Alamort | Troy Otto

1.11

[1.11]

"'Courting'? That dude is stuck in the Victorian age, man."

Thena's voice was raspy after a night covered by only a couple hours of sleep. She wasn't the most awake person, but somehow, she still got to listen to Madison and Jeremiah along Nick. She was worried about Alicia too; it just didn't quite settle in her mind that she was missing yet. And so, she found herself following Nick as he was thinking about joining the militia.

Her mouth was working without her brain asking her to, and she just babbled nonsense, trying to find something to keep herself awake. Nick was walking in front of her, a small smile on his face as she made fun of Jeremiah's words about his eldest son's relationship with Alicia. For a moment, she looked drunk, or high, Nick couldn't pick one.

That was until both of them saw Troy. At Thena's first glance of the man, she tensed, and to Nick it seemed that she sobered up.

"Do we really have to do this?" she asked, crossing her hands before her chest to look more intimidating.

"No," started Nick, pointing his finger at her face, "but you want to."

Thena rolled her eyes, but she didn't complain. She did want to be close to the militia. They were strong, had the numbers, the guns too. And the only persons that were willing to talk to her were there. But after the Trimbols, she didn't know if being so close to Troy would advantage her anger issues.

"Here to sign up," said Nick as the two of them approached the main man of the militia. While Nick was trying to look at anything but him, Thena found herself glaring daggers at his face.

"Got a note from home?"

The woman rolled her eyes while Nick smiled, "That's funny."

"No, I'm serious. Madison's ok with this?"

"You wanna go ask her? You need her permission?"

"Why though? Why... join the militia?"

At that point, Troy was only talking to Nick. While his small glances found Thena from time to time, she didn't bother to look at him. Her eyes wandered to the militia people around, and she saw them shoot the targets. Her eyes found Cooper, who had an archery bow in his hands. There was a crossbow in the hands of Jimmy, who stood next to him.

With curious eyes, Thena left Nick's side, ignoring his and Troy's questioning glances. She made her way to Cooper and Jimmy, the other two men watching her carefully as she started to talk with them. A few minutes later, a laugh escaped her lips as Jimmy passed her the crossbow and she pointed it to one of the targets.

Taking her eyes off his friend, Nick turned back to Troy, who was still staring at her. "Stay away from her," said Nick with a frown. The youngest Otto turned to look at Nick with raised eyebrows. The young Clark had an angry expression on his face that matched none other expressions he ever wore. Before Troy could say anything, Nick repeated his words, hissed them right in his face, before he walked towards Thena, his rifle in hand.

Troy could only stare at the back of his head before his eyes settled on the training woman. She had the crossbow pointed at the target and Jimmy corrected her stance before she squeezed the trigger. It hit right in the middle.