponent to the ground. "People are eating in here, take it outside and try not to break anything!"

[Orca]

His head bobbed, nodding acquiescence to Azrael's words. He wasn't just agreeing because the guy was his boss, oh no, sucking up was too far beyond a simpleton like Orca. He understood what Az was saying, or at least most of it -- the big words went over his head like some ultra-lettered flock of geese -- and he agreed with that, like he'd agreed with most everything that came out of Azrael's mouth since he'd met him.

The guy didn't get to where he was just by bullshitting, oh no, he knew what he was talking about.

The shapeshifter jumped when Azrael raised his voice, his gaze shooting across to the men his boss was yelling at, his body shifting closer to Azrael and trying to slink slightly out of sight -- or at least as much as he could, sitting there like that. He thought about commenting on the incident, something about how violent people could be here, but hesitated to do so, eventually just burying his face in the cocoa in lieu of anything to actually do.

Ah! So tasty.

"Drink's cool enough now, sir," he informed his boss, and drank up, himself.

[Azzy]

Listening to Orca's advice, he took a swig from his cocoa. This was precisely what he had been looking forward to during the hours spent way up in his tower watching the borders. Epic cocoa, drink of the gods!

"So it is." He responded simply.

[Orca]

The shapeshifter fidgeted slightly in place, unsure what to do next, as was his writer. Should he make conversation, or stay quiet and let his boss relax, or--

Oh, right. Hadn't Azrael been hungry, too?

"I'll go grab food," he told the man, and scurried off to make himself useful as such. There was plenty of food available, especially for one such as a member of the Ruling Council, and he was back only a few minutes later with a loaded tray, which he again placed before Azrael, taking only a roll for himself, which he munched on contentedly.

Once his mouth was clear -- he wasn't raised in a barn, thankyou -- he glanced Az's way, curious. "D'ya have t'go back up after? Or d'ya getta break for a while?" Break probably wasn't the right word for it, but he couldn't find a closer word in his limited vocabulary. Ah well, Azrael would understand what he meant.

[Azzy]

"Thanks." he muttered briefly as Orca ran off to fetch him a plate of food, taking virtually nothing for himself. Perhaps he had already eaten shortly before Az had arrived? Well, Az had run into him in the mess hall, so this was likely the case. Now he was probably grabbing something so as to not look completely awkward next to Az and his meal.

"Yeah, I have to go back up eventually, but I figure I'll take a few hours off at least. Hell, I might even take the rest of the night off and get a decent amount of sleep. It doesn't seem like there will be any trouble for some time. I hope."

[Orca]

"Ummm," commented Orca. "I can help watch? Or, or, I dunno..." Slightly abashed, he went back to chomping his bread. His idea of keeping watch would be to turn into the little mountain bird form and... sit on the wall and keep a lookout? Ha, that sounded lame even in his head. Ah, well. "There's others that can do the... thing with the glass balls, right?" Thing. Seer vision... Whatever.

"You could use the rest," he added, somewhat anxiously. Gods above knew Azrael was overworked here, though, unlike the rest of the staff he never complained, at least never around Orca.

[Azzy]

"Heh." Azrael said, smirking again, "I know that as long as I watch, nothing will go wrong. The moment I go to sleep, however, is when all the armies of every dark lord in the world descend upon our kingdom at the same time. That's just how fate works out."

"As for helping with the watch, what could you do?" Azrael asked. He thought the boy had little to no skill with magic aside from shapeshifting. Then again, it was mainly setting up that required magic. Another person watching in order to raise an alarm for the rest of the garrison couldn't hurt. "I do have a team of seers to watch when I'm not there, you know. It's just one of those things that, while I could entrust it to others, I really don't want to if at all possible."