Patrice

image made with PortraitWorks

STATS
Name: Patrice
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Description: Patrice is a human male with wide shoulders, strong limbs and a tall stature. He has long, dark brown hair he keeps tied in a topknot and a neatly trimmed ring-beard. His blue eyes stare defiantly into the world. Patrice usually wears simple clothing in earthy tones. 
Personality: Patrice is a no-nonsense type of guy. He grew up in a traditional human settlement where the men hunted and the women tended the homes and livestock. He has met enough powerful women to know not to expect the same in the outside world, but it remains his ideal. Patrice is not someone who stands out, he is more the quiet, casual man drinking a beer at the bar and keeping to himself. He tries not to over-indulge, but he fails at times. 
Family/Bio: Patrice grew up learning to hunt from his father and older brothers. He never doubted he'd become a hunter too. Fate however led him astray from his fellow men and he was in deep trouble (out of arrows and surrounded by a couple of predators) when the elves of WindChill found him. Seeing as they saved his life, Patrice feels he has a debt to repay and he is not yet satisfied enough to return home. 
Pets: -- 
Drak: Fire Reiyaes (m) from  Icehearth

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STORY
Era looked back and noticed Patrice examining a trail. The two of them had different ideals and that meant they were not exactly close friends. But Era still respected her older companion as a hunter so she doubled back and waited for Patrice to elaborate on his finding. When he didn't, she prompted:
"So?"
"I don't really know but something went by here."
"An animal?"
"Or something that wants us to believe that."
Patrice looked again at the faint tracks. They were almost unnoticeable. Faint and very convincing, but something was off about them. The tracks looked staged. 
"I can hardly make them out." Era replied who now had picked up on the faint trail.
"Which makes me wonder why someone put them here."
"It doesn't make for a good diversion, I walked right by."
"It might be a delay tactic." Patrice mused.
After all they were standing here talking and taking their sweet time when they should in fact be hunting. WindChill was a young settlement and everything they could add to it's cellars and storerooms was important. More hunters would be joining them soon but recruiting them would take time. The farmers were only just setting up and weren't expecting to harvest in the first few months. They could buy supplies but no-one wanted to use up precious funds when food could be hunted and collected in the wild. 
"Maybe it's an old trap?" Era offered.
The faintness of the track might imply that it had been left a long time ago. Era took a step back, intending to continue their route but Patrice felt uneasy. All his instincts were blaring their alarm. 
"Maybe we should go somewhere else today." 
Era shrugged and followed Patrice back from where they'd come. 
"Are we just going to stay away from there?" the young purple-haired hunter asked.
"I'll ask one of the knights to do a sweep past this place later. A drak might pick up what we're missing."
"Let's hope we're not missing anything and it's just some old trap that's been forgotten." 
"Yes." Patrice agreed. 
The two of them finally returned in the evening with a decent catch. Once handled, cured and prepared, their efforts should be able to feed the budding settlement for the better part of a week. If not too many people joined in the next couple of days. There were about a dozen people at present but there'd be many more. 
Those thoughts appeared all too true when they were called in a little later and were faced with both leaders of WindChill. 
"Welcome." Sunsparkle Reflection said while Essence of Moonbeam  kept to her task at hand while glancing over at them. 
"We're happy to see a couple of extra hunters coming in in the course of the next few days."
"It's nice to know we'll be getting more colleagues." Era spoke truthfully.
Patrice nodded and waited. Both were wondering who would be coming and how they would split the work. Would some hunt for small game? Would they form a larger party to try and catch some of the really big animals? Or would they just spread out more? There was a lot to consider.
"Which is why I feel it's time to send both of you to pair a drak before the population really grows." Sunsparkle continued.
Now not even Patrice would stay quiet.
"Shouldn't we tell them what we know, Sir?" the quiet hunter asked.
"I'm sure you can leave a message or instructions." Moonbeam took over, "What Sunsparkle is trying to say is that we think you'd be outstanding knights."
Sunsparkle coughed and added: "Don't worry, we have an outstanding veteran hunter coming in. He'll be able to help guide the others."
Neither Era nor Patrice felt comfortable knowing that, but both remained quiet about their worries. They couldn't deny the opportunity that had been presented to them. They should probably feel honoured to have been given the chance. Half a day later both had been handed a designated Castle to report to and were taken away by portal with a small amount of luggage and a promise there'd be someone to collect them after the mind pairing.

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MIND PAIRING
Patrice followed the others as they made their way to the Deep Cavern. It was unlike anything he'd seen at WindChill, but then that was to be expected. Sitting idle had never been his thing, so Patrice had occupied himself with training and helping out in the weeks while he'd waited for the draklings to be ready to venture out. It was strange that today would mark such a big change in his life. Although, if all things went well, he'd still be training and helping out around IceHearth until his drak companion was old enough to travel. And that was if things went well. If he didn't pair, he'd need to wait for the next opportunity. Although word had it that a Wyld Hunt was being prepared in the near future.
Luckily for Patrice, he'd no need to go look for information on the Wyld Hunt as an orange drakling with bright yellow hair and wings approached him. Like most fire draks he was passionate and protective. But this drak also had a mellow, sweet side to him.
"I was given the name Reiyaes." the fire drakling told Patrice in a voice as smooth as honey, "Nice to meet you."
"Greetings, I'm Patrice."
"By your look I can sssee that you're either a hunter or fighter."
"I pride myself in being both." Patrice shrugged.
"I like that. No compromizes."

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KNIGHTHOOD
Returning to WindChill, Patrice was surprised that he did think of the place as home. There were people waiting for him and his fondness of it went beyond the duty to those who'd saved him. When they arrived, he was greeted by Era who showed off her own new drak, Day Kyullox.
"Look at us, proper knights!" she called.
"We sure did what we set out to do." Patrice agreed.
As the humans got reacquainted, their draks conversed as well. The exhuberant Kyullox wanted to know all about this person she'd heard about in stories. And Reiyaes was only too happy to oblige. In return he was told stories of the life at WindChill. As Kyullox told it, it was a happy place to be. Although, just by being close to her, Reiyaes felt energised. Maybe they should spend more time together....

Fire Reiyaes joined the Snow Armada as Knights & Trackers
Mate: Day Kyullox

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Intro - Lantessama Isle
Background from Deaimon Anime