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Ink
Jul 20, 2017 19:15:46 GMT
Post by Campion on Jul 20, 2017 19:15:46 GMT
Campion had dropped into the grass, ignoring the itchy feeling he felt as it pushed against his legs and horribly scratched chest. His body was already getting sore, a dull ache that itched just under the skin. There was even a steadily rising headache, so it was great to finally just sit. He dropped the pack off his shoulder and just leaned against it, not minding the bumps and lumps pressing against his back. Making sure it didn’t get lost in the grass, he also took off the axe at his side and flattened a spot to place it.
Grumbling, he raised himself off his pack and turned to start shuffling through it. There was plenty of water and some of the same things as Keziah had; dried jerky, salted meats, some berries and dried fruits. “Uh, got some berries that I really hope aren’t poisonous. Some mystery meat. A sad replacement for wine,” he joked. Water was way more important than wine, but there was some minor disappointment at not finding any.
He grabbed a handful of the dried berries and studied them for a second. They were a deep red, but unfamiliar. With a shrug, the daemon threw the handful into his mouth and groaned at how good they tasted. For days, all they ate was squirrel and meercats. They weren’t as good as fresh berries, but they were still delicious. Campion grabbed a chunk of meat and threw it over to where Crawk was lying in the grass, close to Nie. He sniffed at it once and grunted, showing no interest and lying back down on his side. Campion wasn’t surprised since the animal preferred fresh meat with flowing blood.
Instead Kali, ears high and tail wagging, grabbed the mystery meat and brought it over next to Campion, lying with her back pressed against the daemon’s leg. He smiled and pet her dirty fur.
Perhaps it was rather odd to some for a daemon to sleep during the night and travel during the day, but Campion, despite the lingering demise of the sun’s rays, preferred seeing the Savannah in the light. There was more to admire and appreciate in a given sunny day. With his built tolerance, it was also easy to travel in the sun besides just a few hours of the hottest part of the day. In other words, he was quite tired, but there was something he was curious about.
He turned to Kez, munching on a stick of jerky. “So enlighten me before I fall asleep, kid.” Campion scratched at his face where, in his masculine form, there was a lot of stubble, but now it was just smooth skin. “What made ya pick a bow?” He was genuinely curious and wondered what her answer would be.
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Ink
Jul 21, 2017 6:59:04 GMT
Post by Keziah on Jul 21, 2017 6:59:04 GMT
The food tasted all the better for her hunger, and after the meat Keziah tried a few other bits and pieces - bread, some kind of hard strong cheese, a handful of nuts that had been cooked in honey and spices - before finishing off with a fresh orange. She hadn't had one of those before - they grew close to the Boil and were expensive in the city - but it was juicy and sweet and refreshing. Peeling the segments off one by one, Keziah stretched out her legs and leaned against Nie in comfortable repose, accustomed by now to being close to the feathered dragon most of the time. They rarely spent time apart now, except when Nie was flying.
"Pretty good haul, huh? Not bad as raids go?" Keziah hadn't participated in enough raids to know this for sure, but apart from a disappointing lack of weapons they'd gotten a bunch of useful stuff for their trouble in attacking the desert travellers. Most importantly, of course, enough food and water that even without knowing much about Litharian geography, Keziah thought they could probably make it to the city on what they had now.
Once she finished the orange Keziah neatly packed away everything into her pack then curled her legs underneath her, drawing closer to Nie. In summer the savannah didn't get too cold overnight, but it was still colder than during the day. She took a long drink of water and washed the stickiness from her fingers, before running them through her hair to tame the ragged locks which had gotten too long and wanted cutting again. Maybe in the city.
"I just think it'll be a good fit for me, I guess," she said in answer to Campion's question, shrugging.
"The knife is all fine. I think I can manage a one handed weapon for when things get up close'n personal. Reckon I might even learn to like usin' an axe, more than a sword, if I can get a holda one that's the right size for me. But I got wicked good eyesight 'cos of my magic and that means aiming is easier for me than most other fighting skills, y'know?" She reached up to stroke the feathers of the necklace at her throat absentmindedly as she was speaking. It was made of the fossilised bones of the giant eagle of her influence, and feathers from several living types of eagle, along with small glass beads of turquoise and cerulean. This was her artifact, and one of the very few items of huge personal worth to her that hadn't been sold during her years on the streets. She'd starve to death before giving it up.
"Figure I ain't so tall or big or powerful, but I can see better than almost anyone so might as well play to my strengths." She was yawning now, tiredness washing over her now they were safe and fed and relaxed. Her eyes felt heavy and scratchy, so she nudged Nie awake. The feathered dragon lifted one wing away from her body and Keziah curled into her.
"Fightin' is kinda fun but I'm knackered. You'll wake me up when you wanna leave, right?" Before she even finished speaking Nie's wing enveloped her like a feathery blanket, cocooning her in warmth and darkness.
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Ink
Jul 22, 2017 19:26:17 GMT
Post by Campion on Jul 22, 2017 19:26:17 GMT
Campion was tearing into his food, but he was careful. It felt like he had a lot, but in reality, it was just enough to get him and Kez to the City before they’d need to re-stock again. Killing people within the human-infested area was not an option, not with the Hounds running amuk. He was technically a wanted fugitive too, but he elected to disregard that teensy little detail. It’d been a long time, maybe even a decade, since he’d last entered the place. There was no way anyone would remember him, or even know to look for him.
While Kez explained why she felt a bow was best for her, the daemon rummaged around through his pack once more for another piece of food and a water skin. Even at night, it was vital to constantly drink water. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and placed it back into his pack. He wanted to lie down and sleep, but it’d have to wait.
“Oh yeah, that makes sense. Smart move deciding you want something for melee too, especially if yo get rus-“ The daemon paused. “Wait.” He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. “How long have you had magical eyesight?! Why didn’t you tell me! That’s damn cool.” Campion supposed it made sense, given how Keziah always seemed to see things before the bunny daemon, but still. It didn’t click that it was something magical. “Here I am stuck summoning magical bunnies and you’ve got something that can be really useful!” Campion was just teasing. He wasn’t too fond of using magic himself, so he was content with the limited abilities he had. It made perfect sense why she was most interested in getting a bow.
There wasn’t much else to say, because she was obviously falling asleep. Lucky thing got a damn blanket from her dragon friend. The LAST thing Campion was going to do was try to snuggle up next to Crawk. Warg would probably eat him overnight. Or accidentally roll over and crush the daemon.
Normally, with both Nie, Crawk, and Kali there, Campion had little worry about being on watch over night. Everyone was exhausted though, and their two power houses were both injured and needed rest. Despite how much he wanted to sleep, it was important to not get too cocky about their success. In a hushed tone, mostly for Nie to hear, he stated, “I’m going to be on watch for most of the night since I don’t need much sleep. You and Crawk need rest so I’ll wake you and the kid closer to dawn.”
With that, it’d be one hell of a boring night, so the daemon sat up completely and tore some grass from the ground, fiddling with it as he listened for any suspicious sounds in the cool night.
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Ink
Jul 27, 2017 9:20:30 GMT
Post by Keziah on Jul 27, 2017 9:20:30 GMT
Surprised at Campion's reaction to her magic, Keziah raised her brows and laughed.
"I mean sure, it's useful. I figured you knew, what with me always bein' able to keep track of Nie when she's flyin', and bein' able to track travellers by the dust they raise..." Keziah supposed it might not be as obvious as she thought, because she lived with it all the time and it felt normal to her. She'd been raised in an upper middle class merchant family, wealthy enough to get her artifact as a very young child, so she didn't remember a time when she hadn't been able to see with an eagle's eyesight. On the rare occasions she took her artifact off it was like suddenly being half blind - her enhanced sight was her normal.
She laughed again at the comment about Campion's bunny, too.
"Y'know, it's kinda funny we have basically the same magic, but you get a cute little rabbit and I get a giant fuck off eagle. Luck of the draw I guess!" She teased in return, familiar now with this easy banter. Cute little rabbits aside, Campion didn't really need a giant fuck off eagle to wreak havoc. She counted herself lucky to have a spirit guide that was so offensively useful, because she was more vulnerable than she liked out here otherwise.
Sleep came quickly once she was curled up under Nie's wing. She slept like this almost all the time now, and had come to find the warmth, the slow rhythmic movement of Nie's breathing and the soft, regular beat of her heart, and the dome of her wing blocking out all light, soothing conditions that let her drift off right away. Sleeping next to Nie she rarely had nightmares, which was so much of a blessing that she'd never spent a night apart from the feathered dragon since their bonding. When Keziah awoke Nie shifted, lifting her wing again to let the girl crawl out into the predawn. The faintest hint of morning - a subtle lightening of the sky at the horizon that preceded sunrise by an hour or so - hinted that the night was coming to a close. Yawning, her hair tousled and eyes still half closed, Keziah shivered in the cool morning air.
"You want to catch a couple of hours sleep before we get goin'? I can take over."
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Ink
Jul 30, 2017 20:23:52 GMT
Post by Campion on Jul 30, 2017 20:23:52 GMT
Staying up wasn’t too difficult to do for Campion. For a while after Kez had fallen asleep, he had laid flat on his back and looked up at the stars, mind racing in questions about what they actually were and where they came from. When that got boring, he’d sit up and gently run his hand along Kali’s fur, feeling her shallow breaths as she rested from a long, tiring day. Now and then her ear would flick off a hungry mosquito, but she otherwise did not move and stayed curled up as a ball.
Despite keeping himself busy though, the bunny daemon was listening intently for anything that could pose a threat. There were always noises of lingering animals, hungry for a free meal or even a pack of wild dogs communicating with each other as they chased unknowing, sleeping prey down, but none were so close to him and his merry band of a human and some badass animals to actually pose a reason to leave.
At one point he moved quietly over to where Crawk was laying on his side. The heavy breaths from his sleep were quite loud, and anyone not used to them would have easily been kept up all night. Out in the wild, Campion had never seen a warg before a Litharian god had given him one as a gift. From what he gathered, they were untamable beasts with a dangerous lust for blood. Besides Crawk, the bunny daemon wasn’t sure he’d ever want to meet a wild one face-to-face. He moved back over to his spot in the grass, keeping his footsteps light to minimize the rustling it made, and sat with his knees up to his chest. The longer the night went on though, the more Campion realized he was tired of being in his female form and at a point, changed back into the male body he’d been born with.
It’d always been easy to tell when dawn was just around the corner. Even the faintest hint of sunlight could be seen in such a flat land. With the tall grass surrounding them though, it was a bit harder to see anything on the horizon, but the daemon’s skin could certainly feel just a hint of the rays and heat that the sun brought with it.
He heard Keziah stir, and soon emerge from her warm blanket that was Nie’s wings. Campion was munching on a piece of jerky, mostly to cure his boredom from being on watch. “Sure thing, kid. Just make sure you don’t wake me for every scary thing that goes ‘bump’.” Even as tired as he was, Campion enjoyed the playful banter they had. It was similar to the way siblings would banter with each other. With that, he laid flat on the grass next to Kali and quickly feel asleep.
-x-
When it was time to move, Campion did not need to be woken up. A few hours was all he had to sleep, but the sun was well making its way into the sky, and he could feel the very minor, but not bothersome heat of the sun on his tolerant skin. He yawned and stretched as he woke, followed by being licked in the face by Kali as she begged him for some food, tail wagging and massive ears perked.
The daemon sat up and dug through his pack for some dried meat and gave it to the girl for a quick snack. Normally she shared her meals with Crawk, but the big oaf was lazily resting in the grass, though fully awake.
“Just a few more days till we get to the City. We’ll probably need to do at least another raid before we get there, but we’ll just cross that bridge when we get to it.”
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