Two Worlds of Grey and Green (CLOSED)

[MonochroMayhem]

Torien sighed and poured another cup of tea for himself. It had been a long day of work on his current home design, and the tiny house that sat on his desk looked like a skeleton of a living space. He still had yet to furnish it, though he had begun woodcarving work on the dining room table.

He looked over at the sundial that stood outside the window. His house faced in such a way that neither the shadow of the house nor the petrified oak tree next to it could possibly cast itself into the device to obscure its ability to relay time. Alas, it was already getting a bit late, and it would be dark within a few hours, so he went towards his door to relay the bad news to his tenants.

The tenants he kept lived within a solid stone wall enclosure with a very secure gate. He housed fae like him within its walls, alongside a nice vegetable garden that either he or his tenants could freely tend.

As he reached the front door to his cottage, he caught sight of something, or perhaps someone, in the distance along the dirt road.

[Medievarad]

Pitiful.

Truly. These roads were filled with bandits and brigands. Past tense of were. With a soft flick of her blade, she streaked a small line of blood across the road, before sheathing the katana on her hip again. She could understand them going for isolated targets. But someone like her? Fully clad in massive lamellar armour, wearing a demon's mask. And several oddly scribbled charms stuck to her armour here and there.

It was obvious a band of five wasn't even enough to begin fighting her. Yet they tried. And they failed.

She glanced up. Eyebrows lowering in a soft frown as she saw, a cottage up ahead. In the middle of nowhere? But it was getting dark. And she had no proper camping supplies on her for the moment. So, without any better idea, she made her way up to the building, hand resting on the hilt of her sword at all times.

[MonochroMayhem]

Torien panicked as he saw the figure approaching the cottage door. The person wore heavy armor and had a menacing mask on. Either they were asking for directions or he was gonna get robbed pretty soon.

He sighed. "You're not a coward, Tory. You're a Fae. Fae aren't afraid of tall-folk. Especially when you look like one yourself."

He grabbed his leather work gloves from the workbench inside and pulled them over his fingers. If this person had iron rings, the gloves would block the normal burning sensation that iron gave him upon contact.

He breathed again, and opened the door. "Hello, can I help you?" he asked, his voice reaching into the range of an average shopkeeper.


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[Medievarad]

"You can," Rin answered, inclining her head in greeting. Hand still idly resting on the hilt of her katana. Torien might even be able to see the splatters of blood on her armour. While they weren't gratuitous, They were present.

With a soft click, she pulled her mask off, slowly. Revealing her young and feminine face. "I am looking for a place to rest the night. Or camping supplies, friend."

[MonochroMayhem]

The man blushed. He couldn't believe he'd been scared of a lady like this. It was the mask. Definitely the mask. No, no the bloodstains, the mask!

He nodded. "It's supposed to rain tonight," he said. "You'll catch pneumonia if you camp outside. I got a bed, so it'll be fine."

He had one bed, and in his words he realized he didn't have a place to sleep.

Well, he did, but...

He looked over at the small house on his workbench. "Come in, please. I can already feel the chill in the wind."

As the guest came in, his eyes focused intently on avoiding contact with her armor. Fae like him got burns from iron, and he wasn't quite sure what the armor was made of. He circled the lady and closed the door and there was a careful click as it locked into place. He flipped over the sign on the cottage. It was better to finish early anyway.

He immediately chose to light the oil lamps inside the cottage. "So, what brings you all the way out here? You seem like you've come a long way."

[Medievarad]

Rin nodded slowly. "Thank you," were the only words out of her mouth before she entered, stepping into thethe room and looking around, hand still idling on the hilt of her blade. Her eyes befell the small house and she frowned. "Did you make this?" She inquired, walking towards the workbench, frowning softly as she leaned over to inspect it more closely. "It looks very lifelike. Amazing," she stated, before looking at him with a friendly smile.

"I'm a traveling sellsword," she answered as she stood up straight again. "Merely looking for work. Also, I assume you have bandit problems here?"

[MonochroMayhem]

Torien smiled. "I don't exactly have many bandits come in here. This house has a reputation of being rigged." He pointed to a latch on the side of the door. "Every time I leave I set tripwires and traps and such. That, and the box that holds my valuables has a lock that breaks picks. People haven't come by here out of fear that some demon or Fae lives here."

He hoped his lie wasn't too obvious. He clearly had a sword hanging on the wall, but he also knew that Fae were not super known in this part of the land.

Torien noticed the woman looking at the model house. "Uh, y-yeah! Actually I make those for--" he stopped for a moment. His eyes glanced to the brick wall enclosure in his yard. "I am someone who contracts for new towns," he lied. "It's a lot of difficult work, and I have to design every house from the ground up. Can't build a village in a single night, y'know!"

He swore he felt a bead of sweat running down his cheek. "You're a sellsword, you said? I don't think I've seen a sellsword around these parts in a few..."

He paused. "Years. Definitely a few years."

His cottage was on a side road that diverged from the main road, and because he was a little out of the way his visitors were mostly regulars who spread his crafting business by word of mouth.

"Where have you come from exactly? It seems like you've been walking for quite a while," he said, pulling his chair open for her.


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