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Vega

121st of Ashan 718

Seated on the shores of Lake Lovalus, Rharne serves as the home of the Lighting Knights, the Thunder Priestesses, and the Merchant's guild. This beautiful trade city is filled with a happy and contented people who rarely need an excuse to party.

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Finnegan O'Connor
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121st Ashan, 718 - Harpy Inn Stables

He was about to follow the trail when Vega’s mood soured. At first he simply cracked a smile at her, thinking she was joking, but his smile soon faded when she turned around and untied Storm from where she’d just secured him. By the time he’d picked up his jaw from the floor, Vega had already put several feet of distance between them and it took him half a bit of jogging before he caught up again. Having been the one who’d saddled the horse had one advantage: he knew where all the straps were and by the time he caught up, he seized one of the loose straps, bringing the mare to a standstill.

“Let me get this straight,” he said as he met Vega’s color-shifting eyes. “You’re allowed to call me a little shit, but I am not allowed to cuss? Is that it? D’you really think a word is going to get us killed?” His knuckles turned white as he re-adjusted his grip on the saddle.

“I thought you were cool,” he sneered as he narrowed his eyes at her. “Thought I wouldn’t have to ‘Madam’ or ‘Sir’ you like the other customers. I thought you were nice, even though you’re the spawn of an Immortal… Guess you really are storm, aren’t you? Storming off.” If it was a joke, his face didn’t show it. “You’re a real-”

He didn’t finish that sentence, though it took little imagination to note that what was supposed to come after wasn’t particularly nice.

A war was fought on his face, a battle between giving her a taste of Zipper’s dictionary of vulgarities (which he knew inside out) or to try and make things right, before the situation could escalate further and blow up in his face, as most things did. After all, he was trying to keep a low profile here, and getting into trouble with a paying customer seemed to be a rather poor way to go about it.

“I’m sorry,” he said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t mean to get you angry and all. Just wanted to-” He let go of the saddle now, took a step back, checked his bow and quiver and fired a look between the road back and the forest, beckoning him to explore further. Brimtattle wouldn’t expect him to return for some time and he wasn’t going to let his fun be spoiled by her.

“Never mind,” he grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for Vega to inevitably take her leave.
word count: 452
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Vega
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"Yer allowed to cuss, it's jus' that word. That one word." She looked at him and glared. But he seemed genuinely confused as to which word she was referring to. "An' no, I don't think a word is gonna get us killed, but if you won't... what now?" Cool? He thought she was cool? Vega looked at him uncomprehendingly and wondered whether this was the beginning of getting old. Nuts. He seemed genuinely about to call her that word again and then he stopped himself.

And apologised.

Damn kids, Vega thought to herself as she looked at him. With a sigh, she shook her head. "No. I'm sorry, I should'a been more clear. An' I was jus' reactin' to somethin' that you couldn't know." She watched him and sat down, just sitting on the ground where she had stood a few trill before. That word really winds me up. It's a vile word, an' it makes me angry that it's in the world. People don't think about words, Noah, but you can't take them back." She gave him a slight smile, then. "Like, I can tell you I'm sorry, but I can't deny that I called you a little shit, can I?"

She plucked at the grass slightly and then looked at him. "An' I didn't mean that the word would get us killed. But if we're gonna hunt together, we've got to be able to follow each other, an' do what needs to be done. You know?" Standing up, she realised that the poor kid really didn't need the story of why she hated that word particularly, not in detail anyhow, so she gave him the very potted version. "You ever been to Scalvoris, Noah? We were there, me an' Arlo, an' we were traipsin' through this jungle they've got there. Scaltoth they call it. Half of everythin' in that place is Scal-before-a name. Anyhow, we found these really amazin' turtle shells, they're like green genstones, they're right pretty. After we're done, if you wanna come back an' have something to eat, I'll show you it." She smiled as she said that and there was a question in the words, for all that she didn't actually ask it.

"We met these guys. Accused me of bein' a witch an' challenged Arlo to a duel to the death for me. While he was fightin' this big ugly lookin' bloke who made a Lotharro look like a midget, yanno? He grabbed me, an' I could get away from him. His hands were all over me an' he kept whisperin' that word in my ear." She looked at Noah and she was quite obviously telling the truth. "I was afraid. For myself an' for Arlo, who was fightin' three people at the time."

Holding out her hand then, she offered it to Noah. "I'm sorry if I over reacted. But I really don't like that word, an' I'd really appreciate it if you didn't use it round me. Would that be ok?" If so, then they could carry on their way and that would be it.

And if he did, and they started to move, Vega added. "Though, it weren't as bad as the time we met loincloth wearin' cannibals who wanted to take us back to their camp an' give Arlo to their women before cookin' us both. That were well weird."
word count: 597
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Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Finnegan O'Connor
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121st Ashan, 718 - Harpy Inn Stables

She didn't go away, didn't go on an unnecessarily complicated monologue as Zipper tended to do, didn't knock him over his head, didn’t take the reins and yank Storm from his grasp. Instead she stopped, turned, and explained to him what had bothered her in that thick accent of hers. At times he had to strain his ears to really tell what she was saying and it didn’t help that she talked quite fast, but he got the message regardless. She didn’t seem angry, just rubbed the wrong way though he was still puzzled how a simple word could elicit such a strong reaction.

He flared his nostrils at the mention of little shit, but not for the reasons she might suspect. “You’re really rubbin’ it in with the tall-short jokes, aren’t ya?” The faint smile that accompanied his voice suggested there was little malice in that statement and that he wasn’t particularly offended by it. “Guess that makes you a big shit for takin’ your struggle out on me,” he added, matter-of-factly. From the moment she’d walked into the stable he’d known she didn’t mess about, didn’t ask prying questions and spoke plainly. He liked that about her, but he wasn’t sure if she appreciated those same qualities in him.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t take her request seriously. She asked nice enough and now that he actually knew which word to avoid he promised he’d tried to oblige. “I’ve never been there, no, and from what you’re saying it doesn’t sound like somewhere I’d wanna go either.” if Vega’s tale was anything to go by then no amount of gemstones could persuade him to ever go there, he’d seen enough lethal danger for a lifetime and Rharne was supposed to be his fresh start.

When she offered her hand there was just the slightest bit of stubborn hesitation, but after a silent trill or two he took it, only to quickly withdraw when he remembered that something as simple as a handshake was another clue to the magic living inside him. By now he’d come to learn that mages were supposed to register in the city, yet he hadn’t done so precisely because he didn’t wish to be known as a mage. Luckily there were many easy enough explanations for his clammy hands: nerves, the weather, the dampness of the forest… Still, he hadn’t forgotten that Vega had been particularly fast to pick up on that other sign of his magic, resting atop his head.

Was protecting his identity more important than making friends? Maybe, but it was too late now anyway, and with a little luck she wouldn’t really notice.

“I’ll try not to say it, but I have to warn you my si- Brimtattle says it a lot. Bit of a habit,” he said with a shrug.

Just like that they were on their way again, returning to the tracks they’d found earlier as Vega recounted a grim tale.

“For the record,” Finn warned with a lopsided grin, “I’m thirteen.”

“What I mean is: you’re going to have to come up with somethink’ more believable if you wanna try to scare me. If I was easily scared I wouldn’t go out huntin’ with a tall, dangerous looking, prickly Biqaj threatening to punch me two bits after meeting her.”

His facade of feigned maturity didn’t hold for long.

“...did they really try to cook you? Ew!” He wrinkled his nose. “Can’t imagine what boiled toe would taste like, but it can’t be good... ”
word count: 634
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If he was a little shit, she was a big one? Vega couldn't argue with that logic, had to be said. She chuckled and her expression told the truth of her words, "yeah, that's fair." A grin tugged at her lips, though and she couldn't help but add, "I've been called worse. I imagine you 'ave too."

She was pleased when he took her hand and shook it, though his hand was all clammy. Vega wondered if he was more nervous about this whole situation than he let on and she gave him a slight, just a slight, grin. "Tryin' yer best is all I ask. Thanks, Noah." The slight grin transformed into a genuine and full one when he said that he was thirteen, thanks very much. Glancing at him she most solemnly held up her smallest finger out towards him. "Pinkie promise. It's all truth. They never got us to their camp, the cannibals. We fought 'em." He didn't believe her, or he only half did. So, she told him a couple of facts from it. "One of 'em threw a spear, it got stuck in a tree, an' Arlo pretended to 'ave hurt himself. He twanged the guy with the spear, it was a beautiful move. I call it his 'wooga wooga' spear an' it has a red sash round it." She shrugged slightly. "If you don't believe me, ask 'im an' I won't say a word."

But then, it was back to the tracks. There were definite tracks there and she waited for Noah to take them down that way. As they walked, she watched how he looked, where he looked. Now and then, she pointed to something that she thought he might have missed. "One o'the things I've learned, which I really didn't know when I started out was to not jus' look at the ground. Look, there," it was a tuft of fur, caught in a bramble. "Stuff like that can tell you what's been this way when the ground is too 'ard or too soft to be any use."

But along they went and Vega put her hand out as they did, gesturing towards a clearing they could just make out. In there, plain as the trial, there were rabbits. Lots of them. Vega didn't hesitate, she lifted her bow, pulling back the arrow in a clean and sweeping movement and she released. One rabbit fell with an arrow through the neck and she pulled and was drawing another.
word count: 436
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Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Finnegan O'Connor
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121st Ashan, 718 - Harpy Inn Stables

His eyes widened as she spoke of her dangerous encounter with the cannibals. “Wooga what now?” A previously unseen twinkle showed in his eyes and he barraged her with questions for details until they'd made it back to the trails, their brief spat a long forgotten memory by now.

The littering of footprints showed a clear path but, at irregular intervals, the trail was broken by shrubberies or had been swept away by the wind. Vega seemed happy to let him struggle for a bit and politely pointed out clues as they appeared. He made note of her comment that not all signs were on the ground, though those were certainly the easiest to distinguish. At least ten bits had to have passed, and Finn was growing certain he'd made a mistake, when they came upon a small clearing. “Look!” he breathed rather needlessly as he dropped to a silent crouch. A wide grin split his face and no small amount of pride swelled in his chest upon having located the litter of rabbits.

Vega wasted no time at all and before he could scare the rabbits of with a yelp of excitement, she had already drawn back the string and loosened a whistling arrow into the scattering of fluffy hoppers. It impacted with a satisfying noise, the arrowhead cutting straight through flesh and sinew and stabbing through the other side of the startled rabbit's neck before it hit the ground. Vega had already prepared a second arrow by the time he'd readied his bow. He had to be fast as the rabbit folk had noticed their brother had fallen and scattered like dry leaves on the wind. He inhaled a sharp breath through his nostrils, drew the tight string up to his chin, held his breath and-

With a twang his arrow sliced through the air, the feathers burning past his cheek as it flew straight toward a small, brown-

Skipper hopped out of death's grasp in the nick of time and Finn's arrow struck the dirt. Vega had better luck but before he could have another try, the rest of the rabbit family had fled into the overgrowth. “Cu-” He clasped a hand over his mouth and shot a guilty look at Vega, shrinking a little at her side. “Sorry!”

Matching the bounciness of the slayed rabbits, Finn jumped up from their cover and skipped over to what could either be the appetizer, or the main course for to-trials evening meal. His enthusiasm dwindled a little as he noted, with some horror, that one of the rabbits still seemed to be alive. It squealed rather faintly but its furry pelt moved rapidly indicating the poor animal was still trying to breathe through blood-soaked lungs. Vega had seen things beyond his wildest imagination, judging by her stories, but so had he. He'd unleashed the fury of fire on the Black Guard of Etzos , burning at least one of them alive, he'd forced a dagger into a man's flesh, aided by Gangui's hand, he'd doled out a great deal of violence in his life and had been on the receiving end of more and yet, the sight of the rabbit slipping into death's embrace horrified him the most. It wasn’t even his work, yet a pang of guilt shot through his heart as he knelt beside the rabbit. Instinctively his hands found the fur, tried to calm the dying animal before it was sent into the beyond. His right hand reached for a dagger on his belt that wasn't there, intended to cut the needless suffering short, but when his fingers found nothing he reached for a different kind of weapon. He angled himself to obscure the short flash of light shooting from his palm, but he could not hide the brief crackling sound nor the rabbit's relieved, final squeal. But the true mark of the small ether missile he'd fired into the rabbit’s neck was a noticeable singe on the fur where it had struck and he almost instantly regretted having taken pity on the animal. She was bound to find out anyway, he told himself, though that was hardly an excuse to be so careless. Without further ado he picked up the dead rabbit by the scruff of its neck, yanked out the arrow and sent a weak smile in Vega's direction. “Nice shooting.”
word count: 755
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Vega
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Vega was more than happy to provide him with details of their encounter with the loincloth wearing cannibals, the wooga-wooga spear and so on. She left out any personal details, not telling him about it being Arlo's birthtrial or any such - but she gave him enough details that he'd be able to quiz Arlo the same and, when he got the same answers, know that she was telling the truth. "We live a crazy life, it's amazin'," Vega confirmed and grinned at Noah. They chatted as they walked, though she was careful not to speak too loudly, not wanting to scare away the very creatures they were hunting. Noah was growing impatient, she thought, but she was quick to point out that hunting and tracking were a long, slow process sometimes. It meant following the creatures, being quiet, biding your time. Strangely, that was fine with her although patient wasn't her forte usually.

Still, they got to the clearing where the gaggle of rabbits was, and Vega felled one, then another. She clipped a third, but although it fell, Vega didn't think she'd killed it. However, Noah moved over to it. That was no bad thing, as far as the mixed race redhead was concerned. How he responded to this, to an animal in pain and suffering that was, told a lot about him as a person. She knelt and removed the arrows from the two dead ones, snapping their necks just to be sure and then turned to him. The smell of burning on the air and the slightly singed fur didn't go without notice, but Vega's only comment was to raise an eyebrow and say, not disapprovingly, "Yer full of surprises, you are. An' thanks, for catchin' yerself an' what you said there. I appreciate that." She did, but it wasn't something she'd usually comment on. Yet, she wanted to add something to the 'full of surprises' thing, so that he could ignore it more easily if he wanted to.

"We did good. Three rabbits is plenty fer us. Come on, then, you. Since I'm not hatin' on you, I'm not cookin' them." Vega didn't do cooking. Not well or even really edible food. "Wanna come back to our camp an' meet Arlo? He's my fella, an' he's the best cook on Idalos." Vega believed it completely. Either way, she strung up the rabbits quickly and with practiced movements, although she showed him what she was doing and why. "Come on then, an' I'll tell you about the Ice Caves, where we went on Scalvoris an' met an animal called an Oh'deer. Or the giant snake, that was a doozy."

Either, it turned out, they'd had a very interesting time, or she was a better storyteller than any other. Whichever it was, she was more than happy to lead him back to their camp, chatting on the way and then calling - as a small pup came bounding up to them and she grinned down at it. "Hey up, Arlo! Company!" kneeling, she fussed the puppy. "This is Zyqat, my puppy." He was black and white with mis-matched eyes and obviously adoring of Vega who evidently felt just the same in return. "Noah, Arlo. Arlo, this is Noah - works at the stables, an' helped me hunt these."
word count: 575
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Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Finnegan O'Connor
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121st Ashan, 718 - Harpy Inn Stables
Fimn breathed an inaudible sigh of relief when Vega didn't seem to notice his casting. That, or she had noticed and simply choose not to make a point of it. The tension in his shoulders dissipated and after a final, sorrowful glance at the dead animal he started to follow Vega's instruction on how to best string up the rabbit, which was not as straightforward as he thouvht it might be. For one, any hunter worth their salt didn't want their game to leave a trail of blood that predatory animals might pick up on. Once the animals had been properly strung up (he insisted on carrying all three, he'd promised to after all) they made their way back to where Vega had set up camp. It was a ways out from where they'd hunted and by the time they arrived, the suns had reached their zeniths and Finn tried not to melt in the blistering heat. He was no stranger to hot days spent outside, as demonstrated by the color on his face and arms, but neither did he thrive in it and it didn't help much that he was being weighed down by three, furry, warm rabbits. Still, the trek back was made bearable by Vega's many unbelievable stories. She hadn't been kidding about the life of a nomad, it appeared.

They'd barely halted in the camp when a happy, barking dog jumped up at them and the excited animal jumped up and down agaibst his leg as soon as Finn had dropped off their evening meal. He had half a mind to surrender to the yelping pup and let himself fall onto his back in the tall, dry grass but he rrmained on his pins as Vega introduced him to her counterpart: Arlo.

When Arlo came up to them , all cool and collected lookimh, Fnn noticed two things straight away: his steely eyes and the fact that he didn't share her slightly pointed ears. The first was an amusing but innocent observation while the second came as a mild relief and before he knew it , he'd dipped his head into a light bow. A sheepish, lopsided grin had found its way onto his face when he rebounded and this time around he was unafraid to give a firm handshake. He was soaked anyway and his skin glowed hot with sunburn while sweat trickled down from his temples, past his neck and down his spine. “Nice to meet you Arlo,” he said. His voice sounded dry and hoarse from all the talking he and Vega had done and he realised just how thirsty he was. “Excuse me but,” he started as he stepped into a patch of blessed shade, “could I have some water please? Or is there a river or a lake or something nearby? I wouldn't mind going for a swim.” To his embarrassment he hardly knew a thing about the lands surrounding Rharne’s and he made a silent view to himself to ask Brimtattle about it someday as it could always come in handy should be ever have a need to escape or hide.

“I didn't do much really,” he said as he crouched down to pat the puppy. “It was all her work and she's a really good archer…” His voice trailed off there as the puppy clambered against him and tried to lick his face with such determination that Finn soon stopped resisting all together. “Not as impressive as the wooga spear though,” he added with a grin in an attempt to verify Vega's story.
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Where was it that Vega had gone earlier? Arlo couldn't quite remember, though she'd headed in the general direction of Rharne's city gates. She'd been gone a while though, and while he hadn't begun to worry yet, he'd at least begun to wonder. It was only when Lyova had supplied the answer...the stables, she thought, that he recalled her parting words much earlier in the trial. Still, she was as susceptible to distractions as he was at times, so still he hadn't begun to grow concern. Besides, her pup kept him distracted in around camp, by constantly getting under his feet and tripping him up.

He'd eaten twice since Vega had been gone. He could thank Cassion for an appetite that was hardly ever completely satisfied. He'd played his gittern a little, written a little, hauled water and chopped firewood and done a little target practice back down towards the river. The sun was heading down towards the horizon now and it should be time for supper before long. Surely Vega would be back by then and in fact, Arlo was in the process of rekindling the fire when she turned up. And with company too, he noticed as he straightened and headed that way.

Ever curious and protective of him, and Vega too, Lyova had skimmed off in their direction and was circling the newcomer, eyeing him critically with curious and too large eyes, though no one could actually see the diri except for Arlo. Company then, Vega said and Arlo grinned and waved a little as the pair approached. The stranger seemed to have passed muster with Lyova as well, since she came racing back in front of them and settle back into brim of his hat.

"Welcome Noah," Arlo said and extended his hand in a firm grip. A little sweat never hurt anyone after all. "It's good to have an extra for supper. I struggle just cooking for one or two. And those will do nicely," he said to Vega and took the rabbits. It answered the question of what they'd have for supper. Roasted, stuffed rabbit, root vegetables and a peach pie that he'd already nestled into the coals to bake. "The river's just there down the hill," he said as Noah collapsed into the shade, and he gestured vaguely off to the west. "This ought to help for now though." He handed over a large skin of water that he'd hauled up earlier and dropped into the cooling box. As a result it was still ice cold.

"She is." A pretty good shot, Vega, and meanwhile Arlo turned back to the rabbits and began the work of skinning and cleaning them. He grinned though and snorted though not looking up from his work when the topic of wooga spears came up. It was funny now, but it hadn't been. Not back then in the thick of it. "The fellow that threw that thing put some real power behind it. Stuck so deep in that tree I thought I'd never get it out. Doubles as a nice walking stick though. You went to the stables?" he asked Vega, then also glanced towards Noah again. "You live in Rharne long?"
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Vega
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Vega Lei'nox was a cantankerous, obnoxious woman who had something of a tendency to say it just like she saw it. If half of the stories she told Finn on the way there were half true, they lived an incredible life. From rescuing kidnapped children from giant lizards in Desnind, where they'd seen glowing caterpillars turn into giant glowing butterflies, where Cassion had kissed her and they'd met a woman who wore high heel shoes while gardening in the woods to ghosts and glowing deer-like things in Ne'haer. Scalvoris had been a place where they'd seen ice caves with statues so perfect that they looked real, the jungle with the tribes and the waterfall of eternal youth - though she admitted, she didn't know if it really was that, but it was very cool and it had been very hot so she'd take it. Also giant snakes and flying rabbits called flunnies. It had to be said, she wasn't a shoddy storyteller.

"There was this time," she said, again apparently seriously. "I got possessed by this fire demon thing. Whenever I held a weapon in my hand, it turned into like lava an' started crawlin' up my arm. That were gnarly, so we sorted it out eventually. Fought this death forged rose thing what was causin' it, an' it stopped." Of course, the power hadn't entirely stopped, just been transferred into her sword, but she didn't tell Noah that bit. Wasn't his business, that bit. Arlo, of course, would recognise that she was diluting the stories - and she didn't mention the time just recently where she'd been burned alive. There was no making that suitable for a younger audience, so Vega just didn't.

But when the arrived back at the camp, once he and Noah had shaken hands, Vega slipped her hand into Arlo's and grinned at him. "Wotcha," she said, with a grin. But then, she turned to Noah and looked genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry, I should've thought. Here, 'ang on." Along with the ice cold water, Vega moved over to where there was a wooden bench. It was carved in such a way as to emphasise the natural wood and she lifted the seat, revealing storage underneath, from which she pulled a thin pair of seat pads. "They're filled with this green sand what happens in Scalvoris. The orange sand is always warm, but this stuff is always cool. Perch on one an' lean back against the other, you'll be righ' as rain in a tick." Whatever it was filled with, it was indeed, always cool.

Vega grinned at the Wooga spear comment, but said nothing until after Arlo had spoken.

"Let me do that, you do th'cookin' it's only fair," Vega said, when he started on the rabbits. "You sort out the veggies, I can't never make them all the same size." She nodded, though, at Arlo's question. "Yeah, Storm's jus' grazin' back there with Peg." Indeed, on the way in, Vega had let the horse be with another grey mare. Arlo's horse, she'd told Finn. "I was wonderin' about gettin' somethin' that we could use one of 'em to pull if we hunt an' fell somethin' big but didn't bring the cart. No luck though, might 'ave to improvise." Judging by the bench, the mis matched chairs and the planters which were hanging on the side of the cart, the box from which Arlo had pulled the cold water, they improvised a lot. "Noah works there, an' he offered to carry the kill back for me. So, I said yes." Arlo knew what that meant, she knew. "Turns out, he's not too bad as company an's a pretty good shot. For a boy." She'd told Noah on the way here that Arlo was a much better archer than she was - her skill was with her sword, more than her bow.

"We've agreed that I'm difficult, argumentative an' uncommonly tall," she said, her eyes swirling a number of colours, "fer a woman. But yeah, I've been regalin' Noah with tales of our exploits an' he's understandably cynical." Grabbing one of the rabbits, she glanced over to Noah. "Wanna help, shortround?" Did he want to learn, she meant, but she didn't say.
word count: 746
Image

Vega's skin has a reflective metallic sheen with a red glow. Her eyes still swirl biqaj colours, but one colour is always bright red which glows like fire. She has a bright red glow in her chest, situated directly under the mark of a heart (Daia mark) in the middle of a glowing silver dragon on her chest (Xiur). She's unnaturally warm to the touch
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Finnegan O'Connor
Approved Character
Posts: 487
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:24 pm
Race: Human
Profession: The Moglin
Renown: 146
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Wealth Tier: Tier 1

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Horses for courses

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HORSES FOR COURSES
Judging by Arlo’s voice and welcoming words he’d entered good company. In truth, it wasn’t just Arlo’s voice and friendly mannerisms that made him feel right at home. There was a scent in the air, something sweet under the mask of smoke and fire, he couldn’t quite place it but it smelled of some kind of cake and he relished in the blissful scent while his stomach rumbled gently. It had been a while since his last meal and if the smell was anything to go by, Vega had spoken the truth about Arlo’s cooking skills.

That wasn’t the only thing she’d been truthful about. The story of the Wooga Wooga Spear was confirmed to him while he was handed an icy waterskin. He nearly dropped it in shock, how had they managed to keep it so cool? Didn’t matter, he’d have gulped down muddy, stinking river water if it was offered to him, anything to soothe his dry throat. It wasn’t until he’d downed almost half of the contents when he realized that, maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t the only person who’d like a cold drink. Whatever embarrassment made it onto his face was rendered invisible by the afterglow of the sun as he hastily put the waterskin down and dried his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I, uh-”

Damn. He should’ve anticipated Arlo’s question, should’ve had a well-practiced answer ready to roll of his tongue, instead he drew a blank and every passing tick weighed down on his shoulders. If he said he’d lived in Rharne for a while, they’d expect him to know about the city which could prove difficult if they started to ask questions about it. Yet, if he confessed that he’d come to Rharne from Etzos and was trying to keep a low profile and that he’d lied about his name…

“I’ve only been there a while,” he ended up saying, which was about as vague an answer he could manage. Thankfully Vega had already moved on to another wild tale which Finn, despite Arlo’s earlier confirmation, found exceptionally hard to believe. Then he considered that perhaps Vega had gotten her fiery red hair from the encounter with the fire demon and, if that were the case, perhaps that explained her fiery personality too.

“You two are full of surprises,” he couldn’t help but comment as Vega revealed a chilled seat pad. Even Zippomaria O’Connor, high-queen of bureaucracy and perfectionism would have marvelled at this invention. No, he grinned to himself, she’d die of jealousy. The thought amused him a great deal and only added to the pleasant relief the pads offered.

“Maybe you should have one made,” he commented on the subject of carts. “If someone wants to sell theirs at the stable, I’ll let you know. Assuming you’ll still be out here next season?” He sat upright at the last bit, hopeful that the answer would be affirmative.

His hopeful expression soon made way for a screwed up one. “For a boy?!” he repeated in a squeaky mock voice. “For a boy?” Hot air flared from his nostrils and he rolled his eyes at Vega. “You’re not bad either… for a woman.” The cheeky grin accompanying his comment made it abundantly clear he was merely joking, though he wasn’t quite sure if she had been. He blinked at the rabbits as Vega invited him to help. The truth was that he’d rather lay down in the grass and doze off until dinner was ready, but that would be rather impolite, especially since he was indirectly getting payed for all of this! He tried not to groan as he got up and stumbled over to where Vega was preparing the rabbits.

“I’m not squeamish,” he said pre-emptively. It was just the sight of the dead animal… he’d seen worse, far worse, and yet knowing that he’d snuffed out the life of this innocent, fluffy little hopper-

His lips settled into a thin frown as he steeled himself. How hard could it be? A quick glance was fired in Arlo’s direction as if asking for his approval to continue. After all, he had no experiencing cutting open an animal which meant he could potentially ruin one-third of their meal if he messed it up.

“I don’t have a knife.”
word count: 762
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