PART VIII: THE CALLIE ARCHER GUIDE TO BEING A GENTLEMAN
The musicians gave a warning that there was only one song remaining, something apparently familiar to most everyone, and urged all interested to find a partner and join in the final dance. Dregorio reappeared from seemingly nowhere, and once again took Lena’s hand in his paw, leading her suavely to the dancefloor.
Soon after the music started, Juniper had reappeared, back from her conversation with Tasi. Once Vanis explained it was the final song for the night, the Dryad insisted on having one last dance with the Warlock. She pulled his arm, dragging him to the dancing crowd. The two swayed to the music, Vanis trying to keep things proper and formal, while Juniper grinned and laughed and bounced and twirled, obviously a little drunk, but also having a marvelous time of it.
Like her thoughts yesterday, watching so many different kinds of people dancing and socializing together was just beautiful to Callie. Lena with a Catkin, the green-skinned Juniper with an Elven Prince, one of the Goblins dancing with a Dwarf, and on and on. Strangers a day before, friends today, who knows come tomorrow.
“You should g-g-go dance,” Pixyl said to Callie.
“I think I’m too drunk to do it very well, right now,” Callie said in response, taking another draw on her wine goblet. “I absolutely know I’ll either stumble into someone or get stepped on.”
“Me, too,” Pixyl said. “Less drunk, but d-d-definitely would get stepped on. We can just w-w-watch, together.”
As the Gnome and the Pixie people-watched, Pixyl leaning against Callie’s shoulder, the music eventually came to an end. A round of applause went up for the musicians, who stood and bowed to their audience. The bar had been closed, the food table picked nearly clean, and it was obvious that the evening was being quickly ushered to a close. Juniper giggled, thanking Vanis for the dance with a peck on his cheek, to which he blushed and stammered a mumbled, ‘You’re welcome.’ He quickly recovered, though, taking the Dryad’s hand in his and bowing deeply over it. Juniper giggled once again, seeming to blush herself, before she bade goodnight to all, skipping lightly into the night and twirling before disappearing into the woods.
“I do believe it is time,” Vanis said, smiling distantly as he watched the Dryad leave. “We all have a big day tomorrow.”
“I’m nervous as hell,” Callie said flatly. “Besides the problem of having no idea what I’m really doing, I have a feeling Reynard is going to make things particularly unpleasant. At least all of your trainers actually like you.”
Each grabbing a pink potion for bedtime, the six of Ogre House mustered their energy, and began the walk home, Callie and Pixyl leading the way. The evening was pleasantly warm, but had turned cloudy so the stars were no longer visible. With the glow of the wine ever present, both Callie and Pixyl were still in the ‘happy-drunk’ zone, as was Jesca, who had bounded out of nowhere to join Callie’s returning group. Lena was leaning on Xin, wobbling a little, while Vanis and Tazrok both seemed pretty sober and primarily served to shepherd the ladies along.
“Excuse me,” a voice said.
Callie turned to see a Dwarf asking for her attention. He seemed vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t remember from where.
“And what do you want?” Callie asked, her voice coming out more snippy than she meant it to be, as she staggered lightly into Jesca.
The Dwarf glanced for just a split moment at Tazrok. “I don’t know if you remember me. My name is Halc, and I was in the wagon when we arrived yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah! You were one of the guys who were being jerks to me when I woke up.” Behind Halc, a few meters away, stood a few more Dwarves, including both with pink bonnets. “So again, what do you want,” Callie deadpanned.
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Halc took a deep breath. “The Ogre’s words meant a lot this afternoon; to many of us. I just wanted to come over and apologize for how we behaved. He’s right. We need to grow up. Truly, we’re sorry.”
Callie looked blearily at Halc and then at his friends, who were nodding in agreement with their spokesperson.
“Fine,” Callie said after an awkward pause. “I’m drunk and in a good mood, so apology accepted. Just stop being jerks to people in the future, got it?”
Halc nodded vigorously. “I do. We will. Thank you.”
“Good,” Callie said, waving her hand floppily in the air dismissively. “You guys have a good night.”
“You, as well,” Halc said, backing away quickly.
Callie turned back to the rest of her group. She put out her arms in a shrug. “Huh, what do you know? Little boys can grow up.”
“Actually unexpected,” Lena said with a bit of a slur in her voice and surprise on her face.
“Wait a minute,” Callie said, her own face suddenly painted with a confused look. She turned back towards Halc, who was joining his friends. “Hey! You! Did one of you really touch my butt when I was unconscious?”
Halc looked at his buddies, and then at Callie. Sheepishly he nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid. I’m really sor…”
“GET YOUR ASS BACK OVER HERE!” Callie screamed, all semblance of intoxication seeming to evaporate in an instant.
Halc pointed at himself, confused.
“Yes! Get over here! Now!”
“Callie, what are you doing?” Jesca said in a loud whisper. Callie just ignored her as several other recruits and a few others stopped to see what the commotion was.
There was fury in Callie’s eyes as Halc slowly returned to stand in front of the pissed off Gnome. She looked up at the scruffy Dwarf, standing a good thirty centimeters over her, and didn’t flinch at all. Callie stiffly pointed a finger and jabbed it towards Halc. “You listen to me real, real good and you tell your friends. You do not put hands on someone like that without their consent ever again. Ever!” As she spoke, her finger jabbed closer and closer to the chest of Halc, forcing him to actually lean back slightly. “If you want to grope someone, you get their permission first, like a gentleman, otherwise, it’s HANDS OFF! Got it?”
“But, I…”
“GOT! IT!” It was no longer a question.
“Yes. Understood,” Halc said, nodding his head. “Never without permission.”
“If I ever hear of you or one of your fratbros groping someone without their explicit say so, I will personally rip your nuts off and toss them in the fires of the forge. Never. Without. Consent. Asshole.”
Halc swallowed hard. Next to Callie, Pixyl had placed her hands on her own hips and was glaring daggers up at the terrified Dwarf. Standing over them, Jesca, Lena and Xin stood, likewise posed in support, although Lena was a little wobbly and seemed to be vaguely trying to copy the others as much as anything. Looking around, Halc saw at least a dozen faces, most of them female, all looking at him hard. Halc nodded vigorously once again. “Absolutely understood.”
“Good,” Callie said, relaxing slightly. Once again the little Gnome dismissed Halc with a wave of her hand. “Now, get the fuck out of here.”
You could almost see clouds of dust behind him as Halc bolted for the protection of his friends. Callie continued to glare for a moment, before completely relaxing and turning around seeing a sea of her friends’ eyes just staring at her.
“What?” Callie said with a shrug.
“Recruit!” a stern voice commanded from behind.
Annoyed, Callie turned to the new voice and snarled, “What the hell now!” Then she saw the speaker and quickly amended, “... Commandant?”
“Recruit Calliope Willow Archer, did you just threaten to castrate that recruit, along with all his friends?”
Callie stiffened instinctively. “No, Commandant. I simply warned him of a dangerous side effect of their actions, on the chance they weren’t aware.”
“Ahh, I see” Xera said. They looked at the retreating group of Dwarves. “Carry on, then.”
With that, Xera turned and started walking back down the hill towards the nearly empty party tent, joined quickly from the shadows by Major Celeste and Master Trainer Thorn. Both were actually trying hard not to laugh, the Major not doing a very good job of it.
Around Callie, a smattering of applause rose up. Callie turned, acknowledging her fans with a sly grin and a deep, semi-drunken curtsey, before turning back to her own group. “Shall we?”
“I’d like to think I have an appropriate response to that,” Vanis said, “but words fail me.”
“You are very fierce, Little One,” Xin said, breaking the tension. Somehow, that just made everyone keel over in laughter, save poor Xin, who just stood there confused.
“Come on,” Callie finally said, between breaths. “Let’s go home.”