Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"That child didn't knowingly work for Vile!" Fendros tried to shout over Ahnasha in the middle of her retort. It didn't stop her.

After a while, Fendros simply stood with his mouth slightly open, incredulous. He had to give some seconds before he responded just to process what Ahnasha had said. He could only come to one immediate conclusion.

He shook his head slowly. His voice was quieter now, clearly hurt. "I hardly recognise you anymore, Ahna. Why are you being like this?"

---

Meanwhile, Sabine walked back from the search for the letter in a daze. Her memory hardly recorded any of the search. She wasn't even clear if they found it or not. She just wanted to head back.

The one thing she remembered for the entire time was that she was scared. Fendros and Ahnasha had stabbed that scared girl in the hand. Well, Ahnasha had her knife out, but Sabine didn't know who it was. The scream still rang in her thoughts.

For lack of seeing Ahnasha and Fendros as she was walking back, Sabine instead began to approach Kaleeth-Rei, slowly picking up her speed faster as she approached. By the time she ran into Kaleeth and gave her a hug, she was jogging and nearly in tears. She did not so much as say a word, let alone explain what was on her mind at the time.

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

@Kho You can tell by looking into those dogs' eyes, they've seen terrible things. They've done terrible things.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The way Ahnasha escalated the situation only caused Fendros to set off his own temper. He exploded, interrupting her before the end of her last sentence.

"That doesn't make it right!" He shouted. His body turned to her with his face laced with fury. "You think this is about who had the greatest pain!? No!" He spread his arms and only shouted louder. "It's about crossing lines! If someone stabbed a blade in Rhazii's hand for the sake of making us talk, I would call it nothing short of callous and cruel, Ahnasha!" He gestured to the cabin. "That girl is going to have pains and nightmares for the rest of her life! We could have left her completely out of it! We didn't!" He pushed Ahnasha roughly in the shoulder. "You crossed a line in there! It was your decision! And having experienced worse doesn't make it any better! Not enjoying? Getting results?! it doesn't make it any better!"

Fendros had not shouted into Ahnasha's face like this in years. He kept his anger on, even when the twinge of potential regret set in. This was an issue simmering from a long string of Ahnasha's behaviour over the past few years, and only now had it forced Fendros' hand.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The only reaction Fendros had to Ahnasha's kiss was a reflexive blink. He didn't even put his arm around her.

The pause that followed gave him time to consider, and soon enough he changed the subject. "Ahna, back in the cabin, you said something to that man. It...just really shocked me." Fendros' voice was low. He continued to walk without looking at her. "'This could have been so much easier, and so much more painless,' that was what you said." Fendros' walking slowed to a near stop. "The last time I heard that from someone with a dagger in their hand, it was right after he had butchered you alive in front of me. And before that, I saw a look in that man's eyes that was the exact same as I felt back when I was in his position. They are never going to live that down."

There was so much attached to the issue that what to say next was, for the moment, lost to Fendros. It gave Ahnasha time to respond.

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

Well, it would make them slightly less creepy.

You know, I speculated that more colourful Galbaric societies would put paintings and such on local white giants. It stands to reason that at least a few would have faces drawn on their heads.

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

@Lauder Who are you to judge, Alice in Swolederland?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Oh, if she doesn't address that scene now, she's going to have a talk that night, believe you me.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros tapped his finger on the table for a short moment, thinking. "We could probably take you closer to the coast with some gold. I don't think we could pay for a voyage all the way to the isles, but...If you think you can work something out, go ahead." He stood up from the chair, pushing it back with the back of his legs. "We will have to keep you here for another while so we can line the details up with the other captives." Fendros glanced to Aneitta and Elinenne, before collecting the black soul gems and the bag that had contained them. "I'll leave you three alone for now. Call out if you need anything, Sabine will accommodate you when she gets back."

Before Fendros walked out of the door, he turned to look at them all with a lowered brow. "Be polite to her." He turned, shut the door, and locked it with a wooden clack.

With Ahnasha alongside him, Fendros needed a break before even thinking about the next interrogation. He looked at the ground and paced along with his hands in his pockets. A small, bothered frown marred his face. "We have more leads, at least," Fendros said dispassionately. "If they don't completely go to ground when they find out one of their prisoner collectors isn't coming back from the latest rendezvous, we might even catch them." He sighed through his nose, blinking and not even glancing at Ahnasha.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I have to go and cook dinner. I don't want to keep you up too late, so I'll say g'night here.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

After a while, Sabine had spent enough time on Aneitta's hand that the only evidence of her trauma was a prominent scar and the fear that still laced her expression. Without anything else to do, Sabine stayed in the room with her hands clasped together. She was still shaken by what she saw, but did not so much as look at Ahnasha about it.

Fendros unconsciously glanced at the door when Jespric mentioned the letter. He paused for a moment before speaking -- first to Sabine. "Sabine, go with a couple of Malithus' packmates to try and find that paper."

Sabine quickly nodded and slinked out of the room at speed.

"Jespric," Fendros turned his head back to him. "If we just let you go, they will find you and there would have been no point in sparing your life. Worse for us, they might interrogate you about us before they kill you all. You're going to have to find another place to live. We can escort you without being tracked for a distance, but we have to keep fighting Vile's men in this region. We can only take you so far."

Gone was Fendros' ominous detachment from Jespric's pain. He spoke as someone familiar and trying to help. "Do you have any idea which direction you would prefer to go? Do you know how far you want to go?"