#tovi

“Rilsama’s deeps, Tadsson, how are you still going?” Reme complained, breaking away from him to puff and gasp for breath. Banner grinned back at her and straightened, lowering his fists to give her a moment to catch her wind again.

Only a moment, though, and then he’d be back at it. 

“He’s impossible to wear down, I told you that,” Tovi called from where she perched on the fence. It was a rundown affair probably used years ago to keep in cattle, but the cattle must have long since broken through and no one bothered to round them back up. 

“We’ve been at this for almost an hour,” Reme whined, though Banner was pretty sure it hadn’t been quite that long.

“Come on,” he told her, and went at her again, landing a loose hit to her shoulder that had her skipping back with an easy grace marred by clear fatigue. 

She threw a combo that he blocked all too easily, prompting a scowl onto her white and brown face. “What happened to when I could leave your arse in the dirt?”

“You did,” Banner pointed out cheerfully; she’d dumped him twice, now. “You just said that you could outlast me any day, though.”

“That was before you cheated, somehow!” Reme backed around their impromptu battlefield, bare feet tracking through the grass. A stream burbled cheerfully not too far away, and Banner thought for a moment about tossing her in. He paid for the momentary distraction by Reme landed a smack to his cheek.

He laughed and tucked his chin again, backing up. “I don’t cheat. I just don’t waste my breath complaining.”

Scowling, Reme dropped her fists. “Gods, this is ridiculous. Tovi, get over here.”

“That wasn’t part of the bet,” Banner said, but Tovi, grinning, had already hopped off the fence and came over with her fists raised. Banner turned to face her, and then staggered.

A weight hit his back, and Reme’s spotted arms wrapped around him, as she gripped his waist with her legs. Banner staggered to try and keep his balance, as Reme clung to his back. “All right, Farrier, get him!”

Tovi laughed and advanced. Scowling, Banner took a couple of her pulled punches on his forearms, before he grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. Tovi yelped as Banner cracked his forehead against hers. He might have done the same - that hurt more than he’d like to admit.

“Gods, Tadsson!” Tovi laughed as she staggered backwards, holding her head. “Even with a damned handicap -”

“Everything all right?” Taryn wandered into view from out of a small copse of trees. The main camp bustled around the abandoned farmhouse some ways away, and from the crossbow he carried, Taryn must have just been relieved from watch.

“He headbutted me!” Tovi whined, and Taryn snorted and dropped his crossbow as he looked at the three of them. Banner shifted, half-heartedly trying to pry Reme off of him, but he was getting tired, too.

“Your fault for getting too close,” Taryn pointed out with a grin. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to get him down,” Reme huffed. She wrapped her hands up in Banner’s shirt, then threw her weight backwards. He grunted and staggered, but managed to keep his feet. “And keep him down.”

“That’s impossible,” Taryn said, grinning. Tovi rubbed her forehead one last time, then bulled forward. Banner let out a curse as she hit him, and set his stance, just barely keeping upright.

Tovi groaned loudly and pushed him again. “Get over here, Taryn, make yourself useful.”

“This wasn’t the bet,” Banner complained, and he hastily backed up, Reme still attached to his back, as Taryn grinned and pulled off his weapons and armor. Taryn was just as broad-shouldered and muscular as he was - maybe a touch larger, honestly. He grunted as Tovi tried to tackle him again, pushing against his midsection with her arms around him and Reme.

“It’s like riding a damned mountain,” Reme laughed. Banner tried to retreat, but then Taryn hit him like a sack of bricks from the side.

He tried not to crush Reme as he went down, cursing and laughing with the other three on top of him. 

“Stay down, this time,” Reme told him, wiggling out from underneath him, so that she could promptly sit on Banner’s chest. He let out a strained, wheezing laugh.

“Gods, Reme, fine, I’m done,” he huffed. “But you all cheated.”

Tovi looked up between Taryn’s arm and head; he’d ended up on top of her, and didn’t seem inclined to move. “S’not cheating.”

“It might be,” Reme said, in the interest of fairness. Banner raised a hand, started to say something, then dropped his hand in defeat.

“Can you let me up?”

“Nah,” Taryn said. “When’s the last time you took a break, lieutenant?”

“Yesterday -”

“Two days ago,” Reme corrected. “They’ve been working you like a draft horse, Banner. I can’t believe you wanted to relax by sparring.”

Banner groaned, and dropped his head against the dirt. “Hitting people is how he relaxes,” Tovi pointed out.

Reme conceded that with a nod and a little hmm. “Well, time you learned a different way,” she declared, and slid backwards until her rear was on the ground again, but her legs still stretched across Banner’s torso. He looked at her with one eye open. “We ain’t letting you get up until you’ve had some proper rest.”

“...All right.”

His admission clearly startled Reme. Banner grinned at the surprise on her face, and then shifted until he had his hands laced behind his head. “Let’s at least get a little more comfortable, yeah?”

Marles found them while they were all sorting themselves out against a large boulder, Banner with Reme tucked up against his side and Taryn on the other with Tovi in his lap.

“What are you idiots doing?” Marles asked, scowling at the bruises on Banner and Reme’s faces.

“Trying to get some peace and quiet, but then you showed up,” Taryn drawled. Marles had a letter in his hand; scowling, and without another word, he stomped over and settled himself into Banner’s lap, unfolding the paper to read it in silence. Banner opened his mouth to say something, and then didn’t. Marles had been away from his wife for far too long, and they’d all noticed.

“Is this too much for you?” Reme asked a while later, the warmth of the boulder and the sunlight and the shade of a tree slowly creeping across them making the whole group drowsy. Banner dropped his head against the boulder.

“Not today,” he replied, quietly, and it was true. He couldn’t always bear the prolonged contact, but today - 

It was fine.

“Good,” Reme murmured, and burrowed a little more into his side. He squeezed her shoulders, and managed to relax as all the others slowly drifted off into sleep. Banner wasn’t the only one who’d been run ragged lately.

Captain Slate came across them some time later; Banner had lost track in his light doze, but he’d heard the captain’s footfalls through the grass, and slit open his eyes. Slate had a crooked grin on his face, hands on his hips as he surveyed them. “Everything all right, sir?”

“I was going to see if you had the guard reports from last night.”

“On your desk, sir.”

Slate nodded. “What is all this?”

“Mutiny, sir. They’re holding me hostage until I relax ‘nough for ‘em.”

Reme shifted slightly at the voices, smiling, but her eyes remained close. Slate’s grin shifted to a bit of a smirk. “Well, then.”

“Sir,” Banner said, “I can get back to work -”

“The court-martial for you lot can wait,” Slate interrupted, raising a hand. “Take a break, lieutenant, we all could use one.”

He turned to head back towards the camp. Banner licked his lips, then said, “Sir.”

Slate stopped and glanced over his shoulder, eyebrows arched. Banner grinned.

“There’s room for one more, sir.”

---

my continued quest to puppy pile all my characters continues