Fantasy Unfortunate Circumstances (Open RP)

[AriesFantasy]

Marianne was running blindly through the thicket, the branches scratching at her flesh like long, beckoning fingers. Blindly here being literal, though also metaphorical considering how careless she was being.

She let out a shriek of outrage when she was yanked backwards, a chunk of blonde hair being ripped away by an ill-placed cluster of thorns. Head smarting furiously, she continued tripping her way up and down the woods, she thought they might be woods, no place deserved this many trees!

Well at least my grand escape plan of "jump off the horse" could have failed worse than it already is now, she mused to herself while once again getting up from her knees, having tripped at least three times by now. She could already tell her dress was coasted in mud, and it was positively revolting.

Marianne broker her personal record of "times I fell in less than five minutes" once again when she tumbled out of the trees onto a blissfully thorn-free, flat and grassy surface. Ear pressed into the dirt, she couldn't hear any horses, and she sagged in momentary relief.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn lightly pushed away a few branches with the back of his arm. No matter how deep into the woods you got those trunks that reached to the sky were almost everywhere. But as long as you didn't rush, you could almost find a way around, and patches of plain grass weren't too uncommon. Those were what he was looking for.

He walked rather slowly, scanning the ground thoroughly. Every now and then, he'd bend down and pick up a few herbs, and sort them into the several pouches attached to his belt. They went from one hip to the other, across the front of his body, and it almost looked ridiculous. Cairn was meticulous about these things; God knows what would happen if he mistakenly used the wrong ingredient in a dish, or even a medicine, though he rarely ever made the latter. It was cheaper to scavenge here than to buy from the market, but sometimes it'd be a wasted day, and other times he'd hit a gold mine. There was no map for the area, and for good reason; why bother trying to map out this huge labyrinth of trees?

He guessed he'd been there about an hour already, and his pouches still felt light. 'I'd better go a bit deeper and see if I can find anything else,' he thought. Might as well try while he was here. But he didn't even get to take a step before hearing the most unsettling thing. It was a bit faint, but someone... or something was rustling in the woods.

Cairn patted his belt a few times, locating a rather short knife and nervously opening up the blade. An animal making that much noise would mince him into guts and flesh in a few seconds flat. He had already began stepping back in caution.

Then came that feminine, very human yell. Or was it a yelp? Either way, it definitely didn't sound hostile, but he was still on edge. The rustling got louder and louder, until it stopped for a second or two, followed by a firm thump. Confused didn't suffice for the name of his emotions. He put the knife away, and carefully closed in on the source of the sound.

He found a fairly large patch of grass, and dead in the center was a girl, and wow, did she look beat up. Her hair was riddled with twigs, leaves, and dirt; he probably wouldn't have noticed the occasional blonde patches revealing the true colour of the strands. Her dress was muddled with... well, mud, and there were all these small tears and scratches on the parts of her skin he could see. After all, she faced away from him, the side of her head lying flat on the ground. He simply stood there, stunned, before moving to help.

Once he circled around in front of her, Cairn was indecisive about exactly what to ask. Maybe 'are you okay'? ...No, her body already spoke multitudes on that topic. Her eyes almost had this glazed look to them. 'Are you alive' might've been a better question.

"Uh, hold on, I have some bandages with me..." It was more of a mumble than a statement. He reached into his back pants pocket and struggled a bit, doing a few hops in place before wriggling out a roll of bandage.

 

[AriesFantasy]

How had she let herself get distracted?!

She jerked upwards like she'd been slapped, and was already struggling to get to her feet, slipping backwards into the mud again and worming as far away from the voice as she could reasonable manage. Instinctively, her arms went to guard her face. Despite a decent measure of panic, she'd always had the habit. Though they had faded considerably, the burn scars that trailed from one eye down her neck were not a pleasing sight.

Marianne knew the voice wasn't the one she was expecting to hear, but she was having an absolutely miserable time, and no idea what was going on around her. Not exactly the things that put you in the mood for conversation.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

"O-oh..." It was a bit startling, seeing her almost jump out at him like that and seeing her frantically try and move away. In actuality, she had understandably only gotten maybe half a dozen steps far. Cairn thought he saw her trembling, what with her hands covering her face.

'This might be difficult,' he thought. He hadn't even started to tend to her injuries and already she didn't seem to trust him. He mulled over his words, thinking of the right thing to say. She probably didn't want to talk much, if at all, and he'd need to keep his sentences simple.

"I'm just here scavenging for some herbs... Listen, uh, those scratches hurt, don't they? Could I at least bandage them?" he asked. He raised up the roll of them that he was holding, though it made no difference see as her eyes were covered. He nervously ran another hand through his brown bristly hair.

 

[AriesFantasy]

She was slowly sinking into the muck, feeling... confused? No, flustered. She slowly lowered her hands, feeling the panic begin to ebb away.

"You, you are a healer of sorts?" She rubbed at her unscarred left cheek, and winced as her fingers drew along a larger scrape. "I s-suppose that would be necessary."

She could practically sense that he was staring, and she could hardly blame him. She was used to it. Despite assurances that she was "beautiful," which most of the time was said exclusively to cover the rudeness of noticing, they either stared or avoided looking entirely.

Somewhat shakily she got to her feet, stretching one arm out to feel for a tree to lean against, which she did not find so easily.

"H-have you seen a snowy owl anywhere near here by chance?" she asked.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

"Healer...? Uh, sure, let's go with that," Cairn replied. He watched as she slowly got up, keeping one hand over her face. For a moment it looked like there might been some particularly nasty injury there, but it was probably best he got to that last, considering the circumstances. The imagination of being practically dressed in mud sent shivers down his spine as he ran down her figure. Her arm then reached out, for which Cairn assumed he was going to bandage first, but then it began moving around, settling on a tree trunk after a little bit of struggling. No matter. He'd start there.

"A snowy owl? Can't say I've seen any owl around here." He took a few steps towards her. "Anyways... I'll start with this arm here, then? You can stay where you are." He got a closer look at her skin. Each individual scratch wasn't very deep, but dirt was smeared in patches across her arm. Thinking to try and clean it a bit first, he searched his pockets again for some kind of wipe or towel. He got ahold of a brown handkerchief in his back left pocket, but it was half-torn across the center. Still, it was better than nothing.

"By the way, I'm Cairn. Just in case you were wondering." He quickly wiped away the dirt, applying a decent amount of pressure with each motion. It would probably have stung a little, but that was just how it was. Thoughts about this girl ran through his mind. It was highly probable her injuries were probably caused by recklessly running about the forest. The question was, why was she reckless to begin with? He didn't have the guts to ask. Not yet.

 

[AriesFantasy]

"Marianne Morgan," she replied, hissing slightly between her gritted teeth. With some of the adrenaline wearing off, she was feeling the extent of her injuries a lot more than before. Being without her guiding owl, and relying on this stranger, Cairn, was also somewhat uncomfortable. Not that she'd say it, he was helping her. He might recognize her family name even, if he was that sort of person, and get compensation of some kind.

She pushed the damp hair away from her face, then idly felt at her torn sleeve, which she doubted was salvageable.

"How close is the nearest town?" Marianne felt stupid for even having to ask, but she'd only really been concerned with getting away from her tormentors, and not where to go.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn nodded. "Nice to meet you." He felt a bit more comfortable speaking to her now that she seemed to have calmed down. After getting most of the dirt off, he began unraveling and rolling the bandage around her arm, starting at the wrist, doing it fairly quickly. He tugged at the roll once or twice to tear it before rolling it around her arm again past the elbow, leaving a bit of skin exposed so she'd be able to bend it. Hearing her next question, he could definitely be sure she wasn't from around here.

"Next town over? Well..." He tilted his head. "Maybe... five minutes to get out of the forest, and fifteen more to get to the town." He knew it well; he lived there, after all. The journey was a simple one; to get to the forest, you simply strayed off the main path once you saw the forest. Not too many bothered to go there simply because it was off-route. Cairn tore it again, finishing up. "That's done." He didn't say anything else, but he looked at her other arm patiently.

 

[AriesFantasy]

"Oh," was her somewhat muted response. She swiveled slightly and offered her other arm. It seemed like he knew what he was doing with the bandages, it was quick work.

Wincing at the sudden twinge of a headache, she thought of the man who's horse she'd thrown herself from, him riding through some tiny hamlet banging on doors looking for "that blind woman."

"If you see a man on a white horse, don't answer the door when he knocks," she said, quietly and absentminded.

Louder she added, "I... I might need directions to an inn or something similar. I need to write a letter so I can be returned home."

She said this at the same time that it occurred to her that she'd need coin for that sort of thing here.

Maybe my family's name will buy me some time? she wondered.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

He quickly got to cleaning up and bandaging her other arm. It was quiet, just the sound of the handkerchief brushing against her skin and him unrolling the bandage for a short while. Cairn thought he'd heard some mumbling from her, but he couldn't make it out. He could clearly hear her second sentence, though.

"Oh, sure..."
Wait... 'returned'?
A quick wave of confusion, accompanied by some unexplainable fear washed over him. He actually shook a little, faking a cough quickly after. His imagination began to run a little wild, wondering what that could've meant. Marianne... the name didn't ring a bell at all.

"There are a few in town I can show you to," he continued. Something clicked in his head. "You have money on you?" He said it more like a plain statement than a question.

'If she doesn't... it'd come out of my pocket, probably,' he concluded. He didn't have the most money to begin with, so imaginably, it was a nuisance for him to spend more, on another person, too. Yet, she desperately needed it, one look at her explaining why. He ended up frowning a little, though he didn't realise it.

 

[AriesFantasy]

She shook her head. "I don't have anything with me, no. Aside from my clothes anyway. I was... robbed."

He didn't sound pleased, and she was growing nervous again.

"B-but I can pay you back, my family can twiceover. I-I... I don't mean to be a burden upon you, you have already helped me. A-and I simply cannot impose upon your residence, nor waste your coin!"

It was a bitter feeling, begging for help from a stranger, but the situation was dire enough from her perspective, and she would kill a man to be clean again.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn flinched, shaking his head. Did he say that out loud? No... maybe his face had given it away by accident. Either way, he tried to reassure her.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, uh... don't worry about that right now. I'll help you until you find a way to get back to your family..." He felt stupid for thinking about himself firstmost, when she stood in front of him drenched in mud, penniless. But the way she spoke, and what she said... it sounded like she was royalty, almost...

'No, no... It'd be an even more stupid idea to even ask something so ridiculous,' he thought.

He quickly finished with her other arm and already got to work wiping down her left leg. Most of the dirt was below her knees; the knees themselves being particularly raw and reddened, so Cairn made sure to be more gentle around those areas.

"Anyways, uh... you were robbed? Did the robber chase you out here?" he asked.

 

[AriesFantasy]

"I fled them afterwards, and wound up here-" she stiffened as his hand moved to her leg, she felt the bite of a particularly painful scratch for a moment. "I can't see where to go from where I was, and they stole my guide, my owl."

She probably was not disguising her nervousness of him being this close very well, she felt twitchy and awkward.

She waited til he was done her legs to quietly say, "Thank you." She pushed back another strand of hair, cringing at the distinct feeling of dirt between her fingers.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn nodded in understanding as he wrapped the bandage around her first knee. "Mhm..."

'That was why she asked me about that snowy owl before...' he thought. He suddenly froze up mid-way through bandaging her leg, realising exactly what he was doing. He quickly apologized and hopped a step back, not bending in as close as before. He started on her other leg, bandaging it thoroughly. Cairn didn't want to wrap it over her joints, but the knees were just too burned to leave unprotected. Once he finished, he stood up.

"You're welcome," he replied, picking up this time on her quiet voice. Looking at her hand run through her hair, he perked up and offered his handkerchief. "I can't bandage your hands, but you might as well wipe off the dirt on them." He rested his hands in his pockets, looking down at his pouches. This whole ordeal had taken up a bit of time, and he needed to get her to town as soon as possible, so his low herb reserves couldn't be helped. Another day, perhaps.

 

[AriesFantasy]

She took the handkerchief gratefully, with only a slight fumble to seek out his open palm.

"A-again, I am sorry to disrupt your time, sir... Cairn?"

She couldn't help but feel that the longer she stayed in one place, the more likely her troubles would persist, and she rubbed her fingers together. She was shaking slightly still as she handed back his handkerchief.

He hadn't asked about her face yet, or the scratches there, but she hoped he wouldn't now.

With a nervous sort of laugh, she said, "I'm afraid I am somewhat like a lost sheep, as I cannot tell which way town is without your help, sir." She gestured with one hand in a random direction. "I have made you a sheperd, albeit unintentionally."

 

[Aes_Dragon]

"Erm... Just 'Cairn' is fine, please," he insisted. She still seemed a bit uncomfortable; by what, Cairn couldn't put his finger on. He shoved the handkerchief back into his pocket and stared right at her. There was a muted, yet darkened mark going down to her neck from one of her eyes. Definitely not from her falls. Even if it was a new wound, there wouldn't be anything he could do about it; he had exhausted most of his roll, and even then, she'd look like a mummy with bandages across her face.

He agreed with her following, slightly verbose statement with a nod. "Yeah, you're right. Let's be going, then." He mimicked her with a hand gesture behind him, and began backtracking through the forest.

"W-watch your step," he said uncertainly, afraid of hitting a sensitive spot with his words. He pushed away a few branches with the back of his arm as sort of an example.

 

[AriesFantasy]

Marianne snorted, not so much derisive as amused. Following his voice and footsteps, she couldn't help but cringe at the squelching beneath her feet.

Having no idea how well she was keeping up beyond the closeness of his steps, she was at least not running full tilt into possible danger this time.

What a comforting thought.

She was silent for a few minutes, more focused on where to tread for now. Though she had one question: "This town, does it have a name? As you can imagine, i'm very lost." The word 'very' came out somewhat choked, and she coughed.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn stepped over a tree root the size of his arm. "The name? That would be Lockton." He paused for a few seconds. "It didn't have a name until recently... Before, not too many people passed through, but we got a lot of traders coming in all of a sudden, so we had to give it a name, naturally." He went silent, looking around.

If Cairn was being honest, he didn't have a black and white route out of the forest. But over time, he'd subconciously remember a tree or a cluster of bushes on the way there or back, so he'd follow them; his guide to the town. Back home. He wondered again about Marianne. It was difficult to see underneath the dirt, but she certainly wore a dress. Her manner of speech, too, was odd to him. And who else did he know that had an owl as a guide?

No one. She had to be royalty. Right? He hesitated to ask, and ended up stying quiet.

A little later, Cairn added on "Don't ask me why or how they chose that name. No idea what it means."

The packed trees began to slowly disappear as they got closer to the woods' exit.

 

[AriesFantasy]

She shrugged. "A surplus of locksmiths? I wouldn't know. I grew up in Hallenhall, and I wouldn't know why it's called that either. It's not exactly a "hall."" The nation's capital, which she surmised was quite some distance from here.

"I travelled a little when I was small, but the forests around there are sparse. It was mostly just wide open fields and hills for miles. I did see the ocean though."

At one point she quite narrowly avoid smacking into another tree, and now she was practically euphoric as the woods thinned before them. Humming to herself, she scuffed her shoes against the grass, and began with more serious effort to pull the leaves out of her hair.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

'Never seen the sea,' Cairn thought to himself. He grew up in the town, and hadn't traveled far from it. All he knew was that it was just a lot, a lot of water. It wasn't very interesting to him, though he hadn't even seen it to begin with.

Her light humming was lightly amusing to him, but she had good reason for it. He took another look at her; finding an inn, which would have a bath or something similar for her to wash up would be the first priority. Her clothes were probably goners, so new ones would be needed. Along with food... he could cook that. No guarantees it would be gourmet, though.

Light poked through the 'cracks' between the tree trunks. One moment, they were in the forest, and the next, they found themselves greeted by grassy green fields. The sky was a clear light blue, and the soft wind was the only other sound among them. Off to their left was a brown dirt path, which continued all the way to the horizon.

 

[AriesFantasy]

"is that the sun I feel? It seems like it's been ages." She felt a lot more relaxed for now, more than she thought she would. "And no. More. Trees!" She peeled off her ones one after the other, carrying them in one hand. From the feel of it, they were pretty much ruined. Silk shoes and nature trekking did not mix it would seem.

"If I find any woodland animals in my hair, I won't be surprised," she added in a grumble. "Is there anything else important in Lockton? Like a yearly festival, or some famous building? I'm curious." She was genuinely curious, but it felt rude to say aloud something like, 'I've never been to such a small place before.'

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn watched her take off her muddied shoes and looked down at his own. They were made of leather; on the expensive side, but they were durable. The only other pair he had were some slippers. He planned to see if he could lend them to her instead of buying a new pair entirely, but he had a feeling they would be too big. She spoke a lot more casually now. Perhaps she only spoke formally to strangers or when it was a serious matter.

Cairn let out a short deflated laugh to her question. "Ah, sorry. Lockton isn't huge at all, so we've never had something like that. Might change soon with all the people coming through, though." He gazed at the small blur of buildings in the distance. They'd begun constructing walls around the town. The town was changing more than he realised.

 

[AriesFantasy]

"I'm sure the influx of people will prove interesting soon enough." The feel of the grass was cold with dew, and the wind was a pleasant change. "I'm sure your own business will also benefit."

Up ahead where a makeshift "gateway' led into the town, a collection of... oddly well dressed individuals were riding down the main road, led by a man in a high hat on a white horse.

 

[Aes_Dragon]

Cairn had spotted the group of people on the road, wondering to himself where they were from. Maybe a close by city? The one in the front was on a horse, though, so they could've come from farther.

"Wonder why people like them are here," he mumbled. They might've noticed the rapid growth of Lockton and wanted to capitalise on it, possibly with a negotiation with the town's mayor. He scratched the back of his head and glanced at Marianne. If they saw her in her current state, it might give off a bad impression of the town... The formally dressed group was a still quite a bit away from them, though, and they probably wouldn't turn around if they were going into town, right?

 

[AriesFantasy]

"Wait... people? W-what sort of people?" She stopped dead. "I-I... can you describe them?"

Every one of her thoughts was screaming at her to run away, fight or flight. I should have known they'd come here first, damn it! I'm such an idiot...

Above the heads of the newcomers was the faint streak of some sort of flying creature, circling around them from the skies, as they dismounted, making their way further in.