Kelton was still fast asleep by the time Nova got to the tree, he had stayed up a bit later then he had hoped the night before trying to think through the plan, the way they would get there and such. It was hard to think about the fact that he might not make it back, but he had a good feeling about this. Maybe it was just some people who didn't return, and that it was a load of lies that all didn't make it back. But before he could come up with any other ideas to argue with himself about, he was fast asleep. And stayed asleep until he rolled out of the branch. He felt himself falling and instinctively grabbed at a branch. Pulling himself to safety he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and saw Nova waiting down at the base of the tree, "I'll be right there!" He called down to him as he began to climb to the branch were he had left his satchel. When Kelton grabbed it he jumped down from the branch he had been standing on and onto the ground, "Good morning." He said groggily, "Are we ready to begin?"
Nova arrived at the tree and was delighted to see that Kelton was still asleep. They were just getting themself ready to climb the tree and wake him up when Kelton rolled off the branch he'd been lying on. A sharp squeak of surprise escaped their lips– were they about to watch their traveling companion fall out of a tree and break something? Thankfully, he managed to grab onto a branch and not die. "Gods, are you trying to kill me via heart attack?" Nova gasped, clutching their chest dramatically. "And good morning to you as well. You look kind of tired," They observed, shifting the pack on their back. "Yeah, unless you want to get some stuff here before heading out. Also, you're going to be in charge of the maps. I'll be in charge of the butterflies, etc." Nova fluttered their fingers at a nearby butterfly, then looked at Kelton as if they'd explained something intricate and important.
Kelton groaned inwardly, he was already regretting saying yes to working with this person, "I fell out of the tree, nothing more nothing less, no need to have a heart attack over me, you barely even know me. If I had a heart whenever I saw anyone put themself in a dangerous situation I'd be long dead by now," he said snidely. "Yes, I am tired, I didn't sleep much last night, but I'll be fine, I'll wake up when we start walking." He ran his fingers through his hair trying to smooth it out, "I think we are good to go, you seem to have enough with you, and I have what we need, and we need to get along before the sun reaches the highest point. Then, it'll be to hot, and from what I can tell, we won't be near a forest at that point." He re-adjusted his satchel a bit grumpily and sheathed his broadsword, I am fine with taking care of the maps, but you will need to do more than just watch butterflies, alright?" He groaned again, Nova was very interesting indeed, he just hoped that he could get along with them.
"Yeah, but it was unexpected. If I knew you were going to fall out of a tree, it wouldn't have almost had a heart attack. I just walked up and you were falling." Nova shrugged, noting that Kelton was starting in on being a dreary person already. And so early in the morning, too! "Alright, perfect. Good thinking. Heat is not fun. Is there a river or lake near there, though? We could dunk our heads in or something." They tried to think about the path they'd drawn out the night before, but without a map, it was useless. "Well, obviously. I'll also watch out for bandits, other adventurers, cool views, dangerous terrain, and monsters!" Nova spread their arms wide, grinning widely at Kelton. They would drive away his bad mood with smiles and sunshine. That might also make it even worse, but they were willing to try. "Lead the way, Mr. Map Man!"
"I guess that makes sense," Kelton muttered as he began to walk. He pulled the map he felt would lead them the best and began to follow it the best he could while nodding along to what Nova was saying, "I think that there ought to be a river or stream in the middle of this." He pointed at the spot on the map for extra effect, "Forest, I haven't been in there before, but I'm sure it won't be too bad. In fact, if we could take a path or two through the forests that would be quite nice, and then we would have shade from the midday heat. In fact I think that would do nicely." He grew engrossed into the map not really paying attention again to Nova, until they began to mention parts of the adventure, "I. . .err. . sure, you do that, I'm sure that the adventure would be more enjoyable for you when you get to battle other creatures and beings, I'm not too sure if I will enjoy that myself, but it's your life, you make your decisions." He shook his head a bit, trying not to crack a smile when Nova called him Mr. Map Man, "Alright, well, then you must be the Leader of Butterflies, hhm?" Okay. . .so he could have come up with something wittier.
"Ooh, wonderful! I hope it's not a slow river filled with weeds, though." Nova frowned. "Those kinds of rivers are not fun. Especially if they're not that clear, 'cause then there could be anything hiding under there, waiting for someone unexpecting to dunk their head in." They shook their head solemnly, then glanced at the place where Kelton was pointing. "Yes, let's try the forest! There are more hidden dangers, but more shade! I'd say that's a pretty good trade-off." Nova's head tilted to the side. "Well, it's not more enjoyable when I'm fighting things, but it does add a certain spice. But just walking is nice, too." They laughed when he called them the Leader of Butterflies. "Ha, I guess. Though I don't think butterflies follow anyone. They're free spirits." Another butterfly fluttered by and Nova grinned. So far, this adventure was turning out very nice. Then again, they'd both only been walking for about five minutes, maybe, so it wasn't a really good indicator. They hoped that it would stay like this, though. It was hard to go on an adventure with someone boring, though they could do it.
"I would hope not, that would be so boring, and if it is one of those we could always go search for another? Right? I do not think that it would be a hard thing to do, we could always find the source too?" Kelton tried to cheer up a little bit, and be a little bit less rough and rude to Nova, sure he wasn't the nicest person in the world, but he needed to at least seem decent, "I get very tense when I fight anything, but I do enjoy fighting something, it gives you a sense of accomplishment whenever you defeat another creature?" He finally smiled a little and Nova when he began to speak of the butterflies, "I would think that they would be that way, although they are beautiful creatures, I feel like they are just like a symbol of hope, or just something really nice to see, I don't know, I think I might just be weird."
(Short, I know, sowy)
(You're good!)
"Yes! We will take a small side quest to find the best river if that's what it takes!" Nova exclaimed, looking excited at the prospect. Rivers had a certain magic about them, especially if they were clear and had delightful rocks and running water. Nova could probably go on and on about the (figurative) magic in a river or stream, but it wasn't the time for that. "Yeah. It's even better if that creature underestimates you. I love the look on their face when they realize the short person beat them up easily." Their smile was a little wicked, but mostly just bright. Their facial expressions usually leaned towards happy and joyful, though mischievous expressions sometimes crossed their features. "Aren't they? All the colors they come in… so pretty." Nova heaved a satisfied sigh, the look on their face slightly dreamy. "Hope… does that mean I'm a symbol of hope? 'Cause I'm their leader, right?" They skipped a few steps, hair bouncing slightly. "Anytime you need hope, ask me. I'm the hope person." Nova winked at Kelton and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, feeling very satisfied. Kelton had smiled a bit, they were talking about butterflies, and they probably wouldn't be baked in the sun when midday arrived. And no one had attacked them yet. All in all, good.
Kelton tried to hold in a chuckle as Nova spoke, sure he might not be in the best mood at the moment, but he must admit the man was funny, oh so funny. "Why not just forget about the castle completely and just go searching for the perfect river, what do you think of that?" He was joking the castle was much more important, but that could definitely be something fun to do, and something quite interesting, "Their colors are pretty, I guess, but they just mean a bit more to me than that. Of course, of course, I will always come to you if I need hope, does that sound good to you? And why they give me hope or make me feel hopeful is because my mother loved them. They were my mother's favorite creature, she always looked out for them, then would try to attract them, although that never really worked. She was just that kind of person, she loved to be out and as she loved to put it, one with nature. I never really did understand that, but that was her." This might be a nice journey if he could stop talking about his family, and be a bit nice to Nova.
"Forget the castle? What about the gold?" Nova laughed. "But afterward… I will use most or all the treasure from the castle to find the perfect river. You may or may not be invited– it depends on how good you are at finding a good river right now." They shrugged, smirking at Kelton. "So, do your best, or you may not be invited on Nova's Most Interesting Adventure For Rivers Ever." They skipped another few steps, spinning in a small circle before resuming their normal gait. "Wonderful! I will do my best." Nova listened to Kelton's story about butterflies and his mother. At least one of them had had a nice relationship with their mother. "That's nice! She sounds wonderful," was all they could come up with. Kelton's mother did sound nice, but they didn't know what else to say. It wasn't like they could compare stories on mothers. Well, they could, they just really didn't want to. To make up for the (in their opinion) sad answer, Nova spun in another circle.
"Hhmph, it was a joke, Nova, you aren't the only one who can make one of those. . ." Kelton trailed off realizing that Nova had gotten the joke and was just playing along, "Well, then, I guess I might not be going with you then, I mean, I am horrible in mornings, I'm just being nice to you, because well I feel like I should be, we'll see how long it'll be." He yawned and stretched his arms, "Yes, she was amazing, while she was alive she was at least, but she passed a while ago, but no need to dampen this mood." As they began to enter the forest he closed his eyes just taking in the sounds of the forest, "Isn't it nice here? I could just live here for the rest of my life." He sighed happily and began to make his way through the trees weaving in and out as if he had been there before."
Nova smirked at Kelton, amused that he'd thought they hadn't gotten the joke. "You'd better work on that, then. You will want to come with me. It'll be even more fun than this adventure." Their lips turned down slightly when Kelton said he was just being nice to them. They'd known that, kind of, but they didn't like it when he admitted it. "Oh, sorry." They stayed silent until they both entered the forest. Nova's mood immediately improved– the forest looked amazing. "It is nice. And cool, too." Nova waved their hands in the air and took a deep breath. The air smelled wonderful, and the sounds were delightful. Birds singing, wind whistling through the trees, a branch snapping somewhere close to them– wait. Nova was instantly on alert. It might just be a regular forest animal… or it might be a bandit or a monster. "Did you hear that?" They breathed, glancing towards Kelton.
Kelton nodded, "It was probably nothing." He muttered as he continued through the woods. He would know if something was coming, "If anything it might be a deer." He wasn't sure though, he wasn't getting any off feelings or something along those lines. They turned to look back at Nova making sure they were alright, "And uhm, I. . .about the whole nice thing, I guess it's just easier to be nice to people who are generally friendly to others as well and to me." he began stammering a little, 'But, y-you are really nice, so I t-think that it will be rather easy to be nice to you then." As the two continued to make their way through the woods the cracking of the sticks followed them, Kelton tried to pretend as though it was nothing, but in the back of his mind, he was worried that it might be something. Although he had convinced himself that the forest didn't speak to him, but somehow always knew that he always knew what was going on whenever he was near. "So, uh, Nova, what do you think you'll do with the gold once we find it?"
(I just want to let you know, I'm not going to be on at all this weekend.)
"Probably," Nova agreed, their hand drifting towards their sword. "Well, that is true. I mean, I'm always friendly to everyone, but that's just me." Their face brightened a bit. "Thanks, Kelton!" Nova thought it was kind of funny how flustered Kelton seemed to be getting. It was also kind of cute, though. Their thoughts were distracted by the sounds of sticks breaking. Whatever it was seemed to be following them, which didn't bode well. Unless the deer was really friendly. At Kelton's question, they looked back over at him. "I think I'll use it to travel around and see as much of the world as I can," Nova said enthusiastically, momentarily forgetting about the imminent danger. "It would be really amazing to see everything that there is to see. Imagine all those views, and architectural wonders, and the people! Hearing all their stories must be amazing." They sighed dreamily. "What about you?"
(Don't worry about it, I probably won't be either)
"And that's nice, and something that I need to work on. I guess I am polite most of the time, but normally more friendly to people I have grown to trust, and c-care for." He sighed softly, gazing out into the trees, "But I guess for some people it is easy to be friendly rather than being rude, which I think is how it should always be." He sighed, realizing that he must be droning on again, "I'm sorry, I sound too boring, please let me know, I wouldn't want to annoy you with my incessant chatter." He ran his fingers through his hair again rather awkwardly. He sighed softly, he wasn't used to carrying such long conversations with people, but, he sort of liked talking to Nova, they just were nice and fun to be around. "Ah, that sounds nice. I would probably send some of the money to my family, then perhaps use the rest on myself. Maybe I would continue to adventure, or maybe I would settle down, get married, and begin a family." At least, that was what he was expected to do, but he wasn't so sure of that himself, he knew he wanted to marry, but maybe not the beautiful bride his father had always envisioned for him and his brothers.
(Alright, cool!)
Nova nodded. It made sense to them. Not everyone was friendly to everyone like they were. In fact, a lot of people they knew were more like Kelton than themself. Polite to strangers and friendly to people they knew. "No, you're fine. Sometimes incessant chatter can be comforting." They reassured him. The sound of a human voice could be nice to hear when one was in the middle of the wildness. "That's a nice thing to do. This gold could really set up anyone for a wonderful life." Nova knew that eventually, they would stop moving around, but they couldn't imagine stopping so soon when they still could travel around. But Kelton could have his own dreams, they reasoned. By now, they had almost forgotten about the maybe-danger. But not enough to write off a faint whisper sounding from somewhere close to them. It didn't sound like something natural, though. It sounded like someone's voice. "I think we're being followed, Kelton," Nova whispered, glancing around the forest. It was a pretty good place for an ambush. Lots of trees to hide behind. "And it had been so peaceful so far!"
"Hhm, thank you, I'll try to take that as a compliment, although it is still incessant chatter." Kelton nodded reaching for his broadsword, he could tell that something was off, and although he'd prefer to not fight at the moment he knew that that could happen. "Here, follow me, up this tree." He muttered weaving in and out of the thick foliage until he found the perfect hiding spot. He began to swing up the tree from branch to beach towards a heavily leafed area, "Come on Nova!" He whispers shouted, "Quickly!" He hoped that they would be able to see from here if anyone was indeed following them."
(Oof, another shorty)
(Me too… you're fine!)
Nova was slightly confused as to why Kelton wanted them to climb a tree but followed him anyway. Getting caught in an ambush wouldn't be very good for either of them. They watched him for a few seconds, marveling at the ease with which he climbed the tree. He must have done that a lot. They'd never really been the tree-climbing type unless it was absolutely necessary. Which, it seemed, was right then. Nova managed to grab the first branch, then climbed after Kelton. They weren't nearly as graceful as Kelton– in fact, it was a miracle they didn't fall out of the tree. "What's the plan?" Nova whispered, a death-grip on one of the branches.
Kelton groaned, "Before we get to plan, let's get you into the tree, how's that sound." He grumbled a bit pulling Nova onto one of the larger branches before swinging up to a higher one, "I'm gonna look and see if someone is indeed following us, and, perhaps instead of them attacking us, we get to them first? Huh?" Noticing that Nova was about to slip again, he dropped back down onto the branch, "Look, just hold onto another branch tightly and let the leaves cover you, and you'll be fine, I doubt that they would be looking for us here. Most people can't really climb this high, so I'm sure that they wouldn't even try to." He said as leaned against the tree, "Do you have another idea? Or if you'd like, we could stay up here til they think that we are gone."
"Thanks," Nova sighed. They really were too small to be climbing trees, at least in their opinion. "Yeah, you do that. If there is someone chasing us, we need to attack them first." After all, they had made Nova climb into this tree. They couldn't take out their rage on Kelton since he was their traveling companion. But they couldn't care less about some annoying bandits wanting to rob them or murder them or something. In fact, if it was a bandit, they really wanted to rob the bandit first. It would be hilarious. "Yeah, I'm included in most people," Nova grumbled under their breath, adjusting their grip on the branch. "Nope. I like your idea of attacking them first." They curled their free hand into what they hoped was a vengeful fist. "Can you see anyone?"
"I think so, I'm not sure if it's a deer or a human, but I know that I'm seeing someone." Kelton called down as he swung up to a higher branch, he stepped onto the branch and heard it crack. He panicked stepping back, and jumped down to another, "Mm, yeah, there is definitely a human down there, so, I guess we wait until they get close enough, then drop down and attack? Or what if it is just someone who just happened to take the same path as we did today? Should we make sure that there was no malintent before we just rob them, then run? For all we know it could be a child," He looked back over at the person, "A really tall one."
Nova nodded, not able to see much from where they were. Maybe they could if they stood up, but they didn't want to fall out of the tree. They looked up at Kelton quickly when they heard the branch crack, their heart skipping a beat. Kelton falling out of the tree wouldn't be good either. Luckily, he stepped to a different branch and avoided an embarrassing and painful fate. "Oh, okay. We should probably check to see who it is first. I really don't want to give an innocent person a heart attack. And I don't want to turn into a bandit." Nova laughed softly. "Attacking a child, even if they are really tall, wouldn't be good either."
"Alright, that sounds fair to me." Kelton said as he sat down next to Nova, "If they are bandits, do we just attack and steal? Or do we, well end them and their thievery? Or is that a bit too harsh?" He sighed softly playing with some of the leaves in front of them, "Or do you just want to get down and continue on? I'm sure we've lost them at this point, so perhaps we could take another route to find the river. Which I'm sure won't be too hard, hopefully. . ." Of course, he could always ask the forest to help him, but he doubted that he would, he knew that magic wasn't real, whatever happened would just be pure coincidence, after all, magic just couldn't be real, it was just too. . .unreal. He shook his head stubbornly, "You know what, I want to find that river, and if robbers or children who rob are going to stand in my way, I'll just take them down. Come on Nova." Kelton said as he jumped down from the tree, "You with me?"
"Well, I'm going to attack them. Maybe knock them out. Ending them is a little too harsh… unless, of course, they try really hard to kill us and it's the only way we make it out of there," Nova said, shrugging. They didn't like killing people for no reason. Even if they were bandits. The person really had to do something terrible, or it had to be an accident. And they usually didn't have accidents like that. Nova snorted at Kelton's 'children who rob' line– he was getting better the more time they spent with him. "Now, that's what I like to hear." They grinned and carefully made their way out of the tree. If they jumped out, the likelihood of them breaking something was enormous. "I am with you!" Nova's feet touched down on the ground and they drew their sword in anticipation of a fight.
"Hhm, that sounds like a nice plan, I like it, and I guess it'll be nice to shake them up a bit, just to get a laugh and also, maybe teach them a lesson, or something?" Kelton called up to Nova, "Come on, it's not that hard, you just let yourself drop to the ground, and try to land on you feet, it's better." He shook his head slightly annoyed that he had to wait for Nova. But he plastered a small smile on his face when Nova finally came down, "Alright." He muttered as he pulled out his broadsword, "Let's kick some butt." He chuckled brandishing his sword,"Not seeing anyone he sighed and murmured a quick request under his breath to the forest. Immediately a path opened up leading to the robbers, "Alright, I think we need to go this way Nova, alright?"
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