Gather
Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2020 9:20 am
35th of Searing, 120
He'd not slept since the events of the night prior. How could he? There was a maniac on the streets cutting down humans as if they were made of wet paper. If that wasn't bad enough, she'd borderline threatened to kill him too if he spoke a word of what he saw. What did he see? A tall, muscle-bound brute with his throat cut so deep that his head might as well have been hanging on by a thread, and a rounded fat man who was missing both his arms, accompanied by a stab wound to the chest that left a crater. How was he meant to keep that to himself? Barry had been able to tell that something was wrong with him during his shift, but didn't speak anything of it. The bakery was picking up in popularity, and they needed to prepare more dough than usual for the following day that night; they were slammed.
But, that was last night, and they were in the now. He wouldn't have had the chance to sleep anyway, as he'd made plans to go for a walk with Cojack, his sickly father. That was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, as Arkash saw it. They were running out of tinder and wood for the fire, so they could go for a walk beyond the walls with his empty backpack, and Cojack could follow. Except, Cojack needed support to walk most of the journey. That was both his walking stick and Arkash's shoulder. In his sickness, Cojack had lost the far majority of his body weight, so it wasn't as hard as one might have thought to support a seven-foot-tall Equine Rathari. It was slow going, but they had until nightfall to get everything done. If they wound up caught in the streets during the sunset, he feared that he'd wind up colliding with the Thompson boys, so they had to be home before then.
They passed through the gates after maybe an hour of walking, stopping, pausing and breathing, but they'd gotten there. It was only then that Arkash considered that such a long walk might not have been the wisest choice for his father's first walk in years, but things like that had been easy in the past. He didn't realize just how much his father had decayed with time, it seemed. "Ah... Arkash," His dad spoke, huffing and wheezing while the smaller lizard supported his weight. "Yeah, dad?" He asked and tried to hide the fatigue in his voice. "I need a break... Can we stop for a bit?" Arkash held back a sigh and nodded slowly. "Orite, next log, rock or stump we see, you can sit on it for a bit. Sound good?" Cojack groaned in pain. Arkash rolled his eyes. While he knew that he'd done wrong to take his father that far from home, he also knew that the older Rath was being excessively negative about the whole thing.
"Ah, there..!" Spoke the frail rath, who lifted his cane to point to a tree stump on the side of the road. Thank the gods, thought Arkash and Cojack alike. One step after the other, the smaller lizard guided his sickly father to the resting place and gently eased him into a sit. Through the entire motion, the horse groaned in pain. Once he was down, the lizard shook off his arms and stretched out with a groan of his own. A yawn ensued, for he was tired. "Sorry, son..." spoke his father who gathered his breath while he rested. Arkash shook his head. "It's my fault," declared the lizard who stretched the few muscles in his shoulders as he turned to face the horse. "I shouldn' 'ave took you out this far; that was... Not fair of me."
Cojack shook his head in return, then coughed into his balled fist. "It's been a long time since... Since I left the house. The walk is nice, appreciated." Arkash bowed his head, then looked to the nearby brush of woodland. Cojack saw that look in his eyes then spoke "you can go ahead and fetch what you need... I think it's best if I wait here." The younger Rath shifted his gaze to the horse and tilted his head. "You sure?" He quizzed with obvious concern in his eyes. Cojack nodded in response. "I'll rest n' get my energy for the walk back," explained the older Rath. If Arkash were honest with himself, he didn't want to spend however long it would have taken him to walk Cojack to the woods and back. So, he accepted, but not for reasons that bettered his father. "Alright, I won't be too long. Yell loud if something happens, okay?" Cojack simply nodded in response, and Arkash bowed his head once.
With a deep breath, he picked up a jog and made a b-line for the woods. The damp grass felt pleasant against the dry, worn scales of his feet; therapeutic, even. Each soft footfall brought him closer to the woods. Because he was jogging, he was able to conserve some energy on the way. He controlled his breaths to keep his heart steady while his legs carried him across the meadow. As he ran, he glanced down to look at his legs and found himself surprised to see a notable amount of muscle in his thighs, bulging out from just above his knees. Was that because of all the running he'd done recently? As he lifted his head, he found that he wasn't tired at all, that he could keep jogging for some time. Was that just because of his inspiring find or was he genuinely more fit than he had been last week? It didn't matter, as he'd make it to the woods long before he tired at that pace.
Once there, he slowed to a halt, then turned back to spy his dad, who was watching him from afar while he caught his breath. Arkash lifted his claws to wave at the horse. The horse waved back. Once he was sure that his dad was safe and well, he turned to the woodland and proceeded into the cover of the trees. Since the snow had melted in the glade season, the ground was left with plenty of time to dry. Arkash had a spot where he gathered his dried grass and leaves not far from there. So, as was typical, he headed there first. Beneath a dying oak was where he knelt and began to collect the dried, brown leaves. It was a careful process, that saw him consider the amount of green on each leaf before placing it in his backpack. Once he was satisfied with the amount he'd gathered, he moved on to a deeper part of the woods, where a tree had grown to cast a shadow over some tall grass. Most of it was dead but still needed to dry some before it could be used for a fire. His claws made short work of the task, and he stowed the dying grass with his leaves before he tied the string atop, and stood.
A sharp inhale filled his lungs and stretched his chest before he turned his head slightly to the left for no immediately apparent reason. There, upon a stump, he found the glint of something metal: the blade of a well-crafted ax, which was embedded in the wood. Sat around the ax was a few pieces of chopped lumber. Arkash blinked in disbelief. Had someone just left their ax? Their chopped wood, too? What kind of human could be so careless and forgetful- Arkash paused and looked about the woodland. Was there anyone there with him? Had they just stepped away to piss or something? He hesitated for a moment, then took a few careful steps toward the ax and the chopped wood alike. His yellow eyes carefully scanned the surrounding trees while he listened keenly on any movements or unexpected sounds that might have signaled someone's presence.
He could have used that lumber and the ax, too. Surely, it was worth more to him than whoever the original owner was, right? That must have been the case if they just left it out in the middle of nowhere. Once he'd closed the gap, he looked around again. When he found nothing, he wrapped the handle of the ax with both his hands and pulled hard. No luck; it didn't budge. Perhaps it was best if he left it alone? No. He could sell an ax that fine and buy his way out of Lorien. He and Cojack could finally leave with the extra money that tool could fetch him. Determined, he lifted his feet to stand on the stump, then pressed hard into the pull. His whole body strained as he attempted to deadlift the handle of the ax... Then it came free, and he fell back while clutching it firmly. As he hit the floor, he shut his eyes and dreaded whatever pain was about to befall him, as if he were ready to get chopped up by the ax. No such pain came, however, and he looked to find the ax in his clutches.
Excitement ran rampant through his chest, and he stood to place his bag on the stump and quickly tucked the ax inside alone with a few pieces of log. It made the thing much heavier, but it was so very worth it. With his bag filled to the brim with goodies from the woodland, he exited the woods and gave a brief search for Cojack up the hill from him. He was sitting well and appeared to be in good condition from afar. The monitor lizard sighed in relief, then began his hike up the slope with his heavy bag in tow.
He'd not slept since the events of the night prior. How could he? There was a maniac on the streets cutting down humans as if they were made of wet paper. If that wasn't bad enough, she'd borderline threatened to kill him too if he spoke a word of what he saw. What did he see? A tall, muscle-bound brute with his throat cut so deep that his head might as well have been hanging on by a thread, and a rounded fat man who was missing both his arms, accompanied by a stab wound to the chest that left a crater. How was he meant to keep that to himself? Barry had been able to tell that something was wrong with him during his shift, but didn't speak anything of it. The bakery was picking up in popularity, and they needed to prepare more dough than usual for the following day that night; they were slammed.
But, that was last night, and they were in the now. He wouldn't have had the chance to sleep anyway, as he'd made plans to go for a walk with Cojack, his sickly father. That was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, as Arkash saw it. They were running out of tinder and wood for the fire, so they could go for a walk beyond the walls with his empty backpack, and Cojack could follow. Except, Cojack needed support to walk most of the journey. That was both his walking stick and Arkash's shoulder. In his sickness, Cojack had lost the far majority of his body weight, so it wasn't as hard as one might have thought to support a seven-foot-tall Equine Rathari. It was slow going, but they had until nightfall to get everything done. If they wound up caught in the streets during the sunset, he feared that he'd wind up colliding with the Thompson boys, so they had to be home before then.
They passed through the gates after maybe an hour of walking, stopping, pausing and breathing, but they'd gotten there. It was only then that Arkash considered that such a long walk might not have been the wisest choice for his father's first walk in years, but things like that had been easy in the past. He didn't realize just how much his father had decayed with time, it seemed. "Ah... Arkash," His dad spoke, huffing and wheezing while the smaller lizard supported his weight. "Yeah, dad?" He asked and tried to hide the fatigue in his voice. "I need a break... Can we stop for a bit?" Arkash held back a sigh and nodded slowly. "Orite, next log, rock or stump we see, you can sit on it for a bit. Sound good?" Cojack groaned in pain. Arkash rolled his eyes. While he knew that he'd done wrong to take his father that far from home, he also knew that the older Rath was being excessively negative about the whole thing.
"Ah, there..!" Spoke the frail rath, who lifted his cane to point to a tree stump on the side of the road. Thank the gods, thought Arkash and Cojack alike. One step after the other, the smaller lizard guided his sickly father to the resting place and gently eased him into a sit. Through the entire motion, the horse groaned in pain. Once he was down, the lizard shook off his arms and stretched out with a groan of his own. A yawn ensued, for he was tired. "Sorry, son..." spoke his father who gathered his breath while he rested. Arkash shook his head. "It's my fault," declared the lizard who stretched the few muscles in his shoulders as he turned to face the horse. "I shouldn' 'ave took you out this far; that was... Not fair of me."
Cojack shook his head in return, then coughed into his balled fist. "It's been a long time since... Since I left the house. The walk is nice, appreciated." Arkash bowed his head, then looked to the nearby brush of woodland. Cojack saw that look in his eyes then spoke "you can go ahead and fetch what you need... I think it's best if I wait here." The younger Rath shifted his gaze to the horse and tilted his head. "You sure?" He quizzed with obvious concern in his eyes. Cojack nodded in response. "I'll rest n' get my energy for the walk back," explained the older Rath. If Arkash were honest with himself, he didn't want to spend however long it would have taken him to walk Cojack to the woods and back. So, he accepted, but not for reasons that bettered his father. "Alright, I won't be too long. Yell loud if something happens, okay?" Cojack simply nodded in response, and Arkash bowed his head once.
With a deep breath, he picked up a jog and made a b-line for the woods. The damp grass felt pleasant against the dry, worn scales of his feet; therapeutic, even. Each soft footfall brought him closer to the woods. Because he was jogging, he was able to conserve some energy on the way. He controlled his breaths to keep his heart steady while his legs carried him across the meadow. As he ran, he glanced down to look at his legs and found himself surprised to see a notable amount of muscle in his thighs, bulging out from just above his knees. Was that because of all the running he'd done recently? As he lifted his head, he found that he wasn't tired at all, that he could keep jogging for some time. Was that just because of his inspiring find or was he genuinely more fit than he had been last week? It didn't matter, as he'd make it to the woods long before he tired at that pace.
Once there, he slowed to a halt, then turned back to spy his dad, who was watching him from afar while he caught his breath. Arkash lifted his claws to wave at the horse. The horse waved back. Once he was sure that his dad was safe and well, he turned to the woodland and proceeded into the cover of the trees. Since the snow had melted in the glade season, the ground was left with plenty of time to dry. Arkash had a spot where he gathered his dried grass and leaves not far from there. So, as was typical, he headed there first. Beneath a dying oak was where he knelt and began to collect the dried, brown leaves. It was a careful process, that saw him consider the amount of green on each leaf before placing it in his backpack. Once he was satisfied with the amount he'd gathered, he moved on to a deeper part of the woods, where a tree had grown to cast a shadow over some tall grass. Most of it was dead but still needed to dry some before it could be used for a fire. His claws made short work of the task, and he stowed the dying grass with his leaves before he tied the string atop, and stood.
A sharp inhale filled his lungs and stretched his chest before he turned his head slightly to the left for no immediately apparent reason. There, upon a stump, he found the glint of something metal: the blade of a well-crafted ax, which was embedded in the wood. Sat around the ax was a few pieces of chopped lumber. Arkash blinked in disbelief. Had someone just left their ax? Their chopped wood, too? What kind of human could be so careless and forgetful- Arkash paused and looked about the woodland. Was there anyone there with him? Had they just stepped away to piss or something? He hesitated for a moment, then took a few careful steps toward the ax and the chopped wood alike. His yellow eyes carefully scanned the surrounding trees while he listened keenly on any movements or unexpected sounds that might have signaled someone's presence.
He could have used that lumber and the ax, too. Surely, it was worth more to him than whoever the original owner was, right? That must have been the case if they just left it out in the middle of nowhere. Once he'd closed the gap, he looked around again. When he found nothing, he wrapped the handle of the ax with both his hands and pulled hard. No luck; it didn't budge. Perhaps it was best if he left it alone? No. He could sell an ax that fine and buy his way out of Lorien. He and Cojack could finally leave with the extra money that tool could fetch him. Determined, he lifted his feet to stand on the stump, then pressed hard into the pull. His whole body strained as he attempted to deadlift the handle of the ax... Then it came free, and he fell back while clutching it firmly. As he hit the floor, he shut his eyes and dreaded whatever pain was about to befall him, as if he were ready to get chopped up by the ax. No such pain came, however, and he looked to find the ax in his clutches.
Excitement ran rampant through his chest, and he stood to place his bag on the stump and quickly tucked the ax inside alone with a few pieces of log. It made the thing much heavier, but it was so very worth it. With his bag filled to the brim with goodies from the woodland, he exited the woods and gave a brief search for Cojack up the hill from him. He was sitting well and appeared to be in good condition from afar. The monitor lizard sighed in relief, then began his hike up the slope with his heavy bag in tow.
