Open Chronicles How Frail The Mind

[Autumn Whispergrove]

Autumn felt her mind at ease when she looked upon Leyus. Magical residue from his lithomancy, no doubt. She absolutely trusted that shapeshifter despite not knowing if she should or not. She offered him a smile.

"We can walk in tandem if you'd like. It may make Thorne feel a bit better too." She was going to ask him if he thought it a good idea but she could make that decision on her own. She should if she wanted to prove to him she was okay being out on her own. Her sheltered life had made her complacent with being treated as a child yet now that she was beginning to realize life as it was she wanted to change that.

It also didn't help that Thorne was going to be beating the living hell out of Donovan, so maybe the questions should be saved for later. She didn't want to look at the violence any longer.

She motioned to the komodi and blacksmith offering them a nervous wave.

"Thank you two as well for your intervention. If it hadn't been for you I may either be dead or have turned this place into a cemetery. I really am grateful for you."

This was still a mess of a situation but it was on the uptick. And a feeling she rarely held came to her heart through seeing the selfless acts of so many others.

Hope.

 

[Míriel Fëanorna]

Miriel watched Thorne grab one of the men - the ringleader, she supposed - and grimaced a little. He was going to be regretting his decision for a while to try and attack the man's... daughter? She glanced between the two, couldn't see much of a resemblance, but that meant neither here nor there. Another question to file in her mind. Most of the men had managed to pull themselves to their feet now and were limping off, slinking back into the shadows, but a few remained unconscious. Carefully she knelt beside one and checked their pulse: still breathing. Letting out a relieved sigh she moved to the other two men who had yet to move; all still alive. Well when the City Guard finally got there at least there wouldn't be dead bodies to try and explain away. Dead bodies required investigation and poking and prodding into people's business - not something Miriel particularly enjoyed.

Slowly, she stood to her feet, her eyes still studying the human as if she wasn't quite sure she could trust him to keep himself alive until the group were gone and held out her hand absentmindedly. The axe which had sat snugly in the wall a few moments ago whistled through the air and back to her hand, where she replaced it with its twin into her belt loops.

It was as she glanced up to check on her horse that she noticed Autumn's little wave and took it as an invitation to wander over. The black stallion nickered lightly as she approached and moved to his companions side, nuzzling into her hair in an affectionate manner and making the elf's lips twitch up into a smile. "You're very welcome," the cavalry woman inclined her head, running her fingers through Thorlion's silken mane. "I apologise, for coming across as treating you as a child - it was not my intention." With a soft sigh she patted the horses neck. "I'm not sure about the rest of you but I would very much like a stiff drink, and to not be here when the City Guard shows up," she raised a single eyebrow. "If you would like to join me, there is a bar a couple of streets over."

 

[Thorne]

Donovan started to stammer something then promptly passed out from the stress and shock of the situation, eliciting an exaggerated sigh from Thorne. Great, dead weight to haul through town. Making a move from here would be a difficult decision. Hopefully, surrounded by this strange entourage as he was, this was not too much of a setback.

"Who piss baby?"

Thorne nudged Donovan's unconscious form with his boot.
"This piss baby." He replied in grammatical kind. "Donovan McMillan, bona fide sack of human excrement."
The ex-soldier paused to examine Glasha's form. She was towering, even for a Komodo, and built like a brick house. Recalling the woman's request from before, Thorne decided that having a friendly wall of muscle around for awhile might not be such a bad thing. Doubly so since Komodi tended to ward off ignorant humans who thought they could catch their unique blend of illnesses.

"If you wouldn't mind helping me carry this waste of protein back to our abode, I'd be happy to take you up on that favor." He extended a hand to the Komodo woman, a gesture he recognized her people rarely received. "Glasha, was it? I'm Thorne. Your help here was greatly appreciated."

"I could accompany her. If you wish,"

It was the strangely shifting mage who spoke next. An odd fellow to be sure, but oddly enough nothing he hadn't heard discussed among Lord Ordo and his compatriots. Shape changing magic was something they coveted greatly.

Thorne glanced to Autumn at the young man's offer.
"Ask her." He stated flatly.

"If you would like to join me, there is a bar a couple of streets over."

"Though it sounds to me that she's likely not headed home anymore."

Thorne turned to his charge and the elf woman.
"I need to take care of...this..." he called over, gesturing to Donovan. "But after I'd like to join you. I owe you a drink, horse mistress."

 

[Glasha]

The smell of the piss baby was really starting to grate at her sensitive nose and she found her face contorted in a horrified expression of disgust. Despite their nature as scavengers and Glasha's own penchant of hunting rats in the sewer for a meal, she tried to be as hygienic and cleanly as possible. Yet something was particularly potent about this man Donovan, that she found herself immediately taking a hatred to.

She turned, her face still display extreme hatred and disgust, towards Autumn. After a few moments of staring she realised her error and shook her head, displaying a more blank and vacant expression that she was used to. "Glasha didn't mean to help, piss baby's brutes can't take joke." She smiled a toothy grin, nodding towards Autumn, before drifting her own attention back to the aforementioned individual and Thorne.

She shrugged and picked up Donovan. Just to be safe she rapped him across the back of his head with her scaly knuckles, safe to safe, if he wasn't unconscious by now he definitely was. With a single hand, she plucked the figure from Thorne and dropped him on her shoulder in a weird, awkward, fireman's lift sort of carry. "Glasha know a good sewer we can keep him in if Thorne want to go to bar." She smiled her grin yet again, the thought of a nice keg of ale or spirit causing her to salivate messily. Thankfully, however, she used part of Donovan's unconscious self to wipe her mouth clean.

 

[Leyus]

Leyus wasn't big on bars and places similar to that. He enjoyed the occasional crowd and a good conversation as much as the next guy, but the presence of so many living, feeling creatures was hard to bear. Intoxicating fro him as alcohol for them. He wasn't too big on drinking as well. After all, quantities ten times less than would be enough for other to get drunk in the first place left him unable to walk, poisoned and utterly miserable.
A toll for his shifting nature.
Yet, how could he leave this bunch now, at this point? He was curious about them, and he wanted to make sure that this evening's efforts on his side didn't get lost in a few minutes or hours. He doubted that, taking into account that everybody here seemed to be far more competent with all the fighting stuff than he was, but... still.

"Well then, if it's so, bar it is," he gave a slight smile to both the man and, with little less constrain, the girl. It looked like his evening would be a lot longer that he initially planned, stretching far into night.
But, well, Alliria was place to get into adventures not required, get lost in the nightlife afterwards, taking a secret or two with you afterwards.

At this point he finally tried to do the best he could to get the dirt off his clothes, where they had been stained by the wall and the ground. A little, tiny thing, detail barely worth fussing about, but Leyus prefered his attire to be as clean and tidy as possible. It made a good impression on potential trade partners, as well as made him feel a lot less tired after days and weeks spent constantly on the road. If he lingered in one place for this long, he could at least look presentable.

 

[Autumn Whispergrove]

Autumn did enjoy a casual drink. Her biggest vice was being such a dramatic lightweight. Two or three drinks was enough to make her tipsy as all hell and it was a bit embarrassing. Along with Leyus, she also shared the fear of her emotions exploding from letting herself get too sloshed.

"That doesn't sound horrible. Perhaps I'll just have some food, though."

She walked over to Thorne once more as he was pinning Donovan to the ground with just his weight. Her eyes meeting the scum beneath her godfather for a final time.

"I hope this was worth it. Worth insulting my family's hospitality to you, and worth losing all you ever had. Which I suppose wasn't much, all things considered." She turned her gaze to Thorne.

"It seems I'm gonna be out a bit later. I'm just going to have a meal though, so you won't have to see your daughter hammered." She laughed a little. This all really did turn out okay.

(OOC: Likely my last post as Autumn. This seems to have concluded.)