[71] [voice]

[silversnowfall]

Well. I seem to be in the forest now...if one can call such a place a forest.

Shiemi is totally leading on her three best friends!

Despite their...grave appearance, it appears the trees are still- ... adopted. His parents haven't even told him! - quite capable of causing trouble. My apologies, Shiemi and...ah, Billy.

That said, I have no landmarks. The trees and undergrowth look like...well, like skeletons. Bone trees, if you will.

I think Moro's getting kind of lonely, she's almost never at her den anymore.

How thoughtful of you to be concerned. [No, see, that deadpan tone is not a nice one, Nephry. Not at all.] At any rate, I could use some assistance in getting...somewhere recognizable, please.

[Then, they all start at once. Prepare yourselves, Luceti, she's walked into a small ring of very excitable trees!]

Hey! The Avatar's seemed really happy this month, right? But he also feels guilty now that Luceti's granted him his secret wish for a family.
You know all of Molly Carpenter's tattoos are lick and stick, right?
I heard that Lowell guy has a thing for cat ears.
Adell and Fenimore keep peeping on each other's baths!

Do stop that. I'm trying to send a message. [The trees are so not interested, Nephry. In fact...]

I heard Nephry was forced to marry a guy she hardly knew!

That's enough!

[But she can't close the journal. How else will she know if people reply? All she can do is keep walking and hope to get away from these creepy skeleton trees.]

[[ooc: Feel free to be actiony-lost with her too! She would welcome the company for sure. We can be plenty random if that floats your luceti boat!]]

Comments

[distressedude]

Preventing you from seeing them? [Would she even be able to tell if she were near the village at all? This isn't good...]

Do you suppose there might be a way to go back the way yo--

[Oops. Ion was going to try and go through Nephry's room to see if he could be brought to the same place, but kind of forgot that meant going through his own door first.]

[The journal falls from where ever it was he'd been taken to, face down on the ground with only a soft squeak coming from Ion.]

[silversnowfall]

It's just a theory. I can't know if-

...Ion?

[distressedude]

[There's a rather lengthy pause. And then:]

Ne... Nephry?

[His voice sounds far away from the journal... and yet at the same time, somewhat far away outside the journal, like an echo.]

...oh! Nephry, I can see you!

[...]

I'm in a tree.

[AGAIN.]

[silversnowfall]

[Hearing him speak again, she holds the journal closer at first. Realizing that he's now in the forest with her, she looks around with the tiniest of frantic paces until she hears "in a tree."

He does love ending up in those.]

How close are you?

[distressedude]

[Clearly they're his favorite place in the whole world to be.]

Not very far. If you turn around you might be able to see me. [...] I'm not very high up... th-thankfully.

[silversnowfall]

[So turn she will, looking up slightly as she does so. The last thing Ion needs is to fall from a bony tree.]

[distressedude]

[And sure enough, standing out quite clearly among the bony trees a short distance away is Ion, who gives a somewhat sheepish wave.]

[He also totally landed in it upside-down, and is looking all kinds of graceful right now, yep.]

[Hi mom!]

[silversnowfall]

Are you all right up there?

[distressedude]

It's not exactly comfortable, no.

[At least he isn't wearing his robes, or it'd be uncomfortable for a different reason.]

But I'm all right! I just need to find a way down... I think I might be stuck on something.

[silversnowfall]

I don't think I can come up and help you. [The trees look hard to climb.] But I will stand down here and hopefully be able to help if you slip.

1/3

[distressedude]

I think I'll be fine. It's not too high up, after all. Let me just--

[distressedude]

[...]

[THE THING HE IS STUCK ON IS A BRANCH THAT LOOKS LIKE A SKELETON HAND AROUND HIS ANKLE.]

[SCREAM.]

[SCREAM.]

[distressedude]

[He reacts without thinking and kicks the branch away, only to start falling down from the tree. He wasn't too high up -- maybe 7 feet at most -- but before he hits the ground, another branch grabs him by the collar of the back of his shirt.]

[With a somewhat unpleasant flip, he "lands" upright, dangling about 5 inches above the ground, still being held up by a rather creepy skeleton-like tree branch. The entire incident happened in about the span of an instant.]

[...]

[His expression right now appears uncharacteristically grumpy.]

[He hates trees.]

...well, at least I'm closer to the ground now.

[silversnowfall]

[That whole thing was shock enough to have Nephry standing beneath him, ready to catch him somehow should he continue to fall.

The hand keeping him suspended there makes her very uneasy. Holding up her own hands, she reaches for his.]

Let me see if I can help you down now.

[distressedude]

[With a nod, he reaches out to take her hands and try to come down... but the hand holding onto his shirt seems to extend downward and gently sets him down onto the ground.]

[And then just pulls back up into the tree.]

[...]

[NOPE]

This place makes me uncomfortable.

[silversnowfall]

[She really can't help a quick hug once he's safe on the ground.]

I feel the same way. Courteous bones are still bones.

Let's try to find the village?

[distressedude]

[A-Awww, Nephry. He can't keep on a grumpy face when he's getting hugs. Even if they are still surrounded by creepy bone trees.]

I think I saw something in the distance from where I was [Pointing.] in that direction. I couldn't tell if it was the village, but... certainly anything would be better than this forest?

[silversnowfall]

Then we'll go that way. ...Do you want to rest first? You've seemed tired lately.

[distressedude]

[He almost -- almost -- insists otherwise, but he knows he needs to start taking better care of himself. Even if it meant prolonging their stay in this place.]

...perhaps I could use a few minutes to calm down.

[silversnowfall]

I certainly could. Perhaps in the future you can try to avoid being stuck in so many trees.

[There's a smile and an arm around his shoulders to accompany it. They might as well sit at the foot of the courteous friendlyish tree for a but.]

[distressedude]

I wish it were that simple. I'm starting to think this place is doing it on purpose.

[With a soft sigh, he sits down. But there's a smile on his face as well.]

At least it brought us together rather than throwing me in a tree somewhere by myself.

[silversnowfall]

[And she sits with him, giving him a quick look of appraisal before glancing at the forest around them again.]

There is that. Any place like this is better with company.

[distressedude]

Yes, especially when the forest has been so--

"--Tear loves kissing and teasing, it's why she's gotten hold of the lips of so many men in this place!"

[...........]

[What.]

[silversnowfall]

...So pleased to hear the sound of its own voice.

[Probably not how he was going to finish that sentence. There's some ice in the words; the things they say about her are none too friendly, even the true ones.

There they go now, the one about being in love with an emperor.]

[distressedude]

[...yeah, he hears that, but understandably feels it best not to say anything. Especially when it has Nephry looking so upset. Was it talking about Peony...?]

Perhaps it would be for the best that we try and move on now? I think I've gotten all the rest I need.