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Chapter 4

Two months have passed since last we heard of Jem and Russo and their adventures. Are there fantastic and exciting tales to recount and embellish that happened while we were away? Nope. Not really. Things have actually been pretty slow.

Russo sat at a table in the main guild hall, his arms slumped out before him and his head facing down, staring into the table. Absolutely nothing had happened in nearly two months. No new jobs, no new research or tomes to read, no new magic to learn or even old spells to brush up on. No reports of bandits to be cleared out, no giants causing trouble, just people living happily together during a time of relative peace. ...And Russo fucking hated it. Peacetime gave him nothing to do and left him bored as hell.

The main guild hall itself was a large and airy room lined with tables. Members would gather together to sit around and chat or eat meals. The ceiling, the floor and the walls were all made of beautiful stained wood. Towards the right end of the hall was the job board and to the left was a small kitchen where basic food was served. Only the newest... or poorest guild members ate here considering the food absolutely paled in comparison to what was offered at the pub across... well the pub that WAS across the street. Regardless, the food was free for recognized members and it filled your belly. Towards the back of the hall was a staircase leading up to the guild master's office. Windows lined the upper portions of both sides of the hall, letting sunlight flood in. Not that Russo cared or was willing to exert enough effort to appreciate it. Russo let out a deep sigh as he let himself be overtaken by his ennui.

"Hey Russo! What'cha been up to today?" Dax eagerly said as he plopped down next to the human with a bowl of soup in his hands. Ugh... Dax.

READERS: FEEL FREE TO INITIATE COMPLEMENTARY SUPER WAVY FLASHBACK EFFECT AT THIS TIME. Disclaimer: Super Wavy Flashback Effect not available in all areas.

When Jem offered him a place in the guild Dax could hardly contain his joy. At first he had been incredulous and disbelieving of the offer, asking both Russo and Jem over and over if they were serious about it. When it finally got through to him that, yes, they were in fact offering him a spot in their guild, he practically exploded with joy. His eyes lit up, his tail couldn't stop wagging and he nearly broke Russo in half when he hugged him out of sheer joy. Jem fared little better. From then on Dax tried to drag Russo and Jem back to Tedrah just so he could get to the guild sooner. He nearly grew to giant size just so he could run all the way back while carrying them there. Jem and Russo quickly forced him to knock that shit off. After forcibly calming him down, Russo and Jem made it clear to him what would be expected of him as a guild member and how they would insure he would never grow to giant size. Dax said it was all a matter of willpower when you got it down but that wasn't good enough for Russo. Jem's idea was to have Dax wear a special crystal that dispelled magic, since he figured Dax being able to change size had to be magical in nature. Jem already had the kind of stone in question on him on account of the supposed protection it offered against spells as well, which was not at all suspiciously convenient. He gave it to Dax and said it would be no problem for him to pick up another one back in town when he had the time The point that Jem emphasized was that so long as Dax wore or even kept a crystal such as this on his person, he physically shouldn't be able to grow beyond his current size even if he wanted to. Or that's what Jem reasoned anyway. Russo was unconvinced to say the least but he didn't have any brilliant ideas of his own so he just ran with it.

The trio reached town just before sundown and snagged Dax a pair of clothes to wear so as to render him presentable when they went before the guild master. From there Russo and Jem headed into the guild hall and up the master's office to report on their completed mission. The guild master congratulated them for their promptness and suggested that perhaps the two of them could expect to receive some higher paying jobs from now on. As well as being given a special opportunity to accept or decline jobs before they were posted on the job boards. Hell yeah. Before the master could shoo them off however, Russo managed to get in that he and Jem had come across someone they believed would be a good... a decent... a tolerable addition to the guild. As Russo was doing a lackluster job speaking on Dax's behalf, Jem ushered the wolf in and Dax nervously stood before the guild master. He was dressed presentably at the very least... while still wearing Russo's cloak, much to the human's chagrin. After giving Dax a quick look over and seeing a smile on Jem's face and a shrug from Russo, the guild master made his decision. He warmly welcomed Dax into the Tedrah guild as its newest member, much to the wolf's delight. He gave him a quick shpeel about what was expected of him, how he was now a representative of the guild, and that he was expected to work his ass off for the guild until he earned an apprenticeship. After all that was taken care of, the sky's the limit! Once the technical stuff had been taken care of the master kicked all of them out of his office and told Dax to show up bright and early the next morning to start working.

END FLASHBACK. IF VISION IS STILL BLURRY AFTER FLASHBACK HAS ENDED, CONSULT A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY.

Two months had passed since then and all the while Dax had been kept busy in the kitchen and with tidying up the floors in the main guild hall. Dax was thrilled with his current setup since he had a place to sleep in the guild guest rooms and got fed on a regular basis. He had actually filled out a bit since they had first met, as he was no longer a wiry little thing. Dax was getting to be kind of chubby puppy. What made things worse though, was that since there were no jobs to do or excuses to get out of town, Russo had the poor misfortune to be given the chance to spend a couple of hours with Dax every single day whether he liked it or not. At first it wasn't awful. Towards the beginning Dax could only harass him for an hour or two a day since he was being kept busy with grunt work. Soon enough though even Dax ran out of chores to do and so he started spending most of his time following either Russo or Jem around. Jem didn't seem to mind him tagging along most of the time, while Russo couldn't stand him on account of how damn clingy and needy he could be.

Dax ALWAYS wanted to know what he was up to, ALWAYS wanted to follow him around, ALWAYS bombarded him with questions about how he joined the guild, ALWAYS , ALWAYS, ALWAYS. All it did was to serve to reinforce why Russo preferred solo missions above all else. While working alone he could deal with people for as long or as little as he chose to. The amount of interaction he wanted to partake in with others was always decided by him, not for him. Not so much the case anymore. Hell, half the time Russo didn't even listen to what Dax had to say. He had learned to tune him out fairly quickly. Hell, right now for instance Russo could hear Dax droning on in the background. Yet the mage didn't even bother listening for the words the sounds tumbling out of the wolf's mouth formed.

"...anyway like I was saying, Jem says he could train me one day if I decided to become a warrior like him."

"Buh..."

"Being a warrior does sound promising and all but to be honest I'd rather be a mage like you! Being able to teleport, heal yourself, dish out the damage and all that good stuff is what I want to learn to do! I mean I already have the look down." Dax gleefully said as he shook his body, letting his (formerly Russo's) cloak sway to and fro.

"Uh huh..."

"May... maybe you could be my teacher one day Russo. That'd be really neat if you were. Ahh, but I've got to work for another year or two before the guild master will even let me start to think about doing that." Dax picked up the bowl and put it to his mouth as he downed the remaining contents in a single gulp. He happily patted his slightly pudgy belly and got up from the table.

"Well I should probably get back to work. Nice talking to you Russo!" With that Dax headed back off into the kitchen to tidy up and take stock of the food.

"...That's my fucking cloak." Russo grumbled to himself when Dax was out of earshot. Only reason he even let him keep it was because Jem hardballed him into it. Jem thought it would be a nice gesture. Russo thought letting the wolf live had been plenty kind enough of him, but he conceded to his friend's suggestions after being worn down enough. Russo was none too thrilled with having to go out and buy himself a new cloak but he did end up managing to pick himself out a nice new red cloak that he was already taking a liking to. It wasn't all bad he supposed looking back on it. Ugh... and maybe he had been a bit unfair in how he viewed Dax. It couldn't be denied that he was annoying and needy, but Dax did his best to stay optimistic and upbeat. Russo couldn't really hate him for doing that and he was still just a kid. He'd probably mellow out and mature as he grew older.

"Man I've been bitchy today." Russo thought to himself in a brief moment of self-realization. "I hope I'm not usually like this. Hmmm... I really need to find something to do to keep myself from being bored to death or going stir crazy. Something to keep my mind occupied... Wonder what Jem's up to?" Russo thought aloud as he pulled himself up from the table with some effort and walked out of the guild hall, actively looking for his furred friend.

Jem usually trained a couple of hours each day to keep his skills up to par, so it wouldn't be unexpected to find him training somewhere along the outskirts of the city. Russo meandered towards the city limits and started circling around until he hopefully bumped Jem. Or he would have until an intelligent thought struck him and he remembered something.

"Wait a minute... didn't I give Jem a waypoint stone way back when we first met Dax? Maybe he still has it on him. What the hell, it's worth a shot." With that Russo's hands began glowing and moments later he disappeared in a flash of orange light. He reappeared an instant later somewhere near the outskirts of a forest, slightly disoriented by the sudden change in scenery.

"I'm guessing Jem must've had the waypoint still on him, seeing as how if he didn't the spell would've just rebounded. Wonder what he's doing all the way out here though?"

Conveniently for Russo, his collie friend was just a few feet in front of him, hacking and slashing the air with a strange mixture of abandon and grace, intensely focused on his training. Not like there was much effort required for him to just ask and figure out why. "Hey Jem. How's the training going today?" the human said as he walked towards the collie. He saw the fur's ears perk up at hearing his voice and Jem immediately stopped what he was doing.

"Russo? How'd you get out here?" Jem asked with genuine surprise.

"I teleported like I always do. I got bored so I figured I'd harass you and see what you were up to. I remembered I gave you a way point a while back and I figured it was worth a shot to see if you still had it on you."

"Oh that's... that's right I had forgotten about that," Jem nervously said.

"Anyway, what the hell are you doing way out here in the middle of nowhere? There's plenty of space for training along the outskirts of town."

"I uh... wanted to get in a good workout today. You know uh, really challenge myself by trekking all the way out here. Th-there are no distractions whatsoever out here so I can really focus."

That... or Jem was actually practicing limited growth techniques similar to the one Dax used when he first tried to fight Russo under the bridge. The kind of technique that made Jem's body explode with muscle. The kind of technique that Jem would practice in secret since he didn't want anybody being given the slightest hint as to what he really was. Especially not Russo. Jem would tell Russo someday about his secret just not today... or anytime in the near future.

Russo shrugged at his friend's explanation. "If you say so. Want to grab some lunch? I'm sure you've done plenty enough training for today."

Jem sheathed his sword and composed himself after hearing Russo's offer. "That sounds great. Should we bring Dax along?"

"I'd really rather not..."

"Oh come on he's not that bad. I would think you'd be flattered and happy to bring him along considering how much he looks up to you. He's already started showing an interest in magic and he absolutely treasures your cloak. I think it's kind of cute how he's trying to imitate you in his own way. Though... I'm amazed that he does considering how gruff you are towards him."

"Was that a tone of jealousy I heard in your voice Jem?" Russo said smirking to himself.

"N-no! Of course not!" Jem replied flustered.

Russo chuckled to himself as Jem looked away embarrassed. "Ah... come on, let's get lunch. My treat."

That was more than enough to lighten Jem's mood. "Your treat? You still owe me as per our earlier agreement remember? Or have you already forgotten?"

"I didn't forget..."

"Hmph. Yeah, lunch does sound pretty good right about now. Care to take us there?"

"Ask and ye shall receive." Russo said with a smile as he readied a multi-teleport spell. In a flash they both disappeared in a bright light and reappeared in front of the ruins of the old pub.

"Uh... Russo."

"Sorry. Force of habit."

With that Russo and Jem disappeared in another flash of light and finally reappeared in front of Tedrah's other pub, hungry and eager to chat the day away.