Out of the woods (Open)

[William Fenris]

"M-Maybe."

Will was still a little shocked and surprised. He wanted to ask more about the wolf blood, was she like him? Had she been a wolf? Or wolf blood mean something different to her? It certainly meant something different to him.

He tried to settle, stuffing his hands into the oversized clothing that he'd been given by the portal. He looked calmer, but still his voice calm with a tremble, shy, awkward, unsocial and getting used to having a voice indeed.

"Lets try getting some food then?" He suggested, pointing back at to the forest. Now that they'd established they were wolfish and hungry, they could try hunting however they chose.

"How long.....have you had wolf blood for?"

[Red Riding Hood]

"Sounds good to me," Red agreed, heading towards the forest. It looked pretty much like any other forest she'd ever seen, however strange this place was, surely there would be rabbits or something in there that they could eat.

"Since I was a little girl," she explained without looking round. She didn't want to give too much of the story, not wanting him to know who she was (not that she knew where he was from, but better safe than sorry) "I was bitten by a dying wolf, and ever since then... every full moon, no exceptions, everything gets a little hairy."

[William Fenris]

Will nodded, listening. He listened to her story, though short, as they started to walk. He could hear his stomach again, louder this time, and it made him embarrassed, but there was so little he could do about that.

"Been...wolfish as long as I can remember. I..." He wasn't lying exactly, but didn't want to tell her the truth, something about getting bitten by a dying wolf put him off. "Despite the err...wolf-blood, I've....I've become very good at repelling it. This is my body now but it wasn't always a full time thing."
He hoped that made sense, he hoped she understood. Oh why was he so afraid?

Because fear was bred into him from the moment they realised he was different.

He looked about in the forest, hoping to be distracted, when he saw -- to his surprise - an old plum tree, where the fruits were actually ripe.

"Up there! See?! Food!"

[Red Riding Hood]

Red nodded, the way he was phrasing things was strange but she was pretty sure she understood what he meant, oblivious to the fact that his experience had actually been quite different to hers, she just assumed that the strangeness was due to where he came from, or just because he'd grown up alone with it the same way she had, there was no reason to believe anybody else would talk about it as she did, this was the first time she'd had a chance to compare notes with someone else.

Luckily for him, she was distracted as well when he noticed the plum tree, and she nodded with satisfaction

"It's no rabbit, but it'll do to tide us over," she agreed, heading towards the tree. She would have preferred some meat, but it was probably best to avoid hunting here until they really got their bearings. Taking fruit from a wild tree was... well, not exactly safe, she was from a fairytale land after all, where these trees were usually owned by someone, but it was at least safer than outright attacking another creature.

[William Fenris]

He was still getting used to this, human interaction, easy human speech. The words were there, he was fluent in them, the stammering and the fear all amplified that struggle.

Hopefully, that would ease over time.

Still, she seemed pleased as he was to find food.

On arrival under the tree the once wolf smiles, that awkward lopsided smile, before looking up at the hovering branches. The plums were just out of reach for most but luckily, his height meant, at a stretch, he'd be able to reach the lowest plum. Gripping the large fruit in one hand he gave it a tug, pulling it free. The branch rustled back into place and he passed it to Red, open handed and still smiling that toothy grin.

"For you. Though, I've not eaten fruit from here before...do you think there's a safe way to check?"

One of his younger brothers had died eating berries once. He still shuddered at the memory.

"I....used to eat part of the plant, and if that didn't make my throat itch we were good to go, but I think I had a stronger stomach then. I hope I still do."

[Red Riding Hood]

"Well I think we're a little harder to kill than normal people, so that's a bonus," Red said with a wry smile as she took the offered plum, turning it round in her hands as she looked at it. She brought it close to her nose and sniffed deeply, trying to pick up any trace of anything untoward about it. Nothing, no tingle of magic, nothing but the fruit.

"Seems just like an ordinary plum," she said after her inspection, glancing up at him "I should think it's just as safe as any other. Only one way to find out, I suppose," she shrugged, taking a bite. The plum was firm and juicy, and she had to swipe her sleeve across her mouth to catch the stray drips from her first bite, she chewed and swallowed thoughtfully, analysing the taste.

"It's safe as far as I can tell."

[William Fenris]

Will takes the moment to watch her eat the plum before he pulls his down to join her in the eating. Whilst she considered hers, he didn't wait, hunger got the better of him. He sloppily crunched down on the plum, it's soft texture easy to tear into with his canines as he devoured it so quickly, he would have to find another. With that, he started to gather a few down from the tree, gathering up about six, intending to give some of them to Red.

"Well, if we're going to die, good company and a full stomach on a beautiful starry night?"

The Woods had had always had the canopy of the forest blocking the the night sky, here, perhaps due to the age, or because of just how much larger the forest was, the spread and it's autumn leaves not causing as much of a problem meant the stars were clear in sight.

Even just admitting a partial truth to her, had eased up his nerves, but she was also clearly had her own secrets to bare. He wasn't about to make her divulge anymore.

"–––What's your old home like?"

[Red Riding Hood]

"There are worse ways to go," Red admitted with a faint snort of amusement. That would just be her luck wouldn't it? Come all the way to a different land in search of something more out of life than constant moving and watching her back, only to be poisoned by a plum. She was pretty sure that wasn't actually going to happen, while it was probably possible for poison to taste as sweet as the plums did, she couldn't imagine how they could possibly have come to be poisoned or why.

"It's..." she started, trailing off when she realised she didn't know how to answer the question. She hadn't considered anywhere 'home' since she was a child, and that seemed so long ago it had almost faded from memory in some ways, or rather, it hurt too much to think about. She shrugged, brushing off the oncoming melancholia and just answering the question in the most basic way possible "Fairly normal. villages, forests, occasional magic trouble or curses, the usual..." well, it was usual for her anyway.

[William Fenris]

Will immediately felt bad he'd put her in a position. He chewed at his lip, biting to draw blood before tilting his head towards him.

"I --- err --- I'm...well I'm not fond of where I'm from either, mostly." He said, trying to show her this with a shrug, pretending of course, much like Red, that it wasn't a big deal. "Lots of trees, not much else, a few villages..."

He chewed again on another plum. God, he was so glad for the food he'd already devoured the ones he had brought down from the branch above him.

"Another?"

He pointed to the second branch, with more juicy plums. At this rate, he was going to ransack the entire tree's plum supply.

[Red Riding Hood]

"They sound similar," Red commented, not realising how right she was "And boring," she added "hopefully here will be different." Better she added mentally, although it didn't look overly promising so far, the lack of people might actually be a benefit, you couldn't get hurt if there was nobody around to hurt you after all.

"Sure, just one more," Red decided, though it wasn't quite sating her hunger, there was a part of her (and she knew very well which part) that wanted meat. "Then maybe we should keep exploring, see what we can find? Unless you'd rather go our seperate ways of course, that's fine too."

[William Fenris]

"Yeah, Boring's right." Terrifying, terrorizing, frustrating are but a few other ways the once wolf would have described the world he'd come front. Still, he wasn't about to tell her that. "I think it's already better here...I've....made my first friend. I hope?"

He added this as he offered out that last plum. Will always fought with the part of her that wanted meat, but would it be so bad to eat meat here?

He swallowed. The suggestion of travelling off on his own meant he wouldn't embarrass himself any further, but that also meant that he'd be on his own.

And right now that was the last thing he wanted.

"I'd...like to keep tagging along if you don't mind. I mean, packs right?"

[Red Riding Hood]

Red just responded to his question with a short nod, she wasn't ready to actually admit to being somebody's friend out loud, but she was at least willing to look out for the guy - given how nervous he was, she figured someone would have to, and while she didn't want to get close to anyone she wasn't cruel enough to just abandon them either.

She finished off the last plum quickly and nodded again at his decision.

"Fine by me. I've never really had a pack, but I'm willing to let you stick around."

[William Fenris]

(fin)