Rough Times |open|

[Mali]

It was a rather tiring day. At least Taured and Varden had a success story. They had found a human child with magical abilities far greater than they expected. They spoke with the child, as well as with the parents. Finding the child was a success, whether or not the parents would actually consider sending the child to Ilirea was another issue. They couldn’t force their decision on the family and they couldn’t just take the child. All that they could do was hope that the parents would want their child’s abilities to be honed and put to good use instead of fading away.

They had found the family in one of the smaller cities near the outskirts of Kirtan. After their hopeful success, they were to travel further north toward Ellesméra. However, they had received a message by hawk. Instead of continuing their course, they were to head south toward Aroughs. There had been rumours of conflict between wild dragons and the people in the area. How they could possibly help, was beyond the riders, but it was their next mission.

After travelling all day and as long as they could into the night, Varden had to land for a good rest. If they hadn’t have travelled all the way to Kirtan and half way to Ellesméra, then turning around toward Aroughs would haven’t had taken such a strain on the dragon. Landing in the Silent Plains, Varden quickly made a fire to roast their dinner on. ”We should get there by tomorrow, don’t worry, I needed the rest as well.” Taured patted Varden’s side before taking his meal off to the side, marking down in his log, the message that his hawk had delivered.

”Does this mean that the riders finally approve of our speaking with wild dragons before?” Varden sounded eager and excited at the thought of what their new mission implied. Shaking his head, Taured couldn’t have possibly agreed with his dragon. ”You, it was all you the first time, and the time after that, and after that. I had never intended on getting into those situations with those wild dragons. You know how dangerous they are,” Taured had laughter laid in his tone. He could never be cross with his dragon’s random actions. ”Since you’ve done it so often—he shot him a smirking raised eyebrow—the riders must have decided that we were best for the situation.” With that said, Varden curled up and lowered his head on his front legs. Maybe Taured was right. The riders would never approve of approaching wild dragons. However, the fact that they had given them a mission of settling any arguments or conflicts between the wild dragons and elves, humans, etc, still made him excited.

”It wasn’t that bad, approaching them,” Taured couldn’t believe what Varden was saying. ”Yea, not that bad. Except for when that one dragon actually tried to roast me.” He chuckled mentally. ”Hey! I stopped it from happening.”[/i] Taured laughed out loud this time. ”Only because you were trying to hit on her.” Varden smiled at the memory. ”She was rather attractive,” Varden trailed off before closing his eyes. Shaking his head again, Taured climbed between the dragon’s body and legs, lying up against the side of Varden’s head, muttering quietly to himself. Varden opened one eye at his rider before a deep rumble of laughter came from the dragon. ”Let’s just get to sleep, head to Aroughs tomorrow and hope that we aren’t robbed or ambushed tonight. You are a deep sleeper you know” Varden ignored Taured’s comment and drifted off. The fire’s light casting shadows around Varden’s slight, but large frame in the distance.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[fang]

Xion watched , from behind a sand dune, as the rider landed he got off his dragon and seemed to laugh for no reason at all... he watched as they Prepared the meat in an Ametuer fashion ate it and fell asleep... he sighed before crawling back to his own camp several deer carcasses had been picked of meat which was now roasting over the fire, salt, herbs and spices had been mixed into the skin and honey had been drizzled over the top. the flames where sending a steady stream of smoke which enhanced the flavours to make them a lot better tasting, the wind was blowing slightly enough to blow the scent around, but not far enough for animals to smell it. their was enough for 10 people or more, He drew his knives and skill fully cut off portions of meat and plated them quickly, he then added rice to his meal and ate slowly savouring the flavour before eating the rice, he helped himself to seconds before having a large drink of water.

[Mali]

It hadn’t been long before the scent of seasoned deer meat wafted over to their location. Even though Varden was a deep sleeper, the heavenly scent of the deer made him stir in his sleep. Looking up, finding the large smoke coming from just a little ways off, he wondered if he would be able to check it out without waking Taured up. He knew that Taured wouldn’t agree to walking off and looking into other people’s business. However, the scent was just too good to resist.

Varden slowly stood up, easing Taured from his body and to the ground. Making sure that his mind was dormant, he decided that it was best that his thoughts of that deer be hidden from Taured. If he woke up to find that his dragon had wandered off to another camp because of their food, he wouldn’t be too pleased. Varden understood that they lived simple lives—they had to with all the travelling that they did—but that didn’t change the fact that he desired something decently put together to eat every now and then. Although, he would never hold it against Taured; it wasn’t his fault that they didn’t have the ingredients to make such elegant meals.

Trotting over to the sand dune separating their camp and this new person’s, he peaked over the top to get a look at who was there. He was human, long black hair, simple clothing, and covered his face with cloth, as well as his body. It wasn’t for Varden to judge why someone would cover their face, but he looked safe. If Taured were here, he would tell Varden that you couldn’t trust people based solely on their appearance. It was judging a book by its cover and that was wrong. Seeing as they wanted to bring peace among everyone—and according to Varden, between everyone and wild dragons—it would be wrong to judge based on looks. Everyone deserved equal chance to show their abilities, and everyone deserved to be given the benefit of a doubt.

Not sure on how to approach the human, nor whether he should ask if he may share the meal, Varden considered waking Taured up and asking his opinion. Varden knew what Taured would do. He would weigh the options, the pros and the cons for both before making a decision. Thinking about it like that, he could make new alliances with this human and share a delicious smelling meal. Were there any cons to this situation? Smiling inwards to himself, he just had to decide how to approach the human. He couldn’t just burst out from behind the dune and ask to share the meal. It would be rude and Varden had no idea if this human had any prejudices towards riders. Not all humans were open to the idea of dragon riders.

Varden decided that even if the human had prejudice toward him, he would be able to defend himself, so it wouldn’t hurt to approach the man. Walking slowly out from behind the sand dune, he approached the campfire where the deer meat was roasting over the fire. The human was eating his second helping of the meal, which made Varden want to lick his lips. He didn’t dare show his desire, as licking his lips would imply that he wanted to share the meal. Even though that would be a compliment to the human, it would also be rude since he hadn’t been invited to share the meal.

”Greetings good sir,” Varden always felt a little awkward touching another’s mind. He believed it to be a sacred place and being able to share it was a privilege. ”I couldn’t help but smell the meal that you have prepared. May I ask to share the meal with you, if it is not a burden?” Like Taured, Varden was a little awkward around new people. Maybe he had picked it up from his rider, but he had always been a little uneasy with his words, when speaking with someone new. This situation didn’t help, seeing, as he was a complete stranger asking to share a meal, let alone the fact that he was a dragon.[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]

[psychotic]

(Is this still open?)

[psychotic]

Ah, but what is life but not a large risk? A liability. A ruined time. A fragile thing, life is indeed. Every moment must be treasured, hd dear to your soul like a lover. Time is a thing to see and ignore, but that is what a village idiot would say. Alas, a wise man would tell you to watch time carefully. Become it's acquaintance, but nothing more, nothing less. Become it's friend and it will claim you all too quickly. Become it's enemy and it will claim you even quicker.

The morale of the quote is that life must be enjoyed. And life cannot be enjoyed with an empty stomach, no? Hunger is a pain. An itch. A desire for nourishment that if an unfortunate binding to mortality. Now, Arthas could say he was very hungry. Being melodramatic, one may say he was famished. Not wanting to deal with the sure to come illness and cramps after eating raw meat, he was seeking a place to cook his meat. And here? On the plains, wood was hard to find.

Luckily, he found such a scent of smoke nearby. The demon drew the scent inward and let a soft smile creep over his face; a rare gesture. Arthas peeked over the edge of the sand dune he was atop, peering down at the recently dowsed fire. Being too dark to notice the being beside the fire, slumbering in silence, possibly because of his hunger; he made his way down to the half burnt wood. On his way there, he pulled from within his pitch black cloak a flint and steel. Kneeling and restriking the fire, he now noticed the male.

Barely giving him notice as he noticed the person awake, he put his meat over the fire. He did not speak, nor did he wish to. Finding no current interruption from the other, he went on with his business, not five feet away. Arthas could easily be mistaken for a bandit or other criminal with his generally dark appearance. Yes, he was a demon. Yes, he had a distinct scent (that animals could smell, and other demons. A human's nose would not be sharp enough) and dark aura. Yes, he was an assassin. But he didn't kill or steal without very, very thoroughly convinced reason.

[fang]

Xion watched in amazement as a Dragon... wondered over and asked to share his meal. Xion could hardly deny an Offer such as that after all the dragon could have killed him then eaten the meat. He then said the Dragon "It is no burden to me O mighty Dragon, But first Introductions are in order yes ? My name is Xion. " He used the bones he had the meat on to offer it to the dragon, hoping the dragon wouldnt eat his arm aswell. as he needed the Arm to pursue his Dream of being a cook and losing an arm was not the way of going about it. he then shook his head at his foolish-ness beofre continueing to say "Are you going to leave your rider to starve ? they seem to have awoken." he pointed with his free hand at the smoke rising from the Riders camp. He did how ever cut some of the meat free and toss it to the dragon to see if he would appreciate the flavour.


[OOC: Thanks for the PM, Mali i honestly forgot about this thread. Also Psycho i assumed you had used the wood from the rider camp becuase i never doused the flames in Xion's previous post.]