Welcome to Gaia! ::

Her aim had not been quick enough two days ago, but tonight it had been - which was just as well as her employer was not happy about the bird that had been lost during her watch. The grey shadow that had been eluding her finally came back for another meal and gave her opportune time to quietly get within range and send an arrow its way.

After returning the dead lump of a wolf back to the farmer as proof of a done job and then skinning it for extra, the ranger decided to clean up and then celebrate a bit with a drink at the tavern next to the inn she was staying at.

She had already been sitting at the counter when the new fellow had come in and started setting up some pictures on the corner table. For a while, Jay watched half turned in her chair as a few tavern revelers wandered up to look at the wares as other comers and goers stopped to look as they passed through the doors.

Curiosity getting the better of her in her light-hearted mood, she picked up her mug of ale and carried it with her as she strolled over to the table. Without a word the ranger glanced over the individuals pictures. Most of them seemed to be portraits of ladies with the looks men would go for, some of them possibly upper class. Then her eyes were drawn back to one piece sitting on the table, the one of the little white dragon, her eyes looking between the shards of eggshell that lay strewn across the fictional floor.

Suddenly her light-hearted mood sunk a little. Looking over the little dragon, she wondered if the one from the hazy egg in the past might have looked like if it had lived to hatch.

"Done with visuals or from the mind?" the ranger asked the man behind the works, assuming he was the artist, making a slight motion toward the picture before her.

The artist had not been paying much attention to her when she had first walked over as he was jesting with a few drunken fellows regarding a bet of 20 gold that the artist had slept with every last one of the women in his pictures.

"No no, sir," the raven-haired artist lightly chuckled to the bawdy men. "My only love is to paint them. I still await the day for that one lady willing to take this damned soul." He then heard the question off to his side and tipped the canvas to see which one had been asked about.

"Oh... I thought I had put that one away," the painter replied, puzzled when he saw that it was the one of the hatchling.

Maybe my mind's playing tricks on me, he thought privately as he played through his memories again, certain that he had placed the painting away earlier.

"M'lady, your name if you don't mind?" he asked kindly as he looked back at the female traveler standing at his table.

Micheal lightly laughed as he got an image from the girl when she mentioned her name and thus began his amusement.

"Jay, you are more than welcome to carry this conversation sitting," he said as he pulled up a chair beside her before grabbing another so he would have a clear view of his art.

"Don't mind if I do," she said as she plopped down in the chair and promptly lifted her mug to accept another swallow of ale.

"Truthfully I travel too often to know what town or area I am currently in. Just as long as my art sells and with what profit I make I am being fed by this neck of the area," Micheal said before waving down one of the wenches working the tavern, handing her is emptied container and then giving her some coin for a fresh mug she brought over. "But the towns you speak of do sound familiar. It would be of no surprise if one of my paintings would be in one of Yvette's homes," he said before taking a small sip.

"Not one to stay in one place, eh?" the ranger stated more than asked, taking a moment to get a good look at this De'Court fellow now that he wasn't half hidden by a table. There wasn't much to distinguish the fellow amidst the dim firelight other than he really didn't look like a traveling man with his ghastly pale skin and fancy clothing despite how scuffed they might be.

"If you happen to be heading East and haven't stopped there yet, three towns over is Bilidau, a decent little settlement run by a man named Ver Crafton. If you chance meet that only daughter of his and show her a picture or two, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before she runs off to her dear old papa to try and get her own. A year ago she had him bothering me to catch her a live rabbit," she said with unhidden disdain.

"...selfish little whelp," she muttered into her mug, muffling the sound as she brought it up for another swig.

"Ver Crafton, Indeed I will make note of that," Micheal laughed following her last remark and found he was starting to enjoy this woman's company.

"Aside from that random tidbit, where do you originally hail from if not here?" the ranger asked, wanting to know more about the man she was speaking with.

Well, he had been enjoying her company up to that point anyways.

The unusual artist looked over at his art and shook his head as the next question became a little more personal. "Here," he plainly said not giving any more detail. "And you, Miss Galanmion?"

The change had not gone unseen by his conversational partner, however. It was if she threw the man a thistleball to catch, the way he briskly answered. Doubt crept in her mind as to whether the answer had been truthful, but as it bothered him enough to spit out only one word, she took it at face value for the time.

Nodding at the ranger's explanation about the wolves, Micheal noted the pause in her words. "No, not tonight. Am I keeping you from something?" he asked, not needing to strain much to get a look at the stranger who had caught the lady's attention.

"It does seem, though, that it's time for me to wrap things up for now. Tonight was nice even if I didn't sell anything," he said as he opened his pack where a few more paintings greeted the tavern light, all of them of the same dragon from earlier. Carefully, he started to place the paintings from table to bag, seemingly preoccupied with thoughts other than his lackluster sales that night.

Jay turned to look back at Micheal. "Not keeping me from anything that I know of," she said as she watched him start to put away his works, catching sight of more dragon paintings in the pack. While the similarities of the each dragon work did not strike her, the unusual wings did.

"Your dragon paintings have unusual wings. Are those something you created or are they some odd version of Fallen that exist out there?" she asked, her usual curiosity coming through again. The wings looked similar to that of the Fallen, but didn't have quite the tattered look to them as well as shape. They certainly weren't the wings of the Feathered she knew of.

Micheal's thoughts began to wander to his dragon Dark and he looked back at the ranger to ask, "Trouble doesn't follow you, does it?" Considering her luck of stumbling across him that night, he felt that he already knew the answer, but he was curious as to how the ranger would respond.

"Trouble?" she asked, being a little caught aback by the question, unknowing that out of her sight the local man she had been watching earlier was looking her way as his buddy was pointing in her direction. "Villagers think any stranger is trouble by definition honestly," she answered.

"Are you a villager who thinks I am one of them, the Fallen?" Micheal just smiled this time, his fang starting to show with the smirk after spotting one of the men point over towards them.

"As I'm not a villager, I can't really say I have an answer," she said dodging the question before she saw Micheal's attention momentarily move to behind her, an animalistic grin on his face prompting a look from the ranger before she turned to see what his attention was focused on.

Once she had turned around, she saw the farmer who had silently stormed in earlier exchanging words with a fellow seated at a table a ways from where she and Micheal were. The farmer started to walk in their direction before his arm was grabbed by the man at the table, a concerned and cautious look on his face as it was obvious he was trying to talk the older farmer out of something. A few more of the men around that particular table started to whisper, turning their gazes toward the painter's direction, a few pairs of eyes registering recognition as to where they might have seen Micheal before.

Micheal tightened his bag as his smile faded. "You seem to be very interested in these paintings. How about we go to my place before a little scuffle may start. Perhaps I can tell you what I know of them, and watching you I can learn what my friend tried to tell me."

The ranger cringed at the formal pronunciation of her name.

"Please, just call me 'Jay' if you would. I only stomach the formalities when needed," she said, sitting back in her own chair while soaking in the heat of the flames. "It's quicker to use anyways," she said as she crossed her legs, heel over knee, opposingly comfortable where the painter was not.

"Pardon. I only address you that way because we are still strangers." Micheal then eyed the windows in the common room, then looked at Jay.

"By all means, I won't take any offense if you didn't," she said with honesty about the polite form of her name. "But back to what we were talking about, the paintings. I had asked about the wings and you said you would explain. You also mentioned something about a friend of yours and watching me, but I'm not sure I fully caught what was said there."

"Truthfully, the title of Fallen doesn't quite fit with this type of dragon or I..." He hesitated a moment as he watched the ranger's face, suddenly realizing he was taking some of the details he knew for granted.

"Sorry, I am being rude. The dragon, the subject in the painting, is Dark," he pointed out as if it was some sort of informal introduction. "We ended up crossing paths. He was born with these wings. His egg was tainted, and the mother wouldn't keep him nor let alone care what would happen to him, so... I would say his kind is Tainted." Micheal still was not sure if this was worth the risk, particularly with someone who was a hunter. At least she didn't seem stupid like most girls of this time.

"Um... did that make sense so far?" he said with an uneasy laugh.

Jay listened to the story Micheal gave. "So the dragon in the painting is real but not a Fallen. I think I've got that. You say the dragon is tainted though. Tainted with what?" she asked, misunderstanding the use of the word. Her interest was obviously caught though as soon as he had mentioned the unusual dragon was living, breathing, and in existance.

Micheal thought for a moment as to what she was asking.

"'Tainted' is what they are called. Let's see if I can explain this better," he said aloud more to himself than the ranger. "Before dragons lost their wings, there were just 'dragons'. There are still regular dragons today, but Ascended and Fallen have appeared since then as well. I have come to the conclusion that something unnatural in the dragon's balance of things is allowing new types of dragons to appear with different abilities. Unfortunately, dragons are almost like humans in some traits..."

"The Feathered and Fallen. Yes, I know of them." His conversational partner nodded, though a slight flicker in her eyes spoke of an unsettled something in regards to humans and dragons when Micheal mentioned the subject. "So there's another kind now? Interesting."

Micheal looked at the windows and then started going through his pack.

"It's getting late so I am going to ask; how weary are you of vampires, Miss Jay?"

Only the dull crackle of the fireplace played a chorus in the quietness that followed for a time as the ranger was still.

Her heart's beat picked up speed as the inkling of suspicion had almost immediately been answered, her mind fighting her body's instincts to move.

"I'd only just do as you've already seen tonight," she said when she finally spoke. "That is unless you're looking to do me harm. I don't take too well to that sort of thing, but that's same as if I was speaking with anyone else in your chair. If it's harm to someone else in my sight, it depends on if they've done something to deserve it. Otherwise, it's just another person with a penchant for the night like I have a need for the outlands."

She temporarily ignored what the man said about the dragon named "Dark", a village, and a rampage - or at least tried to not to consider the outcome of speaking up about it with the gentleman before her.

Micheal uncrossed his legs the moment he sensed her blood rushing. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable just now, and I promise if that you don't mean harm to me, none will be done to you." He watched as her eyes shifted to look away at the mention of her discomfort. "This is where I think you can help, that is if you wish. But if your wish is not to help... I will leave and promise you I won't intend to cross your path again."

Micheal didn't want to seem like he was going to harm her. It was getting too close to dawn, and he wasn't in the mood to harm or feed on anyone just to get shelter tonight.

"As neither of us seem to bode any ill intentions then, please continue explaining what help you think I can possibly provide," she answered. If she didn't keep the topic moving, she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand the talk of harming or not harming each other.

What help could a "night walker" be looking for in the first place, she wondered as her thumb, in an nervous twitch, rubbed against her forefinger of her draw hand as if she was feeling along invisible fletching between them.

Micheal inadvertently chuckled at how the question in her mind paralleled his previous thoughts. "Well, first, I would need a place to stay, preferably now and especially out of the light since I burn easily."

Then his eyes then caught the slight movement of her finger and thumb.

"This is going to be harder than I thought, but then I don't think very far ahead," he commented, looking up at Jay's eyes with his own gray-not-much-life-to-them eyes. "I have upset the young dragon by possibly insulting him with the years we have spent together, and he suggested that I should stop my old ways and learn what I have forgotten."

Micheal picked up his pack and followed Jay up the stairs, not carrying on the conversation but only asked, "Does the room have any windows?" He then wondered why she would even offer a bed but then opened his mind to the thought that she doesn't know much about him or even simply vampires in general.

As Jay opened the door and waited for him to walk in, he paused for a moment and then entered, setting his pack in the corner and, from it, retrieved an antique looking blanket with tears here and there.

"There's just the one facing East, though guessing from the outside of the building, most rooms have a window," she answered while lighting a small candle. "I suppose you need it covered," she said, already on the move, grabbing the blanket from the bed and rigging it up over the window. All in all, it blocked out the light far better than what the curtains would by themselves.

As Jay grabbed the blanket from the bed and threw it over the window, Micheal raised an eyebrow, a bit confused... until a slight smile crossed his face as he realized why she was doing it. He looked at his blanket and threw it over his shoulders.

"Um... " Micheal hesitantly started as he looked over at the bed, "your body is more frail than mine. You should have a good night's rest in the bed. Corners I would prefer anyway."

Frail. She did not like hearing that term used to describe her though she didn't doubt it when compared to him if legends were true. Weariness catching up with her, she refrained from remark as she looked to see where the fellow was setting up for the night. From there she proceeded to check on her belongings in the chest at the side wall before grabbing her cloak from the back of a chair and blowing out the candle. Quietly she settled on the bed, sliding back to the corner with her knees pulled up to her chest before wrapping the cape around her in place of a blanket.

"I'll probably be up and about before sundown, but I'll try and be back by then," she mentioned while closing her eyes to sleep.

"Okay" is all he said as he pulled the blanket over his head. He then leaned against the wall, looking at the now covered up window.

"You know this is hard..." he whispered to the air before closing his eyes, only remaining half asleep in his corner.

It was still a half hour before the door handle rattled and the door swung wide with a hooded figure hurrying inside, it quickly shutting behind with a loud click as if a lock was being slid into place. With a light thud, the figure fell back into the wooden door, one hand holding the elbow of the other arm. Briefly that hand left its spot and moved to lower the hood, revealing the female ranger's face. There was an obvious darkened puffiness to one side of her mouth with a few dirt smeared scratches on the other side.

With eyes fairly adjusted to the dark, Jay looked over toward Micheal, scanning over the shape of what looked like a painting, and then looked back to Micheal again.

"Sleep well?" she asked, unsure herself whether she was being sarcastic or honest in her inquiry.

A whiff of something in the air crossed her nose, the slight breeze from the entrance stirring up the air and carrying the paint fumes her way. She looked back toward the shape of the painting for a moment before moving to the table to light a candle.

Wordlessly and mostly with her right arm, she went to the trunk and pulled everything onto the floor until she grabbed the backpack and threw it onto the bed. She dug through the pack until she pulled out one tiny container and another small bag. After taking off her left leather bracer, she rolled up her sleeve past a swollen black and blue elbow. From the container she smeared some sickly green mush on the injured joint and from the bag she grabbed a long cloth strip to wrap the joint in. When she tied off the cloth, she pulled her sleeve back down, replaced the bracer, and put everything away in a rush that made it look as if she was planning on leaving relatively soon.

Micheal looked at her as she started to pull things out and then finally answered. "I don't really sleep, haven't for over hundreds of years." He glanced at the painting. "...though the visions help replace dreams. But what about you?" he asked as he looked back at the ranger. "Work a little troublesome tonight?" He eyed the locked door as he considered its apparent meaning in all this.

"Work? I didn..."

She tried to think through the distracting ache of her jaw as she looked at Micheal while finishing with the tie on her bracer.

"This morning... well, this afternoon really," remembering what time it really had been, "after waking, it was just a walk and lunch. Came back to town late and bumped into my last employer, the farmer from last night that stormed into the tavern. Along with him was the guy he was speaking with at the table as well as two other fellows."

She tossed the backpack on, clenching her jaw as she jostled her left arm when straightening the shoulder strap. "Remember what I said about the wolf population getting bigger out here? I guess someone spotted pups wandering about the farmer's property, possibly wandered out on their own when mama didn't return. Well, the farmer told me I should go get the pups or pay back his money for not finishing the job. I wasn't paid to kill a whole family of them, just the one attacking his birds and told him just that. If he wanted the rest done, it would cost him extra," the ranger said after she had her saddle and pack mostly resting on her good arm.

"He didn't take to that to well and that's where the mark on the jaw was from. Honestly, he shouldn't have been able to land that, but I didn't think he was actually going to try it either. I ended up spinning around and hitting the dirt with the guy leaping at my back and twisting my arm a good 'bout before the other three men pulled him off me." The ranger moved toward the door, implying that the conversation was going to continue while they were moving.

Before she unbolted the lock she gave a straight look at Micheal. "While they sympathized with him, it didn't look as if they thought I deserved the wallop. Then again, those three had a bigger target than wolves on their list to keep them busy," she said as her eyes narrowed. 'You were right that one was following you. He had mentioned he saw us leave together and that "it was in my best interest to stay away from you less I end up like the other missing... or slaughtered.'"

Jay refrained from mentioning that the fellow had offered payment in catching and or killing the "demon of the void" if she assisted. She also did not mention her answer with things starting as they were between the undead hunter and the hunter of breath.

"From his talk, it sounded like it would be best for you to leave the area by morn," she said. "You may want to pack and go now. I sure will not be staying 'til sun up. That farmer got one lucky shot. He won't get another."