[Uni: Student Housing] The Go Getter [Astrolabe]

by **Jaron Grunn** on October 30th, 2011, 6:05 am

Jaron let out a grunt at the way that Astrolabe seemed to think that there was no future for him if he wrestled. He looked over to the man and wanted to punch him clear in the shoulder to try and smack some sense into the man. Jaron had managed to make a living of what he wanted to do, despite his family's leanings of Jaron to be a farmer and continue the family tradition that way, he managed to strike out his own future and his family supported him. Why wouldn't Astrolabe's family also feel that way? Jaron knew most of his family and knew that, in reality, they probably wouldn't be proud to have a non-mage in the family but deep down Jaron thought that his parents wouldn't be able to turn their son away.

"You're starting to sound like me," Jaron said with a growl as he shook his head at the latter part of the idea. "I was the one that had to get Sev's ass in gear so we could go out there and hire out our swords for hire." He smiled for a moment and remember that one moment with Sev and his reluctance. "But he eventually came around to the idea, though we didn't have any weird cover stories like you're thinking. Do you honestly think having your family think you're dead is a good idea, Astro? I know you do it by accident all the time, but.... Yeesh. I don't want to have to go back home and deal with that sort of sadness. Wouldn't be just your family that would be affected, so no joking around about that."

Jaron looked back down to his tankard and braved to take another swig of the beer, and decided to simply chug down the liquid past his lips and into his stomach. As he took every last drop of the tankard in his hand he slammed it back down against the table with a grunt as he looked to Astrolabe with a look of horror and disgust on his face.

"Next time we're choosing some other place to drink," Jaron said as he pushed the tankard out of his hands and into the centre of their table. When he looked back to Astrolabe he saw that familiar glint in his eyes that meant he was thinking; that little idea was something, it seemed, that Astrolabe had been set on for some time. Maybe it a hidden motivation to get Jaron to come out here and visit him - to train him with a sword?

"I don't know if training you with a sword would be such a good idea," Jaron said honestly as he leaned forward against the table and looked over to a couple of the, uh, "scorched" parts of Astrolabe's clothes, clothes that supposedly never saw the inside of a lab.

"You're already good at one thing. Why not expand on that? I could teach you how to fight with your hands. Take down guys that way. Swords.." Jaron's face tightened as he wondered just how "good" Astrolabe would be with something sharp and deadly in his hands. "How about you leave those to me? We'll find you something else, if that's what you want to do. No more university, then? Just slum it with dumb thugs like me?"

by **Astrolabe** on October 30th, 2011, 3:12 pm

The offer was tempting – very tempting. But though Astrolabe had been the one to suggest running away and escaping this life which suited him not at all, he knew in his heart that he couldn’t – could he? As disappointed in him as his family was, they be greatly saddened if they thought him dead, as Jaron had been quick to point out – wouldn’t they? They would prefer a living failure to a memory of one that had somehow never managed to get it – right?

Shoving those unhappy thoughts aside for the moment, Astro mirrored Jaron’s gesture and upended the tankard of bitter tasting beer into his gob. It didn’t taste quite so bad to him – he’d had more years to learn to ignore it as it flowed over his tongue. He plonked the cup back on the table, empty. “You have to swallow quick – that’s the trick.” He quipped, smiling. His eyes roamed about the quiet little common room. They were its only occupants.

“Well, as you probably aren’t up for another round, then, want me to show you around? Zeltiva isn’t huge – there’s the University and the harbor and that’s about it. What’s your pleasure? Seeing as you don’t want me hacking away at you with a sharp, pointy piece of metal.”

Astro was relieved that, at least for the moment, Jaron seemed just a bit less sad, focusing as he was on Astro’s problems and not his own.

by **Jaron Grunn** on November 2nd, 2011, 3:51 am

"It's not that I don't want you hacking away at me with a training sword," Jaron corrected, as there was no way he would actually give Astrolabe a real sword any time soon, "I just see your strength as not being with a weapon. If there was a combat skill in 'Being a big-ass-bear-like-wrestler, you'd be at the top of your game. I could show you some moves that don't involve pinning someone down, that might be safer..."

As the two men stood up from the table, Jaron tossed enough coins and a little extra on the table before Astrolabe could object. It wasn't a show that he was financially healthy, but more of a gesture to the man as thanks for the conversation and for finally meeting up again. When Astro tried to say something, Jaron hooked his arm around Astro's neck and pulled the man out of the bar and walked with him towards the door.

"Alright, then. A tour of this place. You sure you remember it what with your studying? Or am I going to get the 'This is where I blew up my teacher' and 'This is where a student went sky high when a spell went wrong!' tour?" He laughed and gave Astrolabe a pat on the back as he looked out to the streets of the new city.

"Not sure where I want to go. Maybe you could just show me where you like hanging out. Keep it simple for now, aye?"

by **Paragon** on January 5th, 2012, 1:26 pm

Jaron :

Astrolabe :

Lovely, lovely thread. The warm friendship (bromance

) between these two is written so perfectly by the both of you. Awesome thread - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.