RP:Nomadic Neighbors

Summary: After a failed attempt to defend the Xalious tree, Orion, Grimclaw, and Kailani travel back to Venturil. The two nomads learn that they have established their current camps not too far from to another and that they are basically neighbors.

Laurelle's Lake

Kailani may not be the most battle seasoned individual, but her nerves are not usually very easily rattled when she is forced to engage in battle. The fight to defend the Xalious tree was an exception to that, the druid was is keenly aware that without Orion's help she could have very well met her end in that moment. Another realization is beginning to settle into the druid's mind: in accepting said help, she's pushing her comfort zones in numerous ways. Look, it's really not every day that the druid hops into the back of a flying beast with a complete stranger. Well, almost complete. She's at least got a name. What does Orion get? Silence. It's going to take a moment for the druid to process and gather her thoughts and then find her words. While she's thinking, her gaze is still on the Xalious tree..at least for as long as she can see it. Once it's just a little speck on the ground the druid -finally- proves that she's not completely traumatized. "Kailani," she says eventually. "Can we go to Venturil? Or...?"

Orion kept to himself as he steered Grimclaw around Xalious while gaining altitude. "I hope everyone else got out alright.." The bardbarian pats the side of Grim's white-feathered neck, "You did good, Grim. Real good." He had almost forgotten about Kailani sitting behind him until she finally spoke up, "Oh! Kailani! What a lovely name!" The half elf pets at his beard until he finds the dandelion he stuck in there prior to the battle. Once retrieved, he offers it to Kailani over his shoulder, "Venturil is perfect! Any particular place?" Orion gives Grimclaw a gentle tap with his heel to steer the winter-griffon towards the west.

It's probably a good thing that Kailani is seated behind Orion, for the druid's reaction when she's gifted a flower from out of Orion's beard. It's perplexed to say the least, her reclusive lifestyle has definitely left her social skills lacking. She eventually accepts the flower, albeit a little awkwardly. "The lake would be most ideal." There is a bit of a pause before the blue-haired woman tacks on a, "Please." Kailani hangs onto the flower, trying to keep it from getting mangled by the wind on the ride. It's not an easy task, that flower might be short a few petals by the time they land. There would be another moment of silence, it's really just her nature. She's not the chattiest woman in the world, but she eventually finds her words again, "Do you know anything about the people that were attacking the tree?" Once the lake was within sight, she'd point it out to Orion.

Orion smiled to himself as his impromptu gift was accepted. Grim received another pat before turning his head slightly, "No problem, Miss Kailani!" As the lake started to come into sight, Orion shakes his head slowly, "Sadly, I do not. To be honest, I heard word of an army marching towards Xalious and decided to at least do something to help..especially if they were to keep marching and find their way to Venturil." He paused for a short moment as the trio started descending gently towards the lake. About halfway down he finally asks, "How about you, Miss Kailani? Do you know who organized that and..why?" Orion frowned for a second but he didn't let it linger long. The shore to the lake quickly approached and they were grounded. Orion hops off immediately causing thunder to rumble in the distance unexpectedly and offers a helping hand to the female. Manners, Orion.

Kailani accepts the help, if only because of the burn she experienced from Amante. Were it not for this injury, the druid would be of more stubborn and independent disposition. It would be once both feet are on the ground that the druid answers. "If only," Kailani answers. Assessing the extent of her burns is high on her list of priorities, but she's first going to give Orion a glance over from head to toe, and then his friend. Except in the case of Grim, it's not just a head to toe glance that the griffon receives. Kailani limps her way around the griffon so that it is given a thirty-hundred and sixty-degree inspection. She was trying to gauge if either of them were injured, the extent of their injuries, and then the healer would triage the situation out from there, if needed. As she is circling the griffon, "..but I do suspect that their next target is not going to be anywhere near Venturil. It'll likely be Enchantment. There is a pattern."

Orion folded his arms across his chest while a warm smile remained. His left forearm had taken an arrow during the skirmish but the bardbarian had forgotten all about it after he pulled it through the muscle. His blood however slowly trickled and dripped onto the ground unbeknownst to him. Grimclaw, however, still had an arrow lodged in his left wing. An annoyance to the griffon at most. As Kailani circled the griffon, Grim followed. Well, until Orion quickly swiped a fish from the lake and held it in front of the creature, "Oi. Stay. Let Miss Kailani get a look at ya." As Kailani completes her lookover, Orion tosses the fish for Grimclaw to snatch out of the air and to gobble down immediately. Kailani's words were a little confusing to the bardbarian, "The further from Venturil, the better. But..What's Enchantment? I don't think I've been there..Unless I have and I didn't know it."

Kailani's serious nature breaks temporarily when Orion snatches up a fish and feeds it to Grimclaw. While the griffon is distracted with eating the fish, Kailani breaks the arrow stuck in his wing and rips it free. With a crinkle of her nose, Kailani attempts to magically heal Grim's wing. While the druid clearly has no issue tapping into elemental energies, healing was a bit more of a struggle for her, especially with the druid's tree destroyed. She manages it well enough for Grim, but both she and Orion would not be the recipients of her healing abilities. "We would have had to travel the opposite direction to get to Enchantment," she makes a vague motion in said direction, "but it is a place. A plus full of tiny people," Kailani smirks a bit, "Maybe that is why you have not been." Orion is not a tiny person, he easily towers over the blue-haired druid. "For us? I have bandages." Yes, Grim got the preferential treatment because she likes animals better. Kailani drops down to a cross-legged position on the ground, reaches into her bag, and then tosses Orion some bandages. "How did you come across Grimclaw?"

Grim only flinched as the arrow is dealt with. He was too focused on Orion pretending to have another fish in his hand to distract him. After Kailani finished up, Orion pretends to throw the non-existent fish into the lake. Grimclaw stomps towards the water before taking flight high above the water but only to dive into the lake. He eventually pops back up with a few fish in his beak. He munches on them as he swims about the lake, occasionally dipping into the water to snag another fish or two. Meanwhile, Orion finally notices his wound and starts to poke at it. Kailani's words are most welcomed. He stops the poking and possible infecting of his wound to catch the bandages. He plops down right across from his newly found friend and starts to wrap his forearm up. "Hmm. Maybe I'll check out this Enchantment soon. Sounds interesting..Oh, Grim? Me and my pops found him in the north when I was a young lad. His poor mum was poached and defeathered up there. Poor Grim was huddled close to 'er to keep warm. It took some convincing for my mum to let me keep him but she caved eventually." Orion's smile never faded as he looked to his griffon enjoying his time in the water, "We've been together since." Orion's jade green eyes focus back on Kailani as he finishes his wrapping, "You from Venturil, Miss Kailani?"

Kailani's stoic nature softens just a bit more, it was really all Grim's fault. Even the overly serious druid could not resist the cuteness of the griffon enjoying himself a bit of a swim. She almost doesn't notice that Orion skipped the whole cleaning step, for she's a bit distracted with trying to strip off her armored boot so that she can access her burns while also trying to gawk at Grim. "You clean, then you bandage," were Orion's wounds actually serious, Kailani probably would offer a bit more help. "You'll heal help just fine as long as you don't get it infected." The story of how Grim and Orion came to be friends is met with a frown, "Poachers." Orion effectively gave the answer that would spare him judgement from the druid, but she's still going to make frowning faces over it. "Always a problem, every where I go. Even here in Venturil. A waste of life for nothing more than entertainment value."

"Oh. Whoops. I'll, uh, be sure to bathe later and give it a good cleaning and a rewrap." Normally, Orion's wounds had some dirt thrown on it and called it a day. The bearded one nods his head, "Yep. Poachers. Years later my pops told me he dispatched of them later that night while Grim and I fell asleep huddled by a fire. He caught the men sleeping and made an example of them." Orion wouldn't dare go into details with his first conversation with the druid. Perhaps another time. He continues on, "Hunting purely for entertainment is frowned upon. I was taught that at a very young age. I follow in my father's footsteps should I come across a poacher." The bardbarian proudly nods then asks, "Do you come to Venturil often?"

Kailani was not typically a violent person by nature. Obviously she has no issue with engaging in battle with need be, Orion has witnessed that. He's also going to witness Kailani bob her head in approval when she hears the poachers where dispatched. "Good," the woman says firmly. The druid was about to go on a bit of a rant on her opinions of hunting, which would have involved her speaking an awful lot...! But she's slowly improving on this conversation thing, it does help that Orion is demonstrating that he is not the literal worst. Instead Orion refocuses her attention back on his first inquiry. We'll just blame the cute griffon for distracting the druid. Yes. "Ah, yes. I've decided I quite like Venturil for the time being. I stay right here." She points toward the earth she is seated upon. Of course, if Orion were to look around, he'd not see an actual house. He might observe a Kailani-sized make-shift structure that would serve as a house. By city-standards, most would consider Kailani homeless but she hardly cares. "I am actually from Rynvale but I have not lived there for..." Well it's been enough time that the half-elf can't even put an exact year to it. So she just shrugs.

Orion was the same, honestly. He enjoys the simple things in life: Good food, good beer, great music, and flowers that smell pleasant. Killing was always a last resort for him. Thankfully, besides the undead army, he hasn't had to dip into the murderous side lately. Once he gets going, however, the rage would put Macon himself to shame. At first Orion was a little confused yet again but he did look around for clarification. Kailani's home was spotted and Orion -almost- clapped. He stops himself just before he hands came into contact, "Oh. So. We are neighbors then! I live here as well! Never in one spot more than a few days though. I pack camp up every now and then to get a change of scenery." He folds his hands onto his lap as he explains why he haulted his excited clap, "So, I..When I make loud noises, strange things happen..And I didn't want anything to happen to you just now. It's still a new thing to me.." Orion frowns but quickly returns to his semi-cheerful demeanor, "I've never been to Rynvale either. I've been to Cenril plenty of times, but never on to the boat to make that journey..Some day! Maybe Grim and I will fly out there to camp for a bit.."

It was not every day that Kailani actually met someone who understood her lifestyle. It was in that moment that her opinion of Orion solidified and it was favorable. It usually took Kailani considerably longer to decide if she was alright with someone or not. Gold star for the bardbarian! Maybe she'd change her opinion if she ever saw that rage, then again...Kailani towed a pretty hard neutral line. "Yes. We are neighbors. I think I am alright with having you as a neighbor." She points to Grimclaw, a wide smile finally pulling at her lips. "Definitely I am alright with him as a neighbor." During all of this talking, Kailani has successfully managed to clean up and bandage her foot up to about her ankle. "Don't fly out to Rynvale," Kailani cautions. "Dragons." But Orion and Grim were capable of selecting their own risks. The druid instead focuses on the rather odd statement of loud noises and things happening. "Do you mean...like when you jumped off Grim? And then I heard thunder when there should not be thunder?" It had not entirely escaped Kailani's attention, the dots were just not fully connected until this moment.

Grimclaw continues fishing and splashing about in the background as the two converse. He even takes to the air a few times just to dive back in. Orion's eyes light up as the conversation keeps going, "Maybe we can get you to ride on Grim by yourself soon! Being neighbors and all, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Her mention of dragons was noted with a simple nod. Orion and Grim were no strangers to dragons. They are to be respected at all times. The two may have had a tussle with one or two during their adventures together. The bardbarian nods once more, "Yes. Exactly that. I managed to control it once in Vailkrin. I started banging a rhythm on the bar counter. The thunder rolled in. I improvised a bit more with some glasses and utensils and caused lightning to strike just outside." He seems pretty pleased with himself. "And the hand clapping, which I did near the tree, sends out powerful soundwaves to knock stuff down." Orion shrugs, "I'm still trying to figure that one out and how to, like, control it better..aim it, I guess?"

Kailani pushes up out of her seated position so that she is standing, obviously favoring one foot over the other. She collects her boot in the process too. "I think I would like that. It would be good practice. I might have a dragon of my own soon." That would have to be a conversation for another day. "Perhaps we can practice controlling those soundwaves too." Though to be honest the druid probably cannot offer much in the way of advice for the bard, she's mostly just curious. "But..For tonight? I think we have both had enough excitement. The adrenaline is starting to wear off." Kailani points to her ram-shackle of a hut, already hobbling in that direction. "And I want to sleep." Normally Kailani might make more of an effort to run her company off, but as they've agreed to be neighbors, Kailani can share the lake without much fuss. "Until next time, neighbor."

Grimclaw arrives at the perfect moment. He walks out of the water and towards Orion's back. The griffon gives the man a firm nudge with his beak. "Okay, okay.." Orion gets to his feet as well, "All of that sounds lovely, Miss Kailani. Maybe I'll cook us up some food too!" As Kailani starts hobbling away, Orion makes one more comment, "If you need anything just yell. I'm camped towards the south for now. Have a good night!" As Orion turns Grim gives him another nudge and bites at the air. Orion gently taps him on the beak while speaking quietly, "No, Grim. We weren't invited to move camp here. Don't start." Grim flaps his wings out of frustration as Orion climbs onto the saddle. "Goodnight!" No repeating yourself, Orion. Don't make this awkward. Grim prances towards Kailani a few steps before taking to the air and heading south to their makeshift camp.