RP:Discoveries

Laurelle's Lake

Nestled close to the hunting lodge is a large lake, whether it is there by the design of man or nature is hard to tell. The water sparkles and reeds blow gently in the wind. In the depths an occasional flash of silver can be seen as large fish come to the surface, if you were to start throwing food in they would come to the water's edge, sliding over each other and almost taking the morsels from your hand. Animals come freely from the plains to drink here, you can see them now, some familiar to you, others bizarre and unlike anything you have ever seen. Trees are dotted around the lake's perimeter, the North side being dominated by a massive willow that just touches the water with it's delicate leaves. At the lake's edge you see a small jetty with a rowboat moored to it. The reason for this is clear, a small island is clearly visible in the centre of the lake. What lies within the island's depths is hidden from you by the trees that line it's shore and you are tempted to row across and explore. However, something tells you it is a private area, a sanctuary and haven for whoever dwells in these parts. Loathe to leave this beautiful area, you sit by the water for a while, enjoying the peace and tranquility.

Sabrina was standing inside what appeared to be the carcass of a T-Rex. Her hair is piled in a mess of knots atop her head, and she is wearing thigh high blood-soaked goulashes that leave only a few inches of bare and insanely pale skin until they reach inappropriately short leather shorts. She stands inside the throat of the beast that appeared to have been dragged a considerable distance as the blood was thin in the trail; small collections of muddied metallic blood curled around the tips of the sparse grasses, noting the body had been drained on the way here. The open maw of the cold dead lizard looks to be missing a few teeth, and an ever-present Rohk cleans his talons not far away. Sabrina holds a chunk of bark close to her form; her jacket had been shed on the ground a safe and clean distance away. Pinned to the bark was a thick sheet of parchment, in Sabrina’s hand was the small golden quill she normally wore in her dark trusses. She peers down around her ankles, tipping slightly as she negotiates a visual perspective against her hips. Squish squish…squish. Her boots simultaneously push down on the larynx that provides the suction to complete the unappetizing sound. She scribbles something down, clearly lost in thought.

Eliason walks heavily through the meadow adjacent to the lake, his boots making loud squishing noises of their own in the wet mud. The woman sloshing around on the dinosaur's larynx is difficult to miss in the normally peaceful area and the paladin is quick to move in that direction. It is not everyday you something so odd so close to the Manor house and he feels the need to investigate. As he draws closer, his eyes are first drawn to the hellhound who is offered a wave and smile. With Rohk's presence, there can be little doubt as to the identity of the person inside the dinosaur. Stepping around the head, the big man quirks a brow and greets Sabrina... "Uh... hello again, Sabrina." He pauses for a second, wondering if he should even ask the obvious question. "What are you doing?"

Emilia was lost, as lost as could be for the human farm girl. Leather boots making their own sorts of squishing sounds in the mud as she followed after the shaggy grey dog of hers. "Mutt, where are you going you silly dog." She called out to the animal as he suddenly took off in a dead run for the hell hound, Rohk, barking happily. With a roll of blue eyes the freckled faced woman walked slightly faster after the run-away. Denim jeans and blue plaid shirt had been replaced today, exchanged for cut off denim shots all too short and a red plaid shirt tied up between her breasts revealing a toned stomach and black lines of a tattoo at her left hip. Blonde wild curls tamed back into two dutch braids that fell almost to her waist. "Mutt! Get back here!" She called out as she followed her pet, not really noticing the man or the woman at the dead T-rex.

Sabrina looks up from her position, pulling some hair from her face and streaking a black-red smear over her cheekbone. He said her name, and so he must know her. Plus Rohk hadn’t even bothered to stop grooming his fancy self so clearly there was no need for alarm. She smiles, perfect pearly whites gleaming at Eliason in familiarity. “Greetings.” She props the bark-board on her hip with one arm, reaching to the tiny scroll on her opposite hip, still smiling knowingly. She reads the scroll after a long silence and her brows furrow. She mouths the word ‘calling’ several times before brightening up. She says quiet but happily…“You make me sick.” … and then more clearly “I have been looking for you.” She points to the carcass defensively. “I found it here.” Rohk, suspiciously clears his throat before a common dog throws himself at him. Rohk lifts up a massive demon paw and bats at Mutt half-playing, half not. Sabrina is distracted by golden hair and grows silent, keen eyes following the girl in a slow run.

Eliason leans idly against the head of the t-rex as Sabrina seems to do some strange mental calculations to remember who he is. Her pronouncing that he makes her sick elicits a grin from the heavy paladin and he nods his head. "Aye, my eyes seem to have that effect on you... But why have you been looking for m..." He is cut off by a sharp barking noise as a strange dog comes running up, only to be batted away by Rohk. Turning, Eli catches sight of Emilia and her approach. Okay, two women in impossibly inappropriate shorts, a hellhound, and a dead t-rex. He suddenly begins to question the reality of the situation. He could possibly be in some kind of dream...

Emilia watched as the hell hound playfully batted Mutt away, who only barked happily and went back for more. It was when she realized that the target was a friendly-ish face that she stopped her pursuit of her pet. Standing there a bit awkwardly watching the two beasts play, one clearly more enthused than the other. It was then she placed her hands on her hips before glancing around to see where the owner of the Rohk was. Spotting both Sab and another she slid her hands into her back pockets as she walked the rest of the way to close the distance. A bit of a nervous look, "Hello," she said in soft, almost shy tones. For Sab's sake the farm girl was rather clean considering the location they were at.

Sabrina had grown aware that this particular lake was probably not as private as she thought it was. While she took in all the interactions around her she shifted her stance. Squish, squish, squish. She moves toward the head of the beast, toward Eliason, stretching out a thin pale arm. Streaks and splatter of blood had mottled her perfect skin; regardless a gentleman would take her hand and help her out of the dinosaur’s throat. The blood had dried in a manner where, in the right light and at the right angle, there was a green-blue haze. She would recoil her arm before any assistance was given and stare at it impulsively. Squish, squish. She takes a step back and stares a while longer, laying the enchanted quill on the parchment where the ink oozed onto the paper and formed a whole inventory of indecipherable thoughts in Elvish. After a long pause the pearlescent ink vanished into nothing. She regains her composure and reattempts outing the beasty. Again she extends the death-mottled appendage toward Eliason. She smiles way up at him “It’s because I get seasick.” She turns to a feeble ‘hello’ and smiles at the golden haired female. She tips her head politely having no recollection of meeting her. Rohk takes another swipe at his new toy.

Eliason decides that if this is a dream, it would be best to play along lest it turn into a nightmare. Emilia is offered a soft smile. "Hello..." He is distracted then by Sabrina's gore-covered hand which he reaches out to take and help the lady from the beast's throat. But then the hand is pulled back and the elf then does confusing things with her parchment. Finally, her hand is returned and, being the gentleman that he is, the paladin helps her step out of the t-rex. Wrinkling his nose against the smell of the great creature, he turns sapphire eyes between the two ladies, wondering idly if an explanation for the current situation will be forthcoming.

Emilia Emilia blinked once, rather lost in all of the current happenings, almost as much as Eli was. Once the other woman was out from the mouth of the dead thing she offered a look of disgust that she was covered in its dead filth and blood. Averting her blue gaze toward the male she asked a bit of a strange question, "Where am I?" She had never been farther west than the pass at Kelay. Mutt was happy playing for a bit before he decided to join Emi at the small group. Those golden blonde locks that were free from the braids glinting in the sun light.

Sabrina curtseys properly after being given assistance in those sloppy goulashes before making her way to the water’s edge… She slides off the gore-covered footwear and kneels to clean the stuff off her arms, placing the board in reach. She is relatively clean, aside from the smudge on her face, and finally lets her hair down. She takes one lake-reed from her hair and it unfurls a glossy stark-black river of inky trusses, swaying with that movement about the length off mid thigh. When Emi offers a query about her location Sabrina simply shrugs. Even if she knew it was unlikely that she remembered. She stood with Eli and Em, staring at the dinosaur in complex concentration. “Do you think they feel? I don’t mean like pain- everybody feels pain. I mean, like the impending doom of death creeping up on it when Rohk freed him from his organs?” It was a perfectly legitimate query executed in a purely intellectual premise.

Eliason moves away from the dinosaur a few steps as Sabrina works on cleaning herself off. "You have some on your face... right there." He reaches up a finger to touch the dirty spot lightly before Emilia's question draws his attention. "Well, in a general sense, you are west of the Xalious mountain range. To be more precise, you are on the banks of Laurelle's Lake on the lands of Lady Alicia of Chartsend. And you are a few miles west of Venturil.." Whether that clears things up for the woman or not remains to be seen. The paladin has come across a lot of people lately that aren't even that familiar with the layout of Hollow in general. His attention is diverted once more by Sabrina's question and he turns to stare solemnly at the dinosaur's carcass. "You mean like fear of death? If they feel it, they sure don't show it when it comes upon them..."

Emilia watched as the woman with the dark hair moved away to wash herself up from being inside the dead monster. It is as this time that her question had been answered by the man. She listened him in silence, but the look he would get was not that 'oh, gotcha' look, but more the 'what-the-hell-are-you-saying' look. She now felt more lost than she had been when she arrived to the lake. "How far from Larket?" She asked using the name of the town she was actually from since she didn't know any of the others he had mentioned. After her words, Sab had spoken up with a strange question. So, she listened to it and then to Eli's reply before adding her own thoughts, "How different is it from your thing or Mutt?" She asked before curling a lost strand of blond around her finger.

Sabrina pays attention to her whereabouts, though not having written them down she would simply wander until she found her bearings. She looks up at Eli, her minty green eyes refreshed every time she looks in his blue ones. “Maybe they feel it but the occasion is so rare they can’t process the fear into a cause and effect manner.” Her hands talked with her, moving about all science-y like. For someone so small her voice carried well enough without having to speak loudly at all, and when it did it would sound like music as it always did when she was adamant about something. She turns to Em, allowing no time for her question on locality to be answered and just as excited, just as determined she says “Rohk is self aware.” She unconsciously places her hands over her heart. “He is life bound.” One hand jumps to her mouth, a surprised look on her face. Rohk had since followed Mutt to the group and so was breathing over Em’s shoulder. His hot breathe would move her curls enough to make her know he was right there. Rohk lets out a low growl, having been deeply offended upon being classified with Mutt. She quickly adds “I believe your canine learns fear through redundant enforcement.” Essentially, if Mutt got scared it was because Em showed him how .

Eliason cocks his head to the side at Emilia’s question, thinking that this one has somehow gotten very far from home. He points toward the mountain range eastward. "Those are the Xalious mountains... about a day's ride from here. Once through, Larket is another two days ride from there through Sage forest..." It is as he is finishing his explanation that Rohk moves up behind Emilia and Sabrina posits her theory about animals cognitions. Looking into Rohk's eyes, the paladin smiles and shakes his head. "Not many know about your kind, friend... I'm sure she didn't mean anything by her assumption." To Sabrina, he follows along with her thoughts. "It's an interesting thoughts, but unless we can somehow meld consciousness with them, we will probably never know."

Emilia slowly, ever so slowly, turned to look at the thing that was now standing behind her with its hot breath causing her hair to shift. A shiver ran down her spine as she looked at the giant whatever it was with a small bit of nerves flashing through her eyes for a brief moment. Careful steps moved her backwards away from Rohk to standing on the other side of the little grouping, next to Eli perhaps a little too close to the man. "That is a rather long walk back home then…" she said in a bit of a hushed whisper more to herself than to Eli who had answered her. Thumbs twiddling she glanced back and forth from Sab to Eli then to Mutt. "Perhaps, I should get started on that long walk back to the farm…"

Sabrina smiles in the fact that someone actually gets Rohk. Her eyes follow Eliason’s direction, the hue darkening deeply as she squints off in the distance. “3 days? What are you riding an Ox?” She points to Xalious “You’d be there by breakfast if you travelled by hound, Larket by Dinner…” Despite not eating as often as that she was very well aware of human eating rituals and even used the corresponding titles correctly. Furthermore, despite not outwardly being aware of her surroundings her familiarity with Xalious centers her quickly. She stares wide-eyed at the girl backing away from Ro and shakes her head muttering something about ‘walking’ Rohk huffs snot toward Emilia’s hair and trots away. Sabrina stifles a laugh. Eliason’s final epiphany was mentioned over Emilia’s hushed tones and it hit her in an instant. She snaps her fingers and reaches for her board and quill “You postulate that if there were a means we could literally cognitively feel what the creature can interpret.” The quill is scribbling madly. She smiles up at him, eyes deep emerald and glistening against the light. She doesn’t seem to care about Emilia’s proximity issues.

Eliason can't help but smile at Emilia's fear of the hellhound. Though he doesn't know Rohk all that well, he figures that the creature is mostly just trying to intimidate the girl. Lifting a hand, he pats Emilia's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, I don't think he wants to hurt you. You'd be dead already if he wanted that." Chuckling softly he turns his attention to Sabrina and nods with her interpretation of his words. "I guess you could say that... I was mostly joking, but that would be one way to know for sure..." As to the trip from Chartsend to Larket, the man just shakes his head at Sabrina's words and looks down to Emilia. "Well, not many are able to travel by hound. I'm thinking it'll take the better part of a week on foot. And the way is pretty dangerous, maybe it would be best if you were to find a caravan travelling that way, or there is a secret way through Craughmoyle that is safer."

Emilia , though human, was a bit faster than the hound as it moved to huff snot at her. Its motions very similar to that of the horses back at the barn and out of instinct she moved rather swiftly to change her stance to standing behind the man that she was all too close to, so that he should get the snot over herself. By motion she would continue around the man to be on his other side to receive the hand of comfort patting at her shoulder. Raising a brow at Sab at her hurried scribbles over the possibility of linking minds with another creature. Shaking away her own thoughts, she looked up at Eli with a puzzled look, "I do not see why it matters to you which way I take or how I happen to get home."

Sabrina pouted her lips out like a scorned child, she mumbled under her breathe how loads of people travelled by hound. “It’s the fastest way, topside... without porting.”She became distracted from their conversation, of which she apparently was no help in anyways. Tired already she finally understood what she needed to do. “I can’t do this with a dead one.” Her eyes glimmered like a dark starry night, a thin hand veiling the section beside Eliason and Emilia where she could see the T-Rex. A scant shimmer bewitches the surrounding mud and slowly the giant lizard begins sinking downward, its maw arching backward in a grotesque and brutal scream so silent as the grave. The earth shivered and pulled him under, the motions causing two close people to momentarily have to adjust to keep their balance. The Rex was a him; Sabrina checked. The ground swallowed him slowly, the weight burying it and cracking his bones like thunder and bleeding him with the natural surroundings. Other sections of clay and packed mud dispersed about the region, foliage and grasses grew spontaneously over the mound where the beast once lay open and desperate and gaping. There was no shame in this, no good or evil, just borrowed and returned like she was taught. Her nose began to bleed. Rohk swoops his head under her arm as she slumps sideward’s, burying something that size was a tad rougher than she thought but lending it would have taken longer and she already lost so much time. Even as she slumped, pale with breathe stolen, the tiny splotches of mud-soaked blood leading down the trail began siphoning downward, sprouts of lavender flowers growing where each drop had rested. Rohk looks desperately to Eli, but instead pushes Sabrina to stand and begins leading her away from the others. Sabrina gave her best farewell, which was not more than a lifted wave that faltered too quickly to be proper, she needed time to recuperate and didn’t have time for trivial goodbye’s to people she probably wouldn’t remember by the time she woke. The work would have to wait till morning when the sun was high. She would bring a beast to reason one way or another, she did after all write that last bit down.