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 Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:07 pm
Who: Holle, Nina, Dair
When: Mid-afternoon
Where: A park in central Barton.
Weather: Chilly.
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Yes... Yes, she was definitely lost.
If there was one thing Nina learned about Holle, it was that the Frei liked to wander. A lot. She'd look away for just a moment and back again, and Holle would be half a football field away collecting peculiar stones. It was enough to drive the brunette up a wall.
So consider her luck when, despite her constant reminders to stay within sight, Holle wandered off again. Nina frantically ran about the park; eyes dark with worry as she tried to seek out her kid. Yet, Holle was no where to be found...
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No, she was definitely not lost!
...Right?
Nina had instructed Holle to remain where she could be seen, but how could she when such a peculiar song could be heard down the path? The Frei glanced at Nina twice, before slipping off toward the source, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
I'll only be five minutes! Promise!
But five turned into ten when she enjoyed the music of an organ grinder and their monkey friend. Ten turned into twenty when she joined the jovial company of an evergreen. Twenty turned into half an hour when she wandered along the path, reveling in simply being outside.
It didn't quite dawn on her how lost she was until the chill hit her core, sending an awful tremble down her arms. Nina had told her she was sensitive to the cold, and should try to remain indoors until spring, but only now was Holle realizing how right she was. A gust blew passed the Frei, causing her to hug her shoulders and wish for the warmth of inside.
I... I have to get back to mama! she thought, floating in the middle of the path and looking about frantically. But... where is she?
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:33 pm
Nell had (thankfully) relaxed a lot about letting Dair wander around freely, and ever since then he had taken every opportunity given to him to find new places to visit. He had his favorites by now, the larger nature preserves were always his go-to spots, but sometimes if Nell took him along while she was doing errands he would wander around in the parks until she was done, greatly preferring any form of nature over busy city streets.
And so he found himself perched in the branches of a tree that almost grew over one of the walkways in the park, content to simply lie back and watch the ever changing patterns of the leaves being blown back and forth in the wind. He had been up there for some time zoning out (if you were feeling charitable, taking a nap if you felt like being a bit more honest) until he was jolted to wakefulness by...something. If he were hard pressed to say what caught his attention he would guess it was a sudden movement of the branch he was on (but it wasn't quite windy enough for that) or a sudden loud noise of one of the pedestrians walking underneath him (but he had easily tuned them all out up until then). Regardless, he peered through the branches at the path, looking bath and forth before he spotted something a bit different than the usual joggers.
A Raevan floated in the middle of the path, one he hadn't met before, but one that he felt a sort of immediate kinship with at the sight of her bark-like, mossy wings. So with a smile on his face (and not much thought given to how weird it would seem) he pushed himself past the lower level of the branches until his head was free of leaves.
"Hello!" Sure, his view of the world was now upside-down, but he was meeting a (hopefully) new friend, and certainly that was worth dealing with an unusual viewpoint.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:03 pm
Holle weighed her options, head bowed in thought but her frantic bobbing reflexively continuing. There was always the option of retracing her steps, but there was always threat of something else piquing her interest and beckoning her off-path. She could always remain where she was, but for how much longer?
I m-might turn into an... an icicle by the time mama finds me! The thought made her tremble more from fear. Mama won't just be mad, she might... she might... Holle gulped. She might lecture me!
Those would last forever. Holle knew she should listen, but all Nina would do is talk, talk, talk. Yet, no matter how the Frei considered her matter, it would end in a lecture.
Ugh.
Fretting again, Holle rose her head to look about, but the first sight in her version was the upside-down visage of... someone scary! The Frei squawked out a note in fright and floated back a foot, clamping hands over her mouth before she screamed her throat raw. Her eyes were squeezed shut as if expecting death, but when her very short life wasn't ended, Holle peeked a curious eye at the person.
"H-hello," she said back, tentatively floating closer. She peered at Dair curiously. "Y-you're... not going to eat me, right? Right?"
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2017 4:06 pm
Dair jerked back at the sudden noise, retreating back into the branches until just the top of his head was visible. Oh, that...wasn't quite the reaction he was hoping for. His nose wrinkled with a frown as he slowly disentangled himself from the tree and floated down (right-side up this time) until he was floating above the path.
"No? I don't have a stomach yet..." Eat her? Sure there were things in forests that could eat people, but he certainly wasn't one of them. He shrunk back from her slightly, stuffing his hands in some of his many pockets and hunching his shoulders up in an effort to look a bit less threatening.
"My name is Dair, by the way um, I'm a Raevan too?" His cheerful tone had had turned into something more hesitant, unsure how to quite handle this new social situation. In a time like this he wished that Nell had actually accompanied him, if nothing else she could reassure the other Raevan that he wasn't dangerous at all.
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Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2017 4:56 pm
A little sound caught in Holle's throat when Dair jerked back into the tree. She suddenly thought this a scary, but also very curious, venture! Were the trees in this part of the park peculiar? Sprouting heads that say hello? The Frei dared to question more, but then Dair was right-side up, and suddenly connections were being formed in her head faster than she could comprehend.
"Oh, oh, oh!" she cried, a little too loudly. Her sudden fears were dashed away by realizing she was in the company of another Raevan. "Hello, hello! I'm sorry I screamed back there, but I didn't mean to! I just, I just couldn't see that you're a Raevan! Hello!"
A nagging part of her immediately want to tell Nina, but without her guardian, she had to bob endlessly with excitement. The only bit holding her back from bursting with energy and asking Dair a million and one questions was Nina's voice in the back of her mind reminding her gently, "People don't like to be asked a million and one questions." Oh, but she was so excited!
Another Raevan!
"I've never met another Raevan before! It's nice to meet you, Dair! I'm Holle!" The Raevan stewed in her excitement for but another moment before realization dawned on her. Tilting her head, she asked, "Did you get separated from your guardian, too?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:14 pm
"Nice to meet you too, Holle," The younger Raevan's sudden burst of energy was contagious enough to draw a bashful smile from Dair, and he floated a bit closer until they were at a more comfortable distance to have a conversation at. "I haven't met too many either, really," Even counting proto-Raevans, he could still count them all on one hand. Not quite the cheeriest thought, but he supposed he had been a bit caught up in other things lately.
But here was a new face! And one that looked like they might have something in common besides not having any legs! This, at least, would give him something to tell Nell about aside from his unsuccessful attempts to talk to the trees. And maybe she would--
His thoughts slowed to a halt as he turned Holle's last words over in his mind, frowning slightly when the implication of them set in.
"Are you lost?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:25 am
A string of questions of who he had met, what were they like, tell me all about them sped through Holle's thoughts, but they stymied on the question asked and following frown. The Frei clammed up, and glanced around furtively as if caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Err, well, I wouldn't say lost," Holle said. "S-separated? Yes, separated would be a better way to put it."
Holle gave two just nods to her explanation. "My mama and I were taking a walk, and then she told me to wait a moment, but I heard music and couldn't just wait there. So I followed it, and then there was a monkey, then a happy evergreen tree, then a lovely winding path... And then it started to get colder, and I realized that I should go back to mama, but she was no where to be found. So! So, what I am trying to say is..." Holle glanced around again. "We got separated because there was interesting things. That's all..."
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 7:00 am
Dair's lips pursed slightly in thought as Holle recounted her roundabout path, a few of the things she mentioned sounding slightly familiar. (A brief rustle of the leaves above them seemed to be saying something, but it was like listening to a conversation in the next room over and completely incomprehensible to his ears. But he knew that something was being said, which was a step in the right direction at least.)
"There are lots of interesting things out here," he agreed, though his words came slowly as he was mentally tracing her path back through the park. darkolivegreen]"But not knowing where you're going can lead to some problems. I think I know where your mama might be," he added with what he hoped was a reassuring smile as he pointed down the path. "If you wanted some help to get back I wouldn't mind helping."
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:08 pm
Holle's lips parted to recount her thanks, but her attention suddenly snapped skyward. The incessant tug always felt at the base of her neck, pinpointing forever south, was jarred for but a moment at the same faraway presence. Not quite a voice, but not quite a person either. The young Frei could certainly feel something, but she couldn't quite determine what the emotion was. Were the trees saying something?
"I guess you're right..." Holle replied, her eyes flicking once to the canopies above before focusing on Dair. "R-really?" There was a sudden enthusiastic sparkle to the Frei's eyes. She had expected Dair to just point her in a direction and part ways, ending her first meeting with another Raevan as quickly as it happened, but the chance to talk more seemed to trump finding her mother then and there. "Okay! Just lead the way!"
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Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:32 pm
There was a pause a bit longer than necessary before he gestured down the path with a bow-like flourish and a smile. His gaze had lingered on her as she looked to the tree's canopy, and he gave the branches a quick glace as he followed after her as if expecting them to actually start talking. A few of the branches rustled slightly after they left, the whole area having a sense of amusement in their wake.
"Maybe next time you're here I can show you where everything is so you don't get lost again?" His usually monotonous voice sounded a good deal more excited than he had been at the the thought of getting to show someone all of the cool things he had managed to uncover in the relatively tame park woods.
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