Ponyville Unexpected Friendship(Private, ATTN: DerpRavener) [Finished]

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu smiled slightly as he breathed in the fresh air outside his house. This was why he liked living here, it was quiet, peaceful, and a great place to relax. Looking around, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. There was some wildlife, the sounds of birds, sun shining through the trees.

"Alright. What to do today?" The griffon asked himself, bringing a claw up to rub his chin in thought. "Suppose I could head into Ponyville to find work... Yeah, I'll do that." With that, he walked back into the house and began putting on all his gear. First the armor, then the weapons. Last came the bandana, which he positioned into it's typical location on his head.

"Now to head out." He said as he exited his house again and walked to a nearby clearing before spreading his wings and taking to the sky, flying over the treetops on his way to the town. It didn't take all that long to get there, and he touched down outside of the town before walking down the street, wondering who would approach him today, assuming any of these ponies would. Even if they didn't have work, that was another possible friend for him.

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' sat under the shade of a tree near the edge of Ponyville, her eyes closed and a light smile across her face. This being the bright, sunny day that it was, a number of ponies thought this would be the perfect day for a picnic. Though 'Spring Breeze' wasn't close enough to anypony to be invited on one, and she wasn't that big on solid foods anyways, she'd made her own way here just by following other ponies. So here she sat surrounded by happy locals, leeching the ambient love and just generally enjoying the atmosphere.

The light 'whump' of somepony gently hitting the ground sounded nearby, and the false pegasus opened her eyes lazily, the sound just happening to catch her attention at the moment. Looking over at the newcomer, she first thing she saw was that he wasn't really a 'somepony' at all.

The next thing she noticed was that he seemed rather well armed for being in the Ponyville area, with a large sword and a bow clearly visible, worn alongside well-used armour. 'Spring Breeze' frowned, and considered the possibilities. A one being attack seemed unlikely, and the gryphon wasn't acting too relaxed for open hostilities, but on the other hoof she really didn't know why else one would bring weapons like that into Ponyville.

For once, caution and curiosity were in agreement. Not only was this an anomaly, but if there was something going on 'Spring Breeze' thought she should know about it, both for her own and potentially the town's sake. Her mind made up, she stood, and began walking toward the gryphon. When she made it about twenty paces away she called out, trying her best to seem friendly. “Hey stranger! That's quite the getup you've got there, what are you hunting?”

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu walked along casually as he waited for somepony to approach him. Approaching random individuals himself while wearing full gear didn't typically yield great results. Heck, even when all he had on was his headband, some ponies were too intimidated by his size to be anywhere near comfortable around him. Oh well, probably for the better, he usually preferred his friends to have strength, physical or otherwise. There weren't too many ponies around though, they were probably all over in that area he had landed near. It was a pretty nice day for a picnic. He stopped and turned towards the sound of a voice, and found it belonged to a pegasus mare.

"Hey yourself. I'm just looking for some work right now." He said, smiling at the mare before sticking a claw out in greeting. "I'm Tehengu. Nice to meet you miss..." He said, trailing off as he waited for the mare's name to be supplied.

[DerpRavener]

The gryphon said he was her looking for work, before introducing himself as Tehengu and asking her name.

'Spring Breeze' chuckled to herself, muttering “called me miss” before answering. “The name's Spring Breeze, nice to meet you too.” She looked at him for a moment, with a slight look of confusion. “ 'Looking for work'?” She looked around the town for a moment, partly to emphasize her point. “I can't imagine there'd be much around here which uses those,” she pointed briefly at the weapons on his back. “What are you expecting to find?”

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu frowned briefly as his claw was ignored, but the frown disappeared as the pony introduced herself as Spring Breeze. She questioned his search for work, saying he wasn't likely to find much that used weapons. He shrugged at her question, looking around briefly before speaking.

"I'm not sure. I guess I'm just looking." He said, looking back to Spring and smiling slightly. "These are just in case I can find that sort of job. You'd be surprised where you can find jobs like that just by wandering down the street." He finished, idly scratching the back of his head with a claw.

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' tilted her head and regarded Tehengu for a moment. Strictly speaking he wasn't wrong, there was always a possibility of him finding work through a chance encounter, but it still seemed rather unlikely to her. “So far,” she said eventually, “I've found that ponies around here fall into one of two categories in that regard: you've got the ones too gentle to ask for that sort of help, and you've got the ones crazy enough to try and solve the problem on their own.”

She shrugged. “But eh, to each their own.” All the same, it didn't fully explain why he was here. Of all the places for a mercenary to end up, this town would be the last she'd expect. “So what brings you to Ponyville?”

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu nodded as Spring talked about the kinda of ponies she had found would want the kind of job weapons were useful for. He still got ponies to approach him, mostly in other cities, but he'd had a couple jobs from Ponyville.

"The crazy ones will sometimes fail, then go searching for help. The quiet ones will likely just let the problem fester, then it becomes so bad they can't avoid it anymore, and then they find help. Either way, that's where I come in." He said before Spring asked him what brought him to Ponyville. He looked at her in confusion, his head tilted to the side slightly.

"Didn't I already answer that? I'm here for work." He said before coming up with a possibility of what she had meant. "If you mean why I came here instead of a bigger city, it's because I live in Whitetail Woods, so this place wasn't far away at all."

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' frowned, and her eyes narrowed a bit. The gyphon's line of reasoning was callous, although that was something she supposed had to be expected. He wouldn't have lasted in his line of work if he got worked up over harms to others. While she didn't exactly like the attitude, she could respect the necessities of survival. Still seemed an odd choice to operate around here though, even if you could find the odd job or two she could only imagine that there were much better places to operate. Hay, she'd specifically chosen Ponyville for it's lack of activity in that regard.

She nodded when explained that he had a home in the Whitetail Woods, finally getting an explanation to why Tehengu would be in the area. She still wasn't sure why he wouldn't have moved by now, but she was content to leave that to speculation for the moment. Maybe where he lived had some sentimental value.

Or maybe he too was trying to lay low.

She looked back toward the meadow for a moment, contemplating rejoining the ponies there. She was doing alright hunger wise for a moment, and the day's activities would probably keep going for some time, so she didn't have anything to worry about at the moment. What's more, she had an oddity in front of her, and truth be told she didn't fully trust him yet. She figured it would be best if she kept an eye on him for a little longer, at least until she had a better read of him.

Making conversation, she said, “So what sort of work have you found around here, if you don't mind me asking?”

[PyroBlaze]

Eh, he probably could have handled that part better. Oh well, too late to change things now. Tehengu looked around again as he waited for a response. It seemed all the ponies in the town were over at the picnic thing. At least all the ponies around here were. He looked back at Spring as she asked what kinds of jobs he had found around here.

"Let's see... One was a guard job for a shop, they were worried about thieves or something, which was weird because nothing happened the entire time I was there. Now that I think about it, I probably scared any thieves off simply by being there. The other job was an escort mission. I took a couple ponies up to Fillydelphia. That one took a while, though I was lucky enough to get another escort mission coming back here." He said, recounting his jobs he had found around Ponyville.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu described an uneventful period of guard duty for a shop, and then a bodyguard job for a couple of ponies from here to Fillydelphia. When he said he was lucky enough to get a return job, 'Spring Breeze' couldn't help but ask, “And you weren't at all tempted to stay? Don't get me wrong, Ponyville's a fine place, but I'm finding it hard to believe it's that interesting for a gryphon like yourself.”

Since it didn't look like Tehengu was going anywhere, and as she was starting to feel awkward just standing around 'Spring Breeze' found a soft spot on the grass nearby and lay down once again.

She realized she might be missing details, and after a moment's thought asked, “now that I think of it, how much time do you spend in this area? Do you spend a lot of time here, or is home just a little rest stop between work?”

This was remarkably straightforward so far, or so it seemed. Almost too well, but when 'Spring Breeze' considered the possibility that she was being lied to she couldn't come up with a reason. Tehengu was himself a little too obvious to really be trying anything under-hoofed. She'd take what he was saying at face value until she saw reason to stop. She sat contemplating as she waited for his response.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu simply looked at Spring for a moment as she asked if he had been tempted to stay in Fillydelphia. She also commented that she didn't think Ponyville would be all that interesting for him.

"No, not really." He said in response to her question as she laid down on some grass. After a moment, he decided to sit as well, and did so nearby her, looking down at her as she asked how often he was actually at his house. He smiled slightly at her before answering.

"It feels like a vacation when I come home, since I usually can't find work around here. I kinda prefer living in nature over in a town, even if that would mean I get to go home more. I like it this way." He said, looking up at the sky as he spoke. Spring seemed like a nice mare. Not the kind that would be hiring him anytime soon, probably, but nice nonetheless. She seemed rather curious about him, but he passed that off as not being used to seeing griffons or weapons, let alone both at once, around Ponyville.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu explained that he enjoyed being in nature as he sat down next to her, and basically confirmed that his home was more about recuperation than proximity to work.

'Spring Breeze' nodded understandingly in response. It made sense to her to keep one's work and rest distant from each other, and while she could only assume the distance was sometimes inconvenient it was probably a reasonable price for the respite. She also knew that an isolated home was useful in the event of pursuit, which she imagined was a risk for Tehengu as well.

Still, parts of what he said did strike her as a little unusual. She decided to poke at it a bit, see if she could worm her way past the base information. “Not much of a social gryphon, I take it?”

[PyroBlaze]

He shook his head slightly at Spring's question.

"It's not that, I just enjoy the solitude sometimes. Especially since I'm usually in cities and towns, surrounded by ponies." He said, looking back at the mare again, belatedly realizing that the conversation had been somewhat one sided so far.

"So... What do you do for a living?" He asked her after a moment or two.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu asked what she did for a living.

'Spring Breeze' shrugged, and non-committally said, “Oh, this and that. I don't have any particular work, I just take little, odd jobs as I find them. It's not a lot, but I get by well enough.” She knew that didn't really explain a whole lot about herself however. She internally debated how much information she should reveal, ultimately concluding that it was a minimal risk and a good way to keep the conversation going.

She continued, “I used to be in something like your line of work, though I've...lost that opportunity.” She'd have to tread a little carefully here. Too much information might reveal things she'd rather not be public knowledge, but too little and he'd get suspicious anyways.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu nodded as Spring said that she took odd jobs around town. He did that on occasion, mostly when the other prospects for work didn't work out, or when they were the only work available. Eventually, she continued by saying she used to do something similar to what he did now, but that the opportunity was lost to her now. He raised an eyebrow at that as he peered down at the mare.

"What exactly did you do that was so similar to my work?" He asked, pausing for a few moments before deciding to add another question. "And why can't you do it anymore?"

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu asked her what it was she used to do, and what forced her to stop. 'Spring Breeze' was expecting the question, she wouldn't have asked if she didn't think she could provide an answer, but her pulse quickened a bit all the same. It showed he how close she was to disaster.

This would be a delicate task. Fortunately, 'Spring Breeze' had a technical truth she could fall back on. “I used to be a town guard,” she said after a moment. It was technically true, as long as the issue of just which town she was referring to never came up. “As for the other question...” she grimaced, reminded of a particularly harsh time in her life. “...I try not to talk about it much. Let's just say I made some mistakes, and we lost ponies because of it.”

She waited to see how Tehengu would react, as what she said next might need to be carefully managed.

[PyroBlaze]

Spring said that she had been a town guard, but had never said which town. A guard, huh? That seemed pretty similar to the army. He looked off into the distance before she said that she didn't like to talk about why she can't do it anymore, saying she had made mistakes and lost ponies because of it. He know how that felt.

"That's too bad, you losing ponies. I know how it feels to lose friends due to a mistake." He said, still looking off into the distance for no particular reason. He was idly watching the ponies in the grass field as he had his conversation with Spring.

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' just nodded at Tehengu's statement of understanding. She really didn't like discussing it. Even beyond the risks that came with that information, it was a time of her life she wasn't particularly happy about or proud of. Reminiscing about it was not a pleasant activity.

The pair sat on the grass, enjoying a moment of quiet, mutual understanding as far as 'Spring Breeze' could tell. She was happy to just sit for the moment with a friendly- well she supposed not a pony, but close enough- with no immediate worries.

After sitting there for a bit, she turned to Tehengu who was sitting next to her. With a slight smile she asked, “Are you sure you don't mind? I can't help but think I'm ruining the 'rugged mercenary' image, I don't look like that much of a fighter.”

[PyroBlaze]

The two of them sat in silent understanding of what it meant to lose people, pony or griffon, due to a single mistake. Tehengu's mind couldn't help but wander to when he had lost all his friends on one mission. That had been a tough day. He really didn't want to reminisce about it, so he was glad that Spring wasn't prying as to how he knew what she was feeling. Likely because she didn't want to talk about her experience either. He sighed just before Spring spoke up, he looked down at her as she asked if he was sure he didn't mind, saying she couldn't help but feel that she was ruining his image. He simply smiled at her and waited for her to finish before speaking.

"Why would I mind? I doubt I'm going to find any work here today, especially with what looks like the whole town out on picnics. Besides, you're former military, just like me. Even if you don't look the part, I know you're a fighter." He said, still smiling slightly at the mare.

[DerpRavener]

'Spring Breeze' nodded, acknowledging and to a lesser extent confirming what he'd said. She closed her eyes, and basked in the sun for a moment.

She opened them a moment later. “Wait, you 'know I'm a fighter'?” She looked at Tehengu for a moment, before chuckling to herself. “Heh, I guess that's something I'll have to work on. I was hoping to keep a lower profile than that.” she looked over to the gryphon again. “What are you seeing that gives it away?” It could have just been her manner, she imagined she seemed a bit worn in a way ponies who aren't battle-weary wouldn't, but she had to make sure she wasn't giving too much away. The last thing she needed was to be identifiable as threatening.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu looked away as Spring nodded, then diverted his gaze to the sky, staring at it's blue expanse until Spring spoke again, questioning how he knew she was a fighter. She also said she had been trying to keep a lower profile then that. He snorted slightly, keeping his gaze skyward as he answered the pony.

"You're ex-military, of course you're a fighter. Why wouldn't you be?" He said before looking back at her. "It's less of something I saw and more of a feeling. I can just somehow tell you're a fighter. Maybe it's the shared experience, who knows?" He finished with a shrug. It was somewhat interesting that she responded more to that then to the fact he was ex-military as well. Oh well, he wasn't complaining.

[DerpRavener]

Tehengu ultimately explained that he knew more from intuition than anything in particular. 'Spring Breeze' supposed she could accept that. She couldn't do anything about it, and nothing could be proved based on it anyways.

There was another period of silence, as the two sat in the morning sun. 'Spring Breeze' tried to think of something to say. She didn't particularly mind the silence, but with somepony she didn't know that well it felt a bit awkward.

She looked at Tehengu again, particularly at the weapons on his back. As a way of making conversation she asked, “So, what was your preferred weapon?”

[PyroBlaze]

There was another period of silence. Tehengu didn't really mind, he enjoyed the quiet. He looked back to the sky again and tracked a bird as it flew across the sky. When Spring asked what his favorite weapon was, he looked back at her and thought for a moment before responding.

"Well... I was trained primarily as a sniper, so I suppose the bow is my preferred weapon. If I'm too close for that, I'm acceptable with my sword as well." He said, rubbing his chin in thought.

[DerpRavener]

Hearing Tehengu describe himself as a ranged specialist wouldn't have come as a surprise if the bow had been the only thing he'd been carrying. As it was, 'Spring Breeze's eyebrows raised a bit. “Isn't a sword like that a bit heavy for a backup weapon? Not that it looks like you can't handle it, quite the opposite, but it can't be that easy to carry around for extended periods.”

Part of her wondered if it was just her perspective. She'd never really used weaponry, beyond some basic exposure to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself, she never found the need. So maybe there was some purpose or use she couldn't see, but she still felt a sniper should have be focused on their purpose when in combat.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu smiled again as Spring questioned the usefulness of his sword as a backup weapon. He looked at the hilt of the blade over hi shoulder for a moment before turning back to the mare.

"Well, I was trained in both, since the missions I was sent on sometimes required more melee battle. Those ones didn't allow for my kind of ranged combat, so I had to have a strong grasp of melee weapons, as well as have a strong weapon. Don't worry, if I need faster strikes, I have something for that." He explained to the mare next to him as he looked up into the sky again.

"Are you proficient in any weaponry?" He asked idly, not taking his gaze off the sky.