When the rumbling and the crashing ceased, 'Noble' gently sighed.

The girl, her back still against the wall began to chuckle as she looked down at the man.

"How undignified..." He mused, with an irritated look on his face.

The two of them stood in silence, for a moment, as the man sipped his drink.

See, unfortunately for 'Noble', he made one rather grave error when he entered this place. 

He severely underestimated the state of disrepair of this place. This means he wasn't being particularly careful about where he was stepping. Before he even got halfway through the living space, he just so happened to step directly onto a particularly flimsy wooden board. As if that wasn't bad enough, as it turns out, the ground under the house was in pretty shoddy condition as well, so he sunk right in, at least up to his knees.

Presently, he was only actually in the house from his upper torso and above. Just half a dude, standing in a roughly man-shaped hole in the ground. 

"Wow. You suck." The girl said, plainly.

"If you're going to insult me, at least do me the respect of saying something clever." 'Noble' suggested.

"Nah." 

"I see. How boorish..."

Noble once again sipped his drink.

. . .

"So... You gonna get out of there any time soon?" The girl asked, gripping their fishing rod.

"Do you intend to assist me?"

"Well, no, duh."

"I figured as much. In that case, I shall remain here, thank you."

"Couldn't you just... Pull yourself up?" 

"I'd need my arms to do that. I'd be vulnerable."

"You're already plenty vulnerable as it is."

The man took another sip of his drink.

"Go on, then. Attack me." He implored.

"Nah. Don't feel like it."

"I see." 'Noble' said with a sigh. "At any rate, so long as I have this, I'm quite alright."

"That like a weapon, or something?"

"Not the cup itself, but, yes, it is."

"The crap inside? I've seen you drink it, though." 

'Noble' Chuckled smugly, though, given his current position it didn't come across well. "Would you like a demonstration?" 

"Eh, sure, whatever."

With a quick and precise flourish of his wrist, a few droplets of liquid came flying out of the cup, into the air. As they collided with the floor, a faint sizzling could be heard as the liquid melted a few new small holes into the wooden boards.  

"Oh, cool. Guess that explains why you made such an effort not to drop the thing earlier. Didn't think you guys could contort like that, to be honest."

"Spilling one's drink is poor manners, is it not?" 

"Isn't that what you just did?"

"Ah, but exceptions can be made for the sake of entertainment."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand." 'Noble' said, sipping their drink once again. 

"Wait, how the hell are you drinking that? What, does it only work on wood, or something?" 

"Oh, no. You'll find this drink to be quite... Potent. I just happen to be immune."

"Bullshit. If this were a poison, that'd make sense, but that just melted through wood. You can't microdose acid."

'Noble' shrugged. "It is what it is."  

"Bu- Oh, whatever." 

. . .

The girl put her fishing rod back into the scabbard, and once again turned back over to the window.   

"At any rate, how long do you intend on standing there?" 'Noble' asked as she turned.

"Dunno. 'Till bro comes back, I guess."

"Bro?' Is that supposed to be short for 'Brother?"

"Eh. Something like that."

 "Hm. Interesting." 'Noble' said. 'That confirms it. There are more of them.' He thought. "At any rate, when might they be returning? Might anyone else show up?"

The girl shrugged. "Dunno. Soon, hopefully."

"I see. Wh-"

"Oh, and by the way," The girl interrupted, once again looking down at 'Noble,' "If you hurt him in any way,

I'll kill you." She said, before turning back to the window. 

The man's eyes widened, for a moment. They sipped their drink once again, to regain their composure. 

"That's quite the glare." He said. "And to think, you were so calm before." 'Freakishly calm, actually, though I think I'll keep that to myself.'

"Eh. I guess."

. . .

"Oh, where are my manners," 'Noble' said, breaking the brief silence. "I haven't asked for your name yet."

"My name? Why do you need that?"

"Etiquette, naturally. It's a matter of simple respect."

"That so? What's yours, then?"

"Oh, I've got a million names. Frederick, Johan, Peter... Those are a few I've used recently." 

"Do you not have a name?"

"Well... These days, I mostly answer to 'Noble."

"That's not much of a name, is it?"

"Ah, well... What are names, really?" 

The girl nodded silently, for a moment. "... Yeah, that's fair." 

"At any rate, you still haven't yet told me yours."

"I..." She began. She paused, and shook her head. "I don't got one." 

"You don't have one? What d-" 'Wait... That gaze... No name... Hah. Perhaps she and I aren't so different. Come to think of it, I was around that age when I cast mine away... Maybe a little older... At any rate, it would be bad manners to pry any further.' "I understand. What about your brother? Does he have one?" 

"Huh? Oh, right. Uh, yeah. A stupid one, though." 

"Hm. I see." Noble said. 'So he does... Given, or did he make it himself? I won't lie, I'm curious, but...' He shook his head, interrupting his thoughts. 'No. In the first place, it's bad practice to know too much. 'Empathy is the killer of reason', after all.'

Noble took another sip of his drink. 

. . .

"Y'know," The girl began, this time. "You sure do talk a lot." 

"Well, it seems we're going to be here for a while. I do get bored. Plus, it's po-"

"Polite, right?" 

Noble smiled. "You learn quickly." 

The girl chuckled. "S'ppose so. Anyways, what're you here for, again?"

Noble, too, chuckled. "Seems like you rather enjoy conversation, as well."  

"I suppose. To tell ya the truth, normally I wouldn't. I don't really care much about mortals."

'Mortals?'

"That said," The girl continued, "I dunno. Maybe this is becoming a hobby for me."

"It can be intoxicating, can't it?"

"Maybe. I don't really know." 

"Hm. I see... At any rate, I'm here on orders from a long-time employer." 

"The guys who are attacking the town or whatever, right?" 

"So you know about that. Yes, indeed. My orders were to come out here, to this place, and bring anyone I found back to camp. Not my usual area, but orders are orders. I was hoping, well, still am hoping, in truth, that you'd come peacefully. That's why I gave the demonstration earlier, I hoped to intimidate you." 

"Makes sense."

"Continuing being truthful, I figure my companions should be finishing up." Noble said, wincing slightly. "I'm quite certain I'll be receiving backup soon enough. When that happens, I do hope you'll come quietly."

"I won't."

Noble sighed. "In that case... Well, I can't promise anything." 

"I'll be fine."

"I'm sure you believe that, but this world has things you couldn't possibly be-"

"Listen, guy... You're barking up the wrong tree." The girl said, once again looking into Noble's eyes.

'Such conviction... An overactive imagination, or is there perhaps some truth?'

"Anyways, are you always this forthcoming with information?" The girl asked. "I figured you criminal types would be a bit tighter lipped."

Noble chuckled, "Well, usually that's good practice, but... Who knows? Maybe I'm soft on kids. Maybe I've taken a liking to you. Maybe my fear of being trapped has clouded my judgement."

The girl nodded. "That makes sense, I s'ppose." 

. . .

Noble, once again, sipped his drink.

He thought to himself, for a brief moment.

. . .

He eventually decided that he didn't like the silence.

"I'd like to hear about your brother, if you don't mind telling." He said to the girl.

"Hm? Oh, why? Did you see him?" She said, looking over at him and getting perhaps a little too excited as she said that last part.  

"N-no, it's just that the silence is rather boring, is it not? And it seemed like you had something to say about him, given earlier conversation."

"Oh. That makes sense." The girl said with a shrug. "Well... I don't really know all that much... I know his family situation is pretty weird."

"His?' Do you not mean yours, too? Or do you not share blood?" 

"Well, in his case..." She shook her head, "No, yeah. Something like that. Complicated."

A skeptical look grew on Noble's face.

"Anyways, I don't really know that much about it." The girl continued. "Or him, in general. I know he's not a good liar. Guess he never had to learn. He's not so great at talking, either. Seems like he thinks far more than he acts, though I sometimes find myself wondering if he thinks about anything at all. He's nice, I think. Or, at least, he's not rude. I think he tries to be considerate, but I often wonder if he can see more than 5 feet in front of him."

"He sounds like a kid." 

"Well, he is. If you ask me, anyways. Though, with most kids, you can kinda get the gist of what they're thinking. They don't really get subtlety. But with him..."

She searched for the words for a while, but all she found was a gentle sigh.

"Well, it's not like it's his fault. It is what it is." She said.

. . .

"Forgive me if this comes off as rude, but he sounds rather... Unremarkable." Noble said, taking a sip of his drink.

The girl shrugged. "Eh. That might be true. The way I see it, most everything's unremarkable. Regardless, he's probably in my top 2 favorite people. Though, in fairness, I've only interacted with 5 or so people. Guess it's not a very high bar." 

"Makes sense." 

A puzzled look grew on the girl's face, and her eyes drifted towards the ground. "I wonder, if our circumstances were different, would I even give a crap about him?"

"Hm. That's..." The man searched for a word to use, but he came up almost empty handed. "Heavy." He settled on, though it didn't feel quite right. "For lack of a better term."

"I don't think it is." She said, once again staring back out the window.