I Am The Guy

"You know, it's hard keeping up with you sometimes," my companion grumbled. I turned to see his hand hefting a gun up the cliff face, his head bobbing up over the edge a moment after. "Why must you always take these asinine paths?"

I chuckled. We'd met only a few months ago, but with all the adventures we'd been on we felt and acted like brothers. We knew we could count on one another and we shared our spoils fairly, but we also fought like siblings. Usually starting with him bickering at me.

"Well, I tend to just take the fastest route. You may care to waste your time taking in the scenery and walking around the long way, but I want to get where I'm going and do what needs getting done."

"Pah!" He grunted as he mounted another rock on the steep hillside and sprinted to catch up to me. "You're impatient is what you're saying. You've already found your fortune out here, made a few friends and plenty of enemies... what are you in a rush about? We've got countless years of wealth and prosperity ahead of us."

"Maybe in your reality we do. Not mine. I've got a short bit of time here, significantly shorter than you. You can stay here as long as you like, fighting, hunting, fucking, doing as you please."

He slowed to a walk, causing me to spin on my heels and check that he was following me still. His face was obscured by the helmet he wore, but I knew that underneath the steel facade was a scowl at my last statement. I heard him clear his throat while he picked his words.

"You could stay here ... there's always people who need, or at the least want and can pay, for your services here. Always something for your crazed ass to get into. You're not plannin' on retiring anytime soon, and you've said as much yourself!" His voice rose a little, and the speaker that filtered his speech under the helmet cracked just a tiny bit.

He was, of course, right. But it wasn't relevant. Not to me, at least. "You're correct on all but the first count, though especially about other people needing me. I've a city to bring back from the edge of a depression, a priestess to protect from fanatics who think she's a heretic, AND a deathmatch tournament where I'm expected to be the star performer. So, no, I can't stay here forever. You know that and you've always known it. Sorry that it's bugging you now." I shrugged. What was I supposed to say to him? I owed no explanation as to my methods or intent, and HE was following ME after all! I had provided for him, helped him kill his former master, and given him a life he could never have obtained without me. But his attitude now made me feel slighted, as though my good will and hard work was meaningless.

"It's..." he started. "It's not that. I understand that you're needed elsewhere as well. I just don't get why I can't come. Why can't I be there with you? Are you too big for me now? Or am I just not useful to you anymore?"

He didn't understand. Didn't get it. When did they? Any of 'em? Always it was like this: I did my thing, sometimes with help, and inevitably the help felt like I was ditching them when I went on to my next adventure, mission, or what-have-you. But how was I guilty of abandonment when I was merely choosing my own path?

Or maybe that was it. I chose. They didn't. It's why they were followers, why I was a leader. Sure they had a certain level of input with me and I rarely had to directly tell them what to do or order them around ... but the big choices? Who was worth saving, what jobs were worth doing, that was always my call. They couldn't dare to rise up against me or my word.

I shook my head, trying to come back to the situation at hand. I didn't have to be diplomatic with my partner. I could have shot him in the face and walked away at no consequence save the minute damage to my already battle hardened psyche. But we'd been working together long enough that I felt I owed him more than that ... I owed him enough to at least attempt an explanation.

"You will be, in spirit. You don't know it, but you will be. You always -"

"Save it." He lifted off his helm and frowned. "For some reason, I just can't trust you."

"Well, that's probably because I'm only human."

Bloggy McBlog-Blog

So, this site basically exists as a means for me to throw out some of my random stuff in something a little more formatted than Facebook notes. It'll primarily be a source for my fiction, and maybe some other things I write. Just don't hope for some kind of journal or e-diary; you won't find that here.

Enjoy.