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The entire time the group was offering names, Erin sort of crab walked over to Asiya, hands still at chest level in her 'please don't hurt me' gesture. The monster was focused on everyone else and not her, and maybe she could stay that way. Pax was a weird one (this day was weird) and all the video games she'd played told her to use caution because weird omnipresent monsters who clearly can tell you're lying and can ice you to death are bad.

"Eleneill... wait no... Certed Tech... no, I mean... Erin. Just, Erin." The techy girl winced and just sort of hid behind Asiya, really hoping she didn't earn the ire of Pax.

Or anyone else.

The last thing Tory expected to see was… this. He stood back with Brie and Rabbit, listening wide-eyed as it spoke, first ordering those with weapons to put them down, then asking their names after offering its own as Pax. It spoke of Heliodora as if the girl was still alive, claimed by the forest.

...Was that what this creature was, a forest spirit?

Tory had always thought forest spirits were like those little head-bobbing things in Japanese animation -- which movie was it again, Princess Mononoke or something. Or like that Totoro guy, big and furry and friendly. He never imagined they looked like this, and it both freaked him out and excited him a little. His personal philosophy was that everything had a spirit; plants, trees, even machinery and computers. He never dreamt he'd actually see one of those spirits.

Too stunned to move, he continued to listen, huddled with the other two. "I'm Tory," he finally said, softly and quietly, more out of reflex than anything.

At the mention of magic, Jeremiah stood a little straighter. He did not seemed bothered at all by the fact that the Peaceful One was aware of their lack of complete truth. The creature, to Jeremiah, was not so monstrous as other.

"You'll have to forgive us. Some of us know stories - have already made deals - and it makes us leary." Blue-green eyes flicked to Autumn, the detective impressed with her. Her bravery was something else (even if the rest of what she had done he was not so sure about). Jeremiah looked over to Zac, watched his shoulders rise and then drop.

For a moment he honestly thought about saying Jer-bear but that was not a name to say and, in all honesty, belonged to Sunny. Oddly enough were anyone but the impossible young woman to call him that he probably would not react well.

Bad enough that Algie knew about it as it were. "Detective Mercer," he finally spoke, "if I'm going to name myself."

Mostly because somewhere in his brain he was rationalizing that this thing knew Heliodora. A last name was far more forgivable in sharing than his first. If he had to give something to get information, to gain trust, that he could give.

"Spark?" Zac said cautiously, interest peeked. "Taken?" He tipped his head though, honestly he expected no answer.

He frowned slightly at its hesitant instructions though, the broken sentences that for some reason reminded him of the tapping of tree branches.

Still... He worried at his lower lip, bit at his thumb before he decided yes, he might follow the instructions that it gave Autumn as well.

He tipped his head slightly, and closed his eyes.

It was hard to focus on anything but the light sound of Mogget's claws inside Alg's shirt... the growls he was occasionally giving, which by its own right was unsettling but....

He thought he heard...

He thought...

Ves peered at the creature. Pax. From its words, she supposed it was an ancient being, knowing if not wise. It was probably wise in the ways of the forest, and of this shadowy world where everything felt wet. Not, perhaps, in the ways of humans. Or perhaps it was the humans who were not wise.

She closed her eyes as Pax leaned against Autumn and listened. Listened to the forest, the trees, and she thought she heard a quiet hum coming from all around her. What was that? It was a gentle, persistent sound that surrounded them all, like the thrum of unseen life somehow. As if this place was more alive than she'd thought before.

"I'm Leila," the investigator had said at some point between yelling at the knife kid and now. Her hands were still limply up on either side of her head, even though they were past the point where weaponry was an issue. The Peaceful One and its interaction with Autumn was so intimate, and captivating, that she'd forgotten she even had limbs to move.

And now Pax was talking of hearing blood, synaesthesia? giving instructions like the meditations she does with Eve. It took a couple of moments to process that juxtaposition of images and feelings, and a couple more still of personal anxiety before she could really follow through and start listening.

It crept up slowly, at first feeling like some tension in her jaw or the back of her neck -- it was a peculiar thing, to have the tiny bones in your ears rattled by things that should not move them. But rattle they did, and it sent an electric feeling through her body in its newness, putting the sound as much at her knees and fingertips as they were at her ears. In time she was kneeling to the ground to make sense of it, pressing her hands into the litter and soil.

"Roots, springtails... organisms moving through the earth?" Leila's voice was dry, crackling and quiet. "Wait... no... it's the earth being moved..."

Aside from it's earlier display of power, Pax did seem to be peaceful, tolerating Autumn's strokes, leaning its head against hers. Cataleen decided to give the creature the benefit of the doubt, and closed her eyes as well.

At first, she only heard what she expected to hear, the forest, the rustling of clothing, breathing both calm and ragged, the squelch of mud as weight was shifted...

But then she heard something else. High and distant came the clarion call of a bell. It rang out three times, sounding both dignified and sorrowful, and then fell silent. Some part of Cataleen reached out to it, and she was surprised to find tears in her eyes when she opened them again.

Rabbit remained as silent as Brie, his reaction to her and Tory's comforting embrace only notable because he didn't have one. Autumn's Steve Irwin act held most of his attention now, that and the creature's subsequent question. What did he hear? He wasn't sure he trusted Pax enough to let down his guard and find out.

He tried to remind himself that Heliodora had wanted this, that she'd agreed to intense pain and life without a foot in order to become queen of the deer people.

He closed his eyes.

Faintly, far away in both space and time, Rabbit heard the creak of a tire swing. It made him smile, prompting another of the many shifts between frustration, fear, and amusement he'd felt today. It was tiring.