there's beasts in these woods! // p w/ siloueta

If there was one thing the whispered comments regarding her were right about, it was that she was going to get herself killed one day. Lord knows whether it'd be for a good cause or not. Truth was, if anyone was going to actually succeed in a one-man dragon hunting quest, it was going to be her. She was the best equipped, and many people knew it. If the village leaders would not mobilize, then she would. Doing it alone was a death wish. There was one man in the valley, however, who she knew would be more than happy to join her. Alexa gave a steady knock on Percival's door. Percival was a man of odd methods who thought the best way to do things was hands-on. Hands on for Percival often meant him slicing it open and seeing what he could find. It was a gruesome process.

Percival answered with arms folded and half a smirk on his face. It was just as he'd thought- if Alexa was going to run off into the wilderness bent on dragon-slaying with anybody, she would be practical. It'd be a healer. Just his luck it'd be him. "Hmm, well." He began. "Are you here to recruit for your crusade?" He gave a light laugh. There was no way in hell he'd refuse. The chance to study a dragon- dead or alive, was a rare one. This was something he expected. She was clearly discontent with the leader's decision- and Alexa was never one in the past to let things slide.

Alexa gave him a scoff and an eye roll. "I wouldn't call it a crusade." She folded her arms. "Just that I'd rather not die along the way, and you're the only healer that'd agree." She knew that if he was going to join her, it wasn't going to be for her health. Percival was what she'd call a desperate scientist- always looking to test his theories of biology on a creature. The chance to gut a dragon to his own accord wasn't something he'd pass up.

A bit of chatter down the road alerted her to another group of people approaching- sharpened hearing let Alexa know that they had similar ideas. Clarissa, Forfax, and- Jackson, it seemed like. She hadn't truly interacted with any of them too much. She didn't see a purpose in idle conversation. Her "friendship" with doctor Peregrine was all business. Mostly requests on his side. She raised an eyebrow and gave a fairly confused look as she inspected the fairly stubborn group.

Percival leaded forward to peer slightly out of the doorway to view a determined lycanthrope, a hesitant fae, and a fairly uptight looking seraph. He straightened his back and clasped his hands together. "Well, you go get them, then." He said- Percival drew the conclusion they were approaching for the same purpose from Alexa's expression. He knew she preferred him to do the talking. He felt like someone encouraging their child to be social. Percival gave a light smile at the thought. Alexa started by protesting. "Hold on. I don't even know if we want to bring th-" Percival closed the door firmly in her face. Alexa gave a sigh of annoyance.

Percival inspected his shelf closely for anything he'd need. A fresh notebook and a writing tool would be needed later on for study. There was one particular book that was more of his failsafe than anything. He picked it carefully from the shelf. It was fairly delicate, and had a leather-bound cover with some fairly odd looking symbols inscribed on it in black. "Hmm." He wondered briefly before adding it to the pack.

Alexa looked over to the group. Looked like they were headed to her house. Well, they weren't gonna find her there. She wasn't one for conversation starters. She typically let other people do the talking. She had always been more of a man of action than small-talk.

Alexa was surprised at the forwardness- and how quickly Clarissa and Forfax had approached her. She gave a whack on Percival's shut door again to signal him it was time to get moving. "Uh." She paused a moment, a bit confused on why they even wanted to come along in the first place. "Yeah. I was." She said bluntly. Forfax seemed serious enough. Clarissa had a strange grin in the sense that... not many people go around smiling when they're about to fight dragons.

Alexa had a hunch on what Clarissa was thinking. She used to think the same thing- if Alexa was right, that is. "So..." she started, still a slight bit jarred from their sudden appearance. "Why?" was all she could really think to say. "Why do you want to fight the dragon?" She asked. If they were all going to go about this, it was crucial to Alexa she knew what their intentions were. Exactly what they were. She wasn't going to take any beating around the bush. If she did turn out to be right- this was an adventure crusade for them. Alexa, in early hunting years, had the same idea before some more brutal jobs. You risk your life, slay the dragon, become the hero, get the girl- okay, maybe the last part had never actually happened to Alexa as expected after a job. But it was always far more gruesome than expected.

Nevertheless, both seemed prepared with armor and weaponry present. Longbow, axe, a fairly nice looking blade. Alexa didn't usually use anything longsword-related. A shortsword at most. She was, however, quite literally breaking out the big guns. Or gun, in this matter. Many a man who wanted an edge in a valley conflict had tried and failed to get their hands on it. It was taken straight from human society and Alexa was not keen on giving it up to anybody. Not like they knew how to use it anyway.

Alexa nodded. Forfax seemed to have a good enough reason- anyone would want to defend their village at a moment's notice... she hoped, at least. Alexa was slightly concerned about Clarissa's addition. Her reasoning was probably the same as Forfax's, but she supposed anyone would be excited to see a dragon- fear aside. Percival opened the door with all he needed. It wasn't much, Alexa had taken care of the more necessary things.

He stepped outside with his hands clasped behind his back. "Ah, so is this the team of adventurers, then, hmm?" He said with a nod. Percival knew both Clarissa and Forfax. He was more familiar with Forfax, but Percival knew most of everybody in the village. Alexa had a look on her face that suggested to Percival that she felt slightly out of place- something he was keen to take advantage of. Alexa was the most fun to mess with. No matter when he did it, it always got her off guard because she typically took everything seriously. "Oh, Alexa!" He exclaimed, to which Alexa greeted with a confused stare. He gave a gesture toward Clarissa and Forfax, purposefully making it as vague as possible. "Isn't that the one you li-" Alexa quickly interrupted him with a hand clamped over his mouth and an elbow to the ribs. That was mainly a lie and a joke. Percival knew jack about Alexa's love life. Nor did he truly care.

Alexa would kill him if they weren't the vaguest of friends. Percival was a man of dramatics and one that wouldn't pass up a joking opportunity if it would please him. Did every opportunity have to be at her expense? "He's joking. He's just stupid." She said through clenched teeth, giving him a glare. Lord hoped they wouldn't take that seriously. Alexa removed her hand from his mouth. "Anyway." She started. "If you want to come along, go ahead. We're going right now, though. Sooner the better." She said. Besides- if they weren't truly up for it, they could leave whenever they wanted. It didn't matter to her.

Percival called himself a master of social experiment. Alexa called it "annoying." Percival appeared a man of formality- with a side dose of oddly timed sarcasm and humour to pair. He frankly seemed to care more of his theories than other's emotions aside from when it was truly serious. Alexa could name a number of things that would probably get them in trouble on this journey. A seeming lack of monster-related combat experience from Percival and Clarissa did not look promising. Nor did Percival's strangely-timed remarks. Forfax seemed alright enough. They seemed fairly uptight, but aside that, at least someone who's clearly done battle with larger creatures.

Alexa reached over and took Forfax's map without a word. Percival sighed. Couldn't she have asked, at least? He deemed Alexa sort of an anomaly among people. A loner that would rarely desire to be in the company of other people- even if she needed them. Thus, she was sort of blunt with these things. Though loners themselves were not uncommon among society Alexa did prove a little... strange. To him at least. A lycanthrope that used their power sparingly wasn't out of place, but rarely- even when she needed it. It seemed she would rather struggle than go through the use of that form. Percival was not one for boundaries when it came to what he wanted to know and was intent on finding out why.

She looked over it briefly. Alexa pointed a glove finger to the fine-print area of the map that appeared to detail a range of mountains- pointing toward the highest peak in the center. "Right there." She said simply, handing it back to Forfax. Though she hadn't actually found the beast, Jian the fauna leader did not quite agree with his fellow leader's decision. He was willing to spare some information.

Percival nodded in agreement with Clarissa. "Alright, then. Let's go." He said, looking to Alexa for her to lead the pack. Alexa turned about face to head to the back edge of the village. Just to be safe, she'd rather still head out a more hidden path than where most people entered and exited the village. She gestured for them to follow her.

As they started off, Percival lagged a bit behind Alexa to keep pace with Clarissa. He wasn't sure they'd formally met. Never too late for an introduction. He stuck his hand out to her. "Hello! Percival Peregrine, doctor." He would be sure to be working with the two of them on the journey. Alexa was terrible company on her own anyway. Never really talked much. As far as he know, she was a guard- that being the extent of his knowledge on Clarissa. Not much was known about Forfax, aside from that they've been around far longer than he has.

Alexa walked a slight ways ahead of everybody else, listening in on the conversation behind her. She silently hoped Percival wouldn't make anymore strange comments. She would've kicked him out by now if she didn't need him to come along. Alexa still wasn't quite certain on Percival's intentions. Her presumption was that he wanted the dragon's body for study after they killed it. After all, it wouldn't be quite fresh if they killed it, returned, and Percival had sent off on his own to see what he could find.