All The Stars Were Shining Bright.. [Astrolabe]

[Jaron Grunn]

34.F.511 The wrestling match went exactly as Jaron had thought it would end when he was playing against Astrolabe: horribly. Jaron was out of practice and was nowhere the size nor did he have the experience that Astrolabe possessed in his bear-like body. Jaron was thinner and tougher, but in a wholly different capacity than that of Astrolabe. When it came to a physical adversary, Jaron was much better at chopping or clobbering them apart instead of just bearing down on them like a tsunami, and that's where the two men differed. Jaron let out a grunt as he pushed open the door to Astrolabe's little apartment and looked over his shoulder to the man that was lumbering in behind him, victorious and with that cocky little smirk on his face. Jaron had been overly confident in his own abilities to face off against Astrolabe in a friendly little match. He didn't stand a chance and Astrolabe didn't take it easy on Jaron, either, almost as if he was trying to teach Jaron a lesson about taking on someone that he had no chance of winning. Jaron rolled his shoulder back as he could almost feel an old ligament injury in his shoulder start to throb again as he looked over to Astro who was closing the door behind him. "Well, that was fun. Remind me to never do that again with you when I want to be able to walk the next day," Jaron said with a growl as he placed his gym bag down on the ground that held the clothes he wore to wrestle Astrolabe. He glanced over to the man who still seemed to have that grin on his face and Jaron wanted nothing more than to rub it off of him, but he knew that Astrolabe would somehow find a way to make Jaron "pay" for such a silly move. Jaron sat himself down on the very tiny couch by the very tiny table that was supposedly the living room in the apartment. The place was nothing more than a giant room, a budget room for a student that couldn't afford any more. He brought his bottle of water with him and took a few chugs of the warm liquid as he glanced over to Astrolabe with a smirk and shook his head. "You can take that look of your face any time now, Astro. You won - you're the king. But if we were brawlin'? I'd take you down. Lhavit-Farmer style..." CreditThe Crystals - Then He Kissed Me, for the title and summary. Chad Chisholm, picture. (Click picture for original.)

[Astrolabe]

Astro couldn’t help but grin as he shut the door. “Yeah? Did you enjoy it that much? It was kind of hard to tell – your face was in the dirt so much. I couldn’t quite hear all that laughter and glee.” Pulling off his coat, he tossed it onto the lone wooden chair that was pushed under the Lilliputian table. He threw himself down beside Jaron, on the equally tiny couch, their knees touching as they squeezed together in the limited space. Patting his friend’s shoulder, his elbow at an awkward angle due to the lack of room to move, he said with mock sympathy, “Hard to get old, ain’t it? I tried to go easy on you. Next time, I’ll let you tie both my hands behind my back instead of just the one.” Astro laughed, his voice merry. Eleven days – almost two weeks – and things seemed to be a bit easier. It hadn’t taken Jaron two days even to learn his way about town, and he seemed to be settling in well enough. How long he intended to stay was a bit up in the air. Of course, there was the plan to travel about Zeltiva – to visit all the places Sev had been. But that was very amorphous and time insensitive. Astro was elated to have his company, and was still trying to talk him into staying here with him, in his tiny flat. For some reason, Jaron seemed averse to sleeping curled up like a pretzel on the couch. Nor was he thrilled with the idea of blankets on the wooden floor. Astro thought this was pretty lame for a man who called himself a mercenary. It seemed like Jaron would be much more used to discomfort. Astro had readily offered to secure another mattress for the floor, or alternatively, they could even have shared the bed. Of all the furnishings in the small space, the bed was by far the biggest and was actually quite capacious and comfortable. Jaron had merely rolled his eyes at that suggestion, as Astro had shrugged and said, “What?” He certainly wasn’t trying to sneakily get into his friend’s pants by such a transparent subterfuge. Admittedly, Astro might have harbored a secret crush on Jaron, back in the day. But they had been friends, first and foremost, and now . . . well, now – there was Sev. Though the man was dead, it was really inconceivable that Astro could even think of trying to ‘replace’ him. There were a million reasons why that would simply be a horrible idea, and only one that spoke in its favor. And that tiny voice was easily enough squelched. This visit was really about Jar – his loss and his needs – and their friendship. That was why he was here in Zeltiva – not to be hit on by his long time best friend. So for a week and a half, Astro had been more than happy to be just that – a good friend – there to give support and whatever else Jar might need. That’s all. “Now, let’s see . . . “ Astro made a show of rubbing his stubble covered jaw as if thinking mightily. “If I remember correctly, there was something we had said . . . about dinner. Something like – you were buying? If I won? Was that it?” He smirked, tapping Jaron in the back of the head. “If you get dinner, I’ll get the beer. I know how much that will thrill you.”

[Jaron Grunn]

Jaron let out a snarl at Astro's little concession that he would try and tie himself up even more to give Jaron the upper hand. He gave a shove of his shoulder against the man that squeezed in against him on the small couch. It was ridiculous how some of the furniture in the apartment was so small, almost as if some Isur had lived in the apartment at some point in their life. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get you behind a sword and board and see how well you do, aye?" He said with a grunt as he got himself comfortable against Astrolabe's body on the comically small couch that the two men shared. When Jaron had tried to lean against the small table that Astrolabe said was his "dining table" Jaron practically snapped it in half as it swayed from his weight and practically went crashing to the floor. Nothing in the damn apartment was solid. "Food, food... Last I remember Zeltiva didn't have any restaurants what with those constant food shortages and what have you. I believe the bet was something along the lines of someone making dinner for the other person. And I believe we were going to do it in alphabetical order, Astrolabe?" He smirked as he waved his hand dismissively towards the kitchen, his arm practically elbowing Astro in the face. "The place to prepare the food is over in that direction, slave. Go and make it for your master." Astrolabe was making no sudden movements - or any movement - that would indicate that he was on his way up from the couch to go and get anything ready to cook. Jaron gave him a stern look that soon disappeared as he saw that evil grin on Astro's face, and the bear of a man's body start to tense, as if he was about to pounce something. "Astro..."