Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Chris' POV*

Things were going terribly! Andrew hadn’t thought my attempt at humor was funny at all! Now he probably thought I was some kind of sick pervert, focusing on how tight his pants were, then thinking he was propositioning me, in the middle of the damned Guild, for a threesome with his bone-crushing woman! The absolute last thing in the entire Forest I wanted to do now was ogle his partner’s breasts appreciatively, by the gods!

And yet, I forced myself to stand smoothly, ready to do exactly that. Precisely what was the ‘normal’ amount of time for a man to spend looking at a well-endowed woman’s chest, when introduced, anyway? I wanted to get on Andrew’s good side very badly, but I didn’t want him to attack me either! I wanted Eliza to assault me even less!

Before I had a moment longer to think on it, Eliza and Mick were in front of us, and Andy, standing next to me, nodded discreetly and elbowed me in the side. Shit! I smiled, trying my best not to look nervous.

Quickly, I came up with a hare-brained plan. With my left hand I dug my nails into my palm to steel my nerves. Mick gestured at Eliza. “This is Eliza, Night Watchman, and the Second Officer’s ward. She will be accompanying him at all times, including on missions, until further notice, by decree of the Council.” Mick gestured at me. “Eliza, this is Chris. He is, more or less, the head of a band of Assassins that work together well within the Guild. They’ve picked up the moniker ‘the Motionless.’”

Eliza held out her hand to shake mine. I could feel my balls crawling in terror as I grasped her hand, then gently turned it in mine and brought it to my lips to kiss her knuckles. I made a point of looking at her admittedly breathtaking breasts as I bent down. I heard one of my cursed Motionless brothers exhale loudly in shock at the sight, and reminded myself to rip his spine out through his asshole later, whoever it was. My money was on Balz!

Feeling no impact to my face or elsewhere, I straightened and released her hand. “It’s a pleasure. We all look forward to working with you. You will clearly be a major asset in combat situations, Eliza.” She smiled, a genuine smile that put me a little bit at ease. I let my left hand relax a bit and quickly glanced to my right at Andy. His lips were pursed in a thin line, but he was doing decently thus far.

Feeling relieved that I had passed my trial by cleavage; I motioned towards the clustered, black forms of my comrades. “Allow me to introduce the rest of my unit.” Eliza and I walked over, with Andrew close behind, and Mick trailing a bit further back.

They’d surely overheard her first introduction to Mick, just as I had, but I felt reiteration was necessary for formality. “Gentlemen, this is Eliza. She is Second Officer Andrew’s ward, and accompanies him at all times. Thus, we can expect to see her, in all likelihood, very soon.”

I cleared my throat and pointed at Ricky, then waved him forward. “In no particular order, this fellow here is Ricky. You might hear some of us call him ‘Horror,’ it’s just a nickname, he’s alright.” I was briefly struck dumb when Ricky gave a cheeky, little smile and head bob and then transparently eyeballed Eliza’s bosom while shaking her hand!

What in the nine hells was Ricky doing? My fist balled up tight again and I shot a glance at Andrew, whose mouth was open with obvious displeasure. I had hoped Andrew had talked to Ricky too, but apparently not! Shit! No! No! Andrew was going to lose his temper! Eliza was totally unfazed, but I was afraid Andrew was going to fly off the bloody handle.

Quickly I waved Josh forward, ready to crack the inevitable joke at his expense to (hopefully) lighten the mood. “This is Josh. And, yes, his name really is Josh Balz, so if you hear someone call out ‘Balz,’ they may well be looking for Josh, at least one hopes!”

Josh grinned rakishly at Eliza, and then, he, too, goo-goo-eyed her voluminous chest as he shook her hand! I thought I was about to have a stroke! I wanted to scream. I peeked back at Andrew, who had veins standing out in his neck. Gods!

Hurriedly, I waved at Devin. “This is Devin, a lot of us call him Ghost-“

I stopped talking when Devin started kissing up Eliza’s knuckles, then up her forearm. He made doe eyes at her, then gazed longingly at her breasts. “Enchanté.”

I could hear, clearly, the grinding of Andrew’s teeth, over my brief episode of choking. I walked the few paces to stand next to him and spoke softly so that only he could hear. “I think they are goading you and I. Keep a level head and I’ll make certain they are justly rewarded for such childish behavior.”

Andrew scowled. He said nothing, just closed his eyes, slowly exhaled, and nodded. I was pleased to have his confidence. I walked closer to my idiot group of men and stared daggers at them.

I waved Ryan forward. I introduced him quickly, keeping my tone short and clipped. “This is Ryan; no nickname.”

Ryan smiled. Perhaps out of fear, all he did was briefly glance at Eliza’s chest as he shook her hand. “’Sup.”

Angelo stepped forward of his own accord; and didn’t let me down. He looked Eliza in the eye as he shook her hand and said, “I’m Angelo. Welcome to the Wild Ones.” And that was all.

Mick quickly stepped forward. “I’m sure the Second Officer and Watchman Eliza have other things they’d like to do with their spare time. Thank you, Andrew, Eliza, for coming by.”

I took the chance and offered Andrew my hand, which he took. I looked him in the eye as I spoke softly. “I will put them through their paces.” Andrew grinned distantly and nodded before turning away with Eliza and walking with Mick towards the door.

As soon as they were out of earshot, I turned on the rest of the Motionless. “What the fuck was that?”

Ricky offered, “We were following your lead-“
Balz came up with, “He needed to be taught a lesson-“
Ghost said, “It was funny-“
Ryan looked guilty.
Ang raised an eyebrow.

I tapped my fingers on my lower lip. “You know, a very key part of our profession is physical fitness.” They groaned, as one. “We’ve been slouching, lately. As soon as Vinny gets back, we’re going to the trail around the lake to run laps. Ang and Vinny will take turns counting laps for everyone.”

Balz looked at me, disgusted. “How many laps?”

I smiled, feeling pleased. “However many you can finish before Dawn. The one with the least gets to do it again tomorrow Night. All Night.” I shrugged. “Ang and Vinny are exempt. Naturally.”

Notes

check out some videos i took the other day at the Ash St. Saloon (lighting was terrible)

Dead Animal Assembly Plant play 'Rise With Me'

Brief Clip of Tim Skold at Ash St. Saloon (terrible lighting)
Tim Skold covers 'Tainted Love' & adorably forgets his place mid-song (bad lighting)