tender: (Default)
derrica. ([personal profile] tender) wrote in [community profile] faderift2019-11-19 10:32 am

the pacifier au strikes back

WHO: six, marcus, marcoulf, barrow, matthias, laura & derrica
WHAT: escorting some stranded orphans back to ostwick
WHEN: firstfall 9:45
WHERE: on the road to ostwick
NOTES: n/a.


luaithre: (34)

mmm cronchy

[personal profile] luaithre 2020-02-02 10:30 am (UTC)(link)
"We don't, I think. Do we?"

The boy doesn't answer, having pivoted his attention to the treeline in a very apprehensive manner, pulling his hand free so he can best tuck his arms around himself. Marcus places a shepherding hand near the crown of the child's head while his other balances his staff, blunt end down, against the damp earth.

"Some of the older boys were telling Hamish, here, that they spied something in the forests around supper time. Eyes, I think it was."

"Glowing yellow ones," the boy chimes in at a mumble. "Wolves. I was hearing 'em."

Marcus looks back up to Derrica, nodding to her. "That's why we have guards, keeping watch. Isn't that right?"
luaithre: (97)

[personal profile] luaithre 2020-02-04 12:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Hamish finally tears his gaze away from the dark tree line -- no doubt seeing glowing yellow eyes where moonlight catches on every damp leaf -- to look up at Derrica, taking her measure, the staff she holds, as if imagining what she could do to wolf. Whomp it, maybe.

Marcus had had a similar thought to Derrica, earlier, that bandits are the more likely, more vicious, certainly more intelligent concern over some wild animals that a flash of fire or a loud noise could frighten away. But he imagines, then, that wolves are the more evocative terror to a small child, with fangs and spooky howls and the like.

He'd have to have a talking to with the older ones about silly stories, tomorrow.

"But you know what isn't a match for mangy old wolves," he says, ducking down now into a crouch, staff held at a steep, practiced angle. "Tired little boys he didn't get enough sleep the night before, aye?"

Hamish gives a whine, but it's more sullen than fearful, now.
luaithre: (80)

[personal profile] luaithre 2020-02-06 10:02 am (UTC)(link)
In the end, it's very likely that the cold is the most convincing component in this argument. Hamish seems to shiver on cue at Derrica's urging, looking back at Marcus, and when he nods back towards the tend, Hamish goes racing back to it, as if the chill in the air and wolves both might get him between here and there. But he doesn't issue the forest any last fearful looks.

Slower off the mark, Marcus gets to his feet, levering himself up with his staff.

"Nicely done," he says. "My thanks."