RP:Crossing Paths

From HollowWiki

Forest

Gently swaying trees, trademark to this area, are set dense together. Each does not reach too high, though high and wide enough to block out some of the sun's rays, which seem to sprinkle through in odd places, leaving a hazy coloring upon the canvas of the forest. Soft moss and fungus grow on the lower areas of some of the tree trunks. East and north are the only ways out.


Emilia walked alongside a horse drawn covered cart with a hand drawn map in one hand. The curly haired blonde was dressed in her normal attire of denim pants tucked into leather boots, a button down plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, and a new ring finding home on her left index finger. Left hand held lightly onto the lead rope of the horse as she walked slowly through the denser bit of forest stretch between her home city of Larket and Kelay. Why she went this way one could not be sure, but perhaps she was reading that map wrong as this was not the best way to travel with the cart. "Don't worry, Ol' gal, the other squiggly line turn cannot be too far away…." She said in soft tones to her horse, patting her neck lightly before urging her own.


Tyler sits with his back propped against the bark of a mighty oak. Sprawled out around him are a plethora of miscellaneous objects including vials of liquid, bits of steel and iron and even a few small containers of blood, which judging by the gauze held tightly to his fingertips is of his own body. The sound of the carriage coming through the woodland catches the man off guard. Caramel eyes jolting from his work to peer at an odd sight through the treeline. He spots Emilia and her companion and his breathing all but halts. The human reaches to the edges of the blanket that his items rest upon and quickly folds it up, tossing it into his satchel and fastening the button. Rising from his seat he pulls his bag over his shoulder and gets ready to haul ass the opposite way of the woman. That is, until he hears her speaking the horse. He freezes in place and ponders for a moment before taking a deep breath and turning to face the woman again. Squinting his eyes he finds the girl anything but intimidating. Her wear seems to be of a farm girl, and her accent can't help but match. Her face calls out to him in familiarity and it only takes a moment to realize she is the clumsy girl outside of the tavern who he had attempted to socialize with but was caused to flee by the white haired man that offered his help. Tyler closes his eyes for just a moment to gain his bearing and takes yet another deep breath to calm himself. He approaches. The man isn't rather intimidating in his current clothing. Just a pair of ragged pants that have been torn off into shorts, with knee high socks, ankle boots and a nice wolf-fur coat to help fight off the chilled winters air. As he closes the distance between the two of them he tries to find a way to greet Emilia without scaring her, after all he was kind of just creeping around in the woods. He just goes for it, "Not lost are we?" his shaken voice calls out behind her as he props himself against a tree trying to seem comfortable despite his heart slamming into his chest and his knees beginning to wobble.


Emilia had walked a few more paces into the dense forest before tugging lightly at the lead rope, "Whoa, slow down Ol' gal, give me a moment to figure out which way were should be going…" She said to the horse in a gentle tone as she stroked along her neck in a comforting manner. It was as if she was trying to convince the horse that they were not lost, or maybe it was herself. Standing there she let the lead rope fall beside the horse so that she could take up both sides of the map, tilting it this way and that trying to catch the best bit of light to read it with. Being the simple human that she was the man, Tyler, had gone mostly unnoticed by the farm girl. She had heard the shift of sounds and moving of something, but chalked it all up to be just another animal of the forest she hoped. Closing her eyes she took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself from the slight bit of fear that had started to creep over her. It was not the beasts of the forest that she feared on her travels, no. It was another encounter with that man in the golden robes that she was scared of. The moment that Tyler spoke up it had caught her more off guard than she thought. A small startled shriek as she dropped the map, stumbled back, tripped over a tree root, and landed on her rear end. Her heart was racing wildly thinking it was that man from the darkness again, but alas it was not. Bright blue eyes glanced up to see Tyler leaning back against a tree. Almost instantly she let out the breath she had been hold with a bit of a relieved sigh. "Oh, Hello there." She said in soft tones flashing a timid smile toward him.


Tyler can't hold back the chuckle the escapes from his parched throat as Emilia finds herself landing on her bum due to his simply greeting. The human pushes himself off of the tree and makes his way over to the girl, bending down to gather her map and then offering an extended hand for her to take and aid her back to her feet. "Hi." He claims, offering her a warm sincere smile as he awaits for her to take his hand. "No need to be scared, hun. I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted too." His words were honest. Emilia had more muscle mass than the man standing before her. He didn't wish to cause this girl harm. He simply wanted to help her on her way. Little did either of them know, they both held a common trait. Fear of Vuryal. Where Emilia had had an odd encounter with threats, Tyler had the same. The golden needle in pocket a constant reminder that not even twenty-four hours had passed since he allowed his greed to align himself with the dark entity at the beach of Chartsend.


Emilia could feel the faintest of blush coming over her freckled cheeks as the man leaning against the tree started to chuckle at her fall. She watched him carefully as he moved to pick up her fallen map before offering his hand to her. She stared at it for a moment before she finally reached out to take his hand allowing him to help her up from her fall. Letting it go shortly thereafter she dusted herself off. With the dirt dusted off she pulled her sleeves back to place, keeping the bandages wrapped her left arm under the sleeve, a slight attempt to keep him from seeing them. People always seem to panic when she had an injury. Looking to him she flashed a soft smile yet again, the blush long gone now. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else. Someone that is rather to be feared…but you are not them! So there is nothing to fear, I hope."


Tyler indeed catches sight of the bandages but pays them little mind. It was none of his concern to inquire on an injury of the farm girls. She'd likely think him a creep just for asking. As she speaks his eyes shift between her own as he ponders on the word. Is he someone to be feared? The thought is forced to the back of his mind as he shakes his head slowly and speaks in a bit of a lowered tone. "No. No I don't think I am, hun." He looks at the map in his hand and turns it around a toothy grin spreading across his face. "It'd help if you kept the thing upright." He turns the map around and follows a barely visible line with his fingertip showcasing the trail to Emilia. "You're not but five minutes from Kelay Way, just a little more south." He folds the map up and hands it back to the girl before deciding to question her journey. "What are you doing out here? Alone in the forest I mean? With the dark elf occupation and the minotaurs duking it out, I'd figure one such as yourself to at least carry an escort." He bites his tongue as he finds potential offense in his words, before quickly correcting himself. "N-N-Not that you couldn't handle y-yourself, I mean, I just..." He trails off as his anxiety begins to get the best of him, deciding to stop while he's ahead.


Emilia looked as he showed her the map in the correct fashion. So, that is how the silly thing went. That subtle blush had returned to her cheeks at how silly she felt when it came to light that she had been trying to follow the map upside down. No wonder she was lost with the cart and farther from the trail than she ever hoped to get to. Flashing Tyler a warm smile she took the folded piece of paper from him and placed it into her pocket. "Well, I will be darned. Thank you." She said more than pleased he had helped her with that stupid map. As he questioned her about being alone in the forest she raised a brow, a little caught off guard by his care for her. That was something still new to her…strangers caring. Tucking blonde curls behind her ears she leaned back against the cart for the time being. "I am taking a trip from the farm to bring a cartfull of goods down to the orphanage in Gualon. I am hoping to move my buisness' a bit farther out and start to establish some unity with the people there as well." She reached over then and slid a fancy elemental bow from the seat of the cart, "I got my bow." She flashed another smile, "There is hardly any out there with a better shot than me." She boasted just a little about her skills. "What is one such yourself doing out here in the woods? The time are starting to get more dangerous with his return, you know."


Tyler's face would offer a confused look as Emilia makes mention of making her way down to Gualon. "Gualon... with the green skins and barbaric humans?" He erases his face with a shake and waves his hand in dismissal to his own words. His eyes fall upon the bow as she presents it and he can't help but feel a smirk coming on. "Well sure, you're a good shot. Doesn't do much good if you aren't armed and ready. Assume I was one of the bad guys, would you've had time to arm yourself before my blade found it's mark?" He speaks rhetorically of course, as he has no visible arms on his person. As she questions his lone travels Tyler's face would fall a bit darker and he simply offers a shrug, his lack of companionship was a touchy subject so he provides a simply reply. "Just studying." She mentions 'his return', the human's ears perk at the statement and he provides the confused look once again, "Whose return?"


Emilia blinked at his words about the fact that her bow was not on her with her and should he of been a bad guy would he get to her first or her to the bow first. It was a moment of thought, but she shook it away. There was a blade tucked into her boot if she needed it, but she doubted that at this moment she was going to need to use it against Tyler. He was not very threat like. In fact, she thought he almost seemed to be a bit afraid of her. How silly, she was not that intimidating, was she? Blinking a few times she brought her attention back to his words when he dared questioned who had returned. Was he that lost away in the woods that he didn't know… Shifting her stance he could easily tell the new topic at hand made her more nervous and on edge than before. Her words came in a small whisper, "…Vuryal." The name came off her tongue like a deadly poison that made her shiver with fright just thinking about the man.


Tyler remains perplexed at Emilia's fear of even speaking the name of this person. The man wasn't a hollow native, and he had no idea of the time lords past deeds nor was he aware that he had signed his life away to him. Spotting the fear that casts over Emilia the man simply nods a few times before shaking his head as he tries to compile everything. "Well, I don't know about all that. But I do know that you're right to say things have been... odd." The night previous plays in Tyler's mind as he can't help but wonder, if the creature he'd met at the beach was this, Vuryal. "It's still a good ways out to Gualon... and, well, I don't really have anything going on if you'd like some company." The man pulls his jacket up and flexes his muscle to show that, quite literally, there is none. "I'm not much in the way of protection... but, I can help in other fields..." His right palm extends and is placed against the carriage. Blue specks of mana begin to coil around the human's fingers and twist and twirl until they collide with the crude wood and within seconds the harmless looking ride filled with goods for the orphanage shifts into the form of a war-born buggy fresh out of Gamorg. As his hand falls from the carriage the mana would ease to the forest floor like snowflakes and vanish upon contact. His caramel eyes had taken on the tint as well and slowly revert to normal. "... Such as deception." Pulling his coat back over his shoulders Tyler would stare at Emilia for a few moments, hoping he hadn't placed any sort of fear in the woman. He is quick to add another option, "Though if that makes you uncomfortable, I will of course, be on my way." He sucked at conversation.


Emilia listened as he spoke with lack of knowledge about the man named Vuryal. She could clearly remember her visit with the man in golden robes a few nights back. Those dark words of his forewarning her of many deaths to come that would…all be her fault…haunted her to this moment as they stood here in the dark forest. She glanced around for a moment as if checking to see if he was lurking nearby, watching again. Looking back to him she flashed a soft timid smile at him. Standing slightly away from the cart as his magic washed over it making it look as if it was something very different than it was. As the magic vanished she ran her fingers lightly over the plain wood once more as if she didn't believe what had just happened. How lucky of a man he was if he could harness the magic in the land and use it to his aide. She lacked any and all connections with the magical world around them. She chuckled softly as he was not very good with conversation. It made her unsure if he really wished to go with her or to stay here and…well…study. "You can come with me if you wish to…or you can return to your studies."


Tyler keeps his focus locked on Emilia as he plays the name of Vuryal over and over in his mind. The human deciding that for whatever reason, he wanted to make sure this one made it to Gualon safely. So he nods slowly and offers a grin, "I think I'll tag along and make sure everything goes smoothly. Then I'll be on my way." His hand extends to Emilia once more as he performs a rarity, and offers his real name, "I'm Tyler by the way. No real profession of the sort. Just... here I guess." He keeps his smile as he readies to take the hand of the woman who is set to marry the man who nearly ended his life, as well as the woman who he may one day be sent after. If he knew, he'd pray it not to be true.


Emilia offered her hand to his to give a light shake as he introduced himself to her. She did not offer him her full name, as she never did that except to one man and that man she was set to marry now. She did though offer him a name to call her by, "Emi. Pleasure to meet you, Sir Tyler." Letting his hand go she would allow him to walk along with her as she guided the cart toward the path. At least now if she got the map the wrong way he would be able to steer her in the right direction again. Hopefully, this would be a smooth trip with not Vuryal and hopefully Tyler would never be sent after her in the future.