RP:Fresh Meat

Part of the The White Hunt Arc

Sage Forest Bell

After an evening of catching (and pulverizing) petty criminals, Ivorile and Orikahn meet again. Kahn, having enjoyed working alongside the paladin, invites him to come along for the hunt. Ivorile accepts.

Orikahn sings cheerfully to himself as he sits beneath the bell, scraping the feathers off a hefty, plump grouse with the blunt edge of a flint dagger, his velvety basso resonating noisily through the bell's interior. "A-rrrum a-tee-tum-tee-tum~" His tail twitches in time to the beat. A few paces away, well out from beneath the bell, a pit-style campfire merrily crackles.

Ivorile wandered into the area by chance, and he found himself in luck, as he seemingly usually did these days. "Oh hello there." The paladin would greet the hunter, as he made his way over to the fiery-pit. "What a wonderful day to praise the sun isn't it?" He would of course be staring through the treeline, trying to see as much of the sun as possible, which was was quite a bit less than usual, but it was still enough for him. "Isn't it's warm incandescence a welcoming sight?" He would chuckle, before simply standing there, staring at the sun.

Orikahn stops singing abruptly and turns up his visored face to spot Ivorile. The cat's posture perks, then he hunches tight over over the grouse and hastily scrapes away the rest of the feathers with a series of rapid scrapes, then neatly lops the bird's head off the dagger's sharp side, then guts it similarly and dumps the offal unceremoniously on a waiting mat of leaves beside himself. "Praise the sun!" Kahn answers the paladin at last. He enjoys this human's games, and finds himself increasingly eager to play along. "I got a grouse." Reaching into his bag, the hunter strings out a bit of stiff, fibrous twine and, with a few deft loops, hangs the bird on one of the ash posts to drain. "I couldn't stop thinking about ruffians." The cat confesses. "It fun, not having to worry about dressing cleaning them. And it occurred to me!" He rubs his gauntlets "clean" in the dirt. "When they aren't dead, you can hunt them again! Your wisdom impresses me more every day, brawler man."

Ivorile slapped his palm against his face as he heard the cat's ideas. "Well, I guess you can, but you really shouldn't until they mess up again, well, if they mess up." He would chuckle at the idea of chasing the criminals again. "Brawler man? Ahaha, no, call me Ivorile. Please, I insist." He would laugh heartily, this person was quite the strange one, though, as he couldn't speak for himself, he just remained quiet. "Good job on the grouse, I bet you put in excellent effort!" he would grin as he usually did, the strange optimism he carried almost seemed...haunting.

Orikahn looks at the grouse. "Yes, I did do a good job." He thumps his chest once, with the clang of gauntlet on breastplate, and the cat nods in satisfaction. "Hmm. Hmm! What's that you say? Eye-of-Rile? Yes! Good and honorable. A few more grouse, a bigger fire, and we can have a feast in your honor, if it pleases him. But first." Kahn picks up his dagger again and cleans it on the edge of his pack, careful not to fray the fabric with the flint's razor edge. "Tell me more about the sun." Kahn's love of convicted ideologies begins to show. "Your passion inspires me. Tell me of the sun's ways! Is it the secret of your strength?"

Ivorile laughed when he heard questions about the sun. "The suns isn't as special as some may think, but it does have one trait that makes it powerful." He looked around, and cleared his throat. "It's not my strength, but the sun, is always there, for everyone, all are children of the sun, it was always here, it will be here." He laughed, his shoulders bouncing as he did so. "No feast, no, I prefer not to." He laughed, and cleared his throat. "Other than that, it'll anyone's guess."

Orikahn listens intently, staring off into the distance as Ivorile speaks, ready to absorb some deep, esoteric secret. He crosses his arms when he finds none. "I understand," the cat nods slowly, slowly, "that I am not yet worthy of the intimate secrets of your institution. Do not be affronted by my frankness!" Kahn turns his face dramatically away. "I am not discouraged by your secrecy! In time, the suns ways will become known to me. Test my patience! It does not offend me." He takes a deep, focusing breath. "My strength is also a secret." Looking back to Ivorile, Kahn taps his visor where the side of his nose would be. Suddenly, as though remembering something, he reaches into his pack and pulls out a garland of human and humanoid sculls, all dry, clean, and tanned with time and wear, tied together with a vine cord of some kind. He ties it to his hip. "I haven't been wearing my trophy offerings."

Ivorile shook his head. "No, I'm serious, there's no se-" He saw the cat put the humanoid skulls on his hip. "And just like that I don't feel like explaining." He would squint as he looked at Orikahn, his half-blindness still being a persistent issue. "Your strength isn't very secret, you're just...Huge." The paladin stated the obvious, yet he felt that was what must be done "Offerings?! Darn! This is why I don't associate with gods." He sighed, shaking his head. "Can't believe you accused me of secrecy!" Ivorile declared as he seemed a lot less cheerful than usual.

Orikahn checks the fire and, seeing that it hasn't yet burned down to a coal bed suitable for cooking, he looks back to Eye-of-Rile and lifts his visor to smile a surprisingly cordial smile, its warm cheer unblemished by the gleam of saber fangs. At least he's had a moment to wash the dried blood off, making him a little less grisly and fearsome. "I think..." His eyes narrow in appraisal, perhaps a moment of uncertainty, then in firm, confident resolve. "This is what it feels like to have a friend. It is a good feeling." You hums his contentment as the sculls rattle quietly in the forest breeze.

Ivorile blinked, "Yes, good friend good feeling, I must say that most people in these lands so far have been much less accepting than you. Even including our original...Meeting." The paladin would nod, and glance around the area really quickly, before his eyes became affixed to the skies as per usual. "The sun is so...Distracting..." He would declare, as he would go back to conversing with his friend. "So, how are...things." The knight asked, not sure of what kind of answer he would receive.

Orikahn feels his eyes drawn upward, compelled to follow Ivorile's gaze as he squints upward at the sun's burning light. "Distracting..." The massive cat mutters after the knight, frowning. "What's that?" Orikahn blinks suddenly, a little dazedly, and shakes his head to clear his vision, dropping his hand to let his visor fall back in place with a tinny "clap." Oh! His chest swells with pride. "I am hunting!" Kahn proudly announces. "In Frostmaw, a mighty beast, ordered to be slain by Hildegarde." He cracks his knuckles compulsively. "Huge beast. I saw it myself. Tracked it down. I couldn't shoot it yet, though. She had rules... caviats..." He tilts his head back to scratch at the exposed underside of his chin. "Apparently she wanted to know what it was before I could bring its head back, so now," he sighs with a laugh, "I've got to track the big galoot down all over again. Huge thing!" As wide as he can, Kahn spreads his arms. "Smashed up a holy shrine. Made a bunch of ghosts angry." He drops his arms. "I don't think Hildegarde liked that. Say," Kahn gives Rile the side-eye, "do you mind the cold?"

Ivorile shrugged. "I cannot say I'm fond of it, more of a neutral subject. I've been to Frostmaw, if you're thinking of going there, I guess I could go." He put a hand on his chin and seemed to ponder something. "It wrecked a shrine? Made ghosts angry? Well, that sounds like it's going to have a lot on it's hands, especially with you pursuing it." He giggled, removing his hand from his chin as he would begin to stare at the sun one more, it completely absorbed his attention, as for some reason, he simply enjoyed just...looking at it. He shook his head, and gave his attention back to his his new friend. "Hildegarde, I've heard that name before, I think at one point I was supposed to seek her out, but that time has passed." He chuckled to himself. "I guess you can say I wasn't on top of things at the time." He shrugged, and looked up at Orikahn. "I guess I could help if you want."

Orikahn bends double with a belly laugh. "Hah! He guesses he could help! Your modesty is not necessary with me, Eye-of-Rile." Kahn wags a finger at him, laughing a second longer before abruptly regaining his decorum. He straightens boldly and points due northwest. "The beast awaits my bow and your blade. It will be a mighty day when we spill its life upon the snow. The sun is bright, in the north!' He looks back to Ivorile, nodding eagerly. "It blinded me, even! Yes..." The memory is a little disheartening, and he lowers his arm, momentarily discouraged by the memory before, quickly, he clears his throat. "But I was cured. And I'm sure they'll cure you too, if you need it! They do anything if we kill the R-rocks," Kahn frankly assures him. "I'm sure of that. Everyone wants it dead. Everyone." Kahn gathers up his pack, apparently forgetting the fire, the grouse, and the pile of unattended offal. "How quickly can you be ready for travel?"

Ivorile smiled at his friend. "I'm not being modest, I'm not nearly as capable as you. I only managed to get one hit on you in our fist fight, after all." He laughed heartily and looked to his own side, looking at his travelling bag. "I can go whenever, I don't exactly have a home to tend to!" He laughed merrily, and nodded. "If everyone wants it dead, then I'd love to oblige, if it's managed to make that many people despise it, I presume it deserves what's coming to it." He laughed, and looked to the north, his internal compass being quite powerful.