Posts by Hillfur

Leon shook his head, he used to have a cat, dark as the night, but like every good thing, it was short lived, one day, it just dissappeared. He liked how the boy's face lit up when he spoke about his pet, wanted to hold that for a little longer "Tell me more about her, you seem to really love your pet"

"I'll be flattered to meet her" Leon gave him another smile, he still wondered how he haven't noticed the boy before, such an impressive sneaking skills, that made him chuckle lightly seemingly for no reason. "what about your family, been in this town for long?"

Now Leon was even more intrigued than before, yes, it was no small town, but still, his family knew a lot of other families, not only for business, but for protection as well. Maybe he should just ask his parents when he decides to go home. After a little while of just general small talk, they finally could see the cafe. Leon raised his hand to point at it "we are here". It wasnt anything overly fancy a couple of peasants were sitting on the carefully arranged chairs outside the building. "Where do you wish to sit, friend, there is also a more isolated area inside, if you'd like that"

The moment they stepped in the counter came in sight, there was a lady in her mid 50s. The moment she saw Leon, she flashed a smile and said "It was about time you came back, mister, I was starting to get worried". Leon laughed and raise his arm up to scratch the back of his head "Im sorry, just caught up in the family business I suppose, those damn rats were breathing in my neck" since he came here quite often, the lady that owned the place knew him quite well. His gang helped her on multiple occasions, for a little to the side as a reward of course. They were on good terms. "And who is that handsome little fella you got with you?" the lady asked, half teasing him. Leon placed a hand of his friend's shoulder "Martha, that's Ash, I was fortunate enough to bump into him on my way to school and Ash, that's Martha, an old family friend"

"Quite the shy fella you got for a friend, Leon" Martha chuckled slightly "Your usual table is free, the usual order I suppose" asked the lady. He smiled with a nod and added "Give my special guest the surprise of the menu" as he said that he placed his palm on Ashes back and gave him a little push towards a table in the corner of the room-

[justify]Vayne was lost in thoughts , she was kinda adapting to the idea that she would have to spend the night outside. She liked to think that her mother would be worried for her, but recalling her past, she did have the habit of disappearing for a couple of days. She returned only out of respect for her mother and because it felt nice to sleep in your own bed. But in this new town her mother surely would be worried about her. Deep down she knew that it was only wishful thinking. It wasn’t like her mother didn’t care, but she trusted her enough not to worry as much. Vayne should have learned to at least take her phone with her, but she didn’t like the fancy technology, but she did admit that it would have come in handy. Before she could sink deeper into her mind, she heard a voice. Someone was speaking to her, she collected herself fast enough, they were asking if she was lost. Before she answered she lifted her head to see to whom the voice belonged to, despite the darkness she could see the features of the speaker quite well. At once she felt like the air got caught in her throat, the sight in front of her was, simply beautiful. She found herself unable to speak, her bright blue eyes were focused on the girl before her. After admiring her looks for a while, she realized that the silence had gone for too long, but she couldn’t help it. She tried to search for her eyes and only nodded to the question. She truly was lost.[/justify]

[justify]Ren decided to trail off of the usual hunting path, she got tired of chasing simple birds“I need a challenge, those beasts are not worthy enough of my arrows and blade”. She was moving fast through the fallen branches, despite her size that was roughly around 5 feet 11inches the leaves under her feet didn’t make a sound. She was like the mysterious Jaguar, moving at a steadily pace, silent and deadly. She was trained from a very young age. Her tribe methods may seem barbaric to outsiders, but they did the job. She was quite prideful, went as far as to name herself the best hunter in the tribe, no one dared oppose her. She was quite deep among the trees, when she heard something, something off. It was heavy footsteps, they were moving at a really fast pace, the thing that made the noise was running in a panicked state. She headed towards the sound, at least it ceased, but she wasn’t that far away. When she finally reached the source, she was surprised to say the least, there lay a woman, but what struck her as odd was her appearance. She didn’t look at all like her people, she lacked any markings that were usually present among the tribes, but her clothes. She groaned, she didn’t have time to expect her, she noticed the blood that was dripping off the woman’s hand, this would surely attract predators and she was clearly unconscious. She couldn’t risk feeding the beasts with human flesh, this will only bring misfortune to the others. Without thinking much she lifted the female into her arms. It took her some time to get to the camp. When she did the others were just as surprised as her, they expected a different kind of meat. Ren ignored the stares, she just screamed “Bring me the shaman, this woman needs help”. In an instance an old woman appeared from inside a hut, the moment she saw the unconscious girl, her face got pale “Bring her in child, something horrible has happened”. She obliged, placed the woman on the gathered animal skins that could be considered a bed. The shaman began to tend the wounds. Ren didn’t leave, she remained in the corner to watch over the whole process. [/justify]

Leon sat comfortably, he was across from Ash. After inspecting him for a few seconds and grinned "I dunno, it always changes, it wouldn't be a secret anymore if everyone just knew what it is" but Martha always make sure that it was worth the surprise, that was part of the fun. "Do you have any close friends?"

Leon thought for a second, trying to recall, sometimes knowing a lot of people could get a little confusing, but he had a vague memory of a girl that bore that name in his biology class. "I think I can recall, when it comes to me, stuff is kinda confusing, I usually surround myself with people, but never really found someone to get close to"

Leon smiled at the boy, he really was quite something, an interesting little fella "We'll see how that goes" a few seconds later Martha stood next to the table "Leon you look like a young lady that just got pinched by a handsome young boy, that's quite the smile" he laughed together with her, he always found her teasing amusing, she held a tray in one hand, used the other to place the order, gave Leon the usual milkshake, but when it came to Ash, his drink was more spectacular.

[justify] “Child you have to leave now” said the shaman without turning to face her. Ren hesitated, she didn’t want to leave in case the unconscious woman proved to be dangerous. Despite the female’s smaller size, her years of experience taught her not to underestimate possible danger, even less if it was a new one. She had seen before the people outside the jungle, but knew next to nothing about them. The old woman sensed her worry, you couldn’t hide anything from her “You know that I’ll be okay, this woman cant harm anyone here, she is not a warrior”

Ren didn’t want to, but obliged to the elder, outside a crowd had gathered, curiosity must have taken the best of them, but she was not having it. “Don’t you have daily tasks to perform” her voice boomed like thunder during a mighty storm. This startled the younger ones and they ran off in a hurry, shame written on their faces. The older ones just groaned and let it be. But some were not having it. “How could you bring an outsider here, aren’t you aware of the dangers such an act could cause” one of them asked, slight worry was detectable in her voice. “So you are telling me that it was better to just let her die there? On our ground? Don’t you know that that brings bad luck, her spirit would have been furious and what’s more what if a Jaguar had feasted on her corpse?” Ren knew that superstitions played a strong part in their lives.

It was said that if a wild beast tastes human flesh, it becomes insane and at the same time inherited their power, no one dared risking such a thing happening. Now that the last group was gone Ren sat on the ground to the side of the hut, where she wouldn’t get in the way of the shaman. She had no idea was happening inside. Now she played the waiting game.

A long time had passed, the sun was beginning to set down, but there was still enough light for a person to be able to spot a raven among the trees. A small cry was heard from the hut. Ren jumped in an instance. Inside the shaman was trying to calm the girl down “My name is Maara, child, fear not for I am a simple shaman” Maara didn’t make any movements towards the girl, it was useless to scare her more. “I can only tell you that you are in a safe place now, maybe not among friends, but you won’t be harmed” She side stepped to allow the girl to see Ren, she was standing there her face was expressionless. “That’s the woman that brought you here, Ren tell her what happened”

After observing the frightened woman for a little while, she opened her mouth to speak “I’m afraid I won’t be able to tell you much. I was out hunting, when I heard panicked footsteps and decided to follow the sound. When I found you, you were already unconscious, I don’t know what happened to you or your” she paused for a second “crew” so there were more of her “I just carried you here, that wound of your arm was going to get infected surely, even if you somehow survived the beasts, this was going to kill you“ she said pointing at the now taken care of wound.
Now it was Maara’s turn to ask questions, but she decided not to push too much “Tell us your name, child and please share everything you can remember, before falling unconscious, I believe it wasn’t of the most pleasant things, I’ve never seen someone moving so much during their sleep before.”
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[justify]Vayne watched in awe, it was obvious that the girl before her wasn’t entirely a human. She hesitated, this could end with her demise, she could just try to run away, eventually the sun would rise and she would just ask a random passer for directions. But there was something about that female, she wasn’t giving off any creepy vibes. Vayne raised her hand, trying to keep the shaking minimal, she slipped her hand in the other woman’s. She almost pulled back, the touch was so smooth, it intrigued her to some extend. She was back on her legs in no time. Somehow she gathered enough courage to answer the question “Help would be really appreciated” she ignored the secluded place remark, no need to make herself feel bad for having a horrible inner compass. She still held the beautiful creature’s hand. To make it less awkward she just introduced herself “My name is Vayne” with that she let go. Still didn’t have the power for longer sentences.[/justify]

"You sure that this drink is safe, that seems like a lot of chocolate" Leon sounded a bit worried, he really had no idea that it was going to be something like that. "From all the people who tried it, no one came back to complain, so i guess its good" Martha laughed. He didnt find it so funny. The woman left them at peace, Leon was going to pay later.

"You know that you dont have to, if you want we can share it" he offered "At least then we will die together and charges wont be pressed upon us" he laughed and jokingly murmored "Sorry Martha" under his breath.

[justify]She gave her a small smile, the girl had a beautiful name, but she restrained from commenting on it. Now she only had to remember how the area looked like. She did venture a lot today, but it didn’t take her that long to remember. The neighborhood was really quiet when they moved it, almost no one came out to welcome them, only an old, friendly couple. The street was pretty narrow, no shops on that street. She remembered the houses, most of them were two storey, most lacked a garage. The structure didn’t look like something ancient, the oldest one seemed to be around not even a century. One of them was vandalized, it had multiple odd looking creatures on it, one was a mixture of an own and a human. She remembered other small details, it just dawned on her that it was located in what could be considered the north area, this wouldn’t have helped her much earlier, she was still horrible with directions. Vayne told her guide everything she remembered and make sure not to really pay much attention at Aava’s attempts to make herself look even better. When it came to her appearance, well that was the lest of her worries.[/justify]

Of course Leon was going to finish his drink first, in an attempt to get their minds off the situation he asked "So what are your parents working, they have some kind of business or something?"

[justify]Ren had never felt that confused before, she didn’t exactly have to deal with crying people on a daily basis. She felt compassion towards the shaking mess. Nothing really could escape her trained eyes, she stood still while the woman was examining her after that noted her embossment , but didn’t really catch the reason for it. She listened closely to her words. So her name was Anya, she liked the sound of it, it sounded exotic to her ears, but thinking about it maybe so did their names to the poor soul.

When she got to the part of what exactly happened, she couldn’t believe it. Ren moved her gaze towards the shaman in an instance, Maara was always someone who had a good control over her emotions, but she could clearly see the cloud of worry and great concern fall upon her features. Ren remembered the tales in an instance. Those people were powerful druids, able to use nature to their advantage, calling on spirits to help them build their monuments. They took their secrets to the grave. She remembered asking how such a powerful civilization had just died off, seemingly overnight. The answer she got both satisfied her curiosity and frightened her. They were greedy, they always searched for more power, also didn’t like when outsiders tried to mess with their plans. One night their elders channeled a powerful ritual, that took multiple blood sacrifices. The result was the summoning of a plague, plague of evil spirits, but something went wrong, they weren’t prepared to such power. They fell right into their own trap, the plague killed them off and spread across the town. The spirits were so strong that they remained in our realm up to today, plaguing anyone stupid enough to venture into their ground.
“What are we going to do, those things are out there” she knew well what the infected souls could do, they would mess with the entire ecosystem. Maara seemed lost in thoughts and was only able to mutter “We will decide tomorrow, nothing good comes out of the night”. Ren only nodded, in fact it was really getting dark outside, soon it would be really hard to see. At least the cooking fires were still burning outside. Her attention shifted again towards the crying woman is was useless to scream and accuse her. Her state was too fragile, but she did seem to be shaking quite a lot. “That’s not normal” the huntress stated. “Ah yes, it actually is, the wound had the chance to get infected, so her body decided to prepare certain conditions to weaken the unwelcomed guests, the shaking and high temperature will continue for a few days, but she is in no danger. She just has to rest and drink a lot of water ” Maara stopped for a few moments, she was reconsidering the situation.

“Now she is yours to take care of” before Ren could protest, Maara continued “You brought her here, my job is done, now the hard part begins” She knew exactly what that was about, she had to convince the elders that Anya wasn’t a thread, they also needed a plan to get rid of the pest that roamed their lands. “Take her out of here, my job is done, she has no reason to remain in my hut”. “Didn’t know that the roommate part was in the contract” joked Ren, but it fell on deaf years. She groaned and approached the clearly emotionally unstable human, kneeling beside her she whispered an apology and swiftly moved her arms under her. One on her back and the other under the knees. She was up in an instance, seemingly unfazed by the weight, she knew that Anya was too weak to protest. The shaman was right, poor woman was burning, it felt like hot coals across her cool skin.

“I’m not going to hurt you” she said reassuringly and began to carry her outside, towards her hut. She walked slowly, thankfully no one was outside. She finally arrived, placed her on the bed, but remained squatted beside her. Keeping her balance with her arms. Ren looked like a peaceful predator, watching over her cubs. She was unsure on what to do next so she just introduced herself “My name is Ren” short pause “and I’m really sorry to what you had to go through”.
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[justify]Aava seemed to know what she was doing. This gave Vayne the confidence she needed to follow her. She walked slightly behind her, unable to find the right words to say and thankfully she didn’t have to. She listened closely to the girl’s explanations, always gazing towards the direction she was pointing to. She was trying to absorb everything, like a sponge. Most of the places were unfamiliar to her so she found it very intriguing. Nodding to every new thing, even tho she knew that her guide couldn’t really see it. She followed her every step. The town seemed to peaceful, Vayne didn’t really have the chance to appreciate the empty streets before, but now it was perfect. When the explanations seemed to seize she asked something that bothered her “I’m really sorry for the rude question, but I really have no idea to phrase it better, you are not entirely human, your hair, your posture and lets be real no human possesses such a grace, what are you and why are you here, you seem to know the place really well must mean that you’ve been here for a while” She really didn’t want to offend her savior, but the curiosity got the better of her.[/justify]

Leon noticed the shift, did he go into a forbidden territory, now curiosity really overtook him "And what is that family business exactly?"

Clearly Ash felt uncomfortable speaking about his family, Leon just decided to drop it off "My parents are creditors" he technically wasn't lying, but still not the whole truth, he didn't want to get punished.