I Don't Remember (Private)

[Wulfi]

[This roleplay is reserved for myself and Simple Tactician.]

[Click here for location picture, since I'm lazy.]


She trudged along the beaten path, her knee-high dark violet boots caked with large splotches of mud along with minuscule twigs and broken leaves. The rain pounded down harder than it had before, possibly, though with the fatigue setting in and the shock still wracking her lithe form, Amora didn't note the change at all. Her mind was still racing, though nothing was processing fully. She couldn't remember anything that had occurred before the battle...

With weak motions that could hardly be called steps she kept moving forward, slowly, slowly...

Weary gray eyes raised only slightly to look at the road ahead, her vision blurred by both her notable lack of strength and her raven-colored bangs, which had come loose from the pins atop her head and fell into her face, barely reaching the end of her nose.

And then she fell, dead into the murky earth on the trail. The mud splashed upon her and the rain continued to pound relentlessly, until the sun set and night was upon the world.

By now the rain had let up a bit, yet still it persisted. Pale and cold, Amora lay in the muddled pathway, her white skirt and blouse stained with both blood (not her's, thank God) and earth. At this point it was difficult to distinguish one from the other.

The rain made little, quiet plunks on her breastplate and thin gauntlets, as well as the leaves of the drooping trees. Everything else, was silent.

[Admin]

The isolation of the forest was always very comfortable to him. Many a year has passed since he spoke to another human being, which, to many would drive them insane. This young man, however, was completely unshaken at the thought of a chance to get a little peace and quiet. He seldom thought to himself, and behaved mostly on instincts. Getting food, sleeping, discharging wastes. His only conscious thought of the long days and seasons was "The sun is in it's highest point in the sky. I need to train again." Training consisted of trekking from various marked points back to his starting position, moving in a full circuit. Followed up by lifting heavy leather bags of rocks, and ending with meditation and magic training. The physical aspect was abnormally intense for one who relied on fighting with magic, but the physical training seemed to help, nonetheless,

On his first lap of trekking through the forest, he sensed a feeble presence. Like an angry raccoon, or a tired deer. If it were a raccoon, he'd kill it, just because of a personal vendetta against a greedy raccoon who stole a great portion of his packed rations when he first came to the forest. However, if it were a tired or injured deer, he'd mend it's leg - something he often did for benevolent forest critters. Just not raccoons. Damned bastards.

He looked through the clearing to see a girl, which was an uncommon sight this deep into the brush. She was laying like a corpse, and seemed completely exhausted.

The boy walked over to her, knowing that she couldn't be healed with minor technical magic. He scooped her into his arms easily, due to his stellar build. The strange girl was covered in blood. The boy's blushing face quickly flushed, as he placed her gently in his lap. He placed his hand on her stomach and closed his eyes. Where is she bleeding? Where is she bleeding? he thought to himself, repeated. He detected no wounds on her, meaning that the blood she was wearing was someone else's.

It was only then, that he noticed she was armored. "...A soldier..."

Without further hesitation, he picked her up gently in his arms, blushing as his bare hands wrapped around her waist and underneath her legs, and took her back to his lightly decorated campsite, a single tent adorning many spellbooks, a campfire, and all of his training accessories.

[Wulfi]

It took a good while for her to stir, but upon feeling the heat upon her skin, her blood began to liven again, and the color started returning to her flesh.

Her eyes opened, very slowly, gently, as if still in a stupor. She shook her head a few times, still not moving her body, and vaguely wondered where she was. There was warmth here, and the rain was only a sprinkle now...

"Nn... N-nng..." She winced, feeling her head being to throb.

[Admin]

"You're awake. I was fearing the worst. You were laying in the middle of the middle of the forest... Uh... And this is my campsite..." I'm so bad with talking to people... "Uhm, my name is Set. Y-You can go back to sleep if you're still tired..."

Set began to blush again. He was never the type to blush around women (or anyone, really), but it's been a while since he had a chance to interact with people, he simply forgot basic pleasantries.

[Wulfi]

Her half-lidded yet curious eyes immediately went to him, and upon his introduction, she coughed a bit, shivering. "M-my name is... s-something... I-I'm sorry..." She closed her eyes and rested her head to the blanketed ground again as she lay by the fire.

"I-I don't know... wh-what..." Her voice was light, weak. "What happened...?"

[Admin]

"You... uh... Should go back to sleep. I'll have dinner prepared. Are you allergic to any berries...? U-uhm... Yeah... Just try to sleep on it for now... Stay close to the fire, and if you need help, I'm here for you."

Despite his best efforts to be smooth and cool, Set was still uncomfortable. This girl reminded him of all of humanity, everyone he let go for so long. What had changed after so long? When the girl was ready, he had hoped to get more information from her.

[Wulfi]

After pausing for a moment she nodded weakly, and set herself to rest. She could feel herself slipping away into the gentle arms of slumber until-

TRULUMPH, TRULUMPH, TRULUMPH, TRULUMPH...

Amora jolted upwards, wobbling slightly as she began to falter back, yet managed to catch herself. Ripping through the darkness of the forest came a white horse with wings, wild and dirtied with blood and earth. It slung its head around and whinnied ferociously, bucking and tromping throughout the campsite.

As it flapped its magnificent wings, its right wing slung blood onto nearby tree branches with a sound akin to a cracking whip. There was a horrid gash in it. The feathers were matted and stained red.

"Wait, stop!!" Amora struggled to stand, but her legs gave out.

[Admin]

"Shhh! Calm down. Calm down..." said Set, as he approached the creature. Despite it's pain stricken rampage, Set managed to match eyes with it. Placing one hand on it's neck, and the other in front of the creature, he cast the enthralled beast into a timid slumber. Leading the large creature into a proper resting position, he caught sight of the bleeding wound.

"You poor thing... No wonder you were so panicked... Rest easily, this should be patched up in a few minutes..."

The boy grabbed tight hold of the wounded wing, and observed it very carefully. with his free hand, he ran it over the wound, sealing the wound with a trail of ice as he touched it. As he finished up the light coating of ice, the boy turned to the girl and smiled. For whatever reason, he wanted to reassure her.

Turning back to the animal, he took careful note of where he sealed. The ice patched the pegasus up temporarily, but he still needed to properly heal the animal. Hovering his hands above the battered wing, he imbued his own serene, yet confident energy into the wound. Slowly, the boy reassembled muscles, veins, arteries, skin, and quills. The wing was still dirty with blood, but the bleeding stopped, and it seemed to have been healed.

"...Sorry if that made you nervous. You have to stop moving, please. Muscular strain isn't so easily fixed as many would like it to be, and you ignoring your fatigue is no better in helping aid your recovery. Please, trust me, and rest."

[Wulfi]

The entire time Amora watched in what seemed to be wonder, her storm gray eyes wide and intent on the wound on the pegasus as it was sutured. When he turned to smile at her, to put her at ease, she felt her face heat up a little, though whether it was from the smile on his face or from the embarrassment of her worry she knew not.

As he spoke to her kindly she looked him in the eye, eyes that seemed somewhat unaccustomed and foreign and yet at the same time, so honest and true. She nodded somewhat numbly, still sitting on her knees with her forelegs angled outward, and looked to the fire for a moment.

"...I'm..." She looked up at him, hands folded in her lap and a light in her eyes. "I'm Amora. That's my pegasus... Nefethyrin." Her eyes went to her resting steed. The horse's signature breastplate was gone, as was its saddle, reigns, and bite. The only pieces of armor that remained on it were the gauntlets on its front and hind legs.

[Admin]

"Amora, it's nice to meet you. I'm going to prepare dinner, so I'd like for you to get some sleep. We can talk more later."

Set took to his collection of berries that he had planned to eat over time, however, this girl seemed to need food. If not, maybe he just wanted to impress her. He gathered all the berries he had collected the week before, and mixed them together all in a pot. There was slim pickings of food, and he really didn't want to kill anything to feed to her, just because it seemed primitive. He wasn't naturally a primitive person, and had no desire to come off as such.

Bringing back the meager helping of food for her, all Set could do was think to himself. This is so different. I've never been with someone like this before... This is so... ...I don't know.

[Wulfi]

She watched him as he cooked, suddenly not feeling as tired as she once was. Perhaps she couldn't sleep because she wanted to remember more, or maybe she was just fascinated by this odd man who had found her stranded in the woods.

Amora's eyes went from the pot to his face. After she realized she was staring, she looked away, feeling a timid heat rise to her cheeks. As a few more moments passed, she sat down on her bottom with her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. She may have been wearing a skirt, but she was wearing a short pair of shorts underneath, mostly like to avoid discomfort when riding her mount.

Her innocent, mildly curious eyes went to him again. "You're a sage," she stated simply, as if that were any way to start a conversation. After a pause, she continued. "You're not from around here, are you?"

[Admin]

"I'm no from here at all, to be honest. I actively sought a place like this out. An isolated place. Several years ago, I was shown up by someone better than me, and he protected a friend that I vowed to protect with my life. As both punishment and training, I came here. There's a person for me, out in the world, and I want to protect them with both of my hands."

Set coughed, embarrassed. He felt abnormally goofy making such a declaration.

"And what of you? You're a fighter, clearly. What happened in your past that drove you to this point?"

[Wulfi]

She listened closely to him, a bit caught off guard by his last set of words in his speech. However, upon being addressed herself about her own past, she adverted her gaze, finding a nice patch of ground to stare at.

"I-... Well... I'm sorry, but I can't... remember," she told him, sounding a bit frustrated at the last part. "I wish I could tell you more, really, but all I can recall is my name, my steed's name, and brief, blurry flashes of-... of battle, I'm sorry..." She ran a gloved hand through her dark hair, and upon realizing she had pins atop her head, pulled her damp bangs up and secured them as they once had been.

"However..." she started, looking thoughtful for a moment before looking up at him, straight in the eye, with a certain sense of rightful determination, perhaps even justice. "Should it really matter? If the person you've longed to protect is safe, does it really matter who saved her in the first place?"

This was possibly the first time of the night where she had actually looked somewhat forceful, or rather, confident in her words. Even though she knew nothing about him, she knew right from wrong. This much was kept intact to her mind, whereas other things had vanished.

[Admin]

"Ha... haha..." Set stammered slightly. "The person I've longed to protect was a female. I was suited to marry her from a very young age. In many defining moments, there would always be one particular man who made a clear point that he was wildly in love with her. I was always confident that she would choose me, but when I saw them together, they were in love, and I wasn't. ...Listen to me go on and on... Yeah, it's all fair in love and war, basically. That's why I'm a sage in a withered forest. For a year, I would till my mind over the idea of trying to become a different person, but when I realized that I'd always be the person that I am, my purpose changed from training to protect her, to training to become skilled enough to never have to rely on rash instincts, and I can protect a girl I love without hesitation."

Set looked at her for a second, deep into her charming, gray eyes, and pondered her thoughts.

"Uhm... in regards to your memory, however, I'd gladly accompany you until you remember."

Am I trying to flirt...? ...I think I am...

[Wulfi]

His offer broke her from the focus she had on his response. She blinked a few times, for some odd reason finding a hint of heat on her cheeks again, and looked to the fire again, the flickering flames dancing in her low eyes. "... ... ..."

Her gaze returned to him again, honing that same determination from before, only this time there might have been more of a severity than before. "I really appreciate the offer, but I must respectfully decline."

Her horse gave a tired sigh as she slept, her tail flicking only a bit as her rest went undisturbed.

"I'm not sure what may lay out there for me. If anything were to happen to you and I couldn't protect you, it would burden me as an individual. It could be perilous, and I couldn't risk the life of a man I've just met."

It may have seemed odd, these words coming from a woman, but she was raised this way. Traditional gender roles were virtually obsolete to her. If Set were to be severely injured at her expense, she'd be horridly afflicted.

[Admin]

"Do you take me for a simple priest? I've trained many years to be physically, mentally, and spiritually capable of traversing the world. The likelihood of me being gravely wounded is just as high if I'm alone. Frankly, I'm concerned for you. To wear yourself out to the point of exhaustion is unhealthy, and to send a woman into the world with no recollection of her surroundings is downright loutish. We have just met, but I'd like to escort you back into the world. And... I've grown tired of existing merely as a forest myth. We could benefit each other. Reconsider your offer?"

[Wulfi]

She didn't quite like the sound of his "to send a woman" comment, though the sensible side of her began to agree with him. She could hold her own, sure, but it could always prove resourceful to have another person with her, if she ever needed back-up in a difficult situation.

Something came to her eyes, whether it be pity or concern, at the mention of himself as a "forest myth," yet at the suggestion to reconsider, she found herself biting her lip and looking away in thought.

"... ...Alright, fine," she said a bit more softly than meant. Her gaze quickly went up to meet his own, eyes alight but her mouth a lopsided frown. "Only because it will benefit you as well."

[Admin]

Set nodded. He smirked childishly and uttered quietly, "There wasn't really much choice... You don't have any memory, and I just happen to know the quickest way out. Given, you could easily find a town on your own with enough wandering, but in your state, it wouldn't be recommended."

Finally... a purpose to leave this place...

"You should be better by morning, and we can head to town after dawn. For now, you should finish dinner and finally get some sleep."

[Wulfi]

"Ah, yes," she agreed, eying the pot intently. She absentmindedly licked her lips. "A-are those raspberries I smell...? And apricots?"

She found herself leaning a bit forward in anticipation.

[Admin]

"Along with slices of sun-dried apple."
He handed her the whole pot, knowing that she desperately needed (or just wanted) food.

"I already ate a long while before, so I'm fine. But you need nutrition after battle. I'm sorry that I have no grains prepared for your pegasus, but it's a large animal. It can survive a night without dinner, right?"

Nervous, Set wished he had kept more food in storage. He did not want Amora to give any of her food to her pegasus. She needed it far more.