It comes as no surprise that he eventually stumbles upon the figure of Nicodemus. Iliad spots the brown figure before he hears his name called. He gives out an ear curdling high note that is well out of his range, it’s sole purpose to grate along the necromancer’s nerves. “That is the start of my new master piece. I’m titling it “My Traveling Companion Is Tone Deaf”, and it’s inspired by you.” The antagonism rolls off his tongue easily until he catches that tone. Nicodemus lacks his humor, the sort of easy snark that is exchanged between them on the best of days. Something is fundamentally wrong with his companion. For a moment he wonders if his high note was truly that bad, if his pterodactyl shriek surpassed some boundary and perhaps triggered some deep rooted fear(perhaps Nicodemus held a secret fear of extinct reptiles). Maybe calling Nicodemus a fart sniffing turdwad the previous night had genuinely offended him.
“I can tell something is wrong,” he says, “Now you need to puke it up necromancer or I’ll show how impressive my lung capacity with that dreaded note I showed you before.” He stares down his companion, despite his lame attempts at offering concern. Compassion and gentleness have never been his strengths and he can only assume Nicodemus has no desire to be coddled. Maybe the ghosts have decide to take steaming hot shits on him, or maybe teenage hormones are really getting the better of him. Shit… What is the proper way to go about comforting a friend? Or better question, how does one go about comforting Nicodemus? Maybe he should take him to the nearest cemetery and find some dancing skeletons…
iliad
Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.
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