abraxaslogs | Got love for the people that have warned you

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Got love for the people that have warned you

WHO: Jesper Fahey and Sylvain Gautier
WHAT: A Badlands questie!
WHERE: The Badlands
WHEN: July
WARNINGS: N/A for now.

Jesper often gets restless staying in one place too long, which is why he was thankful when they opened up Aquila and Libertas in the past. It's a little harder to be driven mad withs stagnancy when he could jump between cities. But there are times when he longs to be out and about, and so when the quest comes up that they need medical supplies out into the Badlands, he is eager to volunteer. He's not necessarily doing it for a just cause, although if it helps people, that's fine, but after being trapped for a week he wants freedom.

Persuading Sylvain to go on a jaunt is not hard and he has the money to get them some nice horses to make the journey pleasant. As well as camping gear and food that will make this mini-adventure of theirs easier to experience. This reminds him a little bit of that time he went out with Ciri, Gids, and Claude, his first and only experience with Solvunn. No doubt they may come across some trouble too.

The supplies are packed and their horses are eager to get going. So is Jesper. It's about a day in when his gray eyes are keeping a close look on the horizon, having been out here many a time with others. He eventually was allowed to go hunting with some people, having proved himself very useful, so he knows what possibly to expect.

"There is a slight chance a bandit group has it out for me. Maybe."

Jesper is not wearing any of his bright colors that might get people to take a second look at him though, he's in all boring browns and blacks, all made of corecloth for him and for Sylvain.

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Sylvain's eyes are always watchful out here - he's had enough run-ins while out here patrolling or escorting with Claude to know that danger often pops up the moment you let your guard down. And having often been relegated to the post of sentinel or guard on the battlefields back home, it's so deeply ingrained in him now that he doesn't even think about it.

The benefits (or hazards) of often being one of the biggest targets on the battlefield is you get used to drawing all eyes to you - and learn to use that to your advantage. So while he's in fairly nondescript clothing himself, made more for comfort in travelling through the desert than anything else - his bright shock of red hair is still visible, as is the large lance strapped in its harness alongside the saddle.

Jesper's sudden comment - which seems to come a little out of the blue, honestly - has Sylvain casting a side-eyed glance in his direction, one eyebrow winging upwards in curiosity as a corner of his lips twitches into the faintest of smirks.

"Making friends with the natives again, were you? Do I want to know? You slept with someone you shouldn't have, didn't you?" That's said in complete teasing, even if that's definitely something Sylvain has maybe done himself in the past... Which is exactly why he casts no judgement!

Jesper likes going into the Badlands. He's never lost his thrill for a good fight, only access to the regularly. In the beginning, the hunters were resistant to taking him out, because they thought he was too young. Now no one doubts that he could handle a whole crew of monsters if need be. Experience helps. Human combatants, now that is completely easy comparatively. The question is if they'd rather be killing bandits or creatures; it's the same thing to Jesper, but not always to his partners.

Sylvain stands out in a huge way. His hair, his body, his presence. Jesper's all in dark colors and stands out less in comparison, although it's possible if the wrong person gets a glimpse of him, there's enough of a description to get them into trouble. It's far more likely they'll be chomped on by some animals though. They're always ravenous out here, for good reason.

The question isn't one he is entirely prepared to answer. It's best to keep them in good spirits on this adventure, and Jesper doesn't want to necessarily tred down dark roads for no good reason. "Oh you know me, if trouble isn't following me around, I have to go looking for it." He flashes Sylvain a quick smile that does manage to reach his eyes, because he's always able to find the humor in everything.

He moves the horse so that it's comfortably settled right next to Sylvain's and he reaches out to caress his cheek lovingly. "I'm glad we're doing one of these little adventures ourselves. I've already forgotten what we're supposed to be doing though, whoops." He's easily distracted!

Clearly. Sylvain just laughs as he turns his head slightly to press a kiss to his palm before reaching out to tap Jesper's saddlebags playfully.

"Medicine, love. We get to play delivery boys this time. So I was expecting a likely interruption from bandits or the like anyway." He has no idea how they might have been affected by recent events, out here, but the outlaws out here tended to grasp at every advantage they could. And medicine was always valuable.

"But I didn't realize that would involve fending off jealous lovers while I did so. Always keeping things exciting, aren't you?"

"Ahhh, yes, medicine is the type of supply that attracts attention. And we're the type of supply that attracts monsters." Their meat at the least. Jesper does like being out here. It feels like freedom, something the city is increasingly becoming less like. It's almost getting oppressive, although he's distracted by working things out with Hilda and their business.

Jesper's not actually great on a horse. Good enough to get by, but if there's any fancy footwork that needs to happen, he's better on the ground. He'll at least pretend to be an impressive horseback rider until then, for Sylvain's attention and praise. He suspects his lover is the real deal.

He shrugs. "Alright, well, more like we wiped out a whole camp one time, and allowed one of them to live." So less lovers and more someone with a huge axe to grind and revenge on the mind. More dangerous. Jesper hasn't seen head or tail of that fellow since they killed his family, and Dean would probably know if he was still out and about. If he pops up again, they'll be able to tell Nadine 'I told you so' about it being a mistake though.

Jesper knows that probably doesn't put him in the best light, but Sylvain knows that he's a killer at the end of the day. He just always has a reason for it. Sometimes that reason is 'Kaz told me to' though. In this case, it was 'Dean told me to.'

Sylvain doesn't look all that horrified by the confession - he's wiped out countless bandit groups after all, even though most of that had been before Abraxas. Hell, his own brother had pillaged his way through Gautier and Faerghus at the head of one such group and Sylvain hadn't really batted an eye at wiping out that threat, at least until he'd come face to face with Miklan. And it hadn't stopped him from finishing the mission, either, even if it had turned out more complicated than expected.

He does, however, look a little puzzled by one part of that. "Why would you leave one alive? That seems... needlessly reckless." A loose end like that could spawn into a very big, very revenge-fueled problem later on.

"Exactly!" Jesper sighs. "Nadine insisted because we told the leader we'd spare her son. If it was up to me, there wouldn't be a loose end. They were bandits that helped the cult kidnap people."

So Jesper was more than happy to assassinate every single one of them, just as he personally would like to go and kill all the jailed ones too. He doesn't know if that camp was directly responsible for their people, probably not, they claimed to help with natives not with Summoned, but they still were a part of it. And he thinks a bullet in the skull would've been fair. He would have made it fast, a mercy, after torturing others, including the woman in question.

Jesper keeps a wary eye to the outskirts as they ride. Animals he's less concerned about because they're intimidating, but easy to handle. He doesn't want to go around murdering entire camps of people, promise. He just doesn't feel bad about the one he did. Jesper went dark when Sylvain was gone, he's implied it before. He'd do it again.

They make good time because they have good horses and they're both young and strong, only stopping at night when it seemed like the smart thing to do before getting up at dawn and doing the rest of the trip. The two of them hand off the supplies themselves and Jesper goes to Sylvain, hanging an arm around his giant shoulder.

"Maybe we should take our time on the way back." He smiles, kissing Sylvain's cheek, playfully squeezing his chest over his clothes and not caring about the mood of people around them. Hey, they did what they said they were going to do. Jesper's flirtation cannot be stopped. "Camping can be romantic and we're in no hurry, right?"

That ordeal had taken them all to dark places, Sylvain knows. Even if it was in different ways. But he's pretty sure he would have done the same, had their positions been reversed.

Still, he's relieved when the first leg of their journey is quiet and completed without a hitch. He's more than happy to hand off the medicines and supplies to the grateful encampment and he'd no sooner finished shaking their contact's hand in farewell before Jesper is all but draping himself around him.

Chuckling under his breath, he lifts a hand in a wave before tugging Jesper back towards their horses. "Weren't you the one telling me lingering out there could be risky? Now I feel like you're just taunting it."

Then again, if they did lure in any roaming bands of bandits - or worse - they were more capable of handling them than some of the merchant and supply caravans that frequently made this trip. One less threat, he supposes?

So he just shrugs and leans in to press a kiss to his lover's cheek. "I'm not sure the badlands would ever fall into the 'romantic' category, but we can come up with something, I'm sure. As long as we take precautions not to get sand in uncomfortable places," he tacks on with a crooked grin. because yeah, that might have happened before. Damn deserts.

"Maybe I am. Trouble stirring does come easily to me. But we don't often get a chance to adventure just the two of us." Technically the Badlands isn't the sort of place you want to adventure in, but Jesper's never truly concerned about the danger around him. He has the arrogance of a powerful youth who has never suffered any consequences of his recklessness, not truly.

"I brought good blankets in case we had to camp. No sand for my favorite redhead's perfect arse." Jesper has a pack with his horse. Nothing too fancy or extensive, pragmatic for their journey. The Badlands can be a bit of a gamble. He kisses Sylvain firmly and then swings up into his saddle, settling on his horse with a pat to its neck soothingly.

They're a little on their way when Jesper's sharp-eyed attention gets caught on sand moving in a strange way a distance ahead of them. "Do you see that?" He knows Sylvain is no stranger to these parts and that everyone knows how danger can come out of no where in the Badlands. There's a reason no one full-time owns it. Even if they wanted to, there's nothing to really be built out here.

The sand is suspiciously starting to swirl together and turn in on itself, building up to what starts to be a humanoid form. Jesper curses under his breath, flipping his guns into his hands. "Fuck, I think it's dust wraiths."

Sylvain's been trained from a young age to lead men - soldiers, battalions, armies - so his confidence is tempered with the reality of battle and all the consequences that come with every decision made. He's not so quick to take risks when he's not so sure of the outcome - or the cost. Two against a whole group of bandits aren't good odds - even with both their enhanced abilities.

But he just chuckles as he follows along with his lover, riding easily at his side, eyes alert for any chance of danger. Even if it's Jesper's eyes that catch sight of the disturbance first, he's quick to hone in on it. Still, it's Jesper that guesses their identity first.

Which just has him cursing under his breath. He's clearly not a fan.

"I hate those things," he sighs mournfully, as if this were the biggest annoyance possible. He's already unstrapping his lance from his saddle, however, hefting it easily into his hand. "I really hope you've kept up your aim."

There are four of them so they're still outnumbered but the two of them are formidable, so really it should be the wraiths who are worried about now. Jesper flashes a smile to Sylvain. "Baby, I never miss. You go left, I'll go right." The only way to kill them is through the head. For Jesper, it's a lot easier as he is a long-distance fighter, his combat rarely requires to be near their sharp claws. He'll keep an eye on Sylvain but he knows his lover is exceptionally talented too.

He jumps off his horse because the last thing they need is to get the horses killed and being up there won't be that much of a benefit anyway. Jesper shoots, the guns cracking four times as bullets shoot out into the first wraith, hitting it straight in the face. If it was possible to kill them from one bullet though, this would be far easier, so Jesper uses his telekinesis to keep bringing the bullets back and forth throughout its head.

One of the bullets gets inside of its head and starts zipping around internally, scrambling whatever is there until the wraith is screeching. It has one of the loud-pitched screeches that shakes the ground around them, putting Jesper shaky on his feet for a moment.

Fortunately for Sylvain, he’s familiar with both these horses from his work at the stables. It’s not like being up on Erebus’ back, or even Nova’s - not by a long shot - but he can adjust. He hopes? Even though the animal is shifting anxiously beneath him, a soothing hand gets the mare to calm again, her ears flicking back to hear the soft words he croons to her as he adjusts his grip on his lance, then nudges her forward at a fast clip.

She’s clearly not happy about riding towards danger - especially when one of the wraiths lets out that earsplitting shriek - but she obeys his commands, her pace steady beneath him.

Coming in from the left, as Jesper’d instructed, he comes at the farthest target first. Waiting until he’s sure of his range and aim before loosing his spear like a javelin, arm winding back and putting his strength behind the throw. There’s no wind and, despite the fact that he’d launched the spear from a near-gallop, it’s a maneuver he’d trained extensively in back home, and it shows.

Especially when he hits his target in the head, the spear slamming into the only corporeal part of the wraith and carrying it backwards before the head of the spear slams into the dirt, effectively pinning the thing to the sands through its head as it writhes furiously, trying to free itself.

The wraith continues to screech onto the ground as the loose bullets cut it to ribbons from the inside and it can only writhe on the ground. Jesper keeps that going since he knows it's only a matter of time before the shredding gets it, but he is on his feet so he has to back up as the second dust wraith on this side starts for him.

He reaches down to the ground and snaps up several pieces of rock and ground, blended together through his touch and starts tossing it at the wraith as it comes closer, knocking it off course. It gets pushed from side to side as it keeps clawing forward and he digs his fingers into the earth, pulling down and a gap opens beneath it, plunging it down a few feet as it claws for the ground around it. Quicksand, essentially, and while it doesn't need solid walking usually, it's startled when he smooths out the ground and it goes right through the sand wraith, hardening again into full earth.

It's stuck there now, pinned inside the dirt and stone, scraping at the top with its sharp nails but unable to dig its way out. Jesper puts all the bullets together with a twist of his fist and the first wraith goes abruptly silent.

"Don't you make a fun picture," he tells the trapped wraith, sticking his tongue out at it. "How are you doing, darling?" Shouted to Sylvain, since he's not in any immediate danger.

He leaves his spear impaling the one in the ground, knowing if it doesn't kill it outright, it will at least eliminate any threat from it for the time being. Which has him turning to the remaining threat still weaving its way towards him. Without his spear, he doesn't have a suitable weapon for this, but he doesn't exactly need one.

Not when he can raise his hand and reach for his well of magic, something that's only grown over this past year, with all the strange new experiences he's had with his magic expanding to new limits and lengths. It worked different here than it had back in Fodlan, so there's no wavering or uncertainty in him as he summons fire beneath the approaching wraith.

The flames lick up through the whirlwind of dirt and sand, a flash flare of intense heat that seems sucked up into the vortex that makes up the creature. It's intense enough that it turns the sand and dust molten, slowing its movements as it melts together, the liquid dripping down as if its body has grown too heavy to move, softening and then hardening in increments. It doesn't make it even halfway to Sylvain before it's movements are hindered entirely.

"Oh, just peachy!" he calls back, still focusing on channeling flame and heat into the creature until he can finish it off. "Sounds like you're having fun, though."

"I probably shouldn't mock the creature about to die, but they did choose violence when we could've simply ridden by." The way the wraith is scrambling at the ground is too bad but it did really ask for it. Jesper stays out of the way of its claws until he bleeds the stone up over it until those are pinned too and only the head is free.

He glances over at Sylvain and grins. "Looking hot, baby." Yes he can make a joke about it whether it's lame or not. Jesper laughs and reaches the struggling wraith with no defenses now that it's caged in. He crouches by it and reaches out to touch its head as it whirls around. His magic flares to life and drips into the matter of its very being, into the cells that make up living tissue and modifies it. This is far more difficult than he makes it see because he's altering it on a cellular matter, but it does look cool when he snaps his finger and the wraith turns into stone.

And to think in the Grisha army, the Durasts are usually just builders, rather than warriors.

Jesper decides to take this moment to watch Sylvain finish off his own monsters, gray eyes appreciating his form while he does. It's hot to see someone so competent, and to watch Sylvain use those impressive muscles.

The melted wraith collapses and shatters against the ground and Sylvain makes a face at the faint smell. Well. That's a bit unpleasant. Turning back to the other wraith, he watches as its struggles finally slow, then cease entirely, the creature dissolving into a mound of dirt and sand around the head of his lance.

He flexes his fingers, summoning the weapon back to his hand, and a moment later it flickers out of sight, only to smack into his palm, several feet away. Most useful thing to come out of their terrible time in the Pit, honestly.

Amber eyes cast a wary eye around them, watchful in case there were others lurking among the dunes and stretches of sand all around them. But he didn't spot any other movement, so he heads over to Jesper's side once more. He eyes the creature Jesper had turned to stone, head cocked to the side curiously.

"Damn, those things are creepy looking," he comments as he holds a hand out to his lover to help him back up. "You okay?"

Jesper takes the hand offered up and puts his arms up over Sylvain's impressive shoulders, leaning into him. "Very okay." He grins and kisses Sylvain. What can he say? Fighting gets the body moving and adrenaline is one of the things he loves more than anything in his life. The rush of it is a drug to him and he feels his heart racing. "I think we should skip the check-in when we get back and go to your room."

He kisses him again and then releases him because he isn't going to seduce him out here in the middle of no where. Probably. Jury's still out. Give him a little more time and he might. He does playfully whack Sylvain on the ass though. "Now where the hell did my horse go?" Not too far, luckily. That's what he gets for jumping off.

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Got love for the people that have warned you

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let's have them get into trouble on the way back rather than the way there!

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I think we can wrap on this one! badass boyfriends