Fate - First Reply Into Thin Air

[Henk]

Never one to mince words, was she? Ralene had a point though. Maybe it wasn't the worst idea to use themselves as bait for whoever it was who wanted them dead.

"Yes, well she was also with the group that left us for dead in the middle of the Savannah, so I'm not entirely sure whether or not to believe her." She gave him a bit of a look as he slid out the dresser and retrieved the pouch from behind it. Admittedly, he'd been saving the coin here in Maraan for a specific purpose, but that wasn't important now.

Leaving Ral to herself for a moment, Henk descended to the first floor once again and paid Harrod, not for the protection, but for a sizable bottle of potion that sat on a table with all of the other fancy-looking bottles. As Harrod counted out the money, Henk needled the old man for information.

"I know people have been goin' missing out there, but I haven't heard anything about any invisible monsters." Harrod tapped his cane on the ground, sliding the bottle of shimmering liquid towards Henk with a thoughtful hum. "The elves though, the ones that came through a little while before you? They were some strange ones. Claimed to be traders but I didn't see much in the way of goods on' em. Besides a few crates of wine and food, not enough to warrant a trip out here."

The old man took note of the few extra coins Henk slid his way, and promised he'd have the elves looked into at least. Returning up to the room, Henk quickly passed Ral the bottle and took a seat on the bed, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"At least I'll be able to rest without having to worry about things having gone south of heaven when I wake up tonight. I'm waiting on word of where the Elves went. Right now they're our only lead unless we start asking around town."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

Left them for dead was maybe a bit strongly worded. The elves had left them with water and horses and taken only what Ralene had promised them. Still, it had been a shit move when they could have simply let the two of them travel with the caravan and gotten that business taken care of without going through the effort of knocking them out. Perhaps the elves hadn't trusted that they'd hold up their end of the bargain, and knowing how humans often treated elves Ralene supposed she couldn't really blame them.

By the time Henk returned she'd discarded most of her heavier armor pieces and was taking a moment to gather her mental barings before moving all the way across the room to wash up at the water basin. The liquid in the potion bottle disappeared faster than a glass of water. It wasn't cold, but healing potions always drank a bit curiously on the refreshing side. The relief of the splitting, pounding, searing ache in her head and the sting of the open wound on her forehead disappearing was most welcome.

With a glance to him as he flopped down on the bed, Ral pushed up from the chair and made the trek across the room to the wash basin, "I've never had such rotten fucking luck on a mission before," she replied as she leaned over to splash water over her face and clean the remnants of the wound there, "I'm beginning to think you're bad luck, Henk."

 

[Henk]

It wasn't that they'd drugged him with wine that angered Henk. He understood the lack of trust in humans. It was that they wounded Ralene and left her in the hot sun where she would have died from the heat if he hadn't woken up when he did. It was the disregard for the life of his partner that made his blood boil.

Still, the idea he was a walking bad luck charm made him laugh as he brought himself back to lie on the surprisingly decent mattress. "That would certainly explain a lot, wouldn't it? Come to think of it, I did shatter the last mirror I looked into. That's seven years, right?" The sound of running water as Ral cleaned herself up was oddly relaxing, and he went quiet for a minute.

He wasn't sure what possessed him to say it.

"I thought about running away, you know? Figured this place would be safe to lie low for a while, so far away from Vel Anir. I even hid that coin away to pay for it and keep me on my feet for a few weeks."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"I don't know anything about that," Ral replied as she reached back to tug her tunic off over her head, leaving most of her bare back and shoulders exposed save for the area covered by her chest wrap, "but if that's the case you best be keeping that shit luck of yours to yourself."

She paused before dunking her shirt into the water to soak it, listening to Henk's words in a silence that seemed to grow quite heavy. After some consideration, Ral returned to her washing, "So why didn't you?"

 

[Henk]

"Little late for that, isn't it? You're infected by it now." Henk teases with a grin, turning onto his side as she pulls off her top. "With our track record, the roof will collapse on us in the middle of the night." It certainly wouldn't shock him at this point.

Slowly, Henk let his pale eyes follow and trace the curve of her back. He wasn't being perverse or anything like that; Ralene was rarely out of her armor around him, and it was somewhat of a sobering reminder to see there was still a woman underneath all of it.

And honestly, he found himself more impressed by how built she'd become than anything else.

"There's a lot of reasons why." He muttered eventually, almost as if he wasn't too keen on divulging. "I think the biggest one is that I knew it would make me your enemy. Everybody's enemy. If it came down to it, I don't think I could bring myself to fight you. Not to kill, anyways."

Sitting up and swinging his legs to the floor, Henk gripped his tattered shirt and pulled what was left of it off. First his jacket and now his shirt. Next he'd be walking around nude through the city. Plenty of tailors in town, though.

"It would do a disservice to everybody who counts on me. To claim that I care about you all, that I want to help you succeed, and then to leave you? I'd be nothing but a lying hypocrite."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

If the roof collapsed on them she sure as shit wasn't going to dig him out this time. Ralene loosed a snort at the thought while she scrubbed her shirt over a washboard a few times before ringing it out. Draping it over a rung on a nearby rack, Ral took up a cloth to wash with while Henk explained himself. His words weren't entirely surprising - he'd seemed to take on a chivalrous sort of sense about him that had only come to light for her over the last few days.

She supposed that's what happened when you didn't take the time to talk to one's fellow initiates. You didn't learn a whole lot about them beyond what one could learn by beating the ever loving snot out of them. Ralene knew plenty about Henk's strength, skills, and powers. They'd been pitted against one another for years. Win or lose, she'd never taken any of those spars or lessons to heart. Never took them personally simply because they weren't.

"The only person I count on is me," Ral replied gruffly, "for years we all thought we were going to have to kill each other to have any chance of getting out of here, and that changed with one simple revolution."

To this day she couldn't say if she was truly relieved by that turn of events or not. Many of them were still coming to terms with the fact that they didn't have to ... couldn't kill the other initiates anymore to get ahead. The dog-eat-dog nature of their upbringing so ingrained it had become instinct not to trust. To count on only yourself. Ral was learning to trust, slowly, but she still wasn't in a place where she felt she could come to rely on others for ... well, anything.

"Who's to say it wouldn't all change back just as easily? Cause it could. I'm prepared to face that possibility," Ral turned to look over her shoulder at Henk, "are you?"

 

[Henk]

Henk stood, casting glances over to Ralene every few moments. He couldn't decide whether it was out of admiration or concern, honestly. The panic that had washed over him when he'd found her burning to death in the sand was a fresh memory in his mind. Taking some of the leather that he'd worn around his arms, he fashions a make-shift curtain for the window, keeping it pulled aside for now; he'd need it come night.

"I think there's little sense worrying about whether or not it will, to be frank with you." It wasn't exactly an answer to her question, but it was honest. Moving over to where she worked, Henk squeezed past her to steal a handful of water for his face, splashing himself and giving a light sigh. "Sitting here and fretting about it won't change the outcome. Once I graduate, I can look for ways to keep things from going back. Right now my concern needs to be with getting that far."

Turning his head, the corner of his lips turn into a smile as he meets her always stoic gaze. "I'm not expecting you to count on me, but I have your back. Besides, you'd do fine even if the pre-revolution ways come back. You're not a big softie like me, right?"

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"Only softies worry and fret over things," Ral could agree with him there, "I'm not worried about it. I'm just ready for it."

Some might say too ready for it, but the way she saw it if she was already expecting it, no one could get the jump on her. Strategy, planning, preparation, and the ability to adapt as needed - that was how Ralene approached such things. Worry was never an option.

She turned to face him, deep navy bearing into pale frost, "Left or right?"

 

[Henk]

Henk leaned back on the wash-basin, looking back at her with a quirked brow. "Soft or not, there isn't much that I haven't prepared for in some capacity, Ral. I've thought a lot about my future, especially in this last year."

Ralene was the blueprint of a Dreadlord, in many aspects. That she held the mindset of trusting no one but herself, of being prepared for every possibility was a testament to how gifted she'd been her entire time at the Academy.

Maybe that was why watching her always fascinated him to some degree.

"Right." Henk answered. What exactly she was asking was beyond him. "When you go in blind, always start right. That's a rule of mine."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"That so?" her gaze shifted to the deep scars etched into the right side of his face, "Hm."

She'd heard about wearing one's intentions on their sleeves, but never on their face. Ral bobbed her brows at him before departing from her spot at the basin to make way for the bed where she set herself down ... on the left side. It was surprisingly comfortable and she sank back onto it with an audible sigh of exhaustion - which was about as close as you got to hearing a complaint out of her.

"Harrod's got until my shirt dries to see what he can find out, then I'm going out to do my own digging. You staying or heading out?"

 

[Henk]

Henk didn't miss her eyes traveling to his damaged face as she slid past him to claim her side of the bed. Ah, so that was what she was asking. Taking her place in front of the basin, the boy finished washing the grime as best he could from his face.

"If you come across a maze, hug the right wall and you will eventually emerge on the other side. Hugging the left wall will result in you wrapping around to the right anyways."

It might have been rather childish reasoning for his choice, but he'd been honest with Ralene up until this point, for better or worse. Turning around and raising his head so the water he poured over his head ran down, he shivered as it trailed down his body. Gods, he would have killed somebody for a bath.

"Staying until your shirt dries, I suppose." Henk smirked, stealing Ralene's chair. "You think I'm going to let you go solo after last time I took my eye off the ball? No chance. Let's at least relax until then, with our luck we'll be getting knocked on the head again in no time."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"Our luck?" Ral lofted a brow at him, "Never thought I'd need to get a tattoo to ward off someone else's bad luck..."

Just one more thing to add to the collection of ink and scarification covering a good portion of the skin she presently bared. She couldn't be sure that was really even a thing - bad luck. That fell more into the variety of superstitions practiced by witches, not magespell. Though she supposed someone like Chasmine could have yammered off several resources to check into for such things.

"That collection of tomes your friend has down there. You think he might have anything about invisible desert beasts?"

 

[Henk]

A small shrug met her question. "Possibly. Might be worth sifting through some of it." Henk hadn't had the chance to look through any of them last time he was here, but it was far from a bad idea. "Harrod said word has gotten around about the attacks, so it was strange to see an elven caravan pull into town with a relatively light load of goods."

Henk would be lying if he said that old Elf woman's words didn't eat at him just a little bit. The idea that they were being targeted wasn't impossible, but then why were other travelers being attacked as well? Something didn't add up.

"I can't help feeling like they know something, but my hunches have been wrong before. Why would--"

A loud thumping interrupted him, vibrating the floor. underneath them. Henk blinked, looking down, and then towards the door.

"Harrod. Must have something for us." Henk stood, smirking at her as he took his ragged shirt and wrapped it around his waist. "I'm going to go hear him out. Keeping me company?"

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"All the more reason for us to-" Ral's eyes dropped to the floor and the sound of thumping, then back up to Henk at his explanation. A half smirk stretched her lips over a quizzical look, "You don't think it would be a little odd for your lady to go downstairs with you half naked?"

Sure, Ralene had no issue with the matter, but Ralene had no shame to speak of and that was not typical of most women. Of course she also had next to no knowledge of the culture in this area. Maybe half naked women walking around wasn't so uncommon... and if that were the case, she'd make a point to spend a bit more time here for reasons.

 

[Henk]

Henk paused, looking from the door back to Ralene. Honestly he hadn't even thought of it, but she wasn't wrong. Still, he doubted Harrod would care much. "He already figures we're messing around up here, the fact we're coming back down half-dressed is only going to help our cover of being lovers."

Bringing a hand up to gesture towards her, a little smirk raises and bends his scarred lips. "You don't have anything to be ashamed of, and I know you want to hear any leads he might have, so come on."

Opening the door, Henk took one more look back at her to see if she was following or not before descending back into the shop room of Harrod's.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

He was really leaning into that cover story and she almost wondered if the Initiate had an ulterior motive for it. Ralene eyed him where he stood at the doorway: the veritable lamb dangling itself as a morsel to the wolf. She'd like to say she wasn't easily baited, but Henk's unspoken state of inexperience when it came to having a lover was honestly just too much to pass up.

"Alright," she said as she rolled to sit up from the bed and pushed herself back to her feet, "if that's how you want to play it..."

Ral stalked after him through the door and down the stairs, idly running a hand through her hair to push the water-slicked locks from her face. Content to allow Henk his continued lead of things, she stuck to her role of the quiet, observant partner as he moved into the room where Harrod awaited them with whatever news there was to tell.

Though presently topless, Ralene's chest wrap covered up anything untoward, though she suspected Harrod would get an eyeful of her myriad tattoos and scars on display. No matter, she busied herself standing just off Henk's right, listening to whatever it was Harrod had to say while lightly tracing her fingers up Henk's spine in a show of idle affection.

 

[Henk]

Henk hadn't been intentionally trying to tempt her, really; it wouldn't make any sense for him not to lean into their alibi if they wanted to keep the truth of who they were quiet. What the boy failed to realize was the target he'd just painted on his back in front of somebody very willing to take aim and fire.

Just as Ralene had suspected, her state of undress did cause Harrod to raise his eyebrows a bit as they moved in front of the counter. One couldn't tell behind the foggy glasses, but Henk was sure he saw the old man's eyes giving the chiseled woman a good once over before getting to the point, clearing his throat and taking a swig of something from a metal flask in his hand.

"Some of my guys saw your elves. Looks like they're staying at the Teal Palace." Harrod paused, as if to let that sink in. It only made Henk roll his eyes. "That place is for all the bigwigs. Not some place for Elf traders. Something is definitely up--"

Henk was trying to listen. This was all important information, after all. There was just this little distraction, running slowly up his back and leaving a trail of lightning as it went.

Ralene had taken his words as a challenge, and 'Espen' felt his whole body give a small shiver.

"...Yes. We'll have to go check it out. Thanks, Harrod." He hadn't caught the last half of things, but he figured that was an appropriate response. As he spoke though, he sought out some small measure of revenge, reaching his hand around Ralene's waist and pressing his hand on the curve of her rear end. "I wanted to look through the books for sale too, later. Would that be okay?"


Maybe he was going to die for it later, but he wasn't going to be made a fool of.


Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

An ass grab?

Bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off.

Utterly nonchalant about the hand on her rear, Ralene's fingers continued their wayward journey up between Henk's shoulder blades to the base of his skull.

"Do you have any books on local beasts?" she asked as a follow-up to Henk's query while her hand brushed up against the side of his neck and across the corner of his jaw to run her fingers over the cusp of his ear. "Specifically, a beast that burrows underground and can camouflage itself?"

Harrod gave her a look and made grunt in response, "Sounds more like folklore beasts we tell the children about to make them mind. I've a few books you could look through but I can't promise any of them will have what you're looking for."

 

[Henk]

Maybe Henk would have been reacting differently if he didn't feel like Ralene was toying with him, like some sort of retribution for his remarks back in the room. You could call Henk soft, maybe shy or meek, but he wasn't known for backing down from a challenge.

Once she made her way up to his neck and cupped his ear things were a bit more bearable, but she'd already thrown down the gauntlet. Harrod went about pulling a couple of books off of the shelf lining one of the walls, seemingly not too keen on letting the two teenagers sift through them all themselves. When the old man's back was turned, Henk slid his hand up to the small of her back, letting his fingers gently slide across and swing around to the curve of her hip, before pulling to press his side against hers.

If he backed down, she won. Henk had never beaten Ralene at anything before, and this would make for a nice first.

"Alright, try these." The sound of a stack of books thudding against the counter interrupted his thoughts, summoning up a cloud of dust from the counter to boot. "I ain't charging you or nothing long as you don't take em' out of the building."

Henk supposed the Elves could wait for short while. It was worth exploring the options nearest to them first. With a grateful not, Henk stepped forward, letting his hands trail almost dramatically from Ralene's side to scoop the heavy load of books up on his own. "I'll carry them up, 'darling'. You're still hurt."

Ralene was fine, obviously. Perfectly capable of picking up some books.

But Henk knew, as he made his way back to their room, that the chivalry act would piss her off. That was the idea.

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

The pawing about her rear and waist was hardly anything to bat an eye at. Considering Ralene's extensive experience and long list of bedmates, she couldn't help the amusement shifting through her expression. Donning the pleased look of the cat that ate the canary to be rewarded with a saucer of cream, her gaze and wry smile followed Henk's attempts to twist a reaction out of her.

Smug didn't even begin to describe her.

"And they say chivalry is dead..." Ral remarked to Harrod as Henk made his way up the stairs with the pile of books in his arms, granting her an exceptional view of his ass for her trouble.

"Harrod," he gaze shifted back to the old man, "have you any books on dragons?"

"Dragons, hmph," the man furrowed his brows, turned to thumb through the spines along the shelves, then deposited one more smaller book on the counter, "s'only one I got left. Sold most the others to a man who came through a few moons ago."

"Was he a dragon hunter?" Ral gave the book a curious glance over.

"He didn't say 'n I didn't ask."

"Fair enough." She slid her heavy burden from the counter into her grasp and made her way back up the stairs. With a quiet click she closed the door behind her, "So how are we to get into the Teal Palace?"

 

[Henk]

Henk wasn't expecting much of a reaction, it was more the whole 'not backing down' thing. Wasn't a whole lot he figured he could do to get much of a reaction out of her, at least not in front of Harrod. He'd be lying if he claimed not to be underwhelmed with the result of his little attempt to needle her. It was fine though. He would just have to go further next time.

Arriving first in the room, Henk placed the book stack on one of the chairs, picking them up one at a time and reading the titles before replacing them. Harrod's voice carried up the stairs, so he figured Ral must have had something else to ask him. Whatever it was, it didn't take long for her to follow him in with another small collection of books.

Henk turned to face her, the expression on his face was briefly flustered. The Teal Palace? Right, Harrod had said that's where the Caravan was, hadn't he? Henk looked down at the books, picking one up and pointing it at her as he talked. "Was thinking maybe we'd parade you in half-naked. Worked out pretty well this time, didn't it?"

Sitting down on the bed, he opens the book in his lap, leafing through the first couple of pages.

"Aside from long-winded plans that involve disguising ourselves or getting custodial jobs? Still working on that. Open to suggestions."

He was obviously trying his best to act like her little stunt hadn't affected him that much, but if he was being honest, he enjoyed it far more than he thought he should've. "If Harrod didn't think we were a couple of depraved teenagers before, he does now."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

"Branch of the Eldyr..." Ralene replied absently as she moved forward to inspect the stack of books on the chair. She followed a similar routine as he did, picking each book up and reading over the spines before setting them one by one on the table so that, you know, the chair was free to sit on.

"I was thinking something a little more straight forward and antagonistic," she replied, "find where the caravan has settled and take back our wagon." They didn't actually need the wagon, but if the elves wanted it badly enough to knock them both out and steal it away in the twilight hours then she had a hunch they'd make an effort to take the bait.

"We just need to talk to them and get something a bit less esoteric out of them than an old woman's ramblings."

 

[Henk]

Henk didn't look at her, but the raise of his brows was an indication that her plan caught his interest. "That's a solid plan. Should've thought of that first." He muttered, nose still in the book. The spine was emblazoned with gold lettering that read Horrid Beasts both Myth and Fiction.

There were all sorts of creatures described within that Henk couldn't even fathom. He'd thought he'd experienced a vast amount of beasts in his time as an Initiate, but in truth he hadn't scratched the surface. If there was an invisible burrowing monster of the desert, Henk couldn't imagine it not being listed in here.

Ralene did, as usual, have a point, however. While they were fairly sure their 'monster' wasn't going anywhere, that wasn't to say the elves might not leave at any moment, and with them a possible lead. They needed to act. Closing the book shut, he placed it on the mattress beside him and moved to retrieve the wrappings for his arms.

"All this way and we're still going to end up smacking around some elves." A little chuckle escapes him as he binds his arms up to the elbow. "Our home would be so proud of us."

Ralene

 

[Samantha Black]

That remark afford him a derisive snort from Ralene, "Speak for yourself," and she flopped the book in her hands on top of the pile before moving across the room to retrieve her tunic. It was still damp, but she was itchy to get moving on something constructive and daylight was swiftly burning away.

"I only smack around people when I need to and I hold no reservations about race, gender, or creed." Ral was an equal opportunist smacker, as it were. Very inclusive, very modern.

She pulled her tunic back on, nose wrinkling in silent distaste as it clung to her skin and resisted being settled into the right fit. With a furtive yank on the sleeves and hem, she moved to begin pulling pieces of armor back on once more. Whenever the potential of smacking people around was on her schedule, it always paid off to wear her armor. Sometimes the mere presence of armor was enough to make smacking around unnecessary. She had some doubts about the elves, but Ralene suspected their leader could be reasoned with.

 

[Henk]

Henk had been about to follow her lead and re-dress, but the state of his shredded, sandblasted top left him with other ideas. With a sigh, he tossed it aside and walked to the dresser he'd hidden his stash of money behind. Pulling it open, a small swear fell lightly from his lips at the barrenness of the inside. How hadn't he planned for this?

"I'm not doing anything that requires me to sneak if I don't have something to cover up with. If I go out in the sun like this I'll have to keep pumping light out to stop from overheating."

Slamming the dresser shut, he turned to her and huffed. "Basically I'll be forced to walk around literally glowing. We'll stick out like a sore thumb on a busy street. And near the Palace? People will be watching." There was a good reason Henk tended to wear multiple layers even in warm weather. When he didn't, things like this always seemed to happen.

There was another option, but he wasn't chomping at the bit to use it...

"I could... technically... camouflage myself with the light coming into me, but I'd have to be naked for that, and once the sun is down it wouldn't work anymore. Not particularly enthused about that option, but it's there."

Ralene