It was hard to believe that they had started this hunt with a quarrel. That they had ever stared down the sights of their bows, eyes level with arrows meant to bleed, and seen the other standing across the way doing the same. Now a spat akin to a territorial dispute had turned on its head and sought out a mutual glory by the work of both their hands. Gwyn could play nice with people all day or blunder over some social niceties and put her damn foot in her mouth, but no matter how things went it always remained shallow. People could talk shit or sing praises or cut up for hours, but you'd never really know their measure. You could never dig deep enough into who a person was when there wasn't something pushing them to open up the part of them that fought. That raged. That stared into death's eyes and informed them of how they should react and how they should feel.

You could never know someone until you knew what they feared, what they loved, and what they hated. Any bond a farce until blood was spilled and one saw exactly what they were willing to do to come out the other side of things.

It was why she had decided not to bury an arrow six inches in his thigh and leave him to bleed out of his femoral artery for the creepy shit he said. But he was a character and the character wasn't bad. Different, yes, but differences could be strengths and those that were weaknesses could be covered by the qualities of others and a proper education in not saying stupid shit. Or doing stupid shit like they'd both done what with trying to rodeo a manticore. Calling her a god had definitely won some brownie points at least to extend his expiration date and it had gotten to the point where she could no longer resist a hearty laugh at some of the more 'out there' things he said and did. So when the health bar of the beast they were laying into dropped almost out of sight she climbed down from her lofty perch to stand by him as an equal. They could both see the faintest sliver of its remaining life shown and he graciously offered her the kill. Since they had been in a party from the start the quest would have been accessible to him and its death would count for him as well as her. To give her the final strike wasn't a matter of anything but respect and she dipped her head in acknowledgment.

Gwyn pulled her hand from her bow to wipe it dry against her leathers and settled a loose grip back on the handle as she calmly walked toward the manticore. She stood quietly before the growling thing as he spoke of trophies behind her and she took a knee in front of it. It hissed, weak and hobbled by injury and exhaustion. She was certain it could see whatever light awaited it. “You fought well. I deserve this kill and I thank you for proving that to me,” she whispered lowly to it where Morohtar might miss it. It wasn't for him after all. The hunter took another second to look into the baleful eyes that watched her back and felt, for a moment, it could see clear through her. Perhaps something of her Beast Taming skill connecting here in the space between one breath and the last. She stood and drew back on the longbow until her it and her arm shook from the pent up energy. The feathers lightly brushed by her cheekbone as the string was cast farther back past her face. Her hand steadied for a moment despite the strain.

Manticore

0% HP

MAX red HP

35% EN

MAX EN

The arrow struck true, sinking into the base of its neck and severing the spine. Even if she'd hit its toes the health bar would have ticked down, but it deserved to be treated like more than pixels and programming. She reached down to hold open the manticore's mouth and pried from it both of the long snake fangs and the largest of the feline canines on either side. Gwyn moved slowly to its side and used her weight and a decent foothold to shift the stone off of it enough to get at the bound tail. From it she took, once more, the serpentine fangs. All six teeth sat in her palm and Gwyn clutched her fingers around them tightly before sending them into her inventory. They were useless really, but they would exist when the body they came from rotted or was devoured by the wilds. The human finally shook herself of the odd aura that had draped itself around her and met Morohtar's eyes. “I have what little I want. It'd be smarter to grab more, but... take what you will, it's your kill too. I'm good.” She'd let him decide what he wanted of it and together they'd work together or together they would leave. Either way they found their feet carrying them toward the nearby village that had sent her on the wild chase.

She collected her arrows and traps as they went and chatted with him idly. “You know if you ever call for a hunt I'll be pissed if I don't get a message,” the ranger chuckled and accepted the friend request he sent. She laughed outright at his blush and the term 'bachelor.' “Oh, that's how it is? Well if you need a wingwoman to help hook you up I'll accept that quest too. I'd like to think I'm good with the ladies.” Gwyn smirked mostly to herself, eyes set firmly on the path ahead. Ladies, indeed. The air around them was easy in camaraderie and it once again struck her how different it was to the beginning. Their conversation lasted all through the journey, the finished quest, and finally they bid farewell as their paths diverged into two yellow woods. Until next they called on the other, Gwyn was content to leave their parting with, “Please, Elysid and Tora both, never do that again.”

[ OOC: Agreed! ]​