Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"What fire?" Narsi turned her head left and right, momentarily distracted from Julan's following actions. The arcing blue energy around them caught her eye and immediately made her face drop. "Uhh, is this normal-" She was interrupted by the bolt jumping from Leaps' mouth, making her flinch. The destruction it caused gave her pause. She stared at the fire in awe.

Rhazii finally closed behind them with wet footsteps. He stopped and caught his breath, surveying the scene. "Eheh...Decided to show her the trick, huh?" He asked with an open smile while he breathed.

"Okay," Narsi admitted. "That's the second craziest thing I've ever seen now."

After a moment, Rhazii turned away from the fire and rubbed his eyes.

---

Monderyn nodded and stepped aside. A wave of buttery-sweet aromas fell from the door. "I'll go wake Fendros up," he said. "The kitchen is just down the hall."

Turning his eyes down, Monderyn slid around on one foot and began walking up the stairs by the door. The wood was the kind that always caused one's footsteps to clomp loudly even if they were climbing slowly.

The empty doorway to the kitchen ahead emitted a soft sizzling sound. Calia's voice carried softly through as well -- Ahnasha's ears were keen enough to hear it. "...worried about your brother. Believe me, dear, I have far more experience in that field than you. However, if he chose not to speak of it, it means he wishes to work it through on his own. There is no need to be..."

Entering revealed Calia sitting at a dining table in a comfortable cyan dress and Llarasa by the stove in a brown dress and a white apron, flipping a pancake over a stove. Calia stopped herself mid-sentence and switched seamlessly to a welcoming smile. Llarasa turned and gave a surprised smile in turn, holding her spatula in both hands.

Calia stood gracefully from her seat. "Ah, there is my daughter-in-law. Greetings, Ahnasha." She walked up to offer Ahnasha a hug. "How are you this morning?"

"H-hello Ahnasha," Llarasa said, grinning and trying her best to be subtle but unable to compete with Calia.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As soon as Leaps gathered forward momentum outside of the city, Julan felt Narsi's good arm hook suddenly up under his arm and across his chest.

"Hey, where...?" Rhazii's voice faded away behind them as he ran to try and catch up.

Narsi held on for her life, making no noise but short, fearful breathing. She held on even tighter upon sudden changes of direction, almost to the point of causing them both to fall off Leaps' back.

The approach to the river gave just enough time for Narsi to protest. "No, wait-stop-stop-AAH-!" The water around them swallowed her voice.

When they broke the surface, Narsi took a sudden breath. The water fell away loudly in streams and drips. Narsi finally let go and leaned back. Julan turned around to see her just as soaked as him, with her hair flattened and her eyes glaring back at him. She shivered. "Did you have to go for the damn water!?" She all but shouted. "I'm freezing!"

---

The door to the Avarul house opened with a latch and a creak. Monderyn stood behind it. He opened the door properly once he recognised Ahnasha. He paused for a second, mouth opened awkwardly. "Greetings, Ahnasha," he eventually said. He glanced at the baggage and then carefully pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Llarasa was about to start with breakfast. Would you like to join us?"

The way he spoke was even more reserved than usual. While it was unclear how much he knew, he definitely knew that there was a reason Fendros had stayed the night without Ahnasha.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Excuse the delay. I've had a hell of a weekend. I'll post tonight.

Divinus: The God RP, Mk. III. Finished in Record Time™!

@Literato Hey there! We certainly do have room for any of those things you mentioned. Let me just quickly drop you a PM with a link to the Discord and you can get introduced to the cats we've been herding :)

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Narsi grew predictably defensive. "I ain't afraid of lightning," she said. "I just never seen an animal make lightning with its mouth when it sneezes, alright!?"

"It's okay," Rhazii said with a laugh. "He doesn't bolt anyone unless they're threatening us."

There was little Rhazii could say to make Narsi any more comfortable, but Julan's approach was more effective, if from a a completely different angle.

"It's not cute!" Narsi snapped, clenching her fists. "And I'm not...ugh!" She growled and hesitated. "I'm not gonna give up! Move your fat tail, clown!" She stomped up and attempted to vault up onto the saddle behind Julan.

---

Fendros angrily brought up a finger and breathed in before Ahansha turned around, but he pressed his lips shut and hesitated, breathing out. He did not put together a retort by the time Ahnasha continued.

At that, he turned his eyes across to the window. His arms and shoulders fell. In the intervening seconds, he made a conscious effort to adjust his tone. "I'll return in the morning." He said, his voice coming out in croaks after all the shouting. Ahnasha heard a bag being taken up and then Fendros' footsteps towards the door, which opened. He hesitated again, and the door shut behind him.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Narsi was not exactly made calm by Julan's reassurances. "Oh, so...gelded like a horse or something, huh..." She flicked her eyes between Leaps' tusks and Julan's face. "You aren't seriously going to ride this thing, right?"

"Of course we are," Rhazii said with a broad grin. "Do you want to try?"

"I'm good," Narsi said with an almost nauseated expression.

All of a sudden, Leaps went still. His eyes stared into space ahead as he slowly lifted his head and opened his mouth. Blue sparks leapt in arcs between his teeth and his spikes.

Narsi's face dropped. She took two steps back, ready to dive for some sort of cover.

Leaps shook his head down as he blew out a sneeze.

Narsi shielded herself with her leg and one arm. She spoke as she slowly lowered her guard. "You two saw magic lightning there, right?"

---

Fendros mostly ignored the first portion of Ahnasha's ranting. It was just the same anger as before. The way Ahnasha turned it into a sarcastic dig at his intentions inflamed his mind just enough that his patience could not quite last.

He turned around, stood up straight, breathed all the way in and clasped his hands in front of himself. He paused, looking at Ahnasha intensely with his chin high. "No, go on," he said with an exaggerated genial gesture. "I'll wait right here until you're all done. I'm sure you've got plenty more to say. While you're at it, perhaps you might feel better by coming up with some lies to tell yourself."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Narsi's eyes widened and she stumbled back, slightly behind Rhazii. "Ch-f-ghwhat-what the oblivion is that!?"

Rhazii laughed lightly. "Hello, leaps! How...gwah-" Leaps predictably clapped his feet right up to Rhazii and nudged him on the stomach nearly hard enough to knock him off his feet, but Rhazii held onto the sides of his head and kept his footing. "Ahah! I missed you, too, friend," he laughed, patting the giant reptile under the chin where he wouldn't have his arms raked.

Leaps croaked happily.

Far from her usual aloofness, Narsi stood agape and pale green as pea soup. She stood sprung and staring at Leaps as if was about to eat her.

---

At this point Ahnasha had stopped escalating. They were no longer shouting, the combat was done, and all that was left was the soreness that drove them to anger in the first place. Fendros let Ahnasha finish and found himself finally hefting the shame of his actions. He neither rebuked her accusations nor did he ask for forgiveness. While there was an element of pride in it, he doubted grovelling would improve the situation. Not yet, anyway. Instead, he looked away, frowning and catching his breath.

"We'll make it work," he said resolutely. "If this the reality now, it's time to decide how to handle it." He slid past Ahnasha to lean a hand up against the window frame. His entire frame sank with fatigue where he stood. "I don't have any excuses," he murmured.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I'm 75% certain one of Ahnasha's family is listening at the door...

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Narsi kept her head forward in such a way that she had a persistent glare when she glanced up, though she was still taken too off-guard to respond with a sniping remark. She just danced her eyes around and spoke. "I don't...who's Leaps? A horse?"

"Leaps is much better than a horse." Rhazii said as they began to walk. "Just you wait and see. I bet he's missed us. He'll probably knock us both over once he's out of his pen, hahah!"

---

Fendros stopped silent and aghast. Slowly, his face twisted back into fury that he kept behind pursed lips. He blew out a hot breath through his nose. "...Unbelievable." He said, lowering his voice to Ahnasha's level. "Even if you did think I wish her dead -- and I do not -- I am fully confident S'nashi will be able to handle it better. Because you are alive. And you are an adult. And you can speak with her. Have you been able to talk to her adult-to-adult yet? With independence and respect? Perhaps that is something you missed out on."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Rhazii turned his eyes up. It took him only a second to think about it before he smiled back at Julan. "You know what? Yeah. The past few days have been crap for me as well. Let's find a game or something." He glanced at Narsi. "We can say you needed to rest after what Julan did to your arm."

"Huh?" Narsi showed some confusion on her face. "My arm is just pulled a bit, it's not a problem." She said with comparatively less indignation.

Rhazii bent down and turning his head to get a closer look. "I don't know, looks pretty bad to me," Rhazii said sarcastically. He then stood up straight and peered around with his fingers sheltering his eyes. "And there aren't many healers around, they must all be busy. Yeah, we should do something other than training. Come with us."

For once, Narsi did not have anything abrasive to say. She had the look of someone breaking a long-understood rule for the first time.

"What did you have in mind, brother?" Rhazii asked as he turned to walk.

---

The heat of the moment blurred any notion of admitting a mistake. "I forced nothing!" He growled. "Every time I have brought up stopping these absurd lies you-" He mimed a shrunken sphere between his hands. "You shrink into that perfect, safe little girl you seem to think they want you to be!" He gesticulated with his frustration. "It's 'not now' and 'they'll be upset' and putting things off despite the layers built on this web! I'm sick of it, Ahnasha!"