Companions' Journey (Fantasy RP) (Closed/Dead)

[Bmb]

"Trying to subdue me with your tone, are you not?" said Badelin on an ironic tone "You know, a simple "please" and one look from those green eyes would have been enough...in any case.....love the fact that you're determined and that you don't play around........Meyerill it is then"

Badelin and Dax soon followed Zestia's example and began to walk. As they made their way slowly to Meyerill, Badelin started wandering to himself.

"So bizarre...I can't believe I just opened myself so much to what is a total stranger....no..NO...NO NO NO and NO.....I will not let myself get caught in this again....not after what I've been through......I should have KNOWN BETTER!!!!.....but alas......maybe I should give them a chance perhaps....perhaps....this is what my parents would have wanted.....to move on.......maybe they left me to protect me.....NO....they left me as pray to the streets......HELL SHALL NOT SCARE ME NO MORE.......SINCE I HAVE LIVED IT!!!!!!!!!.... or maybe they didn't had a choice? They didn't wanted to....or they had to?!?"


He would often think to himself like this. It was his curse, he was never at peace with himself. He could never determine why his parents had left him so he would just consider every possible option, sometimes to no avail and only to deep anger and depression. Had they left him because he was a pain, a nonsense, a parasite? Had they left him to protect him? Was he abandoned or lost? Continuous was Badelin's pain and strong but he always kept it to himself.

Sometimes, a crack would appear in the wall around him, bringing light into his life and for a moment, he'd make that crack bigger before rebuilding the wall better and stronger. Only finding his parents would shatter the wall and thus, his curse which he would take to the grave.

 

[Lambi]

Zestia chuckled. "Are you coming onto me? One look from these green eyes..." She gave a small laughter before turning towards Badelin.

"Let me just tell you that it won't work. Many have tried, non have succeeded."

I do not need a man in my life. My life is troubled enough.

With a smile, she turned back around and kept walking.

Soon, all eight of them, their companions included, were out of the forest and were long gone past Gemmel. Zestia pulled out the map again, she had put it in her pocket so she wouldn't have to go through her backpack to get it, and she unfolded it.

"Hmm. According to the map, there's another forest and mountains in our way before we can reach Meyerill." She folded it again and put it in her pocket. "Well, lets continue, then." And she started walking again, with Shade on her shoulders and Ai, Cora, Sai and Kia behind her.

 

[sage42]

"Really? Huh I need to get out of the city more, I had forgotten there was a forest between the city and Meyerill." Sai said raising an eyebrow. Kia sent a feeling of annoyance. Sai could almost see her sigh.

 

[RBMidknight]

'Two or three days?' Kadence looked at her Companion and tried to imagine three whole days without him. The thought was unsettling. Garret turned to look at her and tilted his head in a curious manner. Kadence turned toward where she had last seen Lev and began to reply when she saw that he was already moving and a short distance away. She started walking and after the first few steps found she had to move a bit faster than normal to compensate for the man's longer strides. The wolf waited a few seconds and then followed his partner.

 

[Blasphemous Rex]

Prudence quickly followed behind Kadence as the others started moving. They seemed to be going faster than before, but she didn't mind. Sue, on the other hand, was distressed because they weren't walking toward the forest in the distance, and instead towards more open plains. The bird expressed her worry, but Prudence told her that they had to walk for a few days before getting to her original home. Sue pouted amazingly human like, but stayed put.

The plains weren't so much plains as farms, but for as far as the eye could see, with the exception of trees and the huge city in the background. There wasn't much else there, actually. Occasionally the crops would change, and sometimes people were working in the fields, but for the most part it was calm and quiet.

 

[Baldrek]

Lev continued walking as he looked around at the vast expanse of fields surrounding them, it was quite different from what he had grown accustomed to. Back home there were expanses of hills covered in snow and ice, with the odd forest jutting up here and there, and even having passed by this landscape on his way down to Gemmel he still found it too unfamiliar.

He looked down the road they were currently traveling on, half expecting to see a familiar striped feline down the road ahead, but for now there were only other questers out and about, in addition to the odd farmhand walking between fields. It made him wonder just how far Tatiana had wandered off this time, but it probably had its pros as well, she could do with cooling off her temper a bit. For some reason Ursa seemed to get on her nerves, more so than bears usually did. But there was no real point in mulling this over right now, instead he should probably get to know the people he was traveling with a little better, the ones that didn't seem terrified of him anyway.

"So, what do you people do for a living?" He asked the two newcomers, curious about what kind of people they had joined up with.

 

[RBMidknight]

Kadence and Garret closed the remaining distance to Lev and the human sighed in relief when she was able to slow to a more normal pace. The weird ointment on her foot seemed to be working well, for which she was grateful, but she didn't want to move fast if she didn't have to. Garret padded forward and took up his customary spot at Kadence's side as the two followed behind the doctor. The wolf's stride was smooth and easy. As the group of travelers passed the fields Garret occasionally slowed to watch the laborers as they worked. None of the workers seemed to notice the wolf's gaze however and he made sure to keep moving to that he wasn't left behind.

When Lev spoke Kadence looked over at him. "I'm a courier" she replied with a grin, hooking her thumb under the strap of her bag to lift it slightly. "I..." Kadence paused to glance at Garret, "We deliver messages, packages, and goods to and from different cities. Well, towns mostly. And some villages. Like the one that I live in, Laterose."

 

[Blasphemous Rex]

Prudence didn't really know how she should respond to Lev. She didn't have a job of any kind and hadn't done anything in her life but read books. "Weeeelll..." she said as she thought frantically. "I, guess... um... a scholar?" It felt weird for her to say, but it also felt very right. "I-I don't know how else I could really define i-it."

 

[Bmb]

Badelin snapped out of his horrid dilemma at the words of Zestia and tilting his head down in such a way that only his mouth could be distinguished: "I haven't said anything about coming on to you, did I? And I am sure that none of those "many" that have tried were as skilled as me... if they had any skills at all that is....

He then changed his position on Dax, moving both his legs on one side so he could lean his upper body down enough to Zestia's level. He then moved his mouth within inches to Zestia's ear and whispered: " It takes one to know one, does it not assassin?"

He smiled briefly and then returned to his normal riding position

"I am aware of our occupation's ups and downs even if they're mostly downs, am I not? I confess, if things were differently... I might have taken a different path in life. But in a way, I should be thankful... because I might have never crossed paths with you or with Dax or with just about anything up until now... It was not a choice....Often I think of what could have been......How did you "acquired" this common occupation of ours?

 

[Lambi]

Zestia just chuckled a little. "There was something about your tone. And wording. Sorry if it was a misunderstanding."

When she heard what Badelin whispered, she showed little emotion, only her eyes widened a bit, thankfully she was in front of Avi and Sai so they didn't see it. She smiled back at Badelin and whispered back, making sure Avi and Sai couldn't hear her.

"I wanted to become one a long time ago, but didn't know how to become one. My father had trained me with daggers ever since I was a little girl. He wanted me to use a sword, but I preferred daggers. Then one day, I found out about assassins and was told about a place where you could become one. There, I trained to become an assassin. It wasn't easy and I passed. I was one of three people that passed out of ten that trained with me. And now, I kill other people for a living. I do not regret it. Suits me and Shade just perfectly." She petted the head of Shade when she mentioned him. He just watched Badelin, ready to strike if Zestia gave him the word.

 

[Baldrek]

Lev nodded, a courier and a scholar, with a wolf and a colorful bird for companions, respectively. So far they seemed to have a good balance of different abilities, but the lack of anybody with real fighting experience bothered him, as bandits and robbers were more common then one would like, and he was unsure of their chances if they were attacked.

He frowned and looked down the road in front, it was certainly a problem for the future, but nobody would be as bold to assault anybody when there were so many people on the road. So they were safe for now, only when the number of travelers on the road had fallen would they dare act.

Gradually he returned from his thinking, first snapping out of it when the sound of his companions footsteps again reached his ears. "I see, it seems that this group has a wide variety of skills, then. And I can't say I've heard of Laterose, but I'm guessing that it's further south than Gemmel, and this is the furthest south I've ever been."

 

[Pandalisk]

Ursa walked along the muddy path infront of Viktoria as she attempted to step into the large Footprints he made in the muddy pathway.

It seemed as though his companion had joined some more strangers, for what reason he still had no idea. He longed for home and the frozen tundra, to think creatures lived in this Boring, hot climate was beyond belief.

He looked at these new strangers, The small one with a smaller creature, his companion had a name for them, He thought hard as he brought up the specific high pitched squeal she uttered that related to these flying creatures .."Bur-ds"?.. that pleased look of his went across his face as he wondered if the small ones were edible like the large ones.

The thought quickly dissapered as his attention turned to the other creature, he knew that one too, "Daw-ga" wasn't it? his train of thought was de-railed once more as his Companion began to talk

"Sounds like a Nice place, whats it like down south?"

 

[RBMidknight]

Kadence wasn't sure if 'variety of skills' was a good or bad thing from the man's expression. But she nodded at Lev's latter comment. She began to walk along the side of the main path, balancing one foot in front of the other. "My village is about a day and a half's walk from Gemmel. Depending on how fast you are moving. It's a small village...", she said with a slight smile. It was a statement of fact, not a complaint. She liked the size of her village and could never see herself living in a big city like Gemmel. Kadence looked up and surveyed the skyline until she spotted something in the distance. "...near the base of the mountain range in that direction." Her hand pointed south and a little east of their current position. "I've lived there all my life, like my father, and his father before him. I was told that when father found mother she agreed to move into the village with him after seeing the mountains at dawn."

When Viktorya spoke up Kadence turned her head in the woman's direction. "I suppose it's warmer than the north." she said with a grin, looking at the woman's outfit and comparing it to her own. "Though the mountain air keeps it from being too terribly hot." There was a pause and Kadence pondered out loud. "I bet we never see the amount of snow that's up north..." Kadence hadn't actually been to the far reaches of the north before but she'd heard some of the guards complain of the cold weather and dangers of frostbite. Kadence shivered then continued, "Laterose is surrounded by a lot of trees. We have a few small gardens," she gestured backwards to indicate the trail behind the group, "but nothing like the big fields we passed earlier."

Garret sneezed and his partner glanced sideways at the wolf. Uncertain of what else to say, Kadence commented, "In the warm seasons, when I don't have work to do, Garret and I climb the mountainside." 'Well...I climb and he follows as best he can.' she amended silently. "We haven't made it to the very top yet. But one day I hope to. There's a record kept of those in the village who have made it to the top and back. Its sort of tradition for every villager to attempt the climb at least once."

Lacking much else to say, Kadence looked over at Viktorya and Lev. "What is it like up north?" she asked.

 

[Baldrek]

Lev had been listening to Kadence as they were walking along, and by now it almost seemed like the number of people where beginning to thin out a little. Probably because some of them needed to rest, or had walked off on one of the trails that branched out from the main road. Now that he thought about it, it was almost as likely to find clues about the ruins here than anywhere else. Kadence's explanation of how it was down south was intriguing, and he felt that living in such a village could have been nice, it was probably not as... Intimate as living together with a handful of people in a northern settlement, where everyone knew each other, but that would be a welcome change.

At her question about the north, Lev first looked over at Viktorya to see if she would like to explain. But she seemed a little busy with her companion at the moment, so he sighed inaudibly with his back still to Kadence as they kept moving, and started his explanation.
"What you say is probably right. About the snow and temperature, that is. The climate is so cold that the ground beneath your feet is always rock solid tundra, and snow tends to be plentiful during the winter, and a little less abundant during the summer. There are no real mountains, but hills are many, and there are a few forests in the area, usually with all the upper branches covered with snow. Other than that... Well, travel take more time, due to the snow, which slows you down and impairs vision during snowfall, and the biting winds that whip over and between the hills. And there's only one relatively large city, if you can call it that, called Sokolov. The rest are not even fit to be called villages. They are small communities where nobody's a stranger." He sighed, "And that can be very tiresome."

Lev found himself looking down at the ground after finishing his explanation, and noticed first then how long the shadow his spear was casting was. He looked up, shielding his eyes with his injured hand as he glanced at the sun's position. "It's getting rather late, won't be long until nightfall now." He stated to the others as he began looking around them. "I suggest we throw up camp soon, or we will have to do so in the dark, which will just be tedious."

 

[Blasphemous Rex]

Kadence and Lev's descriptions of their homes was very interesting to Prudence. Having lived in the same place all her life, she never really knew about the weather in other places. Down south sounded like a nice place to visit, but she wondered why anyone would want to live up north. It sounded absolutely dreadful. Lev didn't even seem to have anything good to say about it. The area did sound beautiful, though. There were times she spent hours watching out at the snowy plains during the winter.

The time only occurred to her after Lev pointed it out. The sun was low in the sky, lower than the city walls. Normally she would have been forced to go to bed by now. "Alright," Pru said meekly. She was still afraid of the new company with whom they were traveling. "It is getting pretty late."

 

[Baldrek]

Lev closed his eyes in annoyance at Pru's continued scared behavior and breathed deeply, yet still with his back to the others, this girl was beginning to get tiresome. "Don't worry, we'll have one of us on watch during the night, but it is hardly necessary. The road is probably safer now than it has been for long." He told her, trying to fake ignorance at the source of her fright, yet knowing it all too well.

He opened his eyes again and looked around for a suitable place to make up camp, and spotted a place with ample shelter from the light breeze, and which seemed difficult to spot from a distance, being nestled between two small hills with an old solid wooden fence guarding their backs against the eastern wind. "Over there seems like a good enough spot." Lev said as he pointed over at the fence before walking over and setting down his pack and satchel, he then turned and started looking for some firewood while the others made themselves comfortable. He didn't know how cold the nights got down here, but having some firewood handy had never killed anybody.

 

[Lambi]

Zestia and the others had been walking now for a while and while Zestia herself wasn't tired, the others, or at least Sai and Avi, were.

"We'll set camp here." she said and took out her bedroll. When she was done placing it on the ground, she turned to the others. "I'm going to sleep now. See you all in the morning." Zestia slipped into the bedroll, Zestia placed her backpack beside her. She fell asleep shortly after. Shade curled up into circles beside Zestia and kept his eyes open, watching the others.

 

[sage42]

Sai watched as Zestia lay down to sleep. "Huh not even eating? Ah well more for us eh Avi?" She asked with a smile on her face. "Now Are you feeling up for a bird, or would you like if we got something else like a rabbit?" Sai asked Avi. Kia sat wagging her tail knowing she was going to get something good.

 

[Baldrek]

Having finished collecting some dry wood, Lev returned to the camp and piled some of it up for a campfire for once the sun had set properly, which would be any moment now. "Good night everybody, I'll take first watch. And if we're lucky Tatiana will show up and I won't have to wake anybody." He told them as he laid out his winter coat on the ground and rolled out his bedroll on top of it. Finally, and just as the darkness was beginning to creep up on them, he managed to light the fire and sat down on his pack to keep watch.

 

[RBMidknight]

As the group approached the spot Lev had indicated Kadence had to agree with his assessment. It was a good spot to set up camp. While the doctor gathered firewood she found a spot next to one of the fence posts to set her gear down. She unrolled her own bedroll, a blanket that was smaller than Lev's, to sleep on and set her pack down on the ground next to it. After traveling all day the messenger was all set to go to sleep straight away but her stomach rumbled and Garret made a soft noise that echoed the sound. Kadence decided to each first and then sleep. Sifting carefully through the contents of her pack Kadence pulled out the wrapped pork and fish she'd purchased earlier that day.

She tossed some of the pork to Garret who caught it in midair and immediately began to devour it. Kadence took some of the smoked fish for herself. By the time Lev returned with firewood the wolf had finished his meal and was lying down next to Kadence's makeshift bed.

"Thank you." Kadence replied to Lev as he told the group he would take the first watch. Kadence resolved to get some rest as soon as she finished eating so that she would be ready for her own turn at the watch.

Once Lev managed to lit the fire Kadence unsheathed a short dagger and skewered the fish on the end of it. She grabbed a clean cloth out of her bag and walked over beside the fire. She knelt down on the ground and held the blade close to the fire to warm up the meat. After a few minutes she placed the fish back on the packing sheet and cleaned off the blade with the cloth. The fish was now fully cooked and warmed.

Noticing that Pru was still standing off to the side Kadence looked up and over at the girl. 'I wonder if she is hungry.' Kadence thought to herself. Or perhaps she was still nervous. Kadence put the dagger back into the sheath on her side and gestured slightly for the girl to come closer.

"Are you hungry?" She asked Pru without moving from the fire side.