Heading out (Cherry)

[cherry]

Katrina woke up as some of the rays of sun hit her face. She closed her eyes and turned away. She opened her eyes, letting them get used to the light.

She turned her head back and saw Jyo packing up his things. Katrina bit her lip thinking about traveling with him. She wondered if she should have just kept her mouth shut. She got up and grabbed the blanket she stuffed it back in her bag with a couple of fruits.

"Morning, Jyo." She sighed as she smoothed her hair.

[Jyo]

Jyo looked over at the rustling of Katrina putting her stuff in her bag. and gave a smile.
"Good morning, help yourself to some of the bread and water in the side pouch of my bag. It isn't much, but the only prepped food we have are those fish, and I myself hate fish in the morning. Of course there is the fruit you got last night." He said as he wrapped up his tent and then started collapsing the poles.

"I figure we can head out in about an hour, will that be enough time for you to get ready?" He asked before giving a small roll of the shoulders to loosen up the muscles that had tensed over a night of sitting on watch.

[cherry]

Katrina smiled. "Thanks." She said as she took a piece of bread. She took a bite out of it. She smoothed her hair and fixed her clothes.

"I don't really what time we leave." Katrina told him. She did want to get to the tunnel sometime soon though, if she was lucky, they would get back to the Waste in the evening. But there was no promises.

[Jyo]

Jyo finished putting his things away and slipped on his jacket and then pulled on his boots before grabbing his bag and slipping it onto his back and then picked up his weapon.

Sitting on a rock he waited for Katrina to finish her breakfast, he had eaten some odd and ends while putting his things back into his bag.

"Well the tunnels are next. It should be a pretty easy trip, though when we get to the waste we'll need to keep our eyes peeled and our ears open." He said before his eyes narrowed.
"You mentioned a group called the Scorpions at your party, I've never encountered them, could you perhaps enlighten me a little?" He asked.

[cherry]

Katrina thought. "Well," She chewed another piece of bread as she picked her bag up. She couldn't help but hover over to a tree and sit on a branch. "I've only seen them one time. They usually travel in the desert of in the Darsors Mountains. They were in the forest one time for a...some kind of ceremony. I watched from the top of the trees. Their pretty ruthless and cruel. But i don't think anyone could beat them in a fight. That's what their trained to do, fight. I don't think they learn anything else in their tribe."

"But anyway, you know when you see a Scorpion because they always have a tattoo of a scorpion on their right arm. They split up between humans, witches and they also have elves. And you don't want to run into them. It doesn't matter what your doing, if your in their way, they'll most likely kill you." Katrina said. The Scorpions don't scare her alot. Sure, they were pretty tough, but they never come to the forest anymore.

"So." She sighed as she jumped down from the tree. "Wanna head for the tunnel?"

[Jyo]

Jyo couldn't help but give a small smile. He always did love the idea of a challenege.
"I'll make sure to steer clear of them." He said with a nod.
Though it would be best if they stayed clear of me. He thought as he gave a stretch and nodded at Katrina's question.
"Sure let's get through the tunnles. I would like to get through there pretty quickly, there was a cave in the last time I was in there, though it wasn't in any of the main tunnles, but I would hate to get caught in one again." He said.

[cherry]

Katrina nodded and pushed some tree branches out of the way as she walked into the Pine Forest. The tunnel wasn't far from this spot. Just a few yards maybe.

"The Scorpions don't come around the forest alot." Katrina reminded Jyo. "They probably won't bother us." That's what Katrina liked about the forest. No one ever came there. It was nice, peaceful and pretty safe.

[Jyo]

Jyo gave a nod.
"But keep in mind that I travel a lot. Anything I can learn about places I go is a good thing. I don't like not knowing what I might run into during later travels." He replied as they went through the forest.

He had only been here a couple of times. The last time had been very life changing, well the tunnles here within were the life changing part, but this forest was a place where Jyo could fully feel at peace with everything, he didn't know what it was about the forest, but it felt like home to him.

[cherry]

Katrina swung her bag around her arm as she rested it on her shoulder. "Do you have a favorite place? You know, in Tragonia?" Katrina asked him. She was just curious, and trying to make small talk.

Katrina's favorite was obviously the forest. Katrina assumed Jyo thought that automatically. It had been home to her for over eleven years...

"We're not actually leaving her here are we?" Her mother asked, hysterically."

"We have to Mary, she's a freak!" Her father screamed. Katrina covered her ears and slumped against a tree trunk. She didn't know what was going on.

"But she's our daughter!" Her mother exclaimed. "We can't just leave her in the forest to die!"

"She'll live she half freak or whatever she is." Her father said as he grabbed her mother by the wrist and dragged her mother back into the zoomer. Katrina got up and tried to run for the zoomer but as she tried to get into it, the zoomer took off from under her feet and she fell flat on her back. After she shook off her fall, she shot up into the sky and looked for the zoomer, but it was gone. She fell to the ground and huddled under a tree. Thinking they would come back.

Katrina snapped out of it and looked back at Jyo.

[Jyo]

"Well likely the Celestial forest. I spent the night there during my first week of traveling, it was quite lovely and I..." Jyo trailed off as he noticed Katrina had seemed to go off into her own little world.

She seemed to snap out of it before he could ask if everything was okay, but he inquired anyway.
"Everything alright? You seemed to just kind of go away there for a moment." He said with curiosity in his voice, and only a slight hint of concern, he didn't know her well, but it seemed a little out of character for her.

[cherry]

Katrina looked back at the ground and bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she should tell him or not. She looked back at him. "Yeah, I'm fine, I was...remembered something. That's all." She faked a smile. "Go on, continue."

She tried her hardest to block the image from her memory. But this time it wouldn't go away. Katrina reached into her bag and got out an orange and bit into it. The image suddenly went away. She was glad. She didn't want to think about her parents anymore. What they did to her had scarred her for life and lately she kept having this weird flashbacks. Talking to Jyo had stopped the flashbacks for a little while, but now they were coming back.

[Jyo]

Jyo's look lingered for amoment, but he smiled and let it be for now. He could tell something was on her mind, but he would let her tell him when she was ready to tell him.

"Well I was in the forest during the beginning of my travels when I ran across a woman named Melissa Vanderhost. She is a resident of that forest, I was badly wounded from a fight with a bandit, she tended my wounds and let me stay there for a while, during that time she showed me the forest. It was a beatiful place, I would love to visit it again." He said as they walked

"I would assume you have a fondness for the forest as well?" He said with the statment obviously being a question from his tone.

[cherry]

Katrina smiled as she looked at the flowers growing up a tree in the forest. "Well, yeah, when my...well, you know. It just became my home and I fell in love with it. It's a nice place and people don't come around there often so it's really quite. And it gives me enough room to fly." Katrina shrugged.

Her power to fly always gave her an urge everyday. Sometimes if she didn't fly that day, she just did it automatically like a twitch. Then Katrina remember Jyo mentioning Melissa Vanderhost. "Melissa Vanderhost..." Katrina muttered. She had only seen one other woman living in the forest and that was a blond vampire. She had never talked to her though. "This Melissa girl, was she a blond vampire?" Katrina was curious.

[Jyo]

Jyo gave a nod when Katrina mentioned why the forest was a place she loved. He had kind of figured that was why she had been off in her own little world of thought for a few moments, but he still didn't want to bring that up any more that it had now. It was obviously still affecting her heavily.

When she asked about his hostess he gave another nod.
"Yes that would be her. I will admit to an amount of nervousness when I discovered what she was, but she apparently lives off the blood of animals instead of sentient beings." He replied. Remembering the time spent with Melissa created a sense of Nostalgia for him. She had been a wonderful hostess, but Jyo could sense a sadness that ran deep in the woman, though he never knew the cause of it.

[cherry]

"Yeah, I mean...I don't dislike vampires, I'm just not exactly warm and fuzzy around them. That' why I haven't talked to her, I've seen her one or two times around the forest." Katrina shrugged.

Katrina chuclked. "Do you always get hurt during a job?" She wondered when he mentioned Melissa had healed his wounds.

[Jyo]

"She's a kind woman, trying to co-exist with humans completely." He replied as ducked under a branch. One thing about being tall in the woods, you had to duck and weave more than others, even on a path.

"And I don't normally get hurt on a job. Though I have been wounded often in my line of work, but it's very rare that it's a serious wound." He said while looking through some of the trees, he had seen some movement, but it was only some of the wildlife.

[cherry]

Katrina nodded. She would have assumed you get some wounds sometime in that line of work. "How long have you been a mercenary?" She wondered. She as thinking around 18 or somewhere along that age. But he did runaway, so she wasn't sure.

Katrina stumbled over the large roots growing from a large tree that they were passing. Katrina stepped over them carefully, waiting for Jyo's answer.

[Jyo]

"About two years now, I left when I was twenty. It's been a little rough, but I've had some good times and I would do it all over again if given the chance." He said. There were times Jyo felt a little homesick, but he pushed those feelings away when they came along. He was happy with his life right now and felt no need to change it by going home.

"Speaking of being a mercenary, are you going to be okay with that while traveling with me? Keep in mind my profession makes me little more than a wandering murderer. I'm not hired to talk with people about disputes. I'll be glad to have you with me when I travel, but you might want to keep in mind that I work alone, so I'll be out and about on my own a lot, and as I said, killing is my business." he said looking back to Katrina. He liked being with her, he really did, but he wanted her to understand what being associated with him meant.

[cherry]

Katrina pushed a bang out of her eyes as Jyo talked. When he brought up the subject of her traveling with him, her glance quickly shifted back to him. "I'm perfectly fine with traveling with you." Katrina had no problem with Jyo's profession. She had no problem with him going out on a job and her being alone for a little while. And about the disputes, she would assume that Jyo wasn't going to talk about disputes, and Katrina wasn't interested on who he shanked that day.

"I know what a mercenary entitles and I'm fine with that." She shrugged.

[Jyo]

Jyo smiled and gave a nod.
"I figured you did, but I wanted to make sure everything was clear." He replied as he stopped and crouched down to inspect an herb growing at the base of a tree and pulled out a knife to cut it from the stem.

"Medicinal herbs, very useful." He said as he reached into a pouch at his hip to remove a few seeds and dug into the ground a little before burying them and pouring a little out of his flask.
"Give a little, get a little." He explained before standing up.