In the Woods

You sat watching the sun go down, comfy on your tree branch with a blanket wrapped around you. You had just finished a particularly fun horror movie binge, and are lost in a mess of thoughts, revolving around new FLARP outfits you could design based on characters from the movie to OC's that you could create.

But, behind all that was the thought of this morning when- nope. Not gonna think about that right now. You just sat watching the sunset, enjoying being alone with nothing but the sun to keep you company. You heard the first sounds of lusii coming out and smiled to yourself. When not partaking in any of your other interests, you liked to turn wild lusii into pet, if you could even call them that.

You abandoned your blanket and shuffled down the tree. Grabbing your tazers that you always kept at your side, you grinned. Time to start hunting!

You wake up just as the sun goes down, even if you wanted you couldn't sleep anymore, even with the sopor slime you were having a terrible daymare, it was of the time you spent with that yellowblood... you don't even want to think about it, and you won't. You decide it will be better if you go and do a little hunting, maybe a little exploring would be fine to clear your mind.

You make sure you have your sylladex fully equiped so you won't make mistakes, you also remember to equip your tablet instead of carrying all those heavy books and things. You call Shield, on of your wolf pets, and he comes to you, he will be the one accompanying you today. You exit your hive after going down the stairs and crossing a couple of halls. Your hive sure is big.

Soon you are out in the forest, it is a little cold since is night, and being a seadweller doesn't helps. You pull up your hood and start walking in your favorite direction, there is a lot to hunt there, and there are parts you haven't explored, so you will take this chance. Shield and you continue walking, going deep into the forest, you are pretty used to this place, since you've been living here all your life, even though you're a seadweller.

You walk through the dimly lit forest, keeping an eye out for any signs of a lusus going to attack you. You keep you tasers in hand anyways, and trek on. Your jade lab coat that you almost always wore was no where to be seen. It was several sizes too large for you, but you wore it anyways because it had once belongs to you ancestor, The Scientist. It was no thing to lug around while hunting, but it still felt strange not wearing it.

Hearing a noise, you quickly climbed up a tree to get an advantage if it were a hostile lusus. Surprisingly enough, it was not a lusus, but a troll. Even more odd, a seadweller. You smirked and dropped down, landing behind the stranger.
" What's-a-seadweller-like-you-doing-on-land? " You asked slyly

When you are far enough you take out your scythe and hold it tightly, you know very well how dangerous this forest is, you won't lay your guard down and get killed. As you walk you feel the presence of another troll, you're not really sure if it's real though, so you raise your scythe a little, staying alert. When you hear the voice of the other troll you can tell she is female and also maybe younger than you. Even so you can't help feeling a little nervous, it's not often when you meet other trolls, less in this forest.

You turn around, still raising your staff, and you watch her in the eye, you were right. You don't want to tell her that you live near here, she is a complete stranger after all and her tone of voice doesn't helps you in thrusting her. You don't want to lie either so you guess you could tell half the truth -I was hunting- Even if she knows you are a seadweller, you don't take off yout hood -What about you? What are you doing in this forest?- you try to hide your shyness, it's not an easy work though.

You tell Shield mentally to keep calm and don't attack her, he doesn't seems to thrust her, but you know that's natural, since he doesn't knows her.

When the seadweller turns around, you see that it's a female. You quickly analyze the situation, and decide that the seadweller, though older than yourself, posed no threat. " I-live-here, obviously " You looked her up and down, then said, " Not-many-trolls-come-around-here. Do-you-live-here-also? " You doubted this, though. Why would a seadweller live on land?

Despite your ever-present confidence, you felt slightly vulnerable and even insecure without your lab coat. It was a strange feeling and you didn't like it. You studied the seadweller for a moment, and assessed her body language. She seemed uncomfortable, and you decided that there was no reason to feel vulnerable around this troll.

You were feeling quite uncomfortable, but not because of the other troll's presence, but because you couldn't really control your other self very well while in the forest, you don't even want to accept that she is rea. You notice she's not scared of you nor feeling threatened, you guess she doesn't care about the hemospectrum and that makes you feel better, you are fed up of trolls feeling scared of you or trying to kill you because of your violet blood. You feel a little better because of that and you relax, lowering your scythe and smiling at her.

Friend or enemy? you ask yourself, she doesn't seems like she is going to attack you I'll bet for friend, you guess you can tell her the truth, if she decides to attack you, it won't be a problem to deal with her, since you can control the beasts and the plants in these place.

-Yes, I live in these forest also-you smile again, you won't say more than that, you don't thrust her already, even though she seems friendly enough, you are worried she might be of the ones that hate seadwellers or something.

You look at her curiously for a moment, " That's-odd-for-a-seadweller, but-then-again-I-guess-you've-heard-that-before " You said to her, " I'm-Scitus, and-you-are? "

You really shouldn't have been acting so casual, because after all, this was a seadweller. They were known for being volatile, but you weren't afraid. You didn't really give two shits about caste stereotypes, and this girl didn't seem like the typical seadweller. The only time you sucked-up to highbloods was when it worked in your favour. Selfish? Yes, but it was worth it. Several highbloods owed you for various things. But then again, you sensed something dangerous beneath the surface, and decided to be wary and on guard.

-Yes, they say that to me a lot, but I don't really care, I'm used to it- and that is true. At least that is what they say before dying or running away, you are so used to it that you don't really care anymore. You don't like killing other trolls, but sometimes you really can't control her, that's the reason why you create a void between yourself and everything else by reading and going on adventures. You also use your psionics a lot for some protection, and also because beasts and plants are mostly the only friends you have, except for some trolls that you really like a lot.

-My name is Aryane- you point the wolf -He is Shield, nice to meet you Scitus-you smile again a little shyly, at least the conversation is advancing at a normal pace, or you think it is, since you aren't very good at talking with other trolls so your social skills are quite bad.

-Were you hunting too?- you ask her just to talk about something, you are pretty sure her house is not really near here, ad she doesn't seems like the type that explores, but maybe you are wrong. Eve though you feel comfortable with the hood it's just for hiding your gills, so you lower it, revealing your black hair with violet locks. You like it better like that.

You nod, " They-make-good, er, pets. " You laughed slightly, " If-you-can-call-them-that, of-course " You look at the wolf, thinking about how it would probably make a good test subject- put you push it out of your mind. It would be suicide to attack a highblood's pet or lusus of whatever the fuck it was.

" Is-this-your-lusus? " You asked, gesturing to Shield. Wolf lusii roamed the forest often, so you were familiar with what they looked like. You actually rather liked them when they weren't attacking you. Sometimes you wished you hadn't ended up with your shit of a lusus. But hey, what could you do about it? You end up with whoever you end up with.

Oh, she was hunting too, you wonder if you're not just interrupting her, you know the forest very well and you can go search other spots, or maybe you can both go hunting together... No, that's the craziest idea you've had today, there's no way she would accept hunting with you, even if she doesn't cares that you are a seadweller, you are still a stranger, you can't trust a stranger just like that.

-No, he's one of my pets, though my lusus is indeed a wolf- you answer, she's quite curious about you, you're not sure if that disturbs you or if you like it, anyway, you guess you can be just as curious for her -What about you?- you ask her, you never heard of someone else living in this forest, so you want to know more about here, even so, you can't help but feel a little shy.

You sigh, you don't know if you want to become her friend or if you prefer to continue exploring, you are feeling so tired because of the horrible daymare you have your mood is not the best right now. Even though you're not angry or overwhelmed, but it's easy for her to control you when your defenses are this low, that's why you're hunting now even though you have enough food in your hive, you thought you could let her out to hunt and calm a little. Guess you can't do that now.

"My-lusus-was-an-antelope" You laugh slightly,"I-mean-is. It's-complicated" You didn't really want to elaborate on that. It was pretty odd, even for you. You were about to say something else, when you heard some rustling in the bushes behind. Reacting automatically, you reached for your weapon as a huge cougar lusus jumped from the bushes.

It fell down when the electricity from the tasers you use, but you knew that wouldn't last. You used tasers because it wouldn't kill the lusus, if you decided to experiment with it. "Sorry-about-that" You said to the seadweller,"I-wonder-how-long-it's-been-watching-us?"

((srry just wanted to liven things up))

Antelope? You've seen of those, but you don't have one as a pet, you wonder how is it to have it as a lusus. Your lusus is a really caring one and a little overprotective sometimes, specially when you explore other places out of these forest, she's always getting worried over you going out, but you already decided that you are free to do so and also that you need it, it makes you feel less alone? You're not sure about that, but it does helps to keep het under control. You don't ask about her lusus anymore, it's clearly enough she doesn't wants to talk about that -I understand, don't worry- you smile slightly.

You react quickly to the noises and raise your scythe, poiting it at the huge cougar that jumped from the bushes, though Scitus acts fast and immobilizes it with her weapon, it seems it uses electricity, that's interesting. You watch the cougar with an expert eye, you don't like killing beasts either, since you can talk to them and hear them, you can feel what they feel, so it's a little sad for you -Don't worry. It wasn't for too long, since Shield didn't felt it's presence, neither did I, or you, which means it must have jumped to attack us as soon as it saw us... Maybe it's too hungry to think about things clearly?- the las question is more for yourself than for her, but you still say it outloud.

You approach the beast, with your scythe in hand, ready to deffend in case it attacks, Shield is ready also, he's not too big but he's really strong, so it shouldn't be a problem.

((Don't be! It's okay ^^ It's funnier this way))

"Hm" You say, "But-it's-quite-large. There-are-lots-of-other-lusii-in-the-forest, much-smaller-than-this" You were no expert on animal behavior, but you thought this was odd. "Maybe-we-looked-like-easy-prey?" You suggest, though it was unsettling to think about.

You studied the girl as she walked over to the immobilized cougar. She looked tired and slightly upset.You were good at reading body language, but there was something guarded about to way the held herself. You wonder why all that was, and she looked like she would make a fantastic subject- no, no. Even though she looked like innocent, you suspected she would kick your ass if you tried to experiment on her. And besides, it would be nice to have a friend. You can only live in isolation for so long.

-That's a good possibility, though I don't think we look weak or something similar- you glance at your scythe, it looks pretty deadly, as always, so you think that wasn't the case, there must be something else -The animals here don't usually behave like this, so I think it was something else... Maybe something was chasing it before? And it thought we were a danger, so it attacked us as soon as it saw us- you think. You've lived in this forest since you were just a small wriggler and your lusus chose you, you know pretty well this place and it's residents, so why would it attack you like that? You don't know, but you're curious about it.

You feel like she is watching you so you turn around a little to see her, she is indeed kind of staring at you, you smile at her and then take a few steps back of the cougar -I guess maybe there is someone or something else here?- you ask, though it's more of an opinion, but that will do. You look at Shield, maybe you can send him to do a little of exploration, but you don't want to risk his life, you would never forgive yourself if the pet Ducita named was hurt somehow.

"If-something-is-out-there, and-that-animal-was-afraid-of-it, " You gestured to the rather large cougar, "Then-I-think-it's-definitely-worth-fearing. We-should-move, if-you-want-to-continue-this-conversation. If-not, I'm-out-of-here" You weren't really afraid of anything in these woods, but there were things inside of them that could rip you apart in seconds. Electricity can only do so much for you. You were somewhat anxious to get out of this general vicinity, because that's what always happened when you didn't have complete control over a situation. You get anxiety.

You look around, searching for any signs of another animal. Not spotting anything, you went over to inspect the currently unconscious lusus. On it's back legs were scratch marks where a little bit of olive blood leaked out. "Check-this-out" You said, but it was mainly to yourself.

-Yes, I agree with you, if this cougar is big, let's just imagine the thing that was chasing him- you almost shudder as you think of it, for such a powerful animal to be running from something, it's definately something that should 'cause fear, but you weren't shuddering because of that, but because of the emotion at the thought of a fight, though you wouldn't be the one fighting, it would be her, you were still full of adrenalin -Let's move then, I don't think we have other things to do here.

You approach the cougar when she says that, you walk around it, inspecting it carefully until you see the scratch marks, they were long and pretty deep, the beast might bleed to death because of that, but that wasn't of course your biggest problem -They are recent, if you don't want to fight the creature that did that, we should get moving then- and really quick, the cougar's are fast creatures, if the beast who did this scrathed it while running, it was pretty fast too.