[Fin | Quest | SRP] Shiva's Search

[Absolutiones]

Find 5 healweed

1-5 You found a Thistle
6-8 You found a Healweed
9 You find two Healweeds
10+ Contact Zak as you rolled a special event!

If a faun is present in a gathering quest they will roll 1d2 and add it to the dragons gathering quest result.

 

[Absolutiones]

Shiva stared with heavy disinterest at the quest board before her. None of the options seemed particularly appealing. This wasn't what she wanted to be doing with her time anyway. That's what it came down to, really: time. She had too much of it on her claws and nothing to do with it. She was tired of waiting, tired of what felt like wasting her time. If stupid Antares would just come home already...

Just the thought of the stupid smirk he had on his face the day he left made her mad. She had to consciously stop herself from digging her claws into the flooring of the guild. Last thing she wanted was to end up causing a scene. She snorted and shook her head to clear the thought from her mind. Except that was never how it went. The thought persisted and the more she willed it away, the more subborn it became. With an audible growl, she snatched up the nearest quest listing and marched up to the receptionist. She needed a distraction like yesterday.

The noise happened to startle a grey-furred faun that happened to be hovering nearby. "Ah, I know it's not really any of my business, but are you alright, ma'am?"

"Just peachy," Shiva answered none too politely.

The heavy falls of her feet didn't inspire much confidence, frankly. "Well, I see you're heading out to the Tall Plains as well, do you mind if I accompany you?"

The dragon didn't give a verbal response. Well, no response was as good as a yes, right? At least it wasn't a no. She would have said so if she truly didn't want his company right? So in spite of her blantant disregard for the faun, he set out beside he as if they were lifelong friends.

"I'm Summer Sky, by the way," the faun remarked as they were leaving the adventurer's guild. "It's nice to meet you, miss, um..."

"..."

Summer Sky was pretty sure this was the part where she was suppose to give her name. He wasn't discouraged, though. The dragon was probably just having a bad day or something. He was pretty sure she had given her name when she took the quest.

"Shiva, right? It's a pretty name."

The rest of the journey to the plains went on in much the same way, Summer trying to make small talk and Shiva ignoring him in favor of festering in her frustration.

Once they arrived at their destination, they quietly got to work looking for healweed.

 

[Absolutiones]

"You know what healweed looks like, right? I know a lot of people get them confused with thistle plants. They look very similar, you know," Summer Sky rambled as he rooted through the grass.

"Yeah, I know. I wouldn't take the quest if I didn't know what I was doing." To punctuate her point, Shiva, rather aggressively, mind you, shoved a pair of healweed she had found into her satchel.

Summer Sky was more excited about getting her to finally answer him than he was offended by her scathing tone. "Oh, good! That's two down, only three more to go!" He clasped his hands together with a grin.

Shiva rolled her eyes at him and returned to her search. His carefree attitude reminded her too much of Antares. It was annoying.

 

[Absolutiones]

Shiva knelt in close to examine a plant she had found, trying to determine if it was a thistle or a healweed.

"That's a thistle," Summer Sky informed her, coming too close for someone she had just met. "I did find another healweed, though. Figured you should be the one to hold onto them." He held his hand out to her with the plant laying gently in his palm.

Shiva eyed the faun for a moment, wondering what his motives were. He better not assume that she owed him now. She could have found it just as easily on her own. She gave him a curt "thanks," and took the weed from him to be tucked away with the other two. Just two more left then they could go home.

 

[Absolutiones]

Not that home was really where she wanted to be at the moment. Or was it? It sort of depended on the definition of "home" you used. Her house, no. With her heart, her love, absolutely. She wanted nothing more than to be by his side again.

Antares had better prepare his ears, because he was never going to hear the end of it when he finally did come back home. How dare he leave her alone like this? Just who did he think he was? Shiva had to stop herself from running down that line of thought again. She would only work herself up again. Maybe this quest wasn't the one she should have taken. It left too much room for thinking.

"Oh, wait!"

Summer's voice snapped her out of her second angry spiral.

"Hah?!"

"You almost stepped on them."

Shiva uttered a "What?" before she bothered to look down. Oh, so she had almost stepped on something. The last two healweed they needed for this quest, in fact.

"Oh."

The water dragon took a step back so she could properly collect the last two weeds and tuck them away with the others. This time with a little more care than before.

"Guess that means we succeeded, huh?" Summer gave an easy smile with an almost infectious energy. Almost. It was a lot gentler than the playful, proud smirks she was used to seeing from her mate. Far less annoying.

"Guess so," Shiva agreed. She almost felt... what did she feel? Sad? Disappointed? She wasn't sure if there was a word to describe what she was feeling. "Guess we should head back then."

"Right behind you!"

The journey back to the adventurer's guild felt a little more morose than when they had first set off. Perhaps it was because it was an ending as opposed to a beginning. Maybe it was because Summer Sky seemed to have run out of things to say.

Before they knew it, the guild building was in sight. Shiva paused suddenly and Summer Sky stopped beside her, an unspoken question written on his face.

"I just wanted to say thanks. For your help today. I needed it," Shiva said.

"Sure, no problem!" Summer Sky grinned again, but it felt friendly, genuine. He probably didn't even understand the depth of the help he had given her. That was okay. It was in that moment that Shiva decided she liked him.

"Maybe we could team up again sometime."

"For sure! I hang around the guild a lot, just let me know if you ever need help on another quest! I'm always down for an adventure!"

"I'll hold you to that, Summer."