Late-night escapes {Open}

[Aluin Savis]

The herbs in the deserts of the Riders were unmatched. Aluin knew this well; traders tried to travel and collect them to take and sell in markets around the world. Most of them didn't understand traveling in a desert during the day was, generally, a bad idea.

Night, however, was a totally different story.

Deserts cooled down considerably. In the day he would be hot, sweating, laboring as he did this and that for the riders and taught archery on the side, breaking for water what seemed like every fifteen minutes to keep himself hydrated. Now, though, as he walked in the sand he had to pull his cloak around him to keep off the chill. He'd convinced a buddy to fly him down from the settlement; it was a... hobby, he supposed, to collect herbs and do with them what he could. A poison there, healing balm there. Most of their uses were unknown, and those he had the most fun with.

Normally, on a clear night like this, he would be looking at the stars this region of the desert was known for and would feel so small. Right now he only wanted to finish collecting what he needed and get inside before the other ear froze off. A few not-so-graceful steps (mostly due to the sand and how unstable it was) later, he keeled down, checking leaves on a distinct purplish plant.

[Elise Larabelle]

((I figured this had been sitting long enough. ))

Elise had been heading toward Wellery on foot to pick up a variety of items the residents of her village needed. Why they couldn't go themselves, she didn't know. All the same, she had volunteered for the opportunity and intended to do her job as well as she could.

The journey from Valspara to Wellery wasn't a simple one. Elise had left her village at daybreak, having a horse with her at the time. It was a little later that she let the horse go loose. Once she had reached the desert, she had thoughts about breaking for the night. She figured that if she kept up her current pace, she would reach to Dragon Rider's settlement by dawn the next day. Then she could sit down at a restaurant and have a nice meal before finding a bed to sleep with.

"Goodness, it's chilly." Come to think of it, Elise thought deserts were always rather warm. Now she was having to take some warmer clothes from her pack to keep herself warm. Absentmindedly, she started down one of the sandy dunes and nearly lost her footing. Once she was sure she had regained her balance and her feet beneath her, she finished the hill and looked around. Something told her she wasn't alone.

Sure enough, as she looked up, the sky captivated her gaze. She could have stood there and looked at them for quite a while, perhaps for the rest of the night. Her feet kept moving, but her eyes remained on the sky. The girl wasn't paying attention as she found another hill.

Eli Belle lost her footing and took a tumble down the sandy hill. Once she had found the bottom, she wiped the loose sand from her face. "Oh, that was disgusting." The tall blonde got back to her feet and shook herself off like a wet dog. Ick. For a moment she looked like nothing more than a cloud of dust.

[Aluin Savis]

ooc|| thank you.
even tho now it looks like i only role-play with you woman stop it.

Now, Aluin wouldn't say that falling off sand dunes was uncommon. It was easy for someone to loose their footing on the sand and take a tumble. Hell, he'd done it enough times in his first few months here for the riders to have given him the nickname based on it. But he'd never seen someone literally just fall from the top of a dune and roll down.

If he wasn't afraid that the person was hurt, he would have laughed.

He quickly pocketed whatever herb he was looking at -- he wasn't sure what it was but it looked useful -- and as quickly as he could made his way over to the figure. Not that he was exceptionally fast; the sand seemed to grab onto his boots and drag him down. He heard the voice, one of a female, and paused for a moment.

It didn't sound like any voice. It reminded him of the voices of his people. The accent was there and everything.

What was an elf doing in the desert?

He quickly tied a cloth around his ears in some hope to hide his identity -- though he wasn't quite sure why he was hiding it, he just wanted to -- and approached, slower now that the figure was shaking sand off of her.

"Are you ok?" he said, pausing a foot or so away from her and mentally cursing as he began to slowly sink into the sand.

[Elise Larabelle]

(Bahaha, I will never 'stop it'. )

Elise took a moment to start speaking up a storm in the elves' native tongue, when she abruptly cut herself off and turned to the random person who approached her. Clearly it was a man, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of him. The way she felt was evident across her facial features.

"Just fine, thanks." Despite how badly Elise wanted to walk away and continue falling down mounds of sand, she didn't want to seem rude. It was not like her to just walk away from a conversation unless she truly felt the need to do so. Clearly this guy wasn't a threat or he would have killed her already. He must have been a random person just messing around with his sandy companions out here in the middle of nowhere.

It was that thought that made Elise wonder why he was out here in the first place. Was he some kind of psycho assassin that was plotting to destroy the towns? His getup favored that idea, but something told Eli that wasn't the whole story. There had to be more behind it than that. Maybe he just lived out here? No, this place had a very arid climate. There was no way anyone would want to live in such a sandy death trap.

He had to be out here for something. The elf was sure he was not here as a terrorist or as someone to make a home. She was bound determined to get him to tell her why he was here, but she didn't really want to socialize more than she needed.

[Aluin Savis]

ooc|| alsdhkflsndf

Her tone alerted him to the starts of her discomfort and if he still had any doubts after he heard her voice, he was wrong. He tried not to grimace, with mild success, and immediately decided that it would be in his best effort to not have her suspicious. After all, it appeared she was armed and even though whatever she carried was probably weighed down by sand from her tumble and he was probably a bit more skilled with balancing on sand, he didn't want to invoke her wrath.

Especially if his thoughts about her being elven were true. From the string of elfish curses, some rather obscure, he was sure she was.

He stuck out a hand and, with the other, shifted his own bow more behind him. The harder to reach, the less of a threat he would be, right? "Aluin Savis. I help the riders out." That didn't sound false, would it? They were in the middle of a desert and, well, what else was there around?

And, not for the first time, he was glad that in the past few years he'd lost most of his accent. And that, other than his surname, his name could be passed off as human. Or at the very least a descendant of an elf.

"I can, uh, help you find wherever you're looking for?" he asked, hesitantly, turning his head to the side slightly and paling when he felt a bit of breeze hit his ear. Apparently he hadn't covered them as well as he thought.

[Elise Larabelle]

Elise was not one of the most observant people in the world under normal circumstances; it was only when she felt threatened that she truly stopped to look at what was around her. Though she seemed to think things through, it was rare that she stopped to think, let alone look, when she was angry at herself for what seemed to be the fifth time today. Because of her mood and the circumstances, she didn't bother to look at the man standing before her; Eli didn't notice his pointed ear or the hint of the accent laying under his words. She didn't bother to pay attention to anything but the meaning behind the words that came out of his mouth.

This Aluin guy was clearly not going to harm her or he would not have offered his assistance; her earlier suspicion had subsided enough to clear her mind and think about what she could get out of this situation. Elise was not above some manipulation, but she didn't want to use anything against him. Instead she opted for the innocent, stupid act, hoping she just seemed like someone who wanted to reach the home of the riders and get things accomplished.

That technically was why she was here. If she had any alternative motives, she hadn't fully realized them yet. If she stayed longer than she had originally intended, it was because something interesting came up and she didn't feel like leaving right away.

"I am Elise Larabelle. If you wouldn't mind, I would like you to point me in the right direction. I have to get to the mountain civilization to trade some things to get items my village needs." If Aluin truly did help the riders out, then none of this would be an issue... would it?