Travelers and Jumpers

Chapter 3:

Meet and Greet

"S'up?" the man repeated, his voice carrying a small undertone of amusement.

I nodded, and told him, "Yeah. S'up. Y'know, the modernized  way of saying, 'Greetings and salutations good sir, and how do you fare this fine and glorious day'."

"I know what it means," he snapped back at me. "I'm more concerned with the timing."

I blinked in surprise. "Come again?" I asked him.

He shrugged, and said with a slight growl, "I just find it strange that you appear out of nowhere, probably from 'out of town', on the same day that Cherry Lime went missing."

Oh. Oh hell no. He's not seriously trying to pull this one on me. Hasn’t even been three chapters, and I’m getting accused of kid - I mean, Ponynapping.  Just my luck, isn’t it?

"You don't think I kidnapped the kid, do you?" I asked him incredulously. "Sure, okay, I'll go with that." Rolling my eyes, I simply gestured to the filly that was now slowly approaching the other human, and said, "Well, there you go. Kidnapping victim returned, unharmed and safe. Now go take her home, which she definitely didn't run away from. No sirree, she definitely didn't do that."

Maybe I was laying the smartassery a bit thick, but I can't stand it when people jump to conclusions like that. Maybe it has something to do with all the lawsuits against me; not to mention the accounts of fraud. Maybe I was also suffering from a caffeine shortage, and craved one of the cokes I always kept stashed underneath my desk at my office.

Maybe I’m just stupid.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," I said with as much mock politeness as I could gather. My inner wizard satisfied, I turned around to start back down the path towards my office.

"Hold it," I heard Alex say.

I kept walking down the path, slinging my staff across my shoulders.

“Hey!” he half-shouted. Resolving myself to the potential shout-fest that was about to happen, I steeled my nerves, and turned to face him.

Instantly, I felt my mind start taking stock of his appearance, measuring him as a potential threat. He was sturdily built, with muscles that could have easily hefted a pickax in the mines, or swing a sword at an oncoming squad of monsters. Fairly tall as well, and he wore his knife with a sort of reluctant casualness that I recognized. It was something I’d seen on many others in my travels...

This man was a survivor. Plain and simple. The thing is though...he had something to survive for, if you catch my drift. That was further evidenced by the way his green eyes seemed to burn in the dimming light of the sunset.

I snapped myself out of it, before I could draw myself into a soulgaze. Wouldn’t be wise to do that just yet.

“Yes?” I asked in an attempt to drift over my noticeable surprise.

He looked at me hardly for another moment, before he somewhat reluctantly said, “I’m sorry about that. I’m going to guess that you just got here today, right?”

I frowned at him, and nodded quietly.

‘Alex’ seemed to relax just a hair, but he never took his gaze off of me. For an instant, I could have sworn his hand seemed to inch itself a little further away from the knife strapped to his leg, but I think that was just a trick of the light.

“That clears things up,” he murmured, mostly to himself.

Now I was really curious. Did something happen earlier? If there was, just what was it? And how did it make this guy instantly think that I did it? Did the kid running away have anything to do with it?

I pushed those questions, and more, to the back of my mind, choosing to focus on the most pressing concern of all.

“Who are you?” I asked him, sticking my hand in my pocket, where it could rest easily on the grip of my pistol. “And more importantly, how did you get here?”

“That’s funny,” he calmly replied. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“Here, I got another joke for you,” I told him, resting my staff on the ground, and leaning upon it heavily. The runes on the staff started to glow an ominous white color, as I dug my wallet out of my pocket, and flashed my license at him.

Alex frowned, but said nothing.

“My name is Travis Voyaugeur,” I plainly stated. “I’m a detective, and a consultant on all things supernatural. Oh, and I just happen to be a wizard too. How are you doing today?”

The middle-aged man stiffened, but soon enough a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Uh-oh...my Spidey-senses are tingling... My grip on my staff tightened as I poured more will into it, the runes now lighting up the area around us for about twenty feet. Sure, it might have been a little more flashy than was necessary, but it gave me the feeling of being all wizard-y. That, and I don’t like being in the dark with a potentially threatening man with a large knife.

He probably didn’t like the prospects of being near a wizard with a magic staff.

I know that the guy behind me didn’t.

My only warning was the snap of a twig, the familiar click of someone disabling a gun’s safety, and the cold feeling of metal pressed against my head.

A slightly distorted voice said in a very militant tone, “And I’m Matthew Brennan, a commando with a clear line of sight...and a gun pointed at your head. Your move, Gandalf.”

“...Ah, shit,” I sighed. I very slowly turned around, and dropped my staff to the ground, leaving the light to die out.

Before it did, however, I was able to get a good look at the man who was currently holding a gun to my head.

And for the record, yes, it was a MAN. As in, actual human. I guess this must be that Mr. Brennan fellow that the kid mentioned earlier. He certainly looked...different. At least, from what I was expecting. After all, it’s not everyday that you see a human wearing some kind of futuristic armor. Definitely the last damned thing I expected to see.

How convenient...all three of Equestria’s humans all in one place.

And they had the upper-hand on me.

I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. Next Chapter: 4 - Close Encounters of The Cliched Kind Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes