Feral Heart

Like how Raven had picked up on her small lie, Carina could pick up on the mage's reluctance to spend half a day or so riding to their destination on horseback. She was one to value her personal space too, so the idea didn't send excitement surging through her, but the cleric couldn't see any other way around it. "I'm afraid so," she responded, masking her own resentment towards sharing her saddle with someone else. "It's not my idea of an ideal day out either, but unless you want to walk for twenty or so miles, there's not much else on offer." The ride could be an interesting one, too, because her gelding didn't take to strangers well, it was only because Carina had been with him since birth that the palomino tolerated her. Chucking Raven into the saddle too may not be the smartest idea, unless the male equine was on his best behaviour. Of course, the cleric would never let anything happen to the mage, as she would be out of the saddle before anything could happen, but it would slow them down if such a thing should occur.

"My horse here, Vigilance, he's not going to go and do anything that would put either of us in danger, or risk of injury. And even if he did, I know him like the back of my own hand, I can predict his movements as he can mine, and you would be off and well away from him before he could do anything to you. I can understand if you would rather take the on-foot method, but we'd cover a lot more ground if we were both riding." As she spoke, the male palomino snorted and shifted his weight from one side of his body to the other, flicking his ears in obvious impatience. Like any spirited horse, he was eager to get moving as soon as possible, and Carina wasn't one to linger either. "It's up to you, though, no pressure either way." Carina herself would much prefer it if she didn't have to share her personal space or her horse, but in this instance, she could stand it if Raven chose horseback over walking on foot. Twenty miles by horseback was a lengthy ride, and most likely uncomfortable for the both of them, but it was their only available mode of transport.


Noah was still ambling around the clearing of Zale, when his peripheral vision caught sight of Amber heading back in the direction of the den. She seemed to be fit and well, no trace of any paralyzed limbs or strange exper smoke. Looking around and reminding himself of the fact that he didn't have much else better to do, he clasped his hands loosely behind his back and strolled over to the assassin.

"Amber, looking as lovely as ever," the mercenary called as he drew closer, halting himself just inside of the female's personal space. "Well-rested, are we?"

((Apologies for more short posts, should lengthen out soon!))

((Yeah, Amber's all healed up by now and back to her normal self!))

After Carina had finished dealing with all the patients in the brewery, following after Raven as she extracted the exper's from the stationary bodies and disposed of them, she didn't return to the castle. The cleric knew that her adoptive father would be worried for her, even more so if he had heard about the ordeal that had gone on at Zale, but for once, she couldn't bring herself to care a whole lot. There was no point in going there if she was just going to come back and begin her journey to meet with the strange male she had encountered, and she wanted to keep an eye on the town tonight, despite the fact that it wasn't her duty. Some Patrol Recruits had been positioned around the clearing where the festival was held, and more still a bit further into the forest, surrounding the area. Not only that, but guards from the castle would be wandering the perimeter until they were satisfied that Zale was free from harm once again. The scene with the exper's had shaken everyone.

Instead, the cleric retired to the inn, where she was lucky enough to receive the key to a room with so many people queuing up for the vacancy. Barely aware that she had no suitable night costume with her, Carina  had crawled on top of the bed with her eyes barely open, and fell asleep before her head hit the pillow. Normally, the princess didn't have any issues with sleep, she could fall into a slumber at the flick of a switch, and wake up energized and ready at the drop of a coin. She had learned to get what sleep she could, when she could, no matter where she was or what the following day would behold. Having trained herself to do this, it was a rare occurrence to have her subconscious mind at work while she rested. Tonight appeared to be another case entirely, though, for her mind, which was normally filled with a comfortable nothingness, was playing back what she had seen in her head that day. The cherry festival that turned into a disaster within moments, all the fighting and bloodshed, not to mention the few civilians that had been captured by the expers. The paralyzed patients, many of which she could help, and few there was no hope for. The cleric had been in the middle of total pandemonium before, but not quite like that. Her subconscious seemed to take pleasure in teasing and taunting her with this, and when Carina awoke the following morning, she felt like she hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

Dawn had not even broken by the time she'd had enough of lying around atop the bed, gazing at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes, watching the occasional spider scuttle across it and then race down the wall to hide behind something. Feeling like she was lazy, and having her hands still instead of busy doing something, were two things that the Lady hated most of all, even when it was some ungodly hour of the morning and she should at least try to catch some decent sleep. Ignoring what she should do, the cleric swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood, much more awake than she should be before the sky has barely had a chance to lighten. Never mind that, she had a job to do now. She and her gelding had to get on the road soon to meet Alistair, but Carina had to be patient to some extent. She remembered that Raven wanted to join in the "meet-and-greet" too, and in the mean time, busied herself with getting her palomino fed and watered.


Noah, having slept for a generous amount of the late afternoon, wasn't in any desperate need for sleep when everyone else seemed to retire. Not that he would have been able to sleep much anyway, the mercenary was still charged up with adrenalin and a keen, alert state to get very far with rest. So he gave up his room to an older man for only a small fee on top of what the man would have to pay for the room (because Noah was willing to nab some coins of anyone in just about any way), and stationed himself at the bar of the inn for a night. Naturally, he was drinking, and managed to chat up a few of the fine young women there too. The eye-catching female bartender was having none of his flirting, but a pair of girls who appeared to be drinking their memories of the exper incident away took the bait. Needless to say, Noah was quite pleased with his decision to stay up for the night. The mercenary finally ordered some food, drained his tankard time and time again, and spent the rest of his night in the company of the two females, stumbling out from one of the well-hidden back rooms in the inn just before the first streaks of sunlight blemished the dark sky.

((Sorry for the seemingly pointlessness of both my posts, will improve as the new scene progresses :3))

((LISTEN UP! Katsa is currently battling with internet issues, and from what I gathered from our recent conversation, it's looking like she won't be able to get online to post until it is fixed. At the moment, I'm not quite sure what to do, so as soon as I see Katsa on Skype again, I'll be asking her if she has any ideas on how to keep the RP moving. Until then, I hope you two can sit tight and be patient, I don't want this RP to die out! D8
And I hope you're feeling a little better, Wolfy. Being sick is absolutely no fun at all.))