@stellanimarum asked: "I thought you might like some company."
Karlach Cliffgate had not been this happy in years. Ten years, to be exact. Though the quietness of the wilds would take some getting used to, the fact that she could hear herself think at all was a gift unto itself. She'd always imagined what the first thing she would do the second she'd snatched her freedom. Step one: get under someone. Step two: eat enough food that she felt fit to burst. Step three: go and achieve the life she'd been dreaming about. Wife. Husband. Maybe a cat, since the city had put a ban on dogs.
One thing she hadn't factored in, however, was the new temperament of the fucking engine. While it had worked perfectly for what it was needed for in the hells, it did not agree with the storm coast, and the tiefling wasn't entirely sure what to do with this newfound predicament. Dammon was an angel, and had almost melted his ear off when he'd leant in for a listen. He'd spewed some technical stuff that had flown over her head, but it had sounded right and that was all that mattered.
They camped near water. Made perfect sense to, when there was a camp full of people who would not only need fed, but bathed and watered. Karlach had waited for the rest of them to go to bed before she'd made her way there, and watched as the dog, Scratch, snuffled around in the dirt by the bank. The barbarian herself had settled with skipping stones. Just like Pluck had taught her when she was tiny. Think of every little stone as a bad or sad thought, and throw those away with the pebbles. It had sounded like complete nonsense when she'd been knee-high, but now that she had actually water, there was a comforting plop plop plop as they skipped across the still running water and sank, never to be seen again.
Her father had been onto something with that.
Karlach heard her come long before she spoke, and she paused right before she skipped another stone. Her head half turned and she greeted Callonetta with a bright and easy smile. "Soldier." Curt and to the point, the tiefling turned back to the water, and cast that pebble back into the dirt for another throw later. There was a part of her that wondered how she'd noticed she'd stolen off, until logical thought reminded her that she was a mortal torch, and the darkness was broken by the glow of her. Not bright enough to illuminate the entirety of the river, but enough to be noticed.
Hadn't worked like that in Avernus, because almost everything was made of fire, brimstone, all that bollocks.
"Can't sleep either? Got a few choice stones here, ripe for skipping if you wanna join in."
