TRP: Ba'ob and Jasper (Owlbear)

Coyote: at 2:54 PM

[setting: Directly after the Owlbear Incident. Jasper
approaches Ba'ob for a discussion.]

Ba'ob was playing with the two new foxes in a small clearing
not from from the rest of the party. He seemed pretty unhurt from the fight. He
kept glancing at Wolfy's formerly hurt paw, though.

Jasper moved stealthily as she could, her soft bearskin
boots quiet in the grass. She never could sneak up on him, but she was sure as
hell going to fuckin' try. She grabbed him by the shoulder and spoke loudly in
his ear. "Hey, Ba'ob!"

Muse: at 2:59 PM

He definitely heard her coming, but it wouldn't hurt to
pretend a little. He liked Jasper.

But ow that was loud. "Jasper!" he snapped,
jerking his elbow up and slamming it into her face. Of course she just laughed
it off. Annoying. "What do you want?" he grumbled. For once, not
trying to squirm out from under her hands.

Coyote: at 3:03 PM

"Hey, uh." Jasper looked around real quick, saw
her brothers weren't around, and was satisfied. "Listen, about you and
that orc guy. Griffin. What was that about? Why'd you try to attack him? He was
trying to help your wolf, man. Did you recognize him, or something?"

Ba'ob usually had some sort of explanation for this shit.

When Jasper first heard rumors about a bizarre wolf-kid in
Grimwood Forest, folks told her the boy was dangerous and unpredictable. Now
that she'd known him a while, though, she disagreed. Ba'ob wasn't
unpredictable; he had reasons for doing what he did, they just weren't always
obvious to villagers and other random folk.

Jasper waited patiently for him to explain.

Muse: at 3:06 PM

Ba'ob scowled, squirming a little now. "Orc," he
said, like that explained everything. Then after another beat. "Thought he
was hurting wolf," he added, quieter, reaching out and stroking her ears.

Coyote: at 3:08 PM

"Orc," Jasper said, watching Ba'ob. Ba'ob didn't
like elves, either. "What's wrong with orcs? What'd they do?"

Muse: at 3:10 PM

Ba'ob shifted restlessly. He didn't like these questions.
"Mean," he mumbled.

Coyote: at 3:15 PM

"Huh." Well, she wasn't gonna get anywhere there.
"Ba'ob--"

That Griffin guy seemed really nice, and really calm. That
could've gone a lot worse. "Man, I love you so fuckin' much," she
said. "Ba'ob, uh. Listen. What if I'm not there next time to hold you back
and pick you up? What if that guy hurt you? What if you do something bad in
town, or freak out, and you get arrested?"

Her gaze shifted to his wrist, where he'd wrapped the slave
cuff in rags.(edited)

Muse: at 3:23 PM

Ba'ob's shoulders hunched and he looked away from Jasper.
"Did that," he muttered. Started to rub his wrist- and shot Jasper a
glare when he noticed her staring. "Abel said listen to Azriel, Azriel
keeps outta jail."

Coyote: at 3:25 PM

"Yeah, but..." She shifted uneasily. She looked
around real quick. Her brothers weren't around, and neither was Gwydion.

"Ba'ob, you know I'm gonna die one of these times,
right?" she said. "What're you gonna do then? Who's gonna pick you up
and stop you from attacking half-orcs? Who's gonna keep you safe from
people?" Then she added, "Don't repeat that to my brothers. They get
fuckin' weird about it."

Muse: at 3:27 PM

Ba'ob sat up strait, staring at her. "Not gonna let you
die!" he cried, louder than Jasper'd like. "Like you!" Wait that
was a little bit too affectionate. "Kinda," he added, slumping back
down.

Coyote: at 3:27 PM

"Kinda?" Jasper chortled. Obviously Ba'ob liked
her. Everyone liked her.

Muse: at 3:28 PM

Ba'ob punched her arm, scowling.

Coyote: at 3:29 PM

"I like you, too," Jasper said. "And I'm
never gonna let anything happen to you because you're perfect and precious. Yes
you are." She grabbed him in a headlock and ruffled his hair aggressively.

Muse: at 3:33 PM

Ba'ob snarled, struggling vainly to get out. Stupid Jasper
and her stupid annoyingness. "Leggo! Leggo! Woooolf!"

The wolf did nothing about this, calmly watching her weird
pup get mauled. He deserved it.

Coyote: at 3:34 PM

She left go. She petted his back soothingly. "Hey, it's
okay."

Muse: at 3:38 PM

Ba'ob glared at Jasper, trying to fix his hair. Which was
already a mess before she tackled him, so really he just made it a bigger mess.
"You worst," he mumbled at her.

Coyote: at 3:40 PM

"Untrue." She picked sticks out of his hair.

"Anyway, look," Jasper said. "In my, uh....
gang..." Family? Dynasty? "Y'know, everyone has a... job. There's
brutes, there's planners, there's lock-pickers, there's scouts, there's mules,
there's bosses." She shifted uncomfortably. "The important people,
they're the planners and bosses. They're the big picture people. They stay in
the back. And me..."

She spread her hands. Jasper only had one job, and that was
standing in front, hitting things as hard as she could, and keeping the smarter
people safe.

"I'm expendable," she said. "So me-- Ba'ob,
I'm gonna die one of these times, probably. It'll probably take a few years.
Maybe I'll make it to thirty or forty. But one of these times someone is going
to shoot an arrow at Abel or Azriel and I'm going to take it, and it's gonna
hit me in the wrong spot. Stick in my throat, my kidney, and Azriel's not gonna
have enough magic to bring me back."

It was nice, though. That Azriel always tried.

Her arm still ached from swinging her sword into the archer
attacking Abel. She remembered the fight. The brutality of sinking her sword
deep into his neck, then swinging around to fight back the next danger, and
finding none. Sitting quietly on the floor and collecting herself while the
rest of the party wandered ahead without her. She hadn't even bothered to go
with them.

Jasper had one job, and she was going to fucking do it.

"I'm not gonna be there every single time to pick you
up and hold you back," she said.

Muse: at 3:46 PM

Ba'ob slowly stilled his attempts to fix his hair, staring
at Jasper as she went on. Still talking about dying. Didn't understand. They
were good at not-dying. Made it through today. Killed six bandits and an
owlbear. Gotten hurt, but they'd made it through. "Don't understand,"
he said quietly, shaking his head. "Not gonna die. Not gonna let
you," Ba'ob repeated, reaching out and gripping her arm.

Coyote: at 3:49 PM

"Right, right. Yeah."

She nodded, and she let it go. Maybe she'd talk to him about
it more later, in a few months or something. In the meantime, she'd always be
here to hold him back. Eventually, she'd have to explain that he was an elf,
and she'd have to explain what being an elf meant. It meant that Ba'ob was
going to live another seven hundred years, and eventually he'd have to figure
out how to interact with people.

It'd be fine.

Yeah. Right. It would be fine.

Jasper could teach him in that amount of time, right? He
couldn't just pass from person to person, group to group, as they died of old
age around him. He wouldn't live with elves; he hated them too much. He'd have
to learn to manage himself.

"Yeah, you're right," she said. "I'm bein'
dumb."

Muse: at 4:15 PM

"Always dumb," Ba'ob said, and there was maybe
some affection audible under all that disgust. Still, he kept a hold of her arm
for a minute longer, staring up at Jasper. "We fine," he said, giving
her arm a little pat before releasing her. "Nobody dies."

Coyote: at 4:20 PM

[END]