Red is the rose that AH! THORNS!

[Anonymous]

She was running by the time she made it to the town borders.

No one had told her that it was in the middle of a forest. She had just assumed that it was in a grassy area! Briar had forgotten to mention that La'marri was in the middle of a FOREST! She soldiered on though, despite the fact that she wanted to set the whole place on fire. Only the fact that she had decided to run as fast as she could through the forest path was the forest's salvation. It stopped her from wanting to start a large scale fire that would probably do a lot of harm to the area.

She had been scared though...she had been really scared. The trees and the plants kept reaching out to her, with her eyes firmly locked on the ground she had run. Luckily the path she had taken didn't take all day, and it was only mid afternoon when the young green skinned woman dashed into the clearing that La'marri stood in.

She had her ankle length soft purple dress clutched in her hands, showing off her white leggings and simple leather shoes. She would have worn something else if she had known the TOWN WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST! Her knuckles were turning white from clutching onto her dress, but slowly the red tinged brown haired woman let go of her clothes and took a few deep calming breaths. She looked somewhat out of place, wearing a long sleeved white shirt and a brown leather corset vest, one that helped to give her petite body a little more of a bust. It helped her earn more tips when she worked in the Inn.

She assumed it would be okay to wear the clothes still...but she had been quite wrong. Now her bright green eyes surveyed the area carefully. Okay...there was grass, but grass was okay...it was just grass...it didn't like her like trees and other plants did. She gulped down some fresh air and began to walk very quickly till she was on the road. She still felt better with dirt and rock under her foot than grass. Grass could change its mind after all and attack her.  Another deep breath and she was safely surrounded by buildings and people...though they were looking at her a little oddly...She tugged on her shirt sleeves a little, trying to hide the strange ivy plant pattern on her arms and wrists. She didn't know how they came to be, but she was sure that she had them all her life.

Now she had to find an Inn, where she'd be safe and sound inside the building.

[Anonymous]

The sky was a flawless periwinkle hue, sparsely dotted with wispy clouds. Radiant sunlight flowed over the forest canopy and filtered through leaves beginning to show the vaguest hints of crimson and orange around their edges. Beneath the trees, moving among the shadows dancing lazily across the ground, the tall figure of a female crossed from one blossom to another. Kneeling, she cupped delicate hands around the trampled bloom and closed her eyes.

Inhaling deeply as a gentle warmth moved through her fingers, Maliha stilled her movement and concentrated on healing the damaged life in her grasp. As the plant flowered and tickled her palms, the dryad smiled and allowed her arms to fall slowly to her knees. Her large eyes, sage green and oddly flecked with chestnut brown, gazed at the healthy, pretty pink petals in front of her. She reached to stroke the bloom but paused mid-movement, startled by the sound of running feet.

Maliha rose and moved quickly to her tree. Standing slightly behind its trunk, her long curls flashing bright shimmers of scarlet and gold in the light, she watched as a young woman raced into view. Passing within inches of the newly healed flower as she ran, Maliha had just enough time to register pale green skin before the woman was out of sight. Green skin... the dryad pondered, unused to other creatures such as herself. The woman's affinity to nature was clear, however - the flora had almost pulled itself from the ground in its haste to pet her.

Moving away from the tree, Maliha looked in the direction where the woman had disappeared. If she was in trouble, it might be a good idea to talk to her and find out why. Although she kept mostly to herself, counting on the odd traveler to entertain her, she understood that if something had threatened the green-skinned woman enough to send her running in panic, it could be important to the forest's well-being.

Her mind decided, Maliha brushed the dirt from her long skirts. The dress, a pale amethyst in color, was fitted around the bodice and flowed from her waist to the ground, masking bare toes. Only the tops of her pale shoulders were covered, leaving the expanse of her arms unencumbered. Picking up her sewing bag - she never knew where she might need to do some mending - the dryad set off toward the forest's limits.

[Anonymous]

Why couldn't she just have stayed in Arca? Then again,t here were some really bad things in Arca...there were still plants there in Arca, but there wasn't as many. It wasn't like there was a whole forest surrounding...her. That just made her skin go a paler green if possible. She'd be sleeping...SURROUNDED by a forest. That was something that she hadn't come to think about either. It wasn't like she could just...run back through the forest, what if it got dark? What if the plants really started to grab her then?! Oh no no no, this was bad. She'd be safe in the inn though right? She just would have to sleep in the common room near the fire place, or hope her room had a fire place.

Yes. That was decided. Stay near fire, because plants and trees were afraid of fire.

The question now was where was the Inn?

She decided to stop a passerby, a young man carrying...ah! Clothes it looked like. Quickly she placed a hand on his arm, causing him to look at her with a smile. "Yes, can I help you?" He asked in a friendly tone. "Yes sir, is there an Inn nearby? Preferably a cheap one?" She asked him. The man turned to look down the road and gestured. "Go down to the end of this street and look for the large building on the left." He told her calmly. She curtsied to him and flashed a quick smile before she started off toward the inn.

Something hit her though and she stopped, turning to look at him. He was off and walking again...he didn't even look back at her! That was something that was completely new to her. Someone just...went about their day as if seeing a green skinned woman was normal. The woman stood there just...staring after him in complete disbelief. While people didn't stare at her TOO much in Arca, they were some that still looked at her like she had the plague. However that man just...gave her directions and then went about his day.

Maybe this place wasn't the worst place in the world...though it was still surrounded by forest...but still not that bad! She fit in around here!

[Anonymous]

The trees quickly thinned, and Maliha's pace slowed. Truth be told, she was loathe to leave the sanctuary of trees and and flora - the pace of humans was an odd one. The dryad liked to ease through her day softly and somehow always managed to find herself caught up in the middle of an unstoppable crowd when in town. She would watch, helpless, as she was quickly swept away from her destination. It wasn't her favorite activity, crowd-surfing.

Well, it mattered not: she would enter town, there was no help for it. Torso firming with resolve and dark eyes glinting, Maliha paused only momentarily along the fringe of the forest before quickly striding into the clearing housing La'marri.  The lack of trees was sudden and sent a quick pang of anxiety slipping down the dryad's back. She stared at the town - the buildings and people and noise - and the crowd she was so quickly approaching. Too many people, she thought, swallowing uneasily. It was not Maliha's first visit to La'marri - she often sold her services as a seamstress there - but the sheer number of bodies living in such close quarters always caught her by surprise.

The woman with the green skin caught her by surprise, too, as Maliha plunged into the marketplace and swerved to avoid food stalls. The woman was talking to ... a potential customer? She eyed the clothing in the young man's hands and priced the cloth even as she fought against the crowd, clawing her way back toward the two figures in front of her. The woman curtsied and began moving away, and Maliha's eyes widened in alarm. Increasing her pace and using her elbows perhaps a bit more than was warranted, she managed to catch up to the woman (and cast a longing glance at the young man's cloth in the process).

"Hey! Hello!" Out of breath, Maliha gasped out a greeting as she finally reached her goal. Glad to be near a fellow creature of nature - even one as comfortable in cities as the female in front of her appeared to be - she crowded rather close, forgetting all about personal space and propriety.

"My name is Maliha! It's so nice to meet you - I mean, I saw you in the woods," flashing a concerned glance at the woman's face, Maliha returned to examining her companion's appearance as she spoke. "I was worried, of course. Are you okay? Because if anyone threatened you," with these words, an almost comically stern look settled over the dryad's delicate features, "we'll stop them. I'll stop them," somehow, she added silently. "You have every right to live in the forest."

She fell silent, earnest gaze resting on the green-skinned woman's face, and pondered ways to help.

((Ehh. I'm not so happy with this response, but it didn't want to work with me >_< And at least it's up. I'm not always full of fail =3 ))

[Anonymous]

((Just a question, what colour is Mali's skin anyway?))

Going back to Arca wasn't going to be fun. Sure, the mountains were safe, there was very little vegetation up there (Though she had woken up a few times with moss trying to creep up her legs, no doubt wanting to keep her there and feed off her.) but there were still tons of forests in between. Frankly, she was almost sure that she'd just get a mage to try and teleport her back to Arca and just charge Briar for it. That actually sounded like a marvellous idea. While she didn't inherently trust teleporting, like she'd lose something off her body...it was much better than being killed and turned into plant food.

In fact anything was almost better than that in her opinion.

She was here for now, but soon she was going to get out of here. She couldn't remember exactly why she was here...Briar mentioned his brother worked here or something...and she was supposed to learn about different Inns and how they operated, maybe pull in more money. She was pretty sure that Briar just hired some busty blonde for a while to see how much he could make while she was away.

He was really a nice guy overall, after all he kept her around...and he did pay for this little get away but still. She was sure that he was just trying to drive her crazy by sending her here. She would probabyl like the place better if it was more like Zantaric. Okay, not int he fact that it was a lawless haven for the depraved, but beacuse it was in the mountains where there was little vegetation. That would be nice. That'd be good, because then it would be away from the forest. That evil...dark...place that tried to eat her.

She shuddered at the thought of it.

There wasn't much time to think about anything else though, between the thought of returning through the forest and the man who didn't stare at her, someone had crept up in front of her suddenly and greeted her in exclamation. With a small surprised noise, she stepped back and put a hand to her chest. "A-ah!" It was more of a squeak, but it was all she could manage in her surprise. She wished she had paid a little more attention! She'd have to be careful here. Maybe this...this woman thought she was a resident?

"Oh I uh..." Still a little surprised, her heart still racing, and her mind still turning, she wasn't able to introduce herself before the woman started talking again and...examining her. Oh no, she was one of these people then? Who liked to....she didn't even want to think about it. People said she looked exotic with green skin, and some were into the more...exotic things. Though, it wasn't very often that a woman was interested in her. However, she was more interested in why she was running. Maybe it was...genuine concern?

"Uhm...it...it has nothing to do with p-people! And I d-don't want to live in the forest! A-are you crazy?! T-...That's just crazy." She didn't admit to a lot of people that she was AFRAID of the forest, of plants. People said that they didn't want to hurt her, but she had heard tales of people being crushed by plants, and eaten by some. Her fears were sort of justified! People still thought she was a little crazy though.

"O-oh...I'm Auri by t-the way. Auri Frostwillow."