Environmental Hatred [Closed]

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"  No, they weren't.  It wasn't.  No jokes.  Is Hacil laughing?  Snopy's not laughing.  No one is laughing.  Snopy buried his face into his hands and just groaned in disappointment.  Disappointment in himself.  He had killed bandits, pushed himself to the limit, and he was becoming stronger by the day.  He had recovered from his overexertion fairly well, and stronger rather than damaged.  Yet in the rush to save Nilani's life, he forgot something.  His father's sword?  Nope, he still has that.  His sanity?  He lost that long ago.  No, no.  "How the hell did I forget Ahri."  His legs dangled into the calm flow of the miniature river.  He leaned back, arms supporting his weight as he looked up to the sky.  There is one cloud in that whole sky.  He thought as he noticed there was literally only one cloud.  His legs were chilly, it was a bit cold to be dangling his legs in a river.  Yet he didn't care.  Rather, he didn't notice.  He was still trying to comprehend how he took this long to realize he forgot his pet.  A lot had happened, so it was reasonable to get caught up in the craziness.  Still...  He sighed as he couldn't get the thought out of his head.

It was early when he left, everyone else was still asleep at the time.  They were probably all up and about by now.  He didn't exactly leave a note that he'd be gone or if he'd be back, but they had been traveling together for a bit.  He occasionally went out on his own, but he usually came back while everyone was still getting themselves together.  Still, looking at the sun, he must have been out here for almost 3 hours.  It was barely starting to rise when he came here.  He was only a short way from where they had made camp, so if they wanted to find him it'd be easy.  As he sat, he began to hum the song his mother once sung to him.  Even though the song seemed to be a tad sad when the words were spoken, and even though he was a little upset, he didn't do it out of sadness.  It was just comforting.  Despite his rather grim expectations as to the conclusion of this whole episode of his life, he was feeling a little happier with the whole thing.  The girls were...strange.  Very strange.  Yet they were, or at least seemed, sweet.  Maybe he was letting his guard down a little, but at the moment, the little bit of joy coming from having friends (or at least temporary comrades) was enough that he didn't mind.  After another 3 minutes, upon finishing the humming, Snopy decided it might be best to head back.  He'd give it another 5 minutes, but that was merely to bask in the relaxation for a little longer.  It'd be rude to keep them waiting any longer.

He hadn't even had the chance to fully push himself up when an acorn bonked him on the back of the head.  He just froze up, blinking twice.  Did he just get assaulted by a bloody nut?  "Damn it you stupid rat with fur."  He blinked more as he heard the sound of a giggle.  Umm...  "A squirrel giggling...that doesn't seem right."  He turned to see Hacil greeting him.  "Wait you're not a squirrel."  He spun himself a bit, legs now out of the water, at least for the moment, so he wouldn't have to uncomfortably bend his body to look at her when talking.  "Eh, about as well as usual.  Not like I've slept in a bed that didn't feel like a rock since..."  He stopped to think.  How long ago was it he had to sell the good bed and use one that felt like a rock?  In hindsight, he realized, he probably could have saved money not buying the bed that was no better than a floor.  "I dunno, 2 or 3 years ago."  Of course now that was gonna bug him.  Why was his new bed even worth anything?  It was just a rectangular slab of rock.  He could probably have basically learned to carve rectangles in rocks and gotten rich if THAT'S what people called comfortable.  "Wait Snopes."  He blinked, he was doing a lot of that today.  "Umm...hey...um...Hacily?  Ew no that doesn't sound good...wait Snopes?"  His brain was currently in the process of short circuiting.  Like he was used to his mother and sister saying that, now that someone else was his brain was just failing to process it.  "I'm sorry Snopes?  Where'd the nickname come from?  I mean...I guess I don't have a problem with it...but Snopes?"

Well one of them was up.  He couldn't guarantee the others were expecting Hacil to come and fetch him, after all he's heard enough of their history by now to know there is some serious dysfunction going on, but at least that knocked out one of them.  Actually come to think of it, Hacil had a really bad habit of appearing whenever he hummed that song.  Well to be fair the first time she was lying injured and couldn't move the first time, but it was still weird.  Something about her comment on him not sounding all that good (though she put it more nicely than that) made him a little more self-conscious of singing if others could hear it.  "You know your timing i-"   "Good Morning!"  "Holy mother of Aurora!"  He shouted jumping slightly.  Not like jumping to his feet, but the startled flinch people do when spooked.  He looked at Nilani, with ever the more blinking.  His face went from one of being startled to a "really?" look.  He let a puff of air escape his lips.  "Jeez Nilani.  Was that really necessary?"  He shook his head a bit.  "That somehow startled me worse than when one of those stupid poisonous snaked fall from a tree at my feet 2 days ago."  Seriously, he jumped, but it was backwards.  Which, considering the snake, was a good thing.  Seriously those little shits didn't like him.He wasn't really upset with Nilani, though he did realize he was coming off like he was.  Namely cause that was a spook he didn't need.  Still.  "On the bright side my hiccups are gone."  He laughed a bit.  He didn't have hiccups, and Hacil could easily foil his lie.  Still it was insanely small of a lie, mostly a joke, and it was in good heart so even if she did oh well.  "Morning everyone.  I was actually about to head back before little miss Nickname over here made my brain short circuit."  He made a head motion towards Hacil as he said little miss nickname. "Sleep well?" He turned his head to Hacil. "Applies to you too since I never asked."

Snopy laughed a little at the teeth comment. "Neither did I, but now..." He said with a bit of a grin on his face. He shook his head though, indicating "no you don't have big teeth". Of course when he stuttered on the nickname thing, Hacil lost her composure. Son of a bitch. He thought. "No no no. Nooooo. It's not, I mean. Well it's...somehow...sister." He immediately turned towards the river. "Screw this." He put his hands in and splashed his face with cold water. "Okay. Now then, lets try this again in English. I don't really mind. Just last time I was called Snopes was by my mother and sister, whom, short version, I haven't seen in a really long time. Jeez that was weird." Seriously that was weird, normally he doesn't have that kind of issue. Granted it did hit him right in the emotional baggage. Everyone in the universe has that though so he isn't that strange.

Then the others showed up. Oy vey. It wasn't his intent to kill Nilani's mood, and now that he had he felt bad. "Hey Nilani. I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you. I've just had a lot on my mind this morning. I'm a little out of it." Seriously, he felt bad. He crossed one arm across his abdomen with the other hand on his chin thinking. Though he didn't know how he could improve her mood, even though he wanted to. He glanced up as Elwyn referred to Hacil by the nickname he had apparently given her. He listened as Elwyn described the battle plan. "Sounds good." He said pulling his feet out of the river. As he went to stand up, he felt something poke into him. "Ow." He said quietly, like when one feels a small but irrelevant pain. He clutched onto what poked into him and picked it up. An arrow head. "Huh." He had no idea it was a little different than the usual ones humans often made, it was actually crafted by an elf, or at least like one would. He shrugged though and dropped it back on the ground. In his eyes there was no reason to see anything strange. These weren't exactly untraveled woods. Hunters were bound to pass through at the very least. He finished pushing up to his feet. "By the way, what's our food supply look like at the moment? We're probably gonna need to get some more soon if I'm not mistaken."

There was an odd amount of tension in the air, but the strange part was it wasn't directed at anyone. When he went to make Nilani feel better, it didn't seem to...make sense. She said she wasn't upset, but she was acting pretty upset about SOMETHING. And she wasn't upset until after they reacted, so it only stands to reason they had SOMEHOW upset her. "You...just?" But she just brushed it off as she doesn't know. "Uhhh.....huh." He said, obviously not buying it. Elwyn looked to Snopy with a raised eyebrow after looking towards Nilani. Upon seeing this he just did a shrug with that awkward half smile that doesn't really look like a smile that basically says "Don't look at me, I have no idea what's going on." As he got up, Hacil mentioned that the crayfish will nip at his toes if he isn't careful. "Guess that puts my plans for a nude swimming party on hold." He said in an incredibly blasé manner, as if that wasn't a weird thing to say. He was shaking his head with a goofy grin on his face though. He was actually mildly surprised he said that one. Especially in front of a bunch of chickadees.

Hacil then spoke up about some personal sister issues. Snopy knew this wasn't his business, so he just looked to Nilani. He patted her shoulder twice as he passed. "I'll be back at camp whenever you're all ready." With that he simply headed back to camp to leave them to their problems. He still didn't know them well enough to have any place with even the smallest suggestions, so it was best he left them to it. He had a good relationship with his sister anyway, so he couldn't associate with half of their quarrels. As he arrived back in camp, he gathered some nearby wood and put it together for a fire. He didn't quite have the materials to start the fire, not easily anyway, so he left it at that. It'd make the other's lives easier with what he had already done anyway. That exchange back there was...strange.

Snopy was a little caught off guard by Nilani clutching onto his arm as he went to walk back. He didn't pull his arm away cause he still felt bad about earlier, but he didn't know how to feel about this. It seemed like something a child would do, but he had learned enough from these escapades that she was about 19, so it threw him for a loop. As they went and ate, Nilani continued to stay close to Snopy, yet he didn't quite know how to inquire as to why. He just let it go, she wasn't hurting anyone. He didn't quite understand the dynamic between those 3 so there was plenty he might not be realizing. "A village, well this aught to be good." Snopy stood up as he finished his breakfast. "From my experience, this can go one of two ways. Incredibly well, or incredibly poorly." As he said the latter option he picked up his crossbow and strapped it to his back. He quickly attached both the quiver and his sword to his hip. "I'm gonna just pray for the former, I'm really tired of dodging arrows, or failing to dodge arrows, as it were."

So the merry band began to follow Hacil. They followed her through a house, they followed her with a mouse. Okay, there was no house, but there were forest mice! It wasn't too long before the road Hacil mentioned was located. "Ah, human village. Well this aught to be good." They followed the path, Snopy was actually pretty prepared to pull out one of his weapons in a moment's notice. Admittedly, the crossbow would take a few to load properly, but still. "Steady Ahr....riiiiight." A puff of air escaped his lips. "Right. World's best pet owner." He rolled his eyes at himself as he went back into alert mode. There was the villiage. It was at a lower elevation, so retreating would be a bit of a pain in the ass if they had to. It would make arrows harder to fire at them though if they got to high ground. It was a small little quaint village, typical of Arcadia. Except... "That has got to be one of the least healthy looking villages I've ever seen." Snopy began to count. "I see at least 5 buildings...burned to the ground. Look." He pointed. "None of them near each other, separate fires." If they were near each other, it could be inferred that it was one fire. But that distance made that impossible. He wasn't even going to mention some rotting cattle he saw in the farm.

I see where she is coming from, but I have a bad feeling about this.  Somehow, even though every bit of logic said it was the safe thing to do, he felt like drawing their weapons was going to somehow backfire.  Still he took the crossbow out, wound it back, and loaded in a bolt.  He's glad thing thing wasn't a hair trigger.  Not that it would have been an issue, or his finger is unstable.  He just is glad it isn't, it's safer that way.  Everyone geared up, or in Nilani's case was geared up.  He moved forward, actually towards the front, which considering he was holding a weapon for the backline was odd.  Most of them were ranged, and two of them were mobile.  Everything had to be mobility nowadays.  They descended upon the town, and it was eerily quiet.  They couldn't find a soul.  "I smell...food."  The smell of recently cooked food drifted through the air.  Even if they weren't showing it, SOMEONE was around and had prepared food within the last 10-15 minutes.

"We're probably not-"  Snopy jumped back as an arrow shot out and landed in a building near him.  "NOT TODAY!"  He shouted and pointed at the arrow, before pointing in the direction it came from and preparing to fire if necessary.  "Alone."  He finished his sentence that had been cut off by the arrow.  "I don't know who you are, but we don't want to fight you."  That's when a man came out of the building that was placed behind Snopy, dagger in hand and about to stab him in the back.  Snopy flipped around and...accidentally decked him across the face with his crossbow.  "...oops.  I meant to do that."  Snopy could feel another bow being drawn, with his "I'm tired of these arrows" sense and jumped to the side.  "Liars!"  One voice shouted.  More people were showing themselves, usually behind others who showed themselves, armed.  Liars, what?  "Murders!"  Another shouted.  These people were clearly the villagers.  No way they were the bandits.  "Wait a second, we aren't...you're mistaking us for someone else."  He kicked the dagger away from the man he just disarmed before stepping out of immediate range, in case the man went to grab at him.  The path they came from was still pretty clear, so he began backing in that direction.  They may need to make a hasty retreat.

"The fuck you just call me?" Snopy turned to Hacil and blinked, head cocked to the side. Like what? "Well that was just uncalled for." Snopy threw one hand up while the other continued to hold the crossbow. "Well first impressions are going wonderfully. This is going wonderfully. Everyone having fun here?" He shook his head as Elwyn gave orders and went to diffuse the situation. I can't promise that at the end of the day I won't punch every last one of you, except Nilani. He thought to himself, knowing he wouldn't do it. He'd never. With a sigh he lowered his weapon. "Think about it. If we really meant harm, would I have just disarmed him and then left him there?" The people didn't even begin to flinch when Elwyn spoke up, but for some reason Snopy's words made them begin to ponder. "Why...why haven't they killed you?" One man said looking at Snopy. Snopy looked back. Blink. Blink. "Because killing people is rude? Is this a trick question?" He blinked some more. "But they're murderers!" Another shouted.

"Who the fuck is they? These 3? They wouldn't hurt a fly." He looked straight at Hacil. "Well on purpose." "Then you know not much of those barbarians." A small, slouched over, elderly man stepped forward. He had eyes that looked perpetually closed and a Nietzsche mustache. "For it is their people that have ravaged our land." Snopy blinked a few times. "I assume you're not talking blondes?" The old man looked towards Elwyn, staring her straight in the face with his unopening eyes. "Does your cruelty know no bounds? You've taken our homes, our cattle, and our children. What more do you want?" Snopy turned to the others very confused. "Umm...did they ever answer my "Who the fuck is "they" question?" The old man slammed his cane down. "They are ELVES!"

"Cute." Snopy responded to Hacil's pack mule comment. He wasn't really upset initially, but now she was wearing on his nerves a bit. He just sighed and shook his head as Elwyn began to speak up. He put one hand on his hip and just stood there, listening. The details meant nothing to him considering he is neither a diplomat nor a warrior. He was being relegated to emissary though seeing as he was the only human who didn't seem to want the girl's dead. "How surprising the elves need directions to their own." "Oh my god." Snopy shouted out. "Listen, you've gotten your village demolished. And I feel for ya, I REALLY do. But, riddle me this. You kill us here, nothing changes. You'll still be attacked. Then lets say you tell us nothing. If they WERE with this group ravaging you, nothing changes. If they aren't, we leave. Nothing changes. But what happens if you give us directions to them? These girl's are some of them? Nothing changes. These girl's aren't, and they somehow stop said elves from ravaging your lands, you can get back to your peaceful lives." Snopy was rubbing his temples as the elder just looked at him. "Just play the odds man! Consider your situation, do you REALLY have anything to lose?"

Not entirely diplomatic, but the logic was sound. The elder let out an exasperated sigh. "I do hope the day comes that you get what's coming to you." However, he pointed down to the south. "They made camp in that direction. If you don't get rid of them, don't even think about coming back." The elder then turned and began to walk away, signaling to all the people to allow the group to leave. "Now remove yourself from our village." Snopy sighed, he knew what was going to happen next. "Alright, come on. Lets go off on a crusade of justice that will inevitably get me killed." He didn't wait and just began to walk in the direction the man had pointed, waiting for the others to follow. As they went, he'd turn to Hacil. "We really need to work on your people skills." He'd lead them for a short while before letting someone else, who could likely dodge an arrow, take the helm. But it wouldn't be long before he'd stop. Just stop. "Hey..." He'd take a deep breath and just ask. "You guys don't really see me as just a pack mule right?" Without his pet the thought of being alone was actually suddenly a lot scarier. He'd wait for an answer before asking his next question. "If something happens, you know while we're dealing with these elves or sometime after...you'll protect me right? The thought of dying seems...scarier than it used to."

Hacil really was bad of people. Snopy was beginning to remember exactly why he had avoided people for so long listening to Hacil. He was legitimately worried about these things, and she just brushed them off. She said words that themselves should have been reassuring, but there was nothing behind them. They were empty, like she wasn't taking him seriously. "And she's your sister." Snopy immediately countered Hacil bringing up Nilani. "I had a sister. And I'd go through the depths of hell myself if it meant getting her back, I'd kill to get her back, I'd kill myself if somehow that brought her back." Snopy shook his head. "You did what any decent sibling would do. But I'm not your sister, I'm just some random human you met on the road. And..." Snopy shook his head. "You know what, forget it."

Next up to bad was Elwyn, and coupled with what he literally just said she did no better. The moment she described pack mules Snopy had a counter for that one too. "The injured are also slow and take up valuable resources." Snopy let out a defeated sigh. But before he could just drop it, Nilani jumped forward. Out of the 3 of them, she was the only one who spoke up and had it actually seem meaningful. Unlike the other two, he actually smiled when he heard that. He wasn't really asking for much, just something that said to him that he wasn't just...there. Nilani was the only one who made it feel like he wasn't just there. "Thank you, Nilani." He patted her head a bit, before looking up to the other two. It wasn't a look that said "you two fucked up", but more of disappointment that he was...disposable. If he wasn't, he figured he'd get some kind of sincerity out of them. "Just forget I said anything." He began to walk on ahead, leading if any of the others didn't pick up the pace. He only stopped when he noticed, planted in a tree, half an arrow. The back end had broken, but the front end was lodged into the bark. "Something tells me we're close." Snopy stood up and turned to the others. "Did we ever discuss the battle plan? How are we gonna do this? Diplomacy first? Guns blazing? Offer them cake to stop?" The last part was a joke, but while it being meant as a joke was obvious, the sense of emotion usually put behind his humor seemed a tad...dry at the moment.