Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The night went on with various degrees of ease for all. It was at the same time difficult to get to sleep as it was to stay awake as the impending threat of being found and attacked hung in the air with almost material levels of anxiety. Sabine was mostly fine, having been in such threatening situations before, although even she had a bit of Peiter's worry rub off on her. Gallus never ended up catching up with Ri'vashi before heading to his bed for fear of -- as Peiter had put it so aptly -- stirring up trouble this close to the attack. Tzirret couldn't sleep if he wanted to until he mustered up the courage to speak to Ma'tanza again, only to find that the situation was not nearly as severe as he thought. Of everyone, it was perhaps Ahnasha, Fendros, Janius, and Kaleeth that all slept most soundly. Ahnasha and Fendros' little competition resulted in Ahnasha being the clear victor, though not without effort. Meanwhile, Kaleeth and Janius just ended up enjoying a night to themselves. The time since a proper hunt made the rope a necessity.

And now, after all this time marching and drilling, they all stood with the gathered strength of two lycan clans. Before them, beyond the tree line, was the stronghold they had anticipating an attack upon for weeks.

Gallus and Uthri stood either side of Peiter. Gallus was trying to observe ahead and see how the werevultures fared. He was unconsciously clenching his teeth in worry about that one pivotal part, though that was not obvious behind his helmet's visor. Just as he had mentioned before, he was equipped with a shield and a spear, while his hammer hung from his belt and his other daggers were hidden about him. He was armoured the same as his duel with Ri'vashi, and as such was sweating like the rest of them. Otherwise, Uthri was armoured in a gambeson like her comrades, but had also snatched a few plates of boiled leather for her arms. She was armed with a hatchet and a small shield, with a few other weapons arrayed on her person. She noticed Peiter's nerves in his posture and gave him a nudge with her fist. "Buck up," she whispered with a grin, "It's almost time."

Sabine was part of the ritual team, so she had a lot more to think about in the short term than Peiter did. She watched on as the werevultures were equipped. It was strange to watch them speak through their beaks, but it did little to lessen the gravity of the situation. Sabine gave a worried expression as they prepared to go into danger.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Okay. Tzirret probably would overreact and apologise to her again, but that would probably just be a brief scene anyway. We can summarise that, if it needs writing in at all.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

If you like.

I'm guessing that Ma'tanza's going to be avoiding Tzirret for the rest of the time before everyone sleeps?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Even though it was a bit rich to take in, Sabine decided to take the compliment anyway. She gave Meesei a tight hug and murmured a "Thank you." Once she pulled back, she looked to Gallus, and then back to Meesei. "Did you want to do any more training? It is late but we have to stay up." She peered around, "And Peiter is probably still with his pack."

Janius' returned the hug with just as much mirth. To Kaleeth's words, he gave a short laugh. "On the contrary, I intend to meld them together. We've not had you trained under spell fire very much." Janius grinned. "Don't worry, I won't use anything dangerous on you unless you learn to raise a ward."

---

Gallus' face suddenly scrunched in frustration and he bowed forward, raising his palm and whispering frantically. "Alright, alright, shh. Do you want everyone to know!? Just..." He released the rest of his breath through his nose and opened his eyes to Peiter. He still spoke quietly, "Alright, nothing gets past you, Peiter, I'll admit that. You know me too well." He chuckled nervously, "Okay, honesty, you deserve that."

Gallus paused and looked around the immediate area, making sure that no one was in earshot. He then leaned in to murmur to Peiter surreptitiously and quickly. "So, I was offered to share a bottle of strong wine today. Strong wine that was full of moon sugar. I won't say who it was that offered me, but I will say that I laid with her with some impaired judgement. I would not have done so otherwise." Gallus' voice then became more severe, "But this time, Peiter, it's important that this isn't spread around. Not because of Sephy or Olivia, but because...it would have implications for these clans. It's a sensitive matter. That's deadly truth, you understand?" Gallus looked straight into Peiter's eyes with an expression as serious as his words. Up this close, the smell of his breath appeared to line up with his new story. "I need you to keep quiet for me," he added.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@poog the pig

"All knights will receive a set of armour, a small shield, a spear, and a super-sour fruit lozenge."

I like it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"You know I'll be training magic some more from now on," Janius added with crossed arms. He laughed softly through a grin. "Don't think I'll let you surpass me too quickly."

As for Meesei's last comment, Sabine wasn't sure what to make of it at first. She gave Janius an acknowledging glance, but appeared overwhelmed outwardly this time. "I am learning faster than you did?" she asked in disbelief. "How? You are..." Sabine's eyes darted around, "...you know it all better than I do."

---

Gallus lowered his brow and angled his head back. "Hey, I've been doing no such thing, thank you very much. If you-" His eyes widened slightly, "Oh! You think this smell is from me mating?" Gallus smiled and waved a finger in front of himself, "Oh, no-no-no! I was...just assigned by Ri'vashi to be the test subject for an experimental scent mask by the alchemists. It just..." Gallus looked at himself, "...well, the test was something of a failure, you see."

If there was one thing that Gallus unashamedly lied about, it was his mating habits. Even if Gallus appeared confident enough, Peiter had been privy to his lies before and this was a comparatively poor excuse.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Thanks guys.

A special thank you to poog for drawing and forgetting Allure, requiring me to look up his description and put 'body building' and 'man flexing' in my search history.

No thanks to my old version of GIMP. Ugh, no way to turn visibility on or off for all layers.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@poog the pig@The Irish Tree

It's exactly 1:00 AM. I need to stop here before this becomes a full Brodyquest cover.

Gods and Goddesses, I present the product of a few hours of my life: Lipfraquest...

I think this is the part where I admit that I've lost control of my life.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Actually," Janius interjected, "I didn't start learning much sooner than you did, Sabine. The difference is, I think, that I never had as intimate an instructor as Meesei to fill gaps in my understanding until I joined the pack." He put a hand on his hip. "Even then, I was getting bruises from Lorag much of the time more than you've been taught."

Though Sabine at least attempted to be modest about losing the little challenge, the encouragement did help to lift the unreasonable expectations about herself regarding her skill in magic. With some perspective, she found it a little overwhelming to be so close to Janius' level. She never would have expected that when she started getting taught magic. Even so, she didn't quite believe all of Meesei's claims. "Are you sure that I would only take a few months?" She asked with a small smile, a tilted head, and sceptical eyes, "I have been able to cast the ice spear spell only since recently."

---

The only disturbance to Gallus' expression was his eyes darting down and up, as if he had only just noticed the scent of Ri'vashi and their tryst when it was mentioned. Thankfully there was enough around what Peiter said to give a response as if his observation was inconsequential. "I expect that I may be still be with...at least either with Sephy or Olivia, unless they...you know, decide otherwise." Gallus broke eye contact, looking to the side as he leaned his hand on his chin and reflected. "As for whether I've gotten past having fun...I suppose I have. There was this Breton girl - Carlia. This was back before I found you, I was much younger. Thing is, she reached that point first. She wanted to marry me, you see, but I never really did. In retrospect, I really broke her heart, but I wasn't ready for anything like that." Gallus' eyes glanced to Peiter and away again, "She was the girl I left Uthri for at that time. Ancient history, really."

Gallus took another breath to continue. "Another time was with Renee, an Imperial girl from out west. In that case, we were together for seven months and I sort of fell out of love with her, I guess you could say. The spark went out. Wasn't fun any more. I had been sleeping with Uthri by the time I broke it off with her anyway, so I suppose that was the nail in that relationship's casket." Gallus half-smiled and turned his tone to be lighter of heart. "But listen to me, focussing on all of the destinations rather than the journeys." Gallus peered a sideways look to Peiter. "This's all not to say your prospects are bad, Peiter, just that it isn't always the eternal fantasy. I don't think you're the type to make the same decisions I have."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Against your ward again?" Janius asked, "I hope you've not got some kind of ward trick I'm unaware of that drains my magicka."

The two of them took up positions and prepared the spells in their hands. While Janius knew that he could make a stream of fire akin to a candle, he decided to be fair and assume that Meesei meant a basic stream of fire that would engulf an area in front of him.

The signal was heard and the two mages carefully extended a hand each and let loose cones of frost and fire.

The space in front of Sabine glowed white and condensed soft, frigid steam in the humid air. In some places little crystals of snow would appear. The plant life of course became frosted over.

Janius' stream of flames seemed about as powerful, though it was all but completely absorbed or deflected by Meesei's ward. The small amount of detritus and undergrowth between them shrivelled, smoked, and eventually blackened in the heat.

Neither of them seemed particularly strained by their spells. In fact, they even traded glances while they cast. It wasn't for another half a minute that looks of concentration started to harden on their faces. Another half a minute later, there was a gaseous thud as Janius' stream gave a sputter. Janius grit his teeth and his stream stabilised, though he looked to be struggling. Sabine's face was a blank mask as she put all the effort she could into keeping her stream going. Janius held for another ten seconds or so before another sputter sounded, and another, and before long it was mere puffs of flame drawing from magicka that was no longer there.

Janius released his held breath and stopped, bringing his hand back. He looked over to Sabine curiously. "Did you beat me? I wasn't paying attention."

Sabine had her eyes to the ground. Her stream had stopped as well, though more quietly than Janius' had. She looked up to him with a disappointed frown and shook her head. "Mine ended first," she said, defeated.

---

"How long have you two been together now? A couple of months?" Gallus looked up thoughtfully, "I've been in relationships for that long, certainly. Though if your asking what to expect from here on out, well...that really depends on you and Sabine." Gallus brushed a hand through the air between them. "If Sabine's not been in a relationship this long, perhaps she doesn't know what to expect either. However, sooner or later at least one of you is going to grow from this 'having fun' phase and question what you want from the relationship. What comes up might be confronting, but it's worth thinking about."

Gallus clasped his hands together. "It might be some heavy thought, but do you know what you want out of it? Just say whatever comes to mind, no bad answers exist here."