#ardyfinn

“Where’d ya learn to butcher deer like that?” Ardghal asked, throwing back whatever unholy liquid sloshed about in his canteen. It mostly definitely wasn’t water - Griffin could say that much.

 He shrugged, laughing nervously - it was more or less one of those things he learned secondhand from his father. At least, not too long before he died. Finn cleanly sliced through the parts he had segmented earlier that morning - butchering a whole damn deer was… daunting, but not impossible. He wiped his knife on a piece of cloth he left on his lap as he examined the part. Sirloin would be good. He knew there were a lot more steps to this - considering they’d have to age it first - but they were out in the middle of the forest. Finn wasn’t looking to prepare a gourmet dinner. Just food for two people.

“My… Father was a butcher, I learned a lot when he was still around. I was a little soft for it growing up, but he’d teach me how to butcher some animals like pigs or chickens.” He checked to make sure the meat didn’t have any of the extra, unneeded bits, then focused on the little extra steps. “If I were situated permanently somewhere, maybe I’d do more like age the meat and slow cook it, but this isn’t really the time to do it.”

“Didn’t expect someone like you to know that. It’s a good talent,” Ardghal said. “Y’look too skinny to be rippin’ apart a whole animal.”

“I’m stronger than I let on,” Finn laughed, looking up to smile at the vampire. “Sort of a…” Not a successor thing. “S-Sort of an aasimar thing. At least, for me.”

“Keep forgettin’ you’re aasimar,” he said softly. “Is Celosia gonna be comfortable to ya? They’re only just acceptin’ religion again, y’know.”

“I’ll be happy to be anywhere but Altissima right now, thank you,” he said as he jammed the two sizeable steak pieces onto a skewer. “I’m… sticking with you for now until I know what I’m doing.”

“You won’t be findin’ any paradise by my side, kid.”

Griffin scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “How old are you, Ardghal? Few centuries, maybe a few thousand years old? We’re practically on the same wavelength in terms of maturity. You don’t need to call me a kid.”

The man hummed, he must have agreed with his point. “You still won’t be in a good place. Just remindin’ ya. I won’t be goin’ down a safe road gettin’ home.”

“And why is that?” Finn tilted his head as he looked through Ardghal’s bag for something to season the meat with. Nothing. Typical. He frowned.

Ardghal handed him his canteen. Finn turned his offer down at first, but he insisted, pointing to the meat over the fire.

“Bourbon’s good with deer steak. It enhances the flavor. Best we got if you wanna season it.”

“... You… use alcohol. To season meat.”

“Hey, learned it in Rondeletia. Brings out the best in a venison stew. Taught that to a little girl that wanted to become a chef. Just try it. Y’don’t gotta drown ‘em in it, but just a little bit will do the trick. Just make sure to rotate it some so it soaks up the booze.”

 … Sure. Finn took him up on his offer and settled down the fire some, then poured a bit of the alcohol onto the steaks. The smell was nauseating - too much for his sensitive nose. Finn honestly couldn’t take overly flavorful food, but he did like deer, and he’d be damned if he wasn’t making it right. He handed the canteen back to him, then continued rotating the cuts.

  He honestly forgot what he was asking Ardghal, just focused on making their meal. It had been like this the past few nights - one of them would hunt and the other would set up a place to sleep. Ardghal was an ideal person to share a tent with, considering his natural warmth, and he definitely didn’t care if Finn was in his tent. Sure, the fact he was naked was… odd, but Finn tried to ignore it the best he could.

 Ardghal was more bothered about having someone with him, but Finn insisted he could hold his own. Honestly, Finn just didn’t want… he didn’t want to find out where to go. He wasn’t sure where his story would take him. He had been stuck in Altissima all his life - and he meant that.

 First he was trapped with his mother - an overbearing, abusive woman who mostly kept him trapped in her house. His father was good to him, but when he died, protecting Finn during a hunting trip, his mother… Lost it. Treating him like an omen, taking her rage out on him but never to the point of killing him. The gods will condemn me too if I kill you. But if I enact their divine rage on you just enough… 

 It didn’t end until she threw him at the lands’ rulers - he was half-dead and they promised they would cover up her ‘murder’. Instead he ended up in their ‘successor program’. Finn… Wasn’t sure still what the point was. But he was stuck in a single enclosure, considered the ‘successor of the eye’. He had to walk extreme lengths, every week, to check other people like him and make sure they weren’t close to the brink of losing themselves.

 It was some… Goal, for their religion. To touch the hand of the gods? Finn wasn’t sure. He seemed to be the only one who could leave his enclosure. He felt horrible for some of the people there - a small child, a woman endlessly swinging her sword underwater, a former holy knight trapped there after they found out he wasn’t just an incubus. 

 Some were mothers, some weren’t… Finn wanted so badly to try and get everyone out, but he was afraid for their lives.

So, chalk that up as the second way he was trapped.

 He ran away from it all at one point. Sure, he built up a friendship and… love with one of the successors he never expected having, but it wasn’t safe. They were all going to die, technically. He remembered tearfully telling Nikita he didn’t want to leave him alone, but he didn’t want them all to be stuck there, a means to an end. But once they broke things off and talked about it even more, he promised he’d be back.

 So he abandoned his post. The family probably gave up on looking for him - the cathedral was a damn maze. But he soon ended up in the hands of a group surrounded around their religion - one that took their practices to cult-like levels. They saw him and thought he was an angel sent from the gods themselves.

 So. They took him in under the guise that he would be taken care of, that he’d be safe. But he was trapped again. Groomed and kept in a room as their beacon of ‘hope’.

 Griffin… Only escaped when he saw Ardghal. During the lull of a blood rain. He ran to him crying for help, trying to get away from his captors after a breakdown resulting from everything he’d been through his whole life.

And Ardghal… He hadn’t seen someone so… Feral.

 He remembered standing behind the wolfish man in terror, watching him practically bulldoze his way through several members of the cult trying to keep Finn away. Something in his actions felt personal, but he wasn’t sure why. But Finn crying to him, sobbing about how they were going to trap him again and he’d have no way out - it triggered something. The most vivid image in his head that day was the man standing above him after he got him out - bathed in blood and dirt, clothes torn, skin marred and bloody, brandishing his axe and heaving like a damn beast.

 It was. Terrifying. But in that moment, all Finn saw was his goddamn savior. Ardghal dragged him out of the country and he planned to drop him off at the next village, but Finn begged to stay, telling him he could fight and offer protection during the blood rain. And he did. His holy magic was well honed - so they had a deal.

 He had his own amount of freedom, and Ardghal wasn’t a bad partner to travel with. Not to mention he could finally ask someone to address him the way he wanted to be. When they met, Finn was still unfortunately presenting himself as a woman. Long, annoying hair, stupid, stupid dresses. One of the reasons he felt safe if the Finels tried hunting him down (that is, if they figured out he was gone in the first place) was the fact he looked so different now. 

You wouldn’t be able to find him if he wasn’t her.

 Ardghal also was just interesting to talk to. Both had such radically different upbringings, and he really liked… him. He enjoyed his company and was more dismayed at the idea of them losing touch. He wasn’t really sure what Ardghal was looking to do, what his goal was - but they were beginning to look like friends, especially with how they were sharing a sleeping space now.

 A part of him felt guilt, the idea of living a normal life when his first friend and lover, coupled with all the successors he respected and cared for so much, were suffering still. He knew they’d all wish it for him, but he was determined to figure something out. But he couldn’t exactly do it alone. So he was just biding his time like an idiot. 

“So, you don’t plan to find any sorta paradise hangin’ out with me,” he started to say, as he brought out some of his weapons to start up his weekly upkeep, “have ya figured out anything beyond leavin’ your home? It’s been… a while, and I may stop for a while when we get to my old home, but… You seem to not know what you want right now.”

Finn swallowed, watching him wipe his axe clean.

“I… I’m not sure. The most sure thing in me right now is the fact I’d like to still follow you.”

“I’m not up to anything that you would consider homely, boy.”

“... You know,” Finn frowned, rotating the meat. “What… are you doing, anyway? You’ve never told me. You’re a mercenary or something, right? Why haven’t we picked up any merc work?”

 The vampire’s eye twitched, but he made a noise to himself, taking out a little sharpening stone to run across the blade of his axe. He looked up at Finn, his light eyes narrowed for a moment.

“Not exactly a mercenary, if that’s the answer you’re lookin’ for.”

“You… Aren’t?” He tilted his head, frowning deeper. “What about those camps we took care of? I thought that was part of it.”

“It’s…” He took a moment, swallowing. “I… Respect ya, so this may take a moment.”

“Well, I won’t pry if it’s too much. I trust and respect you too,” Finn said, smiling. “You’re the first person I came out to besides my friend back home, so why wouldn’t I trust you back?”

“This is just… Different. Different from simple merc work,” he said, focusing on sharpening his axe. Bits of metal scraping off, filing away all the kinks in his weapon. “It’s specific. I’ve been…” He took a deep breath. “Okay. So. Have ya noticed anything about the camps we’ve raided?”

“Well…” Finn tapped his nails on the log he sat on, humming. “I guess the fact they’re mostly groups of people that kidnap… others. And all. Sorta like my deal. We save people and get money for it. But I thought maybe that was what mercenaries do.”

“Mercenaries can work on the battlefield in wars, boy. Some of ‘em will raid towns for ya. Some will do contracted political work for a price. What we’re doin’ is… Well, we’re workin’ towards my own personal goal.”

 Finn stared at the man for a moment, watching him keenly sharpen his axe. It was sort of fascinating, satisfying, watching him sharpen it. He wondered where he was getting at with this. But his tone sounded… grim.

He swallowed, looking at their meal.

“Do you… have a grudge, against these people? Are they connected?”

“No, not really.” He flipped the stone, buffing out the scratches. “I’m lookin’... for someone.”

… Oh.

Oh.

 Finn nervously rotated their food as he listened, hoping Ardghal wouldn’t feel weird now. He swallowed again, watching the scratches start to disappear.

“I, uh, well. Years ago, after I left Rondeletia…” Ardghal inspected his axe for a moment against the fire’s light. “I met a woman.”

Oh. A wife?

“She was religious, we lived in a little town in Celosia together. Long story short, we were engaged and she was expectin’. She…” He wiped off some of the shavings and tested the axe against the cloth. Seeing that it barely cut through, he continued sharpening it. “She died giving birth to our daughter.”

“I’m… sorry,” Finn breathed. “I didn’t realize we’d be going into something so personal. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine. I’m just givin’ ya the short version of the story. But that little girl was… still is- she’s my everything.”

He paused, then gave Finn an earnest look.

“Y’told me you were close with your father, weren’tcha?”

“Y-Yes.”

“The way a child looks to the parent they love, s’like… Lookin’ at god, I spose. Don’t like that sayin’, but it’s that same respect and love. Just a lot less fear. I’m sure, from what y’told me, your father loved you. He died for ya. I felt that way ‘bout her. Still do.”

“Did… Did something happen to your daughter, Ardghal?”

He was quiet. Deathly quiet. Finn couldn’t believe the chill he felt when he said that.

“She… Her name’s Sydelle. She’s been my everything and, yes, something… Happened. I’m not sure what,” he breathed. “She… Talked a lot about bein’ scared of somethin’. Slept in my room often and didn’t leave my side for a long time. But the one time I wasn’t lookin’, she disappeared.”

“She just… she just disappeared?”

“And I’m not sure what happened. But someone took her. She… Sydelle is smart, even at her age, I knew my girl meant it when she felt she was bein’ watched. And I lost sight of her when I shouldn’t have.”

“I’m sure it isn’t your fault, Ardghal,” Finn said softly, wishing he could reach over to hold his hand. 

“I’m not… gonna fight ‘bout it. But I know damn well someone got my girl. And I’ve been lookin’ around this area, from Celosia to Altissima, even the valleys of Antirrhinum, I’ve looked into cases like yours. And nothin’.”

“I guess… because you think maybe some cult took her away?” Finn chewed on his lip, eyes darting to the food over the fire. “I… If it helps, I didn’t hear anything about a vampire girl back home, a runaway or anything. 

“Sure, it helps. Crosses it off my list.” He inspected his axe for a moment, eyes narrowing. “I got friends tryna keep an eye out for her back home. Even the ruler’s got eyes out for her.”

He paused, then briefly glanced at Finn. “Sometimes, I get the feelin’ somethin’ else is goin’ on there.” He ran his hand over the blade, rubbing his thumb against it. “Dunno why. Can’t tell ya. I’ve seen my fair share of shady shit happen, so there’s just this…”

“A feeling,” Finn finished for him, as he started to take the meat off the heat. “You think someone’s involved.”

“Don’t like conspiracy theories,” he said, taking a swig from his canteen. “Not my kinda thing. Don’t like thinking about what ifs. But it’s my girl. I try to ignore it, but somethin’s up.”

“Is that why… you’re coming home?”

“Partially. I wanna look around the area more than I did before.” He stared into his canteen for a moment, then stared back at Finn. “You can stay, but I’ll still be workin’ on this.”

“That’s… okay,” Finn said, nodding. “I have my own goals I need to figure out, but…”

“Your own goals?” Ardghal rose an eyebrow. “Y’said you weren’t sure what you’d be doin’ next.”

“That’s the truth,” he breathed, as he worked on checking the meat now. “I have a goal, but no ideas as to how to pursue it. I just… need to save my friends from where I was in the first place and it’s a little impossible.”

“We coulda gone back at the time, maybe,” he said. Finn couldn’t believe he was offering. He swallowed, nervously handing him his own portion of their meal.

“I… It’s complicated. It wouldn’t be solved if we just saved everyone. There’s a lot more to it and… I’m scared, to be honest. I want to figure out more and see what I can do and make sure it’s put to an end.”

 The only real way he’d be able to is if he were close to someone on the inside. At least someone with a tiny amount of knowledge and ability to get there, easier than just being him and a complete outsider. But Finn doubted he would ever get that far. This was a situation he definitely didn’t know the scope of - going in to take everyone out of it was going to be a disaster. Especially considering he’d have to return everyone to their homes, and what if the Finels just came back to drag them all there anyway?

 One missing successor was enough. But the whole damn set? They’d have no problem seeking them all out. At least Finn had the saving grace of being trans. He looked completely different now.

He sighed, picking at his food now, as he looked into the fire.

“I guess it goes deeper than just me. It requires a lot more subtlety and… I would much rather look into things and go careful with it.”

“Gotcha,” Ardghal replied, already tearing into his food. “You got somewhere to stay, then. House is prolly all run down and shitty, but I haven’t been there in a minute.”

“That’s okay,” Finn saidly, smiling. “I can fix it up, if anything.”

“There’s a little town nearby, you can get whatever we need. I got some money saved up so it won’t be a problem. You can do what ya like, I’ll jus’ be figurin’... somethin’ out.”

“If you don’t mind me offering…” Finn was working on cutting up his food, making it easier to eat. He needed to take his food in smaller doses with how bad his stomach was. “I would like to help, while I figure my own end out, if that’s okay?”

“Now, y’don’t have to-”

“I want to,” he said, cutting him off. “You helped me and I’d like to help you. I don’t know if I’d be able to figure much out, but… I think an outside perspective into your situation would help. M-maybe. I don’t want to say I know better than a father would, but…”

“No, that’s…” Ardghal took a deep breath, setting his emptied plate aside. That was honestly impressive. Finn was barely through a quarter of his food. “That would help. A lot. Thank you. I… haven’t had much luck and any sorta lead would do a lot of good right now.”

Finn blinked a few times, shocked he… took to it so well, but he smiled, scooching over to pat him on the hand. 

“I don’t know if it’d be much help, but I’ll be happy to offer anything I can, Ardghal,” he said, smiling a little more than he realized. “It’s the least I could do with all you’ve done for me.”

 Ardghal made a little grunt, the softest smile on his face. He moved his hand to set it on top of Finn’s as he tried to find some way of making it feel less… awkward, maybe.

“If I do have any sorta request,” he said, glancing at the fire, “I’d say I’d like for ya to cook that again. Maybe show me more shit y’know how to make.”

“Aww, really?” Finn laughed, starting to blush. “It’s nothin’ special, especially with what we have. I’m not really used to seasoning either, since my stomach can’t take a ton of it.”

“It’s fuckin’ good,” Ardghal said. His blunt response just made Finn laugh harder. “I mean it. You have cookin’ duty when we get back.”

“Sure, sure,” he said, smiling. “Do you want to post up for the night? I might sit out a little longer, but if you want an early start tomorrow…”

“Nah, I wanna sit ‘n’ talk a lil’ more. Feels nice, for once.”

“Well, I can run you through the steps of butchering a deer, if you ever want the information.”

“How ‘bout we find somethin’ else instead of that. Gonna make me even hungrier.”