Log// Closed // Backdated to Dec 9

[coimiceoir]

Who: Connor and Aisling
When: Evening, December 9th
Where: Forest edge
What: An overattentive guardian startles a sleeper
Warnings: Possible language? IDK yet.



It had only been a few days since she had escaped the nefarious clutches of the hospital, and Aisling was still working on her full survey of the forest, so she was much further south when evening fell and a new presence settled in on the edge nearest the city. The lingering effects of her incarceration slowed her down, and it was full night before she made it back to investigate.

There... in one of the trees, curled up where several branches made a sort of bowl, was a strange man. A leap and a bounce later, she was crouched over his head on a lighter cross-branch screened by leaves. He wasn't... entirely human, and he hadn't announced himself. Given that she was still jumpy about almost losing her forest to an intentional fire, perhaps it was understandable that she didn't want to wait for him to wake up naturally.

A handful of acorns rained onto his chest, punctuating her sharp question: "What are you doing here?"

Comments

[waywardboy]

He was startled by the maneuver, visibly so, and took half a step back without meaning to. Her shift in attitude seemed to do a great deal to put him at ease, however. While he didn't let his defenses drop entirely, he allowed himself to relax just the tiniest bit, sweeping his gaze across the surrounding area.

"I didn't know it belonged to anyone," he said simply, earnest. "It's just... familiar."

Actually, it was a hell of a lot nicer than the forests he was used to, but it was still closer than any city park would have been. He decidedly did not like cities. Places with too many people just felt oppressive and unnatural.

"... don't like parks." Bad memories. Being kicked out of your father's house and being forced to sleep on the streets for awhile would do that to a guy. It wasn't that he minded sleeping outside -- the forest had suited him just fine. Constantly having to watch his back while he slept somewhere easily accessible, however, was less than appealing.

[coimiceoir]

She wasn't particularly fond of the parks either - too much planning, too many rigid lines, too many rules and not enough wild nature. Everything in its proper place. It was part of why she spent so much time in her forest instead of in the city. Well. That and the pressure of all those forbidden doors and iron and strangers. She didn't blame him for seeking a quieter, more wonderful place to spend his time.

"The forest is under my protection - and so is anything in it!" She looks rather smug about this, really, pressing a hand to her chest and then gesturing out to encompass everything from here to the curve of the mountain range and around to the sea. "If you want to stay, you'll have to follow my rules." Her smile edges toward the mischievous momentarily, but her eyes are still keenly interested in him.

[waywardboy]

It took him a moment to process, at first. She wasn't going to try and chase him out? He considered the implications for a moment before speaking, folding his arms across his chest to close himself off, protect himself.

"What are your rules?"

[coimiceoir]

That little smile widened. Ahh... Here was one who thought on his feet, even when surprised and out of his element. Maybe he would be more fun - and more suited to life here - than she'd thought. She clasped her hands behind her and paced a short line in the grass that never seemed to bend where her feet had passed. It was probably fairly comical, actually, but this was what the family bard had done when he had a particularly important point to make.

"They're simple enough! The animals and trees are my subjects and my friends - if you hurt one of them, you'll need to deal with me." She turns a stern frown on him, a hint of stone beneath her tone at the end. "Wander where you will, but don't forget that I can find you whenever and wherever you are while you're here - call for me and I'll come. If you need to take something, take only what you need and if at all possible, ask for it first." Something occurs to her very visibly and she adds one last thing, sharply, nearly an afterthought. "No fires! Not in the forest. Only in one of the caves on bare rock, with dead wood."

Realizing how she'd slipped up there, she smiles magnanimously. "Very simple."

[waywardboy]

His eyes followed her as she paced from side-to-side, his face humorless even as something about her actions caused something akin to amusement to stir. He nodded as she spoke, taking note of each instruction. It was much the way he had lived in Quor'toth, though the forest there had been a den of demons, with nothing there that was worth protecting. Still, it had not occurred to him to hunt the animals here as he would have hunted the demons in dark forests he had become so accustomed to. They had never done him any wrong, and were a danger to no one.

"Fine," he told her, his tone not nearly as gracious as it should have been. "Simple enough. I won't hurt anything here."

[coimiceoir]

"If you do something wrong, you'll know," she says airily. She should be striking a bargain with him for the privilege of being able to stay here, but she would just think of it as a favor she could maybe collect later. She was getting soft, spending so much time around humans, the elders would say. But she didn't mind so much right now. He might make a good ally, if he saw the importance of the forest, like he seemed to. She'd keep an eye on him and see how it went.

"If you want to be deeper in, there are more sheltered places to sleep. Later I'll introduce you to my friends."

[waywardboy]

"What kind of friends are they?" he asked, caution turning to curiosity, as though the very concept was foreign to him. His arms dropped away from his chest, tension seeping away as he allowed himself to accept the fact that Aisling wasn't about to attack him. At least, not at the moment.

"I'm Connor," he tacked on unceremoniously. It had to be said at some point, didn't it?

[coimiceoir]

The child laughs, a truly genuine smile making its first appearance. Now that it's been arranged to her (current) satisfaction, she can't seem to stay still for long, and leaps back into the tree in one go. Hanging upside-down from a branch, she explains, "They help me take care of the forest! Hunt down the bad things, keep everything in balance. And play with me."

Swing, flip, twist, and she's seated on the lip of the area he'd been sleeping in. "I'm Aisling." She pronounces the 's' softly, slurring the name a little so that becomes "ASH-ling".

[waywardboy]

"... it's nice to meet you."

He looks over his shoulder, as if expecting to suddenly see some sign of someone else -- or something else -- in the vicinity. He watches her with interest as she swings into the tree with ease; clearly such things have become second nature to her.

"Are there a lot of bad things in the forest? I mean... are there monsters? Demons? I didn't smell any, but this place is so strange. It's going to take some getting used to before I can track properly."

[coimiceoir]

No one's there, silly. If she wanted to surprise you with her friends, she would have done it already. Lucky for him, the wolves and panther are at the other end of the woods tracking down Katniss to make sure that she's all right. A brief pained expression crosses her face at the mention of monsters and she turns aside so that her hair shields her from him. It's the work of a moment to spring into the denser branches so that her voice filters down from the close leaves. It makes it easier to keep her voice more neutral when she didn't have to guard her appearance so closely.

"Not right now. There are times when the Shadows come." Something about the way she says the word puts an audible capital 'S' on 'shadows'. "And sometimes the island floods with strange creatures. There are those who defend against them." Suddenly she peeks out again almost right overhead. "How long have you been on the island?"

[waywardboy]

"Shadows."

He echoes her as he moves beneath the tree, looking upwards and attempting to peer at her through the branches, unsure as to why she suddenly felt the need to hide herself.

"... only a few days. Everything is strange here. I don't understand any of it."

[coimiceoir]

Monsters... monsters... She'd been trying so hard not to be one herself, and then she abandoned it all. In some ways, then, she was no better than the monsters she was trying to defend against. Did her experience against her Shadow mean nothing? Well. Nevermind that now.

What she needed to know would determine whether or not she might be able to form an alliance with him against the things which roared in the night.

"Do you wake in the middle of the night? During the Darkest Hour?"

[waywardboy]

He shifted uncomfortably, narrowing his eyes and doing his best to study her for a moment before slowly nodding, confirming.

"I haven't moved when it's come, but I can feel the change that comes over the island. There's something out there in the dark. Something sinister."

He'd been a hunter long enough to know that just by feel.