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[ It's yet another one of Snatcher's future victims. (He's come to think of any ''visitor'' he doesn't recognise as that.)

She'd fallen from the sky, though, which is enough to pique his interest. And by 'pique his interest' it means 'lurk ominously in the woods and stare'.

He's not bothering to hide himself. He means to be seen. So Hat Kid might glimpse a pair of glowing red eyes, or a four-legged shape moving in the distance (usually four legs). Occasionally he's close enough that his mask - similar to the Dwellers, but not the same - can be spotted in the gloom.

He paces, or stands and watches her run about. Entirely silent.

It might be REALLY CREEPY, ACTUALLY.

But if she dares to approach, he won't move. He's not skittish. ]

Edited 2019-04-21 11:47 (UTC)

... [Kind of wondering how long she can just ignore the reddish shadow lurking behind. Perhaps the longer she doesn't acknowledge it the faster it would go away, considering all she can tell it was doing was watching. If it was a threat it probably would have attacked by now. Keyword being 'probably'.]

[But just in case...]

[The kid suddenly went higher up into one of the trees, a little too skillfully even. It was...just a strategic move to see more of the dense, creepy forest. Totally not so that the shadow would stop following.]

[ Oh, she's noticed him at last. Or perhaps she was just trying to ignore him. He can't tell, and truth be told, he doesn't particularly care.

It might not be his forest in the same way it's Snatcher's, but he can traverse it with ease, if he so wishes. He bounds up into the trees, tail hooking into the notch of a lantern as he perches on a branch.

Still there. Still watching. But closer, now. The red-tinted shadow studies her, unblinkingly. ]

[It's still too dark and murky to find that very specific 'shine' she was looking for. But at least she was away--]

[...Ahem.]

[Okay, maybe not.]

[It might be even more unsettling that the shadow was not only closer than before, but she did not even hear it moving. Going to just...keep going then.]

[ He leaps from tree to tree, even though the effort isn't strictly necessary. Branches bend and creak under his almost unnoticeable weight; the lanterns swing, the leaves rustle.

He steps delicately over a noose, and it laughs in a deep voice. "Hello there," it says, "long time no see."

He makes sound now, but maybe that's not a comfort when you know something is following you. Slowly. At a distance. ]

[It wasn't as easy to navigate the top of the forest as she would have liked. The lanterns were spaced a little too far apart to reach, and going only branch to branch wasn't the fastest. On top of not having a clue where she was going anyway. Which is just a long way of saying: The shadow had a better advantage here.]

[She heard the voice and froze stiff. That...that couldn't have been from the shadow, could it? The kid was too on edge to look back now. Suddenly, she just took an immediate dive out of the trees and on the path right below.]

[--Wait, when did her hat change? ...Also where did that scooter come from?]

[ Now that's something he hasn't seen before. No matter, though. He watches her drive away through the trees, not bothering to pursue directly. He knows every inch of the forest by heart.

He tilts his head, memorizing the whirring sound of the scooter, and leaps to the ground. He leaves no mark as he lands and bounds away.

As she's driving, she might catch a glimpse of that same shadow at a distance, running leisurely through the woods. Not directly chasing her, but still present.

(He scolds Snatcher for playing with his food, but he follows a hunting hound's instincts and to a victim it probably seems the same way.) ]

[She would like it if it would stop following, yes please. Even with the scooter going as fast as it could she could still see glimpses of the shadow keeping up, effortlessly. Granted, she can only look at it for brief seconds, the path was far more important to watch.]

[And..it was a damn good thing the kid was, or else she would have probably missed that huge, gaping crevasse covered up by fog.]

[She slammed on the brakes and tried to reduce the scooter's momentum even more by sharply turning to the side. The scooter was still only skidding, not really stopping, and she was running out of distance between her and that cliff. It took spinning the scooter completely around to finally get the wheels to slow down and stop just in time. A couple of rocks could be heard falling down into the bottomless pit, but the kid had a sigh of relief that she hadn't fallen in too.]

[ He was expecting her to fall in and meet an unfortunate fate, but that doesn't appear to be happening either. She's certainly cleverer than a lot of the hapless victims that wander in these days.

He seeks out that particular tone in the air that indicates a soul, silently confirming to himself she still has one. That means she hasn't met Snatcher yet - yet another unusual thing.

Still, he doesn't feel the need to capture her and bring her to him, at least not yet. She's interesting enough, and he's not hungry, and she's not causing trouble.

He trots out of the woods to get a closer look at her. He does, at least, look mostly like a dog (or at least a dog-like Dweller), despite the free-floating braid(??) and the silent fluidity to his motions. His tail thumps, very slowly, with a rattle of chains. Not happy, exactly, but not hostile.

He sits and tilts his head, clearly inspecting her. Bark? ]

Edited 2019-04-22 09:02 (UTC)

[It figures that the shadow would be still following, even after that. Or maybe especially after that. She had her umbrella ready in reach, just in case. But as the shadow approached, she could finally get a better look at it. ...It was more dog-like than she realized. Still a little creepy, but, now she was about as curious in it as it was probably in her.]

[The kid slowly got off the scooter, which somehow puffed into smoke as she completely left it anyway. The further away she could get away from the cliff was better as well. And instead got as close enough to dog that seemed safe. Err...was it actually friendly?]

[She puts a hand out just to see. That was a pretty good indicator most of time after all. Although...the other hand was still in distance of an umbrella too if it doesn't go well.]

[ He politely cranes his neck to sniff at her hand.

His senses are immediately bombarded with colours and sound. The echoes of places he's never even heard of, much less seen, cling to her in a confusing kaleidoscope of colours. He lifts his head away from her hand, just to give himself a chance to adjust, and shakes it to and fro, to clear it.

His tail thumps the ground; there's the sound of chains jangling harshly. ]

Bark.

[ This is a normal dog noise and not someone just saying 'bark' in a spooky, echoing, perfectly flat voice. Nope. ]

Edited 2019-04-22 09:47 (UTC)

[The kid had not seen anything weird just now. But when the dog pulled away she put her hand down too. ...Wait did he just say 'bark'?]

...You're really just a dog? I thought I heard you talking earlier.

[ That wasn't him, it was the noose - or the spirit inside it, at any rate. But understandably, a living visitor wouldn't want to get too close to nooses. Most find them unsettling.

They recognise him, though. How could they not? He's been prowling these woods for centuries, after all.

In an entirely deadpan voice: ]

Woof.

....

[Again with that.]

Can you talk?

[ There's a long moment of silence, before--

All right, he's toyed with her enough. He relents. ]

Yes.

-! [So he can! The kid was beginning to loose hope but now she was pleasantly surprised...it's mixed in there somewhere with the rest of the emotions.]

Um, I don't really want to stay here any longer than I have to. So...[She unfolds a piece of paper from her pocket to show. It's some picture she made of a Time Piece.] I'm pretty sure some of these landed nearby. I need to get them back so I can go home. ...Have you seen any around?

[ He inspects it for a moment. He does remember those falling, though at the time he felt them more than he saw them. ]

Yes. I remember those. [ He raises his head, eyes glowing red through the mask's eyeslits as he spreads out his awareness and ignores the clash of confusing lights and sounds that the child beside him is.

Those hourglasses would be something that feels and sounds like her. He senses nothing like that - at least, not scattered like she'd said they were. There isn't much he can't sense within this place, which means... ]

Someone has already collected them. [ He shrugs. It can't be Vanessa, who never leaves her manor these days. So there's only one person it is. ] He claims everything that strays into this forest as his. You will have to bargain with him to get them back.

[The kid had her hopes raised and then instantly crushed in a matter of seconds. ...Why. Why could it never just be that easy?]

Well, I can't leave until I have them back! What would he trade it for?

[ Just as he sees no problem with Snatcher claiming any soul who comes here as his own, he doesn't see any problem with telling her what he does.

(Besides -- she just wants to go home. He can relate to such a thing, though his home exists as merely a memory now, never to be returned.) ]

Your service. He'll get you to do tasks for him...things he cannot do himself. In exchange, you'll get your hourglasses back.

[ He can't remember what Snatcher's last servant had been bargaining for, what he had wanted in exchange. In the end, they all bargain for their lives, though.

Almost as an afterthought, he adds: ]

He'll bind you to the work with contracts. He likes those.

Edited 2019-04-22 12:47 (UTC)

[This is sounds rather annoying and frustrating of a guy, to be honest.]

...Fine. I'll do his stupid work, if that's the only way he'll give them back.

[Although, it'd might be a whole other story had she known she had to bargain her soul too. Who does that sort of thing?!]

It's how he is.

[ He's so used to it that he doesn't think to say anything.

He understands the frustration, though. A little. ]

...If there's a task you have trouble accomplishing by yourself, seek me out. I'll do what I can to help you.

[That's...a bit of a surprise and stopped the kid for a second. But maybe she was also a little bit skeptic. So far, everyone's had their own goals in mind once they knew was Time Pieces could do.]

[And she was about to resummon that scooter to look for where this 'collector' is, but she stopped again. Something else was bothering her.]

Why were you following me?

This forest is my home. I take an interest in visitors.

[ Just curiosity this time, not hunger or amusement or because he thinks it might make Snatcher happy. Remarkably benign for this planet. ]

[Looks around at the forest and all.]

...You like living here? [It's kinda a bit...how do we say, dark? Gloomy?]

[ 'A huge, haunted, supernatural mess' might also suffice. ]

It was very different once, but that was a long time ago.

Still, I'm fond of it. It has character.

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hattersgonnahat - 2019-04-29 10:59 (UTC) - Expand

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heartchained - 2019-04-29 12:23 (UTC) - Expand

this is fun and we have fun here

welcome to subcon don't enjoy your stay

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