[OOM: On the Road]

[mnt_raph]

It's less than a day's ride from the Designated Tortoise to Corus, so Abigail and Raph saddled up Cloud and a loaner horse by the name of Colin and set out after just after lunch. They crossed into the city proper just as the shadows began to lengthen announcing the approach of night. Raph, who had spent his first few years in Tortall doing odd jobs in and about the city, had more than a few favors at his disposal. The best barn was open to the horses, while their people dined on the best fare at the best table, and later slept in the best bed the inn had to offer. Pretty damn auspicious way to start an Adventure, if Raph says so himself.

The following morning all travellers awoke refreshed and prepared for anything the day had to offer, which apparently a whole lot given the beautiful weather and overall quiet of the countryside. The group had only been travelling for a few hours when they reached that point in the journey where pleasant conversation falls by the wayside leaving only silence in its wake. The silence wasn't welcome. Making conversation was the only thing keeping Raph's mind from focusing on the any number of things he'd rather not be thinking about. Foremost on that particular list is the paranoia that at any moment he's going to fall off Colin.

In the nearly ten years that he has spent on this side of the door, Raph has only successfully ridden on Cloud for any extended duration. Horses, you see, make him nervous. So nervous that the horses, sensing this apprehension, can do nothing but react in kind. More than one has been guilty of throwing him from the saddle, and as such Raph has stuck close to Cloud and Cloud alone as much as possible. Cloud was there though out his seemingly endless Kane-like wandering of Tortall, and there was no way Raph was going to repay the poor pony's loyalty by making his cart his sorry ass around on another long journey. It just wouldn't be fair. Which is why during the four day trek towards the Swoop it will be Abigail riding Cloud, what with her being so much lighter than the bald Shang warrior riding to her left.

So far so good though, right? Colin seems to be behaving in spite of Raph's white knuckled death grip on the reins.

Comments

[mnt_raph]

Never bet on sure things.

"I ain't done nothin' with it, 'side from givin' it to you."
What is she getting....at....
"Why?"

[tortallan_npc]

"It's gone missin'" she answers with a scowl. "I've been through it all, and then again!"

To punctuate her exclamation, she throws both hands up in the air.

[mnt_raph]

"What do you mean it's gone missing? We just had it. It ain't like maps just up an' walk away on their own."

Or...maybe they do?

"Maybe during the commotion it got like...blown around a bit or somethin'."

He begins to circle the area looking in and around any underbrush to be found for the map to be caught on, poking at things with his katana as he does so.

[tortallan_npc]

A deeply disturbing suspicion begins to form in the back of Abigail's mind. Gritting her teeth, she takes her own katana and stalks after Raph. When he's leaned over poking at a shrub, she helpfully pokes him in the rear, right in the middle of a red heart.

She'll never understand his 'boxers.' They are ostentatious, and nowhere near as sensible as a good loincloth!

"There's no wind to carry it far and it's not here," she insists. "Where are your breeches?"

Someone is a bit grumpy about the direction their afternoon has taken.

[mnt_raph]

"OW! Hey, careful with that!" he turns, trapping the end of her sword with his own with a flick of his wrist. "They're over by the tree, where I left'em."

[tortallan_npc]

"Aye, but the map is not where we left it," she tells him again, chin jutting out like she means to poke him with it as well as the sword.







"Do ponies oft have a preference for musty pieces of parchment?"

Her smile is sharpest of all.

[mnt_raph]

"What? You're not talkin' sense! What do you mean..."

"oh." Raph considers her words.

"No. NO they wouldn't...would they?"

[tortallan_npc]

They. She has to smirk at the way he shifts the blame, knowing full well it was Cloud who got loose and wandered over to the spot where they'd been...

Ahem.

Ponies, she thinks, checking her temper.

"Does anythin' behave as it ought today?" she sighs, walking back to the area in question. "Excepting yourself."

He had been behaving just as he should.

[mnt_raph]

Raph's brain is already running full tilt at formulating excuses for Cloud and his behavior, when the weight of Abigail's comments hit him.

Oh.
Well...heh.

The bond between man and pony is a strong one, but even bonds have limits. Raph smiles to himself, as he cuts down a couple of branches and brings them back to the clearing.

"Well, we are on an adventure. Weird stuff's bound to happen. Let's just hope our quota for the day's been filled."

[tortallan_npc]

"And you've a good sense of where we are and need to be, so we'll be fine," Abigail adds.

Funny, it almost sounds like a question.

[mnt_raph]

"Like the back of my hand," he says with every nugget of bravado he can muster. It helps that he's convinced he knows exactly where they're going, and is doing manly things like covering up the body of a monster he just vanquished.

Sadly the effect is lessened by his boxer shorts.

[tortallan_npc]

It really is.

Eyes on Raph, Abigail grabs his breeches and marches them over to him, holding her nose when she gets to close to the foul smelling Stormwing.

"Let's be away, then."

She's anxious to leave it behind.

[mnt_raph]

Raph is in the process of removing a dozen or so flight feathers from the yet-to-be-covered wing of the creature. He's heard rumor of what these things can do to when added to arrows, and it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

"Almost done," he says taking the pants and draping them over his arm. "You all right?" Funny how the smell doesn't seem bother him at all.

[tortallan_npc]

"Will be, when my nose is a good long ways from that," Abigail says, nodding to the beast. "S'worse than a pile of manure."

She eyes him.

"Don't you agree?"

[mnt_raph]

He shrugs, wrapping the feathers in his breeches. He'll put the pants back on when he can stow the metallic feathers in his pack.

"It ain't roses, but it ain't so bad once you get used to it. Smells never bothered me none."

Raph shifts the branches a bit more, and once he's pleased with their arrangement, he steps back.

"I'm going to give the area a sweep, see if we can't hide our tracks a bit."

[tortallan_npc]

Abigail watches him, brow furrowed, and nods. She checks Cloud over in the meantime, adjusting his tack as needed.

"Should've known you weren't eatin' the cheese," she says to the pony, smiling. To Raph: "Colin looks a touch uneasy. Got that smell in his nostrils, too."

[mnt_raph]

Raph stops mid-sweep, his shoulder tensing at her words.

"Of course he is," he sighs. And Raph? Just went and wrapped his pants around a handful of the damned things feathers.

"I'm just gonna walk."