Inadvisable

[Madeira Dusk]

The misty morning light was shining gold through the forest canopy, alighting on Raeyn's firey locks. Madeira orientated herself to the glint of red through brush and trees like a ship captain orientated
themselves with a lighthouse. As long as she could see it, she was fine. The crawling sunshine was softening the deep fall frost, and eddies of mist were rising from the ground. The air was heavy with the decay of summer and fresh with early winter winds. But Madeira appreciated none of it. The carpet of rotting leaves was slick beneath her boots, and she kept her head down to carefully pick her way through the path that the confident hunter knew by heart.

The pair were quiet for a while, the silence filling with birdsong and Madeira's muffled attempts to stop herself from cursing as she stumbled or caught herself on brambles. But as the glittering spires of Lhavit were swallowed by thickening trees and a downhill decent, Raeyn was the one to break the silence.

"You're right, it's none of your business", she hummed, hearing the paradoxical scathing judgment and complete indifference in his tone and finding herself rising to the defense of this imaginary husband. "But for your information I'm not married. I have a kelvic bondmate, Allister. The child is his." her voice softened around the name, like it was handling something precious. Taking hold of a low hanging branch, she helped herself over a mushroom spotted log in their way. "He didn't want me to come but he knows better than to stop me."

Their hike suddenly took new purpose as the hunter spotted something in the mulchy ground she couldn't even begin to make sense of. He steered them down a different path with a murmured word. His eyes never lifted off the ground and his expression found new focus as he searched for clues. Madeira fell into line behind him, trying to emulate his steady, stealthy tread. Throwing her hood over her head to hide her golden hair, she whispered "hide" to her cloak, and the wool
bloomed with color. A camouflage of red and brown and spots of dappled sunlight infused into the magical garment.

"I'm not from around here." She agreed in a whisper back as he continued the conversation, taking her cue from him to speak quietly. "I'm from Alvadas. I was sent here to fulfill the terms of an agreement. My family traded me to your Dusk Tower in return for a share of their knowledge. So, what do you think," she laughed ruefully, her voice low and bitter, "did I fetch a pretty price?"

Somewhere to their left a branch snapped with a crack that bounced between the trees. Madeira gasped and wheeled on it with her crossbow raised and adrenaline sparkling in her skin. But in the sparse canopy of the trees there was only a fat raccoon out late from a night of scavenging. It looked down with distain and chittered sleepily at her. She scowled in return, pulling her hood lower to hide the embarrassed burn in her cheeks. To think a professional ghost hunter could be so easily spooked...

"My turn", she continued bruskly, steamrolling past her novice blunder. "You're from Lhavit, I assume. You have the accent and the right clothes, and you'd be lying if you say you haven't been walking these woods all your life. And while I notice this city has a... liberal attitude with magic. I have to wonder why a hunter like yourself needs to dabble in the arcane. Why magic? Why alchemy?" There was a pause, and she finally rose to get in one last eye-rolling jab at his personal life. "And if you're married, what kind of wife would let her husband ruin himself with such a dangerous practise."

She would have to be blind not to notice the way his eyes lit up at the mere mention of magic. Like speaking the word uncaps an empty chasm within him that knows nothing but hunger. She wanted to know where it stemmed from, where it was going and what it wanted. How does a simple hunter get caught up in such a dangerous practice, and why? What was it about this man that made him stand taller than the rest, and take risks they wouldn't? It was her curiosity wrapped around a need for control, to know whether she could feed or starve this obsession.

x

[Raeyn]

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At the mention of Allister, the hunter couldn’t quite hold back a merry chuckle. Though gods knew he tried. It wasn’t quite the kelvic’s existence that he found so hilarious nor the fact that between them, the couple managed to make a tiny miracle in her belly which Raeyn found himself entrusted to protect. If anything he thought of that as beautiful indeed.

It was a thought that popped into his head, prompted by her defensive admission that made Raeyn laugh. How different life would have been if he was born a woman? How much simpler in many aspects. He imagined his home, with Sasha in the role of a house wife and a bundle of little ones running around, causing havoc. It was a funny thought indeed, but a bitter sweet one. For however much Raeyn simply wasn’t ready to step into the role of a parent, he also knew that wasn’t a choice he’d ever get to make. Not with Sasha.

“How lucky you are to have a bond mate that knows to behave himself. Mine’s a handful. But I wound’t have it any other way.” He smiled in jest.

Yes as the hunter looked back to his partner he caught a glimpse of her cloak changing colour. What an interesting item. Certainly useful in their current situation. “Nicely done.” He nodded as they continued ahead.

It wasn’t a surprised at all to hear Madeira was a foreigner. Still he took note of her story, guessing from the bitterness that rang though her words that she was’t quite so happy about the turn her life had taken. And in all honesty Raeyn couldn’t understand why that was. He’d never been to the city of illusions of course but from what he heard of it from others, it hardly sounded like a great place to be. Lhavit was clearly the superior place to live with the knowledge of magic flowing through it’s streets like rain. To a mage, this was as close to paradise as it got in the world of mortals.

Still, decorum demanded for him to acknolwedge her displeasure and fill the silence with some platitude to lighten Madeira’s spirits. Except for the next words out of his mouth we’re anything but a platitude. There was genuine joy in his heart for having met this curious woman. She had things to offer him. Things he craved at his very core.

“Your family got the short end of the stick. And the city of Lhavit got you. That really is quite something. I don’t know much about your family but they sound like fools to me to give up something so priceless as yourself.” He said.

Both Miss Craven and her guide turned to aim at the raccoon that startled them. But as her cheeks lit up with embarrassment, this reaction was anything but that to him who, taught by years of experience, knew so well that one just couldn’t be careful enough outside the city walls. The sound of drawn bowstring echoed though the trees. Keeping his eyes on the mocking creature he aimed and fired, only to watch it fall though the branches and land mere metres away. Not quite a perfect shot, but enough to end it quickly.

“We May get hungry later.” Raeyn shrugged, retrieving the raccoon.

As the pair of them stalked the woodland floor, more questions came from the ever so curious Madeira. The last one of which prompted another chuckle thus being the first one he would answer.

“My wife...” he echoed. Referring to Sasha as that would become a joke that wouldn’t die in this moment, so funny was the notion. “My wife is an alchemist himself. In fact if not for the magic we may have never met.”

In the distance his eyes caught and locked on yet more tracks. Following them he lead.

“No! I am indeed unmarried. And in all honesty I’m unsure whether to marry is even a possibility for two men in this city. I belong to him none the less.” He spoke carefully. Though his family and friends cared little for the gender of the person he chose to leave his heart with, outlanders seldom shared the same values. Still, he wasn’t about to keep Sasha a secret. There were few things in this world he was as proud to be as the bondmate and boyfriend of that man. “If you stay in Lhavit for long enough I’d love for you to meet him, Madeira. He was asking about you plenty last night. You really are quite interesting.”

There were more questions to be answered, however. “I was indeed born in Lhavit. As for why magic I could ask you the same question. Why Malediction? As for me, if I could make a living out of Alchemy, none would ever seem me frolicking in the woods again. I may be biased but it is the most beautiful of the disciplines. There’s no other feeling like it, performing transmutations like some mad god. It’s the only way to understand the world for what it truly is and well... let’s just say that living in blissful ignorance isn’t for everybody.”

He kept his eyes out for the next set of tracks, legs growing a little weary of the relentlessly long hike. That was the only downside of hunting in the Unforgiving. For however breathtakingly scenic the mountains of Kaela were, every step up, down and around strained the muscles. He kept his eyes on the landmarks, which side of the trees and rock the moss grew on to navigate where they’d come from and where they were going. It was such an easy thing to become very very lost in these parts of the world.

*Boxcode by Allassanachassanya

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[Madeira Dusk]

They continued, the raccoon having disappeared into a backpack much too small for it, and Madeira's eyes back to staring alternatively between the back of her guide's red head and the mulchy ground. In the quiet she digested that this man had a bondmate too. She had known two unbounded kelvics, but she had never spoken to another bonded pair. She was aware that Allister was unique, and that their relationship was unconventional, but she could never be sure how they compared to others. She wanted to turn Raeyn around right then and there and pin him down with questions: how subservient was Sasha? How dependent were they on each other? Did he ever imagine himself loving another person the way he loved his bonded?

But she managed to muzzle herself with effort and laughed kindly. "I'd love to meet this Sasha too. He sounds lovely."

In answer to her question Raeyn launched into as expression of Alchemy that was both impassioned and eloquent. He stood taller as he said it, and his freckles looked like gold dust in the morning light. She did not doubt he would leave everything behind to pursue this passion. She could see that chasm open up within him, hungry and wanting. He truly loved the magic he practiced.

"Mmm, It seems like Alchemy is about understanding the world, and Malediction is about understanding death." she mused "I learned the art from my first lover. She was this beautiful Dhani, fresh from Eyktol. The way she respected the soul in the remains she handled is what drew me in to the practise. Everybody thinks that when the body is dead the soul has thrown it aside, but it's not true. When a vessel has held something so sacred for so long it retains some of that holiness. Part of the soul lives on in the bones as dijed. The practice is about understanding death and the soul and how to tap that power that falls in between. Death is not the final blow people think it is."

At this point the hike was starting to wear on the frightfully out of shape woman. The effort of keeping her feet on the steep terrain was leaving her body in huffs and puffs, her breath escaping in little clouds. She made care to step only where her guide stepped, to keep her noise down and her eyes wary. Yet this was more exercise than she had had since Riverfall, and half of year packed like a sardine in a ship had done her no favours.

Soon a small rocky outcrop loomed to their left, and the Spiritist forced herself to swallow her pride.

"Raeyn, can we rest? Just for a moment. To catch my breath." She sat herself down on a low flat stone with all the grace her pregnant body could muster. "Perhaps this is a chance for you to field dress that raccoon", she offered, to diffuse whatever irritation her slow pace was sure to conjure.

The sun was climbing slowly, and still managed to reach under the outcrop she had stubbornly sat herself down in. The light had warmed the dark stones and the wind dared not touch such a gift, blowing in behind them and carrying on down the slope, making a gentle little cove that seemed perfect from the city girl’s perspective. She disarmed her bow and set it across her lap, drawing her cloak closer around her body until she too looked like an oddly shaped stone as the dark granite colour leeched into the magic garment.

x

[Raeyn]

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Just as Madeira had found herself wanting to ask him a myriad of questions about his bond with Sasha, yet refrained from doing just that, so did Raeyn silently find himself far too curious about her previous lover. For unlike Madeira, Raeyn lacked the ability to love blinded to gender. Only men had ever caught his eye and having convinced himself he was truly alone in that peculiarity of his, meeting another who could not only empathise with him but also spoke openly about it was like finding a kindred spirit. Suddenly he wasn't quite so alone.

There would be time for such discussions however. And such time was not now. Though from that revelation onwards, he would change his disposition towards her a little. Having previously been pleasant and well mannered enough, albeit so very distant, seeing her as little more than a precious book rather than a person of flesh and blood, Raeyn would soon find himself ever so glad to be in her presence. He found himself caring for what she though of him outside of his looks and his talents; which was a rare thing indeed. He almost caught himself eager to form some sort of a friendship there.

The parallel she drew between the two magics was one interesting indeed. Certainly something that made the discipline of Malediction, however little he knew of it, a little easier to understand.

"What a morbid hobby you have." he mussed aloud. But there was no scorn in his voice. Only fascination. Heavens only knew he had enough morbid hobbies of his own.

So wrapped up in conversation they were that soon enough Raeyn found himself loosing the tracks. And for a stretch after, the walk ahead continued aimlessly as he pretended he knew what he was doing, not for the first time nor the last. It seemed Madeira's pregnancy was a blessing in that moment as she requested a break before he'd have to admit to any shortcoming on his behalf. And seeming a little more eager than he otherwise would have been, Raeyn was quick to oblige. Judging by the pace they were able to maintain and having to take such breaks, the hunter would soon realise he seriously misjudged how long this expedition would take. But for once in his life perhaps, instead of complaining like a petulant child, he decided to make the most of it. The ends would be worth the inconvenience, of that he was sure.

And so, beneath the golden rays of midday sun, the two unlikely hunters would come to a well deserved rest.

Before setting down to do any work what so ever, Raeyn reached inside his bag and, with utmost focus, pulled out a full water skin which he then politely handed to Madeira, like a true gentleman which he could almost pass for. Any illusion of that would quickly dissipate however as the redhead produced the racoon once more and made a small incision in it's chest with a small albeit very sharp knife. What followed would be the hardly pleasant task of pulling soft fur and skin off of limp, pink muscle tissue, avoiding blood vessels, gutting and beheading of the animal so that eventually it would be ready to cook and eat.

Soon after the hunter cleared a space in the soil and started a small fire, adding nearby twigs and fallen leaves as fuel, blocking it off with rocks so that it wouldn't spread towards the rest of the forest. Though hardly as gloomy as this year's summer, fall was hardly toasty warm so high up in the unforgiving.

Before diving back into his bag, Raeyn washed his hands thoroughly. And what he would soon come to hold was a little tin which, once open, contained an apple jam filled muffin doused in icing sugar, still piping hot as if freshly cooked. "We have a long road ahead of us." he smiled, offering her the sweet treat. "And it'll be far less pleasant on an empty stomach, believe me."

Hoping Madeira would listen to his pearls of wisdom, he tossed a little more handling on the fire.

"This is so odd." he thought aloud to himself. "None of the windbags in the Twilight Tower would dare step a foot outside the city gates, even if bribed and the people from the guild, for all their perks, neither know nor care for magic. I've grown so used touch adventures alone that I've never known how odd it would be to share it... in a good way." his eyes settled comfortably on the fire as he produced a muffin for himself. This one of a slightly more questionable flavours that included an odd mix of savoury cheese and cranberries which baked into a sweet cake was quite the confusion for tastebuds.

*Boxcode by Allassanachassanya

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[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira took the offered waterskin and sipped. The water was musty and tepid, but to her it was sweeter than any mountain stream, and she sighed gratefully when she had finished.

Next the fat raccoon was pulled from the endless bag and the messy process of butchering. Madeira watched from beneath her hooded cloak as the skin was pulled back and ripped inexpertly from the shiny pink corpse. The gummy smell of coagulating fluid and raw meat sat low in their little half-cave as the animal was gutted. Madeira had worked with enough brutal murders and rotted corpses in her career as a Spiritist to be shaken by violence or disgust. Indeed she watched the process with interest, having never butchered an animal herself she realized the skin could be useful should she ever get her hands on a whole carcass of an animal she wanted to maledictate

Soon the raccoon was nothing but a pink, flayed mess. A tangle of lumpy blue offal was left to steam in the cool air as her guide started a small fire. Once a small spark had caught and lived past its first few tremulous moments of life to bloom into a small fire, Madeira was offered a sweet treat from her guide.

"Thank you", she took the pastry and sunk her teeth into the warm, buttery treat. Her eyes nearly rolled back and an involuntary noise rumbled from the back of her throat as her child moved like a little dance of joy. "I know that tin", she mummbled, taking huge, unladylike bites. It seemed she was hungrier than she had thought. "Allister has one similar. They're amazing, aren't they?" Its miraculous muffins were also her bondmates favorite way to get his energy back after sex. She smiled to herself as she licked the last of the apple jam from her fingers.


She climbed down from her rock and scooted closer to the fire as Rayne mused aloud about the great divide between the two groups of people he belonged to, and how odd it was to meet someone who trod the middle like himself. Madeira had to laugh at that. She held her hands out to the fire, and the rings on her fingers glittered in the yellow light.

"Adventures are what old ladies tell their grandchildren. I would much rather be up there with the windbags than chasing things with claws. But for what its worth, I'm glad I found someone like you to suffer with me", she teased.

As quickly as it came, the smile was wiped from her face as a low, agonizing trumpet call rolled down the mountain. Madeira's blood turned to ice as they heard the thundering of a heavy body fighting through the bracken behind the overhanging rock that was their blind and shield. It trumpeted again, some low scream of terror, that bounced around the woods until you didn't know where it came from. Madeira was halfway to her feet, her unarmed crossbow held tight before her, when something big and heavy tumbled off the lip of rock that sheltered them.

Madeira's first impression was a tangle of legs tipped with wildly kicking, hoofed feet. Twice the size of a deer, with molted, shaggy fur and a rack of broken antlers, it was some ancient Elk. Milky, rolling eyes were half blind with cataracts. Its nostrils gusted with pain and panicked breaths as it struggled to rise on its shattered legs. Kicking up nothing but great clods of dirt and dust, it trumpeted again, an unearthly wail that caught in the low space under the rock and vibrated the very air. A pink froth coated its mouth, and its neck was dark with blood. Great flaps of skin were laid open on its rump, the muscle underneath shredded and quivering.

"Oh gods oh gods what the petch", Madeira let loose a thin, constant stream of blasphemy and profanity as she stepped in the stirrup of her crossbow and notched an arrow with shaking hands.

WC: 670

x

[Raeyn]

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It should be noted that Raeyn really did try to spare his companion the unpleasant sight of gore as he skinned the dead animal, even if the effect was quite to the contrary. For, being hardly a master of such things, blood soon oozed, mistakes were made and skinny, dappled white fingers turned a strange shade of red.

All things considered, soon enough the best bits of the creature would come to brown on the fire and what was unusable, would be discarded for the creatures of the forest to have their feast.

At the mention of Maderia's bandmate once more, the hunter's eyes flickered with curiosity. "Is that so? I wonder who made these things. I wonder how..." he thought aloud. Not all questions int his world needed an answer, it seemed.

Her next proclamation did indeed surprise him. The impression of her he had thus far was quite the opposite of a windbag, but then again it wasn't an unusual thing for Raeyn to read people entirely wrong. They weren't like books, that said things in plain terms. People were far more complex than that. Still, the sweet pessimism did squeeze a quiet chuckle out of the red haired hunter, muffled by a hand covering his lips.

But such was life that without the offset of dread, one could never truly come to appreciate those blissful moments of peace. This was one lessons the forest taught.

As a thunderous lament tore though the air around them like a blade, Raeyn'd reflexes kicked into action. His right hand grasped for his bow, his left for arrows, already placing one against the bow string, pointed at the soil beneath him, ready to take aim at any second. Doing a quick 360 he sharpened his senses to the incoming inconvenience. Even if it turned out to be a harmless baby deer, the Inarta learned he'd rather be safe than sorry many years ago.

He'd almost breathed a sigh of relief once the animal came into the clearing. Though hardly a pleasant sight, an elk was hardly a danger to people at this time of the year when the competition for mates didn't drive the hormonal bucks to madness. The hunter aimed careful and fired a single arrow that pierced the animal's neck and with a final cry, the quivering legs beneath it collapsed and the heavy, injured body crashed against the rocky ground. Deathly silence fell around it like invisible rain. A mercy killing, that's all it was.

"Are you alright, Madeira?" asked Raeyn, hardly shaken by it all. The moment of fear lay forgotten in the past where it belonged. His feet carried him closer to the freshly slain elk where keen eyes could examine it a little closer.

As he took a closer look at the massive gashes in the animal's rear, Raeyn's brows scrunched furrowed. "Poor thing. Something large must have gotten him. Maybe a bear or a mountain lion.... hmm... although mountain lion calls are very distinct so it's likely to be the other. With enough luck it'll come looking for it's kill." calmly he turned back to Madeira, taking no notice of her shaking hands that cliched the crossbow for dear life. "I'd say lingering around here would be as good a bet as any to get you that monster corpse you've requested. But ultimately the choice is yours my dear."

Before giving her enough time to reply however he added. "Although if I am right, and It is a bear, it would be smart to get off the ground... you know... for safe..."

The sound of breaking twigs and squelching mud interrupted him. A shuffle in the brush. The immediately alarmed hunter knocked yet another arrow onto his bow string, looking in the presumed direction of the sound, desperate to make out the identity of their advancing foe before it too made it's way into the clearing. But unlike the elk, who burst into view in a cacophony of thunder and anguish, it's killer was smarter than that. It smelled the two humans and they smelled of danger.

On high alert, Raeyn, took a few steps back, closing the gap between himself and Madeira. The breath in his chest halted. For a man with so much to say, he'd never been more quiet.

*Boxcode by Allassanachassanya

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[Madeira Dusk]

Grades Awarded!

Don't forget to edit/delete your grade request!

Madeira Craven

Skills

• Persuasion: 4xp
• Rhetoric: 4xp
• Negotiation: 2xp
• Hypnotism: 2xp
• Logic: 3xp
• Acting: 1xp
• Planning: 1xp
• Leadership: 1xp
• Malediction: 1xp
• Wilderness Survival: 3xp
• Stealth: 1xp
• Endurance: 1xp

Lores

• Rhetoric: reasoned debate
• Negotiation: sweetening the deal
• Rayne: too pretty to be a hunter
• Persuasion: too good to say no
• Logic: educated guess
• People: Reayn
• Raeyn: an alchemist
• Leadership: taking control
• Raeyn: has a bondmate
• Raeyn: is gay

Awards & Retribution
+Item gained
+Trait recieved
-Injury
-Mizas spent

Notes
Notes here.

Raeyn

Skills

• Socialization: 3xp
• Rhetoric: 2xp
• Persuasion: 1xp
• Intimidation: 1xp
• Logic: 4xp
• Negotiation: 2xp
• Cosmology: 1xp
• Planning: 1xp
• Leadership: 2xp
• Tracking: 2xp
• Weapon- Shortbow: 2xp
• Endurance: 1xp
• Butchery: 1xp
• Wilderness Survival: 1xp

Lores

• Laird: has a unique sort of charm
• Socialization: engaging the rumour mill
• Intimidation: disapproving glare
• People: Madeira Craven
• Magic: malediction
• Logic: seeing through a ruse
• Madeira: has a magic lab
• Negotiation: sealing the deal
• Madeira: has a bondmate

Awards & Retribution


Notes
I'm sorry this never finished, it was a lot of fun! Lets do this again when you come back. <3