18+ Private Dunnstads Seaside Stargazing

[Erick Stryker]

He was entranced by her; but that was always true. She was captivating, powerful, alluring- all things that girls he was used to being around weren't. When she spoke, he listened. When she wanted something, he wanted her to have it. He didn't understand why sometimes her wiles were stronger than his, but he did know that he didn't dislike it.

Which was weird, because it deviated from the "man strong, woman meek" mentality that was driven into him from childhood. He didn't question it. His instincts were telling him there was nothing wrong.

When she kissed him, he started to close his eyes, but she pulled away just as quickly. There was no time to respond. He was drowning and she wasn't bothering to throw him a floatation device. Either he held on tight or got left behind.

And then... We can play something else, if you want to.

"I don't know what you mean by that, but I'm down," he replied quickly, breathless.

When she looked away, he blinked. Was she looking at something specific? He turned and followed her gaze, looking toward the caravan. "They're out pretty late," he observed. "Still pretty far out from town..."

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby showed a devious smirk to Erick's naive response.

"You do know what I mean." Ruby said, with her ears perking up while her tail swayed gently and smoothing on his skin for a brief moment. If he didn't know by words, he would soon know instinctively by the aura crawling into his most primal senses.

She didn't let it last long, however, knowing how things could get out of control if she played with that any further.

"I think they have a death wish or something." Ruby muttered, breathing a sigh between her teeth and bracing herself to go down the hill they were on. "We can at least follow them until they are in a safe spot... Because right now, they are just going straight to the jaws of the predator." Her enhanced gaze tried to keep a track of them, but it was only a matter of time for the treetops to block her sight of them completely.

"Let's go..?" She asked, peeking at Erick, wondering if he wanted to continue with this.

@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

Shivers rippled across the surface of his flesh as she made her intention clear as day. He knew she had to be deliberate to make him understand sometimes, but that ability of hers to send abstract concepts into his senses sent him reeling every time. His ability to fight against it was minimal because he kept himself open to it out of trust, and so, it often elicited a much stronger response than if he were guarded. She'd seen that before- they both remembered.

That's why she pulled back. It made his heart sink a bit when she did, like someone who got excited only to quickly be let down. The excitement didn't completely die, though.

"I'm with you," he said. Erick never had to be convinced when it came to helping people. Perhaps that was a bad thing, though- Ruby often worried about it because he was so quick to throw himself into harm's way. It had been the death of him- literally- at Camp Hope.

"Let's go!" he agreed, standing up and offering his hand. He hoped that was the right decision, because part of him wanted to stay where they were and explore her earlier suggestion more. He kept that to himself, though.

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

Ruby's tails swayed at the hand offer, and she took a hold of it while approaching swiftly, nodding with perked up ears. "So let's finish it quickly so we can go back to our nice little time." Her words were firm, but she didn't let time pass too much before she hurried down along with Erick, just in case they ended up having second thoughts about it.

All of this just for reckless souls that seemed to have no sense of danger. Good grief...

Ruby tried to keep a pace, but she didn't slow down too much for Erick, assuming that someone with time magic would hardly have trouble to keep up with something fast unless she was using her maximum speed.

As they made their way down, she couldn't help but peek at Erick a few times, nudging him a bit with a small smirk. "I bet you are regretting pointing them out." She teased with a whisper, only to lighten the mood as they finally made their way close enough to see the lamp of the caravan still shaking along with the faulty path.

"Can you see any suspicious movement?" Ruby twitched her ears, spekaing quietly. "I'm not going to lie, there are some rustling that has been bothering me."

She couldn't know if it was just an animal though.

@Erick Stryker

 

[Erick Stryker]

"...yeah," Erick agreed, more for the sake of acting quickly than anything. She was pointedly telling him that she wanted to go back to what they were doing, but there was very real danger and Erick couldn't help but feel distracted by it. He watched carefully, eyes flicking one way and then the other, assessing the situation.

That was when she nudged him.

I bet you are regretting pointing them out.

"Not at all," Erick said, blinking. "If someone needs help, you should help them. It's just the right thing to do."

Clueless.

Ruby was clearly joking about something, but Erick seemed to only understand the surface level of what she was saying. When it came to this kind of thing, he really did have a one track mind. The tent he was pitching however, totally agreed with Ruby here.

Can you see any suspicious movement?

"Not yet."

I'm not going to lie, there are some rustling that has been bothering me.

Erick frowned. Her senses were much keener than his, so if she was picking up on something like that, it was unlikely he'd detect anything with just his eyes. The blue-haired man gnawed on his lip and reached a hand up, turning his index finger clockwise pointed in the direction of the wooded area.

"Let's take a look about two minutes forward..." he murmured, eyes fixated on the scene. The images lapsed in dilated time, dragging on for only a few seconds before he snapped back to reality. "...didn't even take a quarter of that."

Erick was already moving, not bothering to take the time to explain what he'd seen. Ruby would undoubtedly see for herself as the moment he broke into a run, the bandits were leaping from their hiding space, falling on the caravan that really should have been taking better precautions this late in the evening. Daggers, shortswords, hatchets- they were some of them human, others a smattering of races like orcs and suspiciously Beastfolk, all of them clad in rags and filthy.

"Help!" a young woman who sat in the driver's seat of a wagon cried out as she was forced out of place. The thief that grabbed the reins jerked hard to the left, and the horse suddenly broke stride and veered toward the forest. The jarring movement tore the wagon off track, and coupled with the flora that did not make for an ideal driving experience, short work was made of the vehicle's mobility. The wheels creaked and split, and the woman who had been unseated now wrestled with an armed attacker.

Other wagons were fighting with similar situations, with varying degrees of success.

Erick saw the orc tearing at the defenseless woman's clothes, and he called over to Ruby. "There!"

@Crimson Ruby

 

[Crimson Ruby]

"You aren't wrong." Ruby muttered, swaying her tails as she locked her senses forward. Erick seemed way too focused for small jokes and teases, and in this occasion, despite the naivety involved, he was in the right.

Her ears twitched when Erick mentioned taking a look two minutes forward, and her eyes squinted as she scanned the clues she could find, in the couple seconds Erick had to have a foresight of what would happen before his actions and urgent words made it clear they had no time to spare.

With her blade unsheathed, her eyes locked on the orc assaulting the woman, guided by Erick's words and responding with a nod- "On it-" She said, moments before exploding into speed, hopping once, then twice, then spinning with her blade in one last acrobatic leap, turning into a living saw that slice through the orc's forearm as if it was knife on a butter, with his hand and wrist falling limp and severed next to the woman, that gasped breathless in horror while blood bathed her surroundings.

The orc, enraged by its loss, roared and swung its remaining arm with all strength, smashing the ground where Ruby swiftly dodged with a roll, then stomping while aiming for her leg, but she was quick to retract it in a curl.

Without anything else to lose, the orc threw himself in reckless abandon, charging and trying to trample Ruby with brute force, allowing her to thrust her blade onto its path, sinking it deep into the orc and slashing it to open its guts and chest widely in a deadly slice.

Enough to weaken it, the orc found itself falling on its back, agonizing while Ruby glanced down at the woman.

"Take cover or hide, now!" She exclaimed to the woman, who was still in shock. Then, she sharply glanced at Erick, trying to spot him in the ambush.

@Erick Stryker