SAVAGE JOURNAL
ENTRY 6.
As I mentioned yesterday, dear diary, I am now burdened with a pair of traveling companions: an old man and a young woman. As a rule you do not find either one traipsing through the wild lands. You might encounter one or the other with a heavily armed escort or a competent bodyguard such as myself, but not accompanied only by each other.
That is why I have concluded that the old man is a wizard. Traveling alone or with an inconsequential associate is the sort of thing these mystic menaces do. A sole brigand or even a band of road agents will come across the harmless seeming geezer shuffling along the forest path propped up by his walking staff. Easy pickings. Instead, the hold up resolves into a one man ambush, with bandits growing rabbit ears and goat hooves, or thrashing about in the grasp of enormous tentacles sprouting from the earth, or heads bursting into green flames.
I just do not like these guys. I could sense something unnatural about the old man the moment I met him. I felt an immediate aversion. You see, dear diary, the barbarian is an atavism. We are more like the earliest ancestral humans then we are like the effete city dweller. Like the earliest men we are closely attuned to nature, and thus we readily detect the unnatural. Trust me. Racial memory. Heightened senses that have atrophied amongst the civilized. Something along those lines, anyway. The point is, I can tell.
Still, no need to overreact. While I do possess a primitive dread of the arcane, there is no denying that a man who can make someone’s head explode in a ball of blue-green wizard fire can prove useful.
I’ll keep an eye on him nonetheless. But for now, it is time to shut my eyes until tomorrow, dear diary.
Magnus Stoneslayer
If you are enjoying this journal (first entry can be found here) please let me know. On another, non-barbaric topic, I’ve begun taking tentative steps in exploring my new home state. MBW, the HA, and I took a road trip to meet some friends in Austin. It’s a near three-hour journey, extended to make a couple of stops for the HA. The drive out was pleasant, the drive back (half in darkness) took place primarily during a heavy downpour. So, less pleasant.
I still can’t say I’ve really visited Austin. We met our friends at an outdoor brewpub, by the name of Meanwhile Brewing Co. It is a ramshackle indoor/outdoor venue serviced by a variety of food trucks. There is playground equipment for the kids, picnic tables, etc. Obviously a family-focused location and it appears quite a popular one. The HA enjoyed herself playing with our friends’ daughters. The beer was good. Not stellar, but good. (Beer prices have been skyrocketing. Have you noticed? I’m going to have to start brewing again, just as a cost saving measure.) After, proving the 80s never die, we drove to a (packed to overflow) roller skating rink and let the girls skate, while I watched my college football team get absolutely stomped in its first game.
So, tentative steps. Texas is a big state (Texas-sized, one might say.) Exploration will require time. If you have some time on your hands, why not read a book? Allow me to recommend mine.