The Chained Watcher

Sparring

~~~

Idly swinging in one of the hammocks set up in his oversized lounge room, Grian munched on one of the blueberry fruits he'd made, just relaxing. It's nice to take a bit of time every now and then to be lazy, and no he's not ignoring the back of his base, it'll happen eventually. Maybe? Possibly. We'll see whether it happens or not.

A voice draws him out of his idle thoughts, and he glances over at Tango, focusing on the question he'd been asked.

"So there's something I've been wondering for a while now, if it's not something you don't want to talk about."

He's trying to be as transparent as possible with the things he does, as long as he's not too worried about them being unnerved by it, so he finishes his mouthful of fruit and says, "Shoot."

"You remember that time when we saw a Watcher and a Listener fighting in the distance?"

"Yup. I'm guessing you want to know what I did when I stayed behind?"

Tango nodded, adding, "Among other things, but that's the main thing. I know you said you were just going to watch, but no offense, but I don't think a single one of us believed that to begin with."

"And you'd be right! I don't have a habit of searching for wrongs that need to be righted, but if one like that that I can easily deal with without too many problems shows up right in my face, I'll do something."

"Well what was that something? My immediate guess is that you stopped the fight, but I've heard stuff on occasion about how quickly Listeners and Watchers get into fights."

Tossing his half-eaten fruit up high into the air, Grian held his hand like it was a pistol and shot a bead of magic through the airborne fruit. "Sniped the Watcher," he caught the fruit, holding it up to show the hole through it, "then flew off to meet back up with everyone else. Probably spooked the Listener a bit with how their opponent abruptly died for no immediately apparent reason, but considering how the fight was going, I don't think they can complain."

He nods, "So the Watcher annoyed you, I'm guessing because of how it kept attacking the buildings, so you killed it?"

"Mmm? I mean, that's part of the reason, but it's not like I kill things just cause they do stuff that annoys me. It grated against my own morals every time it forced the Listener to throw themself in the way of an attack by aiming at the buildings, but although it bothered me, I was more concerned about not showing any abnormalities in front of everyone. All I really needed to change my mind about acting was a good excuse so I could pretend it was more logic-driven though."

He gestured towards Mumbo, who waves slightly, recognizing this as his little part in this story. "Mumbo suggested that having one less Watcher in the area would make it less likely for any of you to run into one, plus having an extra Listener around makes it less likely for a Watcher to go unnoticed, barring yours truly. So I made an excuse about staying to watch the fight, waited until I had a clean shot, and sniped the Watcher. Anything else you're wondering about?"

"Ah, it's something you said when you were telling us not to interfere, actually."

"Oh? Do tell."

"You said that we should never try to fight a Watcher, and should just try to run if possible, but what I wanted to know was, what if we don't have a choice? Like if our only exit is blocked, and we need to fight."

He falls silent, mulling over what he just said. Like it or not, that's a valid worry. As things stand, very few of his friends would be able to fight off a Watcher intent on capturing or killing them, and he can't stick around every single one of them at all times to keep them safe. Sure, he can kit them out with enough magic items to make them practically walking tanks, but they'll inevitably forget to bring some, or simply neglect to wear them, thinking they'll have time to put them on before they're needed.