Witch's Marsh Papyrus Impressum

@Awol 

Some places that people have disliked initially, they learn to love over time. Witch's Marsh did not grow onto Sarah. Even, when the pools of water had frozen solid and had made moving around easier, the place had just as little appeal to her as it had been, when she had arrived here. And those first impressions had been made under influence of fever, which just proves that sometimes soberness does nothing to change views. 

Still she decided to camp out here, until she got a little better. There were still bouts of fever, but her injured flesh no longer had that malodour of dead tissue about it. The itch around the edges meant that the body had won the fight once again and was healing. She still coughed a great deal and got out of breath easily, but with the slow improvement of her health, she allowed herself to hope that her lungs would heal in time as well.

After a day spent scouting (and the last one, where she had promised herself to find anything good about their current residence), Sarah had settled on a little, grassy, snow-covered hillock and was picking out mud between her fingers.

Making this shorter than usual, hope you don't mind @Sarah! For self-note: occurs before he meets Kukulkan and Hogo.

Awol had been hunting — hoping to bring something back for all his comrades, until he smelled sickness and flesh in the area. He knew what s ick wolf smelled and looked like, he thought back to his mother and sister, who had suffered an illness passed from his late father. He was no expert, but knew when a wolf was getting somewhat better, and when they were going to need more rest. At first the striving scout had wanted to spend hsi day straining his eyes for anything on the horizon. he was to confident to leave the marsh yet, and was debating whether to ask Ibis for a one-on-one lesson. His attenton would have to turned unto the new wolf he spotted on snowy hillock. Under the gracious covering of the swamp trees, he studied her. Greyscale mostly, and did seem to be fairing somewhat well. Though it was evident she was not in her best shape, and the stranger's wounds told him so.

He had not intention on sneaking up on the new figure, it could be one of Ibis' guests. He stayed a few tail lengths away still, not intent on catching sickness, it might be contagious for all he knew.

"Hello? Are you fairing well?"

So sorry for the wait! Life got in the way, but I will try to be quicker in my responses in the future.

By the time the stranger approached and addressed her, Sarah had finished her grooming session and appeared to admire her good work the same way ladies do at freshly varnished nails. While the beauty of her fingers and nails was not high on her list of priorities, she did think that the job was well and timely done. It would get colder later in the day and it would be so inconvenient to walk with frozen mud icicles poking at the tender skin between her fingers. 

Back to Awol, though this lengthy intro was meant to tell that she was in a good mood and did not mind the other's presence. "As well as someone in my situation can," she replied, looking the young, tall wolf up and down and thinking of him as one of the first people that could actually be useful to Ibis cause. She did not know, if he had any inclination to acquire a mercenary trade, but he already had some physical qualities that would make a good fit for the job. "I am Sarah, Ibis's aunt. What is your name?" she introduced herself.

"As well as someone in my situation can."

Awol was originally happy to stay a length's away from the visitor, not knowing her at all. When the woman had said this, he merely huffed. The wolf had a cough, and the boy did not in have in view the likelihood of him getting sick as well. Even after possesing this thought, he coldn't help but proceed toward's her hillock. The young man sat at least a few tail lengths from her, but maintained his dignified posture and countenance. 

He couldn't, frankly, whether the woman was crazed or not. She was willfully resting in the snow for gods sakes. Surely her belly would be numb from the pressing cold of her seat. He began to assess with his piercing eyes, and he did not care if she was petrifyingly moved by them. It looked as if she had completed her grooming, her paws were clean and smelled like saliva. Awol could mentally nod at this. At the very least, the female was smart If she was journeying, she would extricate herself from the duty of bearing mud icicles irritating her tender feet.

Awol then became for self concious of his bristly, damp and muddy clumps of fur, and quickly desired to unruffle himself before giving introduction. 

 "I am Sarah, Ibis's aunt. What is your name?"

How pleasureable. "I[b] am Awol. I didn't know Ibis ahd family all the way out here[/b]."

The young wolf kept his distance either because of disgust or self-preservation. Sarah was not that vain to suspect that the man felt any respect for her, but did not feel offended by any of the three reasons that came to her mind and any other alternatives that might have been. If their roles had been reversed, she would have acted exactly the same. 

She observed the man calmly, while he processed, what she had told him, and his answer was exactly, what she had expected. Small-talks were boring, because the repertoire never change. The same questions rotating over and over again. "Now you do," she replied, paused to lean down and pick out a stray piece of twig from her fur that she had overlooked earlier and nibbled at an itchy spot on her shoulder, probably making a horde of fleas scatter there.

With these little rituals performed, her attention was back to the young man. Not of a very talkative kind (with very few exceptions), she had expected him to entertain her more. When he had not taken initiative, she felt that it was her duty. "So - Awol - how did you come here and decide to join Ibis?" she asked. Routine could be mundane, but it never failed to supply the standart questions to keep the conversation going.

Small post! Kind of in a rush!

"She managed to catch me, trying to find out what I was doing in the marsh, I suppose. I can say for both of us it wasn't our proudest moment," he sighed.

Sarah furrowed her brow and gave a somewhat incredulous glance at the sturdy youth and comparing him to her fragile, fairy-like niece in her mind. And she had not only managed to catch the guy, but also interrogate him. This did not fit the image she had drawn of Ibis, so she leaned to agree that the guy's "moment" had to be way more than "not the proudest" in order to be trapped so easily.

Maybe there was something that her eye did not immediately catch. A weakness that everyone has and that would be her duty to find out. She made a mental remark to work on this, thought briefly about the next question to ask (what was she entitled to ask at this moment, anyway?) and then said: "What do you plan to do now? What are your skills? Your proudest moments, perhaps?" She asked him in a job-interview kind of way.

"My...skills?" 

That was a question never asked. He had never looked into his skill set before. He could assume he was strong juding from his stature, and he possessed an agile mind. But what else? Perhaps his eloquence?
"All I plan for now is to help out Ibis with her pack, but concerning my skills? I have sharp eyesight and a good sense of smell I suppose...I aim to be a mercenary and a scout. If I had any proud moments, I would remember them," he finished shortly. 

Ibis needed all the mercenaries she could get. The girl herself was not a fighter material, therefore being surrounded by people, who could defend her honor and life, and make sure that she was safe and sound, was an absolute must. Sarah was in no shape to test Awol's claims at this very moment, besides - after two very painful losses (one to a bloody teenager - can you imagine the shame?!) she had a lot to think about on, how she was going to polish up her rusty skills. 

"When I get better, we can spar together," Sarah offered. "I have been a mercenary myself, but I need to upgrade my skillset," she explained. "Do you know anyone else here, who would be interested?"

Perking with sudden engrossment in this frail womans offer, he contemplated when she would get well — perhaps it was a plain malady. Whether if it was a simple ailment or not, the ange déchu was not eased by the thought of her infectious epidemic spreading. 

"I recommend not residing in cold snow, perhaps you can scour for a healer," he replied promptly, still irked by the woman's standpoint. "Otherwise, I do not know anyone else."

"Two can make an army as well," Sarah replied and sighed. Suddenly she felt very tired again. The sudden inspiration and buzz of all the thoughts died down quietly and she was left with a fuzzy feeling inside. "Yeah, I will probably seek out a dryer spot to have my nap," she told Awol, raising to her feet, stretching and wincing, then shook her coat and before she staggered away, looked over her shoulder and said: "See you around, pal!"