[FINISHED] Can I be honest?

A little sigh left his mouth as he draped the scarf tighter around his mouth. The environment in Ravaryn was surely colder than it was in Avalon. He was used to wearing shorts and T-shirts, but that was out of the question when walking around here. He wore thick clothing that protected him from the cold. It was even worse when Sorin had to practically save him from a fall down a mountain top not so long ago. It was funny when he thought about it, but back then it wasn’t as funny. He was feeling like a little child back then, which was the reason why he was walking around without the man as much as he could. He didn’t want anyone to babysit him, but Sorin wasn’t bad company and he still needed his help to solve the mystery about his parents. And kill that damn beast.

The problem with Hunter was that he had way too much curiosity in him for his own good. He couldn’t help but wander around the market that was splayed out in front of him; he let his eyes drift from one stand to the next, trying to figure out of something would get his interest. He slowly looked in the direction of Sorin, but it didn’t seem like the man was paying any attention to him. He smirked. Nice. Just as he was about to reach his hand to an expensive looking vase, someone bumped into him with so much force that Hunter was unable to hold his footing. He stumbled forwards and tried to prevent the inevitable, but his hand touched the vase and for one awful moment he saw the vase staggering, like he was watching it happening in slow motion.

Then a loud cracking noise followed as the expensive vase fell over and hit the ground. Hunter stood there for a moment, being shocked. The face of the vendor began to turn purple, which was Hunter’s cue to run. He turned around and walked in a rapid movement towards Sorin. ”We’ve got to go,” he told the man urgently. ”Don’t ask questions. Just go.” It wasn’t entirely his fault that the vase was broken, but he was fairly sure that he couldn’t convince the vendor of that.

@Sorin Hunter

There're still monsters out there, I should know.

Sorin was walking through the market square with Hunter close by. He allowed Hunter to roam the city, since it would be the first time the young man saw such a dense hub of civilization outside of the forest ruins. He wondered what the young man thought about the way of life outside of the forest. Sorin found the cities nice for a while, but the stench of mud, chimneys and human waste was an assault on his heightened senses.
The snow was slowly falling on the cold city, but it was warmer in the inner city than in the outskirts and the snow wouldn’t remain long. It did turn the alleys and ditches into a muck of snow, mud and loose rocks. Sorin knew that trekking off the beaten path now would just be wet and cold.
Suddenly, he heard the sharp sound of breaking pottery behind him. It was easy for him to differentiate the sound from the murmuring of townsfolk in the market square. Suddenly Hunter stood beside him and hurriedly told him they should leave. Sorin picked up the pace before bolting in full sprint while shouting: “What did you do?!!!”

@Hunter Clavon || words: ###

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One nice thing about Sorin was that he actually didn’t ask questions when Hunter urgently told him to go. Another not so nice thing about him was that he immediately seemed to assume that Hunter had anything to do with it. Although it was true, it was still annoying and Hunter couldn’t help himself but throw Sorin an arrogant glance. ”Bold of you to assume that it was actually my fault!” he yelled back. There was some yelling behind them and Hunter could’ve sworn that the vendor yelled to stop them, but he wasn’t intending on lingering around for longer to find out if that were actually true. Instead he just chose an alley and pulled Sorin along with him. He found an abandoned building with broken windows soon after and he gestured for Sorin to use that as cover. He jumped and used his hands to pull himself up, figuring out that Sorin wouldn’t need his help for this one. The man was strong as a bull; Hunter had learned that the hard way.

Hunter ducked down after he had entered the building, assuming that Sorin would do the same. He heard some yelling, but it grew soon more distant. ”Why do you always think that when something goes wrong it is my fault?” he hissed at the man. ”I was just minding my own business and someone bumped into me. Next thing I know, I bump into a vase and it breaks.” He remembered the man’s face growing actually purple and he couldn’t help but smirk. ”You should’ve seen it. The man’s face actually turned…” Hunter stopped talking when he heard footsteps close by. He ducked down a bit more and quickly glanced in an annoyed matter at Sorin. Did they actually have to fight their way out? That wouldn’t be a good start for them here in Ravaryn.

There're still monsters out there, I should know.

Assume? Assume?! Sorin was certain that whatever that crash was, Hunter had something to do with it. The indignation and haste of the young man more or less proved it. Even as they ran away, Sorin could hear someone shouting in the distance behind him. “You are more or less a professional troublemaker. Why wouldn’t I assume you did something?”Sorin mockingly said as he was pulled into an alleyway. The muck and half-molten snow clung to his boots immediately as he looked down with feigned disgust.
Hunter climbed into, what Sorin hoped was, an abandoned building. Sorin climbed in after him and dusted off his coat. The place was dirty and abandoned, but Sorin could never fault a roof over his head. He was more used to not having one. The barrage of words Hunter spewed at Sorin caught him off guard, but Sorin could not help but pat himself on the back for being right. Hunter was indeed the reason that they were in this position.
Sorin could hear people move into the alleyway behind him and looked at Hunter with a deadpan expression. Hunter seemed annoyed with him and he just shrugged. It wasn’t his fault that Hunter was so jumpy that he smashed a vase. All Sorin did was move away from the window as quietly as he could while signing Hunter to be quiet. Sorin didn’t feel like fighting in the middle of the city… At least not now.

@Hunter Clavon || words: ###

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Hunter couldn’t help himself but letting out a feigned dramatic gasp of surprise when Sorin called him a professional troublemaker. Well, it certainly had a nice ring to it. Hunter decided then and there that if someone would ask him about his occupation, he would tell them that he was a professional troublemaker. He was actually kind of proud about that name, although he was fairly certain that Sorin wouldn’t see it that way. The man was too stiff and mature for his own good and Hunter hoped that he would lighten up a little with Hunter as his companion, although he doubted it. The man was as stiff as frozen water.

And then they founded themselves in an abandoned building, hiding from the mad people out there. Hunter nodded at Sorin when he gestured to Hunter to be quiet. Could’ve figured that out on my own he thought, but he kept quiet. The situation got more tense as the footsteps approached and Hunter carefully reached for the bow and arrows on his back, but before he could do anything, a loud sound resonated through the empty alley. It took Hunter a few seconds to realize someone just burped really loudly and he couldn’t help but childishly hide his face in the crook of his jacket to prevent himself from laughing out loud. Whoever it was disappeared and Hunter grinned at Sorin. ”Steady volume, the echo was really nice and it probably smells like shit as well. I’d give it a solid eight,” he jokingly said, is if he wasn’t the source of the problem they were in.

Hunter carefully stuck his head out of the opening of the window, looking the empty alley up and down. There was no one there. ”Okay, let’s go,” he said to Sorin, jumping back out before the man could prevent him from doing so. ”Did you find out anything before we had to run off?” he asked, making his face almost look innocent by widening his eyes, as if he didn’t have anything to do with the fact that they had to suddenly ran off. He didn’t. It was the vase and that stupid person who stumbled into him. Not him. Nope.

There're still monsters out there, I should know.

Sorin keenly listened to the, most likely drunk, townsfolk belch and move on. It seemed like the two of them were not being pursued for breaking the vase. Perhaps the vase was not as important as it had seemed to Sorin. At least, he hoped so.
Sorin turned to Hunter in order to scold him, but the troublemaker had already jumped outside. The young man’s eagerness could very well be used against him at times. Sorin would have to drill him twice as hard from here on out. As Sorin climbed out of the window he was asked for a brief and boy did he…
“I won’t lie. I did hear some information and it is not good news.” Sorin spoke frankly, allowing the gravity of the situation to breath through Hunter’s thick skull. “I know you want to explore the world beyond Avalon, but I heard some terrible news that might require our attention.” He tried to explain in order to bring the bad news as delicately as his socially inept self could, before adding: “I fear we may need to return to the forest with haste. We came here to find allies and information about the monster from your past, but it seems the tribes of Avalon are currently having a monster problem of their own… Especially your tribe…” If the people of Avalon were being beset by monstrous spiders, it was their job as monster hunters to lend their aid. It could also serve as Hunter’s first experience fighting monsters before facing their quarry.
“I have already made up my mind. I’m going back to Avalon before the snow piles up and makes travel into there nearly impossible. If you want, you can follow me. If not, you can meet me in Avalon once the snow melts and stay in the city during the winter. Whichever you choose, I will accept.” Sorin finally stated. He wondered what the young man would say to all of this. He could find allies and information here about the monster they were hunting or follow Sorin into what was most likely an arachnid hell.

@Hunter Clavon || words: ###

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As Hunter was still smirking about the belching and the fact that he had given it a number along with a fairly good review – at least, he found that to be the case himself – he was not really prepared for what Sorin had to say. The young man stopped laughing as soon as Sorin spoke his words and turned around, frowning when Sorin told him about Avalon. Had he been so thickheaded about Avalon that he had ignored all of the rumors or did Sorin just know who to speak to to gain that information? Hunter thought that Avalon was pretty cut off from Ravaryn and that talk about the fallen kingdom was almost slim to none, but it seemed to be that wasn’t the case. Hunter tensed when Sorin spoke about his tribe, wondering what had happened to them. He didn’t really like them, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to turn his back on them whenever they were in trouble. He almost felt obliged to go back to Avalon, although the thought didn’t sit really well with him. Not after so much trouble of getting out of that damn place.

”There’s no way I’m going to stay here without you,” was the first thing he said. He needed Sorin to gather information and to get some good fighting lessons and he didn’t want to be stuck in Ravaryn by himself. He wasn’t ever going to admit it out loud to the man, but he had grown to quite like the company of the older man around him. Leaving him felt worse than returning to Avalon. ”But you need to give me more information than that. What monsters are we talking about and why is my tribe more in trouble than other tribes in Avalon?” His thoughts went for a short moment to Aelisia, wondering if she was in trouble as well. He sighed annoyedly. He had wanted to leave her and Avalon behind him, but it seemed to be the one thing he couldn’t do. But returning to Avalon and fighting the monsters didn’t mean that he had to see her, right? And after all was said and done, he could return to Ravaryn with Sorin, right?

It didn’t have to be a forever decision to get back to Avalon. After they had done their business there, they could go back to Ravaryn and carry on with whatever they were doing. This serious matter would be over and all would be good.

There're still monsters out there, I should know.

Hunter seemed to tense up when his tribe was mentioned. Perhaps the youngster was more attached to the place he called home than he himself had realized. Regardless, it was not Sorin's desire to meddle in such personal things. Their decision regarding the spiders was far more important to him.
Hunter's instance to stay with him was understandable, but Hunter would need to be able to stand on his own two feet if he ever wanted to wander further from the forest.
Hunter's questions were understandable, but he wasn't going to like the answer to either of them. “Spiders... Big ones from what I heard.” Sorin calmly stated before finding the courage to explain the following: “As for your tribe, I heard that one of the chiefs had gone missing. It could just be a rumor though, but from what I heard it was the Lost Serpent tribe's chief.” He quickly tried to remedy the bad news by adding: “It is just a rumor and I wouldn't put much stock in the rumors of traveling merchants. They can embellish the truth from time to time, but the venemous monster spider problem seems to be confirmed.”
Sorin carefully studied Hunter's reaction to what he told him. Perhaps there were still people in his tribe or in Avalon that the young man had a strong connection with. Sorin understood the want to protect those close to him, but if they were foolhardy it would only end with an early death.
“I guess I'm gonna have to double your training on the road to Avalon then.” Sorin said with an evil grin. If the boy was going to fight monsters and gain on-hands experience, he was going to have to train twice as long and twice as hard.

@Hunter Clavon || words: ###

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