_____Alice seriously hated when things like this happen to her. Frame moved as quickly as it could through the bushes stirring sound left and right as the girl panicked and tried to run away from something she very well could not. Nyctophobia, the fear of darkness and in the middle of the night with clouds blocking the moon and stars it was the worst thing to have for the small faerin. Her breath ragged and rapid, her steps and wasted motions caused countless sounds around her. Twigs snapping under barefoot, hands rustling bushes as she tried to find light, something outside the darkness. _____She felt her mind crashing around itself, she felt like something was looming in the darkness chasing her and toying with her until she broke. Her fears often time turned out more dangerous than others would have, mostly because Alice never really knew what fear was until she played the game and died to get her current phobia. Panicked eyes darted around in their sockets scanning for some sanity to ease her, a light to hide near from the darkness. Sadly she got no such thing so far and as animals stirred due to her actions, noise from the darkness only sent Alice into more fear. _____Her mind did not work correctly, she knew this place so well but as she countless times found herself at the base of a tree, or deep in bushes she knew it was her fear blocking out her memory of the area. The idea of a black wall covering her own thoughts caused more panic as the faerin kept running, kept hitting bushes, and overall causing far more noise than someone her size would cause, more along the lines of a bear or large predator of the night. One could only hope someone asked before shooting in her direction if someone was nearby. @Cain Darlite
He never did have luck with the weather, huh? Within the pitch-black forest of Brisshal, where coniferous trees were merely different shades of darkness on that moonlit night, Cain Darlite had stylish plans of watching the starscape in the heavens above, recording their movements as the night went on and one. But, alas, even with his most powerful Arc Buster, the midnight-haired Muse wasn’t able to scatter the clouds above. A pity, but now that it was midnight, he was more or less stuck here, sitting on a tree, waiting for time to pass. Perhaps the weather conditions would change? Perhaps a fortuitous wind would push them away? Or maybe he should just log off now, instead of also waiting for daybreak while meandering in the darkness. Leaning against the trunk of yet another tree that he climbed, Cain closed his eyes, deciding for now to simply listen to what the night provided. Distant hoots of nocturnal predators. The soft shuuush of a midnight breeze. The buzz of unsleeping insects. It was nice, that the conditions brought by the Gold Dust quest had been removed so quickly. No more idiot miners bashing through tree roots for gold that only existed on the surface, after all. With a content sigh, the muse shifted to a slightly more comfortable position on that knobby tree, before whistling a wordless tune. Even to his own ears, there was something off-tune about it, but before Cain could start playing with his sounds, a different, more violent one broke through the peace of the night. Branches crackling, feet pounding, shrubbery parting, something was rashly bulldozing their way through the forest. Prey? Or Predator? Whatever they were going after, whatever they were running away from, that second party was much more silent, a ghost gliding through the rough terrain. Dangerous then? A Night Hag or a Demon? An aberrant beast that only shows its face in the depths of a moonless night? He could feel the adrenaline rushing in his veins, the heroic warbeat pounding against his ribs as energy burst through his body, creating an aurora of white light. That misty radiance converged into a singular ball of light, a purple-tinged star within the blackness of the night. Perhaps his voice alone would be enough to dissuade those that rampaged like buffoons? “HAIL! I AM CAIN DARLITE, FLAGBEARER OF MIRACLES, STAR SEEKER AND DREAM CATCHER, THE GUARDIAN OF THE AUROREAN VEILS! WHO GOES THERE?"
_____This was not something Alice needed as she noticed a bright light in her panicked state. It was clearly not the moon or any stars due to the color so all Alice could assume of it was an attack. A loud scream escaping her lips as she dove into the bushes and started running away from the light not wanting to get blasted by some magic. The male would however likely see her frame, a small girl with long ears and blonde hair over her white dress and pants. ”As if dealing with the night is not enough!” _____Alice moved around the bushes a bit better, the light helping her regain some of her focus but also making her rush around faster and moved around to try and dodge any attack that would hit if she ran a straight line. If the person tried to talk to Alice she would have none of that as he just startled her and clearly was not a sane person in her mind by the way he spoke. She did not need to meet some crazy person in the middle of the night, that was just a whole level of not going to happen. @Cain Darlite
Oh, that was a loud scream, enough that a whole flock of birds scattered into the sky due to it. Feminine too. Though it was hard to make out in the darkness, Cain’s eyes caught the figure out, that of a small Yladian girl who really was wearing nothing appropriate for running around the forest at night. Geez, now he felt a bit bad for yelling so loudly earlier. Still maintaining that ball of magical energy in his palm, the Muse hopped down from his arboreal tower, landing gracefully onto his feet while the blonde long-ears only continued what looked to be evasive maneuvers. So she wasn’t running away from something? She was just…panicking? Definitely an NPC then. There was no way that a player wouldn’t just choose to log out in this situation. Which meant… “Wait up!” Cain called out, giving chase, “I’m not a suspicious person! Where’s your parents, kid?” Yeah, in this particular case, he wasn’t going to maintain his flamboyant persona. Definitely not. With that white ball of power as a light source, the Muse ran after her, totally unaware of the fact that positioning his orb below his face caused shadows to cast upwards, giving him the appearance of a truly depraved maniac.
_____Alice would not bother turning around as she just kept waving around, the bad issues was that with the light following her she seemed to start recalling the area better and knew exactly where she would need to run for safety. Thankfully for her she was not far from a few friends of hers, bad news for @Cain Darlite was that this group of friends was a pack of wolves and their den outline would be visible in the far reach of the light. It would be easy to misinterpret her running unknowing towards the den up until she whistled loudly and the wolves howled out in reply. _____Rushing past the small group of wolves before they closed ranks and she turned around trembling and scared mostly out of her wits if the person was still chasing. The pack would not move unless he tried to get closer, the main reason was Alice’s hand resting on the back of the alpha of this pack as if keeping them assured she just wanted them to look scary and not attack the person unless he got to close to the den. Her lips trembling for a moment with mumbled words before something escaped them that made sense and was loud enough to be heard. ”I don’t have any parents… they died a year ago… And you clearly are suspicious person for chasing me so much and looking all scary like that!” _____The pack growling as Alice spoke louder, her hands tapping their backs to get them to calm down again as she was still trembling behind them. She would prefer this did not turn into a fight, but if that person made any sudden moves Alice would not be able to keep this group down. They not only chose to protect her but in the den smaller wolves could be seen that they had to protect, it was that reason they looked more angry that someone outside Alice showed up at their home. ”If you don’t want to get attacked I’d advise treading carefully mister… They won’t listen to me if you get much closer to their kids…”
A whistle, and then suddenly, wolves were surging through their dens, parting way for the young girl before forming a protective formation around her. As backstories were revealed and threats were made, Cain couldn’t help but smile at this sudden turn of events. Like, woah, from merely a girl lost in the woods to a wolf-speaker who apparently lived in the wilds for an entire year with this pack of animals, evading capture from suspicious people all the way! Not only that, but it was probably a tragic story involving a horrific bandit attack that she escaped due to her parents’ sacrifice! Like Batman, except there was no money involved! For a moment there, Cain almost forgot the situation he was in, and was just thoroughly impressed by how cool that sounded. A forest child, fearing the humanity that slew her parents had now made herself the Small Queen of the Forest, the rumored Beast-Speaker who defended the forest during day and hid in it during night. Nodding to acknowledge that he more or less understood what she was saying, the tall man sat down, more or less satisfied with this current state of affairs. His curiousity was stoked now, and surely she wouldn’t think he was insane enough to attack her now that she was surrounded by her lupine buddies? …then again, maybe she’d attack him on principle if she was aware of his own ‘training’ method of grouping up a bunch of those wolves and then nuking them from atop a tree with his magical might…naw, there was no way that’d be a thing! “Just cause I look suspicious doesn’t mean I am,” Cain replied, extinguishing the ball of arcane energy to show that he meant no harm, “And I have no intention of attacking anyone, as you can see. Still, is this your home then? This den of animal companions, young miss?” A considerate pause, as the dark-haired man mulled over what he really wanted to ask. “What was chasing you before? Would you say that you're safe from whatever you were running away from now?”
_____When the light was taken down from the male Alice returned to extremely fearful, the wolves growling loudly at the change of her heart rate but not breaking formation yet. Alice’s focus was on something behind @Cain Darlite but if he turned to look he would only see darkness of the night and clearly now this was the thing Alice was scared of. She hated the dark before her second death but now it was something she feared in game and mixing that with her hate for it caused sheer paranoia levels as she staggered back and ran into the cave to feel slightly safer even if it was darker. _____The young wolves circled around Alice, the feeling of their fur was the only reason she was not screaming her head off or crying as she trembled amidst them. The older wolves kept a line to prevent the male from approach, the Alpha breaking from it to personally see to Alice. It would be rather unique to witness as the wolf picked up a stick with his mouth and quickly struck it against the cave wall to spark it into a small torch light and offering it to Alice who happily took it and sighed with relief, her frame still trembling. _____Carefully moving with the Alpha to gather some sticks to add into a fire pit before lighting them with the torch. The large field of light allowed Alice to calm down fully as she sat beside it to stay warm. Her left hand waving down as the Alpha barked and the pack slowly moved into the cave behind Alice and her camp fire. Taking a small stick Alice began to tend to the fire to help keep her focus far from the shadows around her, other hand petting the Alpha who laid down beside the girl and stayed between her and Cain. ”Not this den, but somewhat it could be said that it was. I look after most the animals here and in the other forest area to the best of what I can do alone. My pursuer was nyctophobia…”
So it was darkness that she was afraid of, darkness that she ran away from. As the fire was tended to, a crackling campfire forming despite the slight trepidation of the wolves around it, Cain nodded, not really minding that she had retreated further into the den. If all the animals within the forest were her allies, intelligent enough to use a branch like a matchstick, and if they haven’t yet just leapt onto her and torn her into pieces, then sure. She was most likely safe like that. Unlike others who hunted these creatures for resources and were hunted in turn for the flesh of their bones, this looked to be a much friendlier relationship. Of course, lives still had to be exchanged between the animals in the forest, for every wolf must feast on venison, but still, it was interesting one way or the other. Remaining seated in the darkness, Cain enjoyed the fire’s ambient warmth and red glow, even in the presence of the ‘enemies’ that had once cornered him in the forests of Brisshal before. Foul, carnivorous beasts they may be, but he had no intention of blasting them to bits while they remained that girl’s companions for the long night. Her isolation from others was still a mystery, and her identity was obscure, but for now, this was alright. It was a cloudy night, and the muse didn’t have much better to do at this point. Going on a hunt for animals within this forest at this hour would simply be in bad taste, right? Cain leaned his elbows on his thighs, grinning. “Eh, so you fancy yourself a protector of the forest, young miss? Well, with your friendship with these beasts being what it is, I suppose you’re doing a fine job at that,” he remarked. “Still, what were you doing out in the dark, if you’re so afraid of it?” It didn't appear as if she was so unaware of her surroundings that she'd not notice the sun had gone down a good five or six hours ago, after all. Was there something more here?
_____Alice almost felt embarrassed, when someone else said it she felt like it was a crime committed. She never once set foot outside a forty by forty foot hospital room yet here she was ‘protector of the forest’ when she had no place being out here. A light blush overcoming her face as she poked the fire a bit to hard and her hand grazed the outer rim causing her to yelp and pull her hand off the stick and started blowing on the injury. His question to her would have to wait a few moments as she held her injured hand closer and spoke. ”I was not planning to stay out so late… Today I decided to go pay Kit’s zone a visit and that is to the far side from where I live currently. Sadly Kit and me aren't as on terms as this group or some of the others so I spent most the time running from him and ended up in a tree. By the time he gave up it was dusk and I have since been running full speed to try and get home. Doubt I can navigate back now since this amount of darkness scrambles my mind in fear… even sitting here give me the creeps…” _____Alice was a ranter, it was sadly so because she never got the chance to speak in the real world so a lot of times she spent talking was trying to make up for her over twenty years of using only her hands or writing to convey what she wanted to say to others. Part of her felt like she was boring the male so she just shut her mouth and looked for another stick to tend the flames and some things to toss into it to keep it burning. It was not what most people nowadays choose to play games for but to Alice it was something she always wanted to do in real life and so far it did not get old. ”I’ll also have you know I’m not as young as I look! Just like in reality…” Alice’s mouth puffed as she started to get offended by getting called ‘young miss’ so many times. @Cain Darlite
Kit…another ‘pet’ of hers, eh? Whistling a small tune as Alice yelped in pain, a strange light was expelled into the air, warm orbs seeping into her skin and healing the small burn. It wasn’t exactly necessary, and maybe it’d just scare her more, but Cain was willing to take that gamble. Connections were nice to have, after all, especially with interesting individuals like this animal-speaking nature-protector. To be attacked by the ‘pet’ that she went to play with was pretty hilarious in a sad way though, and it was plausible, perhaps, that she had simply been caught out at the wrong place and time. “My apologies, m’lady,” Cain said, dipping his head down sincerely, “Though youth is the one commodity that grows scarcer as one becomes more experienced with the world, I suppose this may have been a bit demeaning. My name is Cain Darlite. How may I address you?” Whether or not introductions were to be had from this mysterious blonde faerin, the midnight-haired man still stood up afterwards, thoughts already moving onto the next issue. Stuck here in the wild with only a weak flame and her lupine allies as her companions, it was clear that she needed help. His hands patted the dirt off his pants, while a quick gesture confirmed once more the amount of Energy he had left for the remainder of the night. Did he have enough to last? Didn’t matter. Only a lesser man wouldn’t offer help in this situation, regardless of how fit he was for the task. “Well, it’s not all that late into the night, and though my own arcane gifts are inflexible, I pride myself in the illumination these gifts brought,” he said, “If unease rests in your heart even within this den, surrounded by your friends, I’m willing to guide you back to your proper home, m’lady. Consider it an apology for frightening you later. My magic may be weak, but they’re certainly bright.”
”It’s fine Mr. Cain, I’ll likely spend the night here and come dawn I’ll go back to heading home after a decent amount of light is up. I also don’t want to trouble you any more than I already have.” _____Alice would flinch as the fire cracked a bit louder from a larger stick giving way from the heat but otherwise looked ok staying near the fire. The Alpha chose to move and lightly growled to get Alice to laugh and walk over to him and use his him as a pillow, the wolf moving to rest his head beside her arm as he began to fall asleep. ”Plus I have not spent the night with this group in some time. They aren't always happy that I go a week or so away from saying hi to them ha-ha.” _____Alice’s feet moved to keep poking the stick at the fire to move some of the sticks for a bit longer before she curled up to the alpha wolf and began to doze off slightly. She felt at home, just like she did in her hospital room. While both had fair amounts of danger for her they gave her the most comfort and that was all she cared for as she curled up a bit more and started to pass out. _____If @Cain Darlite tried to approach Alice the Alpha would growl lightly and the pack would seem to move back out to circle the girl. Even if he did not approach the pack would move to circle Alice, starting with the younger wolves who laid close to her and the rest of the group formed a light circle around them all. Alice herself seemed to talk in her sleep as she cast a few spells to cover the area below them with soft grass to help make it easier for the group to sleep, but nothing to close to the first for it to spread.
“Then may your dreams be of daybreak,” Cain replied, watching as she dozed off in that den, surrounded by that pack of wolves. Once again, that concentric circle was formed, a mass of fur and fang submerging that blonde faerin, before she fell asleep. It definitely looked comfy, being smothered by warmth and over-sized puppies, but the overprotective alpha wolf was still awake, standing vigil over his family, and Cain ultimately wasn’t here to play with dogs anyways. With a final wave towards that sleeping, nameless woman, the midnight-haired muse submerged himself in the shadows once more, slipping back into his own nightly quest. Overhead, the clouds had parted, fantastic constellations finally revealing themselves to those bound to the earth.
