Unread postby Arganaut » January 12th, 2011, 7:01 pm
Quests and Characters: Felix of Assassin Quest and Cassandra of untitled quest
Authors: The fantabulous team of Arganaut and ewuvi
Dire Bunnies
A deep, dark winter. That’s the best way Felix could think to describe his surroundings as he trudged through the few feet of snow that were on the ground. Even as the time of day was meant to be high noon, the suffocating cloud coverage above snuffed out much of the light, leaving the forest he was moving through dark and foreboding.
It was also cold... very cold. Even underneath greatly padded on versions of his robes, with gloves and fur lining no less, he could still feel the season’s bite at him. His face was mostly wrapped to avoid his nose or lips falling off from frostbite, leaving only his piercing eyes to scan the horizon.
It had been a few weeks now that he’d been sent off, his job to search for someone the locals called the ‘Nightmare Queen’, an apparently evil entity that ‘haunted’ the forest and caused the death of a few hunters some time ago. Finally having had enough of the Queen, they sent for people more qualified to kill than most, assassins.
Felix couldn’t help but feel he was being sent on a goose chase, however. This ‘Nightmare Queen’ probably didn’t even exist, and the hunters were probably just an unfortunate accident. Still, pay was pay, and if Felix could march around the forest for just another day or so, the Guild would get paid by the town regardless of whether this Queen was actually found.
The young assassin knelt down towards the snow to look for tracks. Not like there was any to be found: the fresh snow drift was keeping a fresh layer of powder atop the feet of ice cold snow at all times, meaning he could barely tell if anything had walked by, except if he looked right behind him at the fresh tracks he was making.
Felix was about ready to call it a day when a huge furry blur dashed across the horizon. It would have been just alarming, but the sound of a laugh echoed across the vast, snow-covered plain. Felix was greatly unsettled by this turn of events. The possibility of these people being right about this sort of entity existing, and with these conditions, wouldn’t bode well for him.
Still, the assassin had, apparently, found his target. Pulling from his back his trusting crossbow, and giving his left wrist a flick to test the hidden blade in his vambrace, Felix began to follow the fresh tracks made by the furry blur at a quick pace, attempting to be sure that he would be ready for another pass by it. He’d rather not end up with some beast just swiping him by and clawing off a good portion of his protective robes... too cold for such a thing.
The tracks led to a tiny hut, almost completely obscured by the snow. It would have been near impossible to find if the tracks hadn’t led directly to it. Felix couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at this. He had heard of overconfidence, but leading someone directly to where you (or something) lives?
Either this Nightmare Queen was powerful enough to disregard him as a threat, or she was greatly overconfident in herself. Attempting to keep his wits about him, Felix made as good an attempt to sneak to the hut as he could, his efforts hampered by the snow that crunched as he set his feet down.
His crossbow at the ready, Felix approached the door to the hut, and worked his way inside.
It was empty.
The door opened again and a girl younger than Alecia poked her face in, her eyes glimmering in good humor. Felix, admittedly, was somewhat taken aback by such a non-threatening person making an appearance, dropping his crossbow somewhat as he made a move to speak.
“Hello, would you happen to be this Nightmare Queen I was told about?” The assassin asked cautiously.
The girl laughs, a low, happy sound. “Yes, that’s what they call me.”
“... You’re... kidding, right?” Felix asked, this time his voice carried a unbelieving tone. He couldn’t seriously have been sent to kill a young girl... there’s no way people are that paranoid.
“No, no, not at all. See, the villagers have a flare for the dramatic, and a girl-child taking out poachers and living with the Dires scares them. Not without reason, of course, but still.”
Felix couldn’t help but stare at this young girl. On the one hand, she was indeed the target he had been paid to kill, which would ordinarily mean that right about now would be the time to either get her with the crossbow or one of his blades.
On the other hand he’d been led to believe that this Nightmare Queen was some kind of unnatural abomination, which meant he was expecting either absolutely nothing or something a little more kill-worthy than a young woman.
Weighing the gold he’d been paid over the frustration of being sent to kill someone whose only real mark against her was killing poachers and being a recluse. If Felix started judging people negatively for just killing others, especially in some form of defense, then he’d might as well hang up his assassin’s robes then and there. Plus, what was the Guild but an entire island of recluses who, every few days, went out to kill people?
Felix sighed, placing the crossbow onto his back and relaxing his demeanor.
“Hmm,” she commented with a slight frown, “I expected at least a token attempt...but I guess I can’t See everything with perfect clarity, eh?” she tapped her temple with one gloved finger, winking.
Felix raised an eyebrow.
“So, you... are magical?” Felix asked, trying to describe the best term for what she had just hinted at.
“I don’t think so,” she replied, “I mean, if I had magic I’d be doing cool crap, not living out in the middle of nowhere chillin’ with the man-eating wolves, right?”
“Heh-” Felix chuckled slightly, shrugging his shoulders in response. “-fair point. Still doesn’t give me much to go on as far as what exactly you meant by ‘See’ anyway. Did you see me coming or something like that?”
“Yes, but not like you’re thinking, I’m guessing. I saw you take the assignment. Usually I only see things when they get violent, but I’ve gotten better at watching for this sort of thing, especially when it threatens me or...certain others.”
“Still, nonetheless I have to admit this isn’t something I’ve come across before. Someone who saw me coming before I was even on the same piece of earth as they were.”
“Ah, well, you probably wouldn’t. I don’t know if very many people like me exist, but I expect anyone with similar tendencies would’ve either committed suicide by now, or gone on an epic murderous rampage,” she shrugged, “not that I haven’t done the latter, but, well...”
“Wait... ‘epic murderous rampage’?” Alright, maybe she wasn’t as harmless as she seemed. “Just... how many of those have you been on before?”
“Not many, I assure you, and most of them were to try and protect my pack or people I hold very dear. I’ve come to dislike violence. It’s hard for me to kill, knowing how many shattered lives I’m leaving behind. However, I’m very, very good at hurting people,” she added, looking a bit ashamed.
“I can’t imagine such a view over killing and hurting people gives you a very good impression of me then, on top of the whole ‘I was assigned to kill you’ thing, it must be a bit of a sticking point.” Felix commented slowly... while he didn’t necessarily feel unsafe with her having said that, he had to admit that the statement didn’t exactly help keep him settled as far as his presence here was concerned.
“Yeah, you’re the type I would typically feed to my pets,” she affirmed.
“Well then... not that I’m not grateful, but if that’s the case why aren’t I pet food by now?”
She laughed again, “A very, very crazy, very nice man helped me learn to live with this world. I can’t simply go about killing everyone who kills people. How am I any better if I do that? And I see the worst in people. I don’t know what you’re like at your best,” she smiled gently, “So, I’m going to let you show me your best.”
Felix raised an eyebrow at that. Admittedly, it didn’t sound too bad, but he just had to wonder what exactly her bar was for ‘I won’t feed you to my pets’ was.
“Alright... certainly better than being eaten outright.” Felix commented cautiously.
“I think you underestimate yourself,” the girl said absently, “I may be able to ‘See’ quite accurately your plans, but that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t best me in straight up combat.
On the other hand, there are about a dozen very hungry critters out there that would probably react badly to that.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I’m an assassin: good at killing people, not animals.” Felix said with a bit of a self-deprecating chuckle. “So, I think ‘trying to kill the leader of the wolf pack’ is pretty much at the bottom of my plans for getting out of here alive.”
“Carrying large quantities of bacon on your person is also not a good idea,” she replied in a serious tone.
“Well, that’s just plain obvious.” Felix said with a bit of a laugh. “Only a madman would carry a large amount of meat in a wilderness filled with carnivorous animals.”
She giggles, “Speaking of meat, do you want to have dinner? Trudging through the snow is a good way to work up an appetite.”
Felix bit his lip, in one instance not wanting to be imposing... but, in the next, realizing that he was rather hungry.
“I suppose if you’re offering I would join you for dinner.” Felix said with a small bow of his head.
“Good good,” she replied, clapping her hands in delight. “Okay, so, I’ve only got a fork and a spoon. Which do you want?” she wandered over to a cabinet and pulled out a basket of biscuits.
“I suppose I’ll take the spoon.” Felix said, flashing out the hidden blade. “I can just stick stuff on this and eat off of it... might be an abuse of what its meant for, but hey, when hasn’t improvising been a good thing?”
“Indeed,” she smiled and stuck a pot over the hot embers in the fireplace, adding some wood and poking at it until a small fire heated the hut. “Rabbit or some kind of game bird?”
“As I’m not exactly sure how rabbit tastes, I’ll go with the more sure-fire game bird, if you don’t mind.” Felix said, looking around for some place to take a seat.
“Sit on the sewing chair. The one with the needles in the armrests,” she indicated, “It’s the comfiest.”
“Well, aren’t you a very generous host.” Felix said with a small smile, taking a seat on the sewing chair.
“I don’t have many guests. And store owners tend not to like me around here, for some strange reason,” she smirked and started throwing things into the pot, stirring it with some sort of wooden utensil.
“I guess that’s just going to be one of life’s little mysteries.” Felix joked as he watched her stir the materials in the pot. “So, you’ve been surviving just by hunting and scavenging I take it?”
“Yep,” she nodded, “This is a horribly bastardized version of chicken a la king,” she indicated the pot.
“Heh, still smells good, and can’t be much worse than just downing trail rations while out heading for a destination.”
“Eh, I think anything fresh-ish is good. Having to kill your own food teaches a proper respect for life and death,” she looked back, “Something I think everyone could benefit from.”
“At my Guild we’re taught to simply send off those we kill with a quick prayer... I’m not sure if it is meant to respect the corpse, or to allow us to remove the kill from our mind quickly, so that we may focus on getting away.” Felix admitted solemnly, leaning back into the chair.
Something cold and dangerous crept into the girls eyes, “Yes, absolve yourselves of guilt so you can enjoy the benefits of the lives you destroyed.”
“... I’m not going to pretend that isn’t true to a great degree. It is in the nature of our work as assassins to be paid for such a thing... and I will admit that we are well fed and well kept at our home. Still, that doesn’t mean the guilt over our actions leave most of us.” Felix said sardonically, resting his head into his hand. “There are deaths I have been the cause of in the days before I was permitted to choose my own targets that were men either chosen by our employers for petty reasons or less... I don’t forget those, and I don’t pretend I did not cause them.”
The girl whipped around, murder in her eyes. She took a deep breath and relaxed. “I...will have faith,” she murmured to herself. “I will feed you, and I will give you a gift, and you will go,” she said at last.
“... I understand. Thank you.” Felix said, nodding his head again. “I’m sorry this conversation went this direction.”
“What other direction could it go?” she sighed, “Don’t worry, it’s my problem, not yours. Oh! It’s bubbling!” she rushed over to the cabinet and pulled out a couple of plates, ripping rolls in half and arranging them before spooning some of the hot mixture over them. “Here. And after dinner, I have something to give to you.”
“Thank you.” He said, taking the meal. “You don’t have to give me anything, allowing me to depart in one piece is quite the gift already.”
She smiled, “You underestimate yourself, assassin.” She ate quickly and disappeared outside, reentering with something tucked in her jacket.
“Like I said... not so good against Dire animals. Besides that, I’ve already chosen not to kill you... I do have standards, you know.”
The Nightmare Queen laughs and plops a small white bunny onto Felix’s lap. “This is the great-great grandspawn of Sir Reginald,” she said solemnly. “Take care of him, and remember, even the smallest thing can be a hero.”
Felix looked at the small rabbit in wonder, before looking up at her. “Is this the last of this ‘Sir Reginald’s’ spawn?” Felix asked, although not knowing who Sir Reginald was, he was fairly certain that this young girl was close to it, having taken care of its line for so long.
“Certainly not,” she smirked, “they’re rabbits after all. But this fellow does have a strong resemblance to Sir Reginald. And Dire Bunnies are quite terrifying to Southlanders. I’m sure he could help you.”
Felix pet the small rabbit across the head, being careful of the little creature. “Are you... I mean, this must be... thank you. I appreciate this.” Felix said, nodding his head in gratitude. “I’ll be sure to take care of him.” Felix said... before shaking his head. “You know, I’ve been spending all this time being on my toes I haven’t had the good sense to present myself. Felix Marchello, you?”
“Call me whatever you like,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes, “I’ve got at least a dozen or more names by now.”
“Which one was your favorite?”
She grinned, “Whatever the person I’m with is calling me at the moment. Except maybe Nightmare Queen. That’s just silly.”
“It is silly...” Felix said, smiling as he thought for a moment. “Claire, it means clear... like your sight, apparently.” Felix commented with a small smile.
“Claire,” she repeated. “Yes, I like that one a lot. Thank you for visiting me Felix.”
Felix laughed as he stood up. “I’ve never been thanked for being sent to do someone in... but this was nice. I promise that if I’m ever up here again, it will have nothing to do with business... and everything to do with another visit.” Felix said, offering her the hand that wasn’t holding the rabbit.
Claire took the hand and shook it firmly, “Until then, then.”
“Yes... until then.” Felix said, smiling as he held the rabbit underneath his robes. With one last wave he exited the tent, heading back in the direction he had come.
This assignment had turned out far better than he had thought it would, he would later admit.