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With dainty and careful steps, Elizabeth Swann picked her way through the surrounding trees of the great forest, her head held high and her tail swinging jauntily. Though her full skirt often seemed about to snag on the underbrush, the mare seemed to know just where she was going and how to avoid the obstacles.

Perhaps that knowledge came from the fact that she did know where she was going; a few steps more, and she broke through the trees into a medium sized clearing, heavily hedged in by shrubs and trees. Smiling, she glanced around the area once; having made sure that there was no one around, she strolled forward into the middle of the clearing.

After turning about once or twice and casting a final inspection-glance around, she tossed back her mane, then all at once lunged at a nearby tree with a loud "HA!", burying her horn in the trunk and clouting it with a hoof. Withdrawing back into the center, she then began a rapid-fire assault on the surrounding trees, fighting at them with hoof and horn. Now THIS was a good exercise!

Elizabeth had been about to drive her horn into a tree trunk when the completely unexpected booming voice rolled in out of nowhere, startling her enough to make her miss the tree and almost send he into the shrubs. But Elizabeth Swann was not one to give into to random panic, nor was she one to act foolishly in what could be a potentially dangerous situation.

And besides that, she was annoyed. How dare someone barge in on her like this??? This was supposed to be a private glade!

Stepping back into the middle of the clearing, the mare glanced around at the ring of trees suspiciously, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. "And what does it matter to you if I do? I have every right to make a ruckus out here in the middle of nowhere, if I'm so inclined. And why don't you come out here and speak to me face to face rather than hiding in the shadows like a common rogue?"

Tossing back her curly mane, she narrowed her eyes and cast about a bit more, trying to figure out the best line of defense against an unseen foe

To say that Elizabeth was taken aback by the stallion would have been putting it mildly. In fact, her first reaction was to step backwards, away from the strange visiage that had emerged from the shadows. Never in her life had she seen one so...different.

But different or not, she refused to be intimidated; that knowledge kept her standing in the same place despite her instinct to move away. She was there first, after all! "I'd say that my definition of rogue was quite accurate, actually; stallions who accost mares who are doing nothing more than going about their day to day business fall into the category of rogues, no matter how ornate their costume."

As she spoke, Elizabeth's gaze wandered over the stallion from nose to tail, taking in the stange hair style, clinking jewelry, and heavy robe. A bit awkward for forest travel, she would think...but then again, so was her own getup. "As to resting...maybe it's your own choice of venue that's responsible for your interrupted rest. I'd hardly chose a forest for such a thing, myself."

"First off, a few things: One, I am not a foal; two, accost does not necessarily imply ravishing, and three, don't give yourself too much credit, Sir. You might have tried, and I would have run you through before you'd gotten close enough." Though Elizabeth maintained her smiling expression of polite interest, her eyes glinted with suspicion and watched the stranege stallion almost unblinkingly. How very rude! Who did he think he was, the king of the bloody forest? Harrumph.

"As per your comment about taste...well, let's just say I find that a bit incredible, coming from a stallion who wears such gaudy jewelry." Moving her gaze from his face to his earrrings breifly, the mare then brought her attention back to Paramekia's face, meeting his eyes and staring at him squarely. He was vastly impolite, but not fearsome, no matter how tough he talked.

"I attacked nothing and no one. Whatever conclusions you feel drawing are undoubtably your peroggative to think about, but for all your big talk you know nothing. If the noise bothers you, then perhaps you should consider moving on."

"You do realize that there's more to gaudy than sheer bulk. Those rings are almost large enough to jump through." Ok, so she'd decided that she was not going to stoop to dealing with this...person anymore. That was a truly admirable idea. But he just bothered her, him and his...smugness. She just wanted to throw something at him!

But Elizabeth Swann did not attack anyone, no matter how annoying they were. "The forest is a place to go to be alone. Trees would make it hard for large groups to stay together, after all." Swishing her skirt a bit, she briskly trotted across the clearing, deciding not to dignify him with the idea that he cowed her anymore. Stopping beside a random tree, she peeled off some scraggly bark and dropped it to the ground. "I never said I desired anything. If I were to run you through without provocation, then I'd be no better than a common pirate." The very idea!

Tossing the barest of glances from her tree to the scarred one that the stallion was standing beside, Elizabeth simply sniffed. "I did no permanent harm to the tree, so your harping on the matter is hardly worth the breath you're delivering it with. If you're so enlightened about pirates, though, maybe it would do you good to remember that even they need to hone their skills from time to time."

Stepping back from the tree, she bent to polish her horn against her flank, now eyeing the ground as she spoke. "Considering how violent some of the creatures that live around here can be, I'm sure you'll understand the need for a mare to be able to protect herself." Maybe that was giving the stallion a bit too much credit, but Elizabeth could always at least attempt to give others the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he had some decency, who knew?

Raising an eyebrow, Elizabeth managed to keep back the firey words that were threatening to pour out at that pompous stallion. How dare he waltz in here, insult her, and then start patronizing her? Young filly indeed...at least she wasn't like a little child playing dress-up in his mother's clothing. Never before in her life had she been so offended, and that was saying something.

However, she was not going to bandy insults with random strangers like a trollop off the streets. Instead, she returned the stallion's stoic look with a smile so frosty it could cause the very leaves to wither. Ingoring the inflammatory remarks, she instead focused on the very last thing he said. "Indeed I have a name, but where I come from, no male would expect a mare to give her name without first giving his." And not being a pompous a**, of course.