Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » A Trip Home [1x1] [CLOSED]

"Bandages? Check. Salves? Gots 'em. Free time? More'n I's coul' eva need." He suspected that Bandit would track him down once she'd made up her mind concerning what to do from there, so he'd a few hours to himself and intended to make the most of them. Planting himself on a low wall that was a makeshift fence between two separate buildings, he shed his vest and shirt so that he could more properly tend to his wound. It was a good thing he knew plenty about general first aid, given his involuntary immunity to healing magics.

He could feel eyes on him as he went about cleaning the wound, though they weren't much of a surprise. After all, he wasn't exactly normal, what with the metal of his arm gleaming in the slowly fading light. He'd picked a fairly empty of traffic area to do his medic work, but it was nigh impossible for him to be anywhere in a civilized space without drawing a few eyes, so he did the best he could and ignored those that did throw a disgusted glare or apprehensive glance his way.

The wound in his side had stopped bleeding a bit ago, but the threat of infection was high with the impromptu covering job he'd done earlier that day. Washing out the wound brought a sour look to his face, as it stung something fierce even if it was just water that he was using.

While not wealthy, Bandit could afford to treat herself to a few goods in the industrious town of Baalk. Her fingers flipped through the pages of her newest purchase, a spell book with simple yet affective tricks to use in battle. There was also plenty of rich information regarding the habits and abilities of local beasts in the region. The witch recognized the author, a mage that lived not far from where she was born. Stowed away, she owned two other of his books. A good book could always be found at the side of a witch.

Her eyes scanned the groups of people passing her for her cheerful companion. It was her desire to stick by his side for a little while longer since it had been quite a long while since their last meeting. Not sure if he left Baalk yet, she kept searching. One who knew her could tell she was wearing a new outfit, basically a tough black body suit with plenty of grey silk robes on top to give her a fluid and intimidating look. Bandit was a witch but also an adventurer.

After turning a corner she finally spotted him. By the way he was hunched over, sitting on a wall, Bandit could tell he was cleaning his wounds. Her nose crinkled with disgust. Wounds were best healed by magic but there was nothing she could do to heal him. She walked over to the wall and took a seat.

“I have some strong ointment in my pack that will encourage your skin to heal over the wound once you have finished cleaning.” Said the witch kindly. The wound he received was due to letting a canine slip past her and then slashed his side with its teeth. It looked a little painful.

He didn't immediately look up upon hearing the voice, initially thinking that he was probably just over-hearing a snippet of someone else's conversation. Wiping down the area with a damp rag, he continued going about his business until he realized, quite a few moments after the fact, that the voice he'd heard speaking was one that sounded rather familiar. Turning his head upward, he glanced at the one who'd spoken. His neutral expression quickly morphed into a friendly grin.

A warm feeling flooded into the witch at seeing him smile. It brought a small and effortless smile to her own lips. “Startle you?” She reached into her pack and fished out a small tube of ointment. It was made of simple ingredients and scentless. It worded magic without … well magic. “This stuff works very well.” She offered the tube to him, but would help apply it for him should he need the assistance. The sun had yet to reach full height into the sky but was nearly close. Plenty of the day left for visibility, and Bandit would like to be out of the area since beasts of all kinds would appear once darkness returned.

"Startled? Me? Psh! I's ain' nevah' heard o' such a thin'." A blatant lie if ever there was one, but the hint of teasing in his tone was easy to discern and he wasn't really expecting his old friend to believe him. He took the offered tube with a grateful expression. "Yer' a lifesaver, ye' be." Not bothering to mention that he brought his own, he began to apply a light layer of the provided medicine over the wound. Luckily, it was in a location from which he could rather easily reach. "I's gon' hafta stop by somewhere what ta' be doin' some repairs on me arm, n' pick up spare supplies. This'n be a good substitute fer' now, though. Thanks." He passed back the remainder of what he didn't use. Holding up the roll of bandages, he glanced from it to his companion. "Hm...Ye' mind 'elpin me out a bit? I's wanna make sure tha' bandages be wrapped tight."

“Not a problem.” Said the witch as she took the bandages from him. She made sure to carefully wrap the bandages around his waist, over the wound tightly so when he moved it wouldn’t rub or gather bacteria. When she was all done she handed him back the bandages and smiled. “Hope that helps you feel better until you get your repairs.” The adventure sure took a lot out of him, but he had worse happen to him, like the time his heart needed to be replaced. That was a crazy time and the grim reaper was still not happy with Bandit. The witch affectionately ran her fingers over his cheek before standing up to stretch. She was a very restless woman, never liking to sit still for long.

Not interrupting the woman while she oversaw to his bandages was harder than he'd initially thought it would be. Which wasn't entirely unreasonable, considering how long it'd been since he'd had a peaceful moment with his favorite woman in the world. Still, he managed to restrain himself, at least until the bandages were tight around his abdomen. Poking at the now properly covered wound, he nodded satisfactorily and started to pull his shirt back over his head while he got to his feet. Pulling on his gadget laden vest over that, he closed the distance and wrapped his arms around the woman in a loose hug. "Thanks, May. 'Tis been good seein' ya' again, y'know. 'Specially now that we ain' gettin' mauled by whateva tha' heck them thin's was."

Feeling arms wrap around her, Bandit settled into the comfortable hug. It really has been such a long while since the two could really be together again. Adventures took the far away but it was nice to have return to the one person who had hold of her heart and its best interests. “Adventures are fun, but so are the in between moments.” She stepped out of the hug after a while and turned to face him. “So, where are you off to next, then? I would like to join you.” She said happily.

"Eh? Oh, I's gonna go home. 'Er, tha' closest thin' I's be havin' ta' one. Likes I said, repairs ta' make n' supplies ta' stock up on, y'know?" He looked somewhat conflicted for a moment, though whether that was from her stepping out of his hug for what he'd just said was hard to tell. His flesh and blood hand came up to run fingers through his hair almost nervously. "Truth is, ain' nobody else eva' stepped foot thea'. I's a trustin' kinda guy, y'know, bu'...Well, if'n I's kin trust anybody, it be you. I don' suppose havin' company would be too bad." His hand dropped back to his side. He did trust Bandit, with his life and more. Still, old habits died hard. He did appear to be willing to let her into wherever it was he claimed as home.

She assessed his body language as he spoke and could see the conflict written on his face, the nervous way he ran his fingers through his hair. Bandit wondered if she was causing any of this confusion. She closed the gap between them, reaching to catch his hand in hers before it reached his side, to place it on her heart. “Vahn, you do whatever makes you most happy and secure.” While she wanted him to trust her, which he seemed to, she didn’t want to step over any boundaries. She smiled to encourage his own happy and silly grin. She wrapped her arms around him and embraced him fondly. She may not very good at social graces, but she did care deeply for him and tried her best to show it properly.

Taking the hug in stride, he hummed quite happily for a moment before apparently reaching a decision. "Bah! 'Twouldn be feelin' like home if'n ye's wasn' thea' no ways. If'n ye's ain' got nothin' betta ta' be doin', I's be happy ta' give ye's a tour o' tha' place. Y'know, once we's be gettin' thea'." His usual friendly grin was right where it belonged, firmly planted upon his face, and he was chuckling just like his old self. Certainly, on the inside he was berating himself for ever questioning the safety of trusting Bandit, but he figured that if anyone deserved to know where it was he hunkered down on occasion, it was her.

Happy to see the smile back on his face Bandit relaxed. “When was the last time you’ve been home? Hope you haven’t been working yourself too hard since I last saw you.” Such a comment from Bandit slightly made her a hypocrite, many times she has accepted a job without being at her best strength. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t try harder to be kinder to herself. The witch wasn’t prying into his business but rather teasing a bit. Home was place not to be gone from too long. The heart and soul would separate in the time away. Even now, Bandit slightly missed her old camp and the dragon that so often followed her on adventures.

"Mm...Wells, thas' ain' ta' say I's been workin' meself too hard 'er nothin', bu' s'been a while since I was last 'ome. Months, a'tleast. I's don' be thinkin' I broke tha' year mark, though." He shrugged, slightly. Though it was, for all intents and purposes, 'home', he was a little too deep into his wanderlust to stay there for long periods of time. Or even visit, for that matter. It was where most of his belongings were kept when he wasn't carrying them, and where he brought his latest haul whenever he'd been out on a particularly lucrative excursion, as well as being the testing ground for a lot of his experiments. He didn't seem interested in returning the question, feeling that Bandit would reveal what she wished to in her own time. He didn't feel the need to pry; he trusted the woman more than that.

“Well, that isn’t so bad.” said the woman. Disregarding the current wound being treated, Vahn appeared to be taking care of himself quite, well. She was glad that when they were apart she did not need to worry about his safety. Adventurers are tough folk. Bandit wasn’t carrying much of her equipment, so that alone would indicate that she had stored them away. However, her mirror was still safely in her bag, cracked, but safe. She would eventually need to get that fixed. Her attention returned to Vahn again. “By the way, how is it you were able to speak without accent so well earlier yesterday? You had me fooled.” Her voice was light and affectionate but also she was puzzled. She didn’t think he had changed much but something might have but she couldn’t figure it out.

He blinked. Well, crud. He'd honestly been hoping that that particular snippet had gone unnoticed, but apparently not. His hand came back up to run through his hair yet again, something that had long since proven to be his body language's way of conveying nervousness. "Wellll...Thas' may 'er may no be 'cause me accent do be a lil' bit less o' an 'accent' n' quite a bit more o' an' 'act'. If'n ye's be catchin' me drift." He dropped his hand again, unable to make eye contact for a moment. He was waiting for the inevitable curiosity, most likely to be followed by disappointment. Sure, it was a fairly harmless lie, but it was one that he'd kept up for a long time. So long, in fact, that it was one that he rarely ever divulged the truth to anyone. Not so much because he thought it important, necessarily. But rather because the right questions were almost never asked, and he had no reason to go out of his way to reveal the truth.

The witch’s face went blank as she absorbed the information Vahn revealed. She didn’t pull away from him but went still, contemplating. The information certainly made sense and connected a few astray dots. Slowly animation returned to her face, curiosity. “Quite an impressive act. Surprised you have kept it up for so long. Never would have noticed if it were not for the little tick you pulled.” Bandit was pleasant about the whole matter, mostly because an accent didn’t mean he was a different person. If he were a different person, well, then the case would be a whole lot different. An angry witch would be the result of such a lie, but there was no reason for her to be upset. Her curiosity won over. “Speak without it, I want to hear it again.” It was the least he could do for her, especially because he claimed to trust her so much. Her smile encouraged him to relax and trust her.

"Eh? Well, if'n...Er, that is, if you insist. I suppose I could do that." Despite his momentary slip up, the transition from heavily accented speech into a slightly more refined tone certainly was a stark contrast. The lack of merriment in his voice was also unusual, though that was more from momentary confusion than any change in character. "It's not that I don't trust you, y'know. It's just...I've gotten disgusted glares and fearful glances, along with things like that enough because of my arm. If people think I'm a half brain-dead and overly trusting country bumpkin, they'll at least think that this thing here-", he raised the mechanical limb and waved it a moment before continuing, "-wasn't my design. They'll let their guard down enough for me to prove that I'm not gonna hurt them. Or whatever it is they think I'll do. Granted, I probably am too trusting sometimes, but that's beside the point. Y'know?" He could tell from what little Bandit had shared of her past that she wasn't exactly the most sociable type, but he was certain that even she was well acquainted with the kinds of actions he was describing.

Bandit listened to him until he was finished speaking. It was very interesting and yet still had no effect on how she viewed him a person. She ran her fingers through his brown locks and smiled, wide with all her sharp teeth. “I understand. I have seen those eyes, too, strangers staring in disgust and fear. You’ll always bring a smile to my face county bumkin’ or not.” She let her hand cup the side of his face for a few moments and then decided to brush her lips against his. Still to this day she couldn’t understand how he was able to tug on her heartstrings but many things in life could not be explained. “Speak however you like, but know that when we are together you can always be yourself.” She really meant those words.

Though he was slightly surprised at the contact, Bandit not being one for public displays of affection after all, he certainly wasn't experiencing any discomfort because of it. Indeed, when she did pull away from his lips, there was a slightly dopey grin on his face. "Bah! Myself is boring. I'm sure ya' much prefer the charismatic, drop dead gorgeous adventurer to ol' Vahn any day." Though there was a slight influence of his old accent in his words, he seemed to have taken her assurance to heart. Raising his metal hand to lightly pat the woman on the cheek, he danced out of her arms long enough to strike up a heroic yet comical pose that was sure to draw eyes. He never had been any good at the whole 'seriousness' thing anyway.

It was quite amusing to watch the man’s antics, so Bandit smile and humored him. “Careful, you are still wounded. Don’t want to see you injure yourself further.” The sun was now at its highest point in the sky, the town was busy with people finishing their shopping to prepare tonight’s dinner meals. Bandit would catch her own meal out in the woods later that night, since she didn’t want to buy meat that could be spoiled anyways. “What direction is home?” It was nice not to be in control of leading a group for once. She would let Vahn take the lead and happily follow for the time being. The errands she would need to take care of could wait for a little while.