Vitriosk and I have had this RP going for about 6 weeks now, although it feels like longer, and this is probably one of my favourite posts I'd written for it. It's a RP about a young elf (Juniper) who's family is destroyed by a group of Orcs, and a barbarian half-giant (Red) who finds her in the ashes of her home. He agrees to train her and help her get stronger to defeat the beasts and avenge her family, if she agrees to do as he tells her. Here, we join them after Juniper has snuck out of camp to follow Red at night despite him warning her not to. She left her sword behind and stumbled across him attacking a nearby camp, so he forced her to join the fight. Now, they're back at camp on the next morning and Juniper awaits her punishment before they start their real training.
Juniper waited quietly while Red stood, her golden-brown eyes fixed on a point just past his shoulder. Her mind whirled to the many possibilities of what he would do for disobeying - would he shout? Snarl? Or would he be physical, would he punish her with hand or with blade? Whatever he intended, she would take it. Deep breaths kept her calm but even so, there was a churning in the pit of her stomach of anticipation. She had never been punished as a child, not seriously. Scolded, yes, but a stern word was far from what she expected from the brute before her. The tiny elf had seen what he was capable of in the camp they had visited, memories of what she had witnessed flashed to the forefront of her mind and although she tried to shut them out, they persisted with increasing intensity.
As he stood, his height towering above her and casting her in shadow, the youngling felt a thousand times smaller. Like a mouse staring into the eyes of a ferocious and unforgiving lion, her heart thumped in her chest so hard that she felt as though it were about to burst through her sternum and fall at his feet. Although she tried her best to appear brave and willing to take what he gave, her body betrayed her. Her complexion paled and her legs struggled to stay still, shifting her weight from foot to foot as her instincts begged her to run from the encroaching danger. She couldn't bring herself to look at the approaching barbarian, even as he walked towards her she kept her gaze fixed on a branch behind him until finally, as he filled her entire view, she had to close her eyes.
The hand on her head surprised her and the weight of his coarse paw caused her to flinch, despite her best efforts. Upon realizing his touch was not that of violence, her eyes shot open and she stared up at her teacher. The fragile little elf, who he could so easily snap in half should he so choose, frozen in place beneath the hand that would crush her. Still unsure of him, weary of him, she wished beyond all else she could hear his thoughts. To know what was going on inside that mind so far more experienced than her own. Where she expected anger and rage, she found disappointment. In a way, a strange and twisted way, it felt worse. Juniper was surprised to find herself saddened by this revelation, did she really wish he were angry instead? Surely not... When he turned away, she almost moved towards him, wanting to take hold of his arm, to beg for his forgiveness. She wanted to do whatever she could to replace that disappointment with something else, anything else, but something kept her frozen to her place.
His words struck her cold. She had known it was likely he had considered leaving her, what was she to him but a burden? She was a stranger to him, she was no family to the giant, he had made that clear several times. Yet, to hear the truth of it still felt like a blow to the stomach. The great warrior was all she had left in the world now, she had attached herself to him whether he had wanted her or not and she had repaid him by not only disobeying, but disappointing him. A sly tear strayed down her cheek which she hastily wiped away before there were any chance of him seeing. Fear had turned to shame now and though there was still a pain in her stomach, now it had a different name. Guilt.
"I'm sorry, Red," she whispered meekly, unable to talk above the lump in her throat. This was far worse than any punishment he could have bestowed. Bruises healed quickly in comparison to heartbreak. Untrained fingers traced the pommel on her sword, her posture drooping as his words weighed her down. He was right, she had gone back on her oath. Already she had broken a promise - what was to keep her from breaking another? Her heart sank as he continued so that by the time he had turned back to face her, her cheeks were stained with tears. The silence that fell between them was deafening. She wanted badly to say something that would make it better, that would fix what had been done, but she knew there was nothing. What was done, was done and there was no turning back. Only forwards. "I'll do better, Red. I'll be better." She nodded, almost trying to convince herself as much as her teacher.
The change in his tone was oddly a comfort to her. It felt as though he had returned to his former state of mind, that he was putting it behind him like she wanted to. Glad to do so, she shook herself and shifted her stance to stand up straight once again, grateful beyond words that he had again chosen to keep her at his side and wondering how many more chances she had left... His approach this time didn't fill her with the fear it had before, though it wasn't lost on her how backwards it was that she should be less fearful of his more aggressive manner. It felt more... him.
The intensive list of workouts, training regimes and routines sounded like more hard work than she had ever experienced in her short life - it filled her with trepidation and worry. Juniper knew it was for her own good, that it would prepare her for what was to come and that they only had a short time to complete her training, but even so a small part of her wondered if it was even possible. Could she build herself up to what he expected of her? Or would she fall and be unable to finish what she started? A memory of their first day drifted to mind, of a request made of the giant-kin should she be unable to perform her task. I only ask that if that time comes, you take it with my father's sword. I do not want this life to continue if it will not end in retribution. Would he? If she failed in her training, if she didn't make it to the finish line in time, would he take her life and end her suffering?
Only time would tell.
Silence. Every step an absence of noise, even through the dried leaves of the forest floor. With every placement of a graceful foot the young elf exhaled slowly, even the beat of her own heart slow and steady. Weeks of training, a time so short that it had been nigh impossible, had brought Juniper to a level higher than she could have dared dream. Her instincts from a time long past, passed down to her through her ancestors, had taken hold and encouraged her along the way. Her lithe figure had bulked with toned muscle, where once she had appeared meek and quiet, now was strong and intense. Her gaze no longer held the innocence of a small farm girl but the strength of a barbarian in training. Blood stained her once pale complexion as she had learnt after only a few days that washing was almost pointless - as soon as she had bathed, Red would push her into more dirt, more training, more hunting. In the end, she had accepted the muck that coated her in much the same way the giant-kin had.
The time that had passed was spent in mostly pain. Every day she had completed whatever task Red had thrown at her and every night she had collapsed into their camp with aching muscles. The elfling had hoped that after a few days, her body would adjust and it would get easier but of course this wasn't the case. Any time she seemed to begin finding anything easy, Red would push her further. The tasks would get harder. The routine would get longer. On one day, she had intentionally put less effort in, slowing herself only a fraction in an attempt to fool him into thinking she was struggling. Maybe if he didn't see her improve, he wouldn't increase the level of difficulty for a few more days? How wrong she had been. Juniper had learnt her lesson quickly that any lack of effort would be met with only an increase in her work, doubly-so.
The elfling had felt her body growing over the weeks. Every time she climbed up into the trees, she had felt her arms getting stronger. Every run, every sprint had been quicker. Her fragile body was no longer weak but strong and refined. Her speed had increased too, she had learnt how to move through the trees without causing disturbance to the world around her and to step in silence without having to look where she was placing her foot. She felt wild and free, as though she were the wind itself as she moved amongst the land. Had this been how her ancestors had felt hundreds of years ago when they were the people of the forest? She hoped so.
Now she relied on those inherited skills more than ever as she crept through the brush, her sunken tired eyes fixated on the deer in the glade just ahead of her. In the fading light of dusk, it moved tentatively through the grass to graze cautiously. It's golden coat shimmered in the last dying light of the sun and it's antlers stood proud upon it's high head. Truly, it was a thing of beauty and grace. It also, unknowingly, was bathing in it's last ever rays of sun. It only took the elfling a moment, a single fleeting second at the right opportunity to dart forwards and slide her blade smoothly up through the beasts chest and into it's pumping heart. The woodland creature was dead before it had even realized she was there. Helping it's lifeless form to the ground away from her so as not to be crushed by it's weight, the tiny elf gave a silent thank you for it's life. A month ago she would have cried to have brought such a majestic and beautiful creature to it's end, but now she knew better. It's sacrifice would feed her and Red as well as provide for them and the other creatures of the forest in other ways so that it's body were not a waste. It died so that others could live.
At the site of the kill, she gutted the beast and piled what was not needed to one side, knowing that something would find nourishment from what was left behind during the night. Using vines she had woven several days prior, she tied a loop around the legs to keep them together and prevent them from flailing while she transported it. With a groan of effort, she grabbed it's great antlers and began to pull it back towards the camp she had built for her and Red to spend the night. She would not be quiet on the way back, but now she had no need to be.
By the time she returned to the camp, night had finished it's approach and the light of the fire guided her way through the last remnants of trees into the space they were intending to stay the night. Dragging the dead beast into camp, she stumbled across the threshold and deposited her prize beside the fire, collapsing beside it with a heavy sigh of exhaustion.
"It's taken two days..." she gasped, running her fingers through the gilded fur, "but I finally got it." Juniper had tracked the deer after having spotted it in the distance on the other side of a river. She had begged Red to let her try, determined to use it as a test for herself. She had caught many small mammals, snared plenty of rabbits, but never anything larger than a fox. Now, she had felled a grand king of the woods and she couldn't be prouder of herself. She planned to skin it, use it's pelt and perhaps even it's antlers if she could find a use for them. Before any of that however, her stomach growled in protest. Yes, first came dinner.