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Things were not going well for Rook today. His whole schedule had been thrown off early in the day when he'd somehow managed to oversleep and ended up late to a breakfast meeting with his mother. Things had carried on in that fashion, what with unhappy clients, a lack of progress in his research and even a minor argument with his twin. Nothing seemed to want to go the young man's way right now and so he was not wholly surprised when his hunting trip turned into a disaster as well.

Rook had scheduled himself a few hours of flying during the early evening, he'd wanted to try out a new hunting grounds today. The owl mononoke tried to rotate where he took prey from as he didn't wish to starve out the true wildlife that lived there. It wasn't as if he starved by any means and needed to hunt. As a member of the royal family Rook had enough financial security to eat as he pleased for every meal of the day and not need to worry. Rook simply felt at peace enough with his snowy owl form that he didn't mind hunting in it on occasion, the feelings and desire to hunt were as natural to him as his instincts on how to fly or how he understood the magic that often hid inside of music.

Right now none of that mattered though, what mattered was that a fairly innocent looking plant had clobbered him out of the sky as he'd dove past, talons extended to take down his prey. Rook had landed less than gracefully on the ground moments later only to find himself trapped by even more plants, some of which seemed to be moving about of their own accord and not a one of them gave him the feeling that they were friendly. He was stuck, unable to summon the strength or bearings to fly away and unwilling to risk shifting back to his human form around so many dangerous looking plants. His clothes didn't go with him when he shifted and being bare skinned seemed like a poor idea right now.

Rook had only just fully regained his senses in time to notice a that one plant in particular seemed ready to strike him. How was he going to get out of this, how to dodge without putting himself too near his other leafy captors. A shadow fell over the area at the last second and a strange looking man appeared, a man who seemed quiter familair with these plants.

Safe for the moment Rook stared silently at his rescuer, the previous bubbly nervous feeling in his stomach replaced by a cold lump of fear. He might have been safer with the plants, might have been able to escape with only few cuts and some loose or broken feathers.

The druid who had no down grown the plants though, he would be much harder to evade and about as likely as the plants to listen to reason.

Rook didn't think Druids were bad by any means but the young royal was well aware of their reported natures and how much they disliked tresspassers. The fact that he was a royal and would be quickly missed meant he probably wouldn't be killed if he revealed his mononoke nature. However, he wouldn't put it past his rescuer to harm him if only to reinforce the idea that some areas of the forests were off limits to anyone not of their kind.

Rook did little more than ruffle his mostly white feathers slightly as he was picked up and lifted away from the danger of the sentient carnivous plants. For the moment it was safest to pretend he was merely a very lost, normal owl, he would observe this druid for a while before making any rash decsions on how to proceed.

Rook had expected the horned man holding him to be joined soon by other druids. While full knowledge of the forest people was scarce it had long since been known that they typically lived in groups. It confused the young man then when no other druids appeared and he was carried into a dwelling that was clearly not made to house many occupants. Hmm was this man an oddity, one who lived outside his village or perhaps druids had rites of passage and were made to live alone and commune only with nature during part of their youth. As nervous and confused as he was Rook's curiosity was peaked and he wondered what he might learn here. Perhaps he could bring back new knowledge of druids, surely that would be useful to the sage's of his family. If nothing else he was being treated to the sight of a druid's magic and skills first hand.

Rook struggled not to fuss when the stranger began to look him over, few people had had the chance to touch him in his owl form and fewer still did more than simply pet his feathers, this was an unusual and unsettling process for him. The druid's words soon had his attention though. He didn't recall any thorns stabbing him but then again he'd been hit rather hard and he wasn't entirely sure where all the scrapes on him had come from during the fall. On one hand he could stay silent and simply accept the antitdote just in case he had been poisoned, even if he didn't feel too bad at the moment. On the other hand though what if the antitote in question was only for true owls and would react negatively to his being a mononoke. Such things had never happened in the past but Rook had also never personally dealt with a druid or it's magic before.

While his rescuer moved away from the table to find whatever concotion he had for curing the poison of the plants from before Rook decsiively walked more towards the edge of the table, talons clicking on it's surface as he did so. As he began to shift back into human form Rook prayed that the druid would be too startled to become agressive until the transformation was done and Rook could explain who he was.

Rook also had no idea how you made an owl take medicine, he was pretty positive he'd have reflexivly bitten off someone's finger with his beak if they tried to shove something down his throat. At the moment though he had bigger problems to deal with, problems like being naked and alone with an angry druid who it seemed had had some less than pleasant experiences with mononoke in the past. The thought made the young man shiver and ruffle the feathers of the small pair of wings he sported even in human form.

Covering himself with the offered pelt Rook took a calming breath before speaking. "My name is Rook Galkin and I was hunting, I didn't realize this area belonged to druids." Rook tried to project authority as he spoke without coming off as haughty, he was royalty which demanded respect but he wasn't here to be antagonistic, he just wanted to not be killed. Druids were legendarily protective of their homes and their secrets and Rook couldn't be sure just how much safety his lineage afford him. Bright blue eyes stared nervously at the druid as he spoke and awaited a response.

Fight him! Rook couldn't fight him, he was a moderate fighter at best and he had none of the tools needed to use his magic here, his voice alone would be of little help. Not that Rook chose to solve problems by physical violence normally anyways, he preffered intellectual solutions. He was more than ready to talk his way out of this, especially when his honor had been insulted.

Icy blue eyes narrowed as he directed a sharp glare at the lounging Druid . "I am a member of the royal family, my word is my honour and theirs, if I swear to keep your secrets they will not be pulled willingly from me." Antagonising the other man, the one who's home he was trapped in was not the brightest of ideas. Still, Rook could not let the challenging insult pass and he felt that showing some backbone was a better option than showing fear in this circumstance. Ruffling the feathers of his wings Rook held his ground though he made no move to encrouch further upon the predatory man's space. "I will admit that I should have shifted sooner," he conceeded " But I was still recovering from the fall and I have never found myself in a situation such as this." Besides shifting while being carried would only have made things more awkward and this man had to know what his people's reputation was like. Rook wasn't being suspicious he had been intelligently evaluating a dangerous situation.


"I am not like the mononoke you mentioned before." he declared " I didn't wish to trick you, this was just a chance meeting." If he got out of this Rook would never return to this area of forest and he'd warn Rhapsody away from it too without giving her the details. Even the deep bond he shared with his twin would not get him to break his word if he swore to tell no one of the loner druid and his animal eating plants.

This was going to be very difficult, Rook surmised as he listened to his captor dismiss his lineage and any sense of honour that came with it. He would have loved to argue that point, to prove how his noble birth and up bringing had made him a better more trustworthy person but the young mononoke doubted it would help much. Plus it was always hard to get people to listen long enough for him to explain that being a noble didn't naturally make him better but that being raised one had placed burdens on him that meant he could not consider himself a good perseon if he was failing to meet them. It was a complicated dance and one Rook normally enjoyed, the measured back and forth arguments, point and counterpoint, a mixture of words, tone and body language to make one's opinions seem correct. This lone druid though did not seem like he was going to be a willing partner in debate and Rook wasn't about to waste time with fruitless persuits.

"I don't think I got cut by a thorn although it's hard to be sure, I don't feel anything right now but threatened and fear can overwhelm other senses especially if the signs of them are subtle." Rook's reply came steadily and with as much honesty as he could project into his words. " I have nothing to gain by knowing of your existence, despite my interest in druids I was not searching for any." Rook paused to carefully phrase his next words. " I do not want anything from you but my freedom, I do not even want your name and would forget this place existed if not for the need to prevent others from stumbling upon it." He could not let Rhapsody get hurt if she too tried for the nearby area as a hunting grounds. "I have many questions but I am reigning my curioisty in out of respect."

While the feathers of his miniature wings ruffled in displeasure at the idea of poison seeping through his veins, Rook was far more concerned with reaching a point of at least tolerance from the druid. As he awaited a response the fingers on his left hand drummed a comforting pattern upon the table. A small part of his mind wondered if he could using a soothing pattern and his magic to make his captor more accepting of peace. The idea was quickly brushed aside though. Rook would not manipulate another with his magic, not like this and not when even if accidentally it had been his own fault for landing in this mess.

Well mostly his fault, although he couldn't have expected a vicious plant to knock him out of the sky.