06-07-2016, 09:16 PM
So, maybe her speedy turtle was not as speedy as he once was. "Come on, Rudolph." Raina gently pat the top of the slightly blue turtle's head. "It's okay. We'll get there when we get there. Take your time." She sighed and crossed her legs, sitting neatly atop the saddle. At their pace, she didn't even worry about bumps in the road.
She looked around. They had just gotten to the top of the hill, past everything she knew, the cobblestone walkways, the Stinky Pirate goers, her parents, her job, and her friends. She took a deep breath in and turned around, facing forward to where they were going. The view was much different. Just a dirt pathway for as far as she could see among the green grass and the occasional big oak tree. It seemed she was alone. She fell asleep as soon as the sun fell below the horizon.
The sun suddenly shone brightly on her. A drop of sweat falling from her forehead to her nose woke her up. Raina blinked and just sat there for a moment before wiping her face off and taking a slug of water. She looked down at the paper in her hands and remembered where she was going.
"There's 52 Woodford Lane." She squinted her eyes down at her map, then back up, confirming the numbers on the small wooden mailbox out front of a little shack. "That means... Almost there!" She perked up a bit and pointed to the direction Rudolph needed to go, shoving her piece of paper back into her skirt pocket.
As they approached what seemed to be a tent settlement, Raina hopped off her turtle and reached into one of her leather bags. She pulled out a thick handful of straw and grass and tossed it into Rudolph's happy choppers. "Good boy. I'll walk from here."
She seemed to strut into the tent community that had already begun to sprout up. Her clothes were bright red, making her stand out a bit more than she was comfortable for. She adjusted her top a bit and blew some of her longer blonde bangs away from her eyes. Her strutting quickly turned into long, slow strides giving off heavy "don't look at me" vibes.
She found a line starting behind a table with what appeared to be officials checking in recruits. She stood behind a small gnome with pink hair and lots of facial scars. He looked like a badass, so Raina made sure not to mess with him at all.
"NAME." When she got to the front, she smiled awkwardly. A short haired human female in heavy-looking, brightly-shining armor, stared at her unamused. "Uh. Raina Josawynn. I-I'm a mage and-"
"Of COURSE you're a mage. Look around you. You're all mages." The woman looked down at a clipboard, holding up a finger. "You'll be in tent 23. All the way at the end." Another official-looking person slammed a rolled-up bundle of blankets at her, which she barely caught and knocked a bit of breath out of her. The woman smiled. "You're closest to the edge of the forest there. Watch out for bears."
"Bears?" She blinked and was pushed out of the way for the next person in line. "NAME."
She began the walk to her tent, lugging her bundle of blankets on her back. As she passed a few people settling in, she overheard conversations of politics, families, and how awful this was all going to be for magic users. As she reached her tent at the very edge of the wooded area, her turtle Rudolph just made it to her.
"Good timing, friend. Thanks for coming with me." She smiled and invited him to the entrance of her tent, where she started to unravel the contents of her battle bundle. The blanket was scratchy and the tent was more like a blanket fort held up by two sticks as short as she was. But she smiled still. She pat her turtle and then went into her little shelter and started trying to get cozy.
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