Hidden

[Eroko]

Darkness. It's not really evil, it's just the same thing as light; a brightness. But many people fear it. Is it because people afraid to get lost in a nothingness they cannot see past? Or is it becasue they like seeing? Who knows? Light is heat, warmth and comfort where as darkness is the opposite. But being the opposite, does that make it bad?

Shaking, shivering and afraid. Emotions that are present in the dark forest, who's sky is rulles by stars and a full moon that night. A young blonde swordsman sits under one of the forest's inhabitants, one of the forest's trees, waiting. Waiting for nothing really, but waiting for something; just waiting sollemly.

Its 'gloomy' looking there to the human because he cannot see what is around him. Even if there was light h would remain blind, most humans do; unable to see the true beauty of those around them.

So caught up in fate's course of events to see that he's leading himself to nothing; to a dead end that has nothing but what he fears there. So caught up in in his nothingness to notice even the most notable of things, the most notable of beauty around him.

[JxSlaughter]

The forest was alive with many creatures, large and small. Each made their own sounds and songs to each other, singing playfully, or making terrible screams. The woods were never silent. There were demons, animals, plants and fairies. The breeze swayed the trees and wild flowers. Even the most dead of trees were teaming with life as ants feast on the spoils that hid inside.

Laying lazily in the trees above he watched some rodents scurry about. But something caught his nose. He whiffed into the air a little before he silently slithered from branch to branch, occasionally hoping from one tree to another if there where no branches touching each other.

F.M. licked his lips at the sight of the human. F.M. was behind him, grasping his large hands on the trunk of a massive tree. His red eyes glowed with curiosity. He loved company, but he feared hunters. Maybe he would play a trick and run. He was probably a meanie that would attack him.

F.M. scurried up, but he wasn't silent about it. He was excited and felt the rush of happiness for it had been a while since he had met an intelligent being. He found a piece of fruit in the tree and successfully pulled it up after rattling the tree a bit. He tried dropping it on the stranger's head, but it missed and fell some where across from him. It made a splat and squished out juice. Maybe F.M. made too much noise.

[Omio]

Too much noise had been evident, as the elf stirrred from sleep. He had slept a while, thankfully, but he was roused by F.M.'s scurrying. It wasn't long for the elf to see a human in potential danger, and being atop a tree had a very great element of camoflage, so his reaction was raw in essence: Draw an arrow on his bow, and fire a close shave for the both of them, and give out his general direction. His arrow impaled the fruit that had fallen, and was shot fast enough to easily scatter the parts of the fruit nearly everyewhere.

He had been a friend of the Wood, the bugs that cleaned the morbid side of its nature, the birds that carried the sweet song through its routes and branches, the beasts that warded off the truly unwanted, and the trees whom stood alike guardians. He also befriended darkness, a bit better than light. He lived mostly in the dark, and rarely seen. Unlike any other, he understood why the Wood acted as it did. The trouble he had, and will always have is others.

[[ The elf's name is Gadrai, but the reason why I'm not narrating it is because it gives our fellow readers an edge of mystery. Muahahaha. FD ]]

[JxSlaughter]

A hissing voice came out from the tree as F.M. poked his head out of the tree, it nearly sounded like a bark. "Ay!" His red eyes darted around the floor to see who could have possibly ruined his fun. He looked at the arrow while twitching his wiskers in thought. The arrow impailed the fruit- which he thought that went splat due to a bad toss. But F.M. was much too dumb to find out which direction it came from, even though it would be obvious for any two year old. F.M put his head back into the tree and just pouted like a child, shaking up the tree in anger making many leaves fall. "My fun, my fun!! You ruin my fun!"

[Eroko]

Silence is all Sai knew for a long while. It wasn' an outward silence but silence of his self, with his mouth firmly closed as he stared out vacantly. He was off in his own world when a nois caught his attention. His once closed green eyes snapped open in alarm, his mind trying to register what was at hand.

The fruit that laid only a mere feet away surprised him but then again anything was possible right. But once he thought about it, yes, Sai had heard some odd noises nearby before the fruit fell. The blonde wanted to pass it off as the wind but knew better to have; he was fairly sure fruit wasn't in season yet, well not of that variety at least.

Sai took to his feet, and glanced around curiously, wondering if it was an animal or a bandit who ment to confuse him before striking and looting him. Sai swallowed hard, his senses alert as he backed away from the tree slowly, slightly frightened because he could hardly see his surroundings. He felt the urge to call out but kept silent; for all he knew that could draw him closer to death or disaster.

But he didn't want it to end here; that was the last thing he wanted. He had promised so many that he'd return and he didn't want to die and forsake his promise to them. Not only that he still had a long life ahead of him; he was a mere sixteen years of age, not quite the healthiest around but he still had a long road ahead of him.

Once the arrow hit he jumped, listening intently hearing the voice from the tree as the large plant began to shake. His eyes widened with alarm and he began to stumble backwards, tripping over his own feet nad landing hard on his butt. He wincedand glanced around wide-eyed.

[Omio]

The elf soon leapt from the tree, and landed with a somewhat quiet 'thump'. He took his rather large bow with him. He wasn't overly concerned about Sai, since F.M. seemed to have a complainy tone. Sai was intimidated, from the actions that were taken. He didn't need to use another arrow. He walked over to where he'd sent the arrow, and yanked hard, barely getting the arrow out. It had dug deeply because of the size and power of his bow. The arrow had a metal tip, too.

He wondered if any of the other two knew Elvish. He doubted it, but an attempt would easily be a good way to confirm if they could understand him. "One by the name of Gadrai would wonder why others venture into the womb of the Wood." Elves found it rude to directly ask a question. Or to be direct in general. The only time they were sometimes direct was during a war. Gadrai was no exception to this.

[[ If you can somehow read the text without some sort of work-around, it's supposed to be elvish. ]]

[JxSlaughter]

F.M. watched the man from his tree when he struggled to take out the arrow from where it landed. The thought in Fleeter's mind was that the arrow could have pierced right through him if he had gone down himself. The demon wasn't afraid of the the six-teen year old, but he was of older looking elf. Which he recognized as because of the bow and the green attire. The man's bow was humongous! Bigger weapon meant bigger pain and that bow was the biggest he had ever seen.

Fleeter's hood was like a security blanket, thus it shut as he felt subconsciously nervous. He watched them from the tree, but he mainly focused on his bow, to make sure it wasn't going to be pointed in his direction.

When the man started to speak it sounded like gibberish. Even with Fleeter's petty magic he couldn't translate a single word, because of course- that would require some bit of useful intelligence that he didn't have. F.M. only learned magic that interested him, like summoning a frog to put in someone's pants, or setting fire to someone's bed while they slept. Fleeter also didn't think that he was talking to him, but if he was... that meant he wasn't hidden anymore.

He turned himself invisible for a moment and carefully tried to move to another tree. It wouldn't have been hard for a seasoned hunter to notice his movement. That is, if the person knew he could turn invisible for a while. One end of a branch went down as if something was at the end of it, and then jumped up as the weight shifted to another branch, so too that one went down for a while until he reached the trunk. The branches moved as much as a squirrel would have moved it, because even though fleeter was 3ft tall he had hardly any weight- and the tree itself was large. Also, there was the rustle of leaves he scraped as he went along. Fleeter sat in the shade of his new spot. Red eyes locked and jester shaped ears at attention onto the two below.

[Eroko]

Sai had been staring at the elf, shaking slightly when a hint of movement caught his eye. He blinked and glanced at the tree but upon seeing nothing turned his attention back to the elf. He had been very confused upon what the other had said, it all having sounded like nothing but a few noises and sylables tossed in together.

He backed up slightly, scooting himself away more towards a bundle of trees in hopes of an unnotuiced escape, but would it be better to wander unknowingly or stay near someone who didn't seem too hostile...? Sai shook his head; the arrow having been shot was hostile enough for him to call it a quits.

[Omio]

Gadrai's eares perked oddly as he looked up. He saw nothing but odd movements. Irregular movements. His reaction was a bit much, as he grabbed the arrow he'd shot earlier, and drew it, pointing up to where the base of the branch was, suspecting that something was concealing itself in that area. He didn't have firm ground, so the arrow wasn't shot, but he still pointed. He tried again, seeing if a reaction would stir. This time, he was a bit louder. "Identify yourself!" He sounded something between hostile and threatened. Whoever or whatever it was seemed unwelcome.

[Eroko]

Sai jumped at the tone, managing to his feet just in case he saw the need to run. He pressed his back to a tree, waiting for any other movement or speech. He knew that the elf wasn't pointing at him but he couldn't be too sure of anything becasue he ddin't understand him. For all Sai knew the elf could be calling re-enforcements. The thought made Sai pale; did elves eat humans?

Sai trembled slightly, glancing around wildly in hopes for some kind of advantage. Besides teh trees being able to block him from veiw that was it, and Sai wasn't even that much of a runner, often times tiring well before he got too far.

[JxSlaughter]

There was something fidgety with the little one here. F.M. could sense it, and it made his hair stand on end. In a good way, demon wise. He licked his lips again, but with as much excitement as a person who faced a whole pile of cooked beef after not eating for days. The kid wanting to escape made Fleeter's blood run. There was another feeling he didn't feel in so long. The yearning to kill. But he couldn't! Not with that giant bow pointing in every direction, on every thing that moved. F.M. went into a stalking prey mode. Trying to keep track of the bow and the kid at the same time. Waiting for the perfect moment the little one would be far enough to take a tasty bite at. Fleeter started trying to think of something... a way to divide them... But his magic was much too limited from the tree. He grit teeth in annoyance and anger.

[Omio]

[[Newbie left, thankfully. You can clear the OOC out.]]
Gadrai remained as he was, listening carefully. Watching carefully. He knew something was up in the tree, and he'd wait hours, maybe even a couple of days for the other to come down - unless the other human left - then he'd have no hesitation to just fire a crapload of arrows. He didn't know if the invisible one was a threat or not, but it still was unwelcome. The air seemed somewhat unnatural; especially to his senses. "One speaks again; reveal yourself!"
[[Gadrai's a very patient little bugger. And the more he waits, the more he'll be to be hostile to poor little F.M.]]

[JxSlaughter]

Fleeter waited, and waited. He ignored the gibberish coming from the elf's mouth and the same stranger with the bow didn't move at all. Soon F.M.'s blood stopped boiling, and his demonic feeding habits waned and died. He had forgotten what he was even planning on doing. He rubbed his chin in thought. He thought to himself. I think, I wanted to get out of here. He nodded in approval with himself, feeling very smart indeed.

But, soon he started feeling more scared than smart. It seemed as if the elf would shoot him at any moment now. He grit his teeth in anger. Who knew how much patience he had left. Fleeter backed up deeper in his tree, with his back against the trunk. He heard something and looked up. There was a chipmunk. His massive purple hand grasped the little thing and it started squeaking frantically. He didn't let it go and held it now with both hands, as if his life depended on it. Hopefully the elf would think that it was just a rodent inside the tree. F.M. enjoyed the sound of the frantic squeaking and so he started drooling with an empty and distant, facial expression. The poor thing has even forgotten that he was cornered at all.

[Omio]

Gadrai shot, and pegged the mid-air chipmunk - and watched as it didn't really go anywhere. The arrow didn't go through the chipmunk, but was deeply stuck in it. That was when he notched one more arrow, and aimed it again, this time with a perfect bead on where F.M. was. It wasn't fully drawn - notched, and a fair bit of the aiming cut out, but he had yet to draw the arrow back. He didn't want to kill, but if need be, he would."Leave at once, defiler of the Wood!"

[[ Gadrai's giving F.M. the GTFO treatment. You can come back at a later time, sure, but right now, Gadrai's go-- I'm cutting that short before I say something outright wrong. =P ]]

[Eroko]

Sai blinked as he heard the dying squeak of a chipmunk. He, at this point, grew rather annoyed with the elf. "You killed a chipmink!" He managed away from the tree trunk he had been pressed to, taking a bold step forward. He hated senseless killing with a passion and the poor chipmunk didn't need to die. He was tempted to call the elf a few choice words but held his tongue; he didn't need to add to the hostility. No rather than sayinganything he expressed his point by plancing a hand on the hilt of his sword that rested at his hip.