Despite being fresh and new to her, the witch found her walk through the woods somewhat underwhelming, the skeletal trees a sad reality in response to her memories of a forest so vast and dense - so green. Even in the oppressively hot days of Longheat the greenery of the forests that dotted the outskirts did not impress her. Still, it was with bold curiosity that she had set out this brisk morning, in the pouch at her hip a stack of notes she'd drawn from her days spent reading what she could in the halls of the Atheneum on wildlife and herbs she might possibly encounter. Ready to take her lesson to the field, she had set before herself a simple task of acquainting herself with the woodland and perhaps correct any errors in her notes or understanding.
Quite partial to the cooler turn in temperature, Mel had no complaint in that department, and though the uneven terrain of the path she'd taken did her no favors, she bore through it with steadfast determination, though all the while appeared to be searching for something, lighting up as she crossed fallen sticks, sizing them up with a casual prowl around. Periodically she would lift one up and carefully look it over or test the weight of it, though none seemed to fit the bill quite right and were soon deposited back where they had been or nearby out from under foot.
It was one such stick discovery, however, that quickly turned the mood of the day sour as from the base of a nearby tree fallen leaves began to shift and Mel believed at once that she was being approached by a very friendly acorn squash. Springing back, she stumbled with her stick still in hand, an unwieldy thing that she would have rejected sooner had it not just become her new weapon of choice. She did not stay grounded for long, the rustling of leaves as the piles shifted away to reveal more of the green and orange gourds motivating her to at the very find her way into a crouch. With a painfully awkward swing she choked her grip up on the stick, cocked it back and took a "mighty" whack at the gourds, the flesh of a few bursting after several more hacking blows. Scrambling back several paces she used the stick to drag herself to her feet, warding the remaining handful of pesky plants away with a few warding jabs of her stick, backing clumsily toward the trail she had left for this, honestly, kind of shitty makeshift staff. "See what happened to your friends, now. Think about it." Mel's warning gave the gourds a moment of pause, raising questions about their sentience as she set foot on relatively even ground yet again.
With all the menace of a pack of kittens the gourds growled after her in chorus and approached, almost comedic in their movements as they rocked and bounced across the leaf-carpeted floor, not very fast and sort of struggling on the uneven terrain, but determined. The resemblance between herself and the gourds in that moment of observation seemed uncanny. As she cocked the makeshift staff back, she realized how absolutely pathetic they seemed to her and instead opted for a gentler option of attempting to push them off of the trail and herd them toward a gentle embankment which she was certain would keep them busy long enough for her to complete her explorations.
"Come on, don't make it more difficult than it needs to be-" Rolling haphazardly one of the gourds gave a bewildered grunt as it found itself upended, which Mel found, unfortunately, to be strangely cute, pressing a hand to her mouth to suppress a laugh. "Just get off of the path - shoo."
Yes, shoo, pesky vampire gourd. Shoo.
Quite partial to the cooler turn in temperature, Mel had no complaint in that department, and though the uneven terrain of the path she'd taken did her no favors, she bore through it with steadfast determination, though all the while appeared to be searching for something, lighting up as she crossed fallen sticks, sizing them up with a casual prowl around. Periodically she would lift one up and carefully look it over or test the weight of it, though none seemed to fit the bill quite right and were soon deposited back where they had been or nearby out from under foot.
It was one such stick discovery, however, that quickly turned the mood of the day sour as from the base of a nearby tree fallen leaves began to shift and Mel believed at once that she was being approached by a very friendly acorn squash. Springing back, she stumbled with her stick still in hand, an unwieldy thing that she would have rejected sooner had it not just become her new weapon of choice. She did not stay grounded for long, the rustling of leaves as the piles shifted away to reveal more of the green and orange gourds motivating her to at the very find her way into a crouch. With a painfully awkward swing she choked her grip up on the stick, cocked it back and took a "mighty" whack at the gourds, the flesh of a few bursting after several more hacking blows. Scrambling back several paces she used the stick to drag herself to her feet, warding the remaining handful of pesky plants away with a few warding jabs of her stick, backing clumsily toward the trail she had left for this, honestly, kind of shitty makeshift staff. "See what happened to your friends, now. Think about it." Mel's warning gave the gourds a moment of pause, raising questions about their sentience as she set foot on relatively even ground yet again.
With all the menace of a pack of kittens the gourds growled after her in chorus and approached, almost comedic in their movements as they rocked and bounced across the leaf-carpeted floor, not very fast and sort of struggling on the uneven terrain, but determined. The resemblance between herself and the gourds in that moment of observation seemed uncanny. As she cocked the makeshift staff back, she realized how absolutely pathetic they seemed to her and instead opted for a gentler option of attempting to push them off of the trail and herd them toward a gentle embankment which she was certain would keep them busy long enough for her to complete her explorations.
"Come on, don't make it more difficult than it needs to be-" Rolling haphazardly one of the gourds gave a bewildered grunt as it found itself upended, which Mel found, unfortunately, to be strangely cute, pressing a hand to her mouth to suppress a laugh. "Just get off of the path - shoo."
Yes, shoo, pesky vampire gourd. Shoo.
