• Closed • Sweetwine Misteps (Vega)

[Makar Hollowbreak]

Leaves crunched as Makar's boots stepped on them, the sound making the hunter wince. He didn't like making such noise. At least not when on a hunt where the sensitive ears of animals like Red Cervus or Flunnies could hear them and scatter off. But that was a risk he had to bear as the weather turned from warm to cold, where the leaves change color and inevitably fall upon the ground making themselves a noisy nuisance for unsuspefting steps.


Makar's eyes scanned the leaves with a look of 'please be quiet, I'm trying to hunt' but the fallen foliage offered no apologies and rested defiantly where they were. With a quiet sigh, the hunter raised a foot and tried to step on the parts of the ground not littered with fallen leaves, either tippy toeing about or angling his feet so that his soles stepped upon quiet dirt.


He adjusted the straps of his pack on his shoulder after he did so, then continued his steps. He couldn't get distracted by leaves, well he could if they offered a trail, but that's besides the point.


His eyes darted about the trees, the shrubbery and the ground. Straining his senses to pick up a tell tale indicator of what he was looking for. That's when his eyes fell upon a dark mass of pellets. Roughly spherical in shape really. Kneeling down, he picked up one of the pellets, its surface hard. There was barely no smell to it, then he crushed it between his fingers and revealed its inside to be like sawdust.


It was most certainly critter poop.

He wiped the dusty like poop with one of the fallen leave before straightening himself. Brain trying to recall which specific critter could leave these droppings, it was probably a sort of rabbit.

That should be good eating if he could get his hands on one.

Makar allowed a smile to tug at the corner of his lips as he resumed his steps, eyes looking for disturbance in the dirt and following the path. This had the makings of a pleasant hunt, and as he continued about his trial he couldn't imagine something unexpected derailing his day.

Again.


Honestly he wasn't that unlucky

[Vega]

Sweetwine Misteps

Vega loved this time of the arc, when the colours of the leaves seemed to mirror the swirling shades of her biqaj eyes. Sometimes, she thought, it was like the crisp autumnal trials were a reminder that even as things die, they just changed. Her lips lifted in a slight half-smile as she caught that thought and decided that she was, obviously, going soft in the head. It wasn't her way to give in to such silly fancies and deep thinking. Mostly, in that moment, she blamed motherhood. Vega was surrounded by a brood of children when she was home. Each one of them was perfect in her eyes, unique and wonderful. Only one of them was biologically hers but that mattered to Vega not one bit. Joy, Conlan and Akor were her children and that was that. Wren and Ru were also hers - more every trial - but she was always very careful to make sure that they knew that she understood her place; Hart was and would always be their father.

It was the fault of this forced stillness, Vega considered. She was waiting and watching a small family of flunnies. She was watching them because one of the young flunnies seemed to be injured. Vega had no intention of harming these animals, she was watching them to make sure that they didn't need help. She was watching them silently and waiting to see because she knew that Sweetsong had to live in this woodland, in harmony with these creatures and so it meant that Vega felt a level of responsibility.

However, as she was so focused on the creatures, her senses were attuned to the area and so she heard the crunching of leaves as the flunnies did. They took off and Vega felt a moment of irritation at the realisation that this had happened, but then she smiled slightly to herself as the injured flunny managed to take flight and move with its family. Standing up, she stood just as a human-looking bloke walked forward, looking at the path the flunnies had left. He was short - relative to her She's 6ft and he looked like he'd fold in on himself if he sneezed too hard. He looked like a walking noodle, she thought to herself and then gave a slight grin.

"Wotcha," she said, by way of greeting. The woman who stood in Makar's path was tall with a long mane of unruly red hair. Her eyes swirled in slow-moving shades and they, plus her slightly pointed ears gave away her own biqaj heritage. She wore a dark grey dress and the star-dragon tattoo and glowing silver heart were both evident on her skin. Vega was very aware that most people round this way seemed to know her, but she didn't assume. It was a by-product, she figured, of being a mouth on a pair of legs, but still it was what it was.

"It were a family o'flunnies," she gestured to where the trail led. "Two grown ones an' three smaller ones. One of the babies were hurt an' I was watchin' to see if it needed help, but when they got wind o' you trompin' through the leaves like a herd o'hoss, they flew off. Little one too, so it were ok." She looked at him and then offered her hand. "I'm Vega," she said, wondering who this guy was. "I'm from Sweetsong, a settlement o'er there. I were jus' lookin' to do a spot of huntin'."

She didn't want to judge or jump to conclusions but, he seemed to be well-worn-in as far as being in the wilderness was concerned and although she had pointed out that he was 'trompin' like a herd o'hoss' (a statement which made perfect sense in her mind), he seemed at home and at least semi-prepared.

"What about you," she asked, not yet smiling but equally not thumping him into next Ashan, so to those that knew her that was a good thing. "Were you huntin'? If so yer welcome to join me." It was her way, always, to offer that. After all, he was either a decent bloke and she'd be happy to work with him, or he wasn't and she'd make him sorry about that fact.

So, she asked her question and waited to see what he said and then wanted to do.

[Makar Hollowbreak]

Evidently Makar’’s following of the tracks had led him not to critters as he expected to possibly find. But a woman of striking stature and physique… he wasn’t should ask the old lorekeep what those words mean but they seemed fitting to describe the woman with vibrant red hair before.

Compared to her Makar was painfully average.

‘Huh, ya don’ see ladies like her everyday’ his face seemed to say. And then everything about her seemed to hit him, eyes blinking in recognition that well… he was talking to a legend practically.


Well he wasn’t talking yet.

In fact she seemed to be talking a lot more than he did.

Being not social by nature and awestruck tended to instill silence after all, still one sided conversations tended to be rude. Or awkward? Awkward and rude?


Ah, this was making him feel complicated.


So he breathed to regain his composure. One breath, two breaths, three breaths, and then he nodded. His eyes turned to the last signs of the Flunny trail. They’d have upped and flew off if they’d heard him. If they were a family and one was injured then that wouldn’t make for an ethical hunt. Best let them go.

Granted when the babies grew and the injured one healed it was probably a different matter.

“Ay, reckon it best they flew off then”

He nodded again then turned back to Vega. Trying to find words but… struggling. He always had that bit of trouble when it came to words.

“I.. reckon I’d be honored yer ladyship,” he said in reply to her offer, not sure how to adress the famously loud woman of red hair. Though he did realize after the fact that she probably didn’t care for ‘ladyship’. He shuffled awkwardly in place then.


“But wouldn’t I be just in the way?” He blurted out then “I’m kind of just.. middling an’ well, yer you” he shrugged his shoulders. To be fair he was probably decent, he did earn his living by doing this after all. But when you have someone who willingly lives in Sweetwine Forest which was pretty wierd, has crazy achievements, and just had that look of competence that said ‘I get shit done’ its kind of hard not to feel inadequate. Then awkwardness struck him again as he realized he didn’t introduce himself.

And so like an afterthought he added “Oh and uh, names Makar ma’am” there, ma’am was decent right?

[Vega]

Sweetwine Misteps

People, Vega knew, were weird.

Not a little bit weird, but a LOT weird. This was particularly true, it seemed, of this chap. Vega's eyes swirled in slow colours as she watched him. He didn't speak for a while, a good few moments it seemed. While he was non-talkative, he wasn't silent. No, he was evidently focusing on breathing in and out and Vega had to admit that he was successful in that. In and out, he was chuffing away and seemed to be almost gathering himself. Of course, she knew why. This bloke - whoever he was - recognised her. He thought he knew her or had heard of her and the stories of her. It was one of those things that she found deeply frustrating because it irritated her, yet she couldn't in all fairness be irritated at the man in front of her.

Although....

"Yer ladyship? Are you havin' a giraffe? I've not been accused o'bein' a ladyship before, an' I'll be happy not to be again. Vega. My name is Vega." It wasn't a long name, she didn't think he'd have too much trouble with it. But then, he was back to the huffing and puffing, and she had a thousand thoughts. Still, he continued to speak and this time he reacted to her offer of him coming along. Vega had made the offer in a genuine way and he responded genuinely, but his actual response made her think for a moment about how she was going to answer him.

And in the meantime, he called her 'ma'am'. Vega sent a silent prayer of thanks to Xiur and Daia, to Qylios and Ilaren and to Cassion for good measure, thanking them that Arlo hadn't heard either the term "ladyship" or "ma'am" because they were both titles she would literally never live down. But still, he'd made a point, asked a question based on an assumption and he deserved an answer.

"A'righ' Huff'n'Puff. At ease before you strain somethin' or pop a widget out yer wally. You've heard stories about me, an' think that I'm able to shoot fireballs out my behind while huntin' down the lesser-spotted Niblet with both hands tied behind my back an' a blindfold on my feet or some other such nonsense. You'll only be in the way if you deliberately walk in front of me or are terminally thick. Avoid those two an' we'll be fine." Hopefully, he'd also heard of her tendency towards straight-talking or he'd be rather surprised, Vega thought.

"An' jus' to be clear, cos it righ' flibberties my gibbet, what you've heard is probably wrong or at least wildly exaggerated. Half of the stories told about me are only a little bit true, an' at least most of the rest aren't true at all. Anythin' what starts with 'she singlehandedly' is squit'n'squat o'the worst kind. I've been lucky to be part of some amazin' times an' had some fantastic adventures, but not one o'them were on my own an' honestly? In at least half o'them, I were gettin' in the way of people who were much more skilled than me. So, lets make a deal. You don't call me ma'am or yer ladyship or the Glorious Bean o' Beauty, or any nonsense like that, an' I won't get snarky. But in the meantime, we can do a spot of huntin' together, an' maybe learn stuff from each other." That was always the best way, she thought, and she was very much of the opinion that everyone had something to teach and to learn.

"Those flunnies will be long gone with my gob an' your nostrils makin' noise," she said. "An' I wouldn't be huntin' them anyhow. But I were hopin' to check some traps an' do a spot o'foragin', then make my way back to Sweetsong. You're welcome to come along if you want, on both o'those endeavours. " Gesturing, she pointed in the direction of where she had put some traps which she -or someone from Sweetsong - checked daily.

Assuming that he agreed, Vega would very happily walk alongside him. Since they weren't trying to be stealthy, she glanced at him and asked, "So, Huff'n'Puff, you lived here long?" He looked like he was, or might be, a native, but she didn't want to assume. Looks, after all, could be deceiving.

[Vega]

Rewards Requested

Notes/Warnings: Abandoned thread.

Thread: Sweetwine Misteps (Vega)
City/Area: Sweetwine Woods

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!	Message from: Pig Boy
	Done!

[Pig Boy]

Makar Hollowbreak

Rewards

• XP: 15

Knowledges

• Stealth: Avoiding stepping on crunchy things
• Discipline: Deep Breathing to regain composure
• Hunting: Hunting wounded prey or ill prey is not ethical
• Socialization: Exchanging names is polite

Vega

Rewards

• XP: 15

Knowledges

• Field Craft T2: Sustainable living also involves ensuring that you care for injured animals
• Detection: Distinguishing noises in a forest requires focus
• Hunting: Understanding when it's time to not bother

Notes: Aww, it's too bad this one was cut short. You both were doing so well.

It doesn't always happen that another pc acknowledges the renown of another, especially at the higher levels, so Makar did well in recognizing Vega and sorta tripping over himself and calling her a ladyship. I really hope we see you again, Makar was a fun character.

Of course, Vega's reaction to being called a ladyship was somewhat to be expected. And I wasn't disappointed in the fact of her giving him a 'Vega Name'. Huff'n'Puff is a great Vega name! It's just too bad the interaction was cut short.

Great writing otherwise!