Till the Stars Fall Down From the Heavens (@Nightcrawler)!!

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion grinned when Ven mentioned the horses. Horses were his specialty.
"Can I ride? That's like asking a soldier if they can fight!"
Now Orion was in his element, searching for horses.
He stopped and tugged on Ven's sleeve.
"Over there," he whispered.
He was pointing at what looked like a tavern of some kind, but the front was abandoned, save for a shiny black stallion that was waiting out front for its rider.
Orion held up a hand.
"Now the question is, can you keep up?" He teased, running over to the horse and holding a hand out, and muttering something in a foreign tongue.
The horse whinnied and nervously backed up, but Orion continued, the words he was saying seeming to melt into a lilting lullaby of some sort. The horse relaxed and nuzzled his hand. Orion took off the saddle and the bit, but kept the reins, nimbly mounting onto the horse.
"Can you ride bareback?"
Orion serenely sat on the horse, looking like a cross between a wise old rancher and an excited young boy.

[Nightcrawler]

Ven watched with keen fascination as Mr. Sky expertly calmed the horse. It was a beautiful beast: raven-black and well cared for. It was lively, too. What a shame to think that it might meet an early end at his hand.

The man had wasted no time in swinging his leg over their ill-gotten steed, and seemed to expect Ven to sit behind him. Under normal circumstances, this would be a death sentence — both for Mr. Sky and the animal. At present, though, he could manage, though he would have preferred to take the reins instead of calling directions into the man's ear. He was, at least, pleasantly surprised when his companion removed the saddle. "There is no other civilized way to ride," he replied as he hoisted himself up behind him. "And we shall show these barbarians how it is done, shan't we?"

Ven brushed aside the electric fear that vibrated down his spine at this claustrophobic arrangement. He had to focus. "Straight through the gate, then," he muttered. "There will be a fork in the road. Take the one to the right and into the forest. We can hide there, and hopefully make camp." He glanced up at the clouds. It was still pouring. Tonight would be miserable...especially for Mr. Sky.

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion smiled. He was in his element now. The pouring down rain reminded him of his home. Made him feel more at home anyways.

When Ven got on the horse, there was that same, cold feeling. Again, Orion shrugged it off, not really thinking or worrying about it. He smiled and looked back at Ven.
"Fork in the road...to the right...Forest...got it!" He repeated the directions, mainly so the horse could understand.
"Wait...you can understand me?" The horse nodded its head. Orion just about fell of the horse.
"Well, we'll have to talk more once we get to the forest, yes?"
He smiled and then turned to address Ven.
"Hold on to your horses back there, I'm not going slow!"
And Orion gently whispered a word into the horses ear, and the horse took off, running like greased lightning and heading straight for the gate.
Orion was actually laughing, urging the horse to run faster.
The guards at the gate realized that there was a horse running full tilt at them too late, and by the time they grabbed their weapons, there was nothing but mud splattered all over them. At which they sighed and gave up. No horse thief was worth a muddied chase. Not in these storming conditions. Lighting flashed and thunder roared.
Orion took the fork in the road to the right, and didn't stop going full speed until they were deep in the forest. As soon as the stallion slowed to a trot Orion slid smoothly off, running in front of the horse and nuzzling the horses head, the pouring rain slightly muffled for all the dense trees.
"You served me well my friend," he whispered to the horse.
Orion then walked to the horses side and extended a hand for Ven.
"You alright? Can I lend a hand?"

[Nightcrawler]

The man knew horses. He had implied as much with his comment on the arrow and the way he held his weight when riding, but until now, Ven had not fully grasped the degree to which he knew horses. Even past that incessant buzzing in his mind, and that sensation of wrongness as he held onto a stranger for dear life, he could sense that this was not just a man speaking to an animal. That the animal was somehow, inexplicably, speaking back.

Then they were through the gate, wind gusting and raindrops slapping their skin like shot pellets. Ven's hood flew off and whipped at his shoulders. His mask threatened to do the same. It would not do to frighten the man. He bent his head low behind Mr. Sky and clung tight as the horse bolted into the forest and wove through the trees.

At last, they slowed, and Mr. Sky slid from the beast with the practiced maneuver of one who had known horses since he could walk. He held up a hand to help Ven down. Ven had been preoccupied with tugging his hood back up over a tangle of soaked hair. He stopped mid-struggle and cocked his head at the outstretched hand. Such kindness always caught him off guard. He stared the man in the eye for a moment, then flung the hood back up. "I...yes. Thank you," he murmured as he took the help offered and dismounted. The forest floor was dry beneath his boots. This was a good sign.

Ven glanced up through the branches at the blue-gray clouds. Already, beneath the forest canopy, it grew difficult to see. It would soon be pitch black. They would need to make a fire before then if they wished to stay warm and finish patching up that bullet wound. "Mr. Sky," he said, returning his attention to the man. "You knew when the rain would start. Do you know when it might end?" He did not stand there and wait for an answer, but rather began to stoop and gather branches from the driest patches beneath the trees.

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion paused from talking to the horse and turned to Ven.
"Do I know when the rain will stop?"
He anxiously glanced up at the tree canopy, squinting to see the sky.
"Well...heavy cumulus clouds, 90% coverage from what I can see...winds gusting out of the east...slightly warmer than it was even though night is beginning to fall..."
The horse whinnied for attention and Orion held up a hand.
"Not now, Octavius...I'm discussing matters with my friend."
He watched as Ven began to gather up supplies for a fire and Orion found some medium-size, heavy stones and lined a circle for the fire.
"Where was I? Oh yes the wind. Conducive to the rising temperature and the wind direction change...I'd say...perhaps 5, 10 minutes? No. No no, 7 minutes," he almost added as an afterthought.
Orion guided the horse over to where two trees crisscrossed.
"You can sleep here. Ample protection from the elements."
Orion found a fallen tree and snapped the branches off of it, converting it into a rough bench of sorts, and managing to carry it with one arm, since his other arm was still rather unusable, lying it by the fire site.
"So, Ven...is the whole world as hostile as this place? And why did they attack me because of my...I don't consider it magic...but magic?"
He continued helping Ven until there was a fire set up, and then sat by the fire.
"Ven...I'm sure you've figured this out by now...but I'm not from here. I don't know how I got here, but I'd like to somehow get back to my world."
Orions face was etched with worry, and a bit of sadness.
"I have a life back home...as I'm sure you do here."

[Nightcrawler]

"Seven minutes," Ven echoed. The man had used a great many words with which he was not familiar. At this point, one thing was abundantly clear: Mr. Sky kept a sharp and inquisitive mind behind that unassuming farmhand facade. Strange as he seemed, he was no simpleton. This Ven found to be a relief, but it unnerved him, too. He was not accustomed to being in such company.

The man guided their ill-gotten steed to a dry spot beneath two trees. As Ven straightened, bundle of sticks in hand, he eyed those very same trees. Mr. Sky would need to keep warm if he wished to survive the night in good health, and by the way the branches angled, Ven thought it might be a good spot for a lean-to. That would be his third order of business, then. After the fire and the bullet wound. He knelt beside the ring of rocks and began to help Mr. Sky build a cone of kindling. Beneath it, they shoved some dryish moss and grasses. "Let us hope this is enough," he grumbled as he retrieved a box of matches from his belt bag and struck one. And it was, for within minutes, the two of them had a crackling fire going.

With that done, Ven stood again and shoved the matchbox back. He glanced down at the man with something not unlike pity. "You are asking the wrong man, I am afraid," he replied quietly. "I have seen very little of this place. I should hope that there is a land beyond this one where the folk are decent, but...I do not know." He fished around in his bag for the suture supplies and drew them out one by one, placing them down on a flat rock near the fire. Mr. Sky spoke up again.

"Ven...I'm sure you've figured this out by now...but I'm not from here. I don't know how I got here, but I'd like to somehow get back to my world. I have a life back home...as I'm sure you do here."

Ven jolted. He stared, unblinking and incredulous. He could scarcely believe what the man had said. "Surely I misheard you," he blurted out. "You are from another place entirely? Are you quite certain?" Supplies forgotten on the rock, he began to pace on the other side of the fire from his companion. "No, no...I...do not have anything you might consider a life," he murmured. "Not at all, in fact. Rather, I...do not remember any of it, before a certain point. And I have wondered...whether..."

Ven trailed off as that thought widened into a chasm that was too cold and dark to bear. He was already alone. He did not wish to be more alone. Instead, he cleared his throat and changed the subject. "I do not know how long I have left before I cannot be near enough to do what I must do. It is time, Mr. Sky. I should close that wound. Are you ready?"

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion shifted uncomfortably, the eeriness of being in a strange yet familiar place settling on him like a painful burden he was forced to bear.

"I'm about as certain as one can be that has no recollection of anything."

Orion's eyes showed empathy for the troubled man.
"I don't have much, but I can offer at least to be a friend..."

Orion sighed, wishing he could remember anything about his home. The forest here felt familiar, almost seeming to offer a sort of comfort. Maybe he lived in a forest back home.

Ven's question cut through his thoughts.
"Am I ready? No," he admitted sadly.
"I'm afraid not. But it must be done." Orion steeled himself and took a deep breath.
"Go ahead, Mr. Ven."

[Nightcrawler]

A friend. The word sounded so foreign. He wondered if he had ever had people in his life whom he could call his friends. If he had, he did not remember them.

"Hmm," Ven replied, uncertain what to make of the man's earnestness. "Indeed." He watched Mr. Sky thoughtfully from across the fire, then seemed to come to, and he knelt and retrieved the suture supplies. "Indeed," he repeated. "Yes. It must be done. I shall be as quick as I can about it." He turned to address the man again. "As we are no longer in a hurry, I would advise you to bite down on something this time. A belt, if you have one. Or a stick."

Ven sat down cross-legged beside Mr. Sky and gestured to his shirt. "Sleeve off, please, if you'd be so kind." While he waited, he began to prepare the needle.

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion struggled with his shirt sleeve for longer than he should have. He ended up giving up and just cutting the sleeve off at the shoulder with his small knife, and laying the cut off fabric on the log beside him.
"One moment, please," Orion requested, getting up and walking a short ways into the forest, searching the ground. He finally found what he was looking for, a small sprig of lavender growing in the shade of a live oak tree, picking it up. On the way back he also picked up a stick, thick enough that it wouldn't snap if he bit into it. He walked back to the campfire and sat down on the log.
Taking the sprig of lavender, he smelt it for a few seconds and then wrapped it around the stick.
"Lavender in small quantities has relaxing properties," he explained to Ven.
"Ok, Ven. I'm ready," he said, and put the now lavender wrapped stick in his mouth, trying to prepare himself.

[Nightcrawler]

Ven raised a hesitant hand as he realized what the man was doing. "I — wait — no — I didn't — mean it...so...literally," he finished as the sleeve came off. He stared at the sleeve on the log as Mr. Sky set off into the forest, presumably to answer the call of nature before being subject to pain. He returned instead with a flower to his nose. Ven remained squatted where he was like a strange, oversized frog. He did not know what lavender was, but the talk of herbal properties did pique his interest.

"Does it?" he asked as he removed his gloves and lowered his hood. The mask stayed up, as always. He grasped the man's arm once again with one cold hand. "Well, Mr. Sky. When the stick is out of your mouth, you shall have to tell me more about this...la-ven-dur. Now...alcohol." He said the final word habitually — a way of keeping his patients apprised. A split second later, he had once again doused the wound in spirits, and now he readied the needle.

"Stitching. Take a breath, please. I cannot have you fainting. It makes my job rather more difficult."

He worked as quickly as he could to close the wound, snipping off each suture with the flick of his belt knife. Still, by his understanding, it had been a very long time since he had sewn a man up, and the flickering firelight made such such precision work more difficult than he would have liked.

"And...there. Done. Ah...I will tie this...sleeve...around it. Keep it dry for the time being. We would not want you to lose an arm, hmm?" He patted Mr. Sky gently, oblivious to how ominous he had just sounded, and collected up the remaining supplies. When they were safely stowed away, he found a good spot next to the fire and began to pull his gloves back on.

"You have no recollection of anything," he remarked. "I am sorry, then, that this is your first glimpse at this place. They are a harsh people, these...Kon-loht-ins. Superstitious to the extreme. You will find a better welcome south of the mountains."

[wandering_giraffe]

The lavender really worked wonders. Well, that and Ven's calm demeanor. Which Orion vastly appreciated.
"I won't pass out, dont worry."
Ven helped calm his growing set of nerves.
Ven started working on the wound, causing Orion to bite down hard on the stick, grunting in pain. It didn't hurt as bad as he expected it to.
He finished fixing Orion's wound.
Orion had grown pale, a combination of nerves and the sensation of the needle. Ven was gentle, quick and determined.
Orion took the stick out.
"Thank you for doing that."
"See," he managed to say, "I didn't pass out." But he felt as if he was about to, and took a whiff of the lavender again.
"Lavender. It calms my nerves somewhat. Occasionally, there are nights I can't sleep, and I'll brew a tea with it and a combination of other herbs. Helps me sleep. I can make some tea if you would like?"

[Nightcrawler]

Ven glanced up in mild surprise. He beamed beneath his mask — always an unnerving sight, given his pallor and his pitch-black eyes. "You are very kind," he replied, inclining his head in gratitude. "Though...unless you brought a kettle and a flask of water with you when you fell from the clouds, I am afraid we shall have to make do with nothing."

He got to his feet, stretched, and began to examine the trees next to which Octavius the horse had taken shelter. As he thought more on his lean-to, he added: "Tomorrow, when it is light again, we can search for a stream so that you might maintain your health, Mr. Sky. Now. See the branches coming off of these trees? Help me lift this log and set it atop them. The rest shall be easy after that."

[wandering_giraffe]

"I fell from the clouds..."
Orion curiously looked up past the trees, into the sky.
"Clear skies all night at least," he mumbled to himself.
"So you say I fell...perhaps my world is above this one?...fascinating."

He got off of the log, cautiously moving his arm.
"My arm feels a lot better. Thank you, Ven. Now to the task at hand."
He carefully helped Ven set the log where it needed to go.
"So, Ven...why did you risk your life to help me? Where I come from, it's 'every man for himself", I'm not used to this. My job back home was to train horses. For the military. I wasn't apart of the military, to be clear. The horses were never shown kindness by anyone else, so I tried to treat each horse with compassion. They always would turn out well. But how I ended up here?...well...damn it I can't remember." He frustratedly scratched his head.
"Everything else is blank!"
He sighed, and continued helping gather branches and larger sticks.
"Tomorrow...after we go to the stream; what's our plan?"

[Nightcrawler]

The man continued to chatter away and ask questions, though now that Ven's mind had cleared a little, he was not as agitated by it. The soaring high of a true feeding had come and gone quickly. While it was good to be level-headed again, he could not help but long for more. It was a dangerous desire. The sensation was far too close to poppy for comfort. But he would set it aside again, as he always did, and pretend not to notice when it beckoned him with its siren's call.

He did not look Mr. Sky in the eye, but rather focused on setting up the lean-to. He knew the answer — that someone riding a high will make peculiar choices — but he did not wish to frighten the poor man, who still did not seem to grasp Ven's nature just yet. So he said another thing instead that skirted the truth. "We ran in the same direction, and from a common foe. My escape would not have been as...ah...clean...without your help. You were shot and might have bled out in a cell without mine. It benefitted us both, yes?" He glanced up at the man. "Think nothing of it. This world is still, as you say, every man for himself. Hmm. There. That should do it."

Ven stepped back to admire the crude structure. "This will keep you warm and sheltered from the elements," he said. "I will keep the fire going tonight, as...sleep does not come particularly easy to me these days." He removed his gloves and whacked them against his thigh to break loose the little bits of bark and fir needles that had stuck to them. "As for what happens now...we should get you to the mountain pass. You aren't safe in this country, but there is one south of here that should welcome you, and whatever magicks you possess."

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion nodded, but eyed the fire.
"You should sleep too. I can stay up half the night. It's only right."
Orion stood up and walked over to the lean-to, petting the horse that was by it.
"You know, if I didn't know better, I would think I was in the woodlands behind where I lived. I almost feel right at home."
He yawned, and crawled into the lean-to.
"If you like, you can wake me up in the middle of the night. I'm really not that tired."
But as soon as Orion laid down he was out.

[Nightcrawler]

Ven did not even have time to try to explain himself to the man before he crawled into the shelter and fell asleep on a bed of boughs. It was for the best. The less this stranger knew of his idiosyncrasies, the less he might begin to suspect. Ven found his own perch on a nearby rock. He huddled there, watching the fire, and allowed his mind to wander off. Every so often, he added a piece of wood. It would not do for Mr. Sky to fall ill. The journey would be arduous enough. He had to keep the man warm.

Morning came at last, white and dreary. A heavy mist had fallen overnight. This was both a good thing and a bad one, for if they were tracked, the guardsmen would have more difficulty in finding them. But so, too, would the two of them have difficulty in finding their way south. For Ven, daytime navigation was done by the sun and the mountains. He would have to do his best to guess until the fog lifted. He stood and stretched, joints popping and crackling, and stoked the fire again. Without waiting for Mr. Sky to wake, he slipped off into the forest to find the man some food.

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion woke up quite well rested, actually, but forgot where he was and sat up much too quickly, hitting his head on the wood above him.
"Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his head and then cautiously getting out of the lean to, stretching and standing up.
"Well, Ven, when shall we head out—" Ven was nowhere to be found.
It was extremely foggy, the fog weaving in and out of the trees, the tops of the trees invisible for the dense fog.
Orion whistled. It actually was a pretty sight.
"If it wasn't for the damned anti magic mordickis or whatever they are, I would live here," he said to himself, enjoying the warmth of the fire.
Ven must have gone out to maybe hunt, or maybe he just needed space.

Ven walked over to the horse, who was fast asleep. He knelt down, and gently laid a hand on the horse's neck.
"I'll be back, friend. I'm going to try to find a water source. There must be one close by, with the way the woods are—oh, you want an apple? If I find one I will bring it back to you."
He smiled and stood up.
He remembered the horse, when they were fleeing the city, wanting to stop at a river. But they weren't able to.
He grabbed a few unique looking, shiny black rocks and as he left the campsite, laid them down behind him, giving him a way to get back in case he got lost.
He searched for 15 minutes before he finally found a creek. The water was clear, at least.
Orion just stood there and watched the water flow, enjoying the relative peace from the chaos of when he first found himself in this world.
There was something under the water, and Orion frowned, kneeling next to the waters edge and reaching his hand in to grab it out. It took a bit of extra strength, but he finally got it out. It was a small bucket. It would work, Orion thought, for tea.
He used the bucket and scooped some water out of the creek, and made his way back to the campsite, using the black rocks he had left to guide his way back.

Orion immediately began boiling some water to purify it, and grabbed some lavender from the small grove just outside of the campsite, discovering some wild berries and a few mint plants as well.
He tore off a tiny piece of his shirt and laid it on the ground, putting the wild berries on it.
Now just to wait for Ven to get back.
He actually felt useful for once.

———————————————————

Unbeknownst to Orion, there were a few bandits up in the trees a few hundred feet away, drawn to the campfire.

[Nightcrawler]

For a good hour, Ven circled their camp. He paused here and there to collect what roots he could identify as safe, though it irked him that there were plants here with which he wasn't familiar. At one point, he came across a creek, and, after checking his surroundings, he removed his coverings and splashed his face. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the crisp morning air. It was good to feel the breeze on his skin, if only for a moment.

Something rustled in the brush. Ven's black eyes snapped open. The demon had sensed its preferred prey, it was true. But he had assumed that that was simply Mr. Sky's presence. And if it wasn't...? Foolish of me, he thought. He stood and spun, ready for an ambush — only to find a pair of grouse standing frozen on the rocks. He exhaled slowly and let his hands fall back to his sides. As he began to cover his face again, he chuckled to himself at how jumpy he'd been over nothing. Well...not nothing.

When he returned to the fire, it seemed that Mr. Sky had had an adventure of his own, for there was now a metal vessel sitting in the coals. Water and herbs swirled within. Ven eyed it curiously, set the game birds down, and dug around in his belt bag to retrieve the roots. He squatted near the fire and laid them carefully down to roast. "Good morning. Ah! Tea. Very good. Where there is a will, there is a way," he quipped from behind his mask. He gestured to the grouse. "We should move on before I shall have a chance to pluck these, but...there is your supper, at the least."

[wandering_giraffe]

Orion looked very happy that he had managed to find something to make tea in.
"I stumbled across this bucket earlier while looking for water. It's lavender wild berry tea, please, help yourself if you would like some."
He smiled wistfully, smelling the tea.
"This smell...it reminds me of something...I think it reminds me of home!"
He carefully stoked the fire and then eyed the grouse. "We should save that for when the journey grows more arduous. For now," he gestured at the forest, "the forest provides, does it not?"

"But you are right...we should get going...there's a wind storm heading our way."

[Nightcrawler]

"Is there? Well..." Ven trailed off as he dug around in his satchel. He wound his thin fingers through the disorganized clutter until he found what he sought. Victorious, he produced a small wooden cup and drew a measure of the infusion. He examined it and sniffed it gingerly. Then, shrugging, he turned away from Mr. Sky, lowered his mask, and took a sip. The tea tasted of flowers, mostly. It was not unpleasant. He covered his face again and returned his attention to his companion.

"I thank you for the tea," Ven said with a courteous nod. "Truthfully, it is not what I am accustomed to, but it is quite lovely. And...as for the rest...at least break your fast before we depart, hmm?" He pointed at the fern and cattail roots that baked half-buried in the ash. "You cannot travel on tea alone."