"Not an issue. We'd avoid their push through Helihe this way. And besides, I think you'd be the one person to keep me sane at this point.. The stresses of this war are unravelling me at the seams."
Soterra shrugged, glancing at Arc and his strangely protective pigeon.
"You're welcome to join us too.. Just.. No more singing. Please."

He sighed and put the lute away. "Fine, fine, fine. I will refrain from such a disposition in your presence. If you both are planning on staying in Rostar long, I do have some connections to individuals there as what was once part of a performance troupe. We don't have much coin at the moment with all this war fighting ruining our shows and business, but if you are ever in need of arrangements, you will find it shouldn't be too gravely difficult for me to pull metaphoric strings."

(Arc's speech pattern is just...darling xD)

"I have a connection to meet with in Ruskar." Cypress chimed in. He hadn't really been planning to have another person along, but he figured they couldn't mess up his plans that bad...right? The Dreystani girl was his excuse-- if anyone asked him she was a noble he was escorting-- or something along those lines. If Verasil asked, Cypress was just using her to infiltrate the enemy lands (which was true anyway).

"I have all the time in the world, when would you like to leave?" the vampire asked-- he'd leave most of the timeline up to Soterra, he just needed to get into Rostar at the end.

(shame I can't use zalgo text on this forum otherwise he'd be downright hilarious. I haven't finalized it but I like the idea of him just completely misusing words or being fairly oblivious to social contexts outside of just being borderline annoying to deal with.
Lux has a cool one too where he's just overly metaphoric and poetic all the time.)

"I'm ready now.. We can leave whenever, I don't really care."
Soterra slipped the book into her bag, finished off her tea, and stood up to brush herself off.
"I also think I never got both your names. Might help to be at least on some level of familiarity with both of you.. Just to be safe."

"..Oh, erm. I've often just gone by the showname name Archon. I'm afraid I don't actually know my given name anymore. A fragile thing lost to voids of time and memories long gone, really."

"That's unfortunate, I thought you tieflings were generally good about remembering your roots, but irrelevant. I'm tired of wasting time."

The vampire lead the way, leaving the inn. (assuming that because Soterra hadn't rejected, she didn't have to speak with the innkeepers.) "Cypress Woods. If I remember last night, your name was Soterra?" Yz the pigeon sat comfortably on Archon's head, carefully balanced. It kind of annoyed Cypress, and he secretly hoped that the pigeon ended up like-- pooping on the guys shoulder or something. Whatever, it wasn't important, atleast Cypress could relate to the man on not knowing his given name.

If he'd ever even had one, gods knew his father probably never bothered to name him.

(#allbadboysneeddaddyissues)

("my dad named me accidental child" -Cypress, probably)

Soterra had turned her keys in quickly before making her way out the door with the two.
"Yep. Nice name.. Cypress."

Arc held his hand out for the pigeon to hop down to, petting the top of his head with two claws.
Tiefling? Was this what this horned humanoid form was? Truth be told, he hadn't met another outside of the underground but he knew enough out of observation to tell that most people living above ground didn't care much for them.
Shame. He liked the sound of it. Teeth-ling. He wondered why they were named such a way as they walked. They didn't have very much in the way of teeth after all.

(yes x'D although in his canon backstory his father was just nuts and wanted to experiment with vampire children (bc/ in my version, the older the person is when thwy become turned, the crazier they are and feral.). But for this rp yeah close enough xD Just saw Arc's form btw, gorgeous. I'm working on Casey's now.)


As they were walking something occurred to Cypress. "Do you guys want to take a few horses? It would be faster..." Than walking anyway. They would probably have to take a few backwoods paths to avoid most of the guard, and horses would be useful there.

"..I'd rather not.."
Soterra muttered with a sigh and relented.

Archon seemed to beam at the suggestion of a horse. "Magnificent beasts they are. Not nearly as much as those lizards who fly.. er.. wyverns I believe they are called, but I have never met a horse that wasn't a delight to converse with. They do always have the most intriguing stories to tell."

Soterra pinched the bridge of her nose. This guy couldn't be serious. "You.. talk to them?"

"Oh yes, yes, not physically, of course. But their minds tend to be more fortified than those of most people. No worries about snapped psyches or anything." He said with smile.

The smile just made Soterra wary. Something about it seemed.. unnatural. Unhinged almost. She figured the sooner they could leave him in Rostar the better..
Damn carnies..

(done with Casey's sheet)

".....what do they talk about?" Cypress couldn't believe he just asked that, indulging this guy seemed like a bad idea. But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't atleast *a little* curious about what horses thought. Afterall, they had visited just about everywhere, and the commander had spent a fair amount of time with them. Besides, if Soterra wanted to judge him for it, she could atleast ask for more detail first.

>For all the talk about angels, he is human.
Smh my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined
Memes aside, I like him a lot. His healing wouldn't work on either Arc or Soterra though so makes it interesting. Guy seems too wholesome for his own good.)

"As many things as people, I suppose.
I once spoke to a horse in Dreystan that complained about being on his feet too long. And another wild one conflicted about the fact he had lost his dear master who had set across the ocean to never return but enjoying the fact that he never had to set hoof on a battlefront with him. Nice old chap he was."

"You've been to Dreystan, huh?" Soterra stepped into the stable, looking around for the owner of the place.

"Only briefly. I once called the underground my home years ago, but I've found myself confined to the wonderful continent of Edith since all the fighting started.
I had some sort of divine objective here at one point suggested to me, but I'm afraid it's really all slipped my mind. There's been much that I've learned in my time here that I've just been enjoying where the roads lead me."

"So why go to Rostar, if you're from Sheyran? That's honestly the last place you'd want to go. They'd kill you on nationality alone."

"Casual relationships, really. Call it a bit of catching up with friends, if you'd prefer."

"Are they animals too?" Soterra almost had to roll her eyes at him.

"Oh, no, no, no, not at all. As human as one could be actually." He turned to one of the stable stalls, stepping inside. "Just a moment."

Archon set his hand gently on the forehead of a gentle young horse, mentally introducing himself to the creature. It seemed momentarily spooked, kicking a bit of a hay behind it before relaxing after a moment with a very amused sounding snort. He returned the amusement with a bit of a laugh, shaking his head and removing his hand from the horse's head.
"Snarky one, she is."

(Exactly xD I needed some innocent characters to ruin :3c He actually has a twin sister, Cassidy, but I cut her out when I use him to rp xD Cassidy is that over-protective worrywart older sister tho)

Cypress eyed the young mare warily, briefly recalling a stable hand complaining of being bit by that one. Well, that checked out.

The conversation between Soterra and Archon was entertaining (especially the elvish girls sharp rebuttals) but the commander didn't really have anything to add. Instead he went to fetch the horse he'd been riding yesterday-- a young dappled grey stallion. A stable hand approached him, and lying through his teeth, Cypress got them to leave the group alone. As he lead the stallion out of his stable he addressed Soterra.
"Are you going to pick yours or would you like to ride with me?"