A cabin in the woods - what could go wrong?

[very_sharpe]

Now and then, Thomas liked to walk in the woods. He used to go walking on the moors, when the weather was decent. He tried to avoid them when it wasn't - unpleasant memories of trudging along after his father. One such memory of being left behind, of nearly dying.

But today was a good day, and the woods were filled with bird song. Thomas wondered if he could make a bird that was sort of like a music box. He'd have to ask Daine if the sounds seemed right; he wondered if Belle could help him with the smaller pieces.

He paused when he saw... a cabin? He frowned, trying to remember if it had ever been there before. He was positive it hadn't been, he came out here often enough. He felt drawn to move a bit closer, but he was slow, cautious.

Comments

[wildmage_daine]

Someone should put up a sign, Daine thinks. Maybe it wouldn't help much -- she doesn't expect even a detailed 'keep out' message to deter everyone -- but at least it would be something. The only other option is posting some sort of guard, and that, too, seems unlikely to work out. Everyone has other places to be, other jobs to occupy them. Not to mention that they're all so used to Darrow's madness that trying to stop it seems like a lost cause.

She still swings by the candy cottage fair often, though -- if for no other reason than to see if it's still there. She half-expects it to vanish as mysteriously as it arrived. And if her visits coincide with someone else's, so much the better. She might at least save someone the inconvenience of whatever magic the place might slap on them.

Daine is in tiger shape, today, and she lets out a quiet huff of disappointment when she peers out of the underbrush to find the cottage still there, and still looking far more pristine than it has any right to. The People have been avoiding it, so it hasn't suffered the nibbles of every rodent in the area, but she still would've expected the elements to have spoiled it some. It's fair creepy, if you ask her.

Her ear swivels toward the sound of slow footsteps in the leaves, and her tail twitches in surprise when she sees that it's Thomas. He's walking towards the place -- carefully, but still -- and the thought of him wandering right in is alarming enough that she doesn't even stop to think: she just bounds out of the undergrowth and plows into him, knocking him to the ground before he can reach the door.

She realizes almost as she's doing it how terrifying she must be, and leaps clear, crouching between him and the cottage just in case he's inclined to make a run for shelter. "Sorry, Thomas!" she says, having hastily (and belatedly) reshaped her mouth. "It's me, it's Daine -- I just couldn't have you going in, and I... I didn't think. I'm sorry."