Starstruck [Dad76] [M]

[Cheesigator]

It became ever more apparent to Stardust as they neared their destination that they were getting closer. The colors in the sky had changed, billowing clouds of smoke obscuring clouds overhead as they dissipated and turned the taste of the air to something burnt. Ashes fell from above like snowflakes, and as they paused on the outside of the village, standing atop a hill and able to view the full extent of all the damage, Stardust felt her breath catch a little in her throat.

She was fascinated with humans, she found them to be such admirable creatures in some cases, but then on the other hand, she also recognized that they were certainly not saints. It wasn't her first time seeing any kind of human-caused disaster, but... That didn't make it any less painful to look at.

She blinked, looking over at Artorias with brows furrowed at what he said. She wasn't sure if she should be offended, or grateful, or respectful that he'd tried to accommodate her if she couldn't handle this kind of thing. He dismounted his horse before she could really respond, and started down the hill.

She swallowed, her throat already starting to feel a little rough from breathing in the smoke. She got off of Scrimshaw, giving the unsettled horse a gentle pat as she followed after Artorias.

She could feel it, the lingering aftereffects of magic; a mage had done this. Her expression was somber as she looked around, saw charred bodies burnt beyond recognition lying among the rubble and debris. The tang of burning flesh tainted the air; death hung in the air like a thick, viscous slime that threatened to drown and pull you under because it was so tangible.

"So what's our purpose?" She asked, voice quiet. "Are we looking for the guy who did this, or are we looking for survivors?" Considering the mage who did this was probably long gone by now if this had been on purpose. But if it was on accident, there might be a chance they were still hanging around, in which case, all the more reason to be careful.

[Medievarad]

Artorias drew up to one of the charred buildings, leaning down to touch an afflicted, wooden beam. With just a simple touch, it completely turned to dust. He rubbed the metal fingers of his gauntlets together, some of the sooth between. "A powerful pyromancer.. Made a deal with a fire elemental," he started his explanation, getting to his feet again.

"This village is slowly being consumed by said fire elemental. The peasants are already dead, whatever we do." He took a deep breath as some of the peasants drew up to them. Charred corpses that were walking. The cracks of them glowing with a molten energy. "So, we bury them. And destroy this fire elemental," he answered, slowly unsheathing Witchbane.

"These are not your average undead," Artorias started to explain. "These souls are still alive, experiencing everything. Including pain," he grit his teeth and held up his sword. "So finish them quickly," with that, he stepped forward, lopping off a head cleanly. The body immediately turning to ashes.

[Cheesigator]

For a moment all Stardust could do was watch as Artorias examined a building; she wasn't sure if it crumbled because magic was what held it together, and his powers automatically nullified it, or if it was because the building structure had just become that weak.

Her heart ached as she looked out and saw, as if on queue, the villagers rising from where they lay, burning, molten, tortured.

It wasn't like dragons couldn't do this kind of thing to each other, there were plenty who could and did--but she had a harder time feeling bad for dragons when they lived so long naturally. Humans... They had all had their lives stolen from them. Already so short and so small, and yet taken, just like that. She clenched her fists a little, her heart giving a painful throb.

As Artorias explained their job, she cast a glance up to the sky. If there was any time where her magic would have come in handy, it would've been here--but she had an incredibly difficult time controlling it even on a good day. Her transformation was the only magic thing she had down good enough and even that was shoddy at best.

But sometimes when she asked, nature listened. If it would rain, it would at least help put out the fires, but she threw a look over at Artorias and figured perhaps asking was a bad idea. He'd probably suspect her of magic and try and kill her again or something. So, without a whole lot said between them, she drew her sword and followed his lead.

It seemed the force controlling them didn't exactly like for the two mordecai to attack, so the burning corpses started firing back; thankfully Stardust was partially immune to fire by nature. However as she cut the head off of one, the ashes flying in the wind they hadn't noticed had picked up, there was a solid little plink on her left shoulder.

She barely heard it, and her mind didn't register it as she kept up her dance of swordplay, feeling sad for every unfortunate soul she cut down, silently wishing them better luck next time in their next life.

Something cold and wet hit her nose, and then hit the burning corpse in front of her, making a sizzling sound. She paused, blinking and looking up at the sky, right as the rainfall grew in intensity and within a matter of moments, was a heavy downpour.

Well, somebody had been listening anyways. She wasn't sure if she was grateful or upset, but she didn't let it pause her long as she hurried to finish their mission. The water definitely helped, putting out the fire in many of the corpses and allowing them to be cut down far easier as they were unable to resist.

By the time they had finished she had lost count of how many she'd cut down, and they were both equally covered in ash, sweat and rainwater, which wasn't exactly pleasant. It was incredibly cold, but it didn't bother Stardust in the slightest; her body adjusted its core temperature naturally to compensate, and she was none the wiser. At least most of the fires still burning in the houses and buildings were put out. This also meant the ground would be softer for digging but she wasn't exactly sure how they were to go about burying ashes.

She sheathed her sword, watching some of the piles of ashes condense and start to mix with the ground, returning to the earth that all creatures came from.

"I suppose this rain was lucky, huh?"

[Medievarad]

Some theme music. Way to Darchan - Michael Maas

The rain.

It suited the entire scene. Not to extinguish the flames of anguish. No, it was as if the sky wept for these fallen souls. For these innocent men and women. These innocent children. All taken away from life, killed off by an individual who solemnly wished for more power. One could question their reasoning. But then one was led to ask.

What kind of reasoning or explanation was sufficient to justify the killing of another? Even he, as a Mordecai, stood still to this before. Killing mages, he believed he was the Mordecai with most kills to his name. More than he cared to remember. These also, were people.

These mordecai. They were the nescessary evil. They were there to stop an even greater evil from running rampant. He was not as delusional as his fellow Mordecai. Even Arnsgar had no place for murderers in the afterlife. Artorias found it hard to believe he was going anywhere else but hell.

The rain dripped from his helmet, down his armour as he sliced his way through the undead's ranks with surgical precision. His blows weren't meant to maim or incapacitate. They were, each and everyone, meant to kill. Each blow was accompanied by the screech of a collapsing undead. Who turned to ashes. Another soul put to rest. It were in these moments why he recalled taking up position as the mordecai grandmaster. Even though he was a shapeshifter. Even though he knew exactly how long his lifespan was. He was a machine of war. And as soon as he was not provided of fuel, he'd stop.

The fireballs send for him dropped. Nullified due to his aura. And soon, he extended it completely, now none of these afflicted undead could use any kind of magic. That didn't make them any less dangerous however.

Artorias, with a deep and tired breath, shouldered Witchbane. He watched the battlefield the two of them had just levelled with empty, sad eyes.

"Form up," he stated coldly, looking up as a loud and rather antagonized screech resounded. "We still have a fire elemental to fight."

[Cheesigator]

The cold water ran down her face, dripping off her nose and chin, plastering her ice blue hair to her head, falling from her antlers like crystalline ornaments.

The sound of the fire elemental's screech after Artorias' command was a little too well-timed for comfort. The sound of it coursed through her veins and awoke the predator she really was deep down inside; her ears flattened against her head and she stilled, listening, eyes narrowed as she looked over the ruins of the town.

She felt sadness for each and every person she had cut down, every soul that had been tormented, but that sadness was wiped away in an instant when she recognized the new danger they were facing; elementals weren't anything to sneeze at. Every magical creature had its merits, as well as its faults. She hadn't really met an elemental before, so she wasn't entirely certain what to expect.

She heard the sounds of it; it popped and crackled like wood in a fireplace, and she saw the sparks coming off of it first before she saw the actual creature. It had been hiding in the former town courthouse; in a second alone it screeched again and flames exploded from its center, engulfing the entire building and bringing it down in an implosion that shook the water-logged, muddy ground they stood on. Steam flew into the air as the fire was suddenly exposed to the cold humidity, the vast difference in temperature creating so much white mist at first for a moment they were blinded before more flames erupted forth from the collapsing building, climbing high into a giant wall of flame that eventually began to take a somewhat humanoid shape.

It was simply massive, at least some 20 meters high. Her breath caught a little in her chest; the creature was so bright to look at she had to squint until her eyes adjusted. His core seemed to be comprised of bubbling magma, hardening and melting and repeating the process over and over again in a tumultuous cycle that extended to its limbs, hardened igneous rock that were still engulfed in flames. It had no mouth, just two bright eyes that flickered between white and blue they burned so hot.

She was fireproof, but not that fireproof. And she had no use of water magic, particularly with Artorias around. She looked around at the destroyed buildings surrounding them, as if hoping some answer might spring forth from the ruins, but of course, nothing did. She could only think of one option, and she'd really rather not, so she looked over at the grandmaster, arching an eyebrow.

"Any ideas?"

[Medievarad]

Artorias took a deep breath as he looked up at the towering creature. Not one of fear. Not of one anger.

But mere annoyance. He felt for the forgotten and scattered souls. These people's lives were ripped from them. But he seemed awfully calm in the face of such odds. By no means was he impressed or even intimidated.

"You can leave this to me," he stated. So coldly. And too simplistic for the situation at hand. After wiping the soot off of Witchbane, he sheathed it on his back. But not before a massive firebolt came roaring for him. After all, this thing wouldn't just wait around for Artorias' move.

The fire slammed down into him. It would char him. Boil him alive under his skin. But none of that happened. No. Instead, out of the bellowing fire came a creature. Armoured completely. Taller and bigger than Artorias, spikes protruding from his elbows. The entire stone mass writhed softly. And between the cracks in the armour was the same red, ethereal glow. Yet, no hint of magic came from him.

And so, Artorias walked slowly towards the creature, which roared a gust of fire over him. To no avail. Each step he took made the ground crack underneath him.

And then. He blinked from sight. The next thing Stardust could witness was a black figure infront of the core, plunging a hand in and literally ripping something out. Just like that.

And so, the elemental toppled. Flames slowly extinguishing.

Artorias touched down on the ground again, which exploded underneath him due to the sheer weight. He examined the small, fiery marble in his hand, snorting softly. Before closing his fist and shattering it.

The armour pulled away again, revealing the charred clothing. The half molten plate armour. And Artorias himself, who's hand, pieces of his arms, were charred completely black. Without as much as a breath, he keeled over, crashing down in the dirt.

[Cheesigator]

Leave it to..?

She stared at him as he looked up at the monster with no recognizable emotions on his face; he didn't look at it with wonder, or fear, or even interest--it was like he'd fought something like this a thousand times.

At first she rolled her eyes, letting him do as he pleased and figuring he was just blowing hot air. Even when he revealed his armored form, which she had to admit was... Interesting, she crossed her arms over her chest and watched with furrowed brows until he disappeared, and killed the creature in one hit.

All she could do was stare, dumbly, at it as it crumbled to the ground, dead.

What. The. Fuck.

Okay so maybe he had done this a thousand times; she thought back to when he had spoke during their fight. 'I never said I was human.'

Right. Yeah. No. She kinda got that now.

His biological armor chipped away and what she saw made her heart skip a beat.

"... YOU IDIOT."

She stomped angrily over to him, and realized after she reached his side and stood there that he wasn't awake. She could still hear his heartbeat though, and that was all she needed.

"You're an idiot. An absolute complete fucking moron. That was stupid. You're stupid. You're also unconscious, probably, so I know you can't hear me right now which is probably fine because I'm willing to bet I'll be saying this far more often in the future than I care to admit. YOU'RE A BIG FAT SHOWOFF AND YOU'RE STUPID AND YOU COULD HAVE LET ME HANDLE THAT BECAUSE AT LEAST I'M FIREPROOF BUT NO YOU COULDN'T AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY? BECAUSE YOU'RE STUPID."

She got onto her knees, rolled him over so she could examine his burn wounds, thankful that she'd at least learned that from some of the adventures she'd been with on humans, otherwise she'd have been useless.

"How many times do I have to tell you I'M A FUCKING DRAGON?" She snapped as she got her arms up under him and with a grunt, heaved him up over her shoulder and carried him like he was a sack of potatoes, difficult given the mud but she managed. "I'M FIREPROOF. YOU'RE NOT. OBVIOUSLY. Here I thought you might be, that you had some grand trick up your sleeve, but no, YOU'RE STILL JUST A STUBBORN ASS."

She didn't bother climbing up the wet hill to where their horses waited dutifully for them, instead, focusing some of her frustrations into jumping and reaching the top of the hill in one leap. She slid a little when she landed, but did well at keeping her balance--her tail was useful for that, at least.

The horses gave a minor start when she appeared so suddenly, and so upset, as she hoisted him onto the back of his horse and got on Scrimshaw, taking the reigns of Artorias' steed and leading them away from the town, keeping an eye out on the road for a landmark they had passed where she remembered hearing a stream. She wasn't sure how deadly his wounds were, given he wasn't human, but she figured haste was better than taking her time and then having to explain to the other mordecai why their grandmaster was dead after a single mission with her and how it was DEFINITELY not her fault.

Luckily, her memory served her correctly as she heard the found sounds of running water, and that was the first thing Sir Assholius needed. She led the horses away from the main road and into a slight wooded area, dismounting and pulling Artorias from his horse, dragging him (not because she couldn't carry him but mostly because she was still mad at him for being a heroic moron) over to the stream where she took his wounds and dunked them in the frigid water.

She left his more damaged arm trailing in the water while she dug around in his saddlebags, finding bandages and huffing.

"You're a stubborn asshole." She grumbled under her breath, leaving for a few moments to go pick some herbs she'd noticed earlier that a human woman had taught her were good for burns, and came back, using the recent rainfall to her advantage as she found some rocks, ground the herbs into a salve and pulled him away from the stream to coat the burns and then bandage him up.

"A stubborn asshole and an idiot who doesn't think before he acts and does stupid shit when he does act because that was stupid. You're stupid." She continued to grumble, before finally taking a deep breath and letting it out in a heavy sigh.

She finished her work and sat back on her heals, admiring it for a moment and deciding that you know what? She was a good person. Dragon. Whatever. She could've left him to die, and she didn't. She was honorable. And yelling at his unconscious form made her feel much better and much less frustrated.

She pulled him up to rest him against a tree, elevating his most damaged arm on a few baby tree stumps next to him so the blood wouldn't clot or something she didn't really remember what it did, just that she was supposed to do it. And then she left the horses, tied up a few feet away from him, to go explore a bit and spend some time alone, because it'd be a first for her in a while on this trip, and she could always use a bit of alone time. So she would enjoy the rainfall while it lasted, climbing to the tops of one of the trees and sitting on a branch, looking up at the sky from among her perch of leaves, and closing her eyes.

She thought of the innocent people back in that village, and hoped that wherever their souls were, they were in a better place than here.

[Medievarad]

Ofcourse, Artorias was unconscious throughout the entire ordeal. Being dragged and pulled around. Being chewed out by an angry and worried dragon, possessing quite some lip.

Stardust bandaged him up and settled him against a tree. Yet it took another half an hour for the mordecai grandmaster to blink into consciousness again. He grunted softly under his breath as his body started to heal on his own again. The same dark, stone substance traveled over his body. Bandages and herbs she used dissipated, consumed by the energy.

Artorias pushed himself up, taking a deep breath. He glanced at the small stream of water, deciding to follow it in search for Stardust. After all, there was no trace of her. He came across a small pond, glancing at Stardust's figure, before taking a deep breath.

[Cheesigator]

She hadn't really stayed up in that tree for very long, perhaps ten minutes, when she glanced down at herself and realized she was covered in soot and ash, and her own sweat, and the charred remains of Artorias' outfit. She let out a heavy sigh as she jumped down from her perch, deciding that perhaps now would be a better time than ever to take a bath, undisturbed.

She had followed the stream down a ways, realizing it opened out into a river; the waters were calmer in this section though, which was why she hadn't heard it before from the main road. She had stripped her clothing and armor off, leaving them neatly folded after shaking them out on some rocks on the shore, and she stepped into the waters without fear or hesitation, and Artorias was soon to find out why.

When he found her she was under the water, and she came up with a sudden splash, throwing her long hair back, for once out of its braid, as droplets were flung in a graceful arc overhead. The sun was starting to set, the light tinting everything it touched in hues of pinks, oranges and reds, but the light still shimmered and bounced off her scales. They adorned her shoulders, fading down to her back before resurfacing again and coating the entirety of her tail.

When not put up in its braid, her hair was shockingly long, falling all the way down to her hips, which he could see clearly since her back was to him. It appeared the dragoness hadn't noticed him yet--no, her attention was suddenly drawn to the water. She blinked, looking down--and then she giggled.

"Hey come on stop that tickles--" She laughed, and whatever it was seemed to heed her pleas, coming up to the surface instead.

Its head was huge. Bigger than her thighs, and when it opened its mouth it showed huge rows of needle-like teeth, and it was headed straight for her! And then it calmly veered to the side, closing its mouth again as its full length surfaced. It was an Arapaima, and it was over 4 meters long. Any sane human would have been terrified, it could probably eat a person for breakfast. And yet she reached out and pet it, eyes shining brightly as she wrapped her arms around it and submersed herself in the water with it, as it pulled her along like a little tugboat.

"Look at you! Oh my gods you're so big, look at you!" She spoke to it like she was a proud mother, and perhaps it was at this point Artorias would notice that that wasn't the only fish playing with her.

At first they just looked like regular currents in the water, flashing and catching the light as they moved up and down, but upon closer inspection, the water was teeming with fish. They were swarming around her, rising to the surface and going back down again, and a few other arapaima, as well as some gar, and other big freshwater fish, were all itching to get a chance to be showered with the dragon's attention.

Her ride dipped below the water and she went under with it, disappearing for a few moments before they rose back up, swimming in Artorias' direction now and it was then that she let go of the big fish, standing up again so the waterline hit just below her belly button--and then she noticed the grandmaster standing on the shore.

....
........
...............

She instantly covered her chest with her arms and dropped into the water, but not before he probably got a chance to see a blush flash across her face, and then that disappeared into the water too until all he could see was her eyes and the top of her head and her antlers staring at him in shock from where she was submersed in the river water. She didn't say anything. She couldn't.

He just saw her mostly naked. And didn't SAY ANYTHING.

[Medievarad]

Artorias wanted to announce his presence, though he was stupefied and speechless. Confused by the fish that gathered around her. And the dragon snuggling with a thing that was longer than he was tall. Which was an achievement.

That thing was massive.

She looked down at Stardust as she surfaced again with the enormous fish, not saying a word. Only taking a deep breath as she flustered completely and dropped under the water.

Without as much as another word, he started to pull off the remnants of his armour and his robes, standing there completely naked aswell. A body chiseled with muscle and rich with scars. But regardless, he stepped into the water, putting his back to her and starting to wash himself.

[Cheesigator]

Now it was Stardust's turn to be confused; he said nothing, just stared at her. And she stared back. They stood there staring at each other for what felt like an eternity.

She continued to stare as he started pulling off his armor, and then... His clothes, until he was suddenly naked and she was just staring at him in shock--not horror, but... Close to it. Not because he was bad looking, but because he was naked.

Completely naked. She saw everything.

A bunch of bubbles rose to the surface by her mouth as she suddenly pulled her head from the water, throwing something at him--a rock, it'd been the first thing she'd grabbed--as she squawked.

"H-HAVE SOME DECENCY!"

Her entire face was red, and that blush extended down her neck and across her chest over her collarbone; she quickly turned away, shaking her head furiously like she was trying to shake the image out of her mind.

"Y-YOU--YOU--" She wanted to yell and scream at him some more but he was awake now, and she had a feeling if she did yell at him he would just respond by yelling back or trying to pick a fight again or punishing her or something, so she forced herself to shut her mouth and just put her face in her hands, taking a deep breath as the arapaima from earlier swam around her, brushing against her back almost like it was trying to comfort her.

When Artorias got into the water, all the fish stayed as far away from him as possible. It seemed they wanted nothing to do with him.

She ducked her head under the water to try and calm herself down, and cool her rising temperature because of her own embarrassment, and when she broke the surface again she was silent, flicking water from her face and pushing her hair away from her eyes.

She threw a still-somewhat-mad-at-you glance over her shoulder at him before she quickly looked away again.

"Guess your burns are better then." She forced out, her voice tense as she hugged herself, wishing she could sink into the water and disappear. She really thought he'd be out longer than that. Why, why? It wasn't fair.

[Medievarad]

He grabbed the rock before it could hit his face and leave a nasty cut. One he didn't feel like regenerating, before letting it splash down in the pond again. "I have decency, what else would you want me to do? Wait until you were done?" He inquired, arching an eyebrow. "We have no time for that. It's inefficient."

He didn't care for the fish. He was glad he could bathe in piece. And like that, he went on with his bath, back towards Stardust again, giving her and himself the needed privacy. "They are," he answered.Before taking a deep breath.

"Thanks."

[Cheesigator]

She looked at him again over her shoulder when he responded (her mother had always taught her to be respectful and look at people when they were speaking to you) and found herself frowning as she turned her gaze away, looking at the water, bubbling with fish that swarmed around her like curious children.

Inefficient.

How was it that someone like him could be so considerate and caring for the lives of others, like the villagers they laid to rest today, and yet on the other hand treat people as if they were nothing? Did he view the other mordecai as nameless soldiers? Because he certainly didn't treat Stardust like she was a person, she now realized, and maybe that was because he considered her a 'mage' or whatever. Or maybe he really just had no clue that you shouldn't just randomly strip naked in front of a stranger and not apologize for seeing them without their consent. Who knew.

He was a confusing idiot and she tried not to let it get to her.

She pursed her lips and nodded, back to him as she quickly finished washing up.

"Just don't do something reckless again. I could've potentially handled that situation too, you know. Not sure what point there is in dragging me along with you everywhere if we're not at least going to try and work together."

She got out of the water, trying to flick most of the water off as the fish waited for a few moments by the shoreline, wondering if she would come back, before eventually dispersing back into the water's depths, still avoiding Artorias. She pulled her clothes back on, not bothered by the fact that they were still damp or that she was too, and then she started wringing out her hair and putting it back into its braid, the motions quick and methodical like she did this all the time, which she did.

And then she started heading back the way both of them had come, to go back with the horses and give Artorias some privacy, because she wasn't an ass, unlike some people. She didn't bother mentioning where she was going, figuring it was obvious enough.

[Medievarad]

Artorias sat down in the pond, scooping up some water with his hands, before running it through his pale blonde, almost platinum hairs, washing out the ashes and soot. It was then, when she looked at his back. Just how much scars, along with the one massive burn scar, he had. It was stupendous.

"That thing would have consumed and killed you," he stated rather matter of factly. It was than that he glanced over his shoulder, looking at her. "It took roughly half of my capacity to stay alive when I touched it. Constantly regenerating my wounds, faster than I got burned." He turned back to the water. "I fought you with only a fraction of what I can do," he said, not looking at her as she dressed.

And by the time she was gone, Artorias had finished up, he also moved over to his armour and clothing, starting to get dressed again. And when he was done, he would return to the horses.

[Cheesigator]

Stardust wasn't exactly sure how she felt as she trekked back up to the horses, thinking about what Artorias had decided to tell her while she'd been getting dressed.

Would have consumed her? How did he know that?? Sure, he wasn't human, he might've even been immortal, but how did he know that? Could he predict the future? He knew nothing about her!

Perhaps that was what frustrated her about him the most--he acted like he knew everything about her. Just because he'd fought dragons before he thought he knew them all. He knew nothing about her, he probably hadn't ever even seen a dragon like her before. She wasn't even from this continent. Her kind were so rarely seen even by their own people--he was probably just assuming she was like every other dragon she'd heard of here.

Big. Lumbering. Fire-breather. Evil. Whatever. She wasn't any of those.

She huffed to herself as she reached the horses, wrapping her arms around a confused Scrimshaw's neck and burying her face in the short fur.

"'I fought you with only a fraction of what I can do,'" She mocked under her breath, giving Artorias a far more annoying and hoity-toity voice than how he actually sounded. "Well he can just take one more stick and shove it up his ass then."

If he thought he was so big and strong, then she'd just have to prove it to him, that she could definitely be twice as big, and twice as strong. Definitely. AND DEFINITELY BIGGER.

Her sharp ears picked up the sound of him approaching and she quickly made herself look busy, because she totally was not letting this asshole get to her. So instead she set to carefully knocking some of the mud from her horse's hooves, glancing over at Artorias as he approached.

"So what now?"

Since they'd finished their mission and all, she assumed they'd be heading back to Fuckstick Capitol.

[Medievarad]

"What now?" Artorias shook his head and sighed softly, glancing back in the direction of the village. "I plan to bury what's left, nullify and eliminate any left over magic," he answered. He walked over to his own horse and padded his flank softly. "As well as looking for traces of the pyromancer. That elemental didn't come in existence on his own. And it's summoner still remains at large."

He huffed out a soft breath. "But for now, we camp out and rest." He glanced upwards, to point at a ridge. "There. I saw it earlier. We camp there, overlook the village in shifts. Maybe our target returns. If he doesn't, we look for clues tomorrow." He pulled himself up on the horse now and glanced at Stardust again. "Good work, by the way," he stated coldly, before spurring the horse on to trot down the hill again. "And thanks for not leaving me for dead."

[Cheesigator]

She stood up straight as Artorias spoke, probably the most she'd heard him say in one go so far on this trip. She followed where he was pointing to see the ridge and nod, grabbing onto the saddle horn to start to pull herself up when he thanked her.

Well. She hadn't been expecting that.

She stared after him for a moment as he turned away and started to ride off without her; maybe he wasn't... Completely an asshole? No, he probably was. He was just being polite.

Stardust pulled herself up onto Scrimshaw and followed after him, feeling a little awkward and unsure of how to respond to his sudden nice comments. "Well, I couldn't just leave you there--I mean I could've, but that would've been quite dishonorable. That's not how my parents raised me."

She lived with the idea that if her father could suddenly appear at any moment and see what she was doing or how she was acting, he would be proud of what he saw, and usually she did a good job of actually sticking to that rule. Though it was admittedly a bit of a challenge, especially with Artorias--she blamed it on her young age.

Once they reached their destination and dismounted their horses, she set to work helping Artorias set up a camp that would work well enough for what they needed it for for the two of them. She offered to take up the first watch, considering he should probably rest a bit more with those wounds of his or... Something. She was tired, but mentally she wasn't quite ready to go to sleep yet.

So she found herself a decent perch right on the edge of the ridge, overlooking everything down below as a breeze blew and made her ears flick.

"So, what exactly are you?" She asked suddenly, glancing at Artorias over her shoulder. "I have an idea, but I'm curious."