Last Pair Of Legs (Rayleigh)

The harsh winter winds of Salvar made it tough for Vitae, while he seemed to have a lot more vitality than a regular person when it came to enduring the elements and going without food, he was still just a human. Ever since he left the temple, he’d been living off scraps and whatever Azoth could find for him. Especially as a vegan, there was not much to be had at all in terms of food in such a wasteland. Azoth worried for his master, unsure of their future if they kept living the way they did. Vitae placed a tender hand over the baby dragon's back sensing his anxiety and reassured him that everything was going to be ok.

Vitae disliked the idea of leaving Azoth alone, or having him fetch food on his own. Dragons were extremely rare and it’d be difficult to keep him safe. What he did know however, was that Azoth was very loyal, it was his oath to protect and serve Vitae, and he was confident that he wouldn’t be betrayed. Which meant it was on Vitae to make sure he didn’t let Azoth down.

Vitae picked himself up from the nest of the snowy alleyway and set out to find something to eat, he often searched the dumps of taverns and inns looking for vegetation that wasn’t going to sicken him. Sometimes he’d get by exchanging stories for a meal, but that was a very rare occurrence, especially for a 'kid' like him. Xul had taught him, that a great darkness magus would be able to find his way even in the darkest of times. Though, he didn't think he made a very good darkness magus. He seemed much more in tune with light and healing than anything else.

Azoth smelt the air, his famished eyes darting Vitae's attention towards a tavern as if begging Vitae to get him something. "I don't know if they'll accept us Azoth. I heard magi aren't very welcome in Salvar... maybe it was premature to leave the temple so soon" Vitae grumbled. Azoth jumped away from Vitae's side and scrambled towards the tavern "Azoth, get back here!" Vitae commanded, but Azoth was still young and unruly, and he was a hungry little dragon.

Azoths small size allowed him to sneak into the tavern unnoticed for the moment. His youth filled eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Dragon!" Shrieked a voice from the tavern as Azoth came bursting out of its doors with a leg of ham in his mouth, salivating all over it as his cartoonish figure bumbled towards Vitae. Vitae's eyes widened, what a failure of a master he was.

"Get that dragon!" Howled the barkeep. "He's got my ham!" Yelled one of the customers.

Vitae reflected on his situation and reflected on the teachings of his wise teachers. Exodus would straighten himself in a firm demeanour and say 'The virtuous always face adversity head on, and accept any and all challenges thrown at them'. However, Goro would say 'Nature's a harsh mistress, sometimes it's smarter to high tail it and live for another day son' Vitae nodded in agreement with his inner dialogue and bolted as Azoth took flight making his way out towards the frosty forest to eat in peace...

"Salvar?" Rayleigh whined. "Why Salvar?"

Vincent regarded his friend for a moment, managing to appear both annoyed and amused at the same time. "Because you agreed to help me cleanse the Red Forest. Remember?" He cocked an eyebrow. "You aren't going to go back on that promise already, are you? We haven't even started yet."

The brunette's lips pursed. "You didn't say anything about Salvar."

A third emotion, astonishment, now mingled with the aforementioned two. "You're kidding," he countered incredulously. "You're seriously willing to put up with killer plants, shapeshifting wolves, and god knows what else, but you draw the line at Salvar?"

Rayleigh loosed a half-shrug, her expression growing sheepish. "It's cold."

"Cold," he echoed. He rolled his eyes, and with a flick of his wrist, summoned his familiar blue portal. It swirled just behind Rayleigh, who made a conscious effort not to look at it. His command was stern, but not unkind. "Go!" When she did not, he gave her a gentle shove, sending her stumbling back through the magic curtain.

It took her only three backward steps to pass into Salvar, and the frigid cold enveloped her like a very heavy, very uncomfortable blanket. She shivered against it, and then cringed as her brown boots crunched across the snow. In truth, it was not as cold as she had feared it would be. It was colder.

"Vince," she cried out, emerald eyes merely narrowed slits as she squinted back through the portal. "Could I at least get some warmer clothes first?"

She could see him on the opposite, far warmer, side of the magical path. Though his form shimmered slightly, she could still make out his bemused expression. Ray watched him leave, and return a minute later, his arms filled with a bundle of brown fabric. She took a step forward to retrieve it, but was startled when he instead threw it at her. It slapped across her face, and slipped down her body to land at her feet. By the time she had finished scooping it up, the portal was gone.

"Asshole," the woman growled as she tugged on the heavy coat; her fingers, white and trembling, struggled with the buttons. It was only after she was slightly warmer that she gave her surroundings a once-over. Her gaze found and held that of a terrified old man, who stood only twenty feet off. He clutched a roughly carved cane to his chest, as if he might use it against her. Given his twig-like arms, and the way his knees knocked as he watched her, she suspected it would not be much of a fight.

Sympathy coursed through her. What sort of scene had this poor elder just witnessed? A portal had belched out a woman and a jacket, before disappearing once more. In a place like Salvar, where magic was both rare and discouraged, she doubted he had ever seen anything like it. Her lips parted helplessly as she tried to find some words of explanation, or reassurance. Fortunately, another shout saved her the trouble.

"Dragon?" she echoed, her eyes widening with excitement. The mechanic had only read of such beasts, but never seen one herself. The opportunity to finally do so was far too good to let pass. So she offered the stranger an apologetic smile, tucked her shoulder, and barreled off toward the source of the noise.

When she located the dragon, who scampered toward the nearby forest, she felt a inkling of disappointment at its small size. But the negative emotion could not hold a candle to the excitement that burned white-hot in her gut. Curiosity steered her, but mere adrenaline pumped her short legs and shorter arms faster.

Another figure moved alongside her, and between breaths, she called to him. "Did you see the dragon too?"

Vitae had managed to stay hidden from the view of the townsfolk as he bolted towards the forest, his connection to his partner allowing him to roughly navigate towards his location. He knew Exodus was right saying he shouldn't be so lenient with Azoth, but he couldn't help it, he was just a little whelp. However that little whelp would one day turn into big mean and nasty if he didn't train him properly, so it was his duty to be a guide for the little one before he'd get himself into any more trouble.

Vitae trudged through the snow with great difficulty, robes weren't exactly the finest winter athletic gear. His arms waved about trying to keep his balance with his large willow staff which he had yet to personally name and enchant as an important process of his training as a magus. He seemed rather behind on a lot of things despite his bookworm knowledge.

As he finally made it into the forest itself he found himself being called out to. To his dread, someone was after Azoth. "Dragon? What dragon? There's no dragon." He blurted out. The strange woman who seemed to be as poorly equipped for the weather as he was looked as though she was having a difficult time believing him. Upon further inspection her outfit was unlike anything he'd ever seen before, as if it came from one of those steam powered cities he'd read so much about. "Fascinating" He whispered to himself.

Vitae straightened his back and took a deep breath, leaning greedily against his staff for support. His body had become particularly weak and out of shape from not having anything decent to eat the past few months. "I'm... just going for my daily run..." He seemed to stumble out, he could already feel Levi's judgemental glare searing through his back as if to say 'If you're going to lie at least try and make it somewhat believable'. The sad thing was that he was actually trying.

Azoth somewhere in the woods was perched upon a large rock, digging into his prize and savouring each small bite with a happy squeak. As he ate Azoths opal scales shone with a rainbow gleam, somewhat breaking through the mist of the snowy forest. Azoth sniffed the air making sure none of the people in the tavern had followed him and gave the giddiest smirk a shitter of a baby dragon could give.

Vitae's eyes darted around "Well, It was nice meeting you stranger. I'm going to go running over thisaway" He pointed towards Azoth, as to distract her from the real direction which he had headed and began to jog in a ridiculous fashion. It was a shame he had to go retrieve his scaly friend for he would have liked to converse with this intriguing young lady.

A morning run, eh? A devilish smile unfurled, darkening her expression. He was lying to her, and doing a very poor job of hiding the fact. What was his real reason for tromping through the snow? She suspected he would not be quick to reveal his true nature, but Rayleigh was never one to back down from a challenge. The mention of a dragon only made the situation more intriguing.

"Jogging in robes?" the brunette mused aloud, quirking an eyebrow his direction. "And with a big stick?" She was still huffing a bit, having pushed her limits to keep up with the taller man. Quickly, she made a mental note to incorporate more cardio (or, any cardio at all) into her routine. Her hands on her hips, she drew a deep breath, then leveled her emerald gaze on the stranger. He was tall, dark haired, and not bad looking, but the air of mystery that he wrapped about himself could have a lot to do with the last point.

Now past the tree line, the evergreens that towered above them provided only some solace from the whipping wind. Fat, heavy snowflakes tumbled from the gray sky, spattering every available surface. The woman pulled her hood down tighter over her head, but some wild, pinwheel curls of her dark hair were still peppered with snow. The jacket she wore was bulky, but not as warm as she might have hoped. It was better suited for a cool night in Alerar than the frigid air of Salvar. She wondered if Vincent knew that, and, having decided he did, she wondered how she might pay him back for the poor treatment.

Suddenly, the man was moving again. His hurried explanation was as convincing as his previous comment had been. That was, it was not the least bit convincing. "I'll join you!" Rayleigh informed him cheerfully, moving to fall in-step with the boy. "I hate running alone."

Vitae shot a glance back at her as he began to run. He really wondered how in the world he was going to deal with this situation, could he trust her? Well it wasn't like Azoth would happily give himself over to anyone anyway. "Don't like running alone huh?" He huffed as he ran. There was no way she was going to buy his excuses, and Azoth was close. They kept running for a good three minutes before Vitae stopped at a tree and turned to face the short woman, rather worn out himself. He wondered if living in a temple had something to do with him being so weak, even for someone who was starving.

Azoth could smell his master was close and was tired as well as somewhat distressed. He kept eating.

Vitae stood firm as if to put his foot down. She wasn't going to give up, people were so adamant when It came to rumours of dragons. "Ok, I lied. I hate running, and I'm super bummed out right now." He briefly scanned the area, it seemed no one else had made it this far. "The truth is that he's my dragon, and he's still a baby. You can't tell anyone, I have to protect him. He didn't mean to cause a fuss, he's just hungry." He paused taking another moment to catch his breath.

Azoth had finished eating and now since he had nothing better to do he made his back to his master. Jumping from the top of the stone and flapping his wings, Azoth quickly flew towards them.

Vitae sensed him coming and looked back, then quickly back at the woman. Vitae extended out his staff pointing it at her, he didn't want to fight, but he was sworn to protect Azoth. "Promise me you won't tell anyone or try to take him away." Vitae's eyes showing signs of panic.

Azoth flew over Vitae before landing in front of the woman. He looked up at her curiously before exchanging a glance back at Vitae who had his staff extended out to her.

The girl's hands rose, palms outstretched, in the universal sign of surrender. "Hey now," she countered, all humor draining from her expression. While the staff that he jabbed at her seemed harmless, Rayleigh was well aware of what a well-trained sorcerer could do with it. The stranger, in his billowing robes, certainly fit the description of wayward wizard. As she peered back at him through the lightly falling snow, she wondered if she had badly misinterpreted the situation.

"I'm not going to tell anyone," the brunette continued, "and I'm sure as hell not going to try to take him away. Why would I do that?" Yet even as she spoke the words, Ray found herself answering her own question. Why wouldn't she? This man knew as much about her as she knew about him, which was to say, literally nothing. He had no reason to assume that she was harmless, just as she had no business believing the same to be true about him.

Loosing a soft sigh that hung in the cool air, Rayleigh changed tactics. "I have a gun in my bag, for emergencies. But other than that, I'm unarmed." As a gesture of good faith, she slowly slid her worn leather bag off her shoulder, and let it fall to the snow. If the noise of the contents clattering against the snowy earth startled the dragon, it gave no indication. Instead, it continued to stare up at Ray, eyes round and full of wonder. There was a strange innocence in the look it gave her that nearly melted the woman's heart, despite Salvar's frigid temperature.

"Now." She moved her gaze back to the dragon's keeper. "Will you put that thing down, so we can talk?"