“I would assume prophet, because the words I can make out are extremely confusing,” Dawn replied, fiddling with the tip of one of his horns. “Otherwise, I don’t even think this is common english. It’s sure not infernal or draconic, either, so I couldn’t read it even if I wanted to. Though they do seem relatively similar in structure, hmm?”
Dawn pondered over the letter for a moment more, then flicked his eyes back to meet Alistair’s.
“Well, anyway, I was thinking of leaving here first thing tomorrow morning. If you’re coming, you might want to look into a room here,” he said, speech hitching for a moment before he continued. “Or, you could stay in mine.”
"Okay! I can do either. Money shows up in my satchel whenever I deliver a letter, and I've learned not to question it!" Alistair grinned and got the bartender to refill his glass of juice. "If you get sick of me and don't want me to stay with you, I can get my own room." He shrugged a bit as he looked around the bar. He waved to a very unfriendly looking man across the bar, who simply glared at him and continued drinking his vodka. "He seems nice."
(Good lord I love this small innocent child)
Dawn raised an eyebrow, following Alistair’s gaze to the man across the bar. He wasn’t sure if it was sarcasm or if he actually had faith when he replied, “Yeah, he does.”
Following in Seven’s footsteps, Dawn waved as well, but quickly turned back to Alistair and pushed himself to his feet.
His tail swished behind him excitedly as he smiled, offering Alistair a hand down from the stool.
“Not sure if I can get sick of you, but I’ll try my best,” he joked. “After all, it’s been a long time since I’ve had company. Follow me— I’ll show you to the room.”
(I love him lol)
"Sir yes sir!" Alistair jumped off of his stool and followed Dawn into the room, humming contentedly to himself. Once they were in the room, he dropped his satchel on the ground and stretched a bit. "Mmm… I've been on my feet all day. I'm pretty used to that, though. Do you walk along a lot? What do you do for a living?" He asked curiously. "Do you deliver letters too? Or do you do something else?"
Dawn flicked on the light and closed the door, the fire in the lanterns casting a warm glow among the small room. It had a somewhat detailed rug in the middle of it, with a bed to the far left and a table accompanying it. The window was off to the right, smack in the middle of the wall, the cool breeze still drifting in. With swift movements, Dawn strode over, latching the glass shut.
“I’m a wanderer, so to speak,” the tiefling replied, leaning up against the side of the window and gazing out. His tail swished slowly behind him, curling and uncurling around his leg.
“And yes, I’m on my feet much too often. I don’t deliver letters, but it does seem like an interesting profession. I really am more of a scavenger— I go out and hunt for things, then bring them back to people. Or I go on journeys for my own liking; like the one we’re about to take. I’m simply going there out of blatant curiosity.”
Dawn’s voice was low, melodic even, and fluctuated with excitement as he walked over to the bedside table, picking up the worn book. He sat down on the side of the bed, patting the area next to him for Alistair to take a seat.
“You see this?” he asked, pointing to the map on one of the previous pages. It was extremely old, almost falling apart as Dawn poked it. “It looks exactly like Mountain Pass, and mentions it, too, but it seems like the terrain has changed over time. Either that, or there’s some magic at play. What say you?”
"Ooh, fancy!" Alistair examined the map curiously. "Yeah, probably has some magic happening here. Changing maps aren't exactly normal." He swung his legs underneath the bed a bit, humming contentedly too himself. "Huh… I should probably carry a map, shouldn't I? But I always end up where I need to go nonetheless… it's like I just like, know how to get there? It's pretty cool. I get lost all the time anyway." He yawned and lay back on the bed, running his fingers through his hair. "This place is so cool!" He grinned. "It's been a real long time since I've gotten to sleep in a bed!"
“Ditto,” Dawn replied, smiling. “But, I mean, I still prefer nights under the stars, hm? Sorry if I’m a bit of a romantic.”
He kept his eyes down on the map, turning it this way and that in order to figure out what it was showing. After a long moment of no success, he closed the book, setting it back on his table.
“And that seems wonderful, no? Not having to carry so many maps on your person during travel? I’m sure there’s a little sense of freedom. Even with getting lost.”
"Yeah, I guess so. I don't let getting lost get me down, though! Every little rabbit trail is a new adventure!" Alistair grinned brightly. "There's something new around every corner, even if you've traveled around as much as I have. The world's big, you know? And even though I mostly stay within our region of the world, I can't help but wish I could see what's beyond! I'm sure there's all sorts of cool things I've never seen before!" He stretched a bit and curled up on the bed, humming contentedly. "The world's bigger than everyone thinks. We're all so caught up in our own business that we can't be bothered to stop and smell the flowers from other people's places! If we stop to take a sniff, it's only of our own things, and that's no fun!"
“It’s not often I find someone who feels the same as I,” Dawn said, laughing lightly. A part of him wondered about Alistair’s story. About how he got here, and about why he seemed so important. He showed up right before Dawn was to set off, and seemed like the best asset he could have acquired.
And, thinking of how early they had to set off, Dawn pushed himself from the bed. He walked back over to his back, taking a small blanket from it and laying it out on the floor. He turned off the light, then strode back over to the blanket, catching a glimpse of Alistair curled up on the bed.
“Anyway, we have to set out very early. Get good rest, hm?” he asked, taking off his boots and adjusting the blanket he now sat on.
"Mhmm! You too!" Alistair yawned a bit and curled up tighter on the bed, soon drifting off to sleep. His dreams were filled with his travels, as usual, and travels he wished to go on. His weightless self traipsed along through a field of sunflowers; his nimble fingers clutched an envelope with a scarlet wax seal. The edges of the paper were tinged with gold that glimmered as the sun above him caught it with its burning touch. Soon, he burst through the field of flowers and a bright figure approached him. The figure's name hovered above it as names usually did in Alistair's eyes, but it was in a language that he didn't know. Nonetheless, the strange name matched the one on the envelope, and so Alistair handed off the letter. Then, the light of the figure grew brighter and brighter until Alistair could no longer bear it. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he found himself awake with the real sun shining into his eyes. He yawned as he sat up, wincing from the bright light.
Dawn was already up, standing on the balcony with his pack beside him. It sat on the floor, rested up against one of his legs as he propped both elbows on the railing. He closed his eyes for just a moment, feeling the cool morning breeze whip through his hair, over his skin, under his shirt. His tunic was still folded on the floor beside the bedside table, him now just wearing a simple buttoned shirt that required the least effort to put on. Upon hearing Alistair shuffle awake, his ears perked and his tail lashed slightly faster, happy that his company had awaken.
“Good morning~,” Dawn cooed, slipping back through the windowed doors. “Did’ya get good rest? We have a long walk to the next city today.”
"Mmm… yeah, pretty good! What about you?" Alistair asked, slipping out of bed and stretching as he yawned. "Have any fun dreams? I just had the same one of usual. Really weird… like some really bright man — a god or something, maybe — is in it, and I dunno what language its name is in, but hey, it matches the name on the letter, so I give it to them anyway, and then they start glowing really brightly and it hurts my eyes and then I wake up and it's morning!" He grinned and smoothed down his clothes, looking up at the tiefling from where he stood. "Happens almost every night."
Dawn paused for a moment, raising his eyebrows. “Well then. That’s… interesting. If you can ever find any more clues in that, let me know.”
He passed Alistair, leaning on the side of the bedside table as he picked up his tunic, slipping it over his head and tightening the straps. He hadn’t put his boots on yet either— striding over to do so afterward.
As he sat on the floor lacing them up, he glanced up to Alistair, offering a smile.
“But maybe that’s who we’re looking for. If it matches the name on the letter, I don’t see a reason not to use that as a hunch, no?”
"Mm… maybe. None of these letters have the name from the dream on them, though…" Alistair pulled some seemingly blank envelopes out of his satchel and started looking through them as though they were properly addressed. "Ah, well. Maybe it's a sign, maybe I've been doing this for way too long… who knows? Anywho, we should head out! Maybe the nice man from across the bar spent the night too!" He grinned brighter and took Dawn's hand to lead him out of the room.
Dawn grabbed his bag and the room key just in time, slipping out the door as Alistair dragged him. Not that he didn’t share the same enthusiasm— in fact, he was very excited— but the man’s hand wrapped in his own had taken him by surprise. Yet he smiled nonetheless as he was yanked down the stairway and into the bar.
“Perhaps he did, but it is quite early,” Dawn replied, pulling his pack over a shoulder. He began to lead Seven along, dropping the key at the counter. “Unfortunately, we cannot wait to see. We must get a move-on, yes? If we start now, we’ll get to… Kislock— is that the name?— by the afternoon.”
"If Kislock is his name and he's the same guy in the dreams, he must speak a different language." Alistair laughed a bit. "And Kislock would just be our translation of it." He led Dawn out the door and started wandering along with him, seeming very pleased with himself. He was obviously a morning person. "Gorgeous day, isn't it? I love this time of day. This is when all the birdies and stuff are out!" He grinned. "Sometimes I get to see deer in the forest too. Have you ever seen a deer?"
“No— Kislock is the name of the town, my friend. We have a much longer ways to go to reach this.. man in the letter,” Dawn replied, hooking a finger around his pack’s strap. “And— yes. Yes I have seen a deer. Multiple, actually.”
His voice seemed almost like when someone talked to a child, just kind of going along with it and nodding along. He seemed much calmer, letting Alistair drag him along as he smiled.
“When we get to the next town, what do you say we camp out on the side? I’ve never been a fan of it, so it’s best we stay out of any trouble in the city. We can set up in a little spot just off the brink of the river. What say you?”
"Oh, right! Silly me!" Alistair laughed softly as he pulled Dawn along. "And sure! I go camping all the time. The weather is great this time of year, so our stuff won't get hit by lightning and burned up! And we also won't get hit by lightning! Hopefully, anyway… it's not fun." He hummed to himself as he pranced along. He was obviously a morning person. And an every time of the day person. He was just a little too chipper all the time…
Dawn raised his eyebrows. “Y-You’ve been struck by lightning?”
He cocked his head to the side, hair falling neatly between his horns as his tail flicked back and forth with curiosity.
“Not sure why, but that doesn’t surprise me. For some reason, you seem heaps more interesting than you come off, hmm? Let’s see.. Is there anything you haven’t done?”
"Yeah! Plenty of times. Seems like it just happens as soon as I walk into a stormy area… ah, well. Usually it's not too bad. I think I'm resistant to it or something." Alistair shrugged as he continued on. "And I've done all sorts of things, but not everything. Like… I've gotten drunk before, but I've never killed anyone! And… I've been in the middle of just about every kind of storm. Hurricane, snowstorm, sandstorm, rainstorm, thunderstorm, you name it. Ooh! And a landslide, and a cavern collapse one time!"
The thought of seeing Alistair on alcohol flitted through Dawn’s mind, and it was not a pleasant sight. But not one that he wouldn’t want to see. It seemed like it would be relatively fun regardless.
He listened intently to Seven’s words, eyes widening as the man continued with each circumstance.
“W-Wow, alright,” he said lightly, a breathy laugh breaking his words. “You’re a durable little one, huh? That’s crazy. I think the worst weather I’ve been through is the ash storms up near Mount Hetrix. One of my adventures led me to the village up on the side of it— a little tiefling village, named after the volcano itself. You’d think, with me being infernal, I could withstand those ash clouds. But being a little field folk like I am, the magma was too much. Have you been up there before? I’d be surprised if you haven’t.”
"Oh, yeah! I've been in ash storms up there too." Alistair laughed a bit, seeming quite pleased with himself. "I've traveled all over this region to deliver these letters, and bad weather just seems to arrive as soon as I do. Weird coincidence." He shrugged a bit. "I've also been in tornadoes, dust devils, quicksand, a tsunami, the likes… I've been in just about every natural disaster, I think. I've also… been rammed by a cow and a goat, been bitten by various animals, including a bear and snake, broken all my limbs at various points and times… it's like danger just follows me! It's fine, though. Keeps my life pretty interesting don't you think?"
