Quoted By:
“I believe it is clear that I would prefer to fight in the duels.”
Asher raises his hands in mock placation, “Hey, just givin you the options.”
“Is there anything else you can tell me about the tournament then?”
“Nothing more thst you don’t already know or can’t guess.”
“Is there anything else then?”
“Not unless you got something.”
You think for a moment, “What role will you all be completing during the tournament? Will you be competing?”
“Wait, I can compete?” Marie blurts out as her head snaps to Asher, “Can I compete?! Please?”
He shakes his head, “No, you’re a little bit too obvious a Stranger to take center stage for an event like this.” Marie makes an exaggerated pouting face, “You’ll be assigned some other position, I’m sure.”
“But what about you?” You ask the man.
“Oh, I’ll be competing.”
“Ooough?! But-but-” Marie makes many noises in only a few short seconds, but eventually the point gets across. You’re 95.87% sure that she means “Why is it that you get to throw your hat in the ring of the most Royal and Equitable Grand Tournemant hosted by the illustrious Mageknight Academy, but not I? Are we not kindred souls who have journeyed across time and space to this land in which we are Strangers?” Or something or other.
Asher, having come to the same conclusion as you, first draws a line across his neck with his thumb, then says, “Because I can repeat any duel as many times as I want, should I be suspicious. Besides, I have decades of experience over you in acting normal.”
Marie blows her tongue in his direction, “Old man!”
“Please, don’t remind me.”
You stare at the seemingly young-looking man, only a few years older than you, “I’ve never thought about it like that. How old exactly are you?”
He looks at you pathetically, “C’mon, man, I just asked you not to remind me.”
“The nerve! How dare you call me-”
“Alright! Alright! I’m about double your age. Mentally, I, as in me, Asher, have existed for about 40 years. You happy?”
“Yes, I suppose,” You’re not really sure what to think of that information. It is that you were unaware that this was the case, but to hear him say it with his own mouth? It just seems so strange that the man in front of you is double the age he looks. Though you suppose that is the point with his kind. “That will be all then?”
“What, that’s it?” Asher asks, to which you nod, “Why’d you make me have to say that?!”
You give nothing but a soft smile as you watch as an expression of mirth overtakes his face. The last thing he does as he leaves you room, along with your other friends, is point his hand at you with a middle finger raised. Quite obviously, an offensive gesture, though without any cultural context behind it, you do not feel much offense. At least the others had enough sense to cap the candles in your room.
