Hunted

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    He'd never been to the Caspariak mountains. That was the thought in Jack's mind when he'd found himself eating candy at home with nothing to do. No new video games to play, no television to watch. Nothing! It had seemed like a good idea at the time, so the young man had loaded up, packing his usual travel gear, and prepared for a brand new adventure. He'd set out as soon as possible, fully intending to add the legendary mountain range to the map he'd been crafting of Nysa before the years end. Now he was trudging along, wondering if he'd manage to walk the entire span before he felt so tired that he was ready to lie down and die.

    "Shoulda brought a guide," The young mage muttered to himself as he searched the horizon as best he could for some sort of landmark to help make note of his progress. Jack had felt that he neither needed nor desired a guide when he'd been beginning a journey and, now that he was feeling terribly lost, was beginning to regret that unfortunate decision somewhat. The climate was terribly chilly for this time of year and the high altitude was most likely aggravating his mood.

    Jack came across a shallow cave, barely more than an alcove really, set in the face of one of the towering spires of rock and  decided that it would be a suitable place for rest, considering that he only really had an hour or two of daylight left. The young man was too tired from his travels to risk teleporting home so he began assembling the small tent he'd packed, setting it against the cliff face so that he'd have some decent shelter from the wind. He really was unsure of how cold it would get during the night, so Jack left his heavier items behind and went to grab a little firewood before the sun set.

[Mozoga]

     Mozoga was doing something she loved to do, and that was hunting. Her hunting always involved hunting one of the many dangerous creatures of Nysa, but she did not always do it just for pleasure. Many times she hunted for money, being paid by towns and villages to dispose of troubles or even extremely dangerous and violent monsters and creatures that plagued the towns around Nysa. This time, Mozoga was doing it simply for pleasure. She had never hunted a Caspariak before, and now she was going to. So Mozoga had packed her things, making sure to pack extremely warm furs because up in the mountains it would become extremely cold. With that she had set off, making her way to the Caspariak mountains.

     It had taken several days of hiking and travel to make it to the mountains, then about a entire full day of hiking up the mountains to get to this spot. So it was much to Mozoga's surprise and intrigue that she found a tent, pitched just beside a small alcove beside the cave. She wondered what poor being could possibly want to be up here besides herself at this time of year, much less this time of the day. Swaddled in deep furs to keep her warm, Mozoga approached the camp and stopped about ten paces away. She raised her hand to her mouth, covering it partially to try and project her voice a bit more before calling out.

     "Hello! Ish anybody home?!"

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Jack was just returning to his campsite with a bundle of firewood under his arm when he heard someone calling out toward his tent. He quickly dropped, relying on the rugged terrain and the distance between them to keep him hidden while he tried to ascertain whether or not they meant him any harm. The figure was quite large though their stance did not seem too particularly aggressive.

    What were the odds of encountering another traveler on these mountains? The young mage wondered. Truthfully, he didn’t know. But from their reputation for danger and the deadly creatures that inhabited them, Jack figured the odds couldn’t be very high. But then again, they hadn’t attacked his tent, hoping to catch him unawares, or rifled through his things so they probably didn’t mean any harm. Probably. He sighed and rose to his feet, picking the firewood back up and continuing to make his way back to the camp he’d set up.

    “They are now,” Ten called out once he was close enough to do so. Somewhat surprisingly, the hulking individual he’d spied from far away was female and, though she seemed familiar, the young mage couldn’t quite put his finger on what race she seemed to be.

    Casually walking past her, outside of arms reach, the young man dropped the kindling near the rocky outcropping before turning to look at Mozoga. Jack scratched his chin, a shiver coursing through him as he studied her face, causing his brown eyes to glance away briefly to survey the wilderness around them before looking back.

    “What’s up?”

[Mozoga]

     Mozoga paused when the voice finally responded. Not sure if the person had been lurking outside the camp or not, she turned and gazed upon the individual. As they walked past, Mozoga gasped then began to laugh. The orc laughed hard and long, slapping her thighs and shaking her head because she recognized the male who had appeared from outside the camp. Finally catching her breath, standing up straight again she gazed at the individual and had to attempt to keep from laughing. She could not believe that she had run in to this individual again, after only a few weeks.

     Once again fully composed of herself, Mozoga finally could speak with out snorting laughter from the irony of the situation of seeing this young human male again.

     "Hello, Ten." She said, smiling an enormous smile that showed off her small tusks and warmed her entire face despite the fact the smile was not the most beautiful, it was sincere and warm all the way to the orcess' eyes.

     "Do you not remember me? We went on a mishion together to shave my goddesh a few weeksh ago."

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Jack didn't really understand why she was laughing and it kinda hurt his feelings, since part of him couldn't help but suspect the joke was at his expense. Luckily, he was mature enough to brush it off and grab on to the words that came next, something he could understand. Well, mostly, anyways.

    "Expedition?" The young man mumbled, peering at the stranger more closely. Her thighs did seem awfully familiar and he hadn't done much traveling with many orcs lately. The goddess part sealed it, for sure. Jack had only been on one religious themed journey lately while accompanied by an orc like that and it was one he still remembered, even if it had started out slow and seemed to drag on for months and months. "Oh, right. I couldn't forget that particular expedition. I just have a poor sense of the passing of time and some things feel like ages ago while others feel like yesterday."

    "Mozoga, right? I do remember you, but what are you doing all the way out here? These mountains are a long ways away from where we met last time." The young man asked, curious. Mozoga was awfully smiley and it even seemed genuine, which was strange to him because Jack could vaguely recall being somewhat rude to her on their trip, though he wasn't entirely sure why he'd been so cranky. It wasn't because of low blood sugar so maybe it had been because he'd gone for such a long period of time without killing anything. He did remember that trip as not being too particularly bloody. But whatever the reason, he should've been more friendly.

    "I wanna apologize for the way I treated you on that journey. I have my downs and attraction throws me sometimes," Jack ran one hand through the unkempt head of thick brown curls he'd allowed to grow during his travels, trying to not to look too embarrassed for the proposition that was coming next as he met her eyes with a warm smile of his own. "I'm not gonna bug you with my poor excuses and this isn't a plot to win your forgiveness or anything, but if you'd like to rest your feet for a minute, my camp is right here and, being the good host that I am, I'd totally let you use the lawn chair while I get the fire started."

[Mozoga]

     Mozoga nodded as the male finally recognized her, her smile remaining in place. She was glad that she was not forgotten, at least entirely after their trip. Not that the male had been the nice to her, as he himself pointed out. Mozoga did not care if he was overly nice to her or not though. She was not one to hold grudges of such little consequence for a long time. Dislike, whether it was for short periods of time or long lapses of life, could be easily patched like armor. It was when somebody turned dislike in to aggression and violence towards herself or her friends (the few she had) that she could not forgive so easily. So instead she raise her left hand and brushed his forgiveness away from herself.

     "There ish no needsh for you to apologish, Ten. We barely had time to get to know each other and it can be easily forgiven. Water under the bridges, sho they shay right?"

Hearing him inviting her to his camp, she didn't hesitate and walked over to where the male had obviously been working upon a fire. She passed on the lawn chair, it looked to flimsy for her size and thus fairly higher then average weight, and sat cross legged upon the ground. The male had asked her why she was where she was, and so she decided to tell him.

     "I ish hunting. Hunting as cashpariak, in fact. Their fur would be greatly usheful in helping to keep myshelf warm whenever I go hunting, and villagersh nearby have shaid sheveral lurk about thish mountain area. Alsho, it ish great honor to kill cashpariak and would help me look better to the villagersh around and nearby."