"Course I am, no need for a rain-check 'round these parts." Jeanne smiled, glad for the chance to catch up. She hadn't seen him in weeks now; hadn't seen many hunters for most of her recuperation time. Waitin' for Kaleb to pick his way back down the wall, she fell into step beside him. "I'm not back to full strength yet, so Dave reckons I need more time." The head hunter was a sweet man, always trying to do the best for others. She appreciated that. She didn't remember certain parts o' that night, and Dave hadn't pushed her neither. There was relief in her tone too as she kicked a pebble down the lane in front of them; relief that she wasn't being ordered back onto a truck for a hunt. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Jeanne hesitated on whether to confess her own thoughts; that she didn't think hunting was something she could back to. "I hope you've been keepin' okay?"
brushing the dust and grime on his hands on his pants, kaleb glanced around fleetingly, making sure that holly hadn't see him using the pipes as a make-shift ladder. he'd do a quick check on the gauges dotted around the city later on to keep her sweet.
a smile flicked across kaleb's lips and he nodded his head, leading the way back towards the main thoroughfare, waiting for jeanne to fall into pace next to him as they weaved their way through the throng of people heading towards the market and the leville.
the air was heavy and humid, and kaleb threw a quick salute to the weapons dealer in the culless shop as they passed by; out onto the main thoroughfare, turn right, down the shallow steps and slope down to the tables that gave a view of the road and the disc of cauthess too. kaleb grabbed two sweet ice-coffees from the galahdan food stall, then sat down across from jeanne.
' i'm not back to full strength yet, so dave reckons i need mroe time. '
eyes raking over jeanne's face when she said that, kaleb had to stop the snort that fought to lodge itself in the back of his throat; she was lucky she was even alive, let alone walking right now. he'd replayed that hunt over and over again in his mind, trying to pinpoint just how it had gone so fucking wrong.
a night hunt out by wiz's; three thousand gil and a moon pendant - two mindflayers that had been haunting the woods for weeks. he'd led a small party from wiz's out to the nebulawoods and they'd found their quarry.
nine feet tall, roiling tentacles lashing out - they'd leaned into the intel they'd had on-file to target the two daemons; daggers, polearms, staying out of its reach and its breath, but their intel had been outdated.
there hadn't been two mindflayers, there'd been three. and it had been too fucking late to react when that realisation had dawned on the party. kaleb had turned on his heels when he'd heard jeanne cry out - turning to see the third mindflayer's tentacles winding around her and lifting her off her feet - the greying-green breath the daemon had let out had been an enervating agent, sapping what energy jeanne might have had left before it had started to wind its tentacles tighter and tighter around her until kaleb had heard her screams split the air in two ...
' i've been fine, ' kaleb finally answered, hearing his own voice back in his head and then pointedly forcing a smile - he was. it wasn't a lie. he was fine. a few bruises and scratches from that night, but she hadn't been.
brows arching, kaleb let his smile slip away, moving his drink to the side, he reached across the table and touched jeanne's hand, moving his head to the side to try and keep a hold on her gaze.
' i'm sorry - for what happened that night, i'm sorry. i should have checked the intel better ... fuck, i shouldn't have brought you. it was above your rank and i put you in that position. '
2087
stormborns
yousharknotpass
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
