A Stroll (private)

[Jordan Hielo]

(( Between Jordan and Veranda ))

Typically Jordan would spend his free time hunting, and gathering supplies for his shop. But today was not that kind of day. In fact, this was a day that Jordan would like to relax, and enjoy himself.

He enjoyed hunting; but he wished for a small break.

The elemental wore a white long, baggy shirt with a brown vest on top, and darker brown pants. His bow and quiver were still on his back just in case, but looked unmoved as his hands traveled to his pockets, resting as he strolled through the path.

Jordan was a boring soul, he had to admit. Not many good friends, and working most of his days. At the very least he had gotten rid of the last of Myra's things. That was truly a load off his shoulders, and he felt unrestricted again. No more sadness or moping.

Though he wondered where the woman that helped him do it was.

He had not seen Veranda since that night. She had taken her daggers and had been off. He was glad to have helped her in that odd time of hers, but couldn't help but feel a little saddened that she had not come by after that. After all, she was amusing company. He would have quite liked to be her friend.

The man began to whistle, coming up to a small river. he hopped halfway across it, before he heard a snap of a twig. Curious, he turned around. Was something following him?

"Anyone there?" he asked, an eyebrow raised, hands still in his pockets. After all he was not that far out of the city. It couldn't be anything dangerous.

Could it?

[Veranda Kingsford]

A snap of a twig, a rustling of a bush, the sound of a grunt. Then, ahead of Jordan, out stepped a small figure, a little four legged thing. A pup. This pup was perhaps a foot tall now, still pudgy in the belly, and currently nosing along the ground. It had shiny black fur, with red markings along it like a wolf, and glowing red eyes. It was a Hellhound pup. It flinched as the sunlight hit him, but otherwise continued along nosing the ground. He paused though, spotting Jordan, and lifted his head. He peeled back his lips in a snarl, showing glittering fangs, fur standing on end, though it didn’t look terribly threatening at its young age.

He stepped from the foliage and onto the path, fully facing Jordan, tail twitching back and forth. He let out a little bark, before advancing. Before he could make it very far, a voice called out.

“Maro, halt!”

The pup immediately froze, going so far as to keep a paw up in the air in mid step. From the foliage behind Jordan, stepped a woman. The very woman he’d been thinking of. Veranda, clad in a tight fitting corset that had lace sleeves and black pants, tucked into her ever present boots, brushed back her long raven hair. She smiled a glittering smile at Jordan.

“Jordan…long time no see,” she said, stepping up to the elemental before patting her thigh. Maro came galloping over, running a bit awkwardly, before sliding to a stop next to his vampire mistress. He stood between her and Jordan, snarling at the man.

“Forgive Maro, he doesn’t seem to like anybody save for me. Not even Julien can get on his good side,” Veranda said, bending to pet Maro, which silenced his growls but didn’t keep him from glaring at Jordan.

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan raised one eyebrow as he spotted the pup, folding his arms across his chest. It was an odd sight, seeing a hellhound so close to the city. Even odder to see a hellhound pup alone. He wondered where its mother was...

Suddenly the pup spotted him, and gave off a snarl. His folded arms fell to his side, stepping back slightly. It was a pup after all, he did not want to harm it. And it hardly looked threatening.

Soon it was advancing towards Jordan. Reluctantly he reached out to grab his bow, when a voice was heard behind him. He recognized that voice...

He turned his head, an eyebrow raised as he spotted the woman. It was odd, the very moment he chose to think of her again she shows up. But he would not complain, shooting her a quick smile. A confused one, but a smile none the less.

"Ahh, yes...long time no see."

He stared down at the pup as it stepped between himself and Veranda, and Jordan hesitantly lowered his hands into his pockets once more. Clearly Veranda had it under control.

"That's quite alright," he said, staring back at Maro, before looking at Veranda.
"How... how was your head after that little fiasco?" he asked, head slightly tilted. After all he hadn't seen her leave in the morning.

Jordan found this rather odd; her appearing out of the blue. And it wasn't as if she had really disappeared on him; after all she was really only a customer to him.

[Veranda Kingsford]

“Ah, that. A lot better. I haven’t encountered anything like it again,” Veranda replied, shrugging. She became much more careful in selecting her victims now, and Maro was actually getting good at sniffing out bad blood. She avoided a lot of bad things that she herself couldn’t sense this way. “Thank you for letting me stay at your place that night.”

She bent, patting Maro on the head before stepping back, and turning, kicking through the foliage of the forest. Maro remained where he was, glaring at Jordan, resuming his soft growling.

“You seem much happier since we last encountered,” Veranda remarked, bending to find a thick stick. She tapped it roughly against her hand a few times, to make sure it wasn’t rotted out, then strolled back over to the man and her Hellhound.

“Oh, hush Maro. You don’t need to kill anyone,” she said, though Maro still growled. She rolled her eyes before presenting the stick to her pet. His ears perked, then he seemed torn whether or not he was more interested in Jordan or the stick. Veranda smirked and turned, throwing the stick, it flying off a good distance. Maro let out an bark, paused, before grunting and finally chasing off after it. He reached the shadow of a tree and suddenly seemed to dive into the shadows, disappearing from view.

“He can travel through shadows. Quite convenient really. He can be almost anywhere at night. He can breathe fire and poison gas too,” Veranda said conversationally.

[Jordan Hielo]

"I'm...yes, I got rid of that stuff. Like you suggested."
He scratched at the back of his head, watching her with the stick. Did hellhounds play fetch? It seemed rather...odd. But Jordan wasn't about to say anything about it.

Jordan watched the hellhound slowly loose interest in him as he chased after the stick, just like any normal dog. But this dog wasn't normal. It went into the shadows, and it disappeared.

Jordan squinted his eyes in the hopes that he could see the pup, but he could not.

He turned back to Veranda, eyebrow raised as she gave him her explanation. Disappears. Fire breathing. Gas breathing.
"That's...that's wonderful," he said, rubbing at his eyes. This was getting weirder by the moment.

"How did you actually obtain one?" he asked, looking in the direction Maro went.

[Veranda Kingsford]

Veranda looked over at Jordan, tilting her head, watching him as he seemed to try to comprehend…something. It amused her to see him like this.

“I found him. In the mountains,” she said, hearing rustling behind her and she turned to watch Maro emerge from her own shadow, tugging the big stick along awkwardly in his mouth. She smiled and bent, picking up the pup and setting the stick down.

“He was born of a normal wolf. I did some reading. Apparently one legend says Hellhounds are evil spirits that inhabit the body of a normal dog or wolf when their inside the womb of their mothers. Then they are born to the world to wreak havoc and chaos and all that. If they live long enough to mate a female could birth pups of her own.” Maro leaned forward to lick Veranda’s cheek, leaving a red, light burn there. The scent of sulfur came from the pup’s fur.

“I’m sure if left to himself Maro would cause all kinds of damage. But I picked him up and took him home and have been training him. He acts much more playful than I thought he would, and I wonder if that is because of me or not,” Veranda said, Maro growling at Jordan again. She set the pup down and he sat at her feet, panting, occasionally glaring at Jordan distrustfully.

“It’s good to hear you got rid of that clutter,” Veranda said, placing a hand on her hip. “You look better off without it. So tell me, what is a fine man like yourself doing out here?”

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan wrinkled his nose at the smell of sulfur, and stared at the light burn on her cheek. How did she do it? Surely it must have happened more often then occasionally, if the pup was so close to her.

He certainly couldn't do it.

The man decided to stop staring at the pup, as its nasty glares were beginning to unnerve him. He acted this way towards everyone? He was curious as to how Veranda's housemates dealt with the hellhound.

He thought about her small statement; he looked better off without it. Was it true? He wondered if the bags under his eyes were nearly gone, or his slumped shoulders no longer so... slumped.

But either way, the comment brought a smile to his face. People being able to see his happiness was a good sign.

"I wish I could tell you that I'm doing something interesting," he began, a smirk forming on his lips.
"But I'm just going on a walk. Decided to take the day off from the shop, and hunting."

Quickly Jordan was reminded of something, and his eyebrows shot up.

"That's right, the throwing knives," he muttered.
"How'd those go for you? Work well I hope?" the elemental asked, with a slight tilt in his head. After all he did not get to see her use them at all. And he did enjoy helpful criticism.

Even if they were weapons. He didn't exactly like the thought of a woman like Veranda using that sort of thing. After all, he didn't think they were for brawling.

[Veranda Kingsford]

Veranda smiled when Jordan said he was simply taking the day off. She supposed that was good. People clearly enjoyed days off and cherished them. As for herself, considering the fact that she never worked for money in her life, she didn’t much care. She worked on a farm before, but that was in exchange for food, a roof over her head, and training with blades. It didn’t seem so much like work than enjoyment though, living with the old mercenary. She suddenly missed Brom sorely, like she usually did when he came to her mind.

She looked to Jordan when he asked her about the knives, and she nodded, flicking her wrist to withdraw a blade from the holder strapped to her upper arm. She held it, watching it shine in the light, before turning, searching for a target. She spotted, a good distance away, a plump bird roosting high up on a tree branch. She fully faced the tree and lifted an arm, aiming, before throwing the knife. It zipped through the air and struck the bird, knocking it out of the tree with a squawk. It fell with a light sound to the leaves below.

Maro barked and bolted over to the dead creature, snatching up the body before padding over to Veranda, who bent to pull the knife out, and then pat the Hellhound on the head. Maro then laid down and set to eating the bird.

“They work very well,” Veranda said finally. “A good product, I must say. I’ll have to keep buying more from you. I like them better than my old ones.” They served her very well with taking down her prey, which she was sure Jordan was aware of, somewhere in the back of his mind. But she didn’t use them for only killing. In fact, just the other day she used one to stab into a man’s wrist after she watched him strike his daughter four times over the head in a drunken rage. The girl had tried defending her father, which was baffling to Veranda, so she left the two alone.

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan watched carefully as Veranda shot with precision at the bird; which he was rather impressed about, folding his arms together and raising an eyebrow. Yes he was an archer, and archers needed precision. But he wasn't exactly good at throwing knives.

Hit the target? Oh yes. With the sharp end? Not often.

He nodded as she spoke, a smile on his face. Even if he couldn't use them, he was glad he could make them well.
"Feel free to come back any time you need new ones, or need them sharpened."

He was still very impressed with her accuracy. One reason he was so surprised was because, despite what he knew about her, she looked like such a... proper lady. Of high stature. And he had never met a lady like that that could shoot as well as he.

"And what of you, Veranda? Taking Maro for a walk?" he raised an eyebrow again, a smile on his lips.

[Veranda Kingsford]

Veranda watched as Maro tore the bird apart, eating it, blood spilling onto the ground, that is if the Hellhound hadn’t lapped it up first. It was like the bigger Maro got, the more he ate. She wondered if his appetite would slack off a bit once he matured, because feeding him one human a night wasn’t going to be enough anymore soon.

“Yes, I suppose. I hardly stay home much anymore. I like exploring and just being out and about. I just want Maro here to learn that he doesn’t need to wreck havoc and carnage everywhere he goes. Destruction is his nature, and though I approve, I have to make sure I have a reign on it,” Veranda said, Maro crunching on bone. She didn’t need Maro going through Avaleur eating the residents, then causing said residents to hunt her or Julien and Cori down. They already went through that once when she was first turned.

“So,” she said, looking back to Jordan. “Have you done anything new or worth mentioning since we last met? Aside from purging yourself of clutter and a heartbreak?” He really did look much better in Veranda’s opinion, and the idea that he felt better made her happy. Which was strange, since the only person who she cared about how they felt was Julien, though he had been ever so distant lately. His distance was really a jarring lesson that Veranda had nothing and no one outside of Julien. And she also realized she wanted to remedy that. She had an eternity now, and she didn’t want to spend it alone. How she hated the idea of being alone. So, making new friends and connections were in order. And so far Jordan and Maro were the first. At least Maro could be with her throughout the years, even if Julien wasn’t.

[Jordan Hielo]

Jordan seemed to downright refuse to look at the hellhound and its meal; Jordan never had the stomach for that sort of thing. Which was not exactly logical, considering he skinned and cooked animals in his line of work.

He listened to her talk of how she's often about; a rather good thing in Jordan's opinion, as he believed staying inside was horrible for anyone. To a point, of course. He supposed she might be having troubles at home; it seemed that Juilan and her had been having troubles, last time he heard from her.

But after such a long period of time Jordan doubted it.

He chuckled at her statement of the purging, squinting as he looked up at the sun to think.
"Not really. I suppose I'm just a really boring man. Though getting rid of all that stuff was a start."

He truly wished he had more to tell. Interesting stories that may captivate her. Sadly he had nothing.

"What of you? I can't imagine you having the same boring past little while as I?" he looked back at her, catching a glimpse of the pup eating and shuttering slightly.

[Veranda Kingsford]

“Me?” Veranda said, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. What had she been doing as of late? Not too much either on her end really.

“I’ve just been raising Maro, and doing a lot of thinking. I just want to get out into the world more. I found it is rather pointless to live in fear when you don’t have to. So I’m learning not to.” She shrugged. Sure she was a monster, she was a killer, and many would argue she was the one to be feared, but she still had been afraid. Afraid of going out into the world and finding her father. Afraid of being alone in general. Afraid of being abandoned. Afraid of being hurt again. And honestly, what was the point? She lived through the worst she could. Her human life had been awful, but her vampire life didn’t have to be. So why fear it?

“Though I am guilty of scaring others. Why, just a little while ago I found another vampire who was afraid of me and I just scared him half to death! It was so amusing!” she laughed, remembering Rosier. She’d have to hunt him down at some point and mess with him again.

[Jordan Hielo]

His head tilted slightly at the mention of fear; what reason could she have of being afraid of anything? He supposed that, from what she had told him during that night, there were a few things. But it still sounded odd to him.

The thought quickly drifted from his head as he furrowed his eyebrows and smiled.
"A vampire afraid of a vampire? I can't imagine how that came to be."

Although Jordan was a good-willed man, even he found the thought amusing. And besides, scaring people was better than killing them. He was thankful for that at the very least.

The man looked around the forest, a breeze coming through that smelled of the fresh area. He nearly closed his eyes from the relaxing smell. The man remembered suddenly that he had just been on a walk when Maro and Veranda had arrived.

He turned his gaze to look at her once more.
"You're welcome to join me on my walk, if you'd like," he suggested, a smile on his lips. Perhaps he would be able to make a new friend after all.

An odd friend, but a friend at that.

[Veranda Kingsford]

Veranda nodded when Jordan offered to have her join him on his walk, and she stepped up to his side, letting him lead the way and set the pace. Maro lifted his head, finished with his little meal, licking blood from his muzzle as he walked ahead of Veranda and Jordan.

"I never encountered a vampire like him. I suppose if you really think about it, his fear isn't too strange," Veranda said. "After all, humans fear other humans. Of course humans aren't naturally inherit monsters either." The fact that they were capable of great good and great evil is what made them so interesting.

[Jordan Hielo]

With that they were on their way through the forest. a simple walk. The breeze light and fluffy, Jordan was rather pleased. Meeting with his acquaintance once more, and on such a beautiful day. He was in quite the good mood if he could say so himself.

And with Maro walking ahead of him he did not have the pup growling at him anymore. That was a plus.

Jordan raised an eyebrow, a small smirk on his face.
"I don't believe vampires can be considered 'monsters'," he stated, sliding his hands back into his pockets comfortably.
"I think there are at least a few okay ones," he continued, making the small joke as he chuckled, the small smirk still on his face.

[Veranda Kingsford]

"Well, it's good to hear a few vampires are okay to you," Veranda replied, smirking, before watching Maro run off ahead a bit. She felt the breeze lift her hair and she reached up to pull back her long raven locks, allowing the breeze to touch the back of her neck.

"So, did you find any new girls to replace the old one?" Veranda asked, looking at Jordan to see his expression to her question.

[Jordan Hielo]

He was glad that she had gotten his joke. He too watched as Maro began running forward, a small smile on the man's face. Even if the pup did not like him, it was a rather cute pup. Though he prayed that when Maro got big he wouldn't tear him to shreds.

His eyes flickered wider as Veranda asked her question and his face flushed a tad bit red, and he rubbed at the scruff on his face as if that would make it go away. He chuckled slightly, looking at Veranda with a sheepish smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Would you believe me if I told you that any relationship I've ever been in hasn't gone too well?" his smile grew a bit bigger before shrugging.
"Once I fell for a woman who turned out to be a puppet. Y'know, not actually living, no real emotion. Then there was a fairy who decided to skip town. Dear Gods I'm unlucky."

He laughed again, before turning his face back to Veranda.
"Though I don't mind. Someday I'm sure, but I certainly aint looking for romance yet."

The elemental paused before tilting his head.
"And how are you and... Julian doing?" he asked, pausing when he did not remember the name of her lover.

[Veranda Kingsford]

Veranda smiled He seemed more than capable of standing up to her question, not cooling into himself like some dying creature. He truly was getting better. It wasn't just for show. She listened his little tale of doomed love before she laughed with him.

"Maybe you should focus on quenching physical needs over emotional for a while," she said.

He asked about Julien and she simply shrugged, looking up at the sky and the canopy of trees they passed under.

"I still love him, and always will. He has been distant, but that is okay. I'm learning not to rely on him so much," she replied, sighing. She missed him, but she was occupying her time with Maro, and now Jordan.

[Jordan Hielo]

Now that almost made the man stumble; he went a deep red, before laughing slightly. Physical needs over emotional. He rubbed at his face, once again attempting to get rid of his flushed face. This time it did not work.

Perhaps she was right. Though Jordan had never been one for that type of relationship with someone. But Veranda was always right so far; perhaps she was right again.

Though his attention was soon brought to her own relationship, and his smile faded away.

At first, he just stared at the forest in front of them, weary of what to say next. His own relationships had never turned out the greatest. But perhaps he could give some advice of his own.

"Perhaps he has something else on his mind," Jordan began, biting at the inside of his lip. He fiddled with a coin that laid dormant in his pocket, before raising an eyebrow.

"You seem to truly care about him, even I see that and I've never met the man," Jordan said, lips curving up in a smile.
"And I'm sure it'll work out fine. One day you might go home to find that he's no longer distant."

He stayed smiling for a moment, before going red again and chuckling lightly.
"Apologies. I'm not very good at this advice thing. Though, if you ever need something, even just to go on a walk or..." his lips curved into a smirk, "or you need to terrorize some of my customers, feel free to say so. I'd be happy to help."

[Veranda Kingsford]

Veranda listened to Jordan as he gave his input. Julian had something on his mind? Perhaps. He seemed more interested in killing than anything else.More interested in the fear of humans. Maybe he was working something out. Who knew?

She smiled at Jordan's offer.

"Maybe I'll take you up on that. As for Julien," she shrugged, "I'll wait for him. I'll always be there for him. I love him, but I won't sit in my room until he figures out what he needs to figure out. I want to live a real life after all. My human life wasn't great. All I knew was pain of some degree, sometimes even with Julien around."