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Post by Brandwyn on Sept 1, 2009 10:48:54 GMT -5
Crowley studied them both as they drank their coffee. Both were in pain and he knew that Badger had been dreaming, though he wasn't sure if it had been a good dream or a bad one. Of course it could have just been the herbs Crowley had given him. They often induced nightmares, so people said.
He was tired, but figured that if he went to sleep, Badger would be gone again, and he intended to get some answers out of the man. In addition to why he left, and where had he been all this time, he wanted to know who had they been fighting.
He listened to the exchange between them and invountarily glanced around in the tree tops as Rab mentioned the blanket. Then he chided himself mentally.
"So, who were those guys last night that you all were fighting?" He asked both of them, but his eyes kept straying to Badger, warning him that he was going to get to the bottom of things, and wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
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Post by Firehead on Sept 1, 2009 11:05:34 GMT -5
"So, who were those guys last night that you all were fighting?"
Rab glanced at Crowley, noting that he was offering no appology for poking him. Didn't matter, really...much. "I can honestly say I don't know." he replied.
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Post by Brandwyn on Sept 2, 2009 17:22:40 GMT -5
Crowley turned to Rab, "how you feeling this morning?" He noted that something seemed to be irritating the young ranger, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe he was just in pain.
"So, Badger, no ideas either on who those people were or why they jumped you?" Crowley asked him, deciding to let Badger wake up a bit more before he started hitting him with the hard questions.
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Post by ivory on Sept 3, 2009 14:30:55 GMT -5
"Feeling better? Your blanket is still up in a tree somewhere."
Badger gave a slow nod in acknowledgement of both of the questions before turning his gaze back to his drink. He took another sip, though his thoughts were no longer on the taste. Instead, he was remembering, or had he been dreaming? Stella...there was no way. He had to be dreaming. Or maybe a trick of the light. It was dark out, maybe he didn't see her too well. No, he'd just imagined her face. Stella was dead. Oh, Stella... He fought to keep his face neutral, but feeling himself failing, he brought his cup to his lips once again, hiding his frown by the parting of his mouth.
"So, who were those guys last night that you all were fighting?"
Badger was thankful that his mug was hiding a good portion of his face and he 'couldn't' grimace in his current position. The question hadn't caught him off guard, having expected it since he woke; he simply didn't want to dwell on it. But then, he'd already started to dwell on it, so might as well...
He stole a few more seconds though as he kept drinking, trying to get his thoughts in order and vehemently reminding himself that it hadn't been Stella. Even if she had been alive, she loved them. There was no question to that. Unless she was cursed...no. He took another swallow as he forced his thoughts under control.
"I can honestly say I don't know."
Neither did Badger. No, he did know. It'd been Hatchet. He slowly began making his thoughts/memories make sense. It hadn't been Stella. Hatchet had simply...he's simply...welll...he's simply found someone who looked like her in the dark that was all. It hadn't been Stella. He took another drink, sighing a mental relief that he finally came to a conclusion that made sense. And just in time as Crowley turned toward him and asked his next question.
"So, Badger, no ideas either on who those people were or why they jumped you?"
Badger lowered the mug but kept his eyes on his ex-boss. "I might." Normally, he would've left Crowley to ask the next question just to bug him and keep his mind fresh with playing mind games, but after last night and coming to his current conclusion, he wanted to share it - almost as if in doing so, it'd make it real.
"Might've been a group of Hatchet's. As you might remember, he doesn't like me much." He wondered if Crowley did remember, but then again, it'd been quite a few years ago. "He's been giving me a hard time for these last few years, but I'm working on it. I didn't think he'd find me again so fast." In truth though, he had thought it and more than a little, anticipated it. What he hadn't thought of, was that Hatchet would actually employ people who weren't as dumb as the previous men he'd sent out to get him.
He's planned to let them attack, let one escape, and then follow him back to his employer. Unfortunatlely, it hadn't happened like that.
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Post by Firehead on Sept 3, 2009 14:55:31 GMT -5
"how you feeling this morning?"
Rab turned to scowl at his superior. He started to reply, but then stopped. Might as well drop the subject there, and let it go. Instead, he reached over and made an attempt to borrow Crowley's mug. From the weight though, it wasn't empty, and so Rab released his hold on it and raised his hand, palm out, to a gesture that said, you can keep it.
He turned away and located his sack-pack, rummaging around in it until he found his canteen.He listened with half an ear to Crowley and Badger as he checked the water in it to make sure that it was at least somewhat fresh, before returning it to it's place. He then turned his attention to the warming food and to Crowley's mug, waiting for him to finish his coffee. Rab did not drink coffee, instead sticking to the drink he had been raised on--tea.
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Post by Brandwyn on Sept 14, 2009 11:30:51 GMT -5
Crowley downed the rest of his coffee and rinsed out the mug. He noticed Rab looking at the mug, so he offered it to him, an eyebrow raised, wondering what could have happened to Rab's own mug. There was plenty of coffee for all three of them, but Rab didn't seem to interested in the coffee. Crowley dismissed it, being far more interested in getting some information out of Badger at the moment than Rab's morning routine.
"Hatchet... mmmmm...I seem to vaugly remember some nasty outlaw by that name." Crowley scratched at his chin. "Maybe you can fill me in on him, since I am assuming that's what has kept you occupied these last couple years?" Crowley asked Badger, leaning back against a large boulder after dishing out a plate of food for each of them.
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Post by ivory on Sept 21, 2009 15:11:09 GMT -5
"Maybe you can fill me in on him, since I am assuming that's what has kept you occupied these last couple years?"
Badger lowered his eyes to his mug as he took another sip to gather his thoughts. Ironically, he didn't know where to start despite the fact that Hatchet'd been a major force in his life for the past two and a half years. Frowning, he let the cup linger at his lips before finally opting to start with Hatchet's capture.
"Hatchet," he said as he lowered his mug to clasp between both hands in front of him, "isn't one to forget, especially the man who'd put him away. He'd escaped captivity two and a half years ago and let's just say he's not that happy with me."
As was his nature, he didn't feel like ellaborating any more on the whys and hows. He figured he'd told them all the important stuff: Hatchet had a grudge against him and was currently gunning for him. End of story. He took another sip of his coffee.
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Post by Brandwyn on Sept 25, 2009 14:41:41 GMT -5
Crowley pondered his words for a minute. "So you just gave up being a ranger and went off to find him and put him back in prison yourself, then?" Crowley shook his head, "Why didn't you come to me about this back then? You know I might have just let you go after him."
Crowley thought there was more to the story. "I sense there is more behind this than just him hunting you cuz you put him away. What else is going on?" Crowley pinned him with his stare, the one he used on all his wayward rangers when they were being difficult. That was the bad thing about choosing independantly minded people that took the initiative. They were just too independant sometimes.
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Post by ivory on Sept 26, 2009 17:16:42 GMT -5
Badger's chest tightened at Crowley's prodding, but he simply shook his head in a 'that's-it' kind of way. A lie of course, but how was he going to tell him that upon the man's arrest, Badger had accidentally killed his son? He still had problems coming to terms with it himself still. Sometimes his face - Badger mentally shook his thoughts away and took another sip of coffee.
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Post by Brandwyn on Sept 26, 2009 18:19:15 GMT -5
Crowley saw the pain in Badger's eyes, but knew when to back off. "Well, when you are ready to come back, you come find me." Crowley told Badger. "Till then we'll just consider you are on a sabatical (OOC: that is when a person takes several months or even years off their job to pursue some personal interst.) "We'll talk about it when you are ready."
He turned to Rab, "So what are you two planning to do now?" He looked back and forth between them.
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Post by Firehead on Sept 28, 2009 12:16:00 GMT -5
After accepting Crowley's empty mug, filling it with water, bringing it to a boil, and adding the tea, Rab sat back and watched the two older Rangers wrangle the subject of Hatchet around without much success. Well, other than verifying him as the reason for Badger's sudden absence from the corps.
"So what are you two planning to do now?"
Rab turned his direct gaze the Ranger Commandant and gave a small grin as he wondered how Crowley would take it if he revealed his intentions to go along with Badger. "So, I was thinking of going where Badger goes."
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Post by ivory on Oct 5, 2009 14:31:59 GMT -5
Badger simply sipped some more coffee, waiting to see how Crowley would take Rab's news. He could use a ranger at his back, but he'd rather not shove too hard on Crowley's nerves or he'd never get his job back. Better to just wait and then put his two cents in.
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Post by Brandwyn on Oct 6, 2009 21:07:08 GMT -5
Crowley studied them both for a bit before saying anything.
"Maybe that is not such a bad idea." Crowley said to Rab. "From the looks of things, he could use some back-up and at the same time you can keep tabs on him so he doesn't disappear again." Crowley grinned at Badger mischeviously. He was not sure if Badger wanted company or not. At the moment he seemed to be kind of messed up emotionally.
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Post by Firehead on Oct 20, 2009 12:05:36 GMT -5
"Maybe that is not such a bad idea. From the looks of things, he could use some back-up and at the same time you can keep tabs on him so he doesn't disappear again."
Rab tilted his head to one side as he considered that. "That's kind of what I thought, too." He realized his reply was somewhat vague, but decided not to clarify.
Instead, he eyed the frying pan speculatively, and then transfered his gaze to Crowley again. "Is that bacon black enough for you, yet?" he asked mildly.
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Post by Brandwyn on Oct 27, 2009 13:18:11 GMT -5
Crowley looked down at the frying pan and grimaced. He must be getting old, he couldn't even cook anymore without forgetting things.
He grunted and pulled the pan off the fire and set it on a rock to cool.
"Help yourself." he said to Rab and decided he wanted more coffee. Noting that lack of gear between the other two rangers, he offered up a suggestion.
"Maybe you should come into town and get outfitted. You both could use some medical attention and from the looks of things, some basic gear."
He tossed Rab a small pouch of coins, and Badger a slightly bigger one. "That isn't all your back pay, but since you considered yourself unemployed, lets just call it even, shall we?"
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