Knights, Dragons, and Pigs (openish)

Victoria had never panicked before. Anyone who followed her would probably be put in a state of immeasurable fear by her being pushed to the point of panic. The source of her fear was a boy just ten feet away, tied to a very bored looking beowolf. She turned away from him and grabbed her head. She muttered some things under her breath. "I screwed up. I screwed up. I screwed up!"

You could almost feel sorry for the beowolf, having since giving up on doing anything as it was bound up. Instead it had to suffer the results of two awkward teenagers who were so very anti-social around others that their own emotions caused all of this.

Drake fidgeted still, frowning just a little as Victoria turned away. Something was wrong. Or was it? He wasn't sure. He takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself...his still racing heart hammering in his chest. Perhaps her name was the key? He considered this a moment, trying to calm himself...

"Victoria." Her name has power. For one, it unsettles him saying it. Why? But he hoped it would calm her. Bring the panic under control. He looks to her a moment and repeats it again. "Victoria...I..."

"No! Shut up! I need to... Think!" This was bad, she flashed back the time when an idle thought had earned her the scars on her face. Drake was causing far more idle thoughts than she ever wanted. She paced back and forth looking more and more afraid with each step. She retrieved her ax from the tree and began nervously twirling it in her hands.

He frowns a little at that, watching her worry, watching her fret. He fidgets again, glancing to the bored beowolf and frowning. He had to get out of this predicament. He wanted to get out of it. He wanted to support her. Watching her pace he takes a deep breath, silent for but a moment.

She was clearly aggravated. He now had to be careful...very careful. She was getting scared. He didn't want to spook her. He didn't want her to run. Another deep breath and he tries to get himself under control. He had to be strong. He had to be in control.

"Could you...at least free me from this predicament?"

IDIOT. You've done the exact opposite of what you wanted! "...Yeah. Sure." Less than gently, Victoria chopped the rope holding Drake to the beowolf. She turns away from him and chews on her tongue, hiding her reddened features.

He stands, carefully, stretching just a little from where he was...well, tied up for however long that had been. With a motion he plants the Talons into the ground, freeing himself from them with a click before stepping carefully toward Victoria.

He wasn't sure what to do now. How did you...comfort someone like her? He frowns just a little and takes another step, gripping at his wrist for a moment. Perhaps...he could talk to her? He shakes his head and then carefully looks toward Victoria.

"I still...owe you something. Perhaps..." He stops, looking at his cloak. Then he pulls one of the frayed pieces of fabric up, looking at the intricately carved patterns on the scale-blade before unhooking it. Another step toward her so that he's just behind her, heart still racing. "Perhaps...this will do?"

He was doing it again. Still doing things for her that she didn't order. She really couldn't blame him now, after what she had done and that only made her more frustrated. She was never getting rid of him now. She clenched her hand into a fist and gripped her ax. Back to her original plan, her team would be back in bed by now and there were no other witnesses. She would not allow Drake to cloud her thinking any more. He was right behind her. One good chop at her neck level. Her muscles tensed to spin around and surprise Drake, but at that moment, the tied up beowolf howled, signaling its pack.

Of course at this point Drake was not aware of her thoughts. He was not aware of her darker internal suggestions to herself as he stood, waiting for her to turn, swallowing awkwardly as he realised exactly what these muddled emotions were, for him at least.

As he waited, quietly he tried to think of what he was supposed to say and how...stopping only at the beowolf's howl. His heard is racing and he stops, turning, realising something had gone very, very wrong. In the darkness the black shapes of the rest of the pack closed in, snarling, growling and snapping their jaws as they surrounded the two humans, watching them with a cold predatory glare.

He was unarmed and he knew it...This was a problem. Yet he barely had time to think when one of the beasts sprung forward, leaping directly at him, claws outstretched!

Victoria knew that howl, the rest of its family would be here soon. Though it is far too late, Victoria still beheads the loud beowolf. The pack is on its way. No sooner, as many as seven beowolfs surrounded them. Victoria keeps her eyes moving as she transforms Brass Battalion into a spear. Good. Fighting was something she could handle, understand. But when a wolf attacks Drake, the slightest hint of fear for his life ignited in her mind. More idle thoughts.

Instinct kicks in at the last moment and he kicks back, bladed points of the frayed cloak spinning up around him, rewarding the lunging beast with a slicing wind of sorts, causing it to stumble into Victoria's path. It barks, once, twice and two more of the pack come bounding forward, even as the others...the smaller ones start to circle.

Drake's next movement is another kick flip, the bladed cloak again being directed onto the wounded wolf before Victoria. Not as unarmed as he had appeared. The beowolf howls and claws the air where he had been, claw meeting metal for a brief moment with an audible ring and even as Drake lands it is obvious...the new scratches along the leg brace. Clearly this was what would drag him down.

The other two beowolves go bounding toward Victoria, attempting to circle her, to flank her yet one seems far too eager for another head-on lunge, pouncing forwards...

Victoria blocks the eager beowolf with her sideways spear in both hands, pushing it straight back. When she recovers from the push, she stabs forward at the wolf's throat.

The eager wolf stumbles back, ducking back and yelping, Victoria's spear barely missing its throat but still clipping its shoulder. Its packmate leaps forward at that point, determined to get the human off its comrade, snarling and snapping with slathering jaws.

Yet as this happens Drake continues his almost gymnastic display, though each landing is taking its toll as he starts to favour his right leg. For a moment he's distracted, glancing toward Victoria, watching her a few moments...then he tumbles back as the wolf again lunges for him. He had to end this fast...the other wolves were getting restless.

His movements are quick, the cloak again being whipped around, another flurry of slicing cuts upon the beast's hide. And when it flinches, howling in frustration, his focus changes. Holding the gift for Victoria he darts forward, slicing at its tendons and joints, blood spraying out over him as he does so. In a moment the wolf topples over, crippled, as two more of its packmates step forward to attempt to take control of the situation. Another artful spin and he kicks up dust and dirt, scattering it out at the wolves before him, falling hard as his leg gives.

He shouts out, clearly in pain, falling onto the leg and with that to the ground. He was now clearly in a bad position...

Damnit! Why did you aim for the head! Though kicking herself mentally, she was still focused on the battle, so when a second beowolf lunged at her, it was met with a slash from Victoria's spear to it's chest. When it was disabled she finished it off by stomping its head into the ground. The other beowolf had backed off, but she was intent on ending it as well. That is until she heard Drake shout in pain. "Drake!" Why am I shouting his name? Regardless, she threw her spear with more urgency than she expected at a beowolf standing over Drake.

The wolf nearest to Victoria, so very close to closing in on Drake's fallen form didn't know what hit it. The spear impacted with a solid crack, shattering bone and sending it crashing into its packmate with a startled yelp. The pair go tumbling down, impact incapacitating one, its shattered form pinning the other as Drake hears his name.

He turns, looking to Victoria with those deep blue eyes of his and he nods, trying to drag himself to a better defensive position. His leg was dead, over-exerted through the day and he knew it. There were three wolves remaining, hesitant to move or press forward, having seen more than half their number taken down in short order.

A bark, a low growl and the pack slinks back into the forest, reluctant to continue to press on for all their savagery, leaving the two humans alone, once again. Drake starts to laugh, just a little, his mind and heart racing as the confusion from Victoria settles back in place. She had saved him. He owed her twice over. And she had called his name out...

"Victoria...you...your spear..." He glances down again and tries to calm himself, trying to get to some place where he could pull himself up. "You saved me..."

Victoria retrieves her spear from the prone beowolf and stabs the creature in the head. "Don't get used to it."

Eventually Drake gets to a tree, pulling himself up, letting his breath catch up to him. Then he shakes his head, smiling just a little to himself before glancing to Victoria, once again trying to take a serious approach.

"I now owe you...twice over. On my honour." He takes a deep breath and looks over to her, the confused jumble of emotions from the kiss still present, still at the surface. That...was something he wanted again. He takes a deep breath, pushing from the tree to step closer to her...for a moment his balance is gone and he falls, reaching out to catch onto Victoria, to steady himself.

And then, part out of optimism and part out of stupidity he presses his lips to hers, to return the kiss to her that she had given him earlier.

He didn't. By my ancestors he DID NOT. I'm going to kill him! Victoria was already upset by her situation and now she had gone and made him owe her twice! She was about to punch him, maybe to death this time. And then he kissed her. Part of her mind was screaming at her to just push him off, but a larger part was telling her to enjoy it. Oh what the hell. For perhaps the first time in her life, she let herself go and relaxed. She loosely wrapped her arms around Drake's shoulders and returned the kiss with greater fervor.

This was going surprisingly well. Most noticeably...there was not a crater. When she relaxes, when her arms go around his shoulders and the kiss returned with even more fervour than before part of the roiling mass of confused feelings within becomes joy.

He leans to her, just a little, keeping their lips locked as he brings her just a bit closer to him, not willing to let this go. He still wasn't sure what this was...but he knew this mattered now. Nothing else did.

When Victoria finally pulled back, she looks different than before. She looks almost embarrassed at her actions. Her face just inches away from Drake's, she breaths heavily, her heart was racing. For a while, she just stands there, looking slightly to the side, meekly. A small smile spread across her mouth and she made a sound no living soul had ever heard her make. A giggle.

Leaning, just a little he manages a small smile of his own. This...sense of confusion that had been coiled within him had dissipated, though the stinging pain of his badly mangled right leg hadn't. He winces, just a little and then just carefully holds her close.

At the giggle he tilts his head, unsure of what he had just heard. A sound he would never have associated with her. He smiles again and unsure of what words to go with...he decides to tread very, very carefully.

"Hi...that was....different. I...thank you. Where...what...do we do now...Victoria?"

Victoria clears her throat, almost as if trying to clear the awkwardness from the air. "I... Uhh..." This was uncomfortable. Once again she locked up. This was easy a second ago!

At the awkwardness he smiles and simply steps forward, pulling Victoria close to him. He wasn't about to let her go. And he realised she needed...guidance. He takes a few steps, trying to lead her with him, smiling to her.

"Perhaps...we could head back. Together? Find somewhere...to rest?"

This kind of contact paradoxically, made Victoria more uncomfortable. But she trudged on, Drake was different and she could tell. But when he spoke, she felt odd, vulnerable, but not in a bad way. But when her mentioned going somewhere together to rest her face turned red. "Wha- What's that supposed to mean!?"

Ack. No. Not that way. He blushes himself at the misinterpretation of what he had said and shakes his head nervously, stammering for a moment. "N-not like that! I meant m-more, you know...rest...rest....because my leg at this current moment r-really hurts...and I j-just want to know y-you better as a person!"

Victoria looks over at Drake. What happened to him? A moment ago he was cold and calm, what is going on? Playfully, she punches him in the shoulder. "Oh, grow a pair, will you? Come on, let's get out of here. You owe me a beowolf now by the way."

He flinches, just a little and laughs, smiling. He was actually smiling. He leans onto her, not minding the punch at all, letting her take some of the weight off of him as he sort of half hops along. No more embarrassing statements. Not for a while anyhow. This was the start of something...else.

"How can I owe you one? You had one. It brought others. You could argue I now owe you eight....besides...you still didn't confirm your last name. How am I supposed to find you...during the day?"