(open) Why so many trees in a forest?!

[Anonymous]

She pitched forward, her narrow, small foot caught in a root arched up from the ground. Michaela, or least commonly known 'Mikey', yelped, her hands shooting forward in vain to catch herself. And she still hit the ground with a hard thud and a wail of indignation and surprise. The thirteen year old scrunches up her face in pain, slowly sitting up, her face contorted in a scowl. She examines her sore, and quickly bruising ankle and touches it with a wince. Probably just sprained. Hopefully. Her cheeks are suddenly flush with temper and aggravation, like a child just on the verge of a waterfall of tears. And, oh, Mikey really was.

Very close.

With a jerky twist of her head she looks around herself and up at the trees and vegetation, aware that it all looked the same. Her stomach twisted with a suddenly sinking feeling. She didn't want to admit it. Couldn't really, but she was certainly in quite a bit of trouble. Of course, she wouldn't even BE in this amount of trouble if she hadn't been kidnapped! And taken to somewhere -- wherever the hell she was -- in the middle of absolutely no where!

"Waterdale has to be close," she said aloud, although mostly to herself, and angrily. She just realized how much she'd much rather be home than tromping through the woods with the end not in sight. Not the way she envisioned she'd spend a day.

What if she wasn't out by night? Mikey scrambled to her feet, whimpering pitifully when she applied weight to her sprained ankle but resolutely moving on. Although in a slow, equally pitiful limp. She'd go home, crawl into -- no, eat, take a bath and then sleep. Yes, that sounded marveouls!

Of course, poor Mikey didn't realize she was a huge distance away from Waterdale. Hell, she wasn't even aware that a month or more had gone by since her disappearance thanks to a healthy dose of magic that her captors had given her since day one. She just thought it had been one day.

A hand lifts to touch her hair, her gaze sweeping down across her clothing. Her clothing, once a pretty green and black dress was now torn up. And for some reason it had been quite dirty. And her hair... it was tangled, dirty and she could only imagine the horror a mirror would present to her. She was especially upset over her hair. She couldn't imagine a single day could do all this damage!

There was a part of her brain that did suggest that something didn't add up. That this was certainly more than a day's work but she ignored it. She couldn't remember any other days of being in captivity! It had to have only been a day. It had to.

She really didn't want to think of the possibility of it being otherwise.

Mikey paused at a particularly gnarled and twisted tree, leaning against it and glancing around. The forest itself was dark, patches of weak, waning light stabbing through the concealing roof of leaves and entwined branches. It was actually quite creepy when you stood to look at it... She winced. She didn't want to be looking around like a moron, scaring herself silly when -- what was that? She shrunk back against the trunk before tilting her chin, leaning forward slightly to peer up and -- only a bush, she thought dismissively and with no small degree of contempt. Of course.

The forest was FULL of bushes!

Full of trees, dirt and bugs. Full of everything she SHOULDN'T be in contact with!

A princess didn't deserve to be in here!

And yet she was. There should be guards and people scouring every near place to Waterdale. Where were they? She growled beneath her breath, thinking of how stupid everyone was.

She stomped her foot. Yelped, having stomped her injured foot. Her cheeks flushed, embarrassed and frustrated. She was dirty. She was tired and hungry. And lost. Completely lost. Where were the people?

[Anonymous]

A sound arose from the darkness of sleep as the sudden sharp pain in the back sent his consciousness flying back to the realm of the awake.

Ric Halcon found himself lying on the ground rather uncomfortably as small roots tried to penetrate his tunic. <A forest huh, at least it's an improvement> he thought to himself.
Large old trees and small bush like plants trying to survive in an ecosystem made to support survival of the most adaptive.  

A small but sharp cry interrupted his trail of thought so he got up and saw a huge tree twisting upwards like fingers from death incarnate. Apparently the sound had come from over there.
Hoping he would find something exiting he strolled towards it. The sound of dead forest-foliage crushed underneath leather shoes giving away his location.

[Anonymous]

The moment she heard the dead leaves crunch beneath some kind of weight and in a consistent manner, her figurative hackles shot up. She pushed herself back against the trunk of the tree, as if by crushing against it she could become one with it and hide from whatever was out there. Her eyes darted around in quick, short sweeps as panic and fear hammered away at her common sense. And then, as she inched along the tree and clocked the back of her head squarely off a low branch she realized how stupid she was being. Embarrassed, her cheeks heated up ferociously. Annoyed, she straightened, sliding smoothly into a more haughty and proud pose with her delicate chin lifted up as if she was a queen rather than a lost thirteen year old princess.

Mikey didn't like acting like an idiot, cowering against a tree like some beaten street urchin. She was royalty, for heaven's sake! Therefore, she didn't have the luxury or pretending to be afraid at some noise in the forest. Even if it was particularly terrifying, especially when she couldn't see all to well with the darkness, the shadows and just generally confusing configuration of the forest itself.

Boldly, she moved back around the tree towards the noise, looking as imperious as she possibly could. As if whoever was there just interrupted something particularly good.

So it WAS a person. Panic flickered inside her again. It couldn't possibly be one of the kidnappers could it...? It didn't have the stiff march of a guard or soldier of her family. The person wasn't bulky enough either.

"Who are you?" Michaela asked, her voice stern and sharp but even she realized it sounded young. Like a child. But she realized this was her chance. Might as well take advantage of it while she could. "Where is this place?" Her tone didn't change, still imperious and demanding.

Anything to cover the fear and keep the hysteria at bay.

[Anonymous]

Well, at least one young female in the forest didn't mind either the shadows or being hysterical.  Didn't mind the trees, bushes, dirt or bugs.  Oh, not hysterical as in fear, but hysterical as in laughter.  Giggles.  You know, all that little girl stuff.  Even though she wasn't a little girl, herself.  At least, not a human little girl.  A little thing, instead.  Ferret in size.  Covered in fur, with silverish scales on her limbs and a tuft of fur on the end of a long, slender tail.  Fur of golden tan and earthtoned browns, eyes pale blue yet tinted with lavender.  Very white, sharp teeth.  Large, expressive ears.  Four nostrils on the end of her snout and a crystaline scale on her forehead.  Indeed, young and female, even though not human.  And, really, having the time of her life!

Her parents?

Well, she'd run off on her own to play, her parents some distance behind her, but not at all unaware of where she'd gotten to.  Yep, they'd catch up in time, if only...

... well, she heard this voice in the distance, while she'd been staring down this particularly large and pugnacious beetle.  Yes, a game of "Who Blinks First"... but the sound of that distant voice in her sensative little ears had spoiled her concentration.  She'd blinked.  Shoot!  Lost the game!  But, an instant later, she giggled away her disappointment, while curiousity drew her attention in the direction of the voice... or was that voices, now?  Oh, well!  Nothing ventured.........

Little legs skittered through the leaf-litter.  Little claws gripped tree-bark at the end of a flying leap.  And... POOF!... up the tree she flew!  From branch to branch, her delight expressed in high-pitched squeals and bounce of tree-limbs... well, not the big limbs, but the branches, her light weight being equally ferret in nature, if not perhaps a tiny bit more, given her physical nature.  Given her species.  But still, those slender branches were fun to bounce from.  Even funner to fling from tree to tree from the ends of those branches, like a squirrel on crack.........

Whoopsies...!

This particularly gnarled and twisted tree had other ideas.  Other ideas that didn't involve drugged "squirrels" or drunk "ferrets"... no, this tree made itself particularly difficult, by snapping off the end of a branch juuust as she grabbed it!  Not nice.........

Bad tree...!

So, with a flail of little limbs, and a cackle of delight, she fell from overhead, fortunate in that she'd also just reached the source of the voices.........

THUMP...!

Leaf-litter crackled as she hit, then just as suddenly scattered in a squealing flail of little limbs, her little ferret-sized self quickly up on her haunches, bits of debris in her fur.  Shake of little body, a look all about herself, followed by little clawed fingers grooming away the mess, till she sat there neat as the proverbial pin.  Wide little eyes on the two humans...

... little handpaws suddenly clapped to her nose...

...  "Hello'sers... you's a'boths needs batherings...!"

[Anonymous]

"Who are you?" demanded this little forest midget shortly followed by "Where is this place?"
His initial enthusiasm faded rather quickly as he saw that this person was not a forest being, as its choice of clothing was not for forest use. He concluded that it was likely as lost as he was.
"I do not know where this is, but I can give you my name" he continued as he came closer. "The name is Ric Halcon rhymes with falcon" he gave a gentle bow reached out his arm as a handshake his eyes looking to reveal the last part of the puzzle. "What is your name?"  

They where interrupted as a branch from the tree snapped and something landed with a thump at the forests floor. With something new to study his attention turned to this ferret-like being as a first it looked just as interested in them, but the interest quickly faded as it gripped its nose tightly

"Hello'sers... you's a'boths needs batherings...!".
<It speaks> he thought yet didn't say out loud not wanting to offend a potential guide. With a deep bow to hide his eyes from revealing an obvious lie he continued "Please forgive my odour, but unfortunately my great grandfather was cursed by a water spirit to have him and his next of kin die should they ever bathe".
Now that the rather rude comment was dealt with he decided to ask for the obvious so he clapped his spread arms when he emerged from the bow and gave his next question a more serious tone.

"Are you a native of this forest?"  He then proceeded to elaborate his question. "It would be nice of you to guide us towards the nearest settlement of human life so our presence does not cause too much harm to this wonderful ecosystem".
Hoping his stay in this forest would be short-lived yet interesting.

[Anonymous]

In a few quick seconds Mikey had calculated and concluded that he was a very dirty and unthreatening human. He was not from Waterdale. Clearly! She didn't know anyone who looked quite so dirty as him at her home. She dearly hoped not! It'd be a disgrace! The Waterdale name was something that should be clean, in all possible ways. With luck, this lost individual was not part of Waterdale. She certainly didn't know everyone -- that was impossible -- under her parents' care. He didn't look or smell like a well-cared for individual, as those under her parents' care were. So, she concluded quickly, that he was just a lost and disgusting... serf. Or something. Maybe one who ran away. She couldn't tell. She didn't WANT to know really.

And she really didn't WANT him coming closer to her. Which he undoubtedly was, until she could smell him, even above herself. This was sickening. Two people who hadn't bathed in a long time standing quite close. Mikey's face scrunched up and she glared between his hand -- probably as filthy as the rest of him! -- and clearly refused to touch him. In any case, she wasn't going to touch a complete stranger! She really didn't understand foreigners and their stupid costumes.

Wait. Foreigner? That was clearly a foreigner gesture. She'd spoken Common, just to be general. But how many foreigners were there around Waterdale? Her stomach knotted all over again. She wasn't liking this at all.

Mikey paused. Her name? What should she tell him? "Michaela Abbey," she told him with an imperious tilt of her delicate chin. If he was in cahoots with the kidnappers she certainly couldn't say 'Princess!' Although if he was, he'd really probably know who she was. How many girls ran about in the forest like this anyway?

Still, might as well not take the chance.

He certainly LOOKED like he could be a kidnapper.

And then that little... thing came flying down out of somewhere! Startled, Michaela jumped, stifled a yelp and held up her hands defensively, her vibrant gold eyes narrowed suspiciously at the little... creature. Fur, scales and the size of any common vermin. Mikey's eyes darted between the creature and Ric before zeroing back in on the creature.

It spoke!

And it was rude! She glared down at it. "Excuse me! I haven't had the chance to bathe!" Mikey's eyes flickered back to Ric, narrowed and without humor as he bowed. "Curses can be removed," she said disdainfully, although terribly aware of her physical discomfort.

Mikey did not like being dirty. Or hungry and tired. Or wandering in a forest, lost, with a sprained ankle. Or talking to an equally dirty man and a funny little creature of unknown origins. Today was rather frustrating. Still, her hands remained chest level, defensive and clearly in the ready for something should they do something that necessitated an immediate reaction.

She couldn't take the chance and trust them. If anything, the past twenty four hours had left an impression and awareness of her vulnerability. Be ready. Suspect everyone. For all she knew, the creature and dirty individual could be in cahoots. It could be a clever ploy... and she was considering setting them both aflame to extinguish any risk.

But she held back. What if they weren't?

Hysteria was playing a lovely little came with her logic.

[Anonymous]

Hidden eyes didn't hide the truth from this little thing.  Though young, she had the same biosenses as her parents.  The same ability to read all the bits and pieces, like a living lie detector.  But... she was young.  Untrained in her developing senses.  However, she knew right away, when the human male gave his little story.  Doubt.  Yes, doubt flared in her very young yet very bright mind.  Just like doubt flared through this human's biosignature... flared through his chakra flow.  Her senses may have been untrained, but her parents hadn't neglected teaching her the basics, before they'd all left Home on this second WorldWalk.  Ohhh, she'd been so excited!  To see new places.  To see the strange places her parents had been, before she'd been born.  Like the proverbial sponge, she'd soaked up everything there was to learn about all kinds of stuff!  And she'd been lied to, before.  But...

... she took no offense.

Indeed, this very stinky human had been polite, if doubtful in his story.  Well, when mama and dada came, certainly there'd be two baths given, just so they could talk without hands clamped to muzzles.  Really, in all her life, she hadn't smelled anything as bad as these two!  Mama especially... soon as she caught a whiff, off to the nearest river they'd go!  Or perhaps dada would bring out the tub?  And, really, she could't understand this being dirty thing.  Baths were fun!  And... and it felt just as good to be clean as it did to get dirty in the first place.  She'd learned this important fact shortly after her first encounter with mud.  So...

... little handpaws still clamped to muzzle, she tried to copy his bow, and almost ended up falling on her face!

But, perked up again, her head tilted sideways a bit at his question.  And at the human female's offense.  She hadn't meant to be rude.  It was simply her youthful reflex, to say what first came to mind... to be honest in her feelings.  Tact wasn't yet a part of her nature...

...  "I's a'nots froms arounders and heres'abouts... I's a'comes froms a'waysers thaty-ways...."  She waved her tail's tuft in the direction she'd come from...  "Don'ts knowsers where... nots ever seens you's a'kinder... *"  A tiny snort, a careful intake of air...  "Nots ever seens you's peoplers runnin' arounders since I's a'gots heres."  A high-pitched giggle, then her eyes turned to the girl...

...  "Don'ts worries... soon's as mama gets heres'abouts, she's canna gives you's a nice bathering...."  A sudden twitch, little eyes wide, then a tail's tuft whipped forwards and waved in greeting...

...  "Ohhh, all a'most forgotsies... I'm a'called Honalee!"

[Anonymous]

"Certainly curses can be removed. But what if the caster was so powerful that conventional removal could not take place?" he said with folded arms finishing with a short nod as if agreeing to his own banter. Her sharp words had hurt. Clearly this person did not trust humble travellers and was on the defensive. Like a cornered mouse she would most likely bite him should he try to assert himself in an argument.

Frustrated with his lack of experience with children he sought comfort in his mind giving the brat no further thought. He had decided to trust this Honalee creature for now. "Ah, Honalee" he chanted a few times for himself finishing with a usual polite encore about how the name was like nothing he has ever heard before as truth would have it.

Then there was this insolent brat of a girl, her parents must have forgotten to teach her proper conduct when addressing strangers in a forest.
Carefully his gaze crossed onto hers hoping that if he kept his calm and brightened his face up with a smile she would eventually realise the folly of her actions.
 
In an attempt to lift the tense atmosphere surrounding the child he spoke up yet again. "One of my teachers always used to say that even if you feel like the whole world wants to behead you it is always important to remain optimistic, yet realistic enough to see any situation clearly."

As he finished the sentence he took his seat on a huge root fashioned almost like a small chair. "So we are waiting here for your mother?" he asked Honalee while he observed his surroundings trying to hide his insecurities as he looked for something interesting.
Awaiting an answer he stuck his pinkie up his nose as he would usually do when he was in deep thought. This group of people would undoubtably just fall apart at the second they encountered civillisation no need to get to know each others too well.

He sighed and flicked a booger on the ground while thinking of the events that lead him here. He was alone with no superior teachers to follow around and his dreams of immortality was gone along with Infinity fortress. Many exellent scholars had died looking for the path towards infinite life and all their information aswell as their attempts and failiures where recorded there.
Here he was lost in a forest with a dirty, angry, unmannered child and a furball that couldnt handle the smell of his recent dimensional travel.

[Anonymous]

Manners were not a part of Michaela's otherwise strict curriculum. After all, manners weren't very important to her education. Her other siblings received better, more tailored educations because of the order of their birth. She was relatively unimportant and as such would meet only few important people in her lifetime. Or, that was the common assumption. They did nothing to curtail Mikey's behavior -- why should they? The Watergate educators were employed by her parents, the king and queen. Her parents spent little time with her, or little time with each other for that matter. In the end, it was Mikey with her rows of senseless peolpe who were made to bend to her insolent will. They would always say, 'Yes, Your Highness'. No matter what.

Suddenly, Mikey was horrorified -- some creature was going to bathe her? She didn't want to be bathed by anyone but herself! Fact was, she would have done it had she discovered any easily accessed sources of water. Or had not been panicking while running from a sly bandit of kidnappers. Mikey's chin tilted and her mouth pursed tightly.

"I don't need to be given a bath," she said sourly, her gold eyes narrowed with temper. She inched further away from the both of them. One was crazy and the other one was---

Disgusting! Mikey gave him a thoroughly stunned look that he could be so... disgusting! She quickly took another step away from him, happy to create some distance between them. And she was thinking that just maybe, just maybe she shouldn't bother herself with these people. She could fair better on her own, surely. She was doing nothing but standing in the middle of a FOREST for heaven's sake!

"Do you know where Watergate is?" She asked anyway, despite the doubt in her voice and in the growing sinking feeling in her stomach.

It was becoming terribly clear that they WEREN'T anywhere near Watergate.

The chill was enough to render her momentarily vulnerable, terror flicker for a half-second across her face before her face closed up, hard with traces of anger. Outrage was flickering at the edges of her personality, curling up and around the edges of who she was.

The situation was suitably terrifying. In the woods. With.... freaks.

And how far from home?

(sorry it took so long. some things came up. =/)

[Anonymous]

Ohhh, no!

It wasn't that Honalee couldn't handle the smell... like any unexpected thing forced onto young senses, she'd simply expressed her mind with gesture and word.  And adapted to the stink.  Not that her two companions didn't still need a bath, badly!  She could tell mama and dada were close.  Would be here in a few minutes.  Yes, dada was now chasing mama.  And playing with her tail's tuft.  Little eyes rolled, with that vision in her biosenses....

Then, the male human asked a question.  A brief pause...

...  "Mama an' dada's gonna be here sooners...."  

Honalee watched, fascinated, as this human stuck his pinkie up his nose... she'd never seen anybody do that, before!  A flick of her tail's tuft followed his sigh, however, soon as the booger was on the ground, her attention turned to the female human's question...

...  "Water's gates...?  You's means the ones what's Prez Nixer's gots in troublers for?"

Another pause, to think, little tongue in little cheek...

...  "An'a yesser's, you's be givens a bathering... you's a'reeeally needs ones!  Boths of you's...."

A quick look in the direction her biosenses told her her parents were coming from, her flick of tail becoming a wave... her little body at attention, before she turned back to the two, leaned forwards, tiny pawhand to mouth, and whispered, loud enough for both to hear...

...  "No's needs to worriers... I's a'tell mama you's boths wants a bubbly bathers... and dada canna lets you's users his rubba ducky...."

[Anonymous]

Ric giggled on the verge of laughing out loud as the little girl involuntary made several obvious signs about wanting to run away from them. Or maybe it was only him she wanted to run away from regardless her body language was obvious.

"I don't think you realise the predicament you and I are in girl." He then pointed towards the trees. "I may not be a forest expert but I have some knowledge. For example the taller the trees get before branching out and displaying their green goodness. The longer inside the forest and the further from civilisation we are."

He paused and did his best to mimic that disappointed stare his teachers had given him many times over the years. "Even if civilisation was a few miles from here in what direction would you walk? How can you be certain you are not walking in a circle?"  He took a deep breath, telling someone else how pitiful the situation was had indeed refreshed his own confidence at his own abilities to deduce a situation then again the idea that he had to bathe was appalling at best.

He frowned at the rubber duck comment and was on the verge of burying his hands to his face if only to hide his shame. Here he was magic powers and everything yet he desperately hoped that Honalees parents would be able to guide them out of the forest.
"When I get out of this forest I will grab the nearest magic user and get him to learn me a spell that will prevent another situation like this" he muttered silently.