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Message: <blockquote data-quote="spyscribe" data-source="post: 1378267" data-attributes="member: 5808">Thatch is soundly asleep, dreaming of home.  His parents, his brother, his farm, perhaps most of all his Uncle, the great adventurer who fought in the Wars and whose sword Thatch himself now bears.    But suddenly, something is wrong.  He feels it subconsciously, a sense of intrusion.  He snaps awake, and suddenly finds a dark figure leaning over him.  He gasps and sits up.  The figure gasps as well and jumps back.    It is Tessa, Mrs. Blackburn’s daughter.  And she looks mortified.      “Um.” Thatch says, trying to blink sleep from his eyes.  “Um.  What are you…?”    “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” Tessa says, red-faced.“Um... no problem?” Thatch says weakly. Did I forget to latch the door last night, he wonders to himself.“I just… I wanted to talk to you… maybe get to know you a little better,” Tessa says, taking a small step towards him.  “This is the only time I could really talk to you, so I thought… is that okay?”  “Um. Um.  Um.” Thatch stammers, trying to figure out what else he can say.  “Um. Okay,” he finally manages, quite sure there was a better answer, but really not sure what it was.Tentatively, Tessa sits down on the edge of the bed.  Thatch quickly adjusts the bedding to make sure it provides him with adequate coverage.  He’s fairly certain that there could be a more awkward situation than this, but for the life of him he can’t imagine what it might be.  Well, I suppose Mrs. Blackburn could walk in on us, he thinks. Yes. Yes, that would do it.“So… how long have you been in the city?” Tessa asks.“A little over a month,” Thatch says. “A-are you married?” Tessa asks quickly.“Um. No,” he says.  Or I suppose this situation could get more awkward, he thinks.“Oh.” A pause.  “Seeing anyone?”“Um, no.  No, not really.”A pause.  “Do you have any children?”Oh, dear gods.  “Um, no, none that I-- No.  No, I don’t.”“Do-do you want to?”“Buh-? Wha-? Huh?” “You know. I mean, someday?”I could be in the Temple of Justice right now, Thatch thinks.  Anvil’s asked if I want to be an acolyte at least a hundred times.  Why oh why oh why didn’t I take him up on it?  “Um.  I guess,” he mutters.There is quite the awkward lull in the conversation.  Finally, Tessa tries a new tack.  “So, how did you get involved at the Mages’ Academy?” she asks.“Me? Well, um, I guess they needed help and, um, some people I know asked me if I wanted to help, and, um, so… I helped.”“Are they really as powerful as people say they are? The wizards there?”Thatch shrugs.  “I guess. It varies. Some more than others.”Tessa nods.  “Who is it?” she asks.Thatch blinks.  “Who is wha--?” he begins, but he doesn’t get any farther, as Tessa suddenly leans forward and kisses him right on the mouth.“Um?” Thatch barely manages, as Tessa breaks off the kiss. “I’m sorry,” Tessa says.  “I should go.  You… you can go back to sleep.”“Um, okay,” Thatch says, thinking that’s a perfectly good idea. “You won’t tell anyone I was here?  My mother, she would…”“Don’t worry,” Thatch says.Quietly, Tessa opens the door and slips out.  Thatch, suddenly aware of how incredibly tired he is, lies back down.  But a thought crosses his sleepy mind.  He pushes himself up, stumbles across the room, and latches the door from the inside.  Then, for good measure, he places his chair under the handle, barricading it shut.That should take care of it, he thinks, yawning.  He topples back into bed and falls asleep, and he stays that way the rest of the night.##    The next morning, Thatch dresses.  It takes him somewhat longer than usual, as his mind is completely preoccupied with thoughts of how he’s going to manage breakfast with Tessa present.  He resolves that it will probably be easiest if he just doesn’t look at her, and, so determined, he goes to the door to leave his room.    Which is when he notices that the chair he propped under the door handle isn’t there anymore.  It’s against the wall, where it normally is.**********(And you thought you were going to meet a Sedellan, didn't you?   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />   Special thanks to Fajitas for writing up this scene and Moira's. These were all one-on-ones, so obviously, the only one I was around for was Lira's.)</blockquote>

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