Re: The Unexpected Dangers of Hunting [Menel & Nocme]

by **Menel** Fri Oct 02, 2015 4:01 pm

At least the antidote worked. Though throwing up was less than ideal, getting the poison out of her body was good. Whatever way that was done... didn't matter remotely in comparison to the importance of getting it out. Dace seemed more than happy to tend to his owner, so Menel started putting the herbs back into their original order. He didn't want Nocme worrying about her things, or pushing herself to far after only just recovering.

Her question brought his eyes up and he glanced at her journal. The swordsman had the grace to look a bit embarrassed, rubbing a hand over his head before meeting her brown eyes with his own. "I had to read all of it up to the recipe. I didn't want to skip anything in case it was part of the information I needed."

Menel picked up her bag and sat it down closer to her, handing her the journal next so that she could put it away again. There were other things strewn about, but he didn't want to mess around to much with her personal property. It didn't seem polite. So he looked down at Dace as if mentally telling the bird that the mess was his fault and he should be the one to pick it up again. Even flickering his eyes pointedly to the mess and back to the bird again.

by **Nocme** Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:36 am

The blush on Nocme’s face only deepens, she is not unaware of how weird it is for one person to fixate on a friend that hasn’t been in contact with for over a decade. Dace however just made a cawing with a flippant tone which immediately turned her embarrassment into anger. “My handwriting is not that bad!” she hissed, not wanting to shout since it could draw more attention than it supposed to. Still the bird just laughs and hopped around the grass.

He only stopped after meeting the swordsman’s eye. Following his gaze Dace got the point and begin helping cleaning up, by going around the camp and collect them to dump them in a pile next to Nocme. She can sort things out and more often than not she preferred it that way. Still he can’t help it but being cheeky with some of the more private set of clothing and flew out of reach when she tries to grab it from her hand. Of course that antic gets old quickly and Nocme end up just getting annoyed and tried to stand up. Even if her steps are unsteady and she falls a lot of the times.

Slowly but surely, everything was returned to the proper place, except for her journal which she left it on her lap and... “wait... Where is the skull? The one we just found? And the-”

Dace suddenly flew off but appeared quickly after with a small woven charm in his beak. It was similar to the one Nocme had, but with a different design and looked like it was soaked in blood at one point. Yet despite all that she could still smell faintly of mint and chocolate. She swallowed, even without touching it she recognise the charm now. “This... this is her dad’s... He would never lose this... not unless...”

She doesn’t want to finish that sentence. It already felt sick enough to know that they are not around anymore. There is still a chance Ceberas has escaped, but she doesn’t know where she would end up. She needs the other clue.

“Menel, do you remember where I dropped the skull? I pretty much blacked out half way back to the camp...” the last part made her blush again. It was really hard to admit, but somewhere during the trip she couldn’t discern reality and nightmare.

by **Menel** Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:00 pm

It was comforting in a way to watch Nocme with her companion. If she had the strength and fortitude to play and get frustrated with the Xavar, even if her steps were unsteady now, then he thought that she would be just fine. Together the two of them put everything back to rights, and when that was done she returned her attention to him.

Her thoughtful words to herself reminded him of the field, the semi-canid skull she'd found in the field before the flowers caught her under their spell. The one that she had fallen on top of in the forest before he caught up to her. He had little doubt that they were the remains of wolfanthropes, suspected that they belonged to the ones Nocme was looking for. It couldn't be a coincidence that she was looking for them here and there were wolfanthrope bones nearby.

It seemed like it was a suspicion she harbored as well.

A moment later Dace practically confirmed it, bringing her a small piece which he recognized as being very similar to the one she had. He wanted to comfort her, but she didn't want to admit that they might be dead. That Ceberas might be dead.

"Of course. As soon as you have your feet under you again. They're bones, they can wait for you." He offered her a smile.

by **Nocme** Sat Oct 17, 2015 1:11 am

Quietly Nocme nodded, still trying to settle with the dread bubbling in her stomach. Dace wiggled between her arms to settle on her stomach, trying to help. The fact that her father died means there is a chance her mother also didn’t make it, which means Ceberas...

Even under best case scenario, she won’t be in a good place. “There were always slavers...” she mumbled aloud trying to soothe the tightness in her chest, “they loiter around the area so much and got all the tribes angry. They don’t know who to blame... so they thought of killing anyone not in their tribe...” They thought that would keep them safe, that would make sure their tribe last another year in the lands. It worked now, from the information she gathered, almost no slaver dared to come to this part of the land. There are easier target and better place to set traps. Rather between warring tribes that are near primal in their bloodthirst.

“If somehow she wasn’t dead then... then...” she really don’t want to think that way. However it might be the only thing left. After all why was it so hard to find her? Why was their no trace if she could be around. Even using cliché such as amnesia wouldn’t make sense, there are specialist Yotsusuna that could help or even take them in – and she has already visited there before. There are so many other possibility, but the more she want them to fit... it just doesn’t fit the clues...

Suddenly she stood up, surprising the Xavar who cried out indignantly. She is still unsteady and has to use the tree trunk to right herself. But she doesn’t care.

“Lead the way... I... ” she swallowed hard, “I just need to know... if she...”

Dead? or enslaved?

by **Menel** Tue Nov 10, 2015 2:47 am

It was so hard to watch her. To watch her struggling with the idea that her friend could be dead. Could have died so long ago that she'd spent all these years searching for someone that had passed before she even knew to look. He knew the pain of loss, and it wasn't something that time could cover so easily. There really wasn't much he could do about it, but when she rose to her feet unsteadily he did too.

Then he offered her what was about as close to a lie as he ever told. He touched her shoulder gently, his body offering her a touch of support to steady her. "People survive slavery every day. She could still be alive." The words were gentle, and true insofar as he spoke them. He himself was proof that one could survive being a slave, but he had little hope that her friend was one of them.

Young children hardly ever fared well on the slave market, young girls less so. A young wolfanthrope girl? Even if she'd made it to the slave market, even if she'd survived... She would not be the same person that Nocme remembered.

If she was alive, perhaps there was hope at least that she had escaped at some point, or been lucky like he had. At the very least Nocme would have a chance to see the person she cared about once more. He smiled at her again, offering her a shoulder as he led her to where he had found her amid the bones. If her friend was dead, he would help her lay the bones to rest with the others, and if she lived he would help her find whatever remained.

It was the best they could do.

by **Nocme** Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:29 am

His words didn’t make her feel at all better, even with the soothing tone. At most it give her the last thread of hope. Even though a slave, she is still alive, they wouldn’t needlessly kill a slave. Not to mention anthropes are generally a sturdier race. She could go rescue her. Dace survived his imprisonment just fine. So why wouldn’t Ceberas?

Without a word, Nocme took his shoulder to steady herself. Each step is wobbly as the world still doesn’t feel solid around her. So all she could do was limp back to the bones. It didn’t take her long to recognise the path they have taken. “This is where we used to play...” she mumbled softly, watching the leaves softly rustle up ahead. Soon they spotted the root she tripped over and the white skull resting in the grass.

All of a sudden, Dace took off, taking the skull. “Dace! Wait!” Nocme wanted to run after him, but couldn’t take too many steps before collapsing again. Her head still spinning a little and needed the swordsman to help her. Thankfully the xavar didn’t flew too far. He always stopped to let Nocme catch up. She didn’t really know what he is doing until towards the end, at a base of a great red wood tree.

They rested there waiting for her.
Two sets of skeletons.

Through the ages, the bones have long being picked clean and nature regrew all over them. Flowers bloom between the skulls and the ribcages, with the lonely necklace nestle between the grasses. The poppy seed that was placed in the scent pouch already bursts out of the woven strings and taken root in the surrounding earth.

Despite the disarray of the bone placement – obviously scavenger didn’t bother to leave things as it were – it was still plain to see that one was somewhat holding on to the other as they rested here. It is here that Dace gently place skull back to its rightful place. So the two skulls would be nuzzling against each other. Just as Nocme remember they do.

There was a long silence before Nocme spoke again. “Hey Aunty Wolfy... Hey Uncle Ruff,” her tone calm, but tears trickle down from the corner of her eye. “I’m sorry it took so long... and I’m still not done yet...” Her hand on his shoulder shook. “But I promise I will find her... I will bring her back to you... so please let her live.”

Dace flew back to her. Head gently nudges the tears away.
She can only take the consolation that there was no children’s bones here. So she may be alive.
Maybe.

by **Menel** Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:58 pm

He felt so useless. All he could do was help her as much as she would let him and it wasn't much. She tried to walk on her own two feet, tried to keep up with the xavar, he couldn't really blame her. If he'd been in her shoes he knew that his body's condition wouldn't have been able to keep him from reaching where he needed to go. He would have been just as stubbornly trying to do it himself. He watched her grief through the eyes of someone who understood it intimately and wished that he knew what to do.

The perspective didn't tell him how to help her recover. He hadn't had anyone there for him after... There had been no way to assuage his grief save to bury himself in his work, move as far away from the places that he'd known once, and wait for time to heal whatever parts of his heart that it could. Time seemed to do so little in the end.

Uncertainly he stood beside her as she looked at the remains, lifting a hand to touch her shoulder and then letting it fall. She hadn't wanted his comfort before, and he doubted that there was little it could do for her now. There was one thing that he could do however, and he set to that. In his pack he had a shovel, and so he set to digging a grave in the soft dirt between the trees. Digging was harder work than it seemed just by watching someone else do it, but Menel was more than used to physical labor, and it gave him a sense of purpose while Nocme mourned and Dace comforted her.

When she offered to help he only smiled and lifted his single shovel in silent proof that he could manage on his own. When he was done, he stood covered in sweat and dirt beside the hole and looked at her. "Would you like help?" It was a quiet, gentle question. While it was better to bury them so to keep scavengers from further defiling the bodies, he wasn't sure if she'd want him to help with the actual moving of them. It was her choice, and one that he would abide either way.

by **Nocme** Tue Nov 10, 2015 7:16 pm

Sitting around crying felt so good, but Nocme can’t keep that up for long. Soon she noticed that Menel was digging a grave for them and she wanted to help. Sitting around grieving is too useless. Still, one shovel makes it difficult to share the work load. She could only smile and nod and proceed to do something else instead.

Carefully she removed the vines and the grass from the bones. She tried her best to gather as much of the bone pieces as possible, many already shattered and some are even missing, probably carried off and dumped elsewhere. Some are fairly rooted into it and she leave those alone, no point in damaging already fragile stuff. When he finished with the grave, she also gathered them all. Except for the skull, she said nothing and just nodded towards it. She wasn’t sure what she sound like and she doesn’t want to hear it. Menel would understand, probably. If not Dace could be a better indicator.

The only other piece she didn’t touch was the scent pouch. It was far too rooted to the earth and the lone flower to pretty to be uprooted and left. Sooner or later she expect the flowers to spread. After all the earth is already rich with nutrient, they will have no trouble blooming here.

She holds the bones close to her as she walk to the simple grave. As gently as possible she laid them to rest on the earth. For the skulls she let Menel do it if he so chose, otherwise she will place them down herself. She expects beautiful things to bloom from this spot. Even the sky seems to bless the two as the sun ray shone down on the spot between the leaves. As she climb out she closed her eyes in prayer. Nocme was not really religious, but if the Gods are truly here and watching over all. She prayed that their soul could rest here in peace.

by **Menel** Wed Nov 18, 2015 8:12 pm

Bit by bit the bones were lowered into the ground. He didn't want to overstep, so he stayed out of the way until she motioned toward the skulls. For just a moment he wondered why exactly, but he could sort of understand. He would have understood if she didn't want to touch the bodies at all. The bones felt dry beneath his fingers, but slightly damp also from where water from the plants had transferred it. He carried the skulls gently to their final resting place.

Then while she watched he picked up the shovel and buried the bones. It wasn't their ancestral burial ground, or a graveyard. But it was a beautiful place in it's own way. He made sure to replace the original grass he had disturbed so that it could grow properly. There was no need to place stones over them, there was no scent of fresh bodies to draw animals into curious digging.

Like Nocme, once his work was done Menel folded his shovel and put it away, looking at the spot and thinking that some day something beautiful would grow here. Something nurtured to life and fed by the bodies that lay beneath. That was the nature of nature. Everything had a purpose, a use. Nothing was left to waste.

He didn't break the silence. He let it linger for as long as Nocme needed it to. He wasn't in a hurry to leave.

by **Nocme** Thu Nov 19, 2015 2:48 am

She watched him replace the dirt and the grass on top and stare in complete silence as the tears dry up on her cheek, leaving only small tracks to show they have been shed. The silence was only broken by Dace’s loud cawing. It managed to push a chuckle out of her.

“Yes, yes I know. Time to move on. Can’t let Cebby wait any longer,” she was surprised her voice sounded rather even. At least she doesn’t sound like something that shows her as a nervous wreck which was what she was still feeling at the pit of her stomach. She patted herself and stood up, tugging his cape a little to make sure she got the swordsman’s full attention.

For a little while she has her mouth open trying to form words, she wasn’t really good at trying to express her feeling. Dace helped out by pecking her and letting her shout out a few string of curse words first. “Dace...” she huffed, but the bird just giggles on her shoulder. “Sorry about that... I just want to say thanks... I didn’t expect you to help me so much.”

To meet someone so kind...

“So me and Dace got to an agreement,” with that the bird flew off and land on the swordsman’s shoulder. There was no warning as he place the necklace charm on him. “That is all we really could’ve give you... we don’t have much-” she held up her hand seeing him about to argue. This man is too good to be real, but she has her ulterior reasons and she doesn’t want to hear arguments at the moment.

“Not only that, we do need to contact you again, so we need to give you something so Dace can track you. Plus if you are serious about helping us finding her, she is more likely to trust you if you have a familiar scent, like her father’s...” the lump return in her throat but she pushed past it. No time for mourning now. “So no more argument, keep it with you. And expect Dace to pop by for no reason or for your food.”

She smiled. It’s kind of nice.
Making new friends.

-The End-

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