RP:Flight to Chartsend

Summary: Irenic makes a new friend - or he thinks he did.

Laurelle’s Lake

Irenic has had a tough time since he’s been back and all he knew is that he had to get as far away from Larket as possible. What a crazy few days, something seems off about his best friend and then the next day he ran into his ex? His dead wife? He doesn’t even know. The Phoenix avian did all he knew to clear his head, fly, and he flew until he couldn’t anymore. Even though he felt he could fly for days thanks to his younger feeling body, he settled for just flying until he got a little sore. A man standing tall at six foot eight with light brown/sandy blonde hair lands with the aid of fiery wings and after a moment of concentration, the wings shrink down until they disappear. Lowering down to his knees while placing the shirt he’d been carrying next to him on the grass and leaning over the edge of the water to cup some in his hands to rinse over his sharp featured face. Irenic lets out a deep breath as he takes a moment to sit back on his feet to look over the landscape of Chartsend and then his focus is slowly pulled down to his reflection in the waters. Fingertips trace over where a scar used to mar his eyebrow and another on his lip, the once old looking man is still trying to get used to his blemish and tattoo free appearance. The maturely aged man used to wear age proudly in the form of crow's feet on his temples and dapples of silver in his brown hair, but even though he’s never been one to care for his looks, he’s missing the character in the scars… even his chocolate colored eye is gone - turned back to silver just like his other one.

Kailani :: Irenic may have a bird's eye view of the lake, but he would still be hard pressed to notice the druid -- even if her blue-hair tends to cause her to be quite noticeable. The reasoning that he does not notice Kailani prior to landing is that she is obscured from view. How? Well the druid tends to frequent this space a lot, it is good lake with plenty fish. Kailani visits enough that she has found a spot that she prefers to settle in when she is fishing, and because she needs to eat regardless of the elements? She has taken the liberties of using the environment to build herself a make-shift sitting space on the lake. It's nothing overly fancy, the druid has used items plucked from the wilds to help form this space, branches and other vegetation. The space that Kailani has constructed is not tall enough for Kailani to stand in, let alone Irenic. It's really only good for sitting and lounging while fishing. Once Irenic lands on the water's edge, he'll have a far easier time spotting the blue-haired woman. She has already spotted him, and is looking right at him for the moment...but being the reclusive woman that she is? She is not going to drop her fishing reed to run over and greet the avain. She has heard that can be such arrogant creatures anyway, this one probably does not want to waste his time socializing with a lowly half-elf.

Irenic watches a fish be lured to a fishing line causing his silver hued eyes follow it to the end of a pole and a blue haired woman not that far from him. He picks up his shirt to cover up out of politeness and once he secures the simple cotton short sleeve t shirt on his torso, he stands up and makes his way a little closer. The closer he gets, the more the half-elf will pick up on her favorite scent coming from the avian and whatever that might be is unbeknownst to Irenic, nor does he care. How could someone use that to their advantage anyway? So odd. “I’ve only been here once, but - this is Chartsend, right?” Taking in the little details of the woman, he can’t move past the blue hair - very unique. Then his gaze moves to her little lean to hut and how many fish she’s already caught, “do you live out here?” The low gruff timbre of the ridiculously tall man doesn’t sound judgemental in the least, just genuinely curious. “Name’s Ed-“ he reconsiders his introduction, “Irenic,” with a hand offered down to shake.

Kailani is unsure of what she thinks of Irenic's approach. Her fishing reed is put to the side and her ranseur is taken up, the woman crawling out of her sitting space so that she can stand as her full and unimpressive height. The weapon is not currently being welded in a particularly hostile manner, Kailani is about as relaxed as one can get with it, but it does suggest that she is not trusting of this stranger that is approaching. He could be friendly, he could not be, and so Kailani would keep her weapon close until she could decide either way. Irenic is the first to talk. Question one. Was he in Chartsend? Kailani answers this question with a nod of her head. Question two. Did she live there? Blue eyes travel to the sitting space she has constructed, which not advanced enough to be called a hut, or even a lean to. It was constructed out of branches, grass woven together, and other vegetation. Not a single nail helps to hold this tiny little shamble together. Kailani has half a mind to continue to say nothing, to answer with another nod or head shake, but she thinks better of it. Irenic's offered hand is taken, given a shake, and then released. "No, I just like to fish here....but even if I did? I am not sure I would tell you. Ed-Irenic." No, Kailani does not think his name is hyphenated. She's just not-so-subtly calling him out for his initial fib. "Why lie?"

Irenic smirks through the awkwardness, large pearly white teeth revealed, “yeah. Well, it's not really a lie. I had changed my name when I came to this side of the world from Eldin to Irenic years ago and I don’t know why I almost gave you my old name.” A half shrug given as he rubs the back of his neck. ”I just have a lot on my mind lately and things are getting all jumbled up,” he lowers down and sits in the grass next to where she’d been fishing, uncaring if this woman seems off put and cold to him. “Chartsend… is this still a quiet little town where nothing happens?” He sure as hell hopes so, he could already use a break and in his opinion, Chartsend is the opposite of Larket. “So, Blue,” he starts with a nickname since she won’t give a name, “you come out here to be unbothered, too? Clear your mind and get away from annoying people?” Like himself, yes, he can see the irony.

Kailani does lift a brow for a moment when Irenic just hunkers down onto the ground quite close to where she was fishing in solitude. To top it off, he just starts striking up a conversation on if she comes out here to be alone. Kailani wonders if he realizes the irony, but she does not actually ask him to confirm. She may not be the warmest and most bubbly woman out there, but she does not go out of her way to be needlessly rude. "I see." This is where some might be brazen enough to ask for an expansion of details. Just what did Irenic have on his mind? Kailani's stance is that it is not her business to pry so much, she and Irenic have only just barely managed to exchange names. "Kailani," she corrects him, with a wrinkle of her nose to show her dislike for the nickname of blue. "I spend most of my time away from the general population. Chartsend does seem to allow for that more readily than other places, so yes, I think it is fairly quiet here." The druid returns to her previous sitting spot, abandoning her ranseur. She does not have a second fishing reed, but for whatever the reason she decides to pass her own off to Irenic. Possibly so he can get a more complete picture of the relaxing experience that is fishing by the lake.

Irenic glances to her out the side of his eye and through some of the longer tresses in his fringe, “not a fan of Blue, Kailani? Sapphire seems more fitting, but if I must, I’ll call you Kailani,” the news of Chartsend still being a quiet town is like music to his overly long tapered ears, “thank someone’s f@<%ing gods.” Yeah, he's a real potty mouth and he doesn’t believe in the gods. “Larket is just… aggravating at the moment,” he takes up the reed and moves the line slightly before letting it rest again. “Maybe I deserve it, though. I’m kind of a trash person,” or at least he was until he was reborn through fire a few nights ago. Could he just start over new? Is karma not done bending him over the coals? “I mean, I thought it was bad enough watching my wife burn at the stake and shortly after being locked away in prison for the last couple years, but then I wake up where she died. Karma is a bitch. Especially since my sentence was up and it came high time for me to be executed, but my head gets chopped off and then I wake up in a pile of ashes in the middle of Larket. Crazy sh••, right?” Through clenched teeth he mutters, “I hate Larket.” Then there is a tug on the line and with surprising ease, he pulls the catch in and grips the fish maybe a little too tight. “Are you doing this for food or fun?” Wow, okay. What a crazy load of info he just dropped on the stranger, but he has a feeling she really doesn’t care.

Kailani :: The stranger that was sitting next to her has definitely just unloaded a lot of baggage. Even the most extroverted, caring and empathetic people would probably struggle to come up with some sort of reasonable response to what Irenic just told her. Kailani? She's not even sure what she's supposed to say to this issue. So...she does the awkward thing and does not respond to a bulk of what Irenic has just said. Then again, maybe it is the smarter course of action. If one does not have anything wise to say to the issue of wives being burned alive, maybe one should not say anything at all. Besides, Kailani is so reclusive that she ended up missing most of that Larket drama. She has hearsay at best, and the stories around Larket are sometimes far from factual. Nevermind the fact that Irenic is also saying he died and came back from the dead, returning at the same spot his wife died. Kailani was so confused. Fishing was so much simpler, "Most people are trash." Was that supposed to make Irenic feel better? Kailani was not sure. She was hopefully not making him feel worse. Oh dear. Maybe he should not have picked the druid to unload all of this onto, she does not spend nearly enough time socializing with people to be able to navigate this properly. "Both for food and for fun. Are you hungry?"

Irenic was just having a bout of word vomit and what she says about most people causes the avian to guffaw obnoxiously, “my thoughts exactly!” With a thud, he tosses the caught fish in a basket or something to die or whatever and then he hands off the reed to Kailani, “bet you can’t catch one bigger than me.” A friendly competition type fun to change the subject from his sorted past. “You grow up here in Chartsend, or Sage?” Taking account for her ears and height, “maybe Rynvale?” He drapes his elbows over his bent knees in a relaxed position as if he doesn’t even have a care in the world. Irenic runs the non fishy smelling hand through his hair and tilts his head back to feel the warmth of the soon to be setting sun on his face while listening to the blissful silence in any lull of their conversation. “What do you like to season your fish with? Dill? Lemon? Red pepper?” His stomach starts to growl loudly at the thought. Kailani seems quiet, but he doesn’t mind. Chartsend will be a nice break.

The challenge that Irenic issues her way is met with a loft of the brow. The druid could easily attempt to show off, but she doesn’t. “Waste not, want not. How hungry are you exactly?” Kailani’s willingness to engage in this competition clearly depends on if Irenic believes he will be able to consume all of the fish they catch. “I also believe less tends to be more when the fish is so fresh.” This fish is not being slaughtered and kept on ice where it may sit at a market for a couple of days before it sells, if it sells at all. “You will see. But in order to see I will need you to go gather enough wood for a fire.” One of two things will happen here, depending on Irenic and his answers. Either Kailani will proceed tomorrow catch another fish for the avain. If he seems content enough that their haul will make a sufficient meal, then the druid will proceed to retrieve a blade to gut the fish.

Irenic thinks for a beat, “eh. Probably one whole one for myself,” his own catch wasn’t all that impressive and might be more Kailani’s speed. His hand pats his stomach and it echoes almost like a bongo drum, “if I’m still hungry after, then I can just figure it out.” He grasps the concept that Kailani is more of a nature driven being and doesn’t want to waste a kill, so he doesn’t want to get greedy. “Now you’re ordering me around, Kailani?” The gruff timbre is playful in his smirking and poking fun, “luckily I respond well to strong women bossing me about.” Another obnoxious guffaw as he stands up with ease and a smoothness to every action. It didn’t take long to find a chopping stump and some uncut logs, but he knew he wouldn’t need much for a campfire to cook. After a few short minutes of chopping, he made quick work of finding some twigs for kindling and by the time he returns to Kailani’s fishing spot, the avians forehead glistens a little in sweat. “Got the wood gathered,” mentioning while he set the items down before he moves on to gather some stones to make a ring for the fire, but whenever Kailani might go to light the twigs and logs he built up, the avian clears his throat, “allow me.” In one swift motion, his hand grasps the collar of his shirt and pulls it free of his body, tossing it off to the side so he can concentrate for a few seconds. Those blazing wings spring to life from his back and he leans over the twigs while bending the fiery tip of his wings into them until a growing flame built gradually in the logs. Yeah, he’s a show off - just the worst, but he is quick to slip his shirt back on even though there are no tattoos or scars to hide anymore.

"Yes," Kailani responds in a matter-of-factly tone of voice. Maybe Irenic's jokes were lost on her? Hard to say, she is a reclusive woman. "If you want to eat, you will get the firewood." Logic stands, that if Kailani had to get the firewood then she would be doing all the eating. Irenic can watch! Kailani made a note that Irenic felt like he could have at least a whole fish, so while he was off completing the important task of gathering firewood, the druid would manage to wrangle up another fish. The reed is forgone when catching another fish for Irenic, it was one of the more time consuming (but quite relaxing) methods at her disposal. To catch this next fish, the druid shifts so that she is closer to the edge of the water, close enough that she can dip the tip of her finger into the lake. Maybe Irenic would notice, perhaps he is distracted with chopping wood, but a fish comes right up to the surface of the water and Kailani is able to easily scoop it out of the lake without any resistance. It must be a druid thing. When Irenic returns, the druid does not move from her post right away to light the fire. She had plenty to do on her plate between gutting, cleaning, seasoning and then wrapping the pieces of meat up in oversized leaves. Irenic would have plenty of chance to show off. At first Kailani is wondering....why is this guy taking his shirt off? She soon realizes why when his wings set on fire. The blue-haired woman lifts both brows as she processes this, trying to wordlessly ascertain of this experience was painful for Irenic at all. "You need a shirt that will not burn," the druid comments as she approaches the firepit Irenic has just made for the two of them. "The fire is too large still, we need them to be nothing more than hot coals," Kailani is looking expectantly toward Irenic. He made the fire, could he influence the flames?

Irenic can tell Kailani isn’t used to humor and his attempts will be futile, but he will continue to jest and play as that’s just the impish personality of the arrogant avian. “Pretty bitchin’ huh,” he concludes with a remaining grin on . His gaze drifts to the half-elf when she mentions he needs a fire resistant shirt, “that I do, let me know if you find one.” He relaxes on his side, propped up on his elbow while his other hand drapes over his middle, “ah. Makes sense, well then… I guess we have some time for ghost stories by the campfire until the flames die down because I can’t really control the fire once it leaves my wings, but can anyone ~really~ control fire?” The avian stares down into the flickering little blaze as he realizes the similarities between the element and his late (???) wife, but that was (is!?) her chosen power. This thought made him grin in a wistful way. “I want to hear the wildest story you’ve got, Kailani. You seem like an avid adventurer.” With the prompt, he rests his cheekbone on his fist as he sets his gaze on the blue haired woman - ready to listen.

No doubt the druid could probably muster up influence enough to cause the fire to dim down, but she does not. She is well ware that Irenic has launched several questions at her that she has not yet even attempted to answer, mostly because of the considerable amount of multi-tasking going on right now. Talking, fishing, cooking, etc. He did have a point, the fire did allow them time to tell stories...or answer questions, or both. Kailani may not be the most social person, this is probably one of the longest conversations she has had in....Well, she has been better about being more 'social' as of late, but still. Point remains. Kailani settles into a cross-legged position on the earth near the fire, keeping her sapphire gaze fixed on the flames as she considers what wild stories she might have. "Ah. I suppose I could attempt to regale you with stories of when I was growing up in Rynvale, those lands are rampant with dragons." See? She answered the question about where she was from while leading the conversation toward whatever exciting story she might have. "But those stories were so long ago for I am considerably older that you might think." She was a half-elf, this was not improbable. "But the truth is, Eldin, Irenic, whomever you might be....Any exciting stories I might have are actually few and far between. I guess, in my endeavors to....be more engaged and aware in what is happening in the world around me, I did help to trap a griffon....Your turn."

Irenic guffaws and rolls onto his back, “oh, come on! How did you manage that? Any neat scars come from the adventure? Did you say any cringey punchline at the end?” The skies have darkened and the stars begin to twinkle through, as he folds his hands behind his head, “well… let me sift through my memories for a sec.” The avian is quiet for a short moment as he vetoes most of the stories that come to mind because, frankly, his life has been filled with tragedy. “I’ve got one… at one point I was a slave and my master called upon me to help her fight this harras of horses that had been raised from the grave. Wild stuff. A group of us had to incapacitate them and I ended up getting a gash about here-“ he points to the inside of his forearm where there is no scar to speak of. “Or… there was. The cringey phrase in that battle was ‘what a nightmare’. I don’t remember who said that, but total punny punchline,” a softer chuckle comes from the man and surely by now, the fire has dwindled down to an agreeable cooking level.

Kailani looked most confused when Irenic starts in with the 'cringey phrase' talk. See, that would require that the druid spend a considerable amount of time in the public eye to be able to process what is a cringey catchphrase versus a catchy one. It might require that she have some sort of knowledge of popular culture...she does not. Oh dear, and poor Irenic thought that jokes were going to be a lost cause on the druid. His story was revealing, in ways that Kailani would not have expected. Irenic did not strike her the sort to be a slave, he seemed willful and rebellious....and yet he was. "I don't understand what you are on about with this...punchline and catch phrase...but I suppose it is good you are able to say it? I assume you are only able to say the punch line when you are successful." Maybe it is better to let the druid to druid things, like cook fish. Her mind does not seem to compute right now. Speaking of fish, the flames are finally starting to die down and so Kailani scoots the wrapped leaves onto the coals. Ten minutes on each side, then both would be eating. "I was helping a guild mate. He was a good distraction. Effectively, we let the griffon beat on him while I tried to drug the beast and put him to sleep. It was not as easy as I thought it would have been. I've never drugged a griffon before, I did not know how strong of a dose to prepare." Oh. Are you still hungry, Irenic? "I got it right eventually though."

Irenic keeps his head resting on his hands, but turns it so he can look at the half elf, “that’s right. You catch on fast.” With this, he even offered up a little wink. “A guildmate you say? What guild and is he more ‘mate’ than fellow guild member?” The avian asked playfully with a wiggle of his thick eyebrows, “so. At the end of that success, you could’ve said, ‘it’s bedtime’. All serious as you stow away your blow dart or whatever, like a badass,” while looking back up at the starry skies, he intakes a deep breath. “That smells amazing,” his stomach let out a loud gurgle again, but he doesn’t care - the avian isn’t embarrassed easily. Yes, he’s still hungry, but he isn’t going to rush it because he’s never had sushi and I don’t think Kailani and him are going to try that fad tonight. “I was a distraction once when a friend of mine and I helped my late wife escape from jail. I caused a nude and ‘drunken’ disturbance just outside the jail while my friend snatched her from the inside.” This was nice, the story telling, even though he kept talking about his wife like she’s still dead, but in a way - she was.

The reaction that Kailani gives Irenic shows that this druid will probably never in her days say any sort of catch phrase. Ever. Do you see how serious her expression is right now? It is highly possible that Kailani is incapable of making jokes, she very well could not have a single funny bone in her body. "I am very content living alone," Kailani says in response to the inquiry if this person was more of a 'mate' than a fellow guild member. Her assertion was not inaccurate, one cannot make the claim that they are a hermit if they easily swoon. Kailani is silent for a moment, for she is trying to gauge how she should respond to the story about the late wife. See, due to the fact that she does not spend much time conversing with people, the druid cannot decide how she should respond to this story about a late wife. Most people preferred their wives alive, so Kailani felt the story about a dead wife might be a sad one? Except Irenic did not seem melancholy in the slight. Blue eyebrows are furrowed as the silence continues. It really did not help that Kailani had no idea who Irenic's late wife might have been. Valrae who? Grace who? The two have never even crossed paths. Honestly, Kailani is not even fully aware that there is a significant amount of witch hate going on. "I suppose you are all very lucky that all three of you did not end up in jail," is what Kailani finally settles on as a response. The minutes pass and dinner is finally offered up to Irenic. He'll not be eating out of a plate tonight though, he can unwrap the leaf and that will be his makeshift plate. Also, utensils? Kailani seems to be providing none. It's a good thing that they have fingers.

Irenic lets out a low and slow chuckle, “whoa whoa, Sapphire. Who said anything about ~living~ with anyone? You can have an attraction to someone, simply enjoy their company or even exchange carnal pleasantries without it being all that serious. You seem to be a woman of nature and surely you’ve observed that most basic and primal needs in the simplest of creatures,” the avian flatly states in a plain way while sitting up and he doesn’t give the subject room to blossom or be expanded on. “Fooooood!” He exclaims in a silly way before biting right into the leaf wrapped fish before he notices that Kailani ~unwrapped~ her own. Pulling free the leafy part he chomped off to toss it aside and chewing the fish with a pleased hum before kissing his fingertips (like some weird French chef) and exclaiming, “f*<%!” Without any decorum or even room to take a breath, he starts devouring the fish. Like, straight up holding the cooked fish up to his mouth on its leaf plate and just going at it animalistically. When Irenic is done, he tosses the leaf in the remaining embers of their fire, uncaring of the small bits of seasoning stuck on his chin and lip area as he rubs his stomach, “perfection. So,” he begins while setting a log on the fire to bring it back to life, “you’re reclusive and obviously nature driven.” If he were to assume out loud, he would guess she’s a druid type, but he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and goes on, “is there anything you don’t do for a purpose? Like fishing. It’s fun, but also functions as a way to eat. Is there anything you do where you’re just slacking off, screwing around and having fun?” Now the man who seems to be mostly all limbs is sitting opposite Kailani with a calm fire between them in the growing darkness of the night and he bends his knees up a little to allow his elbows to rest upon them. “Take me for instance, I used to do a lot of training and exercise, but that was for my career as a knight. After a long day, I’d go to the local pub to have a few drinks and a smoke, but that was to build comradery between the men in my station. What most, if not all of them didn’t know is that I could do nothing for hours and hours with my nose stuck in a book.” His silvery gaze looks to Kailani expectantly with a subtle and relaxed smirk on his lips.

When Irenic bites directly into the leaf, Kailani lifts a brow. That...could not have tasted good, but Irenic figures out how he is supposed to eat said fish before Kailani feels the need to correct him. "You did," Kailani offers up to Irenic. "By your choice of words. Mate has a very heavy connotation, more often than not." The druid's rebuttal comes in between bites, suggesting that their current debate about the various ways two individuals can be romantic is not something that she feels overly passionate about. "But that is not quite what I meant when I said that I was very content living alone.What I meant is that I am horrible at maintaining relationships, regardless of the form. Friendly. Romantic." Kailani issues a faint shrug, also discarding the leaf into the flames once she was finished eating. "It is possible you could find me here tomorrow...and the day after...and even the day after, but on a whim that could stop simply because my feet have urged me in another direction.." The blue-haired woman has been sitting in the same position for awhile, so she adjusts. It was always uncomfortable to lose circulation in the legs. "Which ties into your question of what I like to do for fun...I don't see why it cannot be both. Most of what I do has purpose, but I also enjoy it. The life that I lead is not for everyone. Society has proven that a majority of the world would prefer to gather in cities, to accumulate their material wealth. Many want homes that are nothing short of ostentatious. I don't share the same desires. I spend my days in the wild in solitude because it is enjoyable for me. I might even go as far as to use the word fun." The druid's gaze strays from Irenic and the fire, lifting up toward the night sky and peering at the stars as she continues to formulate her words. She might be speaking a considerable amount, but her rate of speech is not rapid. She is definitely the sort to 'think before she speaks', so every word is measured to allow for that. "I have been trying to make the habit of spending months upon months alone, with my interaction being limited to beasts...but I have been living in this manner for nearly a century now." Kailani's lips contort up into a wry smirk. "I do not think I will ever actually be 'socialized'. I am keenly aware that my preferences are not the norm. It is as I have said, I am content."

Irenic’s lips slowly spread into a wide grin revealing pearly white and long teeth, “finally you smile, even if it’s just a smirk.” He’d been trying to get her to chuckle or even grin this entire time, “I’ll find you here tomorrow then because you may not be ‘socialized’, but I really enjoyed the time I’ve so rudely invited myself to spend here with you.” With this, the avian man stands up to walk near Kailani to shake her hand, “nice to meet you, Kailani. If you aren’t here tomorrow,” his gaze drifts up her forehead to admire her blue hair, “I think I could spot you easily elsewhere.” Finally letting go of her hand before shoving both of his fists in the pocket of his slacks in order to meander in the direction of town.

The fact that she maintained such a serious expression was not a detail that had been brought to Kailani's attention in such a long time. She's...not entirely sure what the problem is? If it is even a problem? Maybe Irenic was just making a simple comment on how it was so challenging to get her to smile. The poor socially challenged druid. Honestly though, she deserves a gold star for this. Many words were said today, this is not the norm for Kailani. Would she be able to maintain the conversation were Irenic to find her a second time? That is a mystery, but this one she did well with. A smirk finds Kailani's lips again. "That almost sounds like a challenge, I am keen to take you up on it but I do think you have the unfair advantage of aerial perspective." Still, the druid might have tricks of her own. Maybe. "Until next time, Irenic, if there is one." His hand is given a shake before they part directions, she was definitely not going in the direction of town for the night.