What the Trees said (Open!)

[Anonymous]

Aeris leapt gracefully from one branch to the other, taking a liking to the forests in Western Le'raana, This one in particular was... in her eyes, beautiful.

The trees were full of life, and each had a story to tell. She brushed a gloved hand on the trunks as she swept past, her way of a silent greeting.
She could hear the sounds of a hundred different insects, buzzing and calling to their mates, a dozen different animals falling silent as she passed.

Her footsteps were silent, each leap from one branch to the next left only the sounds of the rustling leaves.
Then Aeris came across a lake, she stopped her next jump just in time, nearly falling from the branch she was now perched on. Her cloak billowing out behind her on the sudden halt.
She swung down, the height didn't bother her either, dropping silently, landing in a crouched position, Aeris brushed her black hair off her shoulders, as she approached a patch of sunlight beside the water.

She sat cross-legged before the patch. Placing a hand on the soil, it was healthy, and the sunlight shone on this particular spot on a regular basis. With that, Aeris drew her hand away, her golden-green magic twisting together like thread until a perfect blue flower sat were her hand was only moments ago.

Aeris smiled at it, appreciating the beauty she had created. She placed her free hand on her bow, adjusting it back into a proper position. Before she trailed a hand through the cool water of the lake.
She was a little hungry.

[Anonymous]

Xanatos registered slight stings of pain, as the waterfall beat down on his back. He was used to eat already, it was his favourite meditation spot. He felt that sitting under a waterfall, and controlling yourself not to get distracted by the pain was a good way to train your focus, thus he did so every week. There was nothing on him, except for a towel that lay across his lap, and he was sitting there with his palms pressed together. Opening his eyes, Xanatos deftly slid off the rock he was sitting on and landed softly on the ground, with his usual grace. Then, Xanatos picked up his jacket and pants from the ground and put them on. Straightening his hat and smoothening his jacket and pants, Xanatos leapt from one stepping stone to another across the spring.

The wet and musky air of the forest greeted him, as he leapt up onto a low branch. All he saw was a sea of green, and the occasional animal walking out from the bushes shyly, or the occasional bird that flew across the sky. The air was filled with the sound of insects and the rustling of leaves - Today was a windy day. Kicking off the current branch he was on, Xanatos was careful not to damage any of the bark. From what he understood, the forest was sacred, as it contained many forms of life.

Spinning off the tree, Xanatos landed on the ground gracefully, spinning so as to absorb the impact of the landing. He was sure he had heard someone travelling through the forest too - And not by walking, but by leaping the branches one by one. Following the trail of sound, Xanatos found himself in a clearing near a lake. A lady - presumably an elf sat in the clearing. Xanatos watched on with slightly wide eyes as he saw the lady create a flower out from nothing. That was beyond his abilties, as Xanatos' magical abilities revolved around the science of Alchemy, creating new substances by binding its constituent ones.

"Hello." Xanatos said in his dignified tone as he walked towards the lady, his hands clasped behind his back.

[Anonymous]

Still stroking the delicate petals of her flower, Aeris was barely aware of the sounds of the leaves rustling in the trees above her. She had figured it was wind. But she heard an audible thud, and the sounds of someone coming toward her.

She glanced up from her flower, a man was approaching her, she stood, her hand shot to her dagger. Instinctive reaction, if you will.
He was walking, looking... peaceful. He greeted her, and she blinked. He was handsome, or maybe that was just due to the fact that it had been a while since Aeris' last contact with humans...
She met his blue gaze, and almost felt his calm composure wash over her. Dropping her hand from her dagger's hilt.

She bowed, promptly, black hair falling over her face slightly. "H-hello" she replied. Straightening up after a moment.

She raised a hand to her head, adjusting her head band. His hair was wet, she noted it almost instantly. Taking a step forward, she asked; "A-are you c-cold?" extending her arms.
Still trying to adjust to human speech, after using her elven tongue for so long, Aeris felt a little self conscious, but she did her best to ignore it.

She could help him warm up, but with the wind she knew he'd be a little cold. Her magic could be used for such domestic means if she used it in moderation. But she figured if he'd let her... Would it hurt to try?

She found it a little odd for a human to be in these parts, even odder that he was so swift on his feet...
Her wide eyes surveyed him, taking in every inch of his appearance. She resisted the urge to circle him, take a good look at his clothing. Compared to her, he was dressed well. She dressed for comfort, ready for an attack at any time. One who lived in these parts had to be.

[Anonymous]

(( I presume you saw my profile? Sorry, but I cant find an avatar of the correct size. ))

Xanatos felt a tinge of amusement as he saw the girl straighten up, with her hair falling over her face and bowing before she said a hasty hello, and with a stammering voice no less. First, he had felt some apprehension, seeing the girl's hand reach for her dagger - He didn't feel like fighting that day, and fighting a woman, no less.

Seeing the girl suddenly adjust her hairband, Xanatos was puzzled. He wasn't sure if it was out of place or something, he was distracted. Firstly, the girl was a beauty - Like all elves, Xanatos presumed. Well, he wasn't sure if the girl was an elf, but she sure had features like them. Her ears were hidden within her hair, so he couldn't confirm but her angular features and beautiful ones hinted to him that she was an elf.

"A little." Xanatos admitted sheepishly as the girl asked him whether he was cold. Watching her arms extend towards him, Xanatos remained rooted to the spot, but he was puzzled. "Why are you doing that?" Xanatos asked, puzzled. Though, Xanatos' doubts were confirmed when he heard that accent in her voice, and the slight stammering. He could guess that she had been using her elven tongue for quite a while, thus she was used to it.

"Well, are you cold then?" Xanatos asked, he could always be the gentleman and start a fire for her, but one part of him told him that this girl could use magic, like almost every elf. "Hey, what are you looking at?" Xanatos said bemusedly as he noticed the girl looking at him, somewhat observing him.

Walking over to the side of the lake, Xanatos sat down on the ground there and patted the floor near him. "C'mon, take a seat, elf."

[Anonymous]

((sure did, interesting character you got there ^^))

Admitting that he was cold, Aeris took another step closer to him. Her arms still held out. She heard him ask why she was doing that, and she smiled n spite of herself, stopping.
Her magic glittered at her fingertips, its green-gold tinge was visible even using this tiny amount.

"A little" she said, with a small laugh, copying what he had told her.

She laughed again when he asked what she was looking at, "Been a while, s-since I last saw... a human" she said.

She watched him, her emerald eyes wide as he sat down, patting the ground beside him. Aeris cocked her head, before moving to sit beside him, he called her elf...
She looked over his features, she liked the way he looked, his hair, falling over his eyes.. And his muscled frame.
She threaded her fingers through the grass they sat on, extengin the length of the green blades slightly.

"Aeris" she said her name, the same in almost every language, "My name is Aeris"

She paused, her eyes flicking over him, "Do you want help... warming up?" she asked, placing a hand on his knee, she could help if she wanted to.
She was curious, she wanted to know who he was, and what he was doing in the forests. What the city's looked like now. It had been a very long time since she was last in one...

[Anonymous]

(( Thanks! :P ))

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Aeris. Name's Xanatos Trent." Xanatos said in the gentle tone in which he used in every pretty female.

He looked on in wonder, as Aeris trailed her hands through the grass, and at the spots where she touched, the blades of grass grew in land. Her powers must be linked to nature .. A chlorokinetic. Of course, it is to be expected. Rumours have always said that the elves revelled in the forests, the lakes, the plants, the flowers.

When the elf asked him if he required help warming up, Xanatos was tempted to say yes. If the elf could light up a fire - By magic, Xanatos could confirm that this elf's powers were not subconscious in nature. "Alright, but we'll make a pit, shall we? To contain the flames." Xanatos said to her, still using his gentle tone.

Placing his palm flat against the ground, Xanatos closed his eyes and focussed on his powers. The science of Alchemy was not a complicated one, after you understand it. It only involved changing the properties of one particular item, or the shape, or making a new item by binding its constituent items. Now, Xanatos was going to change the properties of the hard ground they were on. The air was suddenly filled with the scent of mint - Xanatos' aura, and a green-like substance, neither liquid nor gas poured from his palm and into the ground. With a flash of light, the ground his palm was on suddenly grew soft, and sank into the ground, once he let gravity have its way and the perfect pit was formed, Xanatos turned the properties of the earth back to normal again.

"I'll go get some firewood, or if you can make fire by magic alone?"

[Anonymous]

"Xana.. tos" she said, raising her hand to her chin "Xanatos"
She smiled proudly to herself, at having been able to correctly pronounce his name.

She smiled back at him, he spoke gently, and she liked the way it sounded, she met his gze squarely "Xanatos" she said again, testing the name from her lips.

At suggesting a fire, Aeris' eyes widened, In the forests?
She watched as he placed his hands on the earth, she frowned wondering what he was going to do. A scent of mint filled the air, Aeris glanced around, trying to figure out what it was. She saw Xanatos's eyes were closed, she hunkered down beside him, unsure of what was happening.
She looked down at his hands, a green like substance poured from his hands and into the earth, Aeris frowned, did... he have influence over nature as well?

A flash of light saw Aeris standing just as quickly. She looked on with wide eyes as she saw the soil fall in on itself.

She looked from the hole to Xanatos and back to the hole again, triying to figure out what had happened.

"...What?" was all she could manage to push past her lips.

She nodded to his next question, her eyes scanning the area, till they zeroed in on a fallen log a few feet behind them. She strode toward it, running her fingertips along the dead wood. She nodded once, hearing no whisper of life from the wood. She lifted it and dragged it to the hole. Dumping it in.

She sat down again beside Xanatos, extended a hand and with a sharp crack and a flash of light, a golden flame burned the wood she had placed in there.

She turned her head to smile at the man beside her, "Team.. work" she said with a mild laugh.

[Anonymous]

Hachen groaned, "We're lost again aren't we?"  He looked down to his little companion who simply snorted back at him.  "You're terrible at directions, I told you we should have stuck to the road!  You pigs are only good for sniffing out trouble."  Hachen's pig snorted back at him a couple times and he figured that meant lets keep moving.  "Ya, ya allonsy."  

He said lazily following his little pink companion through the forest.  A little later the pig dashed off smelling mint and Hachen was so startled at the change in pace he almost stumbled to keep up.  The mint wore off but the pig kept going forward and the flashes of light helped the pig to stay on course.

The pig jumped out from behind a bush and stopped for a second before walking over to the fire watching it amazed like the Aeris and Xanatos weren't there.  Hachen was now walking through the forest a bit behind because he got winded from trying to run after his pig.

[Anonymous]

Xanatos nodded slowly as he saw the elf create the flame on the piece of wood. Now, he knew some of the elf's magical abilities, but not the extent of them. Smiling at her as she said "Teamwork", Xanatos spoke to her again, "You should use the human language more often, that way you can balance things out."

Xanatos moved his body closer to the fire, placing his hands just over it to absorb more of the heat. Shuddering as he felt the waves of heat entering his body and cause the water in his clothes to evaporate, Xanatos closed his eyes. Suddenly, he heard something plod over beside him. Opening his eyes, Xanatos saw a pig standing beside him, looking at the fire with interest. Extending a hand towards the pig, Xanatos rubbed its head, "You're a cute one, where's your owner?"

[Anonymous]

She shrugged at Xanatos's comment, "It's hard.. To remember" she said with a mild sigh, "I used to know to speak it better"

She stopped, her voice trailing off as she heard something, footsteps! Not human ones either, a grin cracked onto her face as a little pig came through into their clearing.
She glanced at Xanatos, he had his eyes closed, enjoying the heat of their fire.

The pig sat beside Xanatos, watching the fire intently, as if they weren't there. Xanatos opened his eyes and acknowledged the pig, stroking its head.
Aeris moved to see it better too, muttering little comforting words in elvish.

She heard someone else too, someone was with the pig. She glanced up, eyes searching through the dense leaves, sure enough she could see a figure behind them. She frowned, but she was curious to know who was there.

She turned to Xanatos, and patted his arm, pointing to the clearing to give him awareness of another visitor.

[Anonymous]

"Well .. You gotta start practicing now. Whats a pretty little girl like you gonna do in a city if you cant speak the human language?" Xanatos teased her playfully.

Xanatos patted the pig's back as the pig looked at the fire and them, interested. As she patted his arm, Xanatos saw that she was pointing at somewhere in another direction, where a silhoutte of a human was barely forming.

Standing up, Xanatos reached into his jacket and spun out one of his revolvers. With blurring speed, Xanatos reached into his jacket and spun out twelve bullets, slamming them into the barrel of his revolver. As soon as he finished loading one, Xanatos reached into his jacket and pulled out the other, repeating the process again.

Raising up both of his revolvers, Xanatos had them aimed at the figure running towards them.

"State your purpose. If you are attempting to cause harm to any of these beings here, especially the elf, you might find a two bullets in your head. You'll become a holey man by then, and thus forgiven of your sins." Xanatos said in a business-like tone, before he turned around to face Aeris. "Holey sounds like Holy, geddit?"

[Anonymous]

The pig didn't mind the people petting him, he just liked to watch the fire crackle.  He jumped back when Xanatos pulled out his guns.

Hachen finally reached the clearing to find to guns pointed at him.  He threw up his arms insticively to the guns and a gust of wind blew around the clearing, it almost blew out the fire.  Hachen winced because he unintentionally used magic again.  When he regained composure he said, "Look I'm not here to hurt anyone, I swear.  I was just following my little friend over there."  He pointed to the pig.  "He must have picked up a scent and followed it here."

[Anonymous]

Aeris smiled at Xanatos upon his next comment, a healthy shade of red brandishing her cheeks. "Thank you" she said.

Xanatos was up standing beside her in a matter of seconds, he pulled out something metal with blinging speed, followed by a set of smaller round things... Aeris was fascinated, she had never seen such strange devices.
She cocked her head slightly, eyeing the shiny thing Zanatos held. Before her eyes widened further as he pulled out another, repeating the same process.
Slowly, Aeris removed her bow from her back, and strung it, aiming at the silouhetted person, the edge of her arrow lighting up with her golden magic, it lit up the pathway, brightening the spot where a man now stood.

Aeris couldn't help but laugh at Xanatos's joke, "Holey" she chuckled. But she still held her bow firm.

And soon enough, another man came through the clearing, standing in the shine of Aeris's magic, she nticed the fire lean away as the man raised his hands from Xanatos's and Aeris's weapons. Her brow creased slightly.

She lowered her bow, letting the arrow fly into the gound at her feet instead, putting out the light that sone there before, she uprooted it again, and slid it back into her quiver.
She moved over to stand closer to Xanatos, she placed her hand on his arm and lowered it. Knowing that this new man... meant no harm.

She turned back to the pig, and scratched its ears, muttering comforting words in Elvish, she had noticed it's shock when Xanatos had brandished his.... metal things. She nodded to him, "He means no harm" she said with a smile at both men.

[Anonymous]

Hachen sighed with relief as he put down his hands.  "Thank you.  My name is Hachen and that is... pig."  The pig lifted his head in acknowledgement.  When Aeris spoke elven to him he was able to understand her and calmed down.  He snorted to her a thank you, if she could hear him, and went back to watching the fire like it was the first time he'd ever seen it.

[Anonymous]

Grinning as Kiyu too chuckled at the joke, and put herself in a stance beside him, Xanatos' eyes widened as he felt the magic being used, though subconsciously. When Kiyu patted his arm, Xanatos nodded his head towards her and spun the revolvers in his hands, sliding them back into his jacket.

"Alright, take a seat. But if you're going to stir up any trouble." Xanatos took out one revolver from his jacket, which was unloaded already, and pretended to fire it at the man with exaggerated recoil, "Pew."

[Anonymous]

Aeris nodded at the new man as he introduced himself, she tested his name from her lips too; "Hatchen.... I am Aeris" she smiled at him.

She smiled at the pig as he snorted his thanks, able to understand him. She patted the pig again, "Heh, Pig..." she said.

She returned to her seat, as she watched the two men converse, Xanatos, threatening Hatchen with his metal things...

She reached out and removed one of the shiny objects from Xanatos's jacket. Examining it closely, she looked back up at him, her eyes filled with curiosity. Subconsciously asking him what they were.

[Anonymous]

"I don't stir up trouble, it just happens to stir up around me."  Hachen said with a smile.  "Nice to meet you Aeris."  He said turning to Aeris.  "and may I ask your name gunner?"  He asked turning to Xanatos before Aeris took his gun.  When she did pig started to sniff it while she examined it.

[Anonymous]

Suddenly, Xanatos felt someone open up his jacket and put his, or her, or its hand into his pocket, taking out one of his unloaded revolvers. "My name is Xanatos Trent, Hachen. You will find me and your shoulder in a dark room, I will be the one who knocks on your door in a stormy night, and I will be the one in the crowd, looking at you at your execution." Xanatos said in a solemn voice, before he grinned to let Hachen know that he was joking.

Turning to Aeris, Xanatos placed one hand gently to hers and pried the gun away from her hand. It was unloaded, yes, but there was still enough gunpowder in there to blow off some flesh. "Its a gun, Aeris. A revolver, to be exact. An object that can fling something called a bullet further, and stronger than a bow. In fact, much stronger."

[Anonymous]

Aeris listened to Xanatos as he spoke to Hatchen, she even found what he was saying frightening, but she grinned when he did, knowing he was joking.
She felt breath on her hands, and glanced down to the metal thing she had taken from Xanatos, Pig was smelling it too, he didn't seem to know what it was either. She scratched the Pig's ears laughing lightly.

Xanatos leaned down to take the gun from Aeris, she let him take it, and listened to his explanation, biting her lower lip slightly.

"Stronger than a bow?" she asked, making sure she heard right, she had been taught to use a bow, because it was the strongest weapon she had thought existed.
She stood and crossed to Hatchen, inspecting his clothing.

She found humans so... fascinating.

[Anonymous]

Hachen grinned at the joke, "Well I've gotten close enough to those situations before."  He responded in a joking manner, although it was serious too, his magic tended to get too out of hand and lead him to the chopping block before.  When Aeris came over looking at his clothes he took off his coat and gave it to her to look at.  He didn't mind since he was near a warm fire now.