just all of us, the lost causes

With the allogator dead and butchered, and carrying a heftier pack laden with meat and hide, Liam strode through the Outer Brambles alongside Colt until they came to Peekaboo Rise. The small mountain (large hill?) lay directly in their path to get back to the Inner Quarter and the skyport that would, presumably, take them both on their way. Would it be faster, Liam wondered, to go over or go around?

Deciding upon the former, if only for the view, Liam followed along a worn path winding up the side of the hill and towards the summit. "So, Colt," he said as he walked, easily sidestepping a few larger stones in the way of the trail. "Why an allogator?" Seemed like a big task to take on to the ex-soldier, though he knew a little bit about biting off more than he could chew.

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky

COLT

He looks like a cool drink of water
But he's candy-coated misery
He's the devil in disguise
A snake with blue eyes

Falling into stride with Liam is easy, her own pack heavier for the hide and meat she’s harvested. A good deal of the corpse will remain behind, but she’s confident Frey will ensure it doesn’t go to waste, feeding other hungry creatures and eventually the ground. Such is the way of life. She’s just glad it’s the gator and not one of them experiencing that full circle.

Leaning into the incline of Peekaboo Rise, Colt’s boots scrap with soil and grasses for purchase as they climb. It’s not a massive vertical, but enough to get her breathing a bit heavier, especially as they talk through it. Might be she lets the horses do too much hauling her around.

His question earns an immediate laugh and a shake of her head as it drops a bit. Her golden wig hairs flash with the motion, spilling further down her shoulders. ”It’s for a quest,” she says easily enough. ”Trust me, I’m not so crazy as to do this for fun. Frey is upgrading my quiver and sent me to hunt something with thick hide. I studied before coming here, but it did prove hardier than I imagined.” Grimm had tried to warn her and her confidence got in the way again.

”I’m not really a hunter, you see,” she goes on, although she’s starting to think she might not be able to say that soon if her creature body count keeps going up. The Wildwatch would certainly prefer her to murder more. ”I’m a rancher.” She catches herself, easy features fading suddenly, before she presses them back on. ”Or, I was.”

He only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight
You better run for your life
He's a good time cowboy Casanova

That the allogator hunt was for a quest had Liam uttering a soft, "Ah." That made much more sense than going after something like that for fun - which would have had him questioning Colt's sanity. "It was definitely tough," he admitted easily, though now that the immediate danger was past, he was mostly unbothered. "But we made it through. Any time you need a hand with something like that, let me know. I'm happy to help out."

The incline leveled out for a moment, and Liam straightened as he caught his breath. "I don't know, you could've fooled me." He shot her an encouraging smile, though it faded somewhat as Colt seemed to fade in on herself. Liam was quiet for a moment, not wanting to pry, but in the end, a desire to soothe won out. "Was?" he prompted gently, raising a brow. "What happened?"

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky

COLT

He looks like a cool drink of water
But he's candy-coated misery
He's the devil in disguise
A snake with blue eyes

She shoots him a sidelong glance, the movement brief and full of a certain quiet regard. She’s trying to understand the shape of this man, once stranger not long ago, and now readily risking himself every time she sees him. ”You keep offering hands to gator hunts and you might lose one,” Colt huffs out, the tease light. ”Twice now you’ve been helpful to people you barely know. Risking yourself even.” Her brows lift, a small part of her wondering if he has a death wish or maybe needs the thrill of danger. He doesn’t strike her as the sort though, but his altruism is an abnormal find. ”Or am I just lucky?”

Shifting the weight of what she carries as they continue their walk, the ground smoothing as they crest some incline, Colt hears the soft way he tugs back at her. It’s gentle, like knuckles barely rapping on a closed door, and Colt lifts her head at the summon. The path to this answer is well traced now, but sometimes the light hits it different, or something else has fallen in the way. Sometimes she breaks again, thinking herself steadier than she is until it comes out, the words stealing all her composure on the way. Other times, it’s so easy that it feels like maybe she’s reciting someone else’s story. Now though, it just tugs a little bit at her, ripping off another small corner until eventually she assumes she’ll be whittled down to the raw truth of her loss, and maybe then she’d know what to do with it.

Pulling in a breath like she needs to prepare, she locks eyes with the horizon ahead of them. Always simpler to tell the world than a person. ”Lost everything to a fire last season.” Seven words. Her life summarized and dissolved into bits in just seven words. She grimaces, as if expecting she should have amounted to something more grand than that. ”Animals all mostly survived, but none of the buildings or items made it.” Everything is rather literal in this case. Fire is greedy. ”I decided, instead of rebuilding just to probably burn again, I’d try for something new.” This too comes out lighter than it deserves, but she intends for that, trying not to add another weight to her pocket. ”Not really ranching again, yet, but organizing a way to build Hak Etme up into something.”

He only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight
You better run for your life
He's a good time cowboy Casanova

Liam laughed, a full, honest sound that surprised even him. It was rare that he found someone to call him out quite so openly, and Colt's blunt query was refreshing, in its way. "I used to be a Dragoon," he said, as though that explained it all. "I guess old habits die hard." In other words, this was just who he was. Did that make Colt lucky? Maybe. But mostly, it's just that he'd help anyone in any situation, no matter how dire.

They continued onwards and upwards, each handling the incline in their own way. Liam leaned into it, hiking his pack higher on his shoulder and shifting his sword to keep its sheath out of his way. Glancing at Colt as she spoke, he narrowly avoided tripping over some rock or root, straightening as the climb leveled out once more. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said of her ranch, and he meant it. He knew what it felt like, to lose everything you held dear, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Then his brain caught up with her words, and he shot her a confused look. "Hak Etme?" he asked, whistling low. "That desert that's always trying to kill everyone?" As though there were any other desert that it could possibly be. Looking at Colt as though seeing her for the first time, he assessed what she'd said, scrubbing a hand over the stubble on his jaw as he thought. "I guess if you can do anything, why not go big?" Since, you know, she didn't have a home to go back to anymore.

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky

COLT

He looks like a cool drink of water
But he's candy-coated misery
He's the devil in disguise
A snake with blue eyes

Seems they both used to be something. She wonders what that makes them now, other than two people walking up a hill. The knowledge of his past role is one she accepts readily, as if she can sketch out part of his outline better with it. A soldier, from Stormbreak no less. Makes his sorry a little easier to swallow. "You'd know all about it, what with Stormbreak and all," she murmurs, her own understanding echoed back in the way that name is offered up, like she knows how fragile it is. "You end up in King's End with Zavien then, I take it?" Would explain why she saw him last season among the fires.

Meeting his look without hesitation, her expression deepens, knowing and sure. "That's the one. Right up your alley," she chuckles faintly, breath huffing a bit harder for a moment as the incline returns in earnest. It's a normal response that her offers, and it's not the first time she's been met with such open surprise. Hak Etme is largely untouched by human hands for a reason, even after all this time. Since he seems so fearless though, perhaps it really would be to his liking.

"Exactly!" Her fingers snap and she fires a point his way as her voice cracks out like a whip in response. "I've sure as shit got the time on my hands, and some of the means. And I dunno, I just saw something in that land when I visited it a year or so ago. Something beautiful to it that gets overlooked too easily. A wildness, to be sure, but that's part of the charm." Stormbreak, she had to admit, had never once appealed to her in the slightest. Maybe he'd not be able to understand then why she's chasing sand in the heat all for a chance to survive.

He only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight
You better run for your life
He's a good time cowboy Casanova

"Actually, no," he replied, "Though that would make sense." If things had worked out differently in his life, he probably would be in King's End now, working side by side with Zavien to ensure the former Breakers had all they needed. "It's a long story. Zavien is a good friend, though." And he'd probably made a hell of a commander, for as long as he'd been able to serve in the role. Not that Liam would know, having been removed from Stormbreak for years before the fall. Still, its destruction did leave a certain emptiness behind in the ex-soldier: he no longer had a place to return to in order to visit his late family, and that loss had hit him harder than he'd have anticipated after all this time.

Huffing a soft laugh at her joke, Liam shook his head. He wasn't sure about that, but as Colt continued to speak about the desert, he had to admit that he could see the appeal. What with his own stalled attempts at leadership in the Greatwood - largely due to the increasingly hostile Fae, who didn't appear to want outside assistance with the forest - he'd been wondering what was next for he and Maea. The idea of building something new - something where they wouldn't be fighting against existing inhabitants - was appealing. And the desert, with its heat, would suit Maea well.

"Hey, if you saw something there worth chasing, go for it," he encouraged. "Plenty of folk never get the opportunity to do something like you're talking about. More never find the courage to try." He paused, thinking. "What kind of land are you envisioning?" And how much help was she going to need?

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky

COLT

He looks like a cool drink of water
But he's candy-coated misery
He's the devil in disguise
A snake with blue eyes

Surprised indeed to find she'd pegged him wrong, Colt glances sidelong at him, especially since he says it would make sense. Leaves her to wonder what nonsensical thing it actually is, but he doesn't give her much except a wisp of curiosity. People's lives are their own and Colt won't pry, especially when it's clear they've got the time to talk about it, or maybe his definition of long is a great deal longer than hers. She figures he means it's something he doesn't want to talk about though, and knowing that feeling very well, she doesn't push. "He is, isn't he," she returns instead, smiling softly at the joint agreement on the Risen Sun.

She rather finds some similarities between the pair, actually, the more she gets to know Liam in this little bit. The earnest kind, who do good for the sake of doing good, it seems, and that's a rare thing to find. There's a kindness too, that seems at odds with being a cog of war, but she knows better than most that violence in one area does not remove care from another. In her experience, survival is about all that matters, and sometimes that has a smile to it, and sometimes it's all teeth.

As they trudge over another rise she glances over at him again, adjusting what she's carrying onto her other shoulder more to give the other side some respite. "Just my thinking," she grins, and though she doesn't need his approval, it's nice to have another voice besides her own telling her she's not doing something crazy. His isn't the first, but hearing something again and again seems to be the only way to remember it sometimes. "To start, one that won't kill us," she laughs faintly, but the joke is more true than that. "Been building up a skyport and soon a regular port, getting a better lay of the land and the people. They seem game to work with me, it'd improve their trade." Dram cacti being chief on that list, but she isn't eager to blast that news to everyone just yet.

"Thinking Suvahasi is where to build a town. Might be the only place with fresh water, based on all the plant life, and it'd offer an area of shade and places to grow things for ourselves. Problem is, it's so overgrown and toxic, gonna take some time to clear out an area to build and we'll need help from the gods I think to make it hospitable. Aside from the toxic spores there's the heat to contend with too, but I think Rae could make both more tolerable for us with some effort."

He only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight
You better run for your life
He's a good time cowboy Casanova

Liam didn't offer more, not yet - not when his history seemed at times to be so convoluted, for all that everything happened years ago. Maybe one day, Colt would be among those who knew his past, but today didn't feel like the right time to burden her with it, not coming off their victory and talking about new hopes and dreams. Instead, he was content to hear more about her plans, to see if maybe there was something he could do to help - and if maybe there was somewhere in them where he could fit.

To hear that a skyport was underway, with plans for a regular port soon after, had Liam raising his brows, impressed in spite of himself. "That must have been quite an undertaking," he commented. "To be honest, I hadn't realized that there were people in Hak Etme to work with." He guessed it just went to show that people could and would survive anywhere, if they had enough reason to do so. Look at he and Maea in the Greatwood - although the forest was a bit less deadly than the desert, by his estimation.

Reaching up to rub a hand against his stubbled chin, Liam thought about what she said. Her logic seemed sound, though the obvious hole in it was where to live up until Suvahasi was habitable. Tents in the sand could only be a reasonable solution for so long. "What's the timeline on this transformation?" he asked. "Can't imagine you want to live out of a temporary camp forever."

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky

COLT

He looks like a cool drink of water
But he's candy-coated misery
He's the devil in disguise
A snake with blue eyes

She laughs a bit at that, the sound full of understanding rather than mockery. "I thought the same thing, but it was those very people passing by that traded me water and food for my first visit there. It ran longer than I expected, and I hadn't rationed to cross the entire desert, but...there I was doing just that." Vesper and she had lucked out on cross paths with the traveling merchants. "They're hard to pin down. Often on the move and travel most at dawn and dusk. They're hardy but they have a nose for survival, and a good deal." How many they are, she can't say, and she doubts each group is so accommodating. Hard lands breed harder people. The caravan she and Zavien had helped though, had many hands willing to help them all succeed into a brighter future.

"Definitely not," she agrees readily, because while she doesn't mind a tent once in a while, even for days at a time, it's not a home by her count. The Hak Etme natives might disagree, but this is where her attempt to tame the land comes into play more. "We're moving east from the Boneyard. So skyport there, then to the Sea of Dreams for the ship port, and then setting up near Suvahasi in preparation for building the town. Needed to establish better trade funneling first to get the supplies in we need, and we'll soon be at work clearing out the space for the town. I'd estimate mid DeepFrost we'll be ready for Rae's help, and from there, the town." Should be nice and established in the new region with a proper home before Longheat hits.

"Zavien and Sohalia have been helping, not sure if they'll make the long move, but they're great assistance for now. Jesse is coming, and Noe." Names she realizes quickly that he might not know, not beyond Zavien, so she catches herself a tad and shakes her head. "Didn't mean to end up collecting everyone from Stormbreak, but seems they're the sort still looking for where to settle, and motivated to tackle challenges rather than run from 'em."

He only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight
You better run for your life
He's a good time cowboy Casanova

Truth be told, Liam shouldn't be so surprised that there were folk mad enough to make a living from the desert. After all, wasn't the Greatwood just as wild, these days, albeit perhaps a bit less inherently dangerous? And there he was, eking out a living as best he could alongside his partner. Surely there were people in all of the Wilds, not just those areas that used to be something, a long time ago.

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out," Liam said, sounding impressed in spite of himself. He might have toyed with the idea of leadership in the Greatwood, but this... this was a plan, and one that had been well thought out, by the sound of it.  He'd often thought he wasn't cut out for leadership, but this conversation was only solidifying it for him.

He was surprised to recognize all of the names Colt tossed out - including, he realized with a jolt, Jesse. Wren.

If he wasn't interested in joining up before, he certainly was now. "Zavien and Sohalia are good assets to have on your side," he observed. "Good people, and experience with running a region, if you're looking for that. I've met Jesse, and Noe - that's Koa Carpenter's sister, right?" Cresting the top of the hill, he paused, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. This wasn't the kind of decision he should make without consulting Maea, but...

"You know, if you're collecting strays," he commented almost idly. "You might have found two more. My partner and I - we've been in the Greatwood for a while, but the Fae are less than thrilled to have us there. She's an Ancient, so the desert might suit her. And I'm getting into carpentry, since I'm not a soldier anymore. Maybe I could help you build some things." He grinned suddenly. "Might be nice to be back among the Breakers. It's been a couple years."

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky

COLT

He looks like a cool drink of water
But he's candy-coated misery
He's the devil in disguise
A snake with blue eyes

A faint laugh slips free at the idea of having it all figured out. "I dunno about that, but I have ideas, that's for sure. Remains to be seen if the region is willing to cooperate with them." Never handling compliments well, least of all when she feels half-adrift still, Colt tries not to let it land, as if brushing away praise is it's own worthy thing. "Guess I get it from all the years running the ranch. Can't ever live in the present, always gotta be seasons ahead and have at least three backup plans." Weather and animals don't make predictions easy.

His understanding of Zavien and Sohalia's places and worth earns a knowing smile, and a nod of her head. Since neither has accepted the council position she offered, it doesn't seem worth mentioning, but she's glad Liam is of the same mind. "Yap, that's the one. She's going to be double checking our plans and helping sketch out some of the designs." An engineer is an asset all her own, and with any luck based on her last name, she'll be good at building too.

Turning her head more fully towards him as he mentions strays, her face tugs on something a little brighter, a bit more full of hope, at the offer she's certain he's building towards. She doesn't rush it though, listening as they continue to hike. "I haven't spent much time in the Greatwood, but what little I have, none of that surprises me," she admits, remembering the looks that she'd gotten at the library there. "There's definitely room for the two of you, and enough work to go around to keep anyone busy with purpose. Could really use someone who knows their way around builds too," she hums, more excited than she's trying to let on, lest the eagerness scare him off "We wanna make something right, not just build it up and have it topple over in a few years." Sounds like he could help with that.

He only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don't wanna fight
You better run for your life
He's a good time cowboy Casanova

With such a strong group surrouding her, and such solid plans in place, Liam thought Colt was well on her way to establishing a foothold in Hak Etme. If someone had asked him a year ago if he'd ever consider moving to the desert, he'd have laughed and said he was just fine in the Greatwood, thanks very much. But things changed - and if Wren was going, if he had an opportunity to repair the mess he'd made of things, then that was where he had to be. Maea would understand (he hoped).

As Colt accepted the offer of assistance, a smile brightened Liam's face. "Let me talk to her about it, but neither of us are from the Greatwood originally, so our ties there aren't strong enough to keep us there if we're not wanted." And, considering how the Fae had been acting lately, he rather suspected they weren't. If they were welcomed in Hak Etme, as a part of Colt's crew, then that would mark a positive change for the two of them.

As for building something right, Liam grinned. "That's the only way to do it, isn't it?" He might just be starting on his carpentry journey, but he'd built up their treehouse in the Greatwood, and thus far, it was still standing. "Just let me know when you need me, and I'll be there." And honestly? He was looking forward to it.

fin

liam

I'd rather be a hopeless lover than cursed with disbelief

code by sky