ArchivedLogs:What The Fox

What The Fox
Dramatis Personae Faelan, Lia, Jack
In Absentia	16 May 2015 '
Location <XS> Forest
Quiet and shady, the trees rise all around here high and thick. In stillness, woodland creatures make appearances, though sudden noises scare them back into the cover. Dappled sunlight filters down between the thick foliage, and the ground underfoot is heavily overgrown, though here and there paths have been worn, by deer or years of students wandering familiar trails. The weekend weather is cloudy, but it does not seem like the rain is wanting to come in and destroy the comfortable weather for a Saturday. The forest's overhead canopy is also keeping things a little damp but it is still pretty nice. Sitting beneath a tree with a backpack open, Faelan is taking a long drain from his water bottle like a good forest walker to stay hydrated, and he is comfortably dressed in black denim jeans with a short sleeved shirt with the Xavier's logo emblazoned on the breast. "God I missed the spring. That winter felt like forever," he says partially more to hear himself talk. Lia is dressed in light, loose-fitting clothing for hiking: a pair of zipper-convertible camping pants in green, a white tank top with rainbow butterflies fluttering over its front, a thin sky-blue button down worn open just to protect her pale skin from sun and insects, and black hiking boots with the laces traded out for rainbow-dyed ones. She has a wide-brimmed sun hat on over her dark hair, worn tied down in twin French braids. "It was cold for /so/ long! I did like to play in the snow. My snowmen never came to life this year," she informs with a wistful sigh. Like a good hiker, she pulls her own water bottle out from her galaxy-print backpack to take a drink when Faelan does. "I'm definitely all for winter being over," Jack remarks from where he's sitting. In jeans of his own along with a t-shirt bearing the logo of a local football team, Jack takes a long swig of his water before he speaks again. "It wouldn't have been so bad if not for all that snow," he adds, letting out a breath. It's his first time hiking but he's enjoying the company more than the activity itself. "So glad I was here for it," the invisible one adds, shaking his head...not that anyone can see that gesture. "Yeah, no weird animations this winter, present company excluded," Faelan says inclining his head to Lia. "Just the nightmares. I think I would prefer the animations." He smiles at Jack though, and nods. "Well, you had good timing then. Now you get to enjoy spring and summer physical education classes coming up. It's... a learning experience." He shakes his head and, drinking some more of the water before closing it up, he lets out a sigh. "Have you seen anything interesting out here in the forest yet? Or just forest and trees." Lia just grins and chuckles at the mention of weird animations. “I am not usually snowmen. People do not give them legs most of the time, so they do not work.” Her head cants, observing Jack at the talk of weather and seasons. “Jack, do you sunburn?” she asks out of curiosity. “There are /lots/ of trees. And other plants! Flowers and ferns and... So many bugs! Squirrels, rabbits, deer. I saw a pretty snake. It had red spots.” "It'd be hard to make a snowman with legs," Jack muses. "Yeah...those nightmares..." he trails off, whatever else he was going to say lost with a shrug. "I don't mind PhysEd classes. They're usually fun," he adds with a laugh. Lia's question gets a pause and Jack looks down. "Uhh, I don't think I do. I mean I haven't since I ended up like this," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "I saw the rabbits too," Jack remarks, gesturing back the way they came with his water. "You wouldn't likely be sunburnt. I'm sure Doctor McCoy can explain it better, but ya know physics, ultraviolet light and such." Faelan glances back to the tree behind him, and suddenly it is gone; sunlight streaming down on the young man as he smiles. Of course a few birds and squirrels are startled in the process, evacuating from that which is suddenly unseen beneath them. "From one invisible man to another, I'm sure that they've made sure you have enough vitamin D supplements added to your diet." He chuckles at the list of plants and animals that have been described. "Eventually you'll be able to pick out and identify individual ones if you spend enough time out here. Based on those dreams, it's probably a good idea to know the things I've been trained in to be out here." "Oh, I have done it. You can craft snow into things almost like clay. There was that fantastic snow dragon on the castle. And a snow whale ate Horus. Everything wants to eat Horus, he says. I do not know why. It seems there are many tastier foods that are not people." Lia nods along with Jack and Faelan's explanations. "I was not sure. I was going to recommend you bring a hat next time, if you /could/ burn." She tugs at the brim of her own hat. "I think I should take a class on electronics, then. If those dreams are going to happen. I do not need to know about the plants and animals, just the robots." "Yeah," Jack makes a little 'hmm' noise. "They gave me some vitamins I'm supposed to take every morning. D and other stuff," he says, watching the animals flee from the vanishing tree. "I ran into Horus the other day in the park. Things really should stop trying to eat him," he agrees. The invisible teen falls silent a moment as the dreams are mentioned. "If they're true I have to get better at sneaking around." "So then, let's change the future shall we?" Faelan offers a reassuring smile at that. "You can learn electronics with the smarties like B and Kisha at least, though the teachers may be a little less cranky about the interruptions." He grins to Jack though. "And I happen to be excellent at sneaking, course I also had lessons with Herr Wagner and some of the other teachers. Just ya know, use it for good. I am pretty sure that they would be cranky if you used it to sneak on other students." Standing and stretching and letting the tree reappear, he re-shoulders his bag. "So, did you guys want to go find that one downed tree? There had been a fox den near there the last time I had visited it." “Did someone in the park try to eat Horus? That is not very nice.” Lia's dark little brows bunch toward one another. “I could talk to B. She is going to be my wizard in the future. She is very clever.” The concerned expression melts into a broad smile, brightness returning to her chocolate-brown eyes. “Herr Wagner is the best. I already took his circus class, but that was a long time ago. He still teaches me new things sometimes. If I do not become robots, I think I will join a circus.” She returns her water bottle to her bag, bouncing up to her feet. “Foxes! I want to see.” "No but he said it was a no-eating Horus zone," Jack replies with a chuckle. He perks up though. "Hey, if you'll teach me I'll learn as much as I can," Jack replies with an unseen smile. "I mean I was some kind of spy guy in my dream. Sneaking around a pretty nasty place and gathering information," he explains. "Promise I won't sneak on other students. Don't have any reason to anyway," he says, getting to his feet. "Foxes, huh? We can find out what sounds they really say." Faelan looks interested as Lia mentions her Wizard, but winces at Jack's statement. "No... please not that song..." he shudders. "Earworms are terrible if you're planning on being sneaky. Clear mind and such." He tugs at the straps of his pack to resituate it and starts walking. "The fox den was pretty well disguised with the dead leaves so it'll be fun to find. The tree was my fault. Well, mine and Peter's. Teleported trees don't exactly want to stay up." He shrugs a little at that, but with how he's walking he is at least taking the stealthy mindset in place as he barely makes a noise with his footfalls. “Poor Horus.” Lia's head shakes a little, swishing her braids against her shoulders. “I think foxes bark, kind of.” She sneaks along behind Faelan, not exactly /trained/ in stealth but used to keeping her Dolls out of notice most of the time. “I can be sneaky. Dolls are very sneaky. People do not expect them to see things. And they can be very tiny.” She quiets as she follows, intrigued by the teleported, downed tree report. Jack snickers a little. "I won't sing it or anything. It just got me wondering if foxes do actually make any noises like that," he remarks, adjusting his backpack a little. He falls in with the sneaking again, used to staying out of notice and moving quietly as well. "Why did you teleport a tree?" he whispers as they go. "It's more of a yipping thing. They have some interesting sounds, remind me to show you on the computers when we get back to campus," Faelan says, nodding about the dolly thing. "Yeah, I think in general people still don't think from a concept of what mutants can do since most of what we can do is so random and different. Like trying to keep out teleporters for example, each of us do it completely differently. The way I do it, the way that Flicker does it, the way that Spencer does it, and the way that Kurt do it are all completely separate even if we all Do it." He is trying to be educational, but the quiet walking is pretty automatic anyway. "The tree, well. It's kinda complicated. Ivan, who used to go here, had scared me with a really big spider. So he got teleported away, and then Peter started shaking me and well... fear and my powers go together like peanut butter and jelly. So teleported tree. Which I guess was better than teleported Peter." “Oh, fox videos! I like videos about red pandas. They fall down a lot,” Lia goes back to chattering, though quieter, since the others are still talking. “Spencer is fun. He plays with me on his space ship sometimes. Though usually I am a Doll to visit.” She nods along with the story. “Ivan had the bees. There are still bees now.” One eyebrow lifts at the peanut butter and jelly comment. “Fear makes you sticky?” "Sure. Some animal videos sound good," Jack replies. He listens quietly to Faelan's educational moment, his interest caught. "Like how you, me, and Jax all do invisible different too?" he chimes in. Faelan's story gets an invisible nod but Lia has Jack snickering again. "I don't think there was any stickiness involved, Lia." "I just meant that fear makes my power work better. It's adrenaline based kinda? Well Doctor McCoy had said it's related to biochemical interactions within my body providing necessary energy and the adrenaline helps the system work more efficiently, or whatever. I don't know I'm not really a scientist." Faelan kinda frowns but shrugs, not exactly sure himself. "It's related to the fight or flight instincts or whatever." He chuckles somewhat at Lia's tangents but nods in agreement with them at least. Jack's observation about the invisibility gets a thumbs up though. "Exactly. Jax controls light, so he can bend the light around him. They aren't quite sure with mine. I mean, they've done some math, but I think it involved light going faster or something. Or not covering distance the same? I think a lot of these studies are there to make physicists and biologists happy to mess with new stuff. Someone will probably get a doctorate from a thesis on mutant powers." “Oh. It is just that the way peanut butter and jelly go together is by being sticky,” Lia explains lightly before moving on. “Mr. Fairyjax has a glamour, so he can make you see anything. Or nothing.” Her lips twitch over to one side. “There are a lot of doctors that mostly study mutant powers. Most of them are not very nice.” Most of the science goes over Jack's head but he's trying to understand it. "So you get pumped up and your powers get pumped too. That makes sense," he says after a moment or two of thought. He nods as Faelan explains the differences in invisibility. "They're still working on figuring out what makes me all ghosty," he says. "But Jax figured out how to make me visible for a little while at least," he says, "I thought peanut butter and jelly just went together because they taste good together," he chuckles. "Really? Was it the paint thing?" Faelan asks hopefully. Glancing around at the trees a moment, he pauses and glances around at the trail options. "To the left. If you go right, it takes you back on a loop to the other side of campus, in case you need it." He nods as he heads down the left hand path, and hrms a bit. "Yeah those doctors are jerks, Lia. I'd say worse, but well, no words actually describe what they are." He snorts and spits at that. "But I meant the ones here. We have lots of really smart people who work here, and Professor Xavier occasionally has other good sorts come in to help, too. Those ones aren't bad." “Mr. Fairyjax used his glamour to make the light show Jack's face. Anole had a friend who made powers go away that made all of Jack show up, too.” Lia just nods quietly at the discussion of Those Doctors. “I like Dr. Fuz--McCoy. I think if the doctors that study mutants are fuzzy, then maybe they are okay. The ones that are not fuzzy just like to hurt people.” Jack chuckles when asked about the paint but lets Lia explain what happened. "Yeah, those were two different ways though. It was...it just felt good being actually seen for the first time in years," he says with a shrug. He looks down the two paths and hums. "That's handy to know," he murmurs, looking around for any landmarks to help remember the area. He's quiet on the subject of doctors, shoulders tensing a little. "Doctors in general make me a little nervous," he admits quietly. Mostly due to the needle fear he's got. "Huh. Well, there is a room we use for training that may give you some more time, too. It projects illusions, and well, would let you have it projected without relying on Mr. Jax to do it for you. But well, it requires special permission to go there in the first place." Faelan offers a shrug, but continues along the path he has set, occasionally stopping to point out some stuff. "See how the bark is kinda rubbed down and some strips are missing? They use trees for scratching themselves on, and the bark offers nutrition when there's no greenery." He lets the talk of doctors fade off though, not thinking there was much love of it among most of the populace of the school. Lia's hand subconsciously moves to rub over the opposite arm at the ongoing doctor talk. “Do we have a faery ring on campus? That is fantastic!” That is clearly what Faelan means about the room that makes illusions, after all. “Eating bark must be difficult. It seems like it would cut up your mouth.” "Really?" Jack is surprised by that news. "Huh...I wonder what wearing a projection would be like..." he trails off. Of course he's also planning on asking later about permission to see that room. He shrugs as well, looking around at the things pointed out. "They can get stuff out of trees when they peel the bark off too, right? Like sap?" "Not a faery ring. More like well, Star Trek I guess? It's the closest thing to a holodeck I would say," Faelan pauses as he seems to think. "But it's pretty serious stuff. You go in there for specific reasons, and you have to have permission." He nods seriously at that, perhaps having had the requisite pamphlet read to him over and over. "And yeah, squirrels go for the sap a lot. But the actual bark is pretty healthy for certain trees. Aspen, birch, willow, maple, and pine trees are really good ones. And like Pine has lotsa vitamins and stuff, plus you can use the needles and the cones for a lot of stuff." He smiles a moment, "But like Lia said, you can hurt yourself. You need to prepare it to eat, and it's mostly inner bark you want not the outer stuff." “Oh.” Lia frowns for a moment at the lack of faery ring. “That sounds kind of scary. Is it dangerous?” She nods along with Faelan's talk of tree barks. “Do you cook bark into things? Like...tree recipes? Are they good?” "So like peeling the skin off a fruit?" Jack asks curiously. He glances at a tree as they pass, wondering what a tree tastes like. Lia's question gets his attention too. "Like tree soup or something?" "Well, it's called the Danger Room. And it can hurt you a bit, but I don't think they'd let it do any permanent damage," Faelan's face looks like it's Hope that they never let it hit that point. "And well mostly you just kinda shred and chew it. But you can dry it and grind it up so you can do stuff like you'd do with any other grains. Like bread, gruel, thickener." He shrugs a bit at the fruit comment. "Kinda ish? I guess like eating a mango, in that you take off the outer layer cause it's got the same stuff as poison ivy, but still spoon off the fruity bit on that inside so you don't waste it." “That does not sound like a pleasant place to go,” Lia opines given the room's title. “Hm. Probably the bark parts do not taste very good. Otherwise people would eat it all the time. And animals would not wait until after all the leaves and things are gone to eat it.” "Does it...take a lot to get permission to go there?" Jack asks. He's curious about the place now. Danger or not, he wants to know more about it. "Huh. Yeah, I'm not sure trees would taste very good. Unless they're maple like the syrup," he says. "How far are we from that knocked over tree?" "Depends on the situation. But if you ask the right people it may not be too problematic," Faelan offers a shrug but nods about the bark taste. "The pine tea isn't bad, but yeah bark isn't the best thing. It's food at least if you need to." Gesturing down the way the fallen tree is just coming into view as it is being asked about. "There is the tree. Ahead and to the left is the fox burrow. Just be careful, you don't want to frighten it or back it into a corner or anything," he says quietly. “I do not think I will ask to go there,” Lia announces before becoming entirely distracted by reaching the tree and the burrow. Apparently her preferred method of getting close without frightening anything is to ditch her pack and climb a neighbouring /not/ felled tree to wait. "Thanks," Jack murmurs, filing the info away for later. It may be useful. As they get to the area with the hidden den, Jack goes quiet once again. "I've never actually seen a real fox before," he comments with an unseen smile, creeping carefully along with Faelan. "Yeah they are pretty neat. Just be quiet and try and stay downwind," Faelan nods, and then the disappears from view. There is a slight shifting of the fallen log as if a weight was on it before everything goes still. True to his word, a few minutes of waiting and a fox is returning to its den carrying a small bunny that has ceased its kicking. Apparently it has food for some babies in the hole. Lia settles herself out on a low, strong-seeming bough like a lounging leopard, eyes fixed on the den to wait. Though she manages to hold it in, her broad grin and glittering eyes are clearly full of /squee/. Jack frowns slightly when Faelan disappears but shakes it off quickly. There's being very still and watching to pay attention to. He stays low, only perking up slightly again when the fox appears. He smiles to himself as he watches the creature, glancing up at Lia to see her reaction then turning attention back to the fox. The fox is wary, probably smelling people anyway but it does end up scooting into its den after a few passes. Faelan does reappear after the fox disappears though, sitting cross-legged on the tree. "See?" He smiles happily to the others from his spot and seems relaxed. "I usually keep invisible around the animals so I don't spook them, but the smell aspect tends to be a more important thing for them. Sneakery note, don't wear cologne or deodorant with scents." Lia watches the fox's movements intently until it slips away into its den. With a delighted giggle, she hooks her legs on the tree limb and hangs from it upside-down to look back up at Faelan. Her hat falls in the process, braids dangling ground-ward. “That was fun! It is too bad our woods do not have any pandas.” Jack stands when the Fox ducks back into its den. He reaches out to catch Lia's hat with his telekinesis as it falls though. "Yeah, have to not smell out of place too. I was talking to B about something like that last night,” he says, recalling the conversation about scent and sound helping give away where someone's hiding. "Are there bears out here in the woods? Not the panda kind I mean." "None I've ever experienced, at least none near the school. There aren't really any megapredators Generally, but I mean they travel and range a lot. Like I've heard of bears just wandering down into cities." Faelan takes another swig of his water as he relaxes in his spot. "And yeah, no pandas or red pandas, unless we have shapeshifter students." Hrming at Jack's statement he nods. "Heightened senses tend to be an issue for invisible sorts. It's why guard dogs tend to be more of a problem than human guards after all." "Oh, thank you," Lia calls down at the retrieval of her hat. She swings a little in her hanging position, just generally pleased to be /up/. "I have not seen any bears. I think black bears live in this region, though. They are cute, especially ones with the light markings on the noses and chests. And small. For bears." The mention of guard dogs sets the girl to giggling. "When I am a Doll, usually it is dogs that are bothered by it the most. Even if I only smell like a Doll. People do not tend to believe the dogs, though. Barking at statues." Jack watches Lia swinging a few times before his attention returns to Faelan and he lets out a little breath of relief. "That's good. I mean I can handle dogs and like...wolves if one attacks but I think a bear would be a lot of trouble if it wandered onto the school grounds," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Dogs are easy to distract at least though. Or trick. Cats are harder to get away from though." "Don't worry. If there is a bear in the area I can at least temporarily handle the situation, and then we can contact Logan or one of the other teachers. We tend to handle things like that internally, since well...it's a bad idea to have animal control on campus when we have some students who become animals." Faelan nods seriously at that but chuckles about the dogs thing. "Yeah, dogs can be hit or miss. It really does depend on their training, but animals are more of an issue than human guards. Like, most humans will just deny that they heard or smelled something if they don't See something. Course if they are trained to the idea of an unseen enemy then you are in trouble. A dog may not attack you right away, but a guard with an automatic weapon may just spray and pray." “Usually most wild animals do not like being around a lot of people, anyhow. There probably is not much chance of a not-person bear wandering onto campus with so many people.” Lia swings a bit more before righting herself, then dangling by her arms to drop back to the ground to collect her hat and bag. Again, since someone else was drinking, she pulls out her own water bottle to drink, too. Jack pauses, shoulders tensing once more at the mention of Logan. Mostly because he was reminded of his encounter with Daken and what he'd heard the mutant did later. "Yeah, animal control would probably end up very confused or very hurt," he says. He floats Lia's hat to her once she lands, even trying to lightly place it on her head. "Yeah...guns are another issue entirely. Automatic or not...I can try to mess someone with one up but...better to not get heard and or shot at in the first place." "Guns suck, but a ranged weapon is useful to have on you to even the odds." Faelan rises up and stretches, glancing towards the fox den again. "We should get moving so we don't keep it penned in there. Might be a bit nervous hearing us out here." Hopping off the fallen tree, he makes his way over to the others. "Did you want to start walking back now? Can see if you guys remember the way." He smiles a bit at that, not mean or mischievous, just hoping that they paid attention. Lia giggles, clapping at the delivery of the hat to her head. It does manage to perch there, if rather askew, but is easily corrected by the girl. She tugs her backpack back onto her shoulders. "We /should/ go. Also, the clouds are getting darker. Probably it would not be quite as fun to be out in the rain if /also/ out in the woods trying to hike home. It is warm enough to go play in the rain in the gardens, though. And feed the koi!" She gives a little happy bounce up on her toes at the thought. "I know the way! We go from the foxes to the troll rock to the mushroom chairs to the dryad to the path, then turn at the dragon. Pretty much." One can only hope these are fanciful images she has seen in the landscape on the way here. "Yeah, let's let 'em eat in peace," Jack replies, glancing at the fox den. He takes a little bow when Lia claps and then readjusts his backpack. Lia's directions makes Jack blink a few times and rub the back of his neck awkwardly. "I think I know the way back, too. We probably left a trail or something too," he adds. "Well then, feel free to lead the way," Faelan gestures for the two to take the headway. "The other correct answer is to consult your phone's GPS. Theres a reason we're issued them, after all. The panic button is your friend." He nods seriously at that but seems content to walk behind them. "But knowing how to get back without the GPS is best. Just in case it gets wet, or a badguy fries your phone. That happened once when we went to an orchard where a circus had been." Lia nods and strikes out for the troll rock, presumably. “We will be fine. No need to panic!” she assures. “Oh. Oh! There is a circus that comes to an orchard near here? Will they be back? We should go. It sounds lovely.” Jack starts to follow along with Lia, taking his water from his bag for a quick drink as they go. "Yeah...panic button," he murmurs, shaking his head. "Hopefully we won't have to use that button anytime soon," he says. He glances back at Faelan to hear what he says about the circus. "Well I guess more a carnival than a circus. But no, I hope they don't come back, they were evil. Like they had kidnapped Sophie and brain controlled her, and then tried to kidnap us. There was some creepy dude who hopped around, and this jerk who fried our phones, and then there was a guy made of sand. Anyway, long story short they ran away and we ran away." Faelan nods, figuring he doesn't have to share the details of Brave Sir Robin. "We tend to live in interesting times. So being good at running away tends to be good for your health." “Yeah, that is not a good circus,” Lia confirms with a nod. She grabs her water bottle to drink when Jack does. “You want a circus with acrobats and pretty costumes. Not one where they steal you and break your things.” Just in case anyone was confused for the future. “I will make sure to join a better circus. Maybe they can still go to an orchard, though.” "That...sounds like a bad one, yeah," Jack agrees. "Running, hiding...all good skills to learn. At least until you have to fight," he says. "I haven't been to a circus since I was younger," of course it was to steal food and pick pockets but that's not something he's making widely known. "Yeah, not a good one. There had been a guy with a fishbowl on his head who was creepy too." Faelan does seem more amused by Lia's circus idea. "Perhaps you can find one that will. Maybe Herr Wagner knows more on that subject though. Seems like you'd need to do a lot of training." Glancing to Jack, he nods. "Yeah, those were among my first things, aside from survival and languages. Fighting... I'm still not great with. They did teach me how to use a tranquilizer gun though, which is pretty fun." "I have not been before. But they put videos of some of them on the Netflix. Cirque du Soleil. A lot of it is dancing, really." Lia smiles back at the others. "I have so much dancing. Only the one circus class, but Herr Wagner helps me still. I like the silks the best." She tucks her water bottle away again. "I am taking the self defense class this term. I liked the rolling part. You fall down and roll." "I'm getting better with fighting. Still have a ways to go..." Jack trails off. As he says it, there's a hand shaped imprint on his side where he'd previously been shot. He's healed but the incident is still bothering him. He shakes his head though. "I'm in self defense too. Learning how to roll with a fall or a punch is important." "Yeah, hopefully you won't ever have to use it. It is better to know it and not need it, after all," Nodding Faelan is doing his best to be sensible adult, not that he is much older than the others. "Unfortunately, we live in a world full of idiots and jerks. So it'll probably happen more than we ought to." He lets out a sigh at that, but he isn't correcting the path that is being taken back at least. Lia waves at a large, moss covered rock as they pass it. “I have had to do fighting before, but usually as a Doll. I did not like that. It hurt people.” She nods in agreement with Faelan. “Hopefully we can all avoid fighting as much as possible.” Jack falls silent, just a quiet noise of agreement to what both of the other mutants say. Eventually he decides to try changing the subject. "Know what's being served for dinner tonight?" he asks. "I'm hoping for some pizza myself." One to recognize a good subject change, Faelan nods. "I hadn't checked before we left honestly. I try not to be too picky," he says with a smile. "Might be pizza, could be lotsa things. I tend to just pile up with some of everything." Hrming, he glances skywards. "And we might want to pick up the pace. I think Lia is right, the rain is coming." “Oh, me, too! I like to eat all the things. We get all the good food!” Lia gives a glance up through the canopy, as well. It doesn't take much for her to put more energy into a thing, hurrying herself along in search of the mushroom landmark. “Rain, rain! You come after dinner and /then/ we will play!” Jack laughs a little. "I like all the food too. Just have a little craving," he pauses a beat. "Which...is really strange because I cannot remember the last time I ever felt like eating any specific food," he says, laughing again after. One glance at the clouds and he speeds up too. "Yeah. No need to worry if it rains though, I can at least block some of it for us," he says. "If it rains I'll short cut us," Faelan nods as he picks up his own pace, actually hopping over a bush to put himself in front. "This way then, we'll get to the grass faster. No sticker bushes or anything." It is coming off the worn path, but he seems to know the way and the forest is definitely dispersing faster.