One cool, comfortable evening, Tristessa and J-Man were relaxing by Lake Withacoochie on the outskirts of Falgerus. Their relaxation was very much well-deserved after their recent brawls with various enemies. J-Man sat up against a big oak tree, his guns retired for the day. Tristessa sat next to him, her whips hanging from the branches. Lately, Tristessa had been feeling rather useless. Not useless, more like...a novelty. Like she was just sitting around on her pretty ass drinking wine while watching the action. She knew she was tough. She knew she could easily take down any man or monster she came across. She started thinking about Normic, with his tall frame, curly black hair, dreamy dark brown eyes...
"Trist? Hey Trist!" J-Man waved a hand in front of Tristessa'a face. "What's so great about the lake? It's filthy and has a lot of fish poop in it."
That's when they heard a rustling in the bushes on the other side of the lake. "What the hell was that?" Tristessa whispered.
"Probably some animal or something," J-Man said. "Ya know, like a badger or raccoon or something."
Tristessa squinted and looked harder. "That's an awfully big badger, J-Man." She looked even harder. "A skinny nappy-headed badger dressed in green!"
"Let me handle it," J-Man said, pulling on of his guns off the ground.
"No, I'll handle it," Tristessa said, as she pushed J-Man to the side and yanked one of her whips from the tree. She slowly and quietly crept to the other side of the lake, careful not to let the shadowy figure hear her. When she got close enough to see who it was, she saw that it was CoCo, still peering through the bushes. At that moment, Tristessa pounced on CoCo and held her in an iron grip, her whip stretched over CoCo's throat. "You got one chance to tell me what the hell you are doing here and where Normic is."
"Go to hell," CoCo choked out.
Tristessa tightened the whip around CoCo's throat. "Again I ask you...What that FUCK are you doing here and where the FUCK is Normic's sorry ass?!"
CoCo coughed. "Loosen your grip and I'll tell you."
Tristessa reluctanly loosened her whip from across CoCo's neck. The second she did that, CoCo bolted off towards the west. Tristessa didn't bother going after her. She knew that while CoCo might have not been as strong as Tristessa, she equally made up for it in speed. Tristessa wasn't near as fast as CoCo. However, CoCo wasn't near as strong as Tristessa.
Tristessa and J-Man met up midpoint. "What was that all about?" J-Man asked.
Tristessa grabbed J-Man's hand and starts walking back towards the pub. "I don't wanna talk about it."
"Looks like the Trist has a pride problem. You know that's one of the deadly sins--"
"I said I don't wanna talk about it!" Tristessa snapped as they reached the pub.
Tristessa sat at the bar. "I'm sorry for meddling like that," J-Man said as he walked behind the bar.
"No, I'm sorry," Tristessa said. "I need to calm down."
"Let me make you something for that," J-Man said as he began whipping up a toddy for her.
"Thanks, you're a true pal," Tristessa said. "Hey, do you know what the hell Jester's up to?"
"Last time I checked, he was still in his lair of solitude because he's still rather pissed." J-Man handed Tristessa her steaming toddy.
Tristessa took a long sip. "Mmm...That's really good J-Man." She began to relax a little more.
"Now you wanna talk about it?" J-Man asked.
"That was CoCo, Normic's skinny little lover," Tristessa began. "She was over here spying on us. I wonder what the hell she was doing over here in the first place..." She took another sip.
"Who knows," J-Man said. I couldn't give two shits about that little nympho. I just wanna see Nodick go down in flames and invent the perfect drink."
The next morning Tristessa sat on her barstool, sleeping with her head on the bar. J-Man sat at the nearest table snoring. They woke up, startled at Packard bursting loudly into the pub. "GET UP!!!"
"Wha?" Both Tristessa and J-Man said sleepily at the same time.
"We're in trouble," Packard said.
"What's going on?" J-Man inquired.
"Normic and his forces are heading towards Falgerus as we speak."
"You're kidding," Tristessa said.
"I kid you not," Packard stated. "Apparently, someone on their side has found out about us, and they're wanting to invade."
"So THAT'S why CoCo was over here spying on us!" Tristessa cried.
"We gotta tell Jester," J-Man said. "We gotta find him and tell him now!"