Completed A Poisonous Reunion [Amoux]

[Arvo]

30th Day of Summer, 514AV

“Rabbit tracks.” Arvo muttered, squatting on the forest floor to observe the tracks there amongst the disturbed leaf litter. Marci was sniffing the ground wildly as Arvo tracked the creature that had made the prints. Everything about him was sharp and focused, and his eyes flicked around for clues. His head moved sharply, like that of a bird, and his footfalls were almost silent, and very cautious. It was early morning, and the grass was still dewy. The birds were all just waking up, and making a ruckus in the trees above. The whole forest would be alive with the sounds of nature. Mostly the smaller animals would be on the move, however that also meant the predators would be on the prowl. That meant he had to be wary of the dangers, but it also meant there was a possibility he could catch an impressive big game animal like a stag, or an ox.

For now though, the only track worth following were that of a rabbit. There was a possibility that there was something else nearby hunting the rabbit. Arvo thought about where a rabbit would hide. They were nervous creatures, constantly hunted by almost every predator around. They’d flee and hide in amongst piles of leaf litter, bushes, fallen trees. He noticed a disruption in the vegetation directly to his left. A few fresh animal droppings stood out like a signpost near the flattened bush pile. “Not rabbit droppings.” He muttered. They were far too big. Arvo stood again, spying what looked like a fallen tree just ahead of him, rotted and old. Marci seemed to be interested in it as well, and skipped ahead.

A low growl rattled from the dog’s abdomen, and Arvo’s eyes darted to follow where his hunting do was looking. There was his culprit. Standing with it’s head low to the ground in a brief clearing between bushes was a dingo stalking something he couldn’t yet see. Arvo crouched, and crept forward, avoiding branches and twigs that would alert it. There was the rabbit, scuttling nervously through the bushes. The dingo, however, would be a far better catch. Smirking, Arvo rose to his feet and lifted his shortbow. Adjusting his stance slightly so he was side-on. He kept his head and shoulders still as he drew the notched arrow back towards his face, took a deep breath, and then let it fly before immediately reading another arrow.

His first arrow hit it’s mark, piercing the canine’s neck. The dingo fell with a thump, and Arvo put the second arrow back in it’s quiber. Marci ran and dragged the snagged animal to him. He retrieved the arrow from it’s neck, and petted Marci on her head. Setting his backpack on the ground, he pulled out a sack made of burlap and stowed the deceased creature inside to take to the bluchers and skin. But first, a quick smoke!

Sighing with relief, the hunter relaxed noticeably and sat himself down against a nearby tree, stroking his dog’s fur and fumbling for his pipe.

[Amoux]

Amoux sighed happily as she knelt at the base of the large tree. The trunk was wide, its bark covered in vines and moss. Opening her toolkit next to her knees Amoux pulled on her leather gloves before leaning forward to pluck the larges leaves of the poisonous vine. She stacked them carefully before dropping them into a small bag from her toolkit. She would dry them later and then she could grind them down to a powder. Turning to the tree to her left she searched the trunk, finally landing on a bunch of wild mushrooms sprouting from the bark. Humming to herself she carefully cut the stalks from the trunk, gathering the brown and black shoots into a jar. Glancing around she gathered a few more stray mushrooms before closing the top of her kit, ready to move on to the next area to search.

She pushed herself onto her feet and dusted off her knees, slinging her kit over her shoulder. A rustling in the bushes to her right caught her attention and she looked around, stilling as a startled rabbit burst from the leaves and hurtled across the small clearing and into the opposing bushes, the rustling and snapping of branches following it as it fled across the woods. Amoux remained as still as possible, fully expecting a wild cat or some other predator to hurtle out of the bushes after it. That'd be right, barely three days here and I get eaten by a cougar or something... She scowled as she waited, hand falling to the dagger on her hip. After a few moments and no sign of any pursuit she crept forward, leaning forward to peer into the bush the rabbit had sprung from. Satisfied that no other animal was lurking around Amoux plucked a handful of berries from the bush before stepping over it, curious to see what had startled the rabbit in the first place.

Amoux peered through trees as she came to a small clearing. A man and his dog had sat near the center, his back to her. The dog saw her as she approached and its large ears pricked forward, watching her carefully. By the mans other side was a sack, the feet of some animal poking out of the opening. Oh, a hunter then. She turned to leave but paused, spotting the red flowered vine of eagle-horn across the clearing. Oh, I could certainly find a buyer for that! She realized. Glancing at the hunter she made her way forward, making no effort to make her steps any quieter in the hope that she wouldn't startle him too much. She made her way across the clearing to the vine, carefully cutting as much as possible from where it was wound around the trunk. Carefully she slipped it into another jar and closed her bag, catching sight of more poisonous mushrooms near the base of the neighboring tree. Bending she plucked them up, rolling them around her gloved palm for any indication of their species as she turned back to the hunter. "Ah, sorry to interrupt." She said finally, glancing up for the first time.

[Arvo]

Arvo found his pipe, but nearly dropped it when his dog let out a low rumble. Her huge ears stood up, and she seemed to be watching something intently. Arvo followed her gaze and noticed a redheaded woman carefully crossing the clearing to collect some sort of fauna from the ground. Avro quieted his dog, momentarily putting down his pipe and sat up straighter so he could get a better look at her face, or what tiny portion of it he could see under her fiery mane of wild red hair. The young woman apologized in common, but he recognized the Inarten accent immediately. “No please, interrupt me!” he said in Nari, chuckling lightly as he watched her work. Maybe it’d impress the woman if he could speak her language. It probably wouldn’t, after all, she would have left Windreach for a reason.

He watched her picking some kind of mushroom from the base of a tree “Medicine, or poison, I wonder?” He asked, still in his native tongue. He new nothing about either practices except what he could buy from the store. He took another look at the woman to try and figure out which it was. She was near Sunberth, so he was 90 percent sure she was a crafter of poison. The other 10 percent pointed out to him that she could be a noble doctor who recognized the lack of effective healthcare in Sunberth, and has come to her aid. But that was absurd, no healer would settle for shoddy Sunberth, surely? He surely didn’t want to spend any amount of time talking to such an absurd woman if that were true “No wait, let me guess, it’s for poison right?”

It was a relief to go back to speaking in his first language. Common was pretty easy for him now, but it still required a lot more thought when speaking it. But nary was effortless and easy to switch too.

Something was nagging at the back of his mind when he looked at her. Something important. Something that he couldn’t put his figure on. She seemed familiar, and that wasn’t just because she was an Inarten and as such, reminded him of windreach. It was definitely more than that. “So, what’s your name?” He asked her, abandoning the idea of smoking altogether in light of this rather pressing feeling that he was missing something vital. He shuffled to his feet, and made his dog lie down by the sack while he studied her. “Have we met before?” He asked, squinting at her.

[Amoux]

Amoux smiled in relief at the mans reply, surprised as he spoke in her native tongue. It had been quite a while since the last time Amoux had had a chance to speak anything but passing remarks in Nari and she found herself stumbling over the first few words as she switched languages.

"Yes, poisons right. More profitable here than medicine I'd waver." She joked with a laugh, drawing closer to the man, pleasantly surprised by the friendly conversation. She had been warned repeatedly on her way to Sunberth that it was a city full of nothing but murders and cutthroats, likely to stab and rob you rather than wave hello.

She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms uncomfortably as the man studied her, she wasn't used to being a subject that others focused much on, other than to comment on her hair. He's right though, he is familiar. She studied him in turn, taking in the thick dark hair and golden eyes. Who the petch would I know in Sunberth? She wondered. Shaking her head she introduced herself.

"Amoux, I think we have met-" Amoux broke off with a yelp of shock as she finally realized why she recognized the man before her. He was different than she remembered, older certainly, It's been what, three years? four? Her eyes widened and relief flooded her. The last she had heard Arvo had killed a girl and fled, the others had been sure he'd die on his own, away from Windreach. A hand flew up to cover her mouth and she stepped forward, fully intending to fling herself forward and hug her long lost friend before she paused, reconsidering. Arvo killed a girl and then left without a single word. And now I find him here, in Sunberth of all places!?

"You petching asshole!" She snapped, flinging the hand full of mushrooms at him in her anger, all but one missing their mark.

[Arvo]

Arvo grinned his usual charming act coming right back into place again as the two of them engaged in a rather pleasant conversation. She spoke as though she were quite new to the city, he’d been meeting quite a few new visitors to Sunberth. She’d probably been told that the city was full of nothing but thugs, and that’s why this conversation was so pleasant. Although she did seem a little unnerved when he studied her, raising an eyebrow and running her eyes over his appearance in turn. What was she thinking? He watched her face for clues. Then she Introduced herself and it was like a giant fist had grabbed his ribcage and started squeezing. This is not happening. This is impossible He thought as his eyes became wider.

She reacted well to begin with. He noticed relief, then as she thought about it more, anger. She lifted her the hand with the mushrooms and threw them at him. Arvo didn’t even shield himself from them with his arm. For once in his life, Arvo was completely speechless. What could he say to her? He’d left her there in Windreach without any sort of explanation or goodbye. She must have heard about what he’d done second-hand from her friends back in windreach. She knew he was a murderer, a shithead, and a complete waste of space and air. Heck, she probably didn’t even know that he had been originally after Levi’s blood. No, Levi was the hero who’d returned home with his life, and with the poor musician: Kaya, in his arms. All because he couldn’t stand to have left her to rot out in the Unforgiving until someone found her body.

Amoux had been his best friend since he was 14 years old. She’d always known what she was getting into befriending him, after all, he was gossiped about more than any other yasi in the city. As he grew older, he begun to tell her less and less about what he was feeling, mainly to preserve their friendship. Well that had obviously failed spectacularly.

Finally he found his tongue “You look, ah, well, Moxy” He muttered, all attempts at smiling just turned into a grimace as he backed away from her and looked anywhere he could but into her eyes. ‘Asshole’ huh? Wasn’t that just the understatement of the year. Amoux had always made him feel better about himself, now all her presence did bring all his mistakes forward so they punched him in the face.

[Amoux]

Guilt stabbed at Amoux as Arvo stepped away from her, refusing to meet her eyes, but she refused to just let it go and ignore her feelings. She knew Arvo wasn't prone to emotional outbreaks in the least, but Amoux certainly was, and her nickname all but pushed her over that emotion edge. "How could you just leave? No explanation at all! Everyone said you were probably dead, and for Eywaat's sake, after a while I started to believe them!" She shook her head, rubbing her hands over her face. "Gods, Arvo. I would have come with you. I knew you kept stuff from me, but you didn't have to." She sighed heavily, setting down her bag and eying her friend.

She studied him, taking in the failed smiles and how lonely he was. Shaking her head she rushed forward, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and squeezed tightly as she hugged him, trying as much to comfort him as to comfort herself. "I'm so glad you're alive, you idiot." She murmured, closing her eyes and attempting to communicate her relief through the hug. "I'm bloody pissed and I expect an explanation, but you're my best friend. I thought you were dead." Smiling weakly she let her arms drop, stepping back. "And you got a dog! For some reason I never saw you as a dog person."

A part of her still couldn't believe what she was feeling. She half expected the man before her to pull off an amazingly detail mask, a stranger underneath and reveal it as a trick. But no, it is him, there's no way it could be anyone else. No ones else has called me Moxy since I left Windreach, even then it was only Mother and him... "So, when am I getting my explanation?"

[Arvo]

What she was saying didn’t make since. She was angry because he left without an explanation, and that she though he was dead. She even said she would have come with him. There was no way he would have believed her at the time. He’d hid things from her because he believed she’d call him insane. He’d thought that she’d completely abandon him, which is, in essence, why he’d abandoned her first, so she wouldn’t get the chance. Arvo kept trying to say something but his mouth just wouldn’t open. He wanted to tell her that she meant something to him, but didn’t quite know how.

Just when he thought he could speak again she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Arvo hesitated, but lifted his arms to wrap them around her shoulders as well. It was a non-verbal version of ‘I missed you too’. But somehow, the fact that she hadn’t wanted to punch him so hard she broke his petching jaw was worse than this. Because he deserved much worse than she was giving him. This petching ruined every single layer of the elaborate mask he’s spent years crafting to cover himself up.

The hug was over, and now she was making light conversation, as if trying to cheer him up. But it only lasted for a moment before she asked him, again, for an explanation. Arvo couldn’t stay silent forever. “I’ve been trying to explain it to myself.” He muttered, still unable to look at her properly for more than a glance at a time “Why don’t you hate me?” He asked her, finally looking at her, eyes carrying a dark intensity “I can’t understand it at all!” His voice rose slightly louder “I murdered someone, and you’re saying you would have betrayed your hometown and leave with me anyway!? There’s no petching way.”

Arvo clenched his fists and his tightened his jaw “That story would have satisfied most people enough to reject me. I’m easy to hate right? So why don’t you?” He shook his head, at a loss for what to say next. It was a hard thing for him to dredge up, because it made him a monster. Now he was living with all the other monsters in Sunberth, where he could escape the Inarten’s. He’d been under the impression that he didn’t have an ally left from his childhood, now that he learnt he was wrong, it just made him feel worse. At the same time, he was relieved that she was here, and that she still thought of him as a friend, he just had to understand why.

He still hadn’t answered her question though. She wanted the full story and Arvo was purposely avoiding telling it. There was no explanation that would explain away what he did, and how easy it was for him to do it.

[Amoux]

She heaved a sigh. "I've been demanding an explanation from you and I haven't even given one myself." She scratched at the back of her neck, looking around with a light shrug as she tried to figure out where to start.

"All the other kids picked on me because I was too small, or I wasn't pretty enough, or- or because I didn't like the Eagles with their creepy, beady eyes and scaly feet, their huge beaks!" She shuddered and then shook her head rapidly, getting back on track with a small smile. "But you were always understanding. I could trust you, tell you anything without having to worry about it turning into gossip."

"But then you left and everything turned to shyke. Nobody wanted anything to do with me, just because I was your friend. And then when they did, they were just... petching assholes. For the first time I really experienced what you had to go through all the time, and it made me hate them so much." She looked up at him, twisting her hands together, slightly anxious to know how Arvo would react after she got everything out. "And then after you killed Kaya, Levi came back to Windreach with her body and started telling everyone that you lured her out there to kill her. He said that you said some stupid "If I cant have her no one will."speech. He said that he had followed and tried to save her, that you fought and he eventually drove you off. I knew he was lying, the self-centered prick, he lied about everything." She shook her head and turned, pacing around in a small circle to gather her thoughts before turning back to Arvo. "I kept trying to figure out in my head what had happened, maybe you were hunting and Kaya got in the way, maybe Levi shot her himself and blamed it on you to see you get punish. Heck, for all I know you were trying to kill Levi!." She paused and glanced at Arvo, knowing full well that that had probably been his intention.

"In the end I decided, if you constantly treat people, like Levi treated you, like they're dirt or monsters just because they're different, then they'll eventually react that way! Why shouldn't they!? You're not a monster, and you shouldn't be treated like one. I honestly don't blame you for trying to kill Levi, after just two seasons of the way he treated me I was ready to do the same, push him of a cliff and claim he slipped!" She smiled wryly at the image and the satisfaction it brought before fixing Arvo with a serious gaze.

"I don't need you to absolve yourself, or explain it all away. Heck, I'm a killer too! I provide people with poisons! I've even poisoned people myself! I'd be the biggest hypocrite in Mizahar to hate you! And I'm not trying to say killing people is okay, but... I'm actually not sure what I'm trying to say anymore." She sighed in frustration at her own muddled thoughts, dropping her head into her hands.

[Arvo]

Again the hunter was at a lost for words as his old friend began to speak her mind. She illustrated clearly why she’d befriended him in the first place. It wasn’t charity, like he’d assumed it was. It turns out that, while he was alone in his selfish little mind, he’d gotten her all wrong. He smiled to himself as she spoke about him. Her raw emotion was so baffling to him, but for once, he admired it, aspired to it. It was so easy to numb himself to it, but for Amoux it must be like a storm trapped inside, building in pressure that she had to let out.

She continued on to talk about when he left, and his smile faded, as the guilt set in again like he was being stabbed. Of course they turned on her when Arvo left. How could he have overlooked that? He closed his eyes, seething with anger. He realized that there was no wondered he’d over looked it. Empathy was something that he’d had to be learn. He didn't even think about her when he’d lead Levi out into the unforgiving. He didn’t think about anyone but himself and his own hatred.

His eyes snapped open once more when she told him what had happened after Levi returned. “Hah, that petching coward…” He muttered. Levi making up lies about him to save his own dignity. Amoux had guessed what had happened, he almost wished she had pushed him off a damned cliff. How had he ever let this girl go? What the petch had come over him?

Near the end of her spiel, she began to trail off, placing her head in her hands. Now that she had finished it was his turn. “Just before I decided to kill Levi, he and six of his buddies attacked me.” He began "They held back my arms, and beat me until I started losing consciousness…” Arvo began “I never wanted you to see me like that, or anyone for that matter, maybe I’d picked up that Inarten ‘pride’.” He said it as though it was a disease of some sort,

“Kaya got a good snapshot of my instability at that point. I guess when I recovered and challenged Levi, she suspected that I was about to kill him. She tracked me, she watched me aim my arrow at his back, and she jumped in front of him” He shock his head, remembering the sound the arrow made when it pierced her, the scream of pain. “The only reason Levi still breathes today is because I couldn’t let Kaya’s body lie out there and decompose.”

Arvo looked at her, his expression softer than it had been in so many years “I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually leave Windreach, I was the Cuckoo, or at least that’s what they called me. But it definitely should have been with you.” He finished “I’m so sorry Moxy.” He said genuinely feeling sorry “I shouldn’t have shut you out, or left you like I did.” He paused, and then scratched the back of his neck “I’m inherently selfish.” He said with a chuckle “And intelligently stupid”

[Amoux]

Amoux listened as Arvo took his turn to explain what he had gone through. As horrible as it was none of what he said surprised her, she had always know the others treated him like dirt, she'd simply always been too small and scared to do anything in his defense. A wave of guilt caused her cheeks to burn and she dropped her head to star at er boots, wrapping her arms around her waist. As he he trailed off, commenting on his pride Amoux let out a little self deprecating snort. "Yeah, or maybe you found mine." She whispered barely loud enough to be heard.

Amoux sighed sadly as she imagined Kaya, her blood staining the dirt. She'd never been close to the girl, and she'd often harbored a feeling of jealousy for the friendship she had with Arvo, but she had never want to see the kind girl hurt in anyway, and she knew Arvo felt the same. Amoux glanced at Arvo from under her lashes, still feeling guilty and worthless, but the expression in his golden eyes removed some of the weight from her shoulders. Stepping forward she squeezed his arm comfortingly. Part of her wanted to hug him again, being the tactile person that she was. She settled for a soft smile. "It's okay, it all happened in the heat of the moment, I probably would have reacted in the same way."

Stepping back she gestured to the sack covered wild dog. "Need some help carrying that back?"