Her dad's hat. No wonder she seemed to always have it, what with how important family was to her. Definitely was the type to treasure something like that. Darrus couldn't say the same about himself. Most of his possessions were mostly just things in his mind, stuff to use and discard once they weren't useful anymore. Except for a choice few items he often carried with him, but those, along with his dagger and throwing knife, were currently locked away in that very same tavern they were enjoying their drinks in. Even then none of then carried the same kind of value as that hat probably did for AJ.
Lifting his mug again as the mare moved on to answer his question of if she would travel, Darrus sipped his drink and kind of just checked such an idea off as having already been accomplished or at least would be soon based off of what she was telling him. Crystal Empire, Manehatten, Cloudsdale, shed certainly been around already, and with her status as one of the bearers of the elements of harmony, something Darrus still needed to occasionally remind himself was actually true, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before that list of places shed seen would grow longer despite her own reluctance to travel. Her enjoyment of the stability the farm brought her though... Darrus, after spending time there himself, could see how it could be relaxing and nice, but he was even now still needing to adjust to such an environment as he waited for cider season to roll around. Still made his wings twitch a bit when he thought about how long he'd stayed here already.
"Heh, why waste time with my story when you've got so many better ones?" Darrus replied, pulling a complete 180 on his usual boasting as he claimed his long story wouldn't actually even be interesting instead pf the most interesting thing anypony could ever hope to be lucky enough to hear. "I mean, chimeras? Come on, you'll have to tell em about that sometime. As for my special talent, well, I kind of always sorta knew more or less from an early age. Always hitting my mark with everything from hoof thrown stones to slingshots definitely made the eventual appearance of my cutie mark not be the most shocking of revelations. Some of the adults around me just kinda groaned when they saw it actually casue then they knew I had an excuse to throw things more often. The actual moment where it became certain though, and my cutie mark came to me... Hmm...
"I was playing with my grandfather's old bow," he recounted, tapping a hoof on his chin as he tried to recall, "I'd set up my own shooting range made up of toys and knick knacks out of both boredom and having been left alone for a day, and my grandfather was getting forgetful by then so he left his cases for his old gear unlocked. Took me a while to actually get the thing working for me cause of how much bigger it was than me, and once I got a shot off I realized it wasn't the best idea to do such a thing while indoors. Kid me was kind of dumb sometimes. Anyway, I broke a vase, a window, half of a glass door for a bookcase, impaled several of the books it was meant to protect and a collectable Wonderbolts doll. Sorry, 'action figure'. It was a rag doll despite whatever my grandfather tried to get us to believe and none of us were ever fooled. In the midst of all the chaos though, and after I made several more shots because, hey, I was gonna get in trouble at this point anyway so why not, I actually was able to get the darn thing under control and fire an arrow off proper. Was a bullseye, of course, and my cutie mark appeared shortly after. Didn't notice it till hours later however as my parents returned home just when it happened and promptly flipped out. When tempers cooled we noticed and naturally threw a parade later that day." He added that last part with a smirk, clearly joking as he was able to relax more after telling the story of his cutie mark and letting the earlier talk get pushed further back in his mind.
"This reminds me of something else I've been wondering about you," he went on, pausing for another sip before continuing, "well, you and your brother really. Your cutie marks, I've been trying to figure them out. I don't believe you've ever mentioned what your special talents are, or at least I know I haven't ever had a discussion with you over it yet. Granny Smith has one that's easy to guess while Apple Bloom hasn't gotten hers yet, so you two have been making me wonder lately. Three apples and half an Apple. Originally I figured your talent was in Apple bucking given how good you are at it, and that the three apples were supposed to be falling to represent that, but I'm just guessing here. Was I close? I have no clue when it comes to your brother though."