[IC] Dragon Sodality

[Absolute Grace]

Crackling flames licked at hanging tapestries depicting all manner of impossible things, the fire unweaving the threads of history and burning them. Landscapes of green blackening and faces of proud men shrivelling under the heat, while ash falls onto marbled floors only to be swept away by the breeze from a gaping hole in the crumbling stone wall. For an instant the light of the outside dimmed and a winged shadow crossed over the floor followed by the deafening roar of an enraged beast.

The scene suddenly shifted around to view things from an opposite angle and the single window, with shattered glass, reflected the room back in on itself from a surface centred with a slit of pitch black surrounded by embers of burning anger.

A tolling bell sounded loudly overhead, causing eyes of pale green to snap open with a harsh intake of breath. It was the same dream again, yet more vivid than the last. Objects were becoming clearer, the fire hotter and the dragon more pronounced. There was an inkling of something other than anger in the great drakes eye, but it was almost impossible to decipher. It could have been great many things or nothing at all.

Sitting up in her bed, Evelyn ran a hand through her blonde hair, exhaling an exhausted sigh as she did so and felt the coolness of her breath on her arm. It use to be warm like a normal person’s once, but not matter what she tried, it wouldn’t heat up in the slightest. She wouldn’t have cared so much if that was the only abnormal thing about her, however it wasn’t. Her fingers touched the feathery tip of her right ear which was exactly the same as the left. Strange. If anyone else saw them… if her father saw them… A shake of her head cleared the thoughts. She didn’t wan’t to think about them.

Standing up, the small slayer prepared herself for the day and soon found herself overlooking the great hall from the second storey balcony. It was early, the sun only just peaking over the horizon and not many people were up. It was a fact that not many got up before the second bell of the morning and this suited Evelyn just fine. The quiet was nice, the quiet didn’t expect or demand anything of her. It just let her be.

Heavy footsteps announced her to the presence of another person walking towards her. They were familiar and so she turned around. “A good morning to you, father. I wanted to speak with you yesterday but-“

“Your Northern patrol. How did it go? Anything to report?” The baritone interrupted as if she had not yet spoken a word and she immediately straightened her posture.

“No, Master. It was all quiet and as I predicted, the drakes have moved further south to escape the cold. There won’t be trouble here until it warms.”

“Good. I’ll send a team out after the slow migrating ones, we could stand to have more materials.” He stopped there, but if Evelyn thought the conversation was over, she was wrong. “Mrikel tells me that there was a nesting of ice wyrms, that had not yet been taken out…”

“Ice wyrms are hardly a threat, they’re no bigger than a pony and have a temperament of a sheep-“

“What do we do here at Dragon Sodality?” His voice took on a slightly harsher tone and he leant down to be a little closer to her level. Evelyn turned away and once more looked over the hall below.

“… Slay dragons…” She answered slowly after a composing breath.

“Indeed.” Turning on his heel, the master strode away from his daughter, leaving her to sigh into her hands, her elbows resting on the railing.

[xxrhoo]

Before the day could be reborn, Rhoo was looking over the garden of their rather lavish barracks. She stood with her hands folded over the small of her back, scarcely even breathing. The silence of the hour before the sun broke over the horizon was, in a way, deafening. Not a creature seemed to stir from their slumber.

Rhoo knew that if her mother were here, they would be speaking in hushed voices, having a conversation about the beauty of the night...or what disastrous injuries they'd see that day. Rhoo picked up the habit of rising before the sun from Aiana, and she had no intention to yet break that tradition. Cool, blue eyes cut over to the left, expecting to see a tall and strong blonde woman standing boldly, admiring the darkness. Yet there was no one. It was an empty room.

She had exited her quarters some time before the first bell. The sun was just peeking over the plains, illuminating the great hall in a warm, dim light. Rhoo stood on the third and topmost floor of the layered barracks. Movement from the second floor caught her attention, and she peered down past the protective railing. She could have sworn that her ears twitched by themselves as her hearing seemed to amplify, yet she still could not understand what the low voices of Evelyn and her father were saying.

Quietly, she made her way toward the stairs and descended them as if she were gliding downward.

[Tancuras]

Orren woke gently as the first ray of the sun slipped over the eastern horizon, its unhindered warmth bathing his face. He often slept against a parapet upon the keep's roof, a habit he had made within his first few weeks in the Sodality. He had nothing against the cushion of a feather mattress - which was strange, but not uncomfortable in the least - but rather the entrapment he felt between four walls and a roof, wherein he could no longer hear or taste the night. The guild's watchmen no longer questioned it as they did their rounds.

The woodsman sniffed the air as he rose, keen for signs of danger, then stretched his back and limbs. Any lethargy left him immediately; his focus returned to him instantly. It was a trait he learned watching wolves as a child, how they were able to bound into action without pause, contrasting the drowsy weakness most of mankind possessed after slumber. It had saved the wolves' lives, and Orren's own, countless times, and was a necessary thing when living as an animal.

Satisfied that the morning held no immediate threat, Orren departed, moving toward the stairs that descended back into the keep.

"Good morning," Orren said to a sleepy watchman. His lessons in the common tongue were progressing, and he had learned much, but his speech still slurred and he growled more than spoke, and he sounded more a beast trying to speak than a man. Still, his tutor had told him that he must always practice, and so he practiced.

"Good morning," Orren said again to the watchman beside the first. And he said it again to a man he passed on the stairs. And again, to every person he saw, regardless of where they were, or what they were doing. He saw a woman emerge from a room across the keep's great hall, too far yet to discern her face, yet still he shouted to her. "Good morning!" He had to practice.

He greeted several other people on his way down to the second story before he found who he was looking for. Orren's tutor, Evelyn, was in her usual place, already accompanied by another familiar dragonslayer known as Rhoo.

"Good morning, Rhoo," Orren said as he approached the two, smiling at the young woman. He liked her name - it was easy to remember and easy to say.

He quickly turned to Evelyn. Her name, however, was not easy to remember, or easy to say. But Orren had finally been able to memorize it after several months, and he was practiced in speaking it.

"Good morning," Orren started, smiling in turn at Evelyn. Then he stopped, eyes widening as if forgetting something. He stepped back, making a short and mocking bow. "Little master." He grinned at his tutor with sharp teeth and gleaming eyes.

@Absolute Grace@xxrhoo

[mcpop9]

Momaru sat with his mentor. Micheal, eating the first meal of the day. It wasn't much, just some hot grits in a bowl with a few pieces jerky. The boy seemed very reserved as he sat on his stool, the black tail swishing softly behind him, his horns protruding from his forehead. These had been the source of his 'Training' as his mentor had called it. There were wraps on his arms and he even had a black eye. In reality, it was just an excuse for his mentor to be abusive towards him. Because of his nature, those who saw what happened in during his 'training' happened to turn a blind eye towards what his mentor did to him.

As more and more people woke up, Momaru sighed as he felt the glares start to come in, people barely acknowledging his existence while he ate a bit more of his morning. this was when the boy started to choke on a piece of the jerky, causing him to spill the bowl of grits he was eating. While trying to stop himself from choking, he looked up at his mentor in desperation and for help, the man just sat there, still eating and calmly watching.

It took about thirty seconds, but he finally dislodged the piece of dried meat, only to cough it up and send it flying across the table and to hit his mentor in the face. The man got up and while Momaru was still trying to recover from his near death experience, smacked him so hard he was thrown off the stool. "I take you under my wing, train you and give you food, you pay this kindness back by spitting in my face and wasting the food i give you? you should should be ashamed of yourself." he scolded Ru; smacking the boy again as he got up.

Ru was fighting back tears now, clenching his fists. "I... I was choking..." he said, slowly starting to get up. "I know why you hit me... it's cause i'm like them..." he said, shuddering, feeling his glare. "Well i didn't get a choice. i didn't choose to look like this. I came here for answers, not to be a punching bag for people's rage." he said, nursing his cheek which still was stinging. "I'm getting my stuff and finding a new mentor here." he said, getting up.

The man was boiling with rage, he took a step forwards and threw a punch at momaru. The man then went wide eyed and was confused and afraid in the same moment. The boy had put up a hand and caught the punch with relative ease. "Stop." was all momaru said, before heading off into one of the side rooms and grabbing all his gear in a large bag. the boy then went out and found a corner of the room to curl up in, nursing his wounds and damaged spirit.

[xxrhoo]

The moment Rhoo had begun to approach Evelyn, a man that Rhoo recognized as Evelyn's father pushed past her. He had turned smoothly on his heel, ducking his head for a nanosecond, and in that nanosecond of his inattention, he managed to come close to a collision with Rhoo. She ignored it, even his failure to apologize after harshly nudging the edge of her shoulder. Her balance faltered only the slightest, and she was able to immediately straighten up.

There was less than a yard between the two as Rhoo stood straight and silent, staring at the blonde. Though it never showed on the outside, her mind was running a million thoughts per second. She managed to slow them down into one focus, and choked out a low, gravelly, "Hello."

It was not unlike her to make small conversation with other members inside of the barracks. However, it was usually during treatments when she actually took the time to speak. Since her mother died, which had been very recently, Rhoo decided that it was high time to make connections with others. There was no one left that she was close to. Her family had expired.

Whether or not Evelyn was about to respond to her in any manner, Rhoo couldn't fully tell. Their nonexistent conversation was interrupted when Orren approached them with an almost strained smile on his face, so it seemed to her. He bid her good morning, speaking her name in almost a liquid, flowing manner. It brought the corners of her lips upward into a smile, and she nodded her head.

"Good morning, Orren."

When he turned to Evelyn and seemed to struggle, it made Rhoo the slightest bit concerned. However, when he made the comical bow and referred to Evelyn as "little master," it caused the hint of a smile on Rhoo's face to widen into a sly grin. She brought a gloved hand up to her mouth and covered it as she giggled.

During this time, Rhoo could "feel" the shapes on the floor below them. The sound of conversing voices was as a shadow, there but ignored. Sharp movement caused her to tense, and her ears twitched again on their own when she heard a raised, yelling voice. She surreptitiously peered at the two people in front of her, wondering if they heard it as well. They did not seem phased. A shape of a person moved quickly out of the way of another, ambling off far beyond Rhoo's senses. The tension in her body eased.

[Absolute Grace]

Her father wasn’t always like this. Yes, he was always hard on her, but not to this extent. He was becoming harsher these days. Resting her chin in her hand Evelyn could see the flames in her mind’s eye again, burning bright in the dim. A warning or a beacon? She couldn’t tell. What she did know was that it was more than a simple fire. Repetitive dreams held meaning relating to future events, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling of oldness. Like a melancholy remembrance of something that had already happened.

Evelyn really must have been deep in her thoughts for one moment she was alone and then the next someone was greeting her in soft tones. Looking over her shoulder, she inclined her head. “Greetings to you also, Rhoo.” She just managed to say before another familiar slayer came over. It was Orren, the man found in the wilds and the man under her tutelage. He bid Rhoo a good morning, the words of which were sounding more fluent every day.

He then moved onto her repeating the same words. She nodded her head, though quickly she became concerned when he suddenly stopped. It proved unnecessary however, as he simply bowed and called her his own title for her. She blew a non-existent strand of hair out of her face and could not stop the quirk of her lips especially not with the giggles from the other female slayer beside her.

“Sir Orren, a pleasure to see you and a good morning.” She returned his mock bow with a curtsy of her own, though that was the extent of her happiness. Her smile didn’t widen further than the slight upturn in the corners of her lips. “You’ve been practicing I see. Very good.” She could remember when she first started teaching the man common tongue, he really had come far since then. His animalistic noises had decreased greatly and the pronunciation was more precise.

“Shall we head down for the morning meal? I think I heard tell of there being Sandia’s famous sausages this morning. It has been too long since she last had the chance to make them.” She motioned to the stairs and made her way slowly over to them. “If we don’t go now, there will surely be none left and it is hard to say when they will next be on the menu.” If she tantalised them, surely they would get there faster. Her next step would be to describe the taste and smell. If she remembered correctly, Orren quite fancied them. As did majority of the Sodality.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you both down there.” Heading down the stairs, she quickly made it into the main hall where tables were set up. She walked along the outside of the room and soon noticed a form huddled in the corner, covered in bandages. Slowing her pace to a stop before getting too close, Evelyn looked around the room and spotted the person she was looking for.

“Michael. A word, if you would.” Her voice was even, giving nothing away as to the reasoning of why she wished to talk to him. Once the man would have made it over to where she was, she would talk to him. “I’ve had enough of your treatment towards young Momaru. He isn’t your personal training dummy and now he is no longer your supposed student. With training no longer your concern I am sure the kitchen would be happy to give you something to do. There are many dirty dishes I am sure.” Her positioning had her standing in front of the trainee slayer and her reasoning for the position was simply so that Momaru could hear her words.

[Tancuras]

Orren jumped at Evelyn's mention of sausage, immediately realizing what had been bothering him. He felt half-starved. The scent of fire-roasted meat had been poking the back of his mouth, but he had not noticed it until then. When his tutor left, Orren's head spun to Rhoo.

"Meat!" he said, smiling. He enjoyed that word, too. It was a simple word for one of the most important things in life. "Meat, Rhoo! We should go." He did not wait, heeding Evelyn's warning about the food's waning quantity. He stalked down the rest of the way to the main hall.

The sheer number of people intimidated him as it did every day. Too many factors, too many dangers, impossible to keep track of them all. That was another lesson he had been learning: how to trust in your comrades. He never before had such a thing. In this, however, he looked to the wolves once again. He tried to visualize them as a pack - an absurdly large one - and this also served to aid him in learning the guild's hierarchy. He knew he was above most of the lot, the servants, the watchmen, and the newcomers. He knew he held similar footing to the other slayers, like Rhoo. Evelyn was above him in the pack, being the daughter of the guild master, and that earned her Orren's nickname.

Then there was the master himself. Orren had seldom witnessed Master D'Orion, and the times he did were never pleasurable. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise every time, and had to fight the urge to bare his teeth. Maybe it was the wolf thing again, and Orren could not accept him as leader. Or maybe it was the simple cold hostility the man exuded. He could not tell.

Orren fought his wariness away with determination. He quickly locked on to a young man delivering several bowls of sausage and approached him, snatching two greasy wooden plates from the tray. He bounded away, ignoring the man's protest. Whoever they were intended for, they belonged to Orren now. Or they did as soon as he could get them into his mouth. It was not long ago when the woodsman would simply growl and bear down on others until they handed their meals over. He had quickly learned that that was not the way of the civilized. Feigning ignorance, however, was an acceptable substitute.

Orren found himself an empty corner of the long tables placed throughout the hall. He nearly inhaled his food the instant he sat. He had no idea intestines could taste so good. He usually left them for the dogs. Whatever medley of meat composed these "sausages", it was not something Orren had ever tasted, but was nonetheless delicious beyond his meager vocabulary. They were made even better by the fact that he did not have to cook them himself.

As he ate, he watched the people before him, pondering the day and what it had in store. He had often wondered this since joining the Sodality. No longer required to seek food or water, he had ample free time, and usually spent it simply wandering the guild hall and the nearby mountains. It had been too long since they had a good hunt.

[mcpop9]

Ru watched the whole thing unfold before himself. The little voice in the back of his mind finally woke up from the previous night's slumber. 'What goes on?' the voice echoed through his mind. "The girl... just pulled me from the care of him..." he softly spoke to himself. Momaru listened to the whole discussion. He was used to the glares of people and the disgust in their eyes when they looked at him, not this.

Micheal knew who she was and what position the girl held in relation to the reigns of power in the guild. With a bit of a grumble, he nodded and walked off to the kitchen. Momaru saw this and decided to take the opportunity to approach her, she was the first one to really stick up for him in any form. The boy put up his hood up so that it draped over his face enough to hide the horns and eyes from view and curled his tail around his mid section in an attempt to try and lessen the attention to them.

He approached the female infront of him and was shy about it. His tor-mentor had been so rough on him, he was generally too afraid of someone else treating him similarly to interact with anyone. Nervously, Momaru stopped infront of Evelyn. "He...hello... thank you for getting rid of him... I'm Mo-Mo-Momaru." he said, visibly shaking. It was clear he was hiding his features, the hood and the lump under his vest at the waist displaying this attempt at stealth poorly.

"I think... i think you're Evange-" he said but stopped and cut himself off. "Evelyn, sorry." he corrected himself like someone else had told him the proper name. "I... didn't want to get myself killed... that's why i didn't fight back." he said, sighing. "I know we need mentors, but i'm fine without one. can't i be an exception?" he asked, almost begging her.

[xxrhoo]

The rare smile on Rhoo's face softened, but did not vanish completely. Orren was one of her favorite people around the barracks. His struggled speech was innocently cute, and brought a memory to attention of how Aiana would recall that Rhoo never spoke her first word until she was eight years old.

Rhoo followed close behind Orren, and felt his tension as they entered the mess hall. The room was continuously filling with others, crowding every space, every seat and table. She did not follow when Orren approached a man and took two plates with hostile force. She waited a moment before approaching the same man and motioning for a bowl, and he handed her one, obviously confused and offended at the encounter with Orren.

Her eyes trailed over the sea of faces and stuck on Evelyn's. A seemingly dark, hooded figure approached her cautiously. Rhoo watched as she sat herself in front of Orren. The person did not mean harm, she could tell. Her ears twitched and strained, her brain going crazy from all of the noise and activity in the mess hall. Ignoring the fork leaning daintily against the side of the bowl, Rhoo plucked a thick, greasy sausage from the dish with two fingers and bit down on the end of it. She cried out in alarm, not realizing how hot the sliver of meat would be. It fell from her grasp onto the table, and her forked tongue hung out of her mouth painfully.

She rubbed her tongue against her upper lip, feeling the tingling numbness from the mild burn. She sucked it back into her mouth with a soft "pop," and looked across the table at Orren. He was eyeing her with concern, and she managed a thin smile to assure him that she was alright. The unexpected burn and pain had made her unreasonably angry, though it didn't show on the outside. Throwing the fact that the sausage was probably soiled from rolling on the table, Rhoo picked it up once more and tore off the piece she had previously tried to eat, which was now hanging by a thread. She rolled it around in her fingers and blew on it, then popped it into her mouth and chewed slowly.

Before long, she had cautiously consumed a full sausage. All the while, her eyes darted around her peripheral when not locked on Evelyn and her guest. Without a word or warning, Rhoo rose from the table with her bowl of sausages in tow, and approached the two. She plucked another sausage from the dish and held it out at arms length, which is about how far she was from the hooded person. They turned to her, along with Evelyn, and Rhoo knew that they must have been perplexed. It didn't matter, she reasoned with herself. A gut instinct had told her to offer this shady figure some of her food.

Even if she was making a fool of herself, Rhoo didn't care. She stared apathetically and awaited a response.

[Tancuras]

Rhoo left his table, and Orren felt himself let out a quiet sigh of relief. He did not believe he would ever grow accustomed to more complex human interaction, and such exchanges left him feeling drained, even moreso than fighting dragons. Even when the other slayer had seemed to burn her mouth on her breakfast, he could not manage to find the words appropriate to such a situation, and could only watch.

Orren finished his breakfast quickly and without further incident. He departed the hall quickly, glad to escape the bustle. With breakfast nearing a close, he knew the guild's hunters would be ranging, and so he made his way to the front of the keep and through its large open gate, entering the dawn.

The morning air was crisp, though the sun was already starting to warm it, and a gentle breeze caused his dark braids to sway. Orren took the breeze deep into his lungs, tasting the stone of the keep, the everglades far below them, and the grassy knolls just beyond the keep's outer walls. He deduced that there would be fair weather that morning. Another beautiful day on the mountains of Vankinore.

The scent of man mingled with the rest, and he approached the hunters gathering at the front gate. They nodded to him in turn as they flexed their hunting bows, checked their arrowheads and fletchings and secured their quivers. The guild's hunters were a fairly quiet bunch, at least in the mornings before they found their drink, and Orren could appreciate the silent company. He was not familiar enough with them to know their names, but he was certain they knew his. With the looming threat of dragon attack, the hunters traveled as a unit, and having a fully-fledged slayer with them was a comfort. It was not every day that Orren hunted with them, but it was a duty he was familiar with, and a good way to fill out an otherwise fruitless day.

Orren moved his own bow from the small leather case on his back, bracing it against his foot and slipping the string into its notch in one rapid movement. He reached back, adjusting the small quiver at his hip, prepared for the hunt.

[Absolute Grace]

It was a little disappointing when the man simply walked off without much protest. He was a fully trained slayer and had just been sent to the kitchens by a female half his size. Sure it was nice to know that people would listen to her despite the fact that as the masters daughter, she honestly didn’t have much power over people. Not to mention that her father would surely chew her out when he caught word that one of his men was scrubbing dishes in the kitchen.

As soon as the man was gone from the room, Evelyn noticed that the young huddled slayer was now standing and was even approaching her. Not without fear though, she noticed; The poor boy was shivering. Michael really had done a number on him. While the boy found his courage and spoke to her, thanking and introducing himself, she noticed how hard he was trying to hide the dragon like attributes. Clearly fearing her reaction should she see them.

“He did this to you, didn’t he.” It wasn’t so much of a question, but more a fact since she already knew the answer. Slowly following the bandaged areas over his body with a cool green gaze Evelyn lowered her head. “I wish to apologise.” She told him honestly. No one should ever be treated like this because of what they looked like and knowing that it had been going on without her notice was truly saddening. With clenched fists, she looked towards the entry of the kitchen where Michael had just gone.

Taking a calming breath, she focused back on Momaru who was once again speaking to her. Tilting her head just slightly in a curious manner, when Momaru paused in her name seemingly being corrected internally. However, with the next thing he said, she forgot her thoughts on the matter and her stoic expression brightened marginally in amusement.

An exception? If she had a drop of water for each time she had heard such a thing, she would have an ocean. It wasn’t uncommon to hear especially not with the young slayers who thought themselves the best. Before she had the chance to make any reply, Rhoo made an appearance. With a raised brow, Evelyn watched as the younger slayer held out a sausage for Momaru with her hands.

“Rhoo,” She began with a humorous exasperation. “Momaru here isn’t an animal to be hand fed.” The berate was only minor and held no real animosity for it was clear that the girl only meant well. “Wouldn’t you agree that he deserves a bowl of his own?”

[mcpop9]

"Yes. He did." Momaru said, shuddering again as his relaxation in stance hurt him. The apology was something he was about to accept until he saw what her reaction was. He sighed, until the smell of meat came across his nose. Momaru's stomach rumbled loudly and the orange streaks in his eyes glowed as he took the sausage in his own hand. Throwing it up into the air with his mouth open, catching it and eating it rather quickly.

Momaru seemed to be in much better spirits after the meat. However, his hood fell down revealing the Horns atop his head. They were black and five inches long, curving towards the back of his head. Enjoying the taste of the meat, he also dislodged its tail from its hiding place, the swinging of the black scaled tail back and forth. He seemed to be happy and ready to thank the person when Ru realized that he had exposed himself.

The boy quickly crouched down, pulling his hood down over his head, holding it there desperately and his tail curled between his legs. "Please don't hurt me..." he begged the new girl, seemingly scooting closer to Evelyn to try and use her local presence as a shield against anything that might happen.

[xxrhoo]

At Evelyn's comment, Rhoo looked at her and smiled. She could hear the amusement in the woman's voice. Rhoo wasn't quite sure how to handle the boy in front of her who had just practically swallowed the sausage whole. She looked from Evelyn to him, and her face showed surprise when the boy's hood fell from his head, unveiling a set of horns. Soon after, his tail became present. She stared at him in awe, for she had not seen something exactly like this yet.

Then, the boy hid himself again, seeming to be frightened. When he begged Rhoo not to hurt him, she could feel her heart break. She didn't feel like she looked as a threat. She was rather thin and lanky, and wasn't even sure if she possessed any real strength. Staring at the crouching boy, she lowered herself to his level and was silent for a moment.

Slowly and cautiously, Rhoo put the bowl with the remaining sausage on the floor in front of him. Her mind never slowing down to give her time to properly think, she managed to tell him, "You can have these. I won't hurt you." She made a face something like a grimace and said, "You look nice."

[CAS]

The morning sun was brighter than it needed to be Frederik thought. He shielded his eyes from it with a large gloved hand, casting his face in a deep shadow. This morning he'd already had an early breakfast, tended to some small chores, and had found himself buried into a book about nothing in particular. It was like many of his days simply spent idling about like a teenager. Now he found himself ambling in the courtyard of the guild, looking for something to reinvigorate him. It had been a while since Frederik had been out and about in the world of dragons and he felt the walls of this place closing in on him. If he didn't busy himself soon he was going to go mad.

Across the courtyard standing at the entrance Frederik saw what might have been his only chance. A group of hunters stood there, bows ready in hand for a busy day of tracking and hopefully slaying. They were clad in neutral colours, and for the most part looked to be average size men. One though was quite thin by comparison. Frederik wasn't a particularly good hunter either; dragons were kind of stupid considering they chose to fight parties of dragon slayers rather than turn tail and run.. or fly. His tracking and marksmanship skills were lackluster at the best of times, but bad work was better than no work.

Dressed in the bottom layers of his armour, mostly a brown leather and scale clad shamble, Frederik waved at the group with a great arm whistling loudly. From their eyes he must have looked like an old kook who'd forgotten how to dress himself. His sword was strapped on his hips and the dagger into a belt, and he hollered at the group of hunters.

"Eh! Boys! Take me with you will ya?"

[Tancuras]

When the newcomer whistled, Orren took the first chance he had to breathe the nearby air. The man's scent was not unfamiliar, but it belonged to someone Orren had not had the chance to yet become affiliated with. He smelled like ash and blood. Another dragonslayer.

"Eh! Boys!" The man shouted. "Take me with you will ya?"

Orren frowned. He knew those words, but they were wrong. Will you...take me with you? That was how Evelyn would have told him to say it. Maybe the man was new to his words, like Orren himself? The woodsman's eyes brightened, and he knew he liked the man already.

Orren turned to the hunters. They gave the approaching slayer a quick up-and-down, then looked at each other.

"Pardon, slayer," one of the men said. "But you'd be needing to find a bow. We're hunting deer."

"Faster 'n any dragon, I reckon," said another hunter, laughing. "Never seen a man hunt a deer with a blade. They bolt at a snapping twig."

"No," Orren said. He frowned again, deeper this time. The hunters looked up at him, seeming surprised to hear him speak. He chewed his words before saying them. "When you are hungry, you become a wolf." He wondered if that made sense. In his years in the wilds, many times Orren had found himself starved and without arrows. Desperation had driven him to do many things to catch his food. He knew a fellow slayer had the mettle to do so as well. "He will come with me. Good...luck." He nodded to the hunters, ending the engagement.

After a few moments, the other men left, and Orren was left with the newcomer.

"I," Orren said, pointing to his chest as he enunciated the word. "Am Orren. Who are you?" He stood ready to depart from the keep at the other slayer's discretion.

@CAS

[Ghost Queen]

With the clever use of a towel stuffed at the foot of her door, Freya's sleep remained undisturbed until hunger awoke her with its biting. With a yawn, a stretch, and several pops of her back she was as awake as one could be after a long patrol, she had barely gotten out of her armor before flopping onto her mattress midday the day before. With a sigh of content she began to take stock of herself and begin her day. No wounds to take care off, armor doesn't need to be repaired, a wash was definitely in order, and a jug of wine sat on a shelf nearby. Everything was right in the world, until she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and the nightmare came flooding back. Her hair had gotten burnt, unfixably so. With a forlorn sigh Freya grabbed a dagger and went about the horrible work.

About an hour later Freya stood in a pile of her fiery red hair, her once flowing locks struck down. With a sigh she sweeped the pile into a corner and grabbed a small rag, wetting it in a fresh bowl of water before giving herself a scrub down. Within minutes over a months worth of dirt, grime, and stress was cleaned away. It had nothing on a nice dip in a hot spring, but it would do. Putting on some new clothes and downing a large cup of wine, Freya decided real food was in order. As expected the food wasn't the best thing she'd had but after a patrol anything that wasn't dried meat was heavenly. She noticed D'Orion fretting with some of the newer meat and decided not to get involved, instead enjoying the food in front of her and making a mental note to go to the Scarlet Dragon sometime.

[CAS]

Frederik laughed at the hunters. It wasn't as though he meant to actually hunt a deer with his sword, but what kind of a slayer would he be to leave it behind. Orren calling him a wolf stirred another chuckle in his stomach. "Ain't never tried hunting a deer with a sword, nor would I turn into a wolf overnight." His words came out roughly, as though drunk and needing to think of every word on its own. That damned tongue and his teeth had changed all too quick for his speech to keep up and now he was left looking like a yokel. "Nah boys." He continued, "I ain't looking for the hunt, just leaving the walls. You go mad if you stay cooped up."

A few brief exchanges ended the conversation and the hunters left behind Orren and Frederik to their own ways. When Orren paused to make sure his own words were pronounced properly Frederik wondered if he was mocking him, but realized this was probably the wild boy he'd heard about from some of the others. He fit the bill of being wild quite well, the scarred and toned body one born likely of necessity.

"Well then Orren, I am Frederik Steinon, third son of my house and the bastard that ruined it." He extended a hand towards the gate. "But what say we talk of it all on a stroll through the woods instead." Frederik smiled, then with a roll of his shoulder stepped towards the gate waiting for the experienced hunter to lead him after a deer or whatever secret the forests held.

[Absolute Grace]

If anyone noticed that Evelyn reacted with no shock or even surprise when the features were revealed, they wisely kept silent. Though really, it wasn’t like people could join the Sodality without her notice. She was the Master’s daughter after all. Not that it felt like it, she mused with a sniff of disdain.

Instead, her curious nature was perked at the revealing of the features that the young man had been trying to hide. She had to fight the urge to investigate them. This was the furthest she had ever seen the Dragon Curse progress. The few others she knew about were small details like sharpened teeth or pointed nails, plus her own ears which even now she was hiding beneath her own hood.

“Hey, hey. Get ahold of yourself Momaru. How do you think you’ll be an exception if you behave like a mouse before a cat?” She looked down at his huddled form by her feet with her hands on her hips. “Now then, since you seem to think you don’t need a teacher I shall test you out myself. I expect to see you at the Western training ground in precisely fifteen minutes.” She wasn’t trying to be mean or threatening, which she wouldn’t have been anyway when standing shorter than the small young man. It didn’t take long before she placed a tender hand upon his head. “Hmph. Really, Rhoo is right, she wont hurt you nor will I allow anyone else to do so. Get to your feet, we may yet make a slayer out of you.”

She smiled then, as far as the slight upturn of her lips could be called a smile, and gave the two in front of her a nod. “You may join us if you wish, Rhoo.”

[mcpop9]

Momaru felt the hand on his head and it was strangely calming. The boy took the bowl and nodded, Standing back up. "You're right. I've just learned to keep my head down and try not to fight back. We're all members of the guild and i didn't want to be responsible for fighting back and injuring or killing someone." he explained to her, but nodded. "I'll be there." He said to evelyn, giving a shallow bow to her.

Then Momaru turned to Rhoo and gave a soft smile. "Thank you... Most tend to stay away from me. And while i'm ok with myself, i'm not ok with how people normally view me." He explained and had a link of the sausage, happy to have the meat instead of those gritz. He smiled a bit wider now, looking between the two of them. "It's good to hear positive things." he commented, leaving his hood down and his tails softly swooshing back and forth.

[xxrhoo]

The boy's sudden relief made Rhoo feel more comfortable as well, and she rose again to a standing position. She listened to him speak to Evelyn, and couldn't suppress the faint smile that crept its way upon her lips at his enthusiasm. The desire to assure him that he was probably kinder and stronger than most was present in her bosom, but still she kept silent. His bow was almost satirical, Rhoo thought, keeping a straight face.

When he turned to her, her smile widened. She dipped her head in a modest nod and said, "You're welcome," before he continued. Then, she said, "Just because you are different does not mean you are bad."

Then, she nodded at Evelyn, silently accepting the invitation.