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Hey! Sorry, I've been real busy with uni and the horses.)) Madrigal chuckled and gave Sage's shoulder a light and playful shove. "Sane people are boring," she said with a smile. Madrigal felt the prickle of eyes on over her shoulders and her eyes darted, scanning the brush around them. Moving her concentration instead to the beauty around her, she marveled at the sight of the sun playing on the surface of the water. It was almost too bright for her to look at. She could see right through to the bottom of the lake, the water was so clear. Little fish swam in seemingly random directions, swirling around together. Madrigal briefly thought of her mother, and how she would love the sight, hell she'd love the scene in general. A dark cloud crossed her mind, dimming the beauty around her as she recalled the night her mother died. Her gaze flicked around again, to the tops of the trees, and the spaces between rocks. "I think we need to start drying off soon," she murmured. "To dry off before we start walking." |
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(It's all good!) Sage grunted and nodded. "Yeah, we didn't exactly plan for wallowing in the lake," he muttered, amused. "With the sun it's take a little under an hour to dry. We should get going on that so we make it back to the cabin before dark." He knew it was still a two hour walk back and they had to start drying out the deer meat, and that meant cleaning them as well. |
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Nodding, Madrigal lifted herself up, her muscles protesting against the weight of her soaked clothes. She hauled herself up onto the bank and spread out on her back, soaking up the hot rays of the sun. Her olive skin didn't burn very easily, but it would burn. She'd spent enough long days walking in the sun to know that. "Sometimes," she started, "it's good to wallow a little bit." She lay there, soaking in the sun and the atmosphere around them until her front was mostly dry. Then, she flipped onto her back, propping her head up on her forearms. "Do you know much about dragons?" She asked. |
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Sage crawled over next to Madrigal and lay down on his back next to her to dry off. He hummed, thinking and nodded. "I guess so. I mean, I know more about their life style then people," he chuckled. He had talked to more dragons than people, for sure, and did know a lot about them. "I don't know how different the dragons up north will be though. They could have a completely different language than the ones here " |
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"Animals are certainly easier to be around. Less whining, no gossiping, no hate." Madrigal pondered her thoughts for a little while. "I'm so fascinated by the dragons, and I have no idea why. In a past life, I spent a lot of time travelling and camping out on trails and I always used to look into the distance and wonder if there were any dagons around. We sometimes saw them, but they never got close enough to make out more than the general shape. But just the variety," she gushed. "Some with giant spines, some with spikey tails, some with four wings. Four wings!" She turned her head to grin at the boy next to her. She stuck her hand under the collar of her shirt and pulled out the wooden dragon pendant she'd stolen the morning before. "I saw this in a stall yesterday and it just... called to me. I couldn't help myself, I took it. I have no idea why," she trailed off, running her fingers across the details. Madrigal flipped onto her front, giving her back a chance to dry. "What are they like, dragons?" |
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Sage grinned at her enthusiasm. He shared it, of course, but it took a lot for him to open up to people. "Oh they're great! They mostly talk about things we do...families, friends, this big hunt they had last week. The older dragons even tell stories like a grandparent would to their grandkids, but they're even better because the dragons are literally hundreds of years old! And they all have their own personalities, just like we do. Some are calm and mellow, others want to chew my head off just because they don't know me, and some are smart and some are dumb and they're all just really, really fascinating," he gushed, glad to be able to talk about them to someone like this. He looked over at the dragon pendant and smiled wider. "Hey, it's cool. Anyone who likes dragons would have stolen that thing," he laughed. |
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Madrigal listened intently, her excitement building. She couldn't believe that humans could actually talk to dragons; that they could share a language. It fascinated her, and made her head spin. She imagined what it would be like to see the dragons up close. She imagined the Snowy Stormcutter, making up it's features because she'd never even seen a Stormcutter in real life. In one picture, it was small, sleek looking dragon, fast both on it's feet and in the sky. In another, it was a big, with four wings and tusk-like horns. Both pictures formed a lethal beast that could kill them both with a single thought. Madrigal lay in the sun for a few more minutes, soaking on the warm rays. When she felt she was dry enough not to chafe, she stood and walked to the carcasses, squatting and slinging the smaller one across her shoulders. Her legs burned from all the exercises she'd done, but she ignored it. "Come on," she called to Sage. "I think it's best we head off now, or we might never leave." |
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Sage nodded and stood up with a grunt and walked over to the deer, slinging the larger one over his shoulder and starting to walk back in the direction of the cabin. He grinned slightly at her remark. "Yeah, staying out here all night wouldn't make tomorrow's job much easier," he muttered, agreeing with her. (Sorry it's kinda short I'm kinda busy today lol) |
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No worries)) Madrigal found the walk back to the cabin to be long and rather boring. She talked a little bit, but she soon got tired of talking, and then tired of walking. Her skin didn't crawl so much when she was out in the open with Sage. The thought that they would soon be back at the cabin, away from the eyes made it easier. Madrigal was quickly finding comfort in his company, and it was a relief. She didn't want to think about the journey ahead, and the fact that there would be little shelter for her to hide away. Picturing the torment it would cause her made her shudder, almost causing her knees to buckle underneath her. When she caught sight of the cabin, her tired steps quickened gradually. Madrigal didn't waste a second in getting inside. She flung open the door and dumped the deer on the table, her body shivering with the relief of being inside again. She sat down, massaging her ankles one by one. They hurt, but the pain wasn't unwelcome. "I was thinking that it would be easier to take the whole carcasses tomorrow, and fix them up tomorrow night, rather than having to risk the meat not drying before we leave tomorrow and having to carry damp meat around bags. We can make a mat or something to drag them behind us as we walk. Wither way, there are downsides. What do you think?" |
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Sage thought for a moment and then nodded. He sat down at the table and put his head in his hands after setting the deer carcass down by the other one. "What if we butcher it tonight and let it smoke all night and then while we rob the market. If we pop back here just to grab the meat, it would definitely be dry by then and it won't be an issue as long as we're careful stealing stuff." He stood up and started pacing, thinking. "I could always stay outside while it dries tonight so nothing eats it over night," he muttered. "I'm used to sleeping outside anyway, and it couldn't hurt. I don't sleep much so it won't even effect that." |
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Heavy Snow, Limited Visibility
