Trouble Rides Again (Open)

[wolfie]

"Agreed although I don't know what you don't know," she said with a laugh. She liked word games they gave her a chance to show her wit. He had chosen well in this game. She listened to his riddle and shook his head wondering what he was thinking.

"Mother Earth of course," she said groaning a little. He had given her an easy one. She couldn't figure out why he would start off easy. The idea was to stump the other. She couldn't ask him something about the Faes or her own little world. He wouldn't have a clue.

"I'm not something to be held. To keep me is a shame, and to share me is to lose me. I could end up being trouble or something not so important," she said keeping it short. This seemed like a good riddle and he would know of the answer. She smiled looking down at him.

[TheHighwayman]

Chuckling at the brownie's irritation, Lerrok listened to the riddle. "You can't exactly complain about me going easy on you when yours isn't particularly hard either. The answer is a secret. Now," he frowned- he was never very good at thinking these things up. "Now give me a moment or two."

He discarded a few, given he wasn't entirely sure the brownie had ever had the necessary dealings to understand them. Maybe... no, too easy... Lerrok growled and kicked a rock in frustration. "Ach- ah, I've got one. What disease never kills, but there's not a physician in the world who can cure it?"

This one should also be fairly easy, but he was too concerned with his foot to care about providing a great challenge at this point.

[wolfie]

Fin hadn't heard this one. She had to think a moment before even trying to answer. Was it something she had heard of? She hoped not or she might lose this one.

"The only thing I can think of is stupidity," she said watching him. He was a crafty one. She had thought hers a good one. One that might stump him. Now she saw if she passed this round she would have to think of a better one. She continued to watch him not sure if it was her turn or not.

(OOC: Nice one...)

[TheHighwayman]

Lerrok was a little surprised- it hadn't been the answer he was looking for, but it was still a reasonable one, all things considered. "Not quite. I was thinking of homesickness, though I suppose that one might have been a little unfair; I don't really know if your kind really has to worry about that. I have seen plenty of people killed by stupidity."

Frowning and scratching his chin, Lerrok realized perhaps they should have clarified the rules a bit more before starting. "Go ahead and give another one of yours. If I can get it, I win- if not, then we go another round. Does that sound fair enough?"

He was leaning against a tree now, a little worried. She was sure to throw a tricky one at him now that the game depended on it.

[wolfie]

"I haven't seen anyone killed by stupidity. What is this homesickness?" She asked knowing that he hadn't played fair. She should have known better than to trust a human. He would bend the rules.

"I can do that," she said figuring to go along with this. She hadn't played fair earlier using the animals and her size to her advantage. While she should expect this she wondered how to combat it. Going along with his game seemed easy enough. She would just have to make sure the next one stumped him good. This was crunch time now.

"Here we go... My first is in now and knew. My second is in net, but not in cat. The third is in week, but not today. My last is in strike but never in pound. My whole is small and nonthreatening. All that live usually crush me if I'm not careful," she said still above him. She sat to wait and see if this game was over or if it was just this round.

[TheHighwayman]

Lerrok shrugged. "Wars are started for stupid reasons all the time, and I've unfortunately had to kill one or two people who were a bit too thick to realize they were in over their heads myself. As for homesickness, it..." He paused, he'd been missing his homeland for a short while now himself. "Humans often miss wherever it is they happen to come from- their family, old friends, the land itself- when they're on the road. That's all."

The man then turned his attention to the riddle. It was clearly a word game of some sort, but he couldn't for the life of him figure it out. "I'm going to need a bit of time for this one." He took a stick and began making scratches in the dirt. Mumbling to himself, he didn't seem to be making any real progress. "Just a minute or two, that's all I'll need." It sounded almost more like he was trying to convince himself than the brownie.

He stood like that for a few moments, then sighed. "Alright, maybe I need more than just a few minutes. The best guess I've been able to come up with would be news, and it's not much of a guess." The man didn't even wait for a response before launching into his next riddle, fairly certain he'd missed that one.

"What has no teeth, but bites as harshly and with as much certainty as an angry dog; all while laughing at the thickest armor? What howls like a wolf, but with nothing to howl to? What bandit stops to steal the leaves from the trees, and sends everyone hiding in the night?" That one might do the trick, though Lerrok wasn't so sure. He wished he'd taken the time to come up with a better one, as if she had any more like the last one he was certain to lose.

[wolfie]

Fin listened to what he said. She didn't miss where she had come from this was far more a fun place than that. She thought humans were funny things missing their homes. The land was always around her that was enough as long as she was having fun.

She watched him writing in the dirt. She was smiling doing her best not to laugh. He had no idea. She was amazed at how close and yet how off he was about her riddle. He was good, but not good enough. She would need another one just like that to stump him again. At least now she knew where his weakness lie.

"Close newt was the answer. One letter off," she said the laughter in her voice. She then heard his next riddle and scratched her head. He was good at this that she knew. She smiled then thinking she had him again.

"The wind," she answered thinking this was the only thing possible. He was good alright it had taken her a few minutes to figure his out. He was making them harder. She wondered just how hard he would make them.

"Alright try this one... I'm small and bitter to the core. You don't want to eat me, nor do I want to be eaten. I don't have a choice though. My color is red," she said watching him again. It could be anything.

[TheHighwayman]

Lerrok spat. "Bah, I thought of that, but there are plenty of things that wouldn't crush a newt." He decided to go along with it and didn't push the issue further, figuring it wasn't worth the trouble of arguing over. He tapped the ground with the stick he'd been using earlier. I wonder what's coming next?

Well, that was a little vague. Lerrok got that feeling he always did when trying to answer these things; the first thing to come to mind was always too obvious seeming. Rather than put too much thought into it, he figured he might as well go with the apparent answer.

"A tomato? That could be quite a few things." He leaned back against a tree and waited.

[visualspice]

The day was beautiful, the sun golden and high, reaching down fingers of light that caressed and danced across the earth. The birds were singing, the skies were blue, and nothing could stop her from skipping along as she followed, bare footed down the dirt path.  It had been sometime, the road mostly being a lonely one, as she'd entertain herself with a song, or distract herself by chasing around a squirrel for fun, but would pout as it would scurry away into a nearby tree, pawing at it as she whimpered towards it,
"Little squirrel, I wouldn't really eat you." Then lowered her head dejectedly, jutting her lower lip and continued on when a pair of voices caught her interest and she blinked, noticing a man standing about in the brush.
Creeping forward, she kept silent, and had to giggle, noticing the brownie far earlier than he and set herself to remain entertained in silence, eyes dancing with smile as her cheeks swelled with mirth.

"Brownies are always such smart creatures. They always have so much fun."She spoke to herself, clapping silently and taking a piece of her long black hair and began to chew on the ends, a nervous habbit of hers. If she had her tail, well, she'd be gnawing on that, or licking it flat, but as a human, she had to settle for the next best thing.

Then as the duo moved onward, she pranced about int he tall grasses, keeping low and her belly flat as she rested her chin on the palms of her hands, elbows nestled in the grass as she smiled and kicked her feet excitedly, just watching the pair interact.

As they went on with their puzzles, she tried to guess along with them, and made unhappy noises for each time she heard the answers, since she was always wrong.
Lowering her chin onto the grass, she pouted again, not much liking this idea of being wrong.

"That human man and brownie sure are smart," she stated, pouting again as she continued to watch them. "I wish I could play but I am not that smart." She puffed her cheeks boredly, then began to poke at them as they were full of air. Then her eyes widened as she got an idea.
"I wonder if they would let me play! I could play tricks like the brownie!"s he thought, clapping lightly, then realizing she might have made too loud of a noise and dropped back down even lower into the tall grasses where she hid, holding her breath and holding another end of her hair to her lips as she contemplated chewing on it due to her nerves.

"I wonder.. if they heard me? If not.." she smiled at the idea. "I could try to scare them and we could make chase! I could tell them I could eat them!" she giggled and clapped again at the idea, then realized what she was doing and sunk back down, flattening herself even closer against the earth.  "I need to be quiet." she reminded herself, pressing a finger to her lips and waited a moment, then slowly raised up, peering curiously over the tops of the grass.

[wolfie]

"I didn't say there weren't," she said wondering why he had thought otherwise. Sure she said all that live, but things like rocks didn't live. She scratched her head wondering what he meant. Was this the next riddle. She didn't think so.

"Tomatoes are bitter inside? I never knew that the answer is a crab apple," she said wondering if she had just won yet. They hadn't really talked about how the winner was decided. She had been so eager to get on with the game it was something she overlooked.

Fin was about to ask him when she heard a noise. Something had clapped close by. She had seen it wasn't the man below. Someone else was there as well. No animal would have clapped like that, at least none she knew of.

"Keep going I need to check something out," she said knowing she would still be able to hear his next one if she hadn't won yet. She was just too curious as to what that could have been. She set the squirrel in motion. She was looking around just about to give up on what she thought she heard.

Suddenly she stopped near the grasses on a tree right beside them. She peered down as if ready to go into the grass to see what was there when the unexpected happened. Suddenly she was face to face with someone she didn't know.

"Hello there," she said wondering if this was indeed more trouble or a friend who might help cause all the trouble with her. She certainly wanted to find out.

[TheHighwayman]

Lerrok's hand twitched towards his sword as he heard... something behind him. He was about to warn the brownie when she took off to investigate. Rather than follow, he decided to try and cover for her by continuing on. He was running out of decent ideas though. "Alright, just a moment." There was that old one he'd heard a couple of times...

Shifting so that whatever was back there couldn't catch him by surprise if it tried anything, he began. "This is a long one, so listen carefully. A clumsy thief was on the road to Reajh. Along the way, he crossed the path of a man with seven wives. Each wife had five children, and each child had two parrots on their backs. Every parrot carried three beetles. How many arrived in Reajh?"

The man paused and listened for any sort of sound from the brush- nothing. Lerrok fidgeted and his skin crawled; he hated knowing he was being watched by something, especially now that he'd at least got some form of handle on his current situation. He'd decided earlier to drop the issue of the earlier riddle, but maybe putting up a bit of an argument would calm his nerves. "And ants and other bugs live, they can't crush a newt."  It didn't help.

[visualspice]

Tah-leen blinked, her eyes crossing as she looked down at the brownie, then smirked, resting her cheek against her hands that were curled against the ground before her. She lifted up a finger to her lips, a mischievious sparkle in her eyes before peering up again at the man, and blinked, studying him from afar, then lowered herself back down into the bushes.

"You should be more careful, little one," Tah-leen informed her, the mischief never leaving her lips or eyes. "I've been watching you and that man for sometime. Your tricks are clever. I'm impressed. I couldn't guess any of them, but I liked watching you both try. And all of those tricks you pulled on him." She clapped again excitedly, much like an eager child (though eager child she appeared not), but then grew bashful, lowering herself back down into the grasses when she realized she might alert the man to her presence, and while she was hardly afraid of a brownie, she was afraid of men. Chewing on her hair, briefly, she threw the ends out of her mouth and shook her head, as if shaking out her nervous thoughts before she sat up, might like a dog would, hands curled before her as she perched, shoulders hunched, long black hair falling and hanging over her shoulders as she did so.

She pointed to her chest and smiled, cheeks dimpling.
"Brownie, I'm a fox, so you'd best be careful!" she told her, puffing out her chest, though she assumed it made her look more impressive, even terrifying, little did she realize she just might look, well... 'cute'.  ANd also, the fact Tah-leen looked human, not anything like a fox, except the similar sparkle both the animal and the human could posses.
"I've been watching, wanting to play tricks on the human too, but I don't aim to be tricked back," Tah-leen began, defensively. "IF you try to trick me, little one, I could eat you!" She warned, showing off her teeth as she smiled, growling with her face but inches from Findra's before the fox spirit girl gave way to a laugh.

Oh, this was already fun!

"What other tricks do you plan to play on him?" she asked, curious and happy and excited all at once.

[wolfie]

Findra heard the riddle and sighed. She hated number ones. She would have to figure that out for when she returned to him. Right then though she had this human fox thing to worry about. She was glad the creature didn't try and hide from her. It seemed very impish. She liked that.

"Arguing with a brownie, interesting," she called back to let him know she was still there. She could make him pay for that one. She didn't plan on it though.

"Being careful means you lose the chance to play pranks though," she said smiling. She listened as this creature talked. She hoped that Leerok didn't hear her clap again. She would have to do some talking now to convince him of something. She could tell the truth. A fox who had gotten caught twice in a trap. Luckily she came along and helped it out both times.

"I have a name fox it's Findra. You are more than just some fox I can see that. It's very interesting that you came now," she said hearing the question next. She frowned. She wasn't sure she could trick this one. She knew something was amiss and wasn't going to start trouble.

"I don't know. I pretty much move on an opportunity when it arises. I didn't plan anything that came about except maybe the hole and vines. Humans are clever but they aren't always smart. As for you, well I wouldn't bother tricking you," she said knowing when to call it quits. It was time to get back or he might come looking.

"He might come to see what is taking me so long. If you see an opportunity go for it. I need to go answer that last riddle," she said hoping this human fox creature would trick the man. It would be fun to see. She liked to laugh. Fin returned to the man and shook her head.

"Just a fox in a trap twice. I got it out. Now that riddle..." She said hoping that would be good enough an explanation. It was the clapping she had to explain away not the fox. She sat on her squirrel thinking about this riddle.

"Okay, I believe I have it. Just one arrived," she said knowing that someone might count everything that the man had crossed and put that in the answer. It was a riddle for a reason.

[TheHighwayman]

Lerrok's eyebrow raised at that explanation. He didn't trust the brownie a tenth as far as he could throw her, and he trusted his guts enough not to make him that nervous over a simple fox. Besides, he'd been looking around the area for his pack earlier, and if there had been a trap anywhere that close he'd have seen or stepped in it. "Stick to traps- you're a terrible liar."

He grinned at the brownie's answer, and shook his head. He held up a closed fist. "Right idea, but you missed something. What were the first three words of the riddle? A clumsy thief- naturally he'd have tried to rob one of them, gotten caught, and ended up with his head split open or in the hands of the town guard of wherever the group was headed. If I'd said just a man, or a competent thief, you'd have been right."

Lerrok let his hand fall away from his sword, listening for any sign of movement just out of sight. That had not just been an animal caught in a trap, he was certain of it- especially now that the brownie had tried to convince him of it. He didn't think it was a real threat given the brownie seemed rather calm about the whole thing, but he'd tear his own hair out before he walked into another trap because of carelessness.

"I hope whatever friend you have back there is careful, I'm not in the mood for any more surprises." Lerrok tapped the pommel of his sword for emphasis, speaking loudly enough that whoever was out there should be able to hear. It was largely an empty threat, but it couldn't hurt.

[visualspice]

"Findra?" Tah-leen said thoughtfully, then another happy smile stretched across her lips. "Findra, Findra, Findra." She repeated laughing all the while, the slapping her hands over her lips to keep herself quiet as she lowered herself back down into the grass.
When the brownie went to leave, she merely nodded.

"I might just watch,"s he said, eyes still sparkling with mischief. "He seems rather smart.I don't know what I could do to him." THough as she remained now, alone in the bushes, she continued to think of a plan when she heard the man call over to the bushes.

He just threatened her!
She bared her teeth, growling at him then gave a bark, "I'm not afraid of your weapons!  Foxes are very brave creatures! And this fox could eat you!"
but then realized what she had done by the time it was too late and slapped a hand over her lips to keep quiet.

Oh, no! She had given herself away. It seemed play time was over as the woman suddenly sprung from the grass and began to make a hasty retreat back into the forests, and she was a blur of lady, skirts and black hair-
clearly not a fox, but a young woman as she made haste to disappear out of sight deeper into the woods.

[TheHighwayman]

That had been... unexpected. Lerrok thought about giving chase, but decided that continuing his current game with the brownie was more important- he wanted his pack back. Staring after the woman with his head tilted to the side, he tried to make sense of what she had just said. Was she crazy? Probably. His conscience told him he should probably do something- the forests around this area weren't the most dangerous, but nowhere was completely free of outlaws, especially wherever he happened to be at the time. "Eh, she'll probably be fine. I've dealt with enough headaches today anyway."

He tried to concentrate on finding another good riddle to hit the brownie with, but he couldn't quite ignore his gut. "I'll be back in a moment," he said, taking off after the woman. She was fast- on level ground he expected he'd probably be able to catch her fairly easily, but the brush seemed to be slowing him more than her. "Oye, hold on for a momen- Gah!" The world spun as his foot caught on a large root. There was a crack as his head slammed against the side of a tree trunk and Lerrok was flung across the ground.

He just groaned for a moment or two- partly in pain, but largely bemoaning just whatever it was he'd done not only to offend Angsar that day, but to draw his personal attention to such an extent. Slowly he sat up. "Alright, that's the last time I listen to you..."  He felt at his forehead- no blood, and he didn't seem to have caused any real damage, but it was another pain on top of a day full of them. I just had to complain of headaches...

[wolfie]

Findra heard she was wrong again. She sighed wondering if he was doing this on purpose. They seemed to be coming at more and more of an impass. She heard what he said and then wasn't surprised when the fox from before yelled out at him.

She sat tight for a moment before heading up into a tree. This game was over as far as she was concerned. Had he stayed put she would have continued to play. It was getting old though and she was no longer having fun. She followed on the squirrel as fast as she could.

It wasn't long before she saw Leerok laying on the ground spread out. She smiled and decided to have a bit of fun again. While he was unconscious she used a leave and drew on his face with mud. She made it small lines so that he might not notice at first. Nothing like still having a little fun with the mud man. Once she was done she used the squirrel to get back into the higher safer part of the trees. She couldn't wait to see his reaction.

[visualspice]

Lucky for Tah-leen, she could move much faster than the human and was already gone, hidden in the depths of the forest. Though when the chase ceased, she peered curiously from behind a large, ancient tree.  From afar, she barely noticed the man's body on the ground.
Sniffing the air, she sensed the minor bit of blood he sustained from the fall- perhaps a minor scrape to his knee?
Curious, she pressed her lips together, shaking her head.

"It serves him right,"s he whispered to herself, but couldn't help but become curious as she crept forward, noticing the man was still on the ground.  However, when he awoke, she gasped and tensed into place, blinking as her eyes went wide. Surprise and fascination overwhelmed her as she had gotten a good look at the man's face- blonde hair, brown eyes- brown eyes like hers- and oh!

She was still a distance away, but found herself both awed and surprised she had gotten this close to a man, considering she had a great fear for men,but also a terrible curiosity. But then, fear won over that curiosity that had cemented her to place and lured her forward, as she turned away again to run, black hair spinning as she went then fluttering in her wake as she went about bounding over thick grass and fallen logs.

[TheHighwayman]

Lerrok groggily got to his feet. If he noticed the strange woman's antics, he didn't really give any indication at this point. Gradually he began to make his way back to where he'd left the brownie, and grimaced when he found she'd moved off. "Well, so much for that." He doubted the brownie would be willing to agree to any other agreements. At this point getting his possessions back wasn't worth the trouble. He just wanted out of these woods and for the day to be over. As he made up his mind to be on his way once more, he realized he had another problem. He was lost. He'd had a pretty good idea of which way the road was before, but with his head throbbing like it was there wasn't a chance of him being able to identify the path he'd taken to get here.

"So, I've lost my things, my head feels like somebody dropped a boulder on it, and now I'm lost."  Lerrok peered around, figuring he'd just pick a direction largely at random. He didn't need to be right, he just needed to start walking. He took a few steps, then had another idea. He turned and started off after the woman. If he could catch her, maybe she'd know the way- besides, it was as likely to lead him to the road as any other guess.

Despite his current situation, some part of him was aware enough to look for faint traces of passage, and soon enough he was on the woman's trail. If he'd been in a more thoughtful state of mind, he'd probably have been grateful for all his years of poaching on the lands of whatever noble he happened to come across. Of course, if he'd been in a more thoughtful state of mind he'd probably have come up with a better plan than following an apparently mentally unstable woman out in the middle of nowhere.

He was slow, and wouldn't stand a chance at catching up with the woman until she stopped or turned back, but the walking itself was doing him good. His head began to clear, and he even chided himself on being so careless- that brownie was probably still about somewhere, waiting for him to do something stupid. He stopped, took a swig from his waterskin, and continued on, a little more alert.

[wolfie]

Fin wasn't far from him at all. She was watching and waiting again. He lost his chance earlier and now she had his belongings. He didn't seem to be seeking her out though instead he looked lost and wanted out. She had a feeling her fun would end soon enough. She was glad that human fox had come around after all. It got her away from all those riddles, which weren't any fun any more.

She sighed and stayed on the squirrel following Leerok. It seemed natural. She wanted to see what he would do next. She wondered if he would stop and rest soon. It would be good if he did an opportunity to show him she wasn't gone just forgotten would arise. He was bright with words, but he wasn't that bright when it came to actions. She had seen it time and time again.

Fin thought of finding the human fox again. She wasn't sure that was wise. While the woman had her name that didn't mean much. Anyone could be called that. She also wasn't sure how much she could trust such a being. There was something strange about her. She wanted to ask questions to learn of that one. She just wasn't sure how to go about finding her again. Fin figured that the human fox was like her and this would all be one big game.