two kinds of hunters [korei+haytham]

[avery]

It was a Sunday and despite the nice temperatures, he was in a coat. Which was hardly surprising, given drake, but it'd earned him some weird glances (or his bug catching stuff had) on his way to the forest. It was one of his days off and he was going to take advantage of that to catch something interesting... or at least something that was large enough to dissect later. Even if he'd have to deal with the raccoons trying to get into his garbage again.

Haytham had been searching for an hour. An hour and nothing but a rather uninteresting moth and some even less interesting ants. Though he had accidentally set a spider that dropped down in front of him on fire. Which he regretted just a little bit because it might have been something worth catching. And because he could still smell a little bit of burning spider and that was not fun at all. With a sigh and feeling like he was wasting his time, he placed his gear on the ground and sat on a fallen log, glad that it wasn't a level of decomposed as to collapse under his weight.

Well, what now?

Bugs were apparently avoiding him or had grown a brain or telepathic powers or something. He knew the way back to town, but that wouldn't be fun at all; he'd just sit at home and... he wasn't sure what he'd do, actually. It was nice outside, but still a little bit chilly under the trees, and he didn't know whether it was chilly enough for him to want to leave. With a huff (and a lot of smoke and just a little bit of flame), he shifted until a tree was behind him and leaned against it, pouting because he really, honestly, had no idea what to do.

The discouraged bug hunter gave another huff, this one just a huff, and closed his eyes. Maybe after a nap he'd have better luck with his prey.

[Hunter]

As Haytham went about his fruitless hunt, a wood nymph peeked around the trunk of a swamp maple, blended against its bark to stay hidden as she watched him from a distance. She didn't understand why the man was out here. Whenever non-nymphs came this far out into the woods -- and xe could tell he was a non-nymph, from the way he meandered about in circles like someone unfamiliar with the place -- it was always for a specific purpose, like searching for a lost dog or secluding oneself during the full moon. Him? She had no idea what he was doing here. And what were those things on his head? That wasn't all hair, was it?

After a while she might have written him off or lost interest, but when he leaned against a tree and let out a huff, she drew back at the sight of smoke. He didn't even have a cigar or anything with him -- there was only one type of being that could do that. A drake.

A chill ran down her spine, and now she was doubly confused.

She didn't normally see any drakes out here, at least that xe knew of. She sometimes saw them on the way to the springs, but not lingering about like this one did, especially not in winter.

He was tall and pale and angular -- and feathered. That was one thing that she heard the least about when it came to drakes. It was always about their firebreath and their scales and, sometimes, about their tears. Nobody talked much about their feathers. But now that she was looking at some, she didn't understand why other beings weren't more fascinated -- not even avian volants had head feathers.

When he closed his eyes, Korei decided to move closer and get a better look.

He was rather gaunt, she realized. The poor thing looked ill. That was a problem with them, wasn't it? Their tears had magical properties that healed everything but sickness. It sounded like some ironic curse, a fairy's sense of humor. She tucked a strand of green hair behind her ear as she leaned in, and then she smiled.

He still had no idea she was there, did he? A high-pitched giggle escaped xem, louder than xe would have intended if xe'd meant to make a sound at all, and she quickly covered her mouth and drew back, rustling the leaves of a few branches in her rush to conceal herself again.

[avery]

He startled awake, very nearly jumping from his place on the log, and frantically looked around. What in the hell had that noise been? Haytham was nearly certain it wasn't a bird, since he'd never heard a bird with a call like that before, and he didn't think it was a bug and... and it'd sounded almost like a person giggling. He was fairly sure it wasn't a dream, fairly sure he hadn't been dreaming, and he still had no idea what it was.

And, to make that worse, it felt like something was watching him.

He wanted to get his stuff and run, but if something was watching him then that probably wasn't the best idea. It wouldn't be terribly difficult to follow him, if whatever was watching him was so inclined, and he'd rather not have a visitor in the middle of the night. But, erm, was it still there? He looked around, failing to spot anything that seemed out of place or unusual, and he just decided to get the overly stupid idea out of his head. "Erm. Anyone there?"

[Hunter]

Korei covered her mouth with her hands as she saw that she'd woken him up. For a split second, she thought for sure she was going to end up roasted alive like those unfortunate humans in the tales of princesses and dragons. He'd already demonstrated what he could do, how easily he could emit flames; it was surreal and frightening. But he also had no idea where she was, and he couldn't hurt her if he couldn't find her.

The question was immediately met with another giggle, this one louder and more distinct than the first. He actually seemed nervous. About her. It struck her as almost as absurd as an elephant being startled by a mouse. What did a rock-skinned thing like him have to be worried about?

The nymph broke from the trunk xe was hiding in and flitted from one tree to another, quickly scampering across the lush grass and melding with another set of plants. From there, concealed again, she peered at him again through the leaves, pulling down a willow branch to get a better look. If he were observant, he might even have been able to detect her dark eyes gazing at him from among the greenery and wood. She wasn't being particularly cautious anymore.

Finally she answered, in a coy and mischievous voice, "Yes."

She rather liked this creature, she decided. He was a funny thing. Perhaps it would be good to keep him.

[avery]

This was getting weirder and he didn't like it. There was something in these trees mocking him, apparently amused by him if their giggling was anything to go by, and Haytham was not nearly as amused as they were. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up, his eyes darting around to try to catch a glimpse of anything, and he finally decided that going home might be the safer option. At least then he could lock his door and call the cops if anything tried to break in.

He tried not to move too quickly, tried to appear as not frightened as possible, but even he could tell there was a haste and abruptness in his movements as he got up and went to collect his bug catching equipment. "Then, er, I'll just leave you to your forest then." He hoped his voice didn't sound nearly as high or fearful as he thought it did, hoped that whatever was watching him wasn't watching particularly closely and missed his shifting as he tried to get his bearings again... and to try to tell where his watcher was, so he didn't go in their direction.

[Hunter]

He was, wasn't he? He was scared. Feeling out of his element, perhaps. She could relate to that, very much. For her, though, it was inevitable. Frowning softly at his words, she narrowed her eyes and answered in a more somber tone, "No you won't."

The vines that had started growing around his feet were subtle, making no noise as they began to ensnare his ankles.

Leaning around a tree, she looked at him from behind for a moment, eyebrows raised as she stretched out her neck to see, and then started walking towards him, at his back, her strides silent and smooth. She was still worried about him trying to burn her, which is why she didn't get too close.

Nonetheless, she still wanted a better look at the feathers in his hair. That's how it came to be that there was a nude wood nymph standing behind him, unclothed but for a sparse skirt of swamp reeds, her long hair trailing down her front, a finger on her bottom lip as she looked up at the stranger in her midst.

It wasn't often that xe appeared to outsiders this way -- without the trappings and drapery according to their social norms -- but they couldn't nab her for public indecency in her own home. She was sure of that.

"Why did you come here, Mr. Drake?" she asked, with more childlike curiosity than hostility, but with as much entitlement to an answer in her voice as befitting a nymph whose land had been trespassed on.

[avery]

Um, nymphs did that? They could seriously do that? Because this totally wasn't fair. The vines were surprisingly strong -- for a reason, no doubt -- and he tried to tug his feet from them with no success. Haytham cursed, because he was trapped unless he wanted to bend down and set himself on fire for the chance that he may get free. He was still trying to free himself when he felt the presence of the nymph behind him, and that was when he stilled.

Because, honestly, that was somehow going to help him get free.

He pointed a shaky hand towards his gear. "I was looking for bugs," he supplied, then he winced because that was probably the wrong thing to say to a nymph. Or, really, he wasn't sure what was the right thing to say to a nymph in this situation. Please don't hurt me, maybe? That'd probably come later.

[Hunter]

Hmm, did drakes always shake like that? He didn't seem like he was shaking before she started talking to him. She put her fingers over her mouth and smiled.

As he indicated what he'd brought with him, she noticed that some of it took the shake of nets and containers -- the shape of cages. "...To capture them?" she asked, putting two and two together as she took a step closer.

"Well, that's funny, because now you're the bug!" Despite her childish sense of humor and mirthful little giggle, the power that erupted from the ground was no less formidable for it. A ring of poison ivy followed by quickly-growing saplings began to grow around him, closing him in. It wasn't a foolproof trap -- he might be able to weasel his way out of there and brave the ivy, or her brashness might even provoke him enough for him to start a forest fire, hurting many living things beside herself and punishing her in a way from which she'd never recover. Based on what she'd seen of him so far, though, she was willing to take the chance.

As for her part, the nymph dropped down into the grass and sat with her legs crossed, smiling a bright cherubic smile and watching him through the gaps in the trees. Her own pet drake, this was so exciting. She rather liked him already.