[Flashback] Tears in the snow (Darren)

[Aleath]

Aleath stopped when she heard his voice. He seemed surprised at her angry outburst. Was she his first victim? No, surely not. He would be nervous about killing her, but here he was acting quite confidently. After his remark about the cards she knew that he had thought about the same thing like her and she quickly took him by the word and lied with false cheer, nodding quickly "Yes cards, of course. I love cards! They can be quite amusing." She didn’t mention the fact that she didn’t have any with her. When she was about to run away, she was quite surprised by Darren’s words about snowing outside and wild animals. Now he seemed to even care that she might get hurt when she runs away. Has he woken up from the state he had been before? She wasn't entirely convinced about it. Not yet anyway. So she just sat down on the cold ground and began watching him carefully. She watched as he took some balm from his bag and began to heal himself. After Darren's words about her pet, Aleath came closer to her injured friend and looked at him. He seemed to be quite in pain, because he had one large wound on his left front leg, probably from the impact to the wall of the cave, but otherwise he looked fine. She checked for broken bones and fortunately she didn't find any. Relieved, she ran her hand through his fur to calm him and then she turned towards Darren as he spoke again. "Um…I'm Aleath." She introduced herself and then she asked. "You mean, you don't remember what you did? What had happened to you before? You were…different." The Vantha then looked at Shade. "I would be glad if you helped me with him. You seem to have some healing balm with you." She smiled uncertainly at Darren. She still wasn't sure about him and she was afraid that he might snap back to his other personality again. OOC : Edited a bit. Sorry about that..I forgot that Darren didn't stopped her physically.

[Darren]

The random cheerfulness by the stranger caused Darren to inwardly sigh as he easily sensed the false emotion behind the words. I should smack you for that he thought angrily putting aside the thought of playing cards. Darren's eyes perked at the name, he let it linger in his mind a bit before he got up. He looked straight at her face, staring for an uncomfortable amount of time before answering back. "Aleath... That's a pretty name" he said, giving a approving nod before he continued to listen. He shrugged lazily at her questioning as if the subject really didn't warrent his interest. "Hmm... if you want you to go ahead and run me through with what I did that was so wrong. Though I think I wouldn't do anything to horrible, I've been told I'm a good boy." he replied in a proud manner, the overall effect was cut off as he broke into his usual stupid grin. He watched as the owner looked at her pet with worry, and looked confused by the request. "Well... this thing only helps with cuts and open wounds really." he explained as he revealed a ghastly bite mark on his shoulder. The thing was still bleeding through the bandages as Darren wrapped it up with more ointment and bandages. "If only to help stop it from getting worse" he said as he went to continue. "I'm not really trained for any of this. It would serve better to have a vet look at the blunt trama, and then a Frostfawn. I'm a WhiteVine by the way. I'm only a mere massage man. Perhaps we can set a time later" he offered. However as a gesture of at least trying he looked at the small field kit he had for anything that may help. I really need to take some classes back at the hold he thought disparaging, as he noted most of the things were mostly unfamiliar to him. "So what hold are you from? I never seen your face around here" he said as he walked to the enterance of the cave. Only a few more moments and we should be able to move out of this place he thought looking across the landcape. "I only ask because you have such a pretty face. It's too bad I had to meet you randomly here." he said almost to himself. He then raised his hand to her face suddenly, covering her mouth and pushing himself on top of her. Darren pinned her to the wall behind them as he stared straight at her intensely, gazing deep into her eyes as he slowly removed his hand from her mouth and up it to his own. He showed her the universal sign for silence as he turned his head slowly, the sound of shuffling feet behind them. The sounds were moving randomly at first but then suddenly Aleath's dog gave out a small whimper. The moving stopped at first but suddenly started fast to their position. oocNote* I didn't try to stop you physically from running, rather I just gave you a verbal warning. If you want you can try to run and I'll edit my post to respond. On the other hand you can go ahead and give us what is approaching us.

[Aleath]

Aleath, now calmed by his peaceful behaviour, was still petting Shade. It seemed that there was no danger anymore. Darren completely came to his senses. It was a big relief for her, because she wouldn’t want to repeat the previous incident. She looked on the ground, suddenly very shy when Darren praised her pretty name. “Thanks.” she mumbled. Then she looked at him and started to recount what had happened. “I came to this cave, because I wanted to prepare for the night. Then you suddenly burst in here and you appeared to be hurt. I was scared obviously and I didn’t know what to do and then you started to yell something about murder and death and attacked me. Shade was trying to protect me and jumped on your back and you threw him down. After that you seemed to wake up or something.” “Yes that’s a good idea.” She nodded at his advice to go to a vet to look over Shade. She didn’t know much about healing animals too. At least not wounds this big. To this point, they didn’t have to worry about something like this. They came across various dangers on their travels and exploring the landscape, but they always managed to run away. At his question about her hold, she shook her head and smiled a little. “No, no. I’m not from here. I was raised and born near Syliras. My mother was a Vantha and she was a Frostfawn. She was very good with animals. It’s really a shame that she didn’t manage to teach me some healing.” She smiled sadly, still gently caressing Shade’s fur. What Darren did next took her completely by surprise. He suddenly put his hand to cover her mouth and pinned her to the wall. For a moment she was afraid that the madness took him again, but when he put a finger to his mouth to show her to be silent and he was looking somewhere behind them, she listened. Something was moving behind them. She hoped that the thing, or whatever it was, wouldn’t hear them and would pass them, but to her horror, Shade suddenly whimpered. ‘Perfect moment, my friend’, she thought sarcastically. The moving stopped and then she could hear the steps running towards them. ‘Oh no, no, no! What should we do? What should we do?‘, she thought frantically. She quickly thought about their options. They were in a small cave. The thing was coming from the entrance, so it would be pointless to run. They should stay here and see if the thing would come or not. She looked at Darren to see what he would do. OOC : Sorry it took me so long again. I was thinking about what to write and also I had many homework to do. I hope that the long post will make up for the long wait. Also, I left the revealing of the thing that is approaching us to you. I wasn't sure whether I could make up a person, because the approaching sound sounded like feet, so I left it to you. I hope you don't mind.

[Darren]

There wasn't much time left to think! They had to act to ...whatever was coming. Now recognizing some voices from the approaching feet an inaudible sigh of relief came from Darren's lips as he quickly made an educated guess at who these newcomers might be. A mysterious air of allure replaced his features as he looked upon Aleath with a renewed vigor, locking his hands with hers, steadily closing in on the space between the two. Steadily, and steadily closer until... A shuffling of feet was heard not too far away from them. Darren head came to a halt only a mere teasing two inches away from Aleath's lips until he turned around, feigning anger at the new arrivals. Looking closely now it looked to be a band of foreign hunters, three men looking to test themselves hunting the grand beasts in Taldera. Easily noticeable now, was the loud, fluid Common they spoke to each other in great length. All of which was mostly lost in translation as Darren simply glared them down for interrupting what looked to be an intimate moment between two native Vantha, at least that was what he was trying to emulate as he glared in mock anger. "What do you foreigners want?" Darren asked the leader in Vani. The leader, if you would call him that, looked a bit abashed at interrupting at such an awkward time hesitated for a moment as his eyes went back and forth trying to form the words from Common to Vani. "Ah yush, we art huntun a vig fox in thee arreah and vwas wunderhing if you cee one" he nearly spat back in similar vulgar manner. Surely enough he saw a giant fox not too long ago but he wasn't going to tell these outsiders anything. In an involuntary movement he lightly gripped the back of his shoulder before replying back, "No, not here. Now if you will excuse me we are very busy doing... stuff" he ended weakly, hoping that the newcomers would leave. However the group stood adamantly looking unsure of what to do with the two Vantha. They looked at one another seemingly confused by their appearance so far out in the wilderness in the first place, neither of them looked to be what they would recognize as nature-loving or even outdoorsy for that matter. They were tracking a dire fox for almost two days now, engaging the beast multiple times before it's tracks suddenly disappeared. It looked like something bigger and much more horrible happened across it and then it seemingly vanished into thin air. Excited about the prospect of hunting what happened to cross paths with the fox and bring it back home with them spurred them fast to this cave. At this spot the two seemingly smaller Vantha were just idling by. Something just wasn't right to them with this scene and the man involuntary action put him under scrutiny. Perhaps the woman would know something about this? they finally thought as the group appraised the smaller and sweeter looking of the two. "Maubeh ou know it, yes? M'dam?" the man to the right asked Aleath. A gruff exasperation crossed Darren's face as he cast a dismissive look at the man before looking back at Aleath. In the back of his mind he had a few feelings of worry with this new group and he didn't bother to hide it when he turned to face Aleath. Darren was still mostly powerless to do anything in this situation and now looking at Aleath he knew that it wasn't going to end well if she doesn't help him out. ooc : No worries! I was camping for awhile and wasn't able to post anytime soon in any case. Good to see you back though. If you have trouble understanding the new people just sound it out or PM me if it's that bad.

[Aleath]

Aleath stood without a single movement, listening to the shuffling of feet. Every second they were nearer and nearer. And then she froze. It was like she turned into stone or an statue made of ice. And it wasn’t only because of the sound of steps. She was now looking intently at Darren and his movements. She looked confused. He took her by the hands and he was slowly leaning forward. It was like…like he was trying to…kiss her. She shot him a startled look and then frowned. ‘What in the world does he think he is doing?’ she thought. If she hadn’t been scared about the strange sounds coming to them, she would most likely slap him. ‘Well, maybe let him kiss me and then slap him.’ she thought slyly. His lips were about two inches away from hers, when suddenly three men entered the cave, speaking among themselves and Darren’s movement stopped. He turned his head to look at them and when he spoke to them, he sounded quite annoyed and angry at their interrupting. The men looked surprised to see two Vanthas standing in front of them. They said something about hunting a fox. Aleath noted with strange satisfaction that the leader’s Vani wasn’t very good. She knew a little of the language, mostly it was enough for everyday conversation but she always thought that she was bad at it. Darren was trying to talk them into leaving, but then they turned to her and asked her about the fox they were hunting. When they asked, Aleath noticed, that Darren was looking at her quite worried. What was he expecting her to say? She was now beginning to understand that before, he was acting like he did, because of them, wasn’t he? He was trying to cast them off. Wheels were turning in her head. She could pretend that she didn’t speak Vani. That way, she wouldn’t have to say anything and she wouldn’t ruin it, but most likely they wouldn’t believe it, because of her appearance. After a long pause, she slowly began to speak, constructing the sentences very carefully and in the most polite manner she could muster. “I am very sorry, gentlemen, but I didn’t see any fox here. I really think you should leave. You interrupted us in the middle of…stuff.” She ended the sentence awkwardly and in a similar fashion like Darren before and to make it worse, she blushed at the end of her speech. She hoped that her little camp fire which she had constructed before, wasn’t casting enough light for them to notice it.

[Darren]

"Hmm yesh, otay then. Spank youh" the man said looking suspiciously at the two. A harsh tone from him spoken in another language as the troupe took off from the enterance to the cave. Darren watched them fervently making sure they were a safe distance away. Realizing that they were finally out of sight he turned his attention back at Aleath. Sighing a breathe of relief he sat back on his bum, a worm of doubt still free inside of him. He finally snapped out of it as he smiled up at Aleath, happy she went along with his horrible acting. "What's with you?" he asked his eyebrows forming a curious angle. Her face was a light shade of red to him, a bit annoyed by the sudden development he moved in even closer to check her condition. Nothing wrong with her at the moment he thought dismissing any worry for her he might have had. Anyways there are more pressing matters that needed his attention, like those foreigners. "Aleath." he said, taking time to smile at the name. It really was something pretty for a name he thought. "We got to get out of here. I have a really bad feeling about those men, especially the one that was to the man's right" he revealed. He thought back to the group that was there before him, remembering the tall man who stood out between them. An athletic built man with the eyes of a hawk, watching the precarious situation with a look of guile. That is someone I wouldn't want to deal with Darren thought quietly himself, finally decieding what would be the best course of action. "Hey are you well? We have to get out of here" he said, checking to see if she understood or not. He checked over his bandages again making sure they were tightly set before grabbing his bag. He winced slightly as his inexperienced wrappings resisted against his movements, taking caution not to swear. I really have to look into this he thought as he hoisted his backpack over his shoulder. "Come on hon, we have to go" he repeated, checking to see if she understood and went along with him. Looking at the dog in a still in a pained position however stopped his sense of urgency. "Grab whatever you need and let's go. I'll see if I can carry this dog or not but we have to go" he said with a sense of urgency and concern as he picked up Slade and took a step outside. Unknown to them the band of hunters were watching their everymove, talking quietly in their foreign tongue. "He seems to be a hurry" one of the replied. "Of course, he is what we were hunting afterall" another said. "A Kelvic Fox, a dire one even. We are going to be rich if we can put him on the slave market" the fat one of the group chuckled greedily. "What about his bondmate?" the lankier one of the group asked. "Either kill her or send her packing. Either way works" the man on the right ordered, "either way at the end of the day someone is going to get hurt."

[Aleath]

The strange hunters finally decided to leave and Aleath sighed in relief. She was still a little embarassed about earlier and she was not looking at Darren, hoping that he wouldn’t notice her blush. Unfortunately, he did notice, because he asked what was wrong. "Um..it’s nothing. I was just surprised about…you know…" she said quietly, attempting to grin. She scratched her head and blushed even more. She even forgot to get angry with him, because of his acting, but she promised she would get her revenge later. He seemed to let it go for the moment and he suggested that they should get out of the cave. She looked at his expression. He looked a bit worried and it scared Aleath a bit. Was he afraid that they might return? If that was the case, she wouldn’t be much use to him. She knew that in extreme situations she would be able to defend herself somehow, but more likely she would run and that wouldn’t be fair. After all, he saved them from the hunters. She asked Darren, worriedly: "You think that they could come back?" She was looking at the entrance of the cave as if they would come back at any moment. She stood frozen for a few moments, when Darren began quickly ushering her out of the cave, holding Shade in his arms and she realized that she was still standing on the same spot. She jumped up in surprise and quickly said: "Yes, yes I’m fine…Let’s get out of here." She quickly grasped her half-spear, which she had left on the floor earlier. She now thought how well it was that she left it lying there. It could have been bad if she had tried to use it on Darren before. Well, only try, she chuckled in spirit, when she remembered how Darren was before. She left the fire glowing. It was burning out so it wouldn’t do any harm. Then she grabbed her little bag and prepared to leave.

[Darren]

Darren quickly realized what Aleath meant and her trying to hide it with a grin made it all that much sweeter. He quietly took note of her reaction while gathering the supplies. First aggressive and now all bowled over by little ole' me? I should be greatly appreciative he thought, delightedly. Perhaps after we escape I can see how amazed she is by me he continued, rolling his eyes with a sly smile. "Of course..." he replied back simply as he gathered the last of what was lying around. Of course he could just tell her that he just had a bad feeling about them, or that when he find himself in these situations things usually turn out bad for some unexplained reason, or the fact the fat one just looked evil. Maybe it was all of those things that spurred Darren's decision, either way it seemed to him that it was more then obvious they had to stay clear from them. "Errr...I just know" he explained abashed, he wasn't quite sure if looking confident or dismissive would be more convincing. Darren rolled his eye's at the other Vantha's last words. Sigh, we would have been gone a long time ago if you didn't freeze up like that he thought rolling his eyes as he met her at the enterance. "Good to see your up and ready princess" he smiled as he shifted Shade's position around. Now is a good time to be dramatic and buy into the heat of the moment he thought, his smile turning a bit more boyish. The position was a bit awkward but he pushed on nonetheless. "If one of us don't make it out of this, I don't want any regrets" he said softly, as he closed in. That's the type of things I have to say to make it okay for me to do this right? he thought as he leaned in and kissed Aleath without warning. Well I suppose it's alright if I do it dramatically enough he reasoned as he move in to kiss her deeper. "Alrighty! Daylights is a-wastin!" He grinned as he withdrew. He quickly turned away and started off into a random direction. He didn't turn back as he kept pushing forward at an almost breakneck pace. "Hey! I think town's over there!" he replied as he spied a trail. "Yep! I can see the tiny specks of people! Come on!" oocSorry for the short post. Mind taking the lead? I'm sorta at a lost at what those hunters would do

[Aleath]

After Aleath gathered all things, she went to stand in an entrance, waiting for Darren to leave, too. He seemed to be little annoyed with her standing in the cave for some time and she smirked lightly. She leaned against the wall and watched the nature outside. Just then he came to stand next to her. When she looked at him, she realized how tall he was. She squinted up at him, still not quite meeting his eyes. The Vantha quickly looked down. She didn’t want him to catch her staring. Of course he knew what she meant before, he wasn’t stupid. 'Not that I was trying to imply something.' she denied firmly. For some strange reason she liked him. She knew that some other person wouldn’t forgive him that quickly, but she was like that all her life. She couldn’t be angry at anybody for too long. 'But, but…I only knew him several hours for God's sake! And…he is the one who attacked me in the first place, and…' There were thought like this going in her mind, but they were always drowned by 'What if we leave this place and something happens and I‘ll never see him again?' Apparently, similar thoughts were running in Darren’s mind too, because of what he said. 'If one of us don’t make it out of this…that sounds like…' She looked up at him with desperate look, ready to deny what he said. Surely his worries were unnecessary. And before she could decide on what to say, his lips came on hers. For a moment she was stunned and couldn’t move. He was kissing her. For real. For real! Nobody has ever kissed her before. Not like this. It was completely new to her and no matter how much her sense was protesting that this was a bad idea, she quite enjoyed it. She shyly returned the kiss and she felt a pang of disappointment when he pulled back, but nevertheless she was nearly beaming with happiness. She looked at him and her eyes, which were normally grey, were now bright green. She grinned back at him and without a word she followed him as he quickly took off, her grin never leaving her face. After a while, Darren spotted the trail and Aleath sighed in relief. Now all they should do was follow it and they would be fine. Or not. They walked only about one hundred meters, when the three hunters from before emerged from the forest and stepped in their way. They stood several meters apart from each other as if in case the Vanthas would try to escape. "Ah, here they are. Running away, are you?" asked the one in the middle. All of them were holding midsize swords in front of them. "Liars!" he spat. "We know that you are the Kelvic fox we are hunting." he continued, looking at Darren with a vicious expression. After that, the hunters began slowly walking towards the two Vantha. OOC : Sorry if this is too long. I got little carried away Also thanks for taking the initiative with Aleath's and Darren's relationship. I think she is far too shy to make a move first... And I hope that the hunters' appearance is fine.

[Darren]

She seems to have taken that well Darren thought, chuckling to himself as they took a few steps towards town. It was hard to mistake the huge grin she was sporting was that of approval of the larger Vantha. Either that or she cringed so much that her face got stuck Darren mused as he went on to examine the simple girl next to her. "Easy as that to cheer you up? Maybe I should start kissing people whenever I'm in an argument" Darren said commenting on Aleath's mood. He offered Aleath a smirk as the two went along the trail to Avanthal. Hmm... I think I have a thing for more... simple girls. Either that or white hair, Darren considered as he looked at the latest piece of evidence. And a very... , his mind wandered off for a bit as he looked Aleath up and down closely. Finally the two stopped in their tracks. Rather Aleath stopped and Darren took another second staring until he unwillingly looked away. He gave an amused smile at the expected intrusion. "Hey there! Fancy seeing you again" he replied back in mock surprise. His smile quickly faded into a look of teasing as the hunters approached. He couldn't resist, how could he? He was in a decent mood. Darren took a look at Shade with a quizical look and then at the approaching hunters. "A Kelvic fox? This? No no no...this is just a hefty dog. Either that or honey here lied to me! How dare you!" Darren explained in mock anger as he instinctively moved closer to Aleath. In a single smooth movement he had his arms over her as he dropped Shade into Aleath's chest, "How dare you lie to me! Take him back! ...and on that note you miiiiggghhhtt wanna run" Darren said, whispering the last part in a less then subtle tone. He was carrying most of her stuff in any case, but a dog while dealing with these types of people? Wouldn't quite work. He gave a farewell glance at Aleath before he turned to the hunters, who looked a bit confused at the back and forth between them. "A fox? That all? Sounds like something I would bash to death" he growled at the hunters. He wasn't too focused on whatever came from his mouth now, what he was focused on was making sure that their attention was directed at him. He took a few steps away from Aleath, searching his belt for his gauntlets. He hastily put one on before one of them threw a strike at him, luckily it was aimed at the side his gauntlets were on. Swiftly pushing the blow aside he aimed a kick that grounded his attacker while another hunter took his place. Then without waiting for another warning, Darren turned to make his escape. oocJust a heads up. Darren being Aleath's first kiss isn't exactly a very good thing for her. ...Unless you like chasing people.