Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2023 6:54:58 GMT -5
Even with Terach’s elaboration, Ber still wasn’t sure if the other man thought that having perfect qualifications for being a paired soldier was a compliment or an insult. Though he seemed genuine as he explained his perspective, it was still juxtaposed against the backdrop of everything else he had just shared about being a werewolf and a man in both the military and Nevermerean society. All of the traits that Terach had just highlighted in Ber were ones that he had just finished condemning minutes before. And he spoke as if he knew who Ber was, when the younger man knew that they had never met before. Could he really glean that much from a short, surface-level conversation or was there something happening here that Ber didn’t know about?
Apart from the whole confusion about being a paired soldier. He was too tired for this. All he had wanted was a quiet, easy patrol and then the rest he was owed.
Terach’s heated defense of Merk caught the younger soldier off guard. Brow furrowed in confusion, Ber turned to look at the other man. “But you just said—” The soldier kept going, apparently entirely unaware of how inconsistent he was being with his messages. According to him, paired witches thought of and treated their partners like shit. Now, however, Merk, a paired witch, was the best witch to have ever lived, and Terach, her partner, was irritated at Ber for ever suggesting otherwise. Because that made perfect sense. “Okay, okay,” He said, raising his hands and resisting the urge to rub his forehead. “She didn’t treat you badly.” Stars, he hoped they never asked this guy to explain anything to anyone. He was clearly so delusional that it was impossible to even tell what was fact and what was fiction.
Nothing and no one to live or die for, huh? When Temperance had suggested all those months ago that he talk to a paired soldier about his experiences, Ber didn’t think she had meant someone like this. Not only was Terach inconsistent with whatever lessons he was trying to impart, he also kept making assumptions about Ber that had the younger soldier wondering how much he did that for other situations and people, too - and therefore how reliable anything he said truly was. Though it wasn’t like any of this really mattered anyway, given that Ber was not interested in being paired in the first place. Maybe if they moved away from this surprisingly contentious topic, the whole conversation would start making more sense.
Woodwick was, regrettably, the easy alternative. Ber hardly wanted to talk about the lieutenant who stole enough of his time as it was. Repressing a sigh, the soldier answered Terach’s questions. “Yes.” Unfortunately. “He’s the lieutenant for the unpaired soldiers, so if you’re not going to be paired again, you probably will, too. Surprised you haven’t already.” Maybe each of them could inflict their presence on each other instead of Ber. That was a nice thought. “And he’s—” Ber considered what he thought of Terach and whether the man had the sense to not go ratting Ber out to Woodwick when he made very little sense about anything else. The younger soldier tempered his usual condemnation of the lieutenant in question. “A pain.”