Three Dog Night

[Lion]

She asked as if she hadn't heard him right.  But he could tell there wasn't anything wrong with her ears, well, none that he could immediately see.  He frowned and straightened, watching her carefully.  "No.  Not my hound.  A wolf.  A werewolf.  It as in this area last night and couldn't have gone far after bleeding like stuck pig," he said.  "Have you seen or heard anything like that?"

[Rhindeer]

Ulp...shit.

"A werewolf?" Corryn repeated, eyes going wide and hand fluttering to her mouth. "Here?"

And she looked around the area, eyes darting over the trees and bushes, and edged closer to him as though for protection. "Oh, jeez, no. I haven't seen anything like that. I'd remember that! Though...uh...I did hear a pretty awful racket last night."

She pulled the blanket up to her nose, shivering as though from the memory. "I thought it was just wolves. Normal wolves."

[Lion]

Awful racket huh?  Curious that an awful racket wouldn't pique someone's curiosity that was lingering all the way out here in the woods.  Then again anyone travelling between roads probably wasn't going to go looking for trouble that was none of their business.  Decebal sighed and observed her further.

She looked a little like hell, maybe it was just her hair.

"No.  No.  It was quite a large one too."  Decebal let the topic drop, since it was clear she was shaken from it.  Thought that might just be because she was largely naked in the middle of the woods.  "Where were you going?" he asked instead.  "When you were attacked."

[Rhindeer]

...Where was she going? Oh dammit. It would be helpful to figure out where she was supposed to be going if she had any idea of where she was!

But then, she figured maybe she could play that fact up? She had been attacked by awful bandits, right?

Her mind raced to remember the name of the town she'd last visited, some miles back--because she didn't know the names of any other local towns! "I was trying to get to Windfell," she said with a frown and a dejected look. "Then...then the bandits came. They took everything. Can you believe that? What on earth would those men need with a woman's clothes?" She pressed a hand to her forehead as though trying to soothe away a bad memory. "Thank the gods above they at least left me with my life and my virtue!"

Okay, maybe that was hamming it up a bit, but fuck if she knew how to play the damsel. All she had to go on were the acts some noble ladies put on because some men...apparently found that attractive or something? She didn't know. "Perhaps the...dog...scared them off. The howling did seem to bother them."

[Lion]

"Howling would cause most creatures to run from such a ruckus.  Bandits rarely have the mettle to contend with wolves like the one I was tracking," he said gently, observing delicately.  Decebal still found it odd that she would be out here in the middle of all roads with nothing at all to show for it.  "Let me see if I havr a spare set of clothes." 

Rummaging through his things, he found an old worn pair and handed them over.  "We can head to Windfell if you'd like.  Get some food.  What are you called, woman with leaves in her hair?"

[Rhindeer]

"Oh dear. Do I really?" Corryn said with a sheepish laugh, and reached to her hair to start plucking leaves and burrs from the strands. "I must look a fright. In any case, my name's Rin."

Uncreative, but she figured she should keep it simple (so as not to get too tangled in a web of lies!) while not giving her real name. Too risky, depending on how far the news had traveled, and he might put two and two together. The guy wasn't stupid; he was asking all the right questions and she wasn't sure how much he believed.

She wasn't sure how well she'd believe her, either! Her story sounded shamefully weak to her own ears.

Taking up the clothes, she ducked behind the bushes again to dress. "And what may I call you, savior mine?" And really, she was dying to know what the hell was with his arm but...you know...that just seemed rude.

[Lion]

He knew she was staring at his arm, but it was generally not a top brought up in general conversation.  And explaining was like trying to individually pluck leg hairs - generally not comfortable.  "You can call me Decebal," he said gently, though still not smiling.

Saving her?  What did he save her from?  Ticks probably.  Those were pretty nasty.  "Best not to let more ticks fall on you.  Those things are bloodthirsty and a pain to get rid of," he said and then he smiled, snickering and turning back toward his pack, wringing out the blanket he'd given her, shaking out those burrs.  And the whiff of dog wafted up in the air.

"Where are you from Rin?" he found himself asking, eyes observing the blanket.

[Rhindeer]

As if on cue, the sound of flesh smacking flesh could be heard as Corryn smashed a tick that decided to crawl across her leg. "Oh, I'm just from around here. From Adela, you know," she said, and threw the shirt on over her head before wriggling into the breeches. They were huge on her, far too long and much too bulky, for Decebal was far taller and broader. She was practically swimming in them! "Gods, this must be a nest or something! If ticks have nests? Ew..."

She reemerged from the bushes, still swatting at her arms and legs and making a face as she did, because it felt like bugs were crawling all over her still! Though it was likely just the residual heebie-jeebies. She spun in a slow circle, looking over her shoulder to try to see down her back.

"Anyway, I was born and raised in a little town up north, Lakeshire. You heard of it? It's fairly tiny, likely it's not even on most maps. Ah, there aren't any on me, are there?" she asked, and turned her back to Decebal as she ruffled her hair to be sure there were no bugs hanging out there, either.

[Lion]

"Lakeshire?  I've never been.  It sounds nice however."  In fact, it sounded too nice.  Decebal hadn't been blessed with an idyllic life.  Or perhaps it was the blessing that he had not.  He didn't know if he could ever stay long enough anywhere to make it home.  There was no home for the likes of him.

"What're you doing all the way down here?" he asked.  He reached his hands up and furled them through her hair, folding her ear down and plucking off a tick that had latched on at the edge of her scalp.  "They like to hide in the nooks and crannies."

[Rhindeer]

Shit. What WAS "Rin" doing all the way down here? Corryn's eyes widened for a moment when she realized she had no cover story, for she hadn't planned that far ahead or expected him to ask, but then she figured...well...if she was already going the damsel route...

She shifted her eyes away from his and cast them toward the ground. "I, ah..." She scratched at the place the tick had been and checked her fingers for blood. "Erm...that's...well...complicated."

She let out a huff and folded her arms beneath her breasts. "I ran away," she finally said, voice low, almost a whisper. "From a marriage I didn't want."

[Lion]

It was odd how slow she was with her answer, as if he had to pry the words from her.  But perhaps it was merely from the shame of admission that they came so slowly.  Maybe she feared he might return her back to the life that she fled.  Decebal frowned.

"I can only imagine how complicated that might be.  Home that doesn't feel that way anymore, isn't much of one.  Better the road than a stifling existence."  He gestured back toward the trees.  "Better spend of the morning gaining some ground yes?"

[Rhindeer]

"Exactly!" Corryn said, eyes lighting up at his agreement--and the enthusiasm was quite genuine, for she was more than relieved that he was buying it. "You understand! I just needed to get away. Find myself. Make my own choices. I didn't want my childhood home to become my lifelong prison. Maybe that makes me a bad daughter, but..."

She gave a little sniff and turned toward the road. "Perhaps it also makes them bad parents, no? For trying to force me into such an arrangement." Ouch. As soon as she said it, her heart actually ached, for even though she was acting, it hurt even to pretend her parents--even pretend ones--were bad people. They weren't.

But she was a bad child.

She'd...

Gods.

She swallowed and took a deep breath to calm herself. Nope. Not going there. It was better not to think, fresh though it still was.

"Enough about me!" she said with a wave of her hand. "That's all dreadfully boring, I'm sure. You meet one girl with a sob story like that and you've met them all. What about you, my brave tick slayer? What brings you here, aside from strange howling dogs?"

[Lion]

Decebal didn't even want to think about bad parents right in this moment.  If anything he was certain her folks were a hundred times better than ...well, he wasn't going to mention any names.

"Are you all right?" he asked instead, turning to look at her from over his shoulder.  "Do you have a fever because you seem...ill...in the head."

[Rhindeer]

Corryn turned to shoot a look at him, eyebrows both raised. "Are you calling me crazy?"

Whoops. Was her acting really that bad?

[Lion]

"Not at all," he said gently.  "I'm merely wondering if perhaps stress is....causing you to speak madly.  I've seen it happen before."  He smirked just a bit and shook his head.

"Perhaps you've hit your head.  That must be it."

[Rhindeer]

"...Oh. Haha! Yes, perhaps that is so!" Corryn said, and raised a hand to her head as though checking for lumps. "Perhaps it's the stress. Being attacked is rather stressful, you know! And to be left alone and naked in the woods, defenseless and without food--gods!"

She looked at Decebal again and inched a little closer, as though for protection. "Can you blame a girl for being a tad out of sorts?"

[Lion]

"Also that.  That weird thing you're doing now.  What is that?  Is that what wenches call flirting?"  He didn't really buy that of all the things she was trying to sell him.  Especially since no one did that sort of thing with him.  Not with the way his arm looked and all.

He rose a brow at her.  "You are very strange you know that?  I suppose that's what happens to all women that wander the woods naked somehow.  But don't take it in a bad way.  It's a compliment.  This is the most conversation I've had in months."

[Rhindeer]

Was she flirting? Is that what she was doing? Huh! Well, Corryn supposed she might as well run with it! Apparently "Rin" was a flirty lady with the menfolk! Flirty and weird. No use falling out of character now!

"Am I flirting? Oh, dear. My apologies! I'm afraid I didn't get out much, back home," she said with a wave of her hand that sent her rolled-up sleeve unfurling and flapping. It was far longer than her own arms. She shoved it back up and started to roll it again. "I also haven't eaten in quite some time, so I maaay be getting a tad delirious. Or perhaps that's from the mushrooms I nibbled on back a ways. Those were a bad decision. Just trust me on that."

[Lion]

"Well, you can stop.  It's weird," he said, a little flatly.  "But I'll trust you on bad decision making.  Can't say I've made many good ones myself."

He pulled his bag over his shoulder, rummaging through it as they walked along, and pulled out a loaf of bread.  He offered her half, and munched on the other.  "Can't have you dying on me now.  Not yet anyway."

[Rhindeer]

"Not yet?" Corryn repeated with an incredulous laugh as she accepted the bread--and then sidestepped to put a little distance between them. He had asked her to stop the weird flirty thing, after all, and she was more than happy to accommodate!

She stuffed a bite of bread into her mouth, not realizing until it was between her teeth just how famished she was. But she had vomited up whatever furry creature she'd slaughtered the night before, and everything she'd eaten before that, so...

"What an ominous statement! Should I be worried?" she asked around a full mouth.