|
|
Post by Val on Sept 4, 2020 0:21:08 GMT
Ike grunted his agreement, eyes locked with Trys as they danced around the subject that was on both of their minds. Fortunately, the prospect of food was enough to distract him and he made his way over to the cauldron to ladle a hefty serving of lukewarm stew into a bowl. Instead of seeking out a spoon, he tipped the bowl against his lips and downed the contents in a few gulps, not stopping until it was empty. As he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, he caught Trys's gaze and offered an appreciative nod; he respected a good cook.
His eyes drifted back toward the hall where Kiona had yet to emerge from and he frowned impatiently, "We leave in ten minutes!" he called in warning. If she wasn't suited up and ready to move by then, he had no reservations about throwing her over his shoulder and dragging her out of the house.
Ike reached for his crossbow and straightened up to address Trys again, "I'll ready the horses," he offered, recalling that all of his belongings were still attached to his steed. He moved toward the door only to pause again, "Maybe you should try...talking to her again," he suggested, appearing uncomfortable over his own advice. All he knew was that he didn't need them at odds with each other throughout the whole journey. Preferably, he hoped Trys would be able to take the reigns when it came to dealing with the princess's drama from here on out.
Without another word, he pushed his way out of the cabin with Hound on his heels. The blizzard had left behind a thick blanket of snow over the earth, but Ike plowed through it expertly, heading toward the small stable that held the horses. The sooner they got moving the better; before he changed his mind.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elvander on Sept 4, 2020 17:45:13 GMT
Trys watched Ike as he ate and prepared himself for whatever was to come. As Hound followed him out, Trys felt a pang of grief wash over her about Aloy. She hadn't had the time to think about the loss of her companion, whom she'd raised after finding her abandoned on a hunting venture. But she couldn't afford to think about it now either, for sadness threatened to choke her and cloud her vision. As Ike suggested she talk to Kiona, she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. He was right, they should be on speaking terms.
Trys padded into Kiona's room gently, peering in at the young princess. "Can I come in?"
|
|
|
|
Post by starrea on Sept 6, 2020 17:40:14 GMT
Kiona had lost herself in a sea of self-pity and bittersweet memories when Ike's voice dragged her back to her unpleasant reality. She grit her teeth but his voice didn't motivate her to move; it did the exact opposite and Kiona pulled the covers tighter around herself. She could already imagine Ike charging in here, ready to make her feel like a petulant child who didn't want to do their chores and she tried to remind herself that she was entitled to feel this way. She didn't have to cooperate, she didn't have to pretend to be okay with this, she didn't have to be anything other than sad and shitty and miserable.
A knock at the door pulled her out of her thoughts, expecting Ike but even more displeased to hear Trys's voice. She never expected from Ike other than for him to drag her straight to her death, but the fact that Trys had fallen short of savior left a bad, resentful taste in her mouth. Even worse, the pair of them made she feel like she was unreasonable, crazy one here and it was a constant struggle to remember that she wasn't being a brat, or unfair, or unreasonable.
"No," Kiona called back, "I'm indecent. I'm getting ready, I'll be out soon," She called out, hoping the threat of walking in on her naked would be enough to keep Trys at bay for another few minutes. She didn't feel like talking to them anymore than she had to and Trys was intruding on the precious minutes of alone time she had before they inevitable invaded and forced her on a journey she didn't want to take.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elvander on Sept 9, 2020 1:06:53 GMT
Trys fell silent as Kiona rebuffed her approach. What would it take to get through to her? Sighing, Trys took a few steps away from the door. "Okay," she said uncertainly, retreating further into the hallway, waiting for her to be ready. She would have gone to wait outside with Ike, but she didn't want to give Kiona an opportunity to run again.
|
|
|
|
Post by Val on Sept 10, 2020 17:58:22 GMT
The horses stomped their hooves nervously into the snow packed earth as Ike approached the small stable, clearly still skittish from the previous night’s events. He couldn’t blame the creatures after they’d fled for their lives from the monstrosity that Kiona had become. Ike took his time to calm the two flighty animals before checking to make sure his belongings were in place and all of their riding equipment was in working order. After he was sure he’d given the women enough time to get ready- at least by his standards- he took the horses by the reigns and led them back to the front of the house.
He lingered impatiently outside, trying to distract himself by watching his bloodhound spin in circles following a scent. His gaze strayed toward the South as he dreaded entering a foreign territory that he had no respect for; the more time that was wasted, the more inclined he felt to change his mind about their ridiculous plan.
Approaching Kiona’s window, he banged his fist against it three times, “Times up,” he informed her gruffly before leaning against the side of the house. Since there was no conversation to be heard inside, he could only assume that Trys’s attempts at reconciliation had failed.
|
|
|
|
Post by starrea on Sept 13, 2020 16:56:26 GMT
Time passed far too quickly and a banging against her window jolted Kiona out of her thoughts. She was slow to move, motivated only by the fact that if she didn't emerge soon, Ike would surely bust her door down. Finally, Kiona threw the blankets back, stooping to pull on the layers provided by Trys. It was only another minute or so before she was ready, having nothing to pack nor anything to freshen herself up with. It didn't matter - she was too depressed to put any effort into trying to detangle the mass of knots her dark, thick hair undoubtedly was.
Instead of exiting through the door, Kinsley went over to the window and pushed it open. She wordlessly swung one leg over, effortlessly dropping herself down into the thick covering of snow. The forest was breathtaking; everything was covered in a perfect, untouched blanket of white. Kiona normally loved snow, loved the cold, loved the unique beauty that could only be brought by snow, but now, the sight of all the snow made her feel sick. She sunk into the snow until it was nearly halfway up her stomach - a reality that would make it very difficult to evade her captors. Not only would she leave a trail, but it would damn near impossible to move quickly. If she was going to slip away, she would have to wait until they traveled far enough south that the snow had melted - and Kiona had no idea how far south that would be.
Kiona felt uncomfortable under the watch of Ike and she turned away from him, trudging through the snow towards the horses. She felt like she was being led to her execution and she had to remind herself that it was smarter to cooperate and foolish to run. If she wanted to survive, timing was everything. It took a great deal of energy to plow through the snow, enough that it distracted Kiona from her anxious thoughts.
She stopped near the horses, hugging herself as she tried not to shiver. The cold was relentless and it didn't help that she was halfway submerged in snow. "Well? Are we leaving, or what?" Kiona asked, giving Ike a fleeting look before she turned away. It was hard to look at him now when the tables had been turned so drastically, and he was her captor and she his prisoner.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elvander on Sept 17, 2020 16:18:54 GMT
Trys heard Kiona go out through the window and had already left the house by the time Kiona approached Ike. She neared the horses and swung up, her expression impassive. If Kiona didn't want to reconcile, she wouldn't make her. "Let's go," she grumbled, and nudged her horse south, towards the lands they would be crossing into. They could make good time today, and set up camp before dark.
|
|
|
|
Post by Val on Sept 19, 2020 1:09:27 GMT
Ike stood in ankle deep water, motionless to the point where he ceased to create even the slightest ripple in the creek. His eyes were laser focused on what lay just beneath the surface, arm drawn back with a pointed spear in his grip. A decent sized trout floated into view and Ike took the opportunity, spearing the fish right through one of its glassy eyes. Stepping back onto the shore, he bagged the third and final fish, satisfied that the fresh catch would sustain his group for the night. Whistling for Hound to follow, he set off toward the camp they’d set up for the evening.
After a few days trek, they’d traveled far enough south that snow no longer reached the forest floor. In fact, the climate was beginning to feel unbearably hot to Ike, who had hardly ever stepped foot out of the frozen wilderness he was accustomed to. Perhaps a bit dramatically, he’d shed both his shoes and his shirt in his quest for comfort, looking like a true backwoodsman as he returned from the short fishing trip clothed only in a pair of damp pants.
Following the scent of smoke from the fire he’d left Trys to start, Ike stepped into the small clearing in which they’d set up camp. After making sure that the two women were accounted for, he didn’t bother greeting anyone or announcing his presence. There was still tension between all members of the trio, and Ike had grown accustomed to keeping to himself and speaking only when necessary. The days had been long, and the horses were tired from carrying the extra weight, but Ike was convinced that they would soon reach some sort of civilization. And then the real trouble would begin. Kiona’s cooperation so far had both surprised him and caused him to grow more and more suspicious the further they traveled. He figured it was only a matter of time before she made an escape attempt, and he intended on being prepared for it.
Ike settled down in front of the fire, swinging the sack of fish from his shoulder. Wasting no time, he pulled out one of the fresh trout and set to work gutting it with his hunting knife. The task was quick and methodical, and he tossed the innards to his dog before setting aside the good meat on a plank of wood.
“You’ve already proven that you’re a better cook,” he glanced at Trys pointedly, hoping she would take over in preparing the food. He wasn’t sure what ingredients they had available, but if he left to his own devices, he would simply roast the meat over the fire and be done with it. Reaching for the second fish, he followed the same process, allowing his gaze to drift every so often in Kiona’s direction, keeping tabs on the wayward princess.
|
|
|
|
Post by starrea on Sept 22, 2020 20:01:54 GMT
The trip was every bit as painful as Kiona had expected it to be. Somewhere towards the beginning, something inside of Kiona broke apart. There was a gap between her thoughts and feelings where there hadn't been before - a chasm her thoughts, even as they traveled at the speed of light, couldn't cross before they melted into the nothingness. Her feelings, on the other hand, didn't appear to move at all, mercifully frozen in time. The tension between the three of them was tangible, in part because of Kiona's quiet cooperation. She was an unstable stick of dynamite, just waiting for the wrong bump to blow, and all three of them knew it. She couldn't even possible begin to predict her own actions, and it was making them all tense, especially Ike. His eyes were always on her; the absence of bonds wasn't fooling anyone, least of all her; she was his prisoner.
The silence left Kiona no other option than to think. More than once she caught herself staring at Ike, her thoughts feeding into her growing-distaste for the hunter. He was a deplorable representation of Grovahka; if she was truly the beast he believed her to be, it was shameful that he hadn't executed her on the spot. Not only had he permitted a lycan to live, but he was apparently incapable of carrying out a simple mission - his one job. Instead, he allowed a stranger to dissuade him from his mission. He could not have been more dishonorable, and she found herself fantasizing about how he would be sentenced to death for failing so fantastically at what should be a a relatively simple task - and she would stand off to the side, watching apathetically as the cleaver came down on his neck until his head rolled away freely. She hadn't bothered to ask about what he would do whenever they go to where ever they were going, but she wondered if he would just leave her. Returning to Grovahka empty-handed wouldn't incite a warm welcome; not only would he be shamed into isolation, but all of his friends and family would suffer for their association with someone so weak. Did he truly plan on abandoning his home for a stranger he had met in the woods? Of course, his disgrace was ultimately benefiting her, so she kept her judgments to herself, letting them simmer just beneath the surface of apathy.
It was hard to consider her own future, and in her fractured-emotional state, it was something she ignored altogether. She still hadn't accepted that she was what they accused her of being, hadn't even as much thought about it for more than a few fleeting seconds. That, combined with the fact that she hadn't bothered to even ask about where they were taking her, left it impossible to imagine what would happen whenever they arrived at their destination.
Kiona opened her eyes at the sound of Ike's voice. He wasn't talking to her, he didn't talk to her unless to bark an order at her and even that was rare. Despite the fact that he was shirtless and the landscape was depressingly void of snow, it was still cold enough that the ground was hard and frozen. The forest, without the serene blanket of snow to cover it, was depressingly bare and gray and only added to Kiona's sullen depression. She was seated a good thirty or so feet away from them, far enough away that she was off on her own but always close enough that if she ran, Ike would be hot on her heels. The constant surveillance was making her twitchy, anxious to flee, and it was getting harder to ignore as the days passed. Even amidst her state of apathy, this felt like a march to her death, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the nearly-overwhelming instinctual urge to flee.
The idea came to her when she tilted her head back against the tree, looking up. Once the idea was in her head, there was no resisting it. Eating glass sounded better than sitting through another second of the unbearable tension. Running wasn't an option, not right now, but that didn't mean she couldn't climb. She lifted her foot, testing the grip of her boots against the bark and looked up. The first split in the tree was higher up, five or so feet above her head, but that was hardly a challenge for Kiona. She backed up a couple of steps, sizing up the challenge - then with a running start, she kicked off the trunk and grabbed the branch above her, nimbly pulling herself up. She scaled the rest of the tree without hesitation, and within minutes she was perched nearly sixty feet off of the ground in one of the topmost alcoves. The air was sharper and the wind rustled the branches beneath Kiona, but all of the tension seeped out of her. Up there, balancing preciously sixty feet above the world on a swaying branch, she felt like she could finally fucking breathe.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elvander on Sept 24, 2020 23:04:51 GMT
Trys had followed the lead of her two travel companions and kept her mouth shut as much as possible. Neither of them wanted to small talk, which was painful for Trys, who enjoyed conversation. But she'd kept to herself to keep them comfortable, and as they'd slowly traveled farther south, she had also shed her thick fur coat to opt for her long sleeved wool tunic, which she had been wearing underneath. While Ike had gone to fish, she had tended the fire, as she did most nights. Trys could hunt, and she had caught rabbits for them before. But big game had been elusive. Not that they were starving. As Ike looked to her for insight into cooking, she couldn't help but smile as she rose from her squatting position near the fire to nudge in beside him, using her hip to bump against his bare shoulder, pushing him away from the cleaned fish. Ike truly looked like a proper huntsman, though she kept her thoughts to herself. A long journey with the werewolf princess wasn't any place to be kindly a romance. "Let me," she reached into her pack and retrieved some herbs she'd been collecting along the way, beginning to stuff them into the filets and roll them up. She bound them with twine and slid a stick through them, setting them atop the fire to cook. The herbs would add additional nutrients to their meal, as well as make the fish taste better.
When Kiona took her running jump into the trees, Trys started slightly, angling her face upward to watch her through the branches. She glanced at Ike questioningly, but didn't reprimand the girl. She didn't blame her for needing space. They would be encountering their first city within the next day, and that was more troublesome than anything else. And there was also the full moon to keep in mind. They would need to find somewhere to chain her, so she could safely transition.
|
|
|
|
Post by Val on Sept 30, 2020 20:35:47 GMT
Ike only offered a typical grunt in response to Trys as she quite literally butted in, though his eyes lingered on her long enough for the disinterested attitude to come across as insincere. The unfortunate reality was that she was a distraction, and he was beginning to regret changing his course of action for the sake of- what? A woman? A change of heart? As much as he tried to convince himself that using Kiona as a lure to expose more Lycan was a perfectly reasonable plan, he knew that his comrades would disagree. His mission had been to capture the princess and bring her back; no questions asked. He’d fulfilled countless other assignments, perhaps none quite so high profile, but this time he had downright failed.
He stared directly into the fire as Trys laid out the prepared filets, allowing his feet to thaw out from wading through the creek. Although Ike was an in-the-moment kind of man, he could feel himself slipping uncomfortably into his thoughts more and more each day. Surely his tribe thought he was dead by now. It was only a matter of time before they sent someone to complete the mission. He could almost imagine his replacement stumbling upon this scene, staring at him with shock and disgust. He would do the same, were the roles reversed.
Ike was jarred from his thoughts by the sound of Kiona launching herself into the tree. His eyes locked onto her as she continued the ascent, irritation quickly bubbling up inside of him. He leaned forward to yank his boots back on before rising from his fireside seat. He scanned the tree from bottom to top, feeling mildly impressed when he realized how high she had climbed. He could tell just from observation that he wasn’t nimble enough to make it up to her, which left him perturbed at the idea that she might refuse to come down, “Don’t expect us to save your dinner!” he called up to her, constantly feeling like he was dealing with a petulant child.
Instead of demanding she come down, he settled back into his seat and pulled one of the freshly cooked filets from the fire, biting into it to distract himself. Fortunately, the flavor was quite savory, and he decided to let the potential battle with Kiona go.
“It’s good,” he offered his compliments to the chef, getting quite used to having Trys and her unique skill set around. Although Ike had been insistent upon silence throughout most of the journey, even he was accustomed to sharing conversation around a meal, “Have you always lived out…here?” he questioned after a moment, gesturing to the general wilderness that surrounded them. The territory was completely foreign to him, but he was beginning to suspect that Trys might be familiar with whatever civilization they were aiming for.
|
|
|
|
Post by starrea on Oct 1, 2020 17:41:40 GMT
The wind carried Ike's voice up to her but his words disintegrated into meaningless sounds that Kiona ignored. Anger simmered beneath her apathetic exterior; it bothered her how Ike treated her like a spoiled child, expecting her to be grateful for her captivity. The idea of thanking him for forcing her on this journey, most likely ending in her death, was delusional. She wasn't going to act grateful that he hadn't physically restrained her and she certainly wasn't going to thank him for sparing her life for a couple of days. She owed him nothing, least of all her gratitude.
She took a deep breath of crisp air, studying the view from her perch and let the anger melt away. It was hard to be mad about anything this high up, where she was untouchable. Even if Ike wasn't afraid of heights, a fear that most self-proclaimed lionhearted discovered was painfully applicable to them twenty or thirty feet up on a swaying branch, he was far too large and bulky for the branches this high up to support. As capable as Trys seemed, it was unlikely that she would be able to scale the tree as high as Kiona had. She was well-aware of the option of refusing to come down, but she knew it would be pointless. She wouldn't last long up here, and they would be able to wait her out. Still, for the moment, the weight of captivity was lifted off of her shoulders and she felt lighter than she had in weeks.
Kiona had hoped that her precarious climb up the tree would have settled her restlessness, but it only seemed to amplify it. Her gaze searched the horizon, scanning the treetops for... what? She didn't know. Her gaze turned towards the south, the direction they were heading. She felt a strange pull, and inexplicable desire to keep the party moving. The enigmatic desire was startling, especially since she had tactfully avoided all thoughts of her future once they reached their mysterious destination. Instead, she closed her eyes, determined to ignore the impulse to keep moving. It was restlessness, she decided, she was finally growing tired of the exhausting anticipation of her future. Anticipation, she reminded herself, was better than death.
|
|
|
|
Post by Elvander on Oct 2, 2020 18:47:09 GMT
Trys nibbled her fish, and despite what Ike said to Kiona, she moved a filet to the side, saving it for the princess. She was going to be as pleasant as possible with the girl, though she seemed resistant to any kindness. Not that she blamed her. She had been traumatized. Truthfully, Trys was eager to find someone who could take her on so she could return to her home. As Ike made conversation, Trys settled on top of her sleeping roll, leaning against a fallen log to support her back while she ate and drank.
"Yes, I've always lived out here. Born and raised," She smiled, seeming to be proud of it. It was what had given her her skillset- hunting, tracking, cooking, trading, wayfinding. She watched Ike with interest, tossing a chunk of the fish to Hound. "My parents both died of a sickness that nearly wiped out a town we did trade with, but by then, I was able to fend for myself." And even speaking about it, Trys didn't seem all that affected. She understood sicknesses came and went and that not all survived. She had had her parents well into her teens, and though it had been sad to lose them, Trys was grateful for the time they'd had together. "And what about you? You obviously were born into your tribe. Tell me more about them, about their values."
|
|
