Horse Eden : Helderfontein x Nightclan

January 2, 2023 12:52 AM

Posts: 703
#1052553
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Madrigal rolled her eyes as she watched Sage rearrange the bags. "You know I'm not a weakling, right? I've carried heavy packs across deserts, walked through jungles, hiked up streams... I worry about you more than I worry about myself." She was flattered though, really she was. The thought that he cared enough to make her life easier in the smallest of ways, it made something twist in her chest. She grabbed a stick and smashed that feeling far out of view.

"Okay, well, we have pretty much everything we need for now. We should head off. Might as well make as much use of the daylight as we can," she said, arranging her personal items in the pockets of the pack. She dropped her old little bag on Sage's table before lifting the travel pack onto her shoulders. She watched Sage as she did up the straps at her hips and shoulders, lifting some of the weight of it off of shoulders and back. "Do what you need to do to tidy what you need and say goodbye to the place, I'll be outside," she said, making her way out of the small cottage.

January 2, 2023 11:49 AM

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#1052648
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Sage felt a sort of small smile creep up on the edge of his mouth and he glanced over at the girl, her stubbornness slightly amusing. "I know, but the amount of weight you can run in and walk in are two different things," he told the girl. "I'd rather take a few extra pounds so we have a bit more room for running or fighting. I don't want to have to drop the entire pack somewhere," he hummed. Though, when the girl said she worried about him, he felt a strange feeling warm his chest, almost like it had started to melt the little ball of ice that had been lodged there for years. He didn't really know what it was ....it felt nice, but he wasn't sure he wanted to allow that ice to melt either. It had kept him alive this long, and he barely knew the girl. He wasn't quite ready to bare himself to the girl, to open himself up and be vulnerable around her. Even if it was just figuratively. Somehow, that seemed almost worse than being vulnerable physically around the girl...and he absolutely hated that too.

He nodded and grunted in agreement with the girls statement about leaving and making the most of the daylight and tossed his own bag over his shoulders. It was heavy, but he could still move and run, so he'd manage it. Besides, they didn't really have a choice. If the girl took on much more weight, she wouldn't be able to run as fast, and she could get hurt. He cocked his head slightly as she slipped out of the door, telling him to say goodbye. He didn't care about the small little cottage ...it wasn't his home. Nothing but bad memories resided here for him. The woods were where he'd lived and held so many memories. Maybe not amazing ones all the time, but many weren't bad, either. He reached down to finger his dagger as if steeling himself before slipping out the door to join the girl. They were really doing this ....and he couldn't help but feel excited about the entire thing. And, a bit honored that the girl wanted him to go with her on this adventure.

January 3, 2023 09:59 PM

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#1053198
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Madrigal took the moment alone outside to ponder the events of the last few days. Everything had happened so quickly that she half expecte a rug to move from under her and sweep her off her feet. Sage, his dead father, their plans to leave, their new adventure. It was all so much, but so... well, she hadn't felt this alive in ages. The rut that she'd fallen into out of the necessity of survival, it felt like this new her was kicking it to the curb. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, hearing the light wind move between the branches of the trees. A bird, something distant moving in the forest, it felt like she was floating.

The sound of the door closing grounded her. Madrigal opened her eyes and smiled as Sage appeared in her line of sight. A hand came up to finger her dragon pendent, in anticipation of what lay ahead for both of them. For what lay ahead between them. Their relationship as friends was still new, each of them holding a guarded heart, their bond as flimsy as a tulle. But it would grow, she thought, hopefully.

Madrigal pulled the compass Sage had given her out of a pocket of her cloak and looked at it. The Kyldrid Mountain range lay to the South, so that's where they needed to go. "We should have planned this last night. Take the maps out, we need to chart a course."

January 3, 2023 10:29 PM

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#1053217
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Sage glanced over at the girl when he stepped up beside her, and he caught her glance before he quickly looked away, feeling his face heat up slightly. It still seemed so odd...having a friend he could rely on. Well, a friend he thought he could rely on. It was still so new to him, and he found himself struggling to believe it was true. He wanted to trust the girl...he wanted to have someone to lean on when he needed it. He was tired of always having to be strong himself. But...he didn't want to strain their relationship. They barely knew eachother, and the girl didn't need anything from him that wasn't helpful to their mission. Besides, he wouldn't know where to start or what to do. And...his heart was straining for a relationship that was positive, his head was yelling at him not to trust anyone. He'd trusted someone else once...and that had only hurt him even more. He'd be a fool to fall in front of the girl and open himself up like that. But he did want to get to know her better. And maybe...maybe if she really proved to him he could trust her, that she wouldn't hurt him...then he could tell her a bit more.

He frowned slightly when she pulled that map out, and then shrugged. "I would have just walked south and gone wherever," he admitted. "Though I suppose we could try and figure out where we can start off with." He squinted up at the sun and shrugged again. "We can follow the only road in front of us and plan on the way if you dont want to waste daylight," he hummed. Really, he'd be fine with whatever the girl had planned, or wanted to do. He was just glad to be able to do something for himself, and with a strong companion who he knew had his back, even if it was for her own reasons.

January 12, 2023 04:09 PM

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#1056341
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Short one this time, sorry!))

Madrigal nodded at Sage's reasoning. She folded up the maps and pocketed the compass. "We'll do what you suggest and walk South until tonight. Then we can make better plans." She nodded again in confirmation and walked on. "We should probably hunt as much as we can on the way. Set out snares for hares, fish if we come acros a river, small stuff like that. Save the dried meat for when it's to snowy to hunt for food."

January 12, 2023 04:36 PM

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#1056354
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(it's all good lol!)

Sage pursed his lips and nodded, watching as Madrigal shoved the map back into her backpack. "We can walk until the sun starts to set and find a good spot to camp. We can make a couple miles at least," he mused, looking down the road and squinting at the suns glare. "If we find a good place with lots of food we can stop and camp there, too." He shrugged slightly, not really caring what they did as long as they stayed together. Honestly, just walking along like this...close but not too close, comfortable with eachother....it was really, really nice. He found himself happy to be with the girl, and that he trusted her. Maybe he was going too fast, he knew he shouldn't trust her completely, but he did. If she ended up hurting him, well, he was used to that...he'd get by. He'd go home, and stay in the woods until he died. And he was fine with that. But he was definitely looking forward to this adventure. And getting to know the girl striding along next to him.

January 12, 2023 04:54 PM

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#1056365
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Madrigal agreed, using a hand to shade her eyes from the sun's glare as she looked around. "We can definately make a few miles." She pulled the compass from her pocket every now and then to check their direction, having to change course slightly a couple of times. She found that she was concent in Sage's company. He was on the quieter side, but so was she, and she thought she liked it that way. The sun rose above them as they walked, Madrigal stopping them every now and then for a drink and short rest. When they came across a patch of berries that she knew were edible, she picked them by the pocketful. "We can dry them, they'll give us energy," she explained, but she was sure Sage knew already.

January 12, 2023 05:24 PM

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#1056400
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Sage could feel his mouth twitching in amusement when the girl informed him of the berries. He knew they were edible, and food did in fact, do the job of giving one energy. But, the girl seemed to find comfort in kind of bossing him around, and he was fine to let her. That was sort of how he let someone know he liked them, and their company...if they told him to do something, he'd do it willingly, as long as he agreed with it. He was fine with the girl being the boss...as long as she treated him fine he didn't really care. It wasn't even a class ranking boss, she was just the one saying stuff. In all honesty, he sort of liked not having to take on so much responsibility he thought his head might actually explode. "Food does tend to do that," he noted in a rather amused tone of voice as he started picking the berries, putting them into a jar he'd picked up. They'd need empty containers for things, so he'd grabbed a few for them. This was another thing ...when he trusted someone, he started to get a bit more playfully. Make jokes, tease them...he was really a playful guy, it just took a while for him to trust someone and warm up to them. To let himself be vulnerable in their presence. He did hope the girl wasn't someone who couldn't understand sarcasm, as that would make some of his jokes seem awfully....crude, maybe? Whatever, he was barely even cracking a smile still. But it was progress...and while he was heasitant to open up, he did really really wish this girl was someone who genuinely liked him and wanted to stay his friend.

January 12, 2023 06:51 PM

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#1056454
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"You jest," Madrigal rolled her eyes, but smiled. "You gather then, oh clever one." She promptly sat down, resting back on the hells of her hands.

It was a beautiful day for them to begin their travels, but it was hot. Really hot. Sweat dripped down her back, and her hair was slick with it. She unbuckled the bag and let it fall away from her, relaxing in the cool feelig of air on her back. Even through the cotton of her shirt, the slight breeze felt glorious.

"It's too hot," she complained, laying back with her head propped on the pack and an arm sluung over her eyes. "I could nap, the shade is so nice." She had felt the sensation of eyes on her since they'd left the shack, but Sage's company had made it more bareble. She felt them now, but focused on him as she listened to the soft sounds of his movement. A smile played on her lips. It felt so good to finally be content in the company of someone else. She'd been alone for so long that she'd forgotten how good it felt to have someone there. To have a partner, of sorts.

January 12, 2023 07:09 PM