Charity is a Soldier's Duty (Open)

[Hugo Coldwind]

Hugo wiped the sweat from his brow with a piece of cloth he was graciously given by the workers he was assisting with rebuilding efforts. While he was too stubborn to even ask for help one of the workers essentially forced him to take the cloth stating “Ya can’t work with sweat in your eyes boy” usually Hugo would refute that, but he actually was having that issue currently. Now any sane man would not even think of working in the hot sun when wearing pounds of metal on your body. First of all, bold of you to assume any person you passed by was sane, but trusting one's fellow men aside the answer as to why Hugo was torturing himself was because he was a man of action and pride. See while Hugo was following his daily patrol routes one of the older workers had fallen unconscious due to some brand of exhaustion. The scars of the rebellion were still healing so keeping someone helping heal the country in peak condition fell into the jurisdiction of a Warden like himself. So with assistance from his shy, but loyal mount Revgor Hugo was able to offer his help to the other quite readily. Revgor would deliver the injured man to a doctor or cleric and Hugo would stay so that workers wouldn’t end up being behind schedule. However, it had been two hours since Revgor had left with the unconscious worker and the Wyvern Rider was starting to worry. “Where the hell is that lizard hiding? He isn’t the fastest Wyvern, but he should have showed up around half an hour ago. Geez, I thought we had worked past the fear of crowds by now.”



“Ahhhhh monster!” Hugo almost didn’t catch the voice as he was uttering those words as quietly as possible it was obvious one of the gods had heard his plea their answer was a little weird, but… wait that wasn’t one of the gods it was a child! Now the people of Bern were used to wyverns, but some children were still understandable afraid of the more domesticated cousin of dragons especially when they didn’t expect them to be in cover of shade in a dark alley. Hugo quickly dashed towards the screams that were quickly growing into sobs and a mesh of words that weren’t remotely coherent, and as he expected there was Revgor backing up looking around awkwardly as a small crowd started to gather. Some giving disapproving glares at the innocent wyvern who was now hopelessly trying to hide behind his own wings. “Maybe we should go. We are already behind as it is Revvy.” Hugo said giving an apologetic look to the crowd and quickly moving away as the young sea-green wyvern also did not want to stick around either. Now in a less tense part of town Hugo was trying to console the draconian beast quite poorly might I add, because Revgor was currently stress eating fish and Hugo could only pat him on the neck and stay nearby.

[Aria]

Aria sighed softly. She was out and about in the Bernese territory, fresh from a delivery job, with a pocket full of coins, and a problem. She was on the ground. Observing the large creature before her. Chewy in all her glory had managed to do what she done best. Make a mess and give Aria a headache. Some how the large red wyvern managed to find herself a mud puddle and absolutely coated herself in the stuff. Not only that, but she also wandered herself out into the local pine forest and rubbed herself up off of every tree she could and was also coated in a fine spray of needles and tree sap. 

Aria looked at her fine scaley friend in slight shock. The wyvern had on her person Aria's bag with her supplies. And the saddle. All of it was just coated in natures sticky mess. Aria knew there was a brook or a small river nearby that she could use to try and rinse the wyvern clean, but she had to be on the wyvern to travel. And that meant she would also get a body full of muddy sticky gunk, or at the very least her pants would be. How did the wyvern manage to make a mess of herself in such a short amount of time? That was a matter for the gods to figure out. All that Aria knew was that she had gotten off Chewy for a moment to make a pit stop in the woods, away from the town. And when she returned to Chewy.. well.. she was like that.

"Chewy.. I am not even going to ask how. I'm just going to blame myself." She ran a hand over her face and just looked defeated. 

Chewy however was not done with her antics. She caught the scent of something in the wind and decided to investigate. Aria saw this and decided to trail along with her wyvern on foot of course. 

"Where are you going now? It better be towards water.." 

The scent that caught Chewy's interest was twofold. First, the scent of food. The second the scent of another wyvern. The second smell perked the wyvern up and she started to walk faster towards the smell of the new wyvern. Chewy loved to make friends with new wyverns that weren't from Aria's ranch. By this point they were within eye sight of the new wyvern and it's human partner. Aria saw this and grabbed on to Chewy's reins. 

"No! No.. don't you start running!"

Aria loudly pleaded towards her sticky friend. But, it was too late! Chewy was already in a small sprint towards her potential new friends! This prompted Aria to quickly maneuver herself onto the saddle and pull the reigns back hard. 

"INCOMING!" Aria shouted. She wasn't sure if she could get Chewy to stop in time. 

[Hugo Coldwind]

Hugo sighed as he had finally seemed to calm down his partner enough that the young wyvern had actually stopped destroying his food/snack supply for the rest of the day. Deciding that he deserved an explanation for why his partner was late at the very least Hugo decided to use the best skills his mother had ever taught him; Haggling and persuasion. Revgor had been coaxed to do most of the things they just practiced as routine now so using the stomach angle again maybe, just maybe Hugo would learn why the shy draconic mount was late. Of course they could not physically speak to one another, but they shared a favorite game that would make it work at the very least. What game you may ask? Why the ever reliable game of charades of course! “Alright Revvy I’m not gonna bring up what happened a while ago, and I will refill this basket with the best salmon they have at the fish market. All you have to do is give me a report on your delivery mission, can ya do that pal?” As expected the young wyvern grew excited hell even began purring at the prospect of more food and nodded happily agreeing to do so immediately.

The game of charades began at first the sea-green wyvern rose to the sky and began to comically flap its wings frivolously before wearing a look of shock followed by a quick snap of his jaws. Needless to say Hugo was shocked and he voiced his surprise quite readily.

“You dropped him!” Revgor quickly shook his head before doing his best to imitate the universal gesture of air quotes. “Right technicality, but ya still…” Revgor snapped at Hugo to correctly chastise him for interrupting his report. Serious when it came to food would have to be added Hugo’s own notes later. “Got it Revvy I am sorry continue.” armed with a toothy grin, and a wagging tail the young wyvern continued his story. Picking up where he left off Revgor began to move some nearby bricks into a building esque fashion picking up a twig and dropping it in front of the mock-building to show he had safely delivered the injured man to the nearby priest rather quickly. “Wait so if you finished your task quickly why did it take you so long get back?” with those words the sea-green lizard seemed to look away from Hugo with a more childish and worried expression so much so Hugo could cleary envision a voice slowly drawing out the word ‘well’.

The game was cut short however when Revgor picked up the scent of something familiar. Another Wyvern? Oh no Revgor hated meeting other wyverns he didn’t know anything about it made interacting with them so difficult. So being a creature of habit Revgor fell back on his reliable plan H. Hide from his problems until it went away. Hugo sensing the sudden shift in Revgor’s demeanor quite easily since the young wyvern stuck to his shadow like glue. “Hey Revvy why are you hiding again? Is something wrong?” Hugo said before he heard a feminine voice shout out in his general direction the words ‘incoming’.

“Incoming what!?” Hugo said with confusion clearly in his voice as he yelled back before quickly noticing a fast blob of mud currently running in his direction oddly in the shape of a wyvern. Wait that wasn’t oddly shaped it was a wyvern! “Ah I see.” Hugo said in a flat tone accepting his fate since it seemed that Revgor was keen on keeping his poor rider between him and this currently charging wyvern who seemed dead set on meeting the shy traitorous wall flower of a wyvern he called partner. Oh well he needed a shower after all that sweating anyway.

[Aria]

"Chewy! Stop! Stop!" Aria shouted and pulled the reigns back again. Chewy didn't appreciate the sudden yank. She knew exactly what she was doing. The big wyven kept up the charge until the very last moment. Then suddenly it put all four of it's limbs down into the dirt and skidded to a complete halt. She came up just short of crashing into the stranger and greenish wyvern.

The force of the sudden stop was enough to knock Aria off her saddle. She raised an arm over her face at the last moment. The wyvern rider was flung off her saddle and landed on the ground back first with a hard thud. The wyvern rider was fortunate to have been wearing her helmet for the extension of the ride. She wasn't donned in all her armor though. Just the top half. Chewy looked on at the new rider and duo for a moment with a bit of a grin on her face. Before she turned her head to check on Aria. The big red wyvern rubbed her nose into Aria's shoulder and let out a snort near the human's face are. The wyvern's inquisitive snout was met with the palm end of Aria's hand, she clasped her fingers over the wyven's snout. 

"Do.. not." Her voice was emotionless. She let go of the wyvern's nose. Chewy took a few steps back and sat behind Aria. She knew she was in trouble. Despite that, the wyvern looked on at the other two with a glint of joy in it's eyes. Even though, the other wyvern seemed to be cowering behind it's human. The parts of her that were exposed to the sticky mess that Chewy brought, were now coated in a fine layer of dust. 

"I'm alright. I'm alright." Aria spoke as she pulled herself off of the ground. Her mismatched armor rattling as she did so. She tried in vain to dust herself off with her hands. She sighed again. She looked at the two beings before her, realized she was looking at them through a vizor, then removed her helmet. Her hair was done up in braided bun that got frazzled by the fall. But, outside of that she appeared to be unscathed. She quickly rubbed the back of her head for a moment. Inspected the hand that rubbed it. No blood. But, that's going to be one hell of a bump later.

"Sorry about that. Are you two hurt?"  

[Hugo Coldwind]

Ah, the common trope of Reactive v.s. Proactive; When one would valiantly stand in front of danger and adapt to the outcome while the other would prevent such a need from ever happening. “Hold it Hugo, lets try and not go into an introspective thought process when someone was just hurt not moments ago.” his conscience demanded which was enough to knock the braver half of the currently standing duo out of his stupor. A small part Hugo was a little relieved that at the very least he wasn’t the only one who was going to stink by the end of the day.

“It’s fine no harm no foul. I barely have any scratches on me, and like always Revvy here uses me as a shield despite his tougher than leather scales. What about you? You sure you’re head is okay my father usually said to get a check up anytime someone took a fall like that.” Hugo said with a minor tone of concern for his fellow pare- I mean Wyvern Rider that's what he was going to think to himself. Hugo would overlook and tend to the wound himself, but he was no doctor so he would save that work for the professionals like his brother.

Revgor wasn’t too happy being singled out by Hugo, but it was clear that the shy wyvern wasn’t getting out of this situation by hiding so he would have to get through this awkwardly. Deciding to move out of Hugo’s shadows he offered a small hello to the excited one known Chewy with the help of what was left of his fish basket with a short abrupt nudge. Revgor didn’t really know how to continue from here so he kind of went back to knocking over and reassembling the bricks that were just lying around with his jaw.

Hugo then decided to mind his manners and introduce himself to the women who saved him some water today. “Well anyways if ya want to get a check up I know two great doctors one who is nearby. You can call me Hugo I’m a Wyvern Rider to the Bernese Military and my shy partner here is Revgor. I call him Revvy, but don’t call him that in public he has a rep to keep up.” Hugo said calmly as he introduced his partner who did a quick close of his wings over his face playing a quick game of peekaboo as he changes his expression to a more ferocious one. “He is just a good actor with a bit more brain than brawn. So what were you doing in the woods over there? Only answer if ya don’t mind me asking, of course.” Hugo said calmly as he was trying to be more chipper, but his tone was as serious as usual making it a little more monotone.

“Ah wait another question to add to my first one. Might I get your name? I like to remember the faces of those I met.” Hugo said in a much more firm and charismatic tone.

[Aria]

"My head is fine. It's full of rocks according to my siblings. And not the first time she's knocked me off. Probably won't be the last. Anyway, a doctor won't be necessary." Aria really wanted to wash herself down. 

"That fish your wyvern's got.. I assume it's locally sourced. Meaning there must be some sort of river, stream, or lake nearby.. i'd gladly take some directions towards that body of water." Aria took a moment to look at the interaction between both Wyverns. Chewy appeared to be behaving. The brick colored wyvern gleefully took Revy's fish offering and swallowed it up in one gulp. Chewy let out a small chirp or yip that signaled thank you. Chewy leaned head closer to Revy's. Aria could see that Chewy wanted to get closer, to either nuzzle, or play shove. But, Revy seemed to be interested in the blocks. Chewy leaned down and picked up a brick and held it in her mouth. She was waiting for Revgor to show her what to do.

"Heh, Revgor's a shy one. One of Chewy's siblings was like that. Grew out of that quick once his siblings kept him from getting all the good bits of food. But, he looks to be a healthy wyvern too. Sea green.. parents might be from the coastal mountains of Bern." That was hard to tell. Green, blues, and blacks were all mostly common wyvern colors. Lighter colors like Chewy's red or Julius's gold were a bit rarer to find. And with that tidbit of information, Hugo could guess, she came from a ranch. She took a look at Hugo now. He appeared to be a dapper young man, decked out in what appeared to be standard academy armor. A contrast to Aria's own mismatched, hand me down armor.

"What was I don't in the woods? Well.. nature called." She really hoped she didn't need to elaborate more on that pun. 

[Hugo Coldwind]

Hugo immediately wore a look of understanding at the young woman's words as he kind of hoped he didn't ask his previous question anymore. "Right sorry for asking. I don't think we have to discuss that topic any further." Hugo said clearly embarrassed by the situation and trying to move past it in a rather odd kind of formal manner.Great now the situation was slightly awkward how could he Hugo; Master of Human Interaction find a way out of this situation. Wait she asked for help now helping people is something he was good at doing. Now what did she ask again? "Dammit Hugo pay attention when someone is saying something- I was- let's just retrace she mentioned something about Revvy's color maybe it will help us remember if we focus on him for a bit." Well this was weird since when did his conscience act like a different person was this the boon of a soldiers training. Hugo quickly caught himself getting side tracked again as he moved his eyes to see what Revgor and Chewy we're doing.

Revgor was happy that Chewy seemed thankful, but he seemed all too keen on avoiding anything physical with the rather dirty Chewy still he wasn't raised rude so when he turned to see Chewy holding one of the bricks in her mouth he decided that he might as well try and interact with her. Revgor nudged the brick Chewy was holding lightly with his snout and pointed snout forward to an array of blocks he had set beforehand one was incomplete and missing a brick. He was telling her to place it there before he would show them how to spend their energy without pseudo-mauling one another. To get the point across he demonstrated by charging and knocking one of the finished mock brick walls as if he was a bull.

Well honestly Hugo was rather surprised to see how mature Revgor was acting still its not like he was every really unreasonable. Revgor just liked to do things his way and when he had no options he did it the way others wanted. Oh right she was talking about how she works on a Wyvern ranch and was trying to discuss Revvy's health/lineage. "Well I would hope he is healthy. We train every other day and he eats pretty well, see my Master Ezekiel said his natural hide is tougher than most so I do my best to make sure it stays that way. My guess as to why he never grew out of his shyness is because I took care of him from egg up so I don't know too much about his parents either. He didn't really have to deal with any Wyvern except for the veteran warrior my master was partners with and the other younglings when I was busy so he never had to fight for food. Not to mention we never really dealt with the issue head on just developed strategies to get around it." Hugo said softly as he looked at the empty fish basket- ah eureka it seems he remembered what Aria did actually ask of him.

"Well sadly the fish he was eating is a mix of local and outsourced, but I can guide you to a local lake that much is easy enough for me. Just let me know when ya want to go since those two seem to want to play a little longer." Hugo said pointing towards the two wyverns as he wore a small smile after all this was payback for Revvy leaving him in the sun.

[Aria]

"Ah, I see. Hand rearing a wyvern from an egg is difficult. If they don't get the socialization they need as kiddos then end up like that. He's lucky to have you. Shy wyverns out in the wild usually don't make it past adolescence. But, that's enough talk about wyvern rearing.. A local lake would do nicely. I gotta get this muck off of me." Aria explained. She then tried in vain to rub off some of the mud that was clung to her arm. Chewy apparently understood what Revgor wanted. She went ahead and carefully put the brick in the wall and took a few steps back. She admired the completed work. Then Revgor went ahead and rammed is head through it knocking it over. Ah, it was a game of strength! Chewy loved strength games. She would have preferred to wrestle with him over this wall building brick knocking business. But, she could tell Revgor was sort of an anxious wyvern. 

"Oh, so that's how the game is." Aria commented. Chewy picked up one of the fallen bricks with her mouth and stacked it up ontop of another one that was on the ground. Chewy continued this pattern until a small tower of bricks was formed. She didn't quite understand how to do a wall. 

"Nah, it's probably best to call them over and start flying. Other wise Chewy is gonna be stacking bricks and lobbing them with her tail." Almost as if on que, the big red wyvern turned around and knocked the brick tower over with her tail. No need to use her head. Aria whistled. Chewy perked her head up and came up close to Aria.

"I'm still mad at you Chew. But, Hugo here is going to guide us to water." Aria explained. The red wyvern gave a quip of disagreement. Chewy knew that a bath was going to happen in the near future. Chewy hated to take baths. The water was always too cold for her liking. Unless it was a summer day then baths were acceptable. Aria wasn't having any of Chewy's lip today though. She pulled herself up onto the saddle and strapped herself in. 

"Alright. Hugo, Lead the way."