Robin and Kerezi sit by the dying campfire they’d made to prepare their supper that night, a pair of rabbits Kerezi had snared in the forest. Meager, but it would do. They’d done their best to hide the light in the center of their tents so as to prevent unwanted attention, however it made for a really cramp quarterspace. But Holly had already gone to sleep right after they’d finished, so with just the two of them, it was just enough.
The curve of a gentle smile is on his lips, but his eyes look distant. “Yeah,” he says in low thieves’ cant, and a light sigh escapes. “It’s true.”
“You think you’re so slick, but you’re fooling no one.” She retorts, pleased with the confirmation. He may be able to fool others, but she’d spent enough time with him to know.
“Yeah, well. Seems to have slipped right by her just fine. But…I intended that. Still, not exactly difficult to do, all things considered.”
“You love that about her though.”
“Oh, but it’s better that way. Makes things easier.” He tips his skein and continues his stare at the campfire before him.
“Easier, you say.” She sniffs. It’s more of a statement than a question. “So what then?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
A moment passes between them. The silence seems to ask her question for her.
“It’s fine, Kerezi, really. Don’t worry about me.”
The conversation dies there, but the next night Kerezi is cognizant of the extra second Robin’s gaze lingers on Holly when she isn’t looking, though she herself never seemed to notice.
Kerezi has to sigh inwardly. Oh Hextor. He always was a goddamn liar.
Please omg IRL Robin and IRL Kerezi are perfect what the fuck. Kerezi is in a good mood because she just finished smoking some weed, but Robin knows her concentration will be broken easily so he purposefully makes loud, outrageous comments that startle her and piss her off and she ALMOST punches him in the face. And he just laughs and I am cracking up at both of them @kaelang12
I can’t believe my drawing came out looking not just like…completely random shapes today! These are just drafts/sketches and will def be added to later but
Here are two OCs, Robin and Kerezi! I really love how Kerezi came out, ready to kick some ass! Robin was like, finishing putting shit away and was getting ready to sleep or sth. I see him over there, trying not to be impressed with something Holly said…
The tension ran strong undercurrents through every village they found. Supplies became scarce, with those that could afford a little more stockpiling for a shortage. In the taverns, the pubs, city shops...the people hushed their voices in subdued whispers, foreign from the raccous banter that might usually accompany such places. Eyes followed them a little too long.
Glancing the villager's faces out of the corners of her eyes as she passed, Holly said aloud what was on their minds. "I don't want to spend any more time here than we have to."
Kerezi nodded, following her gaze. "I agree. It doesn't feel...right." Though they couldn't actually think of a reason why that might be, they agreed the conditions were ripe for something larger to brew. Like a tightly packed barrel of blackpowder, all it would take was the wrong word, the wrong look, and who knows what might explode, and what it could do.
"We should tell Robin. We'll get what we need and leave as soon as possible."
"Good. I think I know where I can find him. I'm sure he'll agree. You go on ahead to the shop and get started, you're the best at remembering everything we need anyway. We'll meet outside the gates."
Holly thought it was annoying he always decided to enter a new town separately from them, but she understood why. It just made things difficult like this sometimes...but she couldn't complain. Safer was better than sorry, she supposed. The less there was of a trail to them, the better.
She walked up the wooden stairs, the rickety doors at the top dried and warped from lack of oiling, which seemed to extend to the entire storeroom. The shop itself was narrow, the entire left wall shelved, housing the bulk of their wares - bottles of every size and shape clinking against their lids as the weight of her footsteps shook the uneven boards underneath. The shopkeep eyed her silently from the dark corner.
Holly, though intimidated by the brooding, old but large man, was torn between fear and rudeness. What resulted was strange sort-of bow-and-curtsy, and a meek "Hello, do you have Dornberry Ale?"
"Wat y'see." He grunted simply.
Though, nothing on the wall was labeled. Torn, she stared down the bottles, hoping they would reveal themselves to her somehow, less scared of wasting time than upsetting him.
She felt his eyes boring into her as she reached to lift a lid, praying he wouldn't find some offense and an excuse to kick her out with nothing. Oh, she hoped she could afford whatever he decided to give her as a price too...it was probably exorbitant, with any luck. But, what choice was there. She brought the bottle to her nose and tried to guess the contents.
The thin, shoddy shop door slammed open with a sharp bang - the shopkeep's neck snapped at the sound, and the frontmost bottles rattled violently. A few crashed to the floor. The one in her hands fell as she is pulled violently forward by a strong grip to her wrist. Before the shopkeep has time to yell, a young man with black hair drags her out the door. He doesn't even spare a few seconds to offer an explanation. Typical Robin. She doesn't even have time to be properly annoyed, because when they reach the top of the stairs, it's suddenly apparent why.
In the seconds before they dive down, she sees thick, acrid smoke covering the once clear, sunny plain. Large, furred beasts on the ground, larger, scaled beasts in the air. Her head swims. He drags her further down the stairs.
Kerezi waits at the bottom, glaive in hand, Holly swears she's smiling. A cruel, snide sneer, like she's been waiting for something. She looks to the perimeter, towards the thick, wooden spears that form the village perimeter. There's one immediate way out. The beasts seem to know. They're already closing in. There isn't time.
"Those bastards." Robin spits, a sour scowl on his face. Holly has no idea what he means. But she has no time to think about it. Kerezi shoulders her glaive, Robin resumes his hold on her arm and they make a dash for the opening in the wall. Kerezi charges, racing ahead, ready to cut down anything in her path.
I know there are a bunch of things to be improved here but. First drafts. Yay!
- - -
Holly sat at the tavern table, recalling the recent adventure to the cavern under the mountain...the army of ghosts that waited in the freezing dark, their pale, lightly glowing forms gloomy and forlorn. She remembered how strange it was strange to watch Robin silently navigate around them with ease. They completely ignored him, when they jumped at her presence immediately when she approached. She remembered how she felt the malice, the hopelessness, the despair radiating off of them immediately. It overwhelmed her, like a cold, damp chill seeping into her bones, and she froze in her steps, until she and Kerezi had followed him.
"It's important you think about nothing as you pass them. Easy enough." Robin said nonchalantly, picking a large mint leaf from his cup.
"Maybe for some people," Holly said with a smirk. Kerezi snorts into her skein.
"Easy, that is, if you aren't one already." He says, stirring his beverage again.
"What does that mean?"
"Oh..." He says, a mischievous grin at the corner of his eyes."There are ghosts all around us, all the time."
"Why, can you see them?" Holly scoffs.
"Of course. They're as plain as you or me, when you know how to look for them. The ones in the cave, though, they wanted to be seen...a very different story. Most aren't actually aware they exist at all." He takes a sip.
She leans in, genuine curiosity showing on her face now. "...Have I spoken to one? Are there any here, now?" She glances over her shoulders.
"Yes. There's been one following the three of us the whole time. Though it fades in and out."
"Really?"
He nods.
"If that's true, then...well, it's never attacked us, so it can't mean us any harm. So it's good it's not that dangerous!" She says, looking a little relieved.
He glances, noticing her begin to smile. "Well, Holly, how can you be sure? I've seen it attack you many times, and those are just the times I am aware of. Who knows what it does when I'm not around."
Holly swings towards Kerezi. "Have you seen it too?"
Kerezi nods seriously. Her shock turns to horror.
He cocks an eyebrow, an amused smile on the edge of his lips.
"...they are hard to see, aren't they."
Holly's face tinges. Her fists slam the table, a few drops of her beer spill. "Enough bullshit, Robin! What the hell are you talking about?"
He looks at her seriously this time, and she is suddenly silent. He puts his drink down on the now steady table, and leans forward slightly.
"People can become ghosts...long before they die. When they stop focusing on the present, and tirelessly obsess over the past, or the future. They exhaust themselves, constantly reaching for something that just isn't there...and then they stop existing themselves."
He watches her stare at the table as she puts together what he's said.
"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"
She looks up at him, finally. Understanding shows in her eyes.
"...it's me." She says, quietly. "I'm the ghost."
And then, "I'm glad you can see me."
Robin's expression stays solemn. "And now you can see them too, can't you?"
She nods.
Robin continues. "And now it's your responsibility to know when the ghost is there, and to learn how to keep it away...you know what its' chill feels like."
She nods again.
"And until then," he says, taking her hand in his, "I'll do what I can to keep you here."
Her breath catches and she feels her heart skip. She watches for his face to change to a smirk and prepares to jerk her hand away, but it doesn't. As he holds her hand, her cheeks grow warm, but instead of the warm beat of excitement, she feels calm, serene, like this simple touch might be an anchor that keeps her steady. It feels like home. She breathes.
Holly nudges Kerezi with concern in her eyes. “Should we…umm…help him?”
Without missing the beat, Kerezi takes a long sip of her ale. “Nah.” She grunts, a smirk gracing her lizardy lips. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “He’s doing just fine.”
Holly looks back over to the corner where, from Robin’s position pinned squarely up against the wall by a towering, mountainous, beastly Orc, it surely doesn’t look like it. She stares incredulously, wanting desperately to believe Kerezi knew what she was talking about.
She tries for the next few minutes to think of something to talk to Kerezi about. She tries to ask her if she’s found some new tasks for them, anything that might not be too difficult…but the conversation dies almost instantly. When she decides taking her mind off this will be impossible, she decides to try and eavesdrop. She takes her cup to the bar for a refill, but she can’t hear anything without arousing too much suspicion, she decides. She takes her cup back to Kerezi’s table, who has started a small conversation with a lady next to their hightop.
After taking a sip, she decides anything roundabout will be nearly impossible. She also doesn’t want to catch the orc’s attention and disrupt…whatever was going on here and by chance start a very unnecessary fight.
She tries again to round the corner of the bar, pretending to be looking for an exit to the privies. She pretends her slowness is due to inebriation, and hopes others will see it that way and not ask any questions. As she gets closer she finds she needn’t be so careful, both parties are very engrossed in whatever is at play here. Neither even acknowledges her presence when she glances up to a very confusing image.
The Orc is nearly twice Robin’s size in both height and girth. He forces Robin to straddle his large thigh preventing any means of escape, with a large hand fisting his shirt near his throat. To immediate onlookers it might look like the beginnings of a fight…though Robin isn’t struggling or trying to fight back, his gaze has a stinging heat to it that never breaks from the monstrocity before him. Suddenly the Orc lowers his fangs close to Robin’s neck and growls something she can’t hear.
She thinks she sees a hint of fear in Robin’s eyes, but he quickly closes them and with an arm he’s managed to wrestle free, drags the Orc’s ear to his mouth. She still can’t hear what he says, but judging by the smug look on his face and the way the Orc shoves him into the wall tighter in response, she immediately decides she doesn’t want to know.
She finds herself back at Kerezi’s table. She takes a long swig of ale. Kerezi smirks at her. “And…?”
“Yeah. He’s fine.” Holly hisses, sullenly gazing into her mug.
Kerezi’s gives a small hissing laugh and slaps her on the back.
Here’s the part after the Honesty conversation thing I wrote last
The Italics part is in Undercommon or Thieves Cant or sth I haven’t decided yet
The night is clear, and though there is a slight, crisp breeze, the tents keep most of it at bay. The fire crackles and heats some oat porridge Holly prepared, improved with some berries Holly found while gathering the wood. As they sit, Holly thinks carefully about how thankful she is for the lessons Kerezi gave, from teaching her safe berries to eat to…whatever had happened this evening.
She feels a sting in her chest remembering the uncomfortable silence between she and Robin a few hours before. When he cleared ahead of both of them without a word, Kerezi had given her a cautious look as if to tell her not to follow, but she hadn’t needed it. “It’s best not to ask questions you don’t want the answers to.” Kerezi had said simply, as if reading her mind. She recalled those words now as she and Kerezi sat next to the warming fire.
“Ah, Holly, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. You know how he gets.” Kerezi reads her mind again, poking a fresh log into the fire.
“Mmm, yeah. But…you know, I don’t ever know what he’s thinking, and I don’t like it. But…if there’s nothing I can do, then there’s no point in feeling that way, is there?”
Kerezi just listens.
“But if there was something I could do…I’d like to know what it is.”
Holly starts slightly as she hears what she’s saying, and feels her cheeks warm. She recovers when she realizes there’s nothing false about what she said.
“Oh well. I realize not everything is about me…and if it is, I guess it’d be my business soon enough anyway.”
Kerezi simply nods.
“I just hope he’s not getting in any trouble out there…I know he has no trouble with the dark, but, you never know what’s out there.” She scans the dark trees, though all she sees are the looming trunks and beginnings of treetop foliage that the firelight can provide her.
Kerezi stirs and ladles some porridge into her bowl. “He’s quick enough. Can probably get away from anything too dangerous, but…if he’s found something shiny, well, now there’s something. If that’s the case…let’s hope he doesn’t run into anything worse than the Giant Crocs.”
“…Giant…Crocs!?” Holly gasps.
Kerezi sits back and stirs her porridge. “…You know, for as smart as Robin is sometimes, I tell ya. When you find a sunken dungeon in the middle of a swamp, which, we found out later that had been taken over by a black dragon…and you find some jewelry that looks like it might be something? Surely you wouldn’t just…put it right on, would you? But that one, I’m tellin’ ya…turned him right into a god damn troll. Sure, he made short work of the place, smashing into this and that, though that was probably more the troll than him…and would you know, the spell or whatever it was wore right off once he got to a room full of the most hideous crocodile beasties you’ve seen…good thing I caught up too. Can’t imagine that shrimp would have satisfied a single one of them for too long.”
Holly nods uncomfortably.
“Well, he should at least have learned not to chase the Will O’ Wisp since then.” She finishes unceremoniously.
Kerezi pokes the fire, sparks flying into the night sky.
“Like I said, Holly, he’ll come around. Why don’t you go ahead to sleep, I’ll keep watch here.”
Holly doesn’t know what else to say, and heads to her own tent. Not long after she settles in, she hears Robin’s voice outside speaking with Kerezi. Their tones are hushed but friendly, and she feels reassured at least everyone is safe. When she can’t make heads or tails of what they’re talking about, she gives up trying to understand and slowly feels sleep overtake her.
- - -
When Robin returns, Kerezi pretends to be tending the fire. “Hey…” He says quietly. She picks up her eyes and scans him, and though he seems tired and his clothes soaked, at least looks unhurt. She sighs. She pats an area of animal skins she’s put on the ground for him, “Sit.” she says simply, almost bored.
“Hmm. Maybe you ran into trolls instead of the crocs this time…you smell like one anyway.”
Robin hits her lightly on her shoulder.
“Not gonna ask.” She says, smiling a little. She turns to grab her water skein, and hands it to him. “Clean yourself up while we have the fire, don’t smell up the place.”
He takes it from her, grabs a chunk of soap and a rag from his pack, and pulls his shirt over his head. Kerezi continues. “You know, I had an interesting conversation with Holly this evening. Said some interesting things.”
“Hmm. Like what?”
“Like how she said she wants to help, if she can.”
Robin stops scrubbing the soap and looks attentive at Kerezi. He stares at the ground in front of her for a moment, searching for the words.
“She doesn’t…know.” He states, as if trying to believe it for himself. “How is it possible?”
Kerezi sighs. “I truly do not envy you. Either of you.” They are both silent, as
Robin finishes his washing, he remains by the fireside to dry. He absentmindedly pokes at the fire himself.
She continues. “She wants to help, Robin. Do with that what you will. I think there are many rare opportunities here. Best you don’t squander them.”
With that, she dusts off her trousers and leaves. Though her weight is heavy, she slips into her own tent without any sound of footfall.
Just a bit of bar nonsense I had no context for, just felt like having Robin and Kerezi be a little chummy for once
“Oh, really?” He says, a small hint of surprise in his voice. But he recovers immediately. “I’m cool with lesbians. Totally get it. My best friend is a lesbian…”
“Oh?” She cocks an eyebrow.
“Well, you know. If scales and lizard fangs are your thing, I can introduce you.”
He waits a moment for her answer, but when she doesn’t give one, he continues. “Just wait here, I’ll get her for you…” he says with a quick smile, and disappears.
–
A few moments pass and he’s returned, right next to Kerezi. He shoulders up past her and grabs a small handful from the bowl on the bar. “Enjoying the nuts here?” He says cheekily. “Hmph. You wish,” she grunts and shoves him out of the way. He chuckles and nudges Holly, “You know how she is about her snacks, hmm?”
Before she can react, Kerezi’s glare bites right into him. “Oh! Speaking of snacks, there’s a nice one waiting at that table in the corner there now. I mean…metaphorical, literal…that’s totally your call.” He ends mischievously.
Kerezi grunts with annoyance. “I don’t know why you keep…” but she cuts herself off, realizing what he meant. She takes her pint with her as she makes her way past the small masses who had starting gathering for a nightcap, to the beautiful drow with a large glass of dark red wine.
