Nice Night for a Walk (draco)

[Lion]

The dreams were always the same. He always would wake up in a cold cold sweat, and the memory of his mother imprinted on his mind. Her face deformed from the once sweet grin he'd tried to remember her by. The flashes of lightning that highlighted his father's dying body. The screams of his mother calling out his name as he ran off into the night.

Were they memories? Things he blocked out?

The fire roaring beside him made shadows dance in the corner of his vision. He pushed himself up from his bedroll, the night closing in on him. It must have been close to midnight. Or so he assumed, the moon being high over his small campsite.

The village he was just outside of had no room for lodgers. And he'd rather not have to fuss with odd looks and strange questions. He'd much rather have a quiet peaceful night's rest. If only his brain agreed with him and would let him sleep a full night through.

Decebal took a few more sticks he'd had next to him and tossed them onto the firepit. The small clearing he was in was just a few miles from the main road, and avoided unnecessary attention by way of any brigands or mercenaries traveling along it. It wasn't his job to clear them out, and with Dukes doing their own little squabbles, he didn't really have interest in being the one to clear up their mess.

He was a knight, or ex-knight. Or what have you. Titles didn't matter when your business was finding demons and casting them back to whatever pit they crawled out of. He'd find the head of the beast that destroyed that abbey and turn it in for the reward that was promised him.

The trail had gone cold for a day. That wasn't a good sign, and while he was sure he could find it again, the chase had left him exhausted in the days that preceded it.

Hence the need for rest. Hence the sleeplessness. Hence the pounding headache that raged in his skull. Eugh.

Decebal kept his sword in his lap, only moving it so that he could get closer to his supply bag and take a sip of the whiskey he had in the flask just tucked behind his other gear.  Maybe just one more.

In the middle of that swig, a loud rustle in the brush made him almost spit it out and he paused. Slowly setting the flask down, his heart was pounding clear in his ears, alarm making his hair stand on end. He reached for his blade and carefully removed it from the sheath, his eyes flicking to the bushes where he heard the noise, watching waiting.

[Draconian]

Whatever it was didn't sound right.

Sunniva could barely catch her breath, could feel her face flushed from her frantic half-running/half-scurrying. A full out run would get her right into a tree and whatever was chasing her would enjoy a pre-dazed meal. With one hand out to guide her way, gentle soft fingers cut and pinched by sharp bits of bark, Sunniva fled the meandering monster.

Maybe it was just a friendly dog.

It wouldn't be her who found out though, Sunniva was blind and the last thing she wanted was to be caught by the beast. Or whatever it was following her. Did she call for help? Did she just give in and get eaten? While Sunniva wasn't thrilled with the fact she was fat with a baby, the idea of letting a monster eat her didn't appeal, and her out of breath shuffling continued. Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe there was nothing behind her and she just scared herself into running into... Where.

Didn't matter. She was convinced she was being chased and she'd run until she passed out or --

With a harsh grunt, Sunniva's boot caught on a root and she fell forward onto her hands and knees. Pain radiated up her arms and legs, sending the soft pulse of pain through her muscles to rest at her shoulders and hips. Quickly she took stock of where she was, she could hear a fire, smell things that weren't forest. Sunniva could sense there was someone else there. Nothing about them, not how they looked or if they were human but... She knew someone was there.

"Help me," she called to the darkness, lifting her head up. Sunniva was a beautiful woman, pale and rosy, long wavy red hair that hung over her shoulders and was so long it nearly reached her hips - Though at this point, it pooled into the dirt. Despite her soft features a jarring contrast was her closed empty eyes,  "I think something is chasing me but I don't know," her voice was watery and she quickly got herself up onto her knees. "I can't see, I don't know." On reflex she turned her head over her shoulder, like maybe she could look and her scuffed bloody hands pressed to her distended belly protectively and she simply remained. The heat of the fire warming up her left side.

"I don't hear anything," she whispered, now that she'd stopped running it was so clear there were no other sounds except for her, "Do you hear anything?"

[Lion]

It seemed like he was waiting forever, staring at those stupid bushes. Just when he was going to lay back down and forget it was anything important, the thing sprinted out of the bushes and collapsed into a heap in front of him. Decebal almost cried out, and although his breath did leave him, he recoiled back against his bedroll, ready to bring his sword up.

Except he couldn't. And even if his head wasn't kind of swimmy, he was suspicious of this creature in front of him.

She was rotund. Fat? No. It was far too filled for that. Pregnant perhaps. That seemed most likely. Here she was in front of him as vulnerable and razzled as any princess from a fairy tale. Except Decebal didn't believe in fairy tales, but he did believe in demons. His mother pretended to be nothing but an innocent fragile damsel in distress his entire life, only to be an evil cohort.

The alarm in his eyes was very real and he felt his heart twist it's rapidly beating way down into the pit of his stomach.  She begged him for help, said that she couldn't see, and as he stared at her in silence for that long few seconds, he saw that for the most part, that appeared to be true. He was still a knight wasn't he, didn't that mean anything anymore? 

"What did you hear?" he said, shifting carefully over to her until he was crouching in front of her, carefully avoiding any direct contact with her, but letting his voice dictate his general whereabouts. "I don't hear anything." A few deep breaths and he took her by the hand with one - his humany fleshy one - and kept the sword steady in the other, pulling her back toward his bedroll.

Now wasn't the time for questions as whatever was after her was now rustling the bushes behind her. He didn't really get a chance to turn around as it was already on one end of her clothes and tugging on them playfully.

A whine and a whimper followed when Decebal turned on it and screamed, raising his blade high, ready to strike. And he stopped mid-swing. "What? It's a dog. A shaggy, giant puppy."  The dog whimpered and could hardly contain its giant wolfhound excitement at having found people and sat next to the woman, thwacking its heavy bushy tail against her and the bedroll.

[Draconian]

Sunniva curled in closer to the stranger, curling her legs up and raising a hand to cover her face. The subtle difference between protected her face and protecting her belly was telling on how much she appreciated her current condition. Why was he getting up?

"No wai--" Her hand reached out and caught the leg of his pants, fingers digging into the fabric when he claimed it was a big fluffy puppy. Sunniva recoiled away from the animal when she felt its tail smack at her and she heard it whimper.

"What?" She sat up further, hand reaching out towards the animal, angry and still flushed and out of breath. Her fingers sunk into ragged fur and it was clear someone hadn't been taking care of their pet. So excited it was to see people that it dipped its head and gave a hesitant lick to her arm, his tongue dragging along the fabric.

"This isn't what chased me," Sunniva snarled out, hand passively petting through the dogs fur. "But I'm glad It's what showed up. I suppose." Another pause and she frowned deeply towards the man, "Why are you out in the forest? Are you some sort of criminal?" This time she did curl a hand around her stomach protectively. It wasn't the child's fault she'd become frightened and ran into the forest.

[Lion]

The fluffy excited dog was the pinnacle of Unexpected. Although it wasn't unpleasant. Decebal was impartial to dogs, and they were often very partial to him. Dogs with owners usually growled at him, or gave warning barks to stay away. Some just ignored him completely. This was the first dog he'd ever met that actually seemed quite pleased to meet him. Or her.

Probably just hadn't seen people in a long time.

It wasn't what chased her, she claimed. But he was somewhat glad it showed up too.

The dog stayed still, close to the woman and regarded him with both fear and excitement. Fully prepped to roll over for belly rubs. In fact, the dog leaned heavily on Sunniva and panted happily before swooping its head back and slobbering her across the face.

"Oh God," he hissed.

Decebal stalked over to his bag and pulled out a piece of meat. Dried jerky that was just lightly salted, ripped off a piece and tossed it to the dog.

"I could ask you the same thing. You say you can't see, but you're literally running blind in the middle of the night. I could have been anybody. Or no one at all, and that happy dog would have just eaten you up," he muttered. "Sorry to disappoint you though. I'm not a criminal. At least I don't think so. I'm Decebal. I was sleeping before you almost ran over my face. Do you have a name?"