Swapping Monster Stories {Donovan/Mila C}

[Mila]

Few days after Doogs

Mila sat at the table munching on her lunch. The tavern's special today was vegetable stew to which Mila enjoyed. She dunked her bread into he bowl and then munched on the bread. To wash it down she had a nice mug of root beer. Although the drink had some traces of alcohol in it due to the fermenting process, there wasn't nearly enough to get her inebriated. Plus, it had been a while since she last had a mug of the frothy drink. After the events with the Doogs she figured she deserved to herself a little. The book next to her bowl had her freshly inked notes about everything that happened with the town of Ashe. How the small group of mercenaries managed to beat the monsters and how Jule flying guillotine killed the boss monster. She made a mental note to talk to the young one and congratulate her later.

Mila finished one bowl of soup and asked for another. The waitress brought her another wooden bowl of steamy goodness. The seat in front of her was empty. She tilted her head a bit. She knew Vincent was out buying things and Yorick was still recovering from her injuries. The rest of the tavern was mostly empty. People were busy working and the hype of the monster deaths was starting to die down among the towns folk. That didn't bother her too much. As a matter of fact Mila was happy that the people were getting back to their normal days.

[Donovan]

The mercenary stumbled down the stairs of the Inn he and a few of the remaining Hound Hunters were staying in. It was a couple days after the hunt - and his drinking binge with Yorrick that night - and Donovan was feeling totally refreshed. His wounds had healed well, thanks to the kindness of a healer offering their services to the group. Yorrick’s wounds had ended up being the worst, but she would heal well and be up and about soon.

He looked around the cozy tavern’s dining area. A small fire was lit and the room was comfortably golden. A handful patrons were sitting around the tavern, some drinking, most eating. Mila sat at her usual table, and Donovan couldn’t help but smile at the mage’s cheerful demeanor. She had just finished a bowl of soup and a second had been whisked straight to her table. Donovan sauntered up and pulled the empty seat out from the table. He looked up at the waitress as she began to leave, “You can put that on my tab.” The poor girl looked at him, confused, “But you all eat for free.”

“I… I know. I was just — You know what? Doesn’t matter. Never mind. I’ll also have a bowl of the house special, please. Thanks, Nellie.” He turned to face Mila. “You knew I was kidding, right? It wasn’t just supremely bad delivery? How’re you doing, Hotshot?” Nellie brought over another steaming bowl of veggie soup and a hunk of bread. “Thanks, Nel.” He pulled a piece of bread off and dunked it in the soup.

[Mila]

"Your dehlivery" She stopped for a moment to finish the spoon full of soup that was in her mouth. Mila was usually good with keeping her manners at the dinner table but she was caught off guard. Donny did quickly stumble in and occupy the seat in front of her.

"Mmmh. My bad. Yeah your delivery needed work. Yah waited till she started leaving before you said your line. Also I.. don't think Nellie is good at picking up jokes. I tried calling her a Sweet Pea and she kept correcting me." Mila spoke as she ripped another piece of bread.

"Well yeah! I knew you were joking. I'm taking advantage of the free food too. But.. I.. think i'm going to start paying for the next bowl. We've kind of been mooching off of them for a few days. I'm starting to feel guilty." She flashed him a small smile. Part of her liked Donny and his easy going nature. The mercenary was a fun man to talk too.

"I'm doing fine. You and Yorick gave quite the performance swapping tall tales with one another. Thank you though. It's been a while since I've seen her so uhm.. well cheerful." She chuckled lightly then fed herself another stew soaked bit of bread. Between the two of them Yorick was the more vocal member of the Cross, while Mila was better geared to casual one on one conversations. She moved her book aside so that the pages wouldn't get accidental drops of soup on the pages.

"Hey! We agreed to swap monster stories didn't we? Now that your sober can I possibly get the true version of how you faced off against the horde of undead? In return I can give you the story of how Yorick and I met.. it also involves the living dead." Mila finished her second bowl of soup. The mage's stomach was warm and full.

[Donovan]

“Yikes, you went straight for the kill.” Donovan joked, though Mila saying his delivery needed work did sting a bit more than it should have. “Free food is the best part of the job! You can’t give up on it now. Besides, I heard they were doing Shepard’s Pie as their special tomorrow. I’m going to eat half of them, there's no way I'm paying for it.” Don flashed a wild grin. He’d actually been looking forward to that pie since he got to Ashe. If Mila started paying for food, all of the Heroes of Ashe would likely have to start paying. He couldn’t let her ruin that for him!

“That night was a little… interesting. I imagine.” He leaned in a little and spoke in mock hushed tones, “To be frank, I don’t remember most of it.” The silver tongued mercenary leaned back in his seat and pulled the now soaked piece of bread out of his soup. The two together tasted absolutely amazing. “This soup has a tone of carrots, doesn’t it. I like carrots,” Donovan absentmindedly stated.

“Swapping monster stories, what you’re not gonna even try to coax it out of me? Well, I’ll tell you, but it’s not nearly as glamorous as our little Doog Hunt. This was way back when I was just a caravan guard with out any notches on my sword. I was traveling through the mountains of Ilia, when members of our band started getting picked off one by one. Eventually there were only 2 guards left and the merchant’s family.” The mercenary was uncomfortable, and he allowed some part of that to be clear. This was one of his most shameful stories, he didn’t like telling it. “One fiery tempered mage and an undead horde later, I got these.” The mercenary pulled his shirt down a little ways and showed the gruesome trio of scars running in a perfect parallel to each other. “I’m not too fond of this story, a lot of bad memories… Though maybe I’d go into more detail if I heard yours. And you agreed to keep eating for free until after the Shepard’s Pie.” The mercenary raised an eyebrow inquisitively. The chess match had begun.

[Mila]

"Heh, Sorry. My conscience can't simply let it go if I just didn't start paying for something. Even though we did give the tavern a fashionable new Doog rug." She took a sip of her root beer and savored it. She was relaxed and comfortable. As per usual she kicked her boots off of her feet and had them resting on the floor below her. She was even occasionally lightly swinging them between the gaps of the chair and table akin to a little kid.

"I wouldn't remember it much either with all that you two drank. Kinda makes me glad I swore off the heavier drinks. Hence, why this is low alcohol root beer. Just an Fyi fire mages and alcohol really don't work well together. You can have my share of shepherds pie if you like. Already, got a glimpse of them prepping the meat for it. Can't have any of it. But I think you might be really full after the first pie." Nellie came around again to take away Mila's empty bowls. She informed that the sweet for today was bread pudding, to which Mila instantly asked for a piece of. Before returning her attention right back to Donny. The mercenary's comment about her not coaxing the story out of him caused her to respond.

"I can't help it. I love me a good monster story. Plus, monsters are my job." She took another sip. And the bread pudding was delivered to her. Still slightly warm and oozing with a sweet caramel on top.

"Thanks Nellie. Here for you." Mila quietly stuffed a few warm coins into the young waitress's hand. Then gave her a small smile as she walked off. Mila turned her head to see her walk before sitting put and listened to all of Donny's story.

"Hoo.. I've got a handful of stories Donny. Some good some bad some ugly. Not all of em monster related." She cut a small corner of the pudding and popped it into her mouth. So tasty!

"Right so, you know how Ostia is a giant smoking pit right? And how the un-dead are literally everywhere. So one day I get pulled into a job to help deal with a bunch of skeletons and Wight." She grabbed her book and checked the pages to make sure the ink was dry and then flipped to her little section about the un-dead. Specifically the notes she wrote about them about the very same job she was talking about.

"This job was started was started up by a small town in Ostia. Like this place was at the fringes of the destruction zone and they were trying to re-establish themselves. Now I go in expecting it to be a small horde of un-dead we have to deal with. That's what the flyer made it sound like.. anyway. So it's Me, Yorick, and another fighter named Oya. Oya had this magic axe that I have never seen before." She flipped a page to Xigshaw and showed it to Donny.

"So it was us.. out in an Ostian grave-yard... at night... with the dust and ash being kicked up you might as well have had a blind fold on... against all of these living skeletons. There were a ton of skeletons and they were smart. They had mastered the use of weapons and were using actual tactics against us. Dividing us.. trying to pick us off. I learned that day that fire magic.. is not so effective against bone. Oh.. and to make sure you destroy the heads else they just reform and come back to poke you with things. I was trying to cover Yorick. Yorick was trying to cover me. Oya.. was turning them into dust. To be honest if it wasn't for Oya's axe literally blowing the wight to the next territory I do not think we all would have survived that. The wight was giving the rest of the bone heads orders. Once it died the formations kind of stopped and we managed to live to fight another day." She raised her mug as a sort of salute before taking another drink.

[Donovan]

“I am all too aware of how dangerous a fire mage can be with alcohol. I may or may not have watched a young pupil engulf a man in flames a short while ago because he stole a sword of hers. She just dumped an entire bottle of the purest, most disgusting booze over the poor bloke’s head and *whoosh* there he went.” The mercenary shook his head. The memory of Bee was a wild one for him. That girl was a time bomb waiting to happen. “Of course, she then went on to accidentally set the whole building up in flames, nearly killed us both… Your kind is dangerous. I never get this close to dying with Perun. But Ravvus, Bee, hell, even you, have all put me closer to death than is even remotely reasonable.” The mercenary chuckled and raise a hand back to thread through his wild black hair.

“I will take you up on that pie though. I know I may not look it, but I can feast for days if the food’s good enough.” Donovan asked Nellie for a piece of bread pudding as well, and readied himself for a delicious feast. The cooks delivered, he hadn’t had bread pudding that good in years. “Nel, do you think you could bring me some of that root beer, please?”

Donovan ate while he listened intently to Mila’s near death experience in Ostia. There was one thing he knew, and that was going through that wasteland was nearly suicidal. When Mila pulled up a page of a strange magical weapon, Nellie came by with Donovan’s root beer. He pulled out some coins, probably as many as the drink and meal were worth all together, and slyly placed them in the waitress’s hand while she passed him his drink. “But you don’t have to-“ The mercenary quickly put a finger to his lips, “That’s for you, Nel. Don’t go telling your boss anything about that, alright? I want my free ticket to keep on riding.” The silver tongued mercenary sipped his drink and went to look at Mila’s notes again. He caught her eye and winked. “Hey, I’m not a terrible guy. Girl’s been working hard.”

Donovan raised his mug to match her salute, though something that Mila said at the end of her tale gave him pause. “That’s very similar to what happened with the undead I faced. They were all revenants, except for a single entombed. When we were first attacked, they were all over the place, attacking us a a random point in time. But when the entombed joined them in combat… It’s like he could control the others. They attacked us right as we were going to make it to this hub town with big gates. They lured us there, and Ravvus nearly lost his life because he was so determined to kill their leader. I thought that it had seemed somewhat intelligent… But now I’m wondering if there really is more to these creatures than meets the eye.”

[Mila]

"Are you serious? She just lobbed a bottle of booze over some guy and set him on fire? Wow!" Mila laughed. Then put her hands up and clapped them together in a prayer motion. But rather then pray to the gods she apologized to Donny.

"I am sorry the people of my weapon profession have almost killed you. I am sorry I've almost killed you even though we kinda met a few days ago. Uhm.. At least I didn't almost kill you with fire?" Instead I nearly had you killed by doogs. Whoops. She stopped apologizing and went back to her dessert.

"I've a theory on that.. on the intelligence of monsters. Many people keep thinking they are just mindless fiends. But I think.. we know a bit better. I mean I've been researching them.. and studying the corpses. Many of them.. like the Doogs, Baels, and Gargoyles are very animal like in nature. And follow actual animal like instincts.. and behavior patterns. But the un-dead.. have people intelligence. Like weapons, tactics, scavenging, and the use of fire. I wish I knew if it was due to some external force guiding them.. or memories of their past lives.. or perhaps a mix of both." She paused for a moment. She flipped through her notes to a page about monsters and brain sizes. It was a particularly gory page with diagrams of monster brains that she had encountered.

"Hell even the Gwyllgi surprised me with it's brain power. I was expecting all three heads to work in unison with the middle head acting as the leader.. not individually. That means there's three separate brains. Then again before this the only time I've seen one was when it was eating a corpse. I guess when you are a three headed giant doog.. you kinda need your three heads to work together if your eating flesh. Hmm... now I wonder if they are full br.." She decided to stop talking when she noticed the few people that happened to be listening in were a bit green.

"Er.. I'll stop talking about the inner workings of monsters. So talk to me about your friends? Perun, Ravvus and Bee right?"

[Donovan]

“Yeah, that girl was just a little…. well, she’s a bit insane. But hey, it was a fun way to get that new shield.” When Mila clapped her hands together and apologized, Donovan smiled and shrugged it off. “Eh, I was just kidding - sort of. Of every other mage I’ve met, you only barely put my life in immediate mortal peril.”

It would make a lot of sense that there are different levels of intelligence amongst different sort of monsters. “I don’t know which it might be. The mage I was with when we were swarmed by those monstrosities seemed to feel the creature watching him… I’m not sure. I’m no expert on magic or the undead. Honestly I just hope I never find out the real reason those things have a mind.” Mila flipped through her book, filled with detailed diagrams and pictures of the biology of the undead. He was surprised that she had such a stomach for dissection.

Mila began to say anything that came into her mind, the conversation spiraling into scientific mumbo jumbo that the raven haired mercenary could never even begin to understand. “Uh… Ravvus isn’t what I’d call a friend. He was a man my caravan met in the mountains and we brought him on board to help bolster our ranks. He decided that he wanted to try to take on an entombed and a seemingly endless number of undead by himself. I went back in to try and pull him out, almost got killed and... a friend of mine died pulling us out of the horde.”

[Mila]

"I wouldn't called being nearly burned alive fun. Almost had that happen to me as a kid when I was first starting out with magic. Yeah.. It's not fun. Ah.. the new targe that got scratched right? I remember you complained about it. I will accept barely being put in life threatening situations over actually doing so. And hey it wasn't like I didn't give you fair warning before the job." She chuckled lightly.

"Hmm.. perhaps the monsters seem to have a sense for targeting the strongest fighters? I mean the Gwyllgi went right after Yorick. And physically she.." Mila then shook her head. Stop talking about it. She then took a sip of her drink to try and keep her mind occupied. Shen she pulled the mug away from her lips there was a bit of a soft frown on her face. Donny had explained the outcomes of his situation in the mountain.

"Ravvus sounds like a brave head strong fool. And I am sorry about your friend." I pray he hasn't become one of the living dead. May he have been spared that torment. Mila closed her book and shuffled around her chair slightly. Mila had finished her small slice of bread pudding and was contemplating getting another one. Probably not. She wiped her lips with a small napkin.

"I know what it's like to loose friends. It isn't pleasant." Her mind went back to Nabata. And although she didn't exactly call the group of scholar she was investigating the ruins with her friends but they were her colleagues. They all went into the ruins together that day and as far as she knew she was the only one who made it back out. She shook her head again. Now was not the time to be recalling those dark thoughts.

"What of the others? I hope they have given you happier memories."

[Donovan]

Donovan shook his head and chuckled slightly. There had certainly been more fun with the others than there had been with Ravvus. “Well, Bee you’ve already heard about. She’s the fire obsessed mage you set a bar on fire. Perun is my traveling companion. He’s a bit different than from most people. Though, being 6 and a half feet tall and, like, three times as broad as I am doesn’t help, the Big Guy was raised in a mountain valley in Ilia. Not very much communication with the outside world there. So, he’s common tongue is a bit… broken. And there are a few customs that he doesn’t totally understand.”

The mercenary took a deep pull from his root beer. It was, surprisingly, the single best root beer he’d ever tasted. Part of him wished he’d been drinking this the night he and Yorrick would never remember. “But the Giant and I look out for each other. I am… his liaison to the rest of Elibe. And he’s my muscle — his words, not mine. The guy’s got a pretty good sense of humor once you get over the language barrier. He’s smarter than anyone ever gives him credit for, too. People take one look at a guy that size and assume he doesn’t have anything going on in his head. That’s the first mistake everyone makes with him. He always finds a way to surprise you.” Shaking his head, Donovan took another long pull from his drink. “Gods, this root beer is incredible. And no head breaking hang over in the morning? It’s like magic."

[Mila]

"Ah yes.. that is the power of Sassafras or Sarsaparilla. The trees they get the root from. It's supposed to be good for you in small quantities." She clinked her mug with Donovan's before finishing the contents of her mug. She put the empty mug down and opted to end her extended meal with some tea.

"A valley in Ilia you say? Huh.. I once knew a merchant who came from an Ilian Valley. And your description sounds a lot like him.. or at least.. one of his ancestors.. I think. The merchant died a long time ago so.. I can't really confirm anything. But he sounds like a man I would like to meet. He's built like a bear or rather is he built in a manner that puts the bear to shame?" Her mug of hot water was brought and Mila puts one of her tea bags into the steamy water. Hmm.. No sugar this time since.. we drank the root beer. And this should help with the digestion. The mage did eat a large amount of food.

"Hmm.. lets see what other tales do I got?" Her mind clicked. Hmm.. wait I should probably not be revealing the details about the prison break. Right.. lets see.. how can I disguise it..

"I met Vincent under some freaky circumstances. Lets just say I got him out of a bad situation. I can't give you all the details of that one.. but I can tell you it involved a burning building, an assassin, a trip through the forest."

[Donovan]

The pair finished their root beers and Mila ordered a tea. Donovan ordered another root beer, the stuff was too good to give up. “Perun’s covered in about 16 layers of thick, orange hair…. Pretty much everywhere. So if your merchant’s got anything like that, the two might just be related.” Donovan chuckled at the image of Perun being a merchant. The huge, hairy Giant haggling with a small, portly man like Grev turned Donovan’s chuckles into a fit of laughing so wild and loud that he nearly choked on his drink, spraying a little onto the table. “Sorry.” He said, stifling his laughter. “I just… I just thought of something funny.”

He listened, grinning, to Mila’s brief story about how she met Vincent. She had clearly left in just enough to try to get Donovan’s intrigue. The mercenary’s eyes shone wild and smiling before he began to laugh. “You and I both know that there is more to that story.” The mercenary leaned in and whispered, “And based off of how you seem so hesitant to tell it in an open space like this — I might be inclined to believe that this story is… a little less than legal.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Am I right on that? Because, if that’s the case, you have probably guessed that that is a story I would like to hear. But you’re right. Depending on how much I want to hear this story, we should definitely wait until we are in a place a with people more likely to… find the humor in your tale.”

[Mila]

"Well yes. It does have some shady bits in it." She responded then took a sip of her tea. There was a bit of pink to her cheeks.

"I will tell you one day. After all a woman's got to keep some mysteries for you to keep coming back to. I'm liking these conversations especially since.. well I don't get a chance to talk much about stuff that isn't monsters." She sighed softly.

"Ah.. I wish my brother were here. He knew the merchant man better then I did. At least I'm certain he has better memories of him then I do." She kept trying to think of more stories.

"Well I suppose we can go from there.. you've got family Donny? Cause I've got family. I can babble about them for hours. For starters my twin brother and I were adopted by a mercenary guild when we were newborns. Raised by a battle couple. Mom was a swords woman, Dad was a Sage. Lost them about.. six or seven years back. Actually.. rather then have me talk about the rest of the guild i'm going to continue with Dad. I.. think you might be on to something with the whole Mages might be out to kill people indirectly thing." She downed the rest of her hot tea in one go. She blew the steam out her nose for a moment seemingly not phased by the heat.

"Dad learned I could do magic at a really young age. He.. learned I could channel the power of the spirits by walking in on me.. as I read the letters of his tome. Summoned my first flame.. and.. nearly lit our "library" on fire." Actually it was a pile of papers... which went to the table... which started to go to the curtain before the family ran in with buckets of water.

[Donovan]

Donovan watched as the mage’s cheeks blushed a little pink, “Mystery is the most alluring part of any woman. Everyone has a story. My theory is that the people we are most attracted to are the ones whose story we do not know.” The mercenary leaned in slightly and a dashing smile lit up his face. “That is why I must agree, the entirety of this devilish tale should be told another day. All good mysteries have a slow reveal.” The silver tongued man leaned back in his chair when he realized his eyes had wandered to her lips, changing the subject. “I am sure that learning about and hunting monsters is quite an exciting job, but it is certainly not the kind of thing you want to spend every minute of the day talking about. There is more to life than hunting, after all.”

“My mother is my only family left. She runs an inn down in Pharae. My father was a soldier in the army there. Made it to captain before being killed fighting against an attempted coup. Mom was never the same after that.” The lie rolled easily off of his tongue. The story of his father’s death changed freely and regularly. Donovan didn’t like to advertise the truth of his past to many people. He’d convinced himself that he needed to lie to protect himself from the dangers of being underestimated. But he wasn’t sure why he was lying to Mila, he’d fought alongside her already, she saw what he was capable of. Perhaps some small part of him didn’t want her to know how low on the social rankings he had actually come from. Traveling performers were not looked upon kindly in most places around the world.

“I am sorry to hear about your parents. It was very difficult losing my father, I know what it must have felt like to lose them…” For once, the sincere tone that Donovan had perfected over the first decade and a half of his life pierced down into his very being. He really did understand her loss. But the rest of her story shook the sadness from his shoulders and he found himself laughing. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like for your poor mother to sit there and realize that her daughter was going to start setting her life on fire every chance you got!”

[Mila]

Mila leaned into her hand as she listened to Donny talk about his life. She had a small smile on her face. This conversation between them was fun and interesting. Although her leather guard did well to hide most of her bust, her arms were still bare, and her cloak was on the chair's back.

"Mmh.. I am aware the hunting monsters isn't the only thing to life. Good food, drink, friends, actions, travels.. these are all things that make life worth living. There's sad story behind my little love for monsters.. but that is also something to talk about for another day." Mila listened to the rest of Donny's story. And although he was a good story teller her trained ears could point out the subtle changes in his voice. The story about his mother was true while the tale about his father was not. She suspected that there was something he wanted to keep hidden.

"I shall reveal to you another one of my hidden talents Donny. See I'm pretty decent at spotting a liar. It's one of those little thing the guild teaches you.. especially when you are out looking to hire people for a job. I.. don't know what happened between you or your father but I do know that he was no solider. You don't fight like a soldier's son. Your style out in the field felt strong.. but.. a bit exaggerated. Like you were trying to put on a show. Now I'm flattered you want to impress me.. but you shouldn't. I like honesty. But if you are uncomfortable taking about it I won't force it out of you." She paused for a moment giving herself some time to think on her next response.

"But now that I've gotten to know you a bit more, I can say you were a good hire. Who knows maybe I can coax another job out of you in the future." There was a bit of a innuendo to her last sentence but she spoke it so casually it did not register. She smirked again at Donny's laughter and comment. She wasn't sure what kind of mages he had met during his travels.. or how much of an influence Bee had on his perception of mages.

"HA! Well.. after that first incident father took control of teaching me the ways of magic. We had to make sure accidents like that didn't happen again. Even though they did.. sometimes. My days as a pupil were hard. Actually, Mother was kind of happy. It meant that down the road in the guild I can learn to pull my own weight. Also it meant that I'd be spending most of my life in the back lines.. providing support for the rest of the group." She thought on it some more.

"Actually now that I think on it.. magic was the best course of action. It gave me access to an education.. partnerships.. experience.. travels.. I don't think I would have been able to do that if I hadn't almost burnt the place down. Who knows maybe it was a sign from my namesake?"