eyes can't shine unless there's something burning bright behind
Aurelia gave him a pointed look at his rebuttle, though there was a mixture of confusion in her eyes. His demeanor was starkly different; colder, more official-like. Briefly, as she parted vines and plants, she reflected back on things he'd told her of his past. How he'd grown up and been raised, the confines of a life he had worked so hard to escape. Was it coming back to him? Something was off. But the moment she thought to confront it, her hands felt clammy and her lips sealed shut. Not now. He wanted to pretend...
In that instant, she wondered if she was pretending, too.
The macaw taking flight startled her, made her shoulders tense up and her movements freeze. Realizing it was flying away and not in a startled fashion that might indicate the presence of a predator, she turned and huffed at Sunjata. "Was that you? You really should warn me before you use your Attuned magic - or whatever that was." She still glanced around, trying to decipher the shape of oncoming danger through the trees, whatever that might look like. Nate informing her of her Abandoned abilities came to the surface of her mind, and she tapped her fingers against the hilt of her knife in agitation.
Turning back to the imaginary trail ahead, the vines seemed to thin and the jungle floor became crowded with low-growing bushes. Miniature palms and large ferns of dark, strange colors sprouted around them, completely hiding the ground beneath. She walked a little slower here, unsure. "Animals... Yeah, sure... I guess that doesn't bother you much, does it?" She turned and raised her eyebrows at him, unimpressed. At his question of her old world being a jungle, she paused to let him take up the open space beside her, or perhaps take the lead.
"Yep, one gigantic jungle. Imagine if Caido was covered in it. There was more than that, so I heard. But, I'd never seen any of it." She nodded at his assumption, "Hmm, Have you ever seen a grown man get devoured by a giant trap-plant?" She grinned, flashing her teeth at him. "It's not pretty."
"Fortunately I haven't run into any carnivorous plants in this jungle... yet," she grew more serious and walked on, "but I did meet a witch. She lives on the other side, I think, in a swamp. It's closer to the Hollowed Grounds. That's where I found her, anyway, or she found me, I guess."
In that instant, she wondered if she was pretending, too.
The macaw taking flight startled her, made her shoulders tense up and her movements freeze. Realizing it was flying away and not in a startled fashion that might indicate the presence of a predator, she turned and huffed at Sunjata. "Was that you? You really should warn me before you use your Attuned magic - or whatever that was." She still glanced around, trying to decipher the shape of oncoming danger through the trees, whatever that might look like. Nate informing her of her Abandoned abilities came to the surface of her mind, and she tapped her fingers against the hilt of her knife in agitation.
Turning back to the imaginary trail ahead, the vines seemed to thin and the jungle floor became crowded with low-growing bushes. Miniature palms and large ferns of dark, strange colors sprouted around them, completely hiding the ground beneath. She walked a little slower here, unsure. "Animals... Yeah, sure... I guess that doesn't bother you much, does it?" She turned and raised her eyebrows at him, unimpressed. At his question of her old world being a jungle, she paused to let him take up the open space beside her, or perhaps take the lead.
"Yep, one gigantic jungle. Imagine if Caido was covered in it. There was more than that, so I heard. But, I'd never seen any of it." She nodded at his assumption, "Hmm, Have you ever seen a grown man get devoured by a giant trap-plant?" She grinned, flashing her teeth at him. "It's not pretty."
"Fortunately I haven't run into any carnivorous plants in this jungle... yet," she grew more serious and walked on, "but I did meet a witch. She lives on the other side, I think, in a swamp. It's closer to the Hollowed Grounds. That's where I found her, anyway, or she found me, I guess."
Aurelia
