Change [PRP: Cyril]

[Cass]

(( Excuse the craptacular title. Assumed it could be more of a theme. ))

The breeze was kind and gentle today but enough to trail her scent away from the rabbit warrens up ahead. The light was dimming in the twilight part of the day, the perfect time to play in the shadows and trick the senses of her dinner. The forest girl preferred not to kill for her supper but the situation was becoming dire as vegetation was not keeping her body strong. Linwe' was currently perched on a branch of an old tree surveying the meadow up ahead through the leaves. All her blue eyes could see were young kits playing and making her feel quite guilty. Crafty bunnies.

After sitting very still for a while an older rabbit probably closer to the end of it's life than the kits, strayed to the outskirts of the meadow near the young woman's location. Linwe' chose him and slowly lowered her small body to the forest floor. The sun was dipping behind the mountain ridge. Darkness would be coming soon and she needed to act quickly before the animals retired to safety for the night. Soundlessly her naked feet touched the earth feeling it's energy flowing about her; a strange sixth sense. She could almost feel the rabbit's heartbeat pulsing through the soil as she crept closer with her spear gripped tightly in her hand.

Steadying her breathing and quietly sweeping her long hair out of her vision, Linwe' positioned herself to strike down at the creature with her weapon, slowly raising it above her head from the brush. The young woman aimed for it's heart; a quick, humane kill. The rabbit paused in it's last rummage for food, little nose twitching and smelling at the air, knowing that something was peculiar in the forest. Taking notice of the rabbit's behaviour broke her concentration of the hunt, and a different stronger pulse ran through her body from the forest floor. It caused her to gasp in surprise causing the rabbit to have a minor panic attack and sprint off in fright.

It hadn't been her that the bunny had been detecting first of all however. Linwe's magic hummed in her mind and she closed her vibrant eyes to concentrate on this new life's pulse. It was close in the forest and did not belong judging by the trees perception and the noise of it's steps. Perhaps she should escape this area? It could be another of those witch hunters that visited the forest sometimes. She remembered one day that she had run into a Fel’asaris. That certainly taught her that these woods weren't as safe as they once were. But perhaps it would be better to investigate, curiousity usually winning the girl over. Climbing back up into the same tree from before the scraggly girl followed the stranger's presence.

[Locke (DP)]

In his left hand he carried a walking stick and in his right hand a book which his eyes never strayed from. Dark was coming to the forest and with it came hellish beasts and ethereal monsters created from the ash that had drifted in from the south. The forest was never safe for long but at the current moment he was at his emotional equilibrium. The ranger paid only enough mind to not stumble while he read, but otherwise his brain was concentrating on the creation of airships and nothing more.

Then a leaf fell right over the words he was reading. First he tilted the book sideways thinking surely a stray leaf would easy fall from the pages. Wrong. The pesky little thing clung to the book like it belonged there. Too lazy to drop his stick and pick it off the pages, Cyril upturned the book and shook it with a little too much vigor. The leaf fell free. Ah, finally, back to his reading.

The moment the leaf had torn his concentration from the words, however, was the exact moment he got prickling feelings on the back of his neck. I’m just being paranoid, he thought, initially trying to dismiss the feeling. It’s getting closer to dark and- It was in that moment the ranger glanced towards the canopy. Cyril did a quick double-take before his hand went to his pistol, a reflex of surprise. A girl was watching him from the trees! So his feelings hadn’t been unfounded.

“Hey! What are you doing up there?” Cyril barked in a sharp, demanding voice. “Spying on me?”

The ranger immediately thought she must have been doing exactly that. The woman must have been sent from Sideris- perhaps they had already caught wind of his operation and were looking to put an end to it. The ragged girl didn’t look like a spy from Sideris, but Cyril thought that was the point. A spy wouldn’t look like a spy…obviously…

“Well, you’ll find the life of a hermit rather uninteresting,” Cyril assured the spy. “You might as well go back to whoever sent you because you won’t find anything here.”

[Cass]

She stood motionless with her back leaning against the trunk of the tree three or four large branches up. Her pale blue eyes saw a white mop of hair through the greens and browns of the forest, focusing on this guest reading whilst traveling. Linwe' referred to all travelers to the forest as a guest. Some were nice, polite ones and others were destruction, impolite beings. She was surprised in her statuesque position that the newcomer detected her presence before passing her by. Her heart hammered with his and she half-ducked behind the width of the tree as the weapon was pointed at her.

A strong wind blew through the leaves almost like a frightened threat that Linwe' was too shocked to voice. This stranger had keen senses and she would be best not to underestimate him. Why did dangerous creatures keep passing through her home? Why couldn't she meet someone that she could speak to?
Still she attempted to speak with this one in hope that it was a bad guest.
"I am not a spy," her voiced cracked slightly from minimal use. She swallowed and poked her head out from behind the tree looking down to the dark skinned man.
"I am this forest's guardian," she explained in simple terms in how she viewed her place here.

She hesitated slightly. If she dropped her spear to make a gesture of peace things could go one of two ways. She would be made an easy target to an aggressive guest to the forest or she could calm the on-edge human. Linwe' was uncertain and so searched her magic lightly, following the endless network of earth and trees that was now flowing into this man. It flowed in a smooth rhythm, not jagged and erratic like when she had met the Fel’asaris.

Her spear gave a musical, wooden noise of impact as she dropped it from her position and raised her hands near her face whilst stepping out from behind the shield of the tree.