Finn winced at Castor's tone and nodded. He looked over to Aesir's new suggestion for a topic of conversation. "Cool adventures and quests? Um… I don't do a ton. I did go to a further village one time to get rid of some kobolds, though, and I go out a lot to try and find stuff for my potions." He looked over to Delta to see if they had anything to add.
"Mm… I do a fair amount of quests…" Delta replied softly. "Most of them are menial tasks, but I was sent out to fight a dragon one time. A really small one, mind you; probably young, and not a large species, but it was causing some trouble nonetheless."
"I usually get sent on recon missions, spying missions, that sort of thing. But the most interesting ones are always investigative. I've found many a missing person," Aesir added, "But back up there. A dragon? Was it on the quest board, or did they spring that on you?"
Castor glanced between the others before giving his answer.
"They usually like me to clear out bandits or monsters when they're causing trouble. Other than that, I run a lot of small errands for people, especially elderly townsfolk. I've fought a few strange monsters, but nothing you guys haven't heard of."
"Well, not exactly… they said there was a 'small beast' bothering the village, but they didn't know what it was. When I showed up to investigate, I found a dragon." Delta explained calmly, shrugging. "It really wasn't a big deal. Like I said, it was a really small one."
"It's still cool, though!" Finn insisted, grinning brightly up at his friend. "I've never even seen a dragon. I only see stupid deer and stuff… I saw a really big wolf one time, though! That was pretty cool."
"I've seen a dragon, but nothing I could've imagined fighting," Castor said, "It was far too big and too powerful. But it was going about its own business, so it could've been worse."
"I haven't seen a dragon either," Aesir added, their face paling a bit, "But honestly, I'm more grateful than jealous. I think the giant sewer rats are enough."
"The giant what?"
Finn grimaced. "Giant sewer rats? That's nasty." He stuck his tongue out and shook his head a bit. "I like frogs, but rats freak me out… especially when they're super big! They shouldn't get that big!" He insisted. He looked around, trying to figure out where they were. "There better not be any rats around here… do you think we're close to the questgiver's place?" He asked, to which Delta shrugged.
"I don't think we're that far."
"No, they're not exactly good company," Aesir replied, "But they tend to stick to their nasty little sewers and swamps and whatnot. And yeah, I think the town is just over this hill. I've visited more than a few times."
"What for? Other quests?"
"Pretty much. That, and the townsfolk are generally affluent and overly trusting."
"So you like to steal from people there."
Aesir shrugged. "Not from people who would miss it."
"Maybe we'll find a quest that requires stealing! You'd be good at that." Finn hummed thoughtfully and found himself at the front of the group again. He adjusted his cloak as he looked around curiously. "My parents are well off enough. They never really cared about money or talked about it, though, so it's hard to say." He shrugged and put his hands on the back of his neck again as he walked.
Aesir shifted uncomfortably. "Whoa, whoa, I don't steal just for the thrill of it, you know," they protested, "If it becomes necessary, I'll do it, but there are a million things I'd rather do. I was piss poor growing up, and I would've starved."
Castor shrugged. "That's fair enough, I guess. If I wasn't so afraid of getting caught, I probably would've done that to stay alive instead of what I had to do."
"What did you have to do?"
"Working conditions were just bad, is all," Castor replied.
There he went, closing himself off again. Almost any questions seemed to delve into territory he didn't want to breach.
"Fair enough." Finn shrugged. "I'm fine to look into any quests you guys might be interested in." He looked over to Castor and sighed. Why even bring it up if he's not willing to talk about it? Everything's such a touchy subject… "Well… I guess we can still get to know each other a bit more while we walk, yeah?" He suggested awkwardly. "Uh… do you guys have favorite colors? Animals?"
Delta yawned and decided to answer for Finn's sake. "Uh… I like gold, I guess, and I'd say I like deer and crows… I get along with most woodland type animals, anyway."
"Welllll, like I said, I have a thing for corvids. Crows, ravens, blackbirds, magpies- but uh… jays are a little beyond me, to be honest," Aesir replied. Then they gestured to their own outfit. "And black and blue for sure."
Castor gave a little shrug. He wasn't planning on answering at first, but he figured it was better to play nice, be friendly.
"Blue's nice," he agreed, "Only second to green."
He paused for a moment.
"Animals… hm… I dunno, I think cats are cute. I usually feed strays wherever it is I stay."
Finn nodded and hummed softly. He was really trying his best to keep spirits up and cut the tension. "That's cool! I like frogs and cats and owls and stuff like that." He looked around, adjusting his bag on his shoulders. "Don't really know what my favorite color is… I don't think about it too much. Maybe green?" He considered for a few seconds. We're still not there… "Is there anything else you guys want to talk about?"
"Mmm, I dunno," Aesir said, rubbing the back of their neck, "What are you guys thinking about our classes and training and all that?"
Castor tilted his head. "Well… I could be doing better in class. I feel like taking exams and reading is a bit impractical for someone in my shoes."
"I think I'm doing alright." Finn shrugged. "I do well enough without needing to study too much. Delta's the genius." He smirked and nudged his friend with his elbow. Delta flushed very lightly, an unusual expression for them, and looked away. "It's nothing special… I just pay attention and study, that's all. The class isn't that hard if you just try a little."
Castor looked over at Aesir. "What about you? You sleep in class all the time, and I rarely see you during training."
"Oh, well, that's because I usually train alone. And if you don't see me? That's by design," they replied, "As for class? Don't need to be awake. I still make good grades. My mind is a steel trap, and nothing beats out good old experience."
Castor scoffed. "You've got to be joking. Look at this guy."
Aesir laughed with him. "Look, I'm being damn serious!"
"How can your mind be a steel trap for information that you're sleeping through?" Finn asked, confused. "There's no way you can retain information that you didn't process in the first place, and the professor puts some super hard specific details in his exams!" He sighed, groaning softly. He always did fine on the tests, of course, but he did have to study for them, and they were kind of a pain.
"I'm going to have to agree with Finn on that one," Castor said, "You're definitely joking with us. Right?"
Aesir laughed. "Only partially. It's not like I have the highest grades in our class, but I remember just about everything we could foreseeably need to know. And the training- I practice my stealth during training usually if I'm not out at the shooting range. Which you don't use."
Castor shrugged. "Fair enough."
"I guess that makes sense." Finn shrugged and looked forward, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I think we're almost there, at least… thank god. I'm getting antsy to do something already." He laughed softly.
"You're terribly impatient." Delta remarked. "Part of this assignment is to learn to enjoy the journey as well, after all." Finn stuck his tongue out at them.
"It'll be nice if we can get it done quickly," Aesir replied, "We'll get a bit of a break if we finish before it's due. But if there were no school, no looming deadline- well, I'd be a lot more inclined to enjoy the journey."
"It was a longer walk than I thought," Castor agreed, "This wasn't the part I wanted to sink my time into, but that's it up ahead, isn't it? We'll be fine."
"Yeah, but if we finish early, then we won't get to hang out with each other as long." Finn pouted a bit. He was really looking forward to getting to know some of his classmates better since it was hard for him to come up with good ways most of the time. He wanted to make friends, but starting conversations was hard.
"We could always just hang out outside of the project." Delta suggested in a calm voice. "We aren't restricted to only spend time with each other within the bounds of this assignment. If we want to, we can hang out elsewhere."
"Yeah, I mean, we can always do that, if you guys really want to," Castor agreed, "It'll be good to actually… I don't know, make friends here."
Aesir smiled slightly. "What, now that you're forced to interact with us?"
Castor shook his head. "Yeah- I-I guess. It's been an adjustment. I really just came here to get stronger, but I guess forming relationships is important too-"
Aesir jogged ahead to look at what was before them.
"Yup, here we are! Says the questgiver is… uhm… In the farmhouse on the eastside, so we'll head that way."
Finn smiled brightly at the others in the group and picked up the pace. "That's great! I'd be glad to hang out with you guys. I've got loads of free time. You can come see my cat, and my frog! I think they're pretty neat. And we can train together! It's good to practice in groups, isn't it? Since we're planning to be adventurers?" He rambled on a bit as they made their way to the farmhouse. Delta watched him with a mildly exasperated, yet fond expression.
"You have a cat?" Castor asked, softly but clearly excited. His eyes lit up in a way they really hadn't since they'd embarked on this journey. "And yeah, sure. It'll be good for us, as long as we're not exhausted after all this."
Aesir led the way through the town, as they were most familiar with this town.
"I don't usually train with other people, so I think it'll be good practice for the old hand-to-hand, yeah?" they said.
"Yeah, I do! Her name is Mushroom, and she's a pretty little calico cat…" Finn smiled fondly, clearly glad to talk about his pets. "She's super sweet; she loves people." He had a bit of a spring in his step as he carried on.
"Training in groups is definitely helpful. It's good for building trust and helping you to rely on others to cover your blind spots." Delta explained. "If you're only training by yourself, you won't be prepared to join an adventuring group after we graduate."
"That is very much true," Aesir agreed, "I'll get around to working on that… eventually, I guess. I just have very little use in actual active battle."
"Doesn't that just mean you should get better at it instead?" Castor suggested.
Aesir gave a weak smile. "If only it were as simple as me not being skilled enough. I freeze up. Or I'll run. I'm not exactly the most courageous person I know."
(Castor, foaming at the mouth: I like cats a normal amount)
(Asfghjk mood)
"Well, we can help you with your courage!" Finn encouraged, holding up his fists in enthusiasm. "If it can trust your teammates, I bet you'll feel more confident, yeah? We've got your back!"
Delta nodded in agreement, adjusting their cloak on their shoulders. "Your teammates are there to cover your weaknesses. If you make a mistake, it isn't necessarily the end."
(I specifically have a thing for black cats. See: my pfp. That's my kitty :))) )
"Maybe so," Aesir replied, "I've never really been with a team long enough to build that kind of trust, honestly. And where I came from, it was the end a lot of the time. So you can see how all of that came to be."
They stopped the group in front of the farmhouse.
"And here we are. Let's get started."
Castor motioned at them. "You going to knock on the door?"
"No," They replied with a shrug.
(Aww, I have a (mostly) black cat as well ^^)
"I'm sure we can get there if we work at it." Finn hummed softly and looked up at the building with his hands on his hips. He looked between the other group members to see which of them was going to knock.
After a few seconds, Delta rolled their eyes and steppes forward to knock on the door. "It doesn't matter who knocks. We just need to get started."
(Aww nice)
"Thanks," Aesir said softly when Delta finally stepped forwards.
A few moments after the knock, the questgiver came to the door. She was a middle-aged woman, very tired and frazzled-looking. She actually managed a smile when the group came to her doorstep.
"Oh, dears. Are you here to help with the request I sent out?" she asked, "What a relief."
Castor looked back and forth between the others before speaking. "What can you tell us?"
"There's a monster or something out there that's been hurting our townsfolk who leave the village, even barely. Nobody has seen it clearly. We have to tell the children to stay in the village. It finally killed one of my boys 'round a week ago, and I don't know what to do. How can we fight something if we don't know what it is?"
"Well, I can help us figure that out, at least," Aesir said, "I'm a good tracker usually. Maybe there are some clues. We should collect more details from the townsfolk once we're done here."
Finn and Delta listened closely, nodding along as the woman explained. "I'm sorry that you've gone through so much trouble with this monster, ma'am… we'll look into it right away." Finn insisted gently, trying to reassure her somewhat.
"We'll check with some of the other townsfolk to piece together a physical description of the monster. Do you have any information about people who might have information? Other reports?" Delta asked the woman, pulling out a notepad to write down anything important.
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