"...Teen years. Before that, probably not. You gotta consider how long it takes a wild dog to mature when—"
"Hey, sunshine, are you still with us or what?"
"Huh?"
Nearly dropping the ink quill in his right hand, Kinara looked up from the scrawled letter he'd been attempting to read over. It had gotten so dark now between the dense forest and the oddly moonless night that it took most of his concentration just to maintain his place on the page—that wasn't even taking into account the whole bumpy, barely existent road bit. Instinctively, he quickly folded up and put away his letter, as if it were under threat of being taken away; An odd enough reaction to being jolted to attention, as literally no one cared enough about the thing to do so, to his knowledge.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, sunshine. You plan on staying with us this time?"
The bunny-eared boy gave a quick look about. As far as he knew, he was still where he thought he should've been; In the back of the caravan's trailing carriage, seated closest to the exit, on the right. He was, of course, not alone; seated across from him, to his slight discomfort, was something like a giant of a woman. She had to stand at least 6 and a half feet tall, an educated guess on Kinara's part between having had her tower over him earlier in the day, and meekly looking up at her even now, as they were both seated. His own five foot and some odd inch frame seemed to shrink even more so in the shadow cast over her by a lantern just outside the carriage. And she wasn't just tall; she was coated, almost literally, in an admirable layer of muscle from neck to toe, the occasional scar here or there telling the tale that it wasn't just for show. Piercing emerald eyes bore into the smaller boy from beneath a short, wild mop of crimson red hair— not with intended intimidation, sure, but that didn't mean it wasn't there.
"O-Oh, sorry, I was just—"
"Ass-deep in that letter, again, for the... what—3rd time in a row, now?"
Kinara, flustered enough to bring a tinge of red to his cheeks, began to attempt explaining himself (again) but was spared by a soft hand reaching over from his side and patting him on the shoulder. "C'mon, cut him some slack. He's probably writing home to a sweetheart or something." Kinara's eyes averted from the larger-than-life lass to a much more realistic figure; A young lady, probably somewhere around his own age, with long, auburn hair and deep emerald eyes. She had a neutral, olive skin tone that gave off the impression that she took decent care of herself, yet sported a small tape bandage just along the cut of the left side of her face. What drew Liv's attention more than anything else, however, were the pair of goggles that sat atop her head—a style unlike any she'd ever seen before—and the small, bizarre-looking object— like a rhombus, covered with strange symbols— sitting in her lap. It looked like... some kind of relic? A key, maybe? Or the removed pommel of a blade. But surely it wasn't... right...?
"I think it's smart to keep up with your loved ones while you're away from home, anyway—If they need you, or vice versa, and all that."
"He's probably been gone, what, a few moons from home? If he's still that strung on his some girl's tits that he can't put her out of mind for more than a night, he shouldn't have left." Came the larger woman's extremely tactless reply, earning a deep flush and spot of panic from Kinara, and a much less impressive frown from the brown-haired girl. "Wha—No that's—How can you say something like that out loud!?" Exasperated, Kinara practically shouted at the woman across from him, forgetting himself in the process. This, surprisingly, didn't earn a scowl, nor a disapproving look in the least from his verbal aggressor... But a deep-bellied laugh, hard enough to rock the woman in her seat—slightly unnerving, as the carriage uneasily shifted under her merriment. The auburn-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Classy. Really."
"You'll have to cut her some slack as well, I'm sure. Usually, people don't tease others about their sex lives unless their own is fairly barren."
The laughter stopped cold. A chill ran down Kinara's spine as the rather jovial look in the larger woman's eyes turned nearly feral—like a wild animal, twice scorned. Her gaze, along with Kinara's and the brown-haired girl's, turned to the corner next to the giantess. There sat a young man, with dusky brown skin and black, locked hair. He likely stood somewhere between the giantess of a woman and Kinara himself in height, and his coal black eyes seemed so narrow as to avoid reflecting even the slightest bit of light under the canopy of the carriage.
What was most unique about this lad in particular, however, wasn't him at all; It was actually the serpent, coiling slowly around his slender, sculpted body which demanded the most attention. Near pure white, it was— with cream-colored patches of scales here and there, and what seemed to be an onyx jewel, darker than the snake's amber slit eyes resting atop its forehead. As it comfortably moved from one side of his shoulder to the next, the snake eyed each one of the carriage's passengers, before nesting itself somewhere along the man's arm. This display, even if only slightly, unnerved Kinara; It did not, however, bother the likely moments-away-from-murder redhead across from him.
"...You wanna say that to my face, guy?"
"I'd have to get you down on your knees first, I imagine."
The woman hands slowly curled into fists as she moved to stand, eyes narrowing even further.
"Try it."
"Oooookay! So I don't think we properly introduced ourselves yet!" Kinara suddenly interjected, a last-ditch attempt to defuse a bomb on a very short wick. All eyes moved back to him; the redhead, albeit somewhat annoyed, gave one last glare towards the darker-skinned man, before settling back down in her seat. "I mean, we're all going to be a team on this venture, right? We should at least know a little about each other's stories, right? Or... or just names?" He near-pleaded, defensively waving his hands as he did so. There was an odd moment of silence which seemed to stretch on into infinity, as all three (well, four) other individuals in the carriage gave him a once-over, as if surprised by this sudden outburst, before the auburn-haired girl, with a bit of a smile, spoke up again.
"Well I think it's a good idea, anyway. You never know; Getting at least a little personal might help if we got separated or something, and needed to verify identities." Crossing her legs, the young lady finished her words with a nod, rather content with her own reasoning. The young man in the corner nodded in agreement as well, his serpentine friend moving to coil about his neck now—loosely, mind you. "Good point. It might also help us out as far as working together in combat. Who's strongest in what spot, as it were." He chimed in, hand-waving his own explanation in. This left the crimson-haired woman alone, as far as agreements went, and while she did originally look about the group, a bit surprised by how quickly everyone got on the same page, her shoulders—and whatever leftover hostility they held—eventually gave way to reason.
"What, so he's the 'leader' now? Whatever. I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a couple juicy secrets outta you lot." She eventually replied, earning a collective sigh or eyeroll out of the group. Kinara in particular was just happy that no one's head was rolling—eyes were fine. Sitting back down, he cleared his throat a bit, took a deep breath, and nodded to himself. "Right! So, um. I guess... I should start?" He eventually spoke up again, as the collective carriage once again rolled their eyes and sighed, though now on a much lighter tone.
"Right, sorry, dumb question. So! My name is Kinara— I'm from Summervale... kinda. It's a long story."
