Campfire Stories (Vol'jin)

[Vol'jin]

The fire danced and cackled, the wood making itself heard with the sharp crack and rustle as it burned away, and the Troll Shadowhunter watched the fiery ember sputter upwards into tiny amber speck before dissolving away entirely. He glanced at his companion for a moment, she seemed to be in thought, much like he was. There was much to think about. He had tried to call upon the loa but he had received no answer from them and yet he could still call upon his powers. He stared at his two-fingered hands in that thought before her voice broke the silence much like the knife it had no intention to be. A wane smile crept about the two elongated tusks jutting out from his mouth before he slowly nodded. "Dere be my people, ai be worreh'in dat dey won't be able tah succeed against Garrosh's forces wit'out me bein' dere tah guide 'em. Ai be hopin' dat Zeb'tabra and Baine can manage it," he responded, his voice thick with emotion, he hated that he could do nothing to return home by himself. This place made so very little sense to him but he was glad he was with someone in the same predicament. It made it that much easier to bear.

"Still, dey will have Thrall and Baine, and there are always heroes wanting tah make a difference. Ai gonna be strengthening my heart in dat knowledge," he said, sounding resolute, after all he was only one Troll and it took the strength of many to bring down a Warchief so ferocious and corrupt as Garrosh. He glanced at her before looking at her properly and smiled reassuringly as he could. He had to exist in the here and now, if he didn't he would be lost completely. He could not have that. "What 'bout you? Ya got people waitin'?" he asked softly

He nodded slightly as she spoke in return of his part about death, but he didn't respond to it although he did touch at his throat once more. If it had not been for Li Li and Chen, he was pretty sure he would have died on the river bank they had found him clinging weakly to. It was almost hard to admit that even though he was a Shadowhunter, he was still mortal. It also reminded him that Li Li and Chen were not the only Pandaren he was grateful to. There was another and also a human who had been in a downfall of his own. So close and yet so far from death as he was now, this place would present new dangers and Vol'jin would welcome the challenge with a grin.

He returned, plopping himself back down on his spot with a deep collective breath. If felt weird not having to plan the next phases of the rebellion and he could imagine the uproar back home when they realised he was missing. He shook himself of that line of thought. Here. Now. That mattered, or getting back could prove even more problematic. He accepted the cup and held it for a long moment. the warmth spreading through his hands and into his lanky frame that easily towered Vera's daintier one. He glanced at her and judging from her descriptions, the blankets must have been on the small side for him. He smiled and shook his head, "I be all right, mon. I t'ink ya be needing them more den ai be right now." Perhaps they could find a village where they did large blankets though he was fast becoming certain he'd have to hide whilst she got them for him if the people of this world were afraid of trolls too. He was a skilled hunter and warrior but even he wouldn't be able to fend off an army forever.

"IS dis place the only bit you've explored so far?" he asked, gesturing vaguely around him to indicate their surroundings.

[Vera]

“It’s always good to think positive.”, Vera answered and tried to find a positive aspect in her TARDIS being adrift with her grown up foster child and companion, but she wasn’t able to find anything good about it. Without her help they wouldn’t be able to return from the time vortex again. With her home planet it was something completely different. As it was with Vol’jin’s people if Galifrey was in danger there would be someone to help her people for sure. Maybe this renegate, called the Doctor, would be able to help. As far as she knew he was full of strange but creative ideas and if someone was able to help Galifrey it was him for sure.

“If I get my ship back I might be able to bring you back to your people just a few hours after you got to this strange place. Sometimes my ship’s navigation system doesn’t work right, but if it does it will be as if you never left.”, she suggested and looked back to the fire then. It was hard to think of Carolyne, her mother and her brother and to imagine that she would most likely not see them again for a very long time.

“Yes.”, she said and paused to look at the flames again. “A long time ago I rescued a young girl, now she is living on my ship and waiting for my return. I also have my mother waiting for me and a twin brother or sister, I don’t know if he changed his gender during a regeneration like I’ve done a while ago.”, she said and decided to make a small joke about the regeneration cycle where they had regenerated together and had become one-egged twins.

When he did not accept the blankets she was offering him she smiled and watched him once more. He was very big compared to her, but still she supposed that he might become cold, too. Having been a mother for a while she had started worrying about things like cold and colds especially. “Are you sure that you won’t become ill?”, she asked friendly, before she fetched two blankets.

She used one blanket to cover her shoulders and put the other one close to Vol’jin so that he might use it if he was beginning to feel cold. “Yes, I haven’t explored much of this place yet. There’s a medieval village down the hill and a bog not far away from this place. I didn’t explore much farther yet, but I’d really like to. Do you want to come with me?”, she asked. Without a companion she didn’t feel very well, when she was exploring a strange region especially since she had no place to escape to anymore and sadly she had never learned defend herself. So it might be good to have someone who was able to help and protect her.

[Vol'jin]

He heard her speak of positives and tilted his tusked head, he found it hard to see positives in such a bleak future in a world he had little to know understanding about. He heard nothing from the loa and he could only hope that Zeb'tabra was doing well in the Rebellion against Garrosh. loa knew that they would need the luck, with or without the help from the Alliance. He ran a hand roughly over his face, he could sense she was thinking along the same lines with her, well... whatever it was she had called it. He couldn't quite recall the unfamiliar name. He was sad he would not be there himself to oversee the Rebellion and to what fruit became of it in the end. He sincerely hoped Baine and the rest would find victory. He hoped the loa would lend their aid in the fight. After all, Garrosh was not fighting a honourable war, it was too soon after the cataclysmic events wrought by King Arthas and then Deathwing. It hardly seemed fair.

He looked up at her and smiled slightly in gratitude, "I be t'inkin' I'd be appreciatin' dat greatly, Vera. I be 'avin' a strong feelin' dat my presence is sorely missed," he replied, knowing much of it to be true and his gratitude could be heard in his inflections as he further inclined his head to her. He knew it was a debt he felt sure he would never be able to repay, or one that would take an infinite amount of time to reply. He wasn't entirely sure how much time meant to her kind.

Vol'jin looked up at the night sky then and sighed deeply, he could recognise nothing of course but the knowledge of his world being out there somewhere was a little solace to his mind. He knew the advantage of enduring any hardship thrown in his direction but he still worried for the future, for his people. for the Horde that Thrall had meant it to be. All these concerns... they were weighing heavily on his mind but for all his decisions, he never regretted them, nor his path as a Shadow Hunter. His eyes blinked as he looked back to her, the orbs switching to the blankets she had with her, "I'll be okay, mon. I probably won't be gettin' much sleep fo' a while anyway...." he shrugged before feeding the fire some more. "Besides, it be takin' more den cold ta bring down a Shadow Huntah," he added with a smile to her.

He noted she put one close to him anyway and his smile remained as he settled down to relax as she spoke on again. He wasn't particularly worried about them getting attack, he was sharp on his feet even with the day he had. He thought the idea over and scratched his ears, "Yea, can do mon... though how be human folk normally take to Trolls around here d'ya know? Only da Alliance, da humans in my world... well... dey don't be liking us Trolls much. T'ink we be canniballistic monstahs..."

There was some truth and merit in that fear, after all it was a part of his people's custom and to have given it all up when Thrall asked when they had joined the protection of the Horde, it had not out them in good favour with the loa. Thankfully now they had earned back their respect and a way to honour the loa without eating their enemies.