Long term Strangers (Aidan/Syana)

[Aidan Lowell]

OoC: Takes place the night before Aidan was kidnapped during "Sovereignty Unchecked"

Aidan sat on the uncomfortable stone, that has grown comfortable in it's own odd way with how often he found his self sitting on something like it. Comfort was a luxury that would drive Aidan crazy anyways, soft beds kept him up all night and not wearing his armor made him feel absolutely naked. No, he like the hard, lumpy, confining things he has grown used to. Munching on a piece of beef jerky, half-aware yet totally sharp as to what was happening around him at the same time. He didn't use his hands, but rather chewed idly with the strip of dried meat hanging out of his mouth.

His dark eyes slowly drifted around. It was his watch, everyone was asleep... Or atleast they appeared to be. He was happy to watch, he even offered to take the whole night, but that plan was quickly crushed. It would be Syana's turn next, in fact it was about time for him to wake her. He... Well strangely enough, despite travelling together for about a week or so, he knew almost nothing about the girl. A long time to be strangers, then again Aidan was particularly the talkative type and she seemed to be preoccupied with hanging on to every action and word of Saturos. "Syana?"

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana jerked awake, looking around quickly and grabbing around for her sword before she saw it was just Aidan waking her for her watch. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Hey, Aidan..." She was slightly upset that she had been woken when she was; she had been having a rather good dream. But guard duty came first and she wasn't about to say something to the knight about something so small. She slowly got up to her feet and stretched, grabbing her sword and resting it on her shoulder.

She opened her mouth to ask if there had been any trouble, but thought better of it. Clearly if there had been he would have woken them sooner. She stood there somewhat awkwardly for a few seconds. She had never really had a proper conversation with the man before and now that the chance presented itself she had no idea what to talk about. Weather? Decent. Politics? Probably not his favorite topic right now. Family? Same boat. Hmm... Might as well just...

"Tell me a bit about yourself, if you don't mind. I feel like I barely know you, to be honest, besides the fact you're big and wear armor."

[Aidan Lowell]

He felt almost guilty waking her up, it was in the dead hours of the morning as she was going to be forced to endure the endless borefest that is guard duty. Really, he should be heading to bed, but he wasn't going to be going to bed. Even if he would lay down, he'd just feign it until either it took over or the morning sun allowed him to be awake. Tomorrow was a big day, and he probably wouldn't be getting much sleep for a while.

Instead he decided to stay up, maybe make some small talk. He really didn't know anything about her, but before he could open his trap, she got the preemptive strike. Biting hard and ripping the jerk out his mouth, he swallowed and decided to answer her. "Not much else to know. I'm pretty boring." He shrugged. "I'm a big guy in a lot of armor, with a penchant for spears and not having fun."

He thought for a second. "That's a cheap answer, I know." He gave it a little more thought. "Well... I was a soldier from when I was five to six years ago. Well most of the early was just training by my instructor." Dull, repetitive and boring training. How he missed it so. "And for the last six years I've been a lot of things, none of them particularly interesting. I can't cook for a damn, and I like heights. Is that a better answer?"

"What about you?"

[Syana Flamberge]

"A much better one," she said with a little laugh. It wasn't much, but it still at least gave her a little insight to him. "Well, I'm from Ilia. Everyone in my family is a mercenary, or at least was at some point. I have five brothers, one of whom was seriously injured last I heard and haven't heard anything about him since." She gave a little sigh before going again. "I've basically been traveling around, taking jobs here and there for money. Then I bumped into Saturos a little while ago, and some of his friends, and decided to travel with him for a bit. And that's really it." She paused for a minute. "And I hate spiders."

[Aidan Lowell]

"Oh, well if I see any I'll crush them for you." Aidan tried to make a joke. Or something like a joke, he wasn't really a funny guy. Her story sounded a lot less complicated then his, he was almost envious of it. Though, he knew far better then to believe it was really all that simple. "Ilia, right. I think I remember you mentioning that, of course you were threatening the daylights out of some poor soldier, but still." A mercenary she said? That didn't sound too farfetched, most Ilians were mercenaries. "Well, if I ever get the means, I'll make sure to pay you for your help. Might have to wait on that though, it could be years."

She said her younger brother was injured? Hrm... It was rude to pry, so he decided to just let the issue fall. "You and Saturos seem to be..." He began, thinking for a second for the right word to use. "Fast friends, almost like family." That should be good. He saw that it wasn't quite that simple, and that she obviously had some sort of attraction to the swordsman, but that wasn't something that he should say.

"Sounds interesting. Any good stories?"

[Syana Flamberge]

"Any good stories?" Syana repeated, going over her various adventures in her head, trying to figure out if any were really worth telling. "Well, there was one time when I was traveling once with one of my brothers and we were hired by some fancy noble to protect him on a trip he was going on." She laughed quietly. "The idiot was going to a store in the 'poor' part of the city and thought the 'peasants' would attack him." She shook her head. "Easiest gold I've ever made. The guy actually started to panic when a little kid came over and asked what we were doing, like he was really going to get hurt." She sighed. "Those were some good times... So what about you? What stories you got?"

[Aidan Lowell]

"Oh Elmine, If I had a gold for every time a noble freaked out for nothing I would be able to just BUY Bern." He shook his head with a small laugh. "For the ones who run everything, they don't seem to know much." He muttered from experience. His family was the anomaly, not the norm. And even in that case, Aidan was the abnormal one and not his sister. The armor he wore like a second pair of skin clanked together as he moved, even in his small movement and hand gestures. His gauntlet could be heard especially clear in the dead of night with little but the two of them awake and a fire crisply burning between them.

"I remember once I took a job as a bodyguard for a noblewoman in Lycia. Guess why she wanted a guard? She thought her 'wild beauty made her a beacon for unwanted attention' I almost turned the job down right there. But... it turned out her fears were a bit justified. I spent the entire week beating away suitors. Sometimes with a stick. I can't tell you how many men wouldn't leave until a whacked them a few times with the 'bachelorette stick' as I liked to call it." He chuckled lightly to his self. Feeling a bit more at ease. "I think they were after her massive fortune myself. The girl basically bathed in gems and gold."

"Ah, well, you know how it is." With a small laugh he shook his head. Looking over, he took in Syana. "I've been wondering this for a while now... What's with the face paint? When I first saw you, it was all runny and I thought it was some makeup, but since you and Saturos both wear it. It mean anything special?"

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana paused, she wanted to make sure she got it right. "Well... Saturos had it way before I did. From what I remember, he used to wear it when he was in the army with all his fellow soldiers. Now, he wears it as a tribute to them. When I asked him about it, he was reserved about letting me wear it too. But we've been through a lot already, so we kinda already have a bond. So the paint is basically a way of saying that no matter what, we'll always have each others back." She gave an embarrassed little laugh. "I know it kinda sounds silly, but to us it makes sense. More so him than me, but I'm really starting to know what it means to wear." She looked up at the knight. "Now I have a question I've wanted to ask you. How'd you get that scar?"

[Aidan Lowell]

"Hrm..." Aidan thought for a second. Never did any of his commanders wear or do such things. Though he could relate to the kindred bond men felt for one another during war. It was a kind of bond that is hard to describe, that sometimes transcended even hatred for one another. "A trust with no strings attached. Hard to find that these days." Aidan muttered. His brows furrowed, making the naturally grumpy looking man look even grumpier. But he smiled, or kind of smiled, it was an almost pained looking smile. As if the process itself hurt.

"It doesn't sound silly at all. Glad you found someone to trust like that, some people go their entire lives being paranoid about everyone around them. And those are the kind of people who grow up to make decisions. Look for the knife hidden in every hand shake, my father once told me." He grumbled quietly.

Subconsciously he reached up and touched his scar, thinking about the truth in those words, if there were any. She asked about it. "This... I got this the other day. It was in the tournament in Lacuna. I was fighting a man, and he brought his blade down upon my head and barely was I able to pull my face out of the way. Not without taking a permanent reminder with me that is. Sliced right through my helmet too, the piece of crap. It took a healer an hour to heal it, and even then it left a scar. Lucky I got away with my eyesight, or my life for that matter." It wasn't a really exciting story, well some might think it was, but for Aidan it was sort of meh. Not because he did stuff like this every day, but because it was a fight without meaning. It made the whole ordeal feel... empty.

"My turn." He almost laughed, as if the back and forth had become a game. "You mentioned you going on a mission with your brother, you also said you had a lot of them. How close are you?" This, seemingly odd and almost invasive question was brought upon by his own sister. "You don't have to answer that, if you prefer."

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana gave a laugh. "I'm pretty close to all my brothers. All five of them. I'm the youngest, so I got picked on when I was little, most for not being a boy like them. But in the end it just made me stronger and our bond tighter. I'd do anything for any one of them in a heartbeat. Although..." She paused, looking down towards the ground. "Like I said before, one of them was injured and I haven't heard anything about his health since... I really wish I could know if he was ok, you know?" She gave a sigh. "But I know either way, he'd want me to carry out this mission, cause it's so important. Maybe I'll be able to visit home after. But until then, I have to focus on the present or I'll lose my head entirely..."

[Aidan Lowell]

"Ah, I see how it is then." He let out a small but sly grin. One girl in a large family of boys, it made her bold and somewhat brash nature make more sense. She was close to her family, as he expected. In the cold alps of Ilia, a family of mercenaries probably needs to remain close. Strangely enough it seems the bigger families are usually the ones with tightest bonds... he hadn't spoken to his sister in years, his father in even longer. His mother died a long time ago, and he never really knew him... His old nanny was probably retired by now and his former combat tutor... Well the last he heard, Argyle left Bern around the same time that Aidan did.

He returned his mind to the conversation, as she looked a bit unhappy. Maybe even sad, but definitely concerned. He would like to assure her that her brother is fine, but he wouldn't lie. No, she deserved more than the empty sympathy of a man who knows nothing of the situation. Instead he said the only thing he was sure of. "I'm sure you'll be able to. Even if you leave, your home is always waiting." He almost cracked a chuckle, if only for the irony of the statement. Looking up at the sky he thought for a few seconds as he stared at the stars. The chilly air really hit him hard with nostalgia, it's cold made him feel at home once again. As if all these years he's been away was a temporary thing, as if his home in Lycia was no more then a vacation. His mind unable to help but remember all the times he camped out while he was in the army.

Taking a deep breath, he sighed. It was almost content, odd considering the situation he was in. All the hoops he had to jump through to merely return to his childhood home, the fact he was a wanted man almost seemed to fade for a second. "An important mission? Is this something my ears are allowed to hear?" He turned to the woman with a bit of a smile, a big improvement over his gruff and quite frankly angry looking default expression.

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana raised an eyebrow. "This whole thing. Well, I guess it may not technically be a mission, per say, but it definitely seems pretty important. Lives are at stake, aren't they? Seems pretty important to me. So, for now, it has my complete focus. Well, not right now. Now, the night watch has my complete focus. But then, later, back to the whole bigger picture thing." She blushed a little bit at her little word stumbling, but recovered. "Do you think we're gonna all come out of this ok?"

[Aidan Lowell]

"I'm honored Syana, thank you." It was kind of humbling that this important mission he thought she doing on the side as she helped him turned out the be helping him in the first place. He wasn't really used to, well, leading. He's followed instructions his entire life, as a child, as a teenage, and as a man. His father, his tutor, his commanders and his sister. "Lives... are. The life of those in Bern, those in the rebellion and those in the army."

He almost laughed. Almost when she began to stumble over her words. It was kinda cute. "All of us? Well, I'm sure you'll make it out just fine. Lyar and Saturos too probably. I'm not so sure about me though, in fact by the time this is all done I might very well have my head on a pike. I just hope it happens after all of this is over. It would be a tragedy to miss everything." That was sarcasm, but it didn't sound like it. He was kinda absolutely horrible when it came to jokes. That didn't stop him from trying, well sometimes. He didn't really unless he was either really comfortable or really uncomfortable.

[Syana Flamberge]

Syana raised an eyebrow. Was that supposed to be joke? Cause that was really dark. "You'll make it out of it. Honestly, if anyone has the highest chance of getting killed in this thing it's me. Seriously, look at the facts. All three of you guys are all tall and seriously strong. I'd be the easiest one for them to take down. Actually, I'd probably be the easiest one to be caught and used as bait too." She gave a grim little smile. "So don't feel too down on your odds just yet. Besides, if you go into this type of thing expecting to die, it probably won't work out so good." She gave his arm a little tap.