Anticipation and Berries [Open to most]

The air was fresh with rays of sunshine busting through the treetop canopy in long thorns of gold.  Gentle steps through the mouth of the forest pitter-pattered upon the lively soil underfoot as a woman with long golden hair capped with a golden ornament wearing an illustrious orange and pearl hanbok held a wicker basket in the pit of her elbow cast her eyes downward looking for something on the floor.  A song hummed from her throat didn't do justice to the bird-songs overhead.  An upbeat melody to match her cheery mood.  

Tomorrow is the day that she will head for the guild in Clover Town.  She's excited and nervous all at once; hoping to make a positive impression on the people that she will, one day, be living with.  To call them family and to call them comrade.  She wonders what these people will be like and how will they treat her?  Will they be extremely militaristic men and women and expect nothing but extreme obedience and discipline?  She hopes that isn't the case as she lacks either.  Loyalty is one of her strong-suits, but that is gained and not given, right?  Or will these people be savages?  She doesn't particularly care for savages, but she signed up with the Blue Pegasus so she's stuck with them; whether they are or not.  

Alternating between the light and the darkness of the forest floor, something caught Anastasia's eye.  A bring blue clump of orbs.  Turning her head for a moment, she noticed they were blue berries.  Genuine delight comes across Anastasia's face as she walks to them and sits upon her heels and begins to pick the berries.  Her humming turned into light singing as she started to pick the berries.   After picking the berries, she looked down at her hands and noticed her fingers and part of her palm covered in sticky purple juice.  Placing her index finger in her mouth to taste the juice of the blueberries she just picked, her smile became large and ecstatic. The berries in this region were simply delicious.

Standing up, sucking the dried blueberry juice from her fingers, she started to skip happily until she found another berry bush and began to pick the berries. Certainly, it would be quite suggestive if someone walked in on her sucking the juices off her finger. She isn't thinking about it in a perverse manner in all honesty.


[OOC:  I'd rather BP not enter this topic as this takes place before Ana gets to the Guild Hall.  I kinda want to make her introductions in the Guild Hall a surprise :D.  Jinxsis, you can join though]

As Thanan trudged through the brush of the East Forest, he felt... at peace. Maybe it was just natural considering that this area was a prominent place for him to make use of his magic. But still, he felt it was something more than that.

"Maybe one day I'll be able to just come here and do nothing but relax. Day in and day out I could just sleep in my own shelter crafted from sticks and leaves."

He smirked at the thought. Ridiculous.

"Or not. I have a lot to do before I can think about that. Get your head in the game, stupid. You came out here to get some seclusion training, after all."

It was true. Thanan had heard many success stories that resulted from secluding oneself in the wilderness while they trained both mind and body. At the rate that he desired to grow in power, it almost spoke for itself that he would desperately cling to any hope of rocketing through the ranks and becoming powerful.

"And then, I'll..."

He smiled a grim, sadistic grin for a moment, dark thoughts swirling through his head, before he noticed a noise. It sounded like the rustling of a bush nearby.

"A trap?! Or perhaps prey."

To attain the height advantage and the element of surprise, he climbed up into a nearby tree and jumped from branch to branch to catch sight of the noise.

Soon he saw a girl delightfully picking berries from a bush. She began to lick the juices from her fingers. Getting a closer glimpse, he blushed at the sight. She looked around his age, and seemed to be in absolute bliss in the moment.

He continued to watch from afar, his clothes acting as a decent camouflage. Secretly he hoped he wouldn't be seen. He'd definitely be seen as a stalker and a creeper both of the highest caliber. But for some reason, Thanan couldn't take his eyes off of her. It was a side he wished didn't exist, but was hard to contain. An admiration for beauty was not something he could easily fight.

"Dammit, get it together!" he muttered under his breath; however, it was unintentionally loud enough that it may have been possible for her to hear it.

Hearing a rustling from above her, the woman pretends she didn't hear anything.  A smile came across her face as she continued on inwards through the forest.  She continued to lightly sing the song from earlier, replacing the actual lyrics with 'la' in varying tones, pitches, and tempo.  She placed her right middle finger into her mouth and used her saliva to clean off the remaining sticky blue liquid.  Now she's doing it as a means of teasing, knowing she's being watched.  

The woman stopped and pulled out a soft white handkerchief.  The handkerchief had royal blue stitching around the borders and embroidering in one of the corners of a strange script character.  She used this to wipe her fingers clean, having already teased her small audience enough as it is.  Replacing the handkerchief back inside of her dress, she looked around and noticed a bunch of leafy green leaves.  Her eyes lit up and she squealed.  She ran over towards the clump and noticed small red orbs could be seen in the collection of red leaves.  Wild strawberries.

Her mouth opened wide as she looked over the patch.  Leaning inward, she smelled the wild strawberries, taking in a deep breath through her nose.  The scent was amazing; something most people won't get to witness.  Nothing smells or tastes better than wild fruits.  Sure, agriculture made it easier for people to eat food whenever they want and in massive quantities, but it's the serenity and pureness of coming out into nature and tasting it's bounties the way nature intended them to taste.

Moving her head away from the collection of fruits, the woman placed a hand underneath one of the bulbous red fruits and bounced it a bit upon it's stem.  A little giggle escaped the woman's lips before raising her voice to the person following her.  If it wasn't for his loud running up trees and speaking a bit too loud, she would never have heard the man.  She is, after all, a singer so her ears are more attuned to pick up sound.  

"I'm sure a Knight in Shining Armor would have problems climbing trees.  Or could you, perhaps, be a suave romantic?" she said in a teasing manner with a smile upon her face.  Tightening her grip upon the little bulbous fruit she was fiddling with, she tugged at it to remove it and placed it gently into her basket.  "Why not come and introduce yourself to me.  I promise, I don't bite.  Besides, you'll never attract a maiden's heart by hiding up there."  Not that Anastasia will fall for some ruffian hiding in the trees.  She's more traditional and in wants her knight in shining armor.

Thanan sighed. Why was he hiding anyway? He would have been better off just sneaking away the moment he realized it was nothing more than some girl in the woods.

"...I'm no knight." he blurted out from the greenery as he made a jump, landing safely in a clearing near the girl. By this point he would be in plain sight, as revealed as she was moments before.

"Can I ask exactly why you're out here? You seem confident that no boogeyman would swoop upon you and drag you off to God knows where."

He crossed his arms as he approached her, looking her up and down. While one would take him for a pervert, and though truly he was to some degree, he was observing possible magics or fighting styles she may possess.

"Very regal. Fine features. Are you... royalty?"

He quickly discarded the thought from his mind and put a finger to his chin in thought.

"No, no. If you were I would definitely be dead or set for execution by now. In which case... nobility, perhaps?"

As he continued to study, he then opened a pocketbook and began to take notes, muttering things about nonexistent worlds or fictitious-sounding gods. He then let out an audible "ahem" and stuffed the book away again.

"I don't have any interests in romance, really. The only thing I'm interested in right now is hunting. Not... necessarily animals, either."

He spoke no more, leaving her to draw her own conclusions from that. Thanan was not educated well in the ways of proper conversation. Rarely could he stray from the topic of murder for very long. It was, after all, what he was raised for.

At least this stranger admitted they were no knight in shining armor.  Most men usually think they are to impress whomever it is they are attempting to court.  But at least this man is honest; as honest as one could be for hiding behind a mask.  Anastasia had a mask of her own, but it isn't one that she intended on ever showing to everyone.  She was asked the reason why she was here, isn't it obvious?  A basket with fruits in it -must- be a ploy!  She must be doing something devious with strawberries and blueberries!  She MUST be incarnate of evil!

She turned her head to notice the man that fell down with a warm smile upon her face.  "Not quite the knight in shining armor, but a knightly looking person none-the-less," she said with a little giggle.  She raised her basket up to show him what she was doing out here.  "I'm gathering fruits for now so I can take them home for my family.  As my way of saying goodbye to them," she said with a warm smile.  Every time she thinks of her family, a part of her grows warm and fuzzy.  

The man made mention to boogymen, causing the woman to brush it off.  She waved the man off with a pffft expression upon her face.  "Oh, I'm not worried about boogymen.  There are much scarier things out in the world like," the said before looking up and counting off things, with each item counting as a finger.  "Spiders, centipedes, millipedes, cockroaches, water-bugs, silverfish, earwigs," the woman said before trailing off for another couple minutes with other creepy-crawly the planet had to offer.  Needless to say, she wasn't fond of such small things.

"Oh, and besides, if they decide to take me off to slave-trading, I could easily just smash their brains in," she said with a bit of a giggle.  Certainly, she doesn't approve of slave-trading, thus cares not if those who take part suffer an untimely death or endless suffering.  People who take part in atrocious acts against humanity are the only exception to her rules against needless suffering.  She also had the ability to ruin people with just singing alone, so she's perfectly fine being on her own.

She was about to return to picking fruits when the man asked if she was royalty.  With the way she was dressed, it was bound to come up that way.  But the man's thoughts afterward do ring true.  If Anastasia was, indeed, royalty this man in green would have already been dispatched long before he had the chance to make himself known by her entourage.  But alas, she isn't royalty and didn't have an entourage to call her own.  She was a member of low-birth after all.  

Raising her sleeve up to her mouth to conceal laughter, she turned her eyes to the side before returning them to the masked man.  "Oh, no.  I am of low-birth.  But I do thank you for thinking i look as beautiful as a princess or a noble-woman," she said for a moment.  And then the light-hearted questioning turned into emotional answers.  Rolling her eyes, she walked up to the man and handed him the basket to hold.

"Enough of that!" she said as she placed the basket in the man's left hand and put both of her hands around his right hand and tugged at him.  If he was out here to hunt people, she'll just be sure to turn his brain to mush with her music.  Not that her singing is bad, but well, you'll see (or hear).  She tug on the man through the forest to help her with the collection of berries for herself.  She is, after all, leaving to join a guild tomorrow.

"My name is Anastasia.  I'm not going to expect a masked man to tell me who they are, since that defeats the purpose, am I right?" she asked with a bit of a wink.  It is kind of silly to ask a masked man who they were.  The fact that he wore a mask meant he wanted people to not know who he was, so asking who a masked man is is like asking a mute person to speak.

"Instead of hunting, why don't you help me with some gathering.  Less things die that way right?" she asked inquisitively.  It also didn't help that she was a vegetarian.

Annoying...

That was the one thought running through his head. This was an annoying situation. This girl had managed to somehow convince him to stop hunting for the moment and... pick berries? And what's more, he was going through with it with few qualms to the contrary.

"Wait... ah, but..."

It was no use. Why was he so hesitant? His demeanor had been reduced to a mere puppy before this woman, with no logical explanation that he could draw upon.

Anastasia, her name was. Even her name sounded high class. Was she just lying...?

She wouldn't have a very good reason to lie...

As those thoughts coursed through his mind, he was given a new job: food gathering. But not meat. Rather, it was fruits he was supposed to gather. He gave a smirk at that.

"Is there something wrong with killing animals? If they died it's because they weren't strong enough. Survival is the basis of all life."

Not that he had problems with fruit. He was hungry enough for anything at the moment, having no luck with live animals so far.

Kneeling down to pick at a strawberry bush, he didn't hesitate to greedily devour the first few he had picked. They disappeared one by one as if he hadn't eaten a thing in days. As if he were a peasant desperate to survive. By the end of it, he noticed that he had picked that particular strawberry bush clean, and rose to his feet with empty basket in hand to face Anastasia. He wasn't sure if she had witnessed all of that, but he really hoped not. It was pathetic to be so hungry all the time.

Wiping off some of the red juices, hoping he got it all off, he let out a sigh.

"Find anything?" he asked, trying to play it off as if nothing happened.

Thanan wiped off the spot that was pointed out to him, a little shaken that he would let his guard down so easily.

"Hungry? Yes, I suppose you could say so. I haven't eaten a whole lot these past few days."

He desired more food, and so when the girl teased him with the cloud berry he couldn't even help himself. He took it from her hand and ate it with a single motion like a greedy carnivore for berries. What would that be called? Ah, right. A herbivore.

Gasping with relief, everything he ate felt good to him right now. While munching on leaves wasn't a good idea, even the fresh wet dew sitting on the leaves of nearby trees looked good for a drink. Still, he would never be desperate enough to take his chances.

It was then that he heard a noise from behind him.

"...A trap?"

He turned around and immediately pointed his index finger at the bush rustling. Without hesitation, a sharp spike of wood shot from his finger moments later, flying off into the bush like a bullet.

A cry of pain could be heard, and out of the bushes popped a small rabbit. The spike had managed to lodge itself into the back of the animal's right leg, and it was now limping out in pain and with a merciful look in its eyes.

Thanan sighed, looking relieved.

"Just a rabbit. And at the right time, too."

Walking slowly, knowing that the rabbit would be unable to escape quickly, he had the stance of a hunter. Of someone desiring food. Someone who didn't seem to mind if someone were to watch him commit murder before their eyes. It was the way of the world for the strong to eat the weak, after all.