House of Emblem: Freefall

I fear we've got all we had wanted

Purple Orchids
-Junghoon-

11th of March;
Sovereign Year 1143

They make camp as soon as the sun begins to set.

A day's worth of travel has led them far–into where the Oghma Mountains start to slope upwards, valleys giving way to a forest full of tall, dense trees, their trunks soaked through with water from all the rain they've gotten.

Here, Junghoon feels more at ease already.

When the wagons stop at the faintest site of a clearing his feet start to move quicker, nails dug into the bark of the first tree he gets to beyond the sight line. He climbs up, up, up until he's settled on the lowest branch that can hold his weight and undoes the sword at his belt, watching as the others begin to set up camp before night falls.

Not long after they notice he's missing. White hair's easy to spot the moment it's in view, "Let him out of sight for five whole minutes and he's gone-" Kim Minjae grumbles not far from his hiding spot with a hand perched at his hip. If patterns persist Junghoon's sure the older'll be the first to find him like he has been, but a crowd gathers, one of them notably blonde with a kind smile and he sulks when he hears the voice come out a little clearer than the others.

Their prince speaks a bit too confidently for Junghoon's liking when he says the younger can't be far. For a second he thinks their eyes meet but the prince's flicker off from his location quickly, "Can't be actually. He's smart enough to know where food is."

"Food hasn't motivated him before, your highness." Kim Minjae huffs and Junghoon bites back a snicker. In the brief time he's spent with them he's learned these two are opposites–one distrusting of the ground beneath his feet while other would trust water offered by a stranger. They're weird in their own right, just like the rest of them. Each of them has their own little quirks, some better than others.

"Did you lose someone?" A deep voice sounds off, commanding in its tone and it's Park Sunghoon that makes his way beneath the bough that Junghoon's perched on, "If it's one of your mages I suggest you find them quickly. It's your swordsmen we can do without."

"Hey!"

Park Sunghoon's quirks are definitely not that good.

Energy isn't well spent on conversations that don't pertain to him in full and it's wasted effort to listen to a prince that isn't his talk down to him. Instead he leans back against the trunk, covered from view by the leaves as he lays his sword across his lap, well sharpened in its sheath as he continues to watch them.

When night finally falls he's still not found. His legs stretch out along the branch while watching them gather round the fire, and he's almost beckoned to it when meat is skewered and laid to cook.

Well, most of them gather at least.

Their main reason for being out here seemingly has the forethought to stay back, close to the opposite edge of the small clearing, knees drawn up near a set of bushes between two small trees. The others' eyes dart to him every now and again only to flit away before being noticed.

'Yea, if anyone dies, I hope it's fucking him.' Even whispered it had practically boomed within that large church. The sentiment seems to be shared amongst some of them if any of the glares can be gone by.

Junghoon teeters; having to be so on edge about the unknown while out amongst the trees doesn't suit. But having anything other than indifference for an alliance member's life also isn't something he's for either.