#noyougoextinct

"U-um, well I’m uh. Kind of late to the party with getting you gifts I guess but uh..well I know how much you liked that violin..er..well…"violin"..so I uh..I made you a wooden rabbit!…I’m sorry its really lame huh.."

"Y-Yarne..." Brady took the wooden rabbit, turning it over slowly in his hands. He felt overwhelmed by the gesture. He could hardly see the intricate details of the carving through the tears clouding his vision, but he knew they had to be beautiful.

The first candle took so long to light that the flame creeping down the length of the match nearly singed Brady's fingers. Even as he circled around Yarne's tent, lighting the rest of the candles from the first, he worried that he was dripping wax everywhere and creating a mess instead of a romantic gesture.

Once the last candle was lit, Brady stepped back to admire his work. The candles lined the side of Yarne's tent, Brady's violin was propped up within easy reach, a bottle of wine sat ready to serve, and the floor of the tent was littered with rose petals (The petals had given Brady a little bit of trouble; he'd plucked them himself and, feeling sorry for the flowers, wept until long after he'd finished).

Brady had never been the sharpest sword on the rack. He knew this well enough and peacefully accepted it. If he was a little slow on the uptake, well, that wasn't such a huge problem. It just meant he had to spend a little more time than other people might spend to mull over his problems.

This particular problem was giving him a lot of trouble, though.

Brady had been thinking about Yarne since the last time they saw each other. Specifically, he was thinking about how bizarre his own reaction to the topic of Yarne's sex life had been. Brady had choked up, feeling strangely guilty at the time. Brady could only remember feeling that way on a handful of occasions throughout his life--usually when he'd inadvertently caused some poor girl discomfort.

Yarne wasn't a girl, though. That was the rub. And so Brady lay in his tent, avoiding any possible distraction, angrily staring at nothing and trying to determine what in the hells his feelings were doing.

Seeking any amount of time away from the work handed down to Ranulf by the king, the laguz set out into the forest for some alone time. He must have been out there walking for an hour or two already by the time he noticed that his surroundings didn't seem all too familiar to him. He was wondering if his sense of time was running off that day.

As he explored further, a smell hit him. Metal. Beorc weapons, likely. He followed the scent, and as he reached the forest's edge, he saw it. Some sort of military camp, maybe? 

The day's battle had been long, tough, and exhausting. Brady felt especially frustrated; he'd had numerous close calls throughout the course of the battle and he was only still standing due to some quick thinking and his own dumb luck. He hated the thought that he was a liability in battle and his blood boiled as he remembered all his failings throughout the day.

He had to get stronger. He had to learn to fight. If he could fight, he could protect his friends and his family. If he could fight, he could--

To hell with it. He was bruised and tired and so very done with being weak. He had to train. He had to get stronger.

Gods, was Yarne being a pain. 

Brady, out of breath and exhausted from searching all over camp for the Taguel, knew that wasn't exactly fair to Yarne. The poor guy was skittish, Brady knew that. It was understandable that he'd make himself hard to find after the other day's disaster.

But damn, was he being a pain.

"Mother? Oh well…if thats what you want to do then sure. I mean we did say we’d learn from each other right? J-just uh, don’t hurt me too bad..deal?"