Private Tales Well Earned Downtime

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer

Andrea Tolsuna

Mage Hunter
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Victory had been hard-earned, today. But it was still earned, in the end. The work of a Mage Hunter was always difficult, but it was still rare, even then, for it to involve the hunting of an actual mage. A Necromancer, no less. They'd faced down a horde of undead today, and Andrea thanked a mixture of cleverness and tenacity for the fact that both see and Cinny were still standing.

They'd only just made it back into town; their clothes were still a mess, they were hungry... and had every right to be interested in a long night's rest. But there were some preparations that needed to be seen to before either of them could think about sleeping.

"You did well out there, today. Sorry that it involved getting cuddly, but I don't think we would have made it through the night if you hadn't." Andrea remarked to her red-headed friend. They were in their inn room, Cinny seated on the bed while Andrea was on a stool just in front of her, examining the girl for injury first before they could begin.
 
The crackling of the fire in the hearth in front of her was a welcome noise to focus on instead of the endless refrain that always flooded through Cinny’s brain at this point -- drowning out the sounds that even now haunted her memory. The screams, this time, weren’t human… though the crunching and tearing were all too similar. At least, until Andrea spoke, and drew the redhead’s attention away from the burning logs and embers and to the dark-haired woman in front of her.

Cinny managed a tired smile; it always drained her, in a deep physical way that she doubted anyone else understood. Andrea quite literally had to take almost all of her energy just to get her to go back human. It didn’t leave much in the tank.

“I’m glad we were able to help,” she replied, and that, at least, was the truth. As she submitted to Andrea’s attention, she focused blood-red eyes on her, taking in the other woman’s overall garb and demeanor. “Are you sure you’re alright?” It was the third time she’d asked since going human. But the entire reason she’d gone ‘cuddly’ to begin with was the young woman in front of her being taken to the ground by one of the shamblers that had thronged them. There’d been too many for even Andrea’s runes… and so, Cinny got mad.

And then things died. Well… went back to being dead. In many, many more pieces than they had been before.

She herself was uninjured, not so much as a scratch. Wounds that she sustained in her, ahem, less-friendly form transferred over even when she went back human, but her wendigo hide was thick and it wasn’t that easy to injure her. Certainly not the small teeth and blunt nails that the undead had had at their disposal.
 
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Andrea's garb had been torn in several places, but she'd managed to avoid anything more than superficial injuries, herself. She'd hardly had time to focus on her clothing... though she'd likely be annoyed once she finally did. She rather liked this shirt.

She looked satisfied to find no obvious sign of serious injury on Cinny, drawing her spelldagger from it's sheath on the back of her belt. The glimmering purple blade, sharpened on both sides with just the smallest curve to the tip bringing it to a menacing point. It was this point that she brandished at Cinny's shoulder, gesturing that she should be rid of what was left of the sleeve of her shirt.

"I'm fine." Andrea replied with a look that was as exasperated as it was amused. Cinny always did fuss after a transformation. Andrea figured it must be part of her coping mechanism.

"It was stupid. I should have set up more traps before we began. I knew what we were walking into, and I still hadn't prepared enough."
 
Cinny watched Andrea carefully as the dark-haired woman answered her to the effect that she was unharmed, for the third time. She pressed her lips together tightly, as if displeased, because she could see the damage to the young woman’s shirt… but she acquiesced. Andrea had never made a habit of lying to her, after all, especially not about something that would be so obvious if she was.

“You prepared plenty. You had no idea he’d raised so many,” Cinny responded, before pulling the worn woolen shift up and over her head. She’d lost her clothing after transforming, but they’d been prepared for that, with a simple shift in the spare pack. It didn’t mean it was particularly flattering or comfortable, however.

Still, couldn’t be in the way for this. She was tired and she didn’t want to go through it now after everything they’d been through… but they couldn’t chance waiting. Not if the worst happened and she transformed, without the limited faculties that Andrea’s rune afforded her. They’d discussed what that meant, in brief, uncomfortable terms, but both arriving at the same decision: if that happened, Andrea had to stop her. Permanently.

Pulling her red hair off of her other shoulder and out of the way, Cinny bared her shoulder to the mage’s efforts.

“Is he… Did I --” She paused, clearing her throat. “Is he taken care of?”
 
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Andrea patiently waited for Cinny to remove her shirt before she leaned in. She brandished her dagger, eyeing the burnt-out remains of her previous rune squarely on Cinny's chest. The runes she used to protect Cinny's mind were incredibly complex, powerful runes... but even they weren't strong enough to withstand the curse.

To Cinny's question, she offered a small reassuring smile. "He's dead, yes. But I beat you to him." Her attention turned back to Cinny's chest, where she applied the pointed tip of the dagger right to the spot where her heart was. She wasn't pressing hard enough to even break skin; blood was not necessary for the ritual. The tip of the blade instead began glowing with a brilliant red light as the magic etched itself in. It would tingle uncomfortably, almost to the point of pain. She drew her lines carefully and deliberately, focusing on an even application. Thankfully, this particular rune, as complex as it was, had become second nature to the mage. She'd drawn it dozens of times by now.

"Are you hungry, then? Should I send for food while you wait?" Andrea asked, even as she worked, not looking up.
 
The process was as familiar to Cinny as bathing, or dressing, now… Luckily for her, there wasn’t much she was responsible for past staying perfectly still while Andrea worked. The magic burned into her skin, an uncomfortable tingling like an itch so intense it bordered on pain… The redhead bore it silently, unflinchingly. It was a small price to pay to ensure the people around her were safe. Well… slightly more safe.

“Food would be wonderful,” Cinny answered quietly. It wouldn’t fix all of it -- only a solid’s night rest would really make her feel better -- but it would certainly help. Plus doing normal things, doing mundane things, helped restore some sense of normalcy for her.

“I’m sorry you had to,” she added, a bit abruptly. It was a conversation they had often enough -- even worse, Cinny always ended up apologizing no matter what. If she’d dealt the finish blow, she felt guilt for doing so. But if Andrea did it, she was saddened that the young woman had to do an action that she felt only befit a true monster -- like herself. Still, she couldn’t help herself. She understood that Andrea had chosen this life… but it didn’t mean it sat any better with the red-headed woman.

“You should let me bear that burden,” she said, raising her eyes to Andrea’s face as the young woman worked. “You shouldn’t be worrying about that. You should be worrying about … love. Or.. other things that young women your age worry about. What about that pretty young bartender downstairs? She certainly was all smiles when we were checking in…”
 
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Andrea rolled her eyes at Cinny's suggestion. "It's her job to smile at customers, Cinnamon." She replied in exasperation. Still, she couldn't help the small pull of a smile at her lips. As much as she played at being annoyed by her companion... she enjoyed her company. Even with the not-so-subtle prodding to have a love life.

She went back to drawing the rune, and the smile faded. "...A life was taken tonight. By my choosing. It's important that I be the one to take it. To... fully know the weight of my choice." It was something Andrea had said before. Always with this look of... nostalgic regret as she said it.

But as she finished the shape she was currently working on, she broke her somber expression for another, proper smile. "Let's let that set for a moment. I'll order us some food and be back to draw the rest." She stood, sheathing her dagger, stepping to the door. In the hallway, she rang the bell to call for the waitress, who came upstairs and happily took her order. With that out of the way, she shut the door and came back to the stool. Food would be along shortly enough. Hopefully she could finish her work before then.
 
“Not that wide,” was Cinnamon’s soft response to Andrea protesting that it was the bartender’s job to smile at customers. Still, she left it well enough alone. The dark-haired woman never listened to her when she was trying to encourage her to do something that wasn’t hunting or prepping for hunting…

Before she could say anything more, however, Andrea had reached the end of the shape and stood up. Cinny resisted the urge to scratch at the rune -- she knew from experience that it was tingle and burn for an hour or two, at the very least, not painful, just barely on the edge of irritation… Scratching it wouldn’t do anything, either. So she shifted her dress back up in place and smiled at Andrea. “Thank you…”

It was only a few moments before Andrea returned to her seat in front of the fire and the redhead, but Cinny looked like she’d very nearly dozed off in that time, even sitting up as she was. Blinking, she passed her hands along her eyes with a soft sigh. “Do we have another job lined up?”
 
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Andrea shook her head as she settled back onto her stool. She would wait until they'd had food before finishing up the runework on Cinny's chest.

"No, nothing yet. I was planning to sort out collecting the reward tomorrow night... and then... maybe we'll see what catches our attention the day after. We've earned the break, after all of that tonight." She gave a small smile to her companion. It was moments like this where she felt the most guilty for Cinny's situation... but there wasn't much to be done about it other than exactly what they were doing. Food, Runes, and Sleep. That's what she needed.
 
Cinny nodded her acknowledgement of Andrea’s words, her crimson eyes shifting to regard the fire just over the dark-haired woman’s shoulder. She didn’t know what answer she would have wanted. On one hand, she looked forward to having something to offer the world, considering what she was. It was the only way to undo some of the damage she’d done, to atone for what she’d become… but on the other hand, it meant the potential to release the Wendigo in a situation in which she’d do even more harm. It was always so uncertain…

Sighing, she raised her hand and rubbed her face. “... what I wouldn’t give for a tub full of skin-scaldingly hot water.” She gave Andrea a ghost of a smile, a teasing tone sneaking into her voice. “You should go talk to that bartender. Find out her name. Ask her to give a you a tour of the wine cellar. I guarantee you wouldn’t regret it.”
 
Andrea actually groaned. "I am not going to go woo some bartender in the WINE CELLAR of all places. She's not even my type!" She sighed in exasperation. This line of prodding had been nonstop for a while now. Cinny was dedicated to finding the dark haired mage someone to be... intimate with. And Andrea always declined. Never seemed to deter her, though.
 
“Hm,” Cinnamon responded, her eyes narrowing as she regarded Andrea scrutinizingly. This had been the case for a while, now. They’d been together for years and Andrea had yet to have a beau of any sort… which meant that the longer they were partners, the more determined Cinnamon got to make sure that if -- when -- her Curse caught up to her and she had to be killed, Andrea wouldn’t be alone.

“There was her sister. A blonde instead of a brunette,” she suggested, helpfully. “Orrrrrr -- perhaps they have a brother?”

She leaned forward, watching the dark-haired woman with those crimson eyes of hers and a slight tilt to her head. At least that one-stroke-away-from-sobbing-hysterically look to her face was gone, replaced by her determination to find the answers that she sought. Which… just so happened to be the answers as to what sort of partner Andrea might prefer. It was so hard when it came to the dark-haired, studious, inscrutable young woman.
 
Andrea raised an eyebrow, her expression somewhere between annoyed as amused as she gave away nothing Cinny might use to narrow this down any further. If Cinny was going to insist... Andrea wasn't going to make it any easier on her.

But before she could reply with any bit of well-timed snark, they were interrupted by a knock on the door. A voice came from the other side. "Food's up!"

Andrea looked at the door for a moment... but then decided against it. Instead, she turned to Cinny. "Your turn to get the door. I don't trust you not to sneak up behind me and... i dunno, push my face into her bosom, or something."
 
Cinny rolled her eyes slightly at Andrea’s refusal to cooperate with her and her scrutiny… but the promise of food was far too tempting to be waylaid by Andrea’s determination to make it hard for Cinny to find her someone. So the redhead shrugged her dress more completely on, since it’d been off on one side to allow the drawing of the rune, sighing at her companion. “Fine, you miserable rune-master, you…”

She moved to the door and opened it, speaking quietly to the person on the otherside as she accepted the food. With another warm smile, she stepped back, kicking the door shut as she carried the spread of food over to set it on the floor in front of the fire.

Settling down next to it, she began to eat quietly but quickly, her appetite after every shift nothing short of impressive… The wendigo burned through all of her reserves every time, which meant a lot for her to replace. Plus, focusing on the food allowed her to let everything else -- the killing, the destroying, the rage -- fall off to the side a little bit more. Allowed her to feel just a little bit more… normal.
 
Andrea pushed off the stool and took a seat on the floor, joining the redhead near the food. Most of the food laid out was for Cinny, given her... ahem... monstrous appetite. But Andrea would pick at a bit of it here and there. It was decent enough... inn food was never a particularly amazing thing, but as hungry as both of them were, Andrea certainly didn't mind. She doubted Cinny did, either. Even if Cinny's cooking was miles better than anything spread before them. She couldn't very well ask Cinny to cook tonight, though. Not after a transformation.

"Is the plan alright? A couple days off, before we begin again?" Andrea asked, suddenly second guessing her previous suggestion as they ate.
 
Cinny ate the way she always did right after a transformation -- as if she didn’t actually taste any of it, just was going through the mechanical motions of getting sustenance back in her body. She loved food, loved to cook, loved to bake… but this was none of those things. This was rote and mechanical and survival, not enjoyment or love.

At Andrea’s words, the redhead looked up at her, momentarily confused. It wasn’t like Andrea to second guess herself… ever. For a second, Cinny went back over her own words, concerned she’d given the dark-haired mage reason to be concerned or worried, but she couldn’t see anything. Not anything more than normally occurred after a transformation. So she offered a small, dry smile, reaching out to put a hand on the other woman’s knee.

“It’s a fine plan. All I need is a day or two to recover, then we can move on to the next.”

What else was she going to do, after all. It’s not like she had a family to care for or a home to tend to. Not anymore. She moved her hand from Andrea’s knee, her fingers brushing along the golden pendant that hung around her neck before dropping back to the food in front of them.

“Besides, that will give me a day or two to find you a nice… burly man?” Cinny prompted, eyeing Andrea scrutinizingly as she popped another bit of meat into her mouth to chew.
 
Andrea watched Cinny puzzle through the suggestion. And she hadn't missed the touch of the pendant. One of Cinny's few belongings she actually cared anything for. But before she could comment on any of that, Cinny was giving her a reason to GROAN UNCONTROLLABLY.

"UGH! I should invent a rune that prevents you from discussing sex with me." Andrea replied, although despite her mostly straight face, Cinny would still probably catch the faintest amused smile tugging at her expression.