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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Jul 29, 2010 22:16:00 GMT -8
The forest near Florence was strangely quiet despite it being pre-dawn. No birds sang or flitted around the trees looking for the proverbial early worm. Something was out of place and the animals were fearful.
'Ahroun, where are you?' A voice asked that not even the animals could hear.
Something shifted in the brush and sent some local wildlife scurrying. A half-naked, well-built, and obviously hungover Irishman flicked a leaf from his face before painfully sitting up.
'Ahroun!?' The voice demanded again.
The Irishman shook his head slowly, getting his bearings and opened his eyes carefully, testing the light. It was still dark enough to look around without threat of a headache and Ahroun finally responded to the voice nagging in his head.
'I'm alive. What do you want Horun?' He asked, slightly annoyed.
'It's about time you responded, I've been contacting you for hours now. Where are you? After last night we lost track of you! One minute you are having a few pints at the pub and the next you are raging at a Frank at running him out of town!' Horun, Ahroun's second in command retorted.
'He insulted my mother, and refused to join our cause, he didn't have a right to be in that pub, it is run by your sister! He's lucky I didn't....wait....' He looked down at himself and sure enough, what was left of his pants were smeared with blood. 'Nevermind...'
The voice seemed to take a deep breath of sorts. 'Whatever, it is fine. Just get back here, contact me when you know where you are and how long you think it will take for you to get back here.' The voice seemed to cut off in a huff.
Ahroun stood slowly and stretched. He needed to find water and clean himself up before locating the nearest town or city. He noticed that the animals around him were nervous so he realized he must have been further out than he thought he was and decided it was in his best interest to not converse with them. He picked a random direction which happened to be West and started tromping through the forest hoping to come across a lake or stream.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Jul 30, 2010 9:06:08 GMT -8
“Thomas!” A shrill woman’s voice echoed not far ahead, soon followed by splashing as Rima dodged. What was it about Thomas, her younger twin, that always made him so… entertaining? While the pair had been sent out to go retrieve some materials for their father, so they could have the rest of this eve of their birth to day whatever they wished, Rima had stopped to wash some spots of mud from the bottom of her skirts, and he actually splashed her. The nerve! That’s was put her into the loud, competition mode.
Clearly, the younger girl with long, dark hair and her brother, were native to Florence. Both held the characteristics and excitement with then that most Florentines had. That was exactly why the animals were reserved: humans in the forest.
Thomas grinned. “What?” The dimple on his cheek deepened with another grin as he sent another wave of water at her with his hand.
“St-” She froze, grey-blue eyes going wide. Who was the red-headed stranger that seemed to just appear out of nowhere, right over at the edge of the brush.
He followed her gaze, hauling himself, then helped her free of the water.
“Did you need any help... sir?” She asked, used to doing such from helping Maria down at the small clinic, and inn on occasion. Rima brushed a few strands of wet hair from her face, elbowing her brother in annoyance. One of these days his fun side was going to get them both in serious trouble.
The horse which was tethered to a tree quickly forged against the rope that bound it, becoming somewhat panicked at the stranger's appearance. The man left his sister to go sooth it, leaving her in full view. For a female, it was odd her stance wasn't fearful, but to her and her siblings, that was how they were raised.
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Jul 30, 2010 21:07:44 GMT -8
Ahroun had noticed the presence of the two humans by the water but figured that since they didn't seem like Hunters it would be safe to approach. "Oh I be rather lost methinks. The trees here be strange in color and growth and it isn't raining. In fact it be quite warm." His heavy Irish accent gave away where he was supposed to be to anyone who recognized it. He wished that the horse would calm down, the distress was starting to extend to him and it would be too risky to try to converse with it and calm it himself. "If you could just direct me to the nearest town with a pub I would be most appreciative." He looked down at himself. "After I clean up of course." He hoped that the blood smeared across his pants wouldn't scare the young woman into screaming for help.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Jul 30, 2010 21:19:26 GMT -8
Thomas's voice laced in thick Italian as he calmed the mount, which gradually seemed to wind back down. His eyes turned on the newcomer, similar to a hawk in the way they inspected him.
Rima's eyebrows knit together at clean up. "Oh, you mean wash." She concluded a moment later. "And we'd be happy to take you back to Florence, wouldn't we Thomas?" Her face smoothed over in a pleasant smile. He nodded begrudgingly in response. “I’m Rima Elaine Donavon, pleased to meet your acquaintance Mister…?” Once more her brows found their way into a confused knot.
The young Ms. Donavon didn’t seem to take much care with the blood, automatically assuming him a Hunter in the meaning not common to the super-naturals. Simply a lost, very foreign man, hunting for some sort of animal, and perhaps having lost his catch, or at the very least wounded it. That’s what innocence did to a person.
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Jul 30, 2010 21:44:01 GMT -8
"Name is Flanagan. You can call me Conor however if you wish." He walked down to the edge of the water and knelt down to wash his hands. As long as she didn't ask too many questions he wouldn't have to tell too many lies and he was always happy to not tell a lie. "Where be Florence anyway? I don't recognize the name." The furthest south he had been was to round up some new recruits in the middle of modern day France.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Jul 30, 2010 21:48:50 GMT -8
Rima giggled, not at the ignorence, but at the fact that the man just hadn't heard of it. "Italy, silly." She began to ring out her shirts, shooting her brother the occasional dirty look. "Where are you from? Your voice is unfamiliar to me, not French, nor Italian." She cocked her head to one side every so slightly, and propped her hand on the slope of her hip once she finished.
Thomas released his grip on the animal and went to retrieve the leathers and papers to put them back in the pack a few yards off.
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Jul 30, 2010 22:06:50 GMT -8
Ahroun paused in his washing and looked over his shoulder. "Oh ye be a pullin' yarn wouldn't ya? I hear that Italy is at least a 4 day journey by horseback from Ireland. There be no way I can be that far from home." He shook his head and laughed richly as he continued to wash. He figured that this 'Florence' couldn't be more than a day's walk from his home and after he obtained some new clothes he would be on his way and be back in his familiar forest by supper tomorrow.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Aug 2, 2010 21:36:37 GMT -8
Rima's face clouded with confusion, and she gathered her skirts before crouching down. "No, its actually Italy. I know of no other Florence, only this one." Her silvery eyes sliced into him like a sharpened blade, increasingly growing curious. Had this man hit his head? Hard? Because surely there was no other way he could be this confused... "Are you alright? Did you hit your noggin or anything?" THe young woman voice her concerns, face sincere.
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Aug 2, 2010 21:45:53 GMT -8
He shook his head and looked at her. "Nay I know I didn' hit my head on anythin' and even if I had there be no way it would have gotten me to Italy of all places. Last I remember I was at a pub on the shores of the British Isles with some pals. I couldn't have made it down here in a night." Granted the previous night had been a full moon and like all wolves, their powers apex'd that night. He finished washing himself and crouched on all fours before shaking himself dry like a dog. He paused realizing how odd this must have looked. "Maybe...Maybe I did hit my head on somethin'." He said to try to cover his strange behavior.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Aug 2, 2010 21:54:38 GMT -8
She folded her arms over her well-developed chest, examining him some more. "No offense intended, but that'd almost appear you could get mixed up with one of the hunting troup's hounds with that sort of thing."
Slowly Rima stood, turning to walk back over to the mount. Thomas made as though to offer her a hand, but the girl, stubborn as she was, disregarded it, movements confident from her feet right up to her face even as she settled herself in the side saddle. "Come, Flanagan, the way back is a good three miles." She flashed a smile.
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Aug 2, 2010 22:05:30 GMT -8
He didn't return the smile right away. "I prefer to walk. Unless you plan on galloping I can keep up." He wanted to give the horse enough space so that it came to accept his presence. After walking over to her he did look up at her and cracked a smile. "Your laddie here is a very quiet one isn't he?" He wanted to get the topic as far away from him as possible.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Aug 2, 2010 22:11:39 GMT -8
"Brother." She reached down and ruffled Thomas's hair, much to his annoyance. "Baby, twin brother actually." Rima flashed another smile, this one full of love for her sibling.
The annoyed look faded and he grumbled something which sounded suspiciously like, 'by just a minute.' Turning attention to the redheaded Irishman, Thomas shrugged. "It happens when you have two sisters."
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Aug 2, 2010 22:15:46 GMT -8
Ahroun nodded. "I can understand that. Don't worry you'll be the one who gets to take care of them when you be older. Then they will have to treat ya nice." He winked at him and started walking ahead of them. "Is Florence this way?" He really didn't care, it felt good to have human company that didn't fear or over respect him for a change. He knew he needed to get back to Ireland as fast as possible, but if he had some fun in the mean time, nobody would hold it against him. Who knew, maybe there were Were's around here who could join The United.
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Post by Rima Elaine Donavon on Aug 2, 2010 22:25:43 GMT -8
Thomas chuckled, shooting his sister a look. "You should listen to this smart man, hm?" Clapping a hand on his shoulder, and pacing after him, Thomas noticed a detail. "Your stride is long." He commented off-hand. Come to think of it, his stride was one of the longest he'd over seen.
Rima snickered at her brother's comment. As if, the men were the one's who got all of the credit already, the last thing in her eyes that was needed was another to show up and steal all of the attentions just when a select few females were brightening the future. "I'll see you at the bridge." She rolled her eyes. Dusk was fast approaching, Vampires would soon be out, though the humans would be oblivious to them until somebody died. With one last look, the woman kicked the horse's side, sending it into a gallop.
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Post by Conor 'Ahroun' Flanagan on Aug 2, 2010 22:31:21 GMT -8
Ahroun rolled his eyes. "I thought she wasn't going to gallop..." The Werewolf walked quickly but tried to keep it so that Thomas could still manage to keep up. "My strides be long because I walk everywhere. I ne'er owned a horse before in me life so one gets used to it." He said over his shoulder casually. The approaching night made him nervous, he didn't know if Vampires or other Weres were in this part of the world but the thought stung in the back of his mind. "How safe is this part of the forest after dark?" He asked, trying to not sound nervous.
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