Author: Dae, Posted: Thu May 14, 2020 5:26 PM, Post Subject: Journey’s End [p.r]

Dae wanted Morrigan to feel safe. He didn’t want her to flinch at every shadow that happened to cross her path. There was much reason for her to fear the outside world considering the prejudice that she faced with being a banshee. The extermination crusade set against the world by the goddess Sirona was proof enough that Morrigan’s fear was not out of reason. She needed the ability to protect herself, and until that happened…Dae wanted to give her that sense of security. The touch to her back occurred out of sheer instinct of attempting to calm the anxiety that tensed her muscles. To hear her exhale with relief made him smile softly down at her.

A lift of Dae’s brow at the sight of Keb’s flattened ears was all he could muster in response. The ‘Annointed.’ A group of holier than thou pricks. Dae ground his teeth slightly at the thought of them going after his family. Each had their own darkness in them to be considered ‘unclean.’ He was thankful that they were safe. Not that any of the Annointed would have been strong enough to take on the Balatro Pack. The thought trailed to him smiling wickedly at the image of them trying to take on his mother and grandfather. Mother had been more than hormonal lately, and a well placed fly ice block would have been enough to deal with an attacker. Apparently, she was carrying twins to make the hormone fluctuations worse.

”Maybe they should check the guide book first before starting a crusade,” he laughed in effort to lighten the mood. He needed a drink. Too many fears that were crawling into his mind to bring down his humor. That led him to begin searching through the stock available on the other side of the bar. It gave the Anpu and Banshee a moment to talk. He would read over the scrolls once he had the liquor secured. That was the top priority at the moment.

Hearing the slosh of the alcohol into the glass made Dae smile. He leaned back in his bar chair as the glass was handed over. With a slight lift in honor of Keb and Morrigan, he took a drink. The amber liquid was quite tasty, as was expected. He frowned at Morrigan over his glass before putting it down. ”Of use to me?” Dae frown deepened as the concept of what she said settled in. ”First of all, you are not to be ‘of use to me.’ You are NO one’s tool. If you want to train to better yourself, than I will support you in that.”. His storm gray gaze lifted to Keb with a knowing nod of his head. Dae was not about to suggest the idea, but Keb would be the best to help the woman in her growth.

He put down his glass in order to begin looking over the scrolls. There were a few that caught his interest immediately, while others were nothing but ego trips. Three had made it through his selection process. The others he stacked in a neat, almost compulsive pyramid style for Kebeche to take back.

Author: Morrigan, Posted: Sun May 3, 2020 10:45 AM, Post Subject: Journey’s End [p.r]

Why was it her heart skipped a beat whenever Dae met her gaze? Why did her breath catch in her throat when he touched her? Morrigan didn’t quite dare believe that this feeling was what she thought it was, she remembered tales of how her mother had fallen for her father but she had been little more than a babe, she was well aware that she could be romanticising the stories her mother had told her when her father did not return to their cabin.
The fact that Dae had been relieved to find her safe and alive after Sirona had been beaten back had filled her with a warmth she could not quite describe, let alone understand. She had felt infinitely better, and safer, the moment Dae had found her and she hated the thought of ever leaving his side… but she refused to be a burden to him, she could not bear the thought of him growing tired of her and abandoning her. 

The feel of his hand hand on her back made Morrigan relax, exhaling softly and smiling weakly as she placed her hands atop the bar. 
”Well I’m glad you kept out of harms way Miss Morrigan, they were trying times to say the least,” Kebeche was replied, his ears laying flat for a moment as the Anpu recalled the hell of those few days… ”Be glad you weren’t here when the Anointed came Dae, we lost some good brothers and sisters to them but they hadn’t anticipated a Tavern full of trained killers either,” he snorted.

The Anpu snorted and Morrigan watched him carefully, he wasn’t as gentle as Dae but she could tell her genuinely meant her no harm - Corbin would have been irritated by the barman’s presence otherwise. ”Take you pick, the others have taken what they can handle, I trust you more than most,” he added as he pulled a pile of scrolls from under the bar and handed them to Dae, rolling his eyes at the intrusion to his bar but pouring the drink nonetheless before taking a china cup from a barmaid and handing it to Morrigan.

”I… I want to learn to be useful… to you,” she uttered, not quite daring to meet Dae’s gaze, ”But I need to train, I still can not control my voice which means I’m useless to you.” 

Author: Dae, Posted: Sun May 3, 2020 8:35 AM, Post Subject: Journey’s End [p.r]

She was becoming braver as the time went by as the two remained in the others company. Dae noticed the change in the way her shoulders were held; there was a lack of roundness to them to shield herself from everything. He was proud of her for the efforts made to get herself out there, even if it was a terrifying notion for her. Banshees were a hunted race…there was no denying it. Dae knew that he would be there to help protect the woman until she had the abilities to do so herself. There were plans that had been formulated in the assassin’s head over the time he had gotten to know Morrigan. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too against them when he finally posed them aloud.

To see Morrigan pull back her hood made his heart clench again. This time it was from how the strength taken to do it was getting there. Some day.

Dae smiled down at Morrigan warmly in return as she gazed up at him. His own gray eyes met her storom colored ones. For that split second he felt that clenching in his chest. It had been difficult to think of how she had had to go into hiding during the blasted crusade. The terror that had gone through Morrigan when the goddess of light and strength had called for the exterminated of those like Morrigan. That was what had enraged Dae the most. Morrigan was terrified on the daily of hurting anyone, and to be targeted for just being born…it was the furthest from righteousness. No greater relief had been felt when Dae had found Morrigan, and to see that she had been unharmed.

As the two sat at the bar, Dae lightly stroked the back of Morrigan’s back in an effort to settle her nerves before he leaned fully on the bar. His dark brown hair was cut short as usual. It was slightly spiked up due to the light sweat that had formed from the hotter than normal day outside. ”I’m glad to see you doing well, too my friend. You stand out more than I do when it came to that entire ‘kill the unclean’ nonsense went on. This lovely lady is Morrigan. She had been a target,” he said with a light lift of his chin. With Keb’s ability to scent as well as his hint, there was no doubt the bartender would know what she was.

”Slide me a few of the ones you desperately need handled. The shoppe is doing well, and has plenty of hands recently to keep things going. I want to see if I can bring some order back with getting work done. Though if you happened to slide one of Sirona fanatic files in there….no one would need to know.”. Dae smiled innocently as he stood up on his stool to look over the bar at his drink options. His hands tipped a few of the bottles to read the labels as Morrigan stated what she would like. As he leaned half over the bar, he looked over his shoulder with a raised questioning brow.

”Yea. Keb is right: you are safe here. I wouldn’t bring you anywhere that would be dangerous for you…..ah ha! Gimme this one.”. Dae held a bottle between his fingers and twitched it towards the anpu to hear the liquor slosh inside. ”Double glass please.”.

Once the bottle had been taken (Dae ignored any looks given), he sat back down on his stool. A boyish grin was still plastered on his face as he began to really soak in the environment. It had been too long since he had been able to be there. ”So…Morrigan, tell me about what you want to do. You get to pick what happens next.”

Author: Morrigan, Posted: Sun May 3, 2020 7:54 AM, Post Subject: Journey’s End [p.r]

Morrigan was the calmest and most relaxed she had been since the death of her mother and father. Thankfully with her hood pulled low over her face, her bandana covering the bottom half Dae was unable to see the blush that had coloured her pale cheeks at being so close to him. They had been spending more and more time together of late and it was not unusual to find the strange hooded pair walking through the streets together now. The Banshee forced herself to look at the ground ahead of herself despite the pull in her heart that begged her to glance at him and catch a glimpse of his handsome face. 

When the ruckus with Sirona had begun Morrigan had panicked - she was amongst those the Goddess wanted to eradicate - naturally, she had gone into hiding, praying that the nightmare would be over and that night would come back to the world so that she could hide amongst the shadows once more. Dae had found her afterward and persuaded her to go with him to the place he picked up his contracts - she only hoped she could be an asset to him rather than a burden. 

Looking up her storm coloured eyes flickered over the Tavern - you could see where some of the fixtures had been replaced, the wood new and not as worn as the rest around it, the remnants of a battle with Sirona's people it seemed. She glanced at her companion as he removed his hood, her hands twitching nervously at her sides, Corbin snapping his beak together in reprimand for her fear - she was safe and she was being silly. Taking a deep breath Morrigan raised her arms, elegant fingers clutching the edge of her embroidered hood as she pulled it back from her face, her hair falling across her shoulders as it was exposed from its usual prison. She kept the bandana across her mouth, she wasn't quite strong enough or comfortable enough to allow her mouth to be seen in public yet, but her eyes she could manage. She nodded at Dae and smiled slightly, her bandana twitching upward with the movement, the expression reaching her eyes and making them glitter. 

 She settled on the stool beside Dae, cowering slightly at the massive barman as he turned towards them - his keen jackal's eyes narrowing at her for a moment before he looked back at Dae, nodding in response to the man.
"As well as can be expected considering everything that happened, glad to see you made it out of that alive and in one piece. Who's the girl?" He asked, nose twitching as he took in a deep breath, drawing in Morrigan's scent. "You looking for work? Got more contracts now than we can handle frankly, though a good chunk of those is aimed at Sirona and her allies - none of which will be viable jobs I might add but I've kept them to keep the peace," the Anpu sighed, rolling his golden eyes as he rested a hand on the bar. "What you drinking?" 
"C-can I have sweet tea?" Morrigan asked, hands clasped tightly in her lap. 
"Unconventional but what the lady wants the lady gets. You can relax here miss - this place is for people like you and I, the ones that don't belong out of the shadows, those who stand out in a crowd - it's also a place full of assassins who could give two shits who you are so long as you aren't on their contract."
The problem for Morrigan was she probably was on a contract somewhere…

Author: Dae, Posted: Sun May 3, 2020 6:46 AM, Post Subject: Journey’s End [p.r]

He was keeping himself in check. He had to. Dae took minor glances at the woman at his side from the corner of his eye from time to time in hopes that she didn’t notice. The hood that shadowed his face helped cover his tracks in regards to looking at the fellow traveler. As they went about the lands together more, it was becoming harder for Dae to keep his focus off of Morrigan. Even Raith was finding ways (always had) to mock him for it. The banshee had taken to traveling with the assassin since they seemed to click. Of course, Dae attempted to keep everything relaxed and nonchalant. It wasn’t easy.

That was why he had decided to take Morrigan to the bar. At the bar he would be able to find a new job, and that would give him something to focus on. There had been quite the ruckus with the goddess Sirona deciding to execute her own crusade. It had enraged a couple of the deities, including Dae’s soon to be brother by law. It had gotten interesting, but for the most part things were back to normal. Keb had to be back at his bar by this time. Dae needed to keep busy.

”Welcome to Journey’s End Tavern!” Dae announced with a flourish of his hand into a bow before Morrigan. The bar looked like it had taken a hit during the crusade, but it had not been anything of extravagance in the first place. Keb had to be a little pissed about it. The anpu was known for his rationality, but he was fierce just as his features suggested. It was one of the reasons why Dae enjoyed coming to Kebeche to get his missions. ”We can get a drink and some food if you would like while we are here. I think you will like it. No one should give you any trouble.” It was only now that Dae pulled back his hood to expose his features to the dull sun overhead. Gray eyes took the opportunity to check over Mor as she stood with her face covered as usual. He hoped that there would be a time she would feel comfortable enough to not wear the covering around him. Someday…maybe.

There was a gentle buzz of customers in the tavern when the pair entered. Dae nodded to a couple of the other regulars as he led Morrigan to the bar. He indicated towards the stools for her to take a seat as he took up his usual spot. The bar was still in repair, but it did look good considering everything. ”Keb! How are you doing buddy?” There was a bright smile upon Dae’s face as he attempted to charm the anpu.

The anpu was a force to be reckoned with that made him endearing for the assassin. In the Journey’s End tavern, that was where the half shade could be himself. The Family was powerful as well as diversified. Dae was the one that was the most off shot from them all as he had decided to take a darker route for his life. None of them had judged his decisions; it was one of the great things about the way they all fit together. It also helped that Raith was now apart of the family to support Dae in his ‘other than healer’ career choice.