[ It's a regular day at the humble forest cabin, which sits quiet and quaint among the trees, a steady trail of smoke flowing upwards from the chimney and the aroma of fresh bread wafting out through an open window. The sun shines from the branches all around, filtered and faint through the canopy, indicating about noon if one were to reckon from positioning and the direction of the shadows. Everyone's whereabouts don't differ much from usual, either.
Not that Leto can see it from where he is, but it's easy enough to imagine.
A certain familiar man in the doorway, smoking a pipe over his greying beard as he keeps a casual eye on the oven through the open door, and Mathias -- Felis's father -- outside in the yard, chopping wood or perhaps feeding the horses. Meanwhile, Felis himself is at the river most likely, having been assigned to do the day's share of laundry and fetch a bucket of water while at it, to have for lunch and for washing after. That's how it usually goes on Wednesdays; their lives are simple and uneventful, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Leto's assigned task, of course, is to catch an animal for dinner.
He has it in his sights in a clearing up ahead -- a large, spotted rabbit he's confident will be an easy mark from where he is, if he takes careful aim. As long as it sits still for a little longer... which it should, but for some reason, it's difficult to shake a certain sense of unease. Why is that? There's really nothing different about today, and yet something feels like it is; as if it's at the edge of his consciousness, a realization he has yet to make. And maybe the forest around him, somehow, feels the same.
The rabbit rises warily to its hind legs, and its ears twitch.
And the very next moment, it scurries into a bush nearby at a speed which holds nothing of the leisurely air it had possessed only a moment ago, as it grazed on whatever it found on the ground. What in the world even startled it? Leto could have sworn he was being quiet, careful of both sudden movements and noises he could have made. By all accounts, this should have been perfect, it shouldn't have been him.
But he also can't see anything else that could have done it... Maybe he's losing his touch? ]
[ There's nothing inherently off about today. It's gone the same as countless others, no betters or worse than any other day... yet something about it makes his skin crawl. There's a fat rabbit just in front of him and for some reason, his focus is spoiled when instead he should be relishing what wonderful luck he has today. Then, in a moment, the rabbit darts away, swallowed up in the brush in an instant, and with it goes Leto's perfect hunt. He clicks his tongue in quiet irritation at his own folly.
He should have taken the shot.
For all he was quiet as a church mouse, there’s no accounting for the innate sense for danger prey animals must have. He wonders if maybe he knew this hunt would go sideways himself, putting a reason to the feeling sinking his stomach. He’s usually a competent hunter, but the last few days have been a pitiful reflection of skills. And he loathes going back empty-handed.
With a heavy sigh of frustration mixed with disappointment, he shouldered his borrowed bow and pushed past the foliage and brush and back onto a small animal trail. He had traps to check still and maybe he’d have more luck there, but that sinking feeling stays in his gut. Worsened when overhead birds go flying and screeching, the way they do when Ajax flushes them out. Its peaceful around here, but he's starting to think there's a cougar or wolf starting to come too close, starting to spook the rabbits and deer.
Whatever it is, he doubts he's going to have any luck finding another chance as good as the one he just blew and it makes him cuss under his breath. ]
[ The forest is quiet as he continues along the trail, making everything sound exaggerated. His breathing... his heartbeat... were they this loud before? Was the foliage rustling around him, or the crunching of leaves and the sole twig that snaps under his boot, always so pronounced? They feel like sounds in an open void, stretching out endlessly into the distance. And, if he listens for it, the cause becomes apparent eventually.
It's too silent. Once the startled flock has flown off, no more trilling of birds can be heard from the trees, no more chirping of insects through the underbrush. An immovable force, the murmur of the river far away in the opposite direction is the only thing he still has for company, a heavy atmosphere settling in more and more with each step.
Something's wrong.
It's the little things at first, but one by one, they add up and form proof that he isn't imagining it. Maybe it's difficult to believe though, at first. After all, how can one imagine any danger in such idyllic scenery? When years upon years seem to pass without incident, it's easy enough to settle, and with the peace of nothing having happened comes a complacent security and the conviction that nothing ever will.
He can almost picture Felis scoffing if he's wrong, and the accusation he's only using this pretext to weasel his way out of chores yet again. But... what if he's not? What if there really is something in the forest, something dangerous?
[ It's the quiet. The quiet in a forest that is ordinarily teeming with life, the squabble between squirrels and the chirping of songbirds. Now, his footfalls feel loud, the crush of even the beaten grass underfoot loud. The realization of the hush has the crushing weight of the utter silence is like an anchor on his old boots until Leto stands stock still, his eyes narrowing as he peers around himself into the thick of the woods. The tiny hairs on the backs of his arms and neck prick up to stand on end. There's nothing in the woods that his eyes can catch but it does nothing to soothe his unease.
It doesn't help his discomfort to think of Felis at the river, the noise of water as he washed the laundry loud enough he would be unaware if there were some predator stalking him. Felis is going to nag him for skimping on chores and Leto nearly rolls his eyes already. It isn't so late he can't check the traps later and with the animals so spooked, what was he going to hunt? ]
▷ 2. Look for Felis by the river.
[ Like that he made the decision to change his path, cutting through the thick brush to another more trodden trail that would lead him to the river. He'll help Felis lug back water to the cabin and go back to check his traps; he can convince himself he's being absurd once he's had Felis nagging at him, then maybe he'll want a wolf to eat him. ]
[ The river grows louder the more he approaches, doubling back a little downstream, in the direction of the house. There's a spot where it gets narrower and the water runs quickly over the rocks, ideal for washing things -- if Felis went anywhere with the laundry, it must be there. And yet with the rest of the silence around him, there's nothing of the usual comfort even in the steady flow of the current, or the echoes of the waterfall further south. Everything feels oppressive somehow, as if danger is lurking at every step.
At the river, though he finds the spot without trouble, there's nobody to be seen. The bucket for water has been discarded beside a tree, and part of the laundry is still in the basket while the other half has been washed and laid out to dry on the rocks, a safe distance away. Felis isn't there, though there are tracks on the ground that look fresh, and it's not as if Leto can't tell from the objects abandoned about that he has been. But for whatever reason, he interrupted himself partway through and he made himself scarce.
A few moments pass like that, and then something cuts through the trees, a small sliver of hope in the unknown. The familiar trill of a bird -- in this empty half of the forest where all of them have flown off. There's a high note, a low one, two other high ones. Another minute passes, and it repeats, clear and carried off by the wind from the left, where he knows there's a certain large tree -- perhaps the oldest they've ever seen in the forest.
And he knows those sounds -- they're a signal they've used many times, taught to him by Felis and his father long ago. ]
[ The sound of the earth and twigs crunching under the soles of his boots aren't quiet enough no matter how light-footed he ordinarily is, not when the woods have gone silent. It seems like even the winds have gone silent, the air stale and without a single breeze. Stuffy. The trickle of the stream, the rush of the river rushing over rocks is a blessed break from the insufferable quiet.
Less of a relief as he spots the wash basket and abandoned laundry, then the hair on his arms picks up. Next to the lost clothing, his head whips back and forth, eyes skimming the forest and the stretch of stream he can see and coming up with not a sign of Felis. It sends his heartbeat soaring. Despite the troubled history, a downright dreadful start, they've become close. Even if it's just his imagination, his pulse spikes at the thought of his friend missing. What if this was what that ominous feeling was --
And when he's just opened his mouth to holler, the second trill cuts him off and recognition sinks in.
Leto sinks back towards the brush of the woods and away from the open bed of the stream, his eyes flitting across the woods until his gaze comes to focus on where the call comes. From his left, towards the old tree. The one they've climbed since they were kids. Eyes narrow, he raises his hand to his mouth and sends a call back.
He would believe it if Felis were doing this just to rattle his nerves. His mouth purses a bit, gaze flicking through the trees before he decides to pick his way over. ]
[ The ground is crunchy the closer he gets to the tree, laden with the uncountable leaves that have fallen from its branches with the wind and rain, and dried atop irregular terrain full of sprawling roots which protrude here and there. The specimen truly is gigantic, its trunk so thick that maybe not even twenty men with their arms linked in a row could come close to circling it, its shadows looming over the entire area and dwarfing everything else in sight. Lush green adorns every corner, a sign of vitality and strength; for as long as this tree seems to have lived already, it's just as likely to see countless of other centuries pass it by. A constant reminder of how transient people are in the face of nature.
From up there, Leto should know, it's possible to see the whole area like in the palm of one's hand, so it wouldn't be that surprising if his own approach to the river had been spotted too, no matter how guarded or secretive.
There's motion above, something alive that reacts as he approaches, but hidden well in a blind spot where the sun in the sky makes it impossible to look without blinking at this hour of day. And before that view clears and the eye is able to adjust, whatever was moving there's already gone, but that's just as well because... ]
[ It isn't danger that lands, bow clasped tightly in one hand and an arrow already prepared to be nocked in the other, but a familiar figure a little shorter and stockier than Leto, agile on his feet and unruffled by the jump from the branches. It's familiar ground, after all, they've both done this a million times before. Felis barely pays it any mind, advancing already with urgency towards his friend. ]
Three of them, a little closer to the house. That's all I could see from up there, but there might be more.
[ Expression dark, it's what he announces, giving a cursory glance to the foliage around them like he expects there might be more intruders like the ones he mentioned. There aren't any to be spotted, however, so he directs that same sharp, moody gaze towards Leto instead, searching him too. Not as suspiciously, mind you, but with masked concern that he might be injured instead. ]
No idea who they are.
[ Or what they want for that matter, sneaking around an uninhabited portion of the woods in the middle of nowhere like this. ]
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﹙*⇣ 000 ⋆﹚ from red, a new beginning.
Not that Leto can see it from where he is, but it's easy enough to imagine.
A certain familiar man in the doorway, smoking a pipe over his greying beard as he keeps a casual eye on the oven through the open door, and Mathias -- Felis's father -- outside in the yard, chopping wood or perhaps feeding the horses. Meanwhile, Felis himself is at the river most likely, having been assigned to do the day's share of laundry and fetch a bucket of water while at it, to have for lunch and for washing after. That's how it usually goes on Wednesdays; their lives are simple and uneventful, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Leto's assigned task, of course, is to catch an animal for dinner.
He has it in his sights in a clearing up ahead -- a large, spotted rabbit he's confident will be an easy mark from where he is, if he takes careful aim. As long as it sits still for a little longer... which it should, but for some reason, it's difficult to shake a certain sense of unease. Why is that? There's really nothing different about today, and yet something feels like it is; as if it's at the edge of his consciousness, a realization he has yet to make. And maybe the forest around him, somehow, feels the same.
The rabbit rises warily to its hind legs, and its ears twitch.
And the very next moment, it scurries into a bush nearby at a speed which holds nothing of the leisurely air it had possessed only a moment ago, as it grazed on whatever it found on the ground. What in the world even startled it? Leto could have sworn he was being quiet, careful of both sudden movements and noises he could have made. By all accounts, this should have been perfect, it shouldn't have been him.
But he also can't see anything else that could have done it... Maybe he's losing his touch? ]
no subject
He should have taken the shot.
For all he was quiet as a church mouse, there’s no accounting for the innate sense for danger prey animals must have. He wonders if maybe he knew this hunt would go sideways himself, putting a reason to the feeling sinking his stomach. He’s usually a competent hunter, but the last few days have been a pitiful reflection of skills. And he loathes going back empty-handed.
With a heavy sigh of frustration mixed with disappointment, he shouldered his borrowed bow and pushed past the foliage and brush and back onto a small animal trail. He had traps to check still and maybe he’d have more luck there, but that sinking feeling stays in his gut. Worsened when overhead birds go flying and screeching, the way they do when Ajax flushes them out. Its peaceful around here, but he's starting to think there's a cougar or wolf starting to come too close, starting to spook the rabbits and deer.
Whatever it is, he doubts he's going to have any luck finding another chance as good as the one he just blew and it makes him cuss under his breath. ]
no subject
It's too silent. Once the startled flock has flown off, no more trilling of birds can be heard from the trees, no more chirping of insects through the underbrush. An immovable force, the murmur of the river far away in the opposite direction is the only thing he still has for company, a heavy atmosphere settling in more and more with each step.
Something's wrong.
It's the little things at first, but one by one, they add up and form proof that he isn't imagining it. Maybe it's difficult to believe though, at first. After all, how can one imagine any danger in such idyllic scenery? When years upon years seem to pass without incident, it's easy enough to settle, and with the peace of nothing having happened comes a complacent security and the conviction that nothing ever will.
He can almost picture Felis scoffing if he's wrong, and the accusation he's only using this pretext to weasel his way out of chores yet again. But... what if he's not? What if there really is something in the forest, something dangerous?
What should he do? ]
no subject
It doesn't help his discomfort to think of Felis at the river, the noise of water as he washed the laundry loud enough he would be unaware if there were some predator stalking him. Felis is going to nag him for skimping on chores and Leto nearly rolls his eyes already. It isn't so late he can't check the traps later and with the animals so spooked, what was he going to hunt? ]
[ Like that he made the decision to change his path, cutting through the thick brush to another more trodden trail that would lead him to the river. He'll help Felis lug back water to the cabin and go back to check his traps; he can convince himself he's being absurd once he's had Felis nagging at him, then maybe he'll want a wolf to eat him. ]
no subject
At the river, though he finds the spot without trouble, there's nobody to be seen. The bucket for water has been discarded beside a tree, and part of the laundry is still in the basket while the other half has been washed and laid out to dry on the rocks, a safe distance away. Felis isn't there, though there are tracks on the ground that look fresh, and it's not as if Leto can't tell from the objects abandoned about that he has been. But for whatever reason, he interrupted himself partway through and he made himself scarce.
A few moments pass like that, and then something cuts through the trees, a small sliver of hope in the unknown. The familiar trill of a bird -- in this empty half of the forest where all of them have flown off. There's a high note, a low one, two other high ones. Another minute passes, and it repeats, clear and carried off by the wind from the left, where he knows there's a certain large tree -- perhaps the oldest they've ever seen in the forest.
And he knows those sounds -- they're a signal they've used many times, taught to him by Felis and his father long ago. ]
no subject
Less of a relief as he spots the wash basket and abandoned laundry, then the hair on his arms picks up. Next to the lost clothing, his head whips back and forth, eyes skimming the forest and the stretch of stream he can see and coming up with not a sign of Felis. It sends his heartbeat soaring. Despite the troubled history, a downright dreadful start, they've become close. Even if it's just his imagination, his pulse spikes at the thought of his friend missing. What if this was what that ominous feeling was --
And when he's just opened his mouth to holler, the second trill cuts him off and recognition sinks in.
Leto sinks back towards the brush of the woods and away from the open bed of the stream, his eyes flitting across the woods until his gaze comes to focus on where the call comes. From his left, towards the old tree. The one they've climbed since they were kids. Eyes narrow, he raises his hand to his mouth and sends a call back.
He would believe it if Felis were doing this just to rattle his nerves. His mouth purses a bit, gaze flicking through the trees before he decides to pick his way over. ]
(1/2) HOW I DIDN'T REALIZE YOU TAGGED help
From up there, Leto should know, it's possible to see the whole area like in the palm of one's hand, so it wouldn't be that surprising if his own approach to the river had been spotted too, no matter how guarded or secretive.
There's motion above, something alive that reacts as he approaches, but hidden well in a blind spot where the sun in the sky makes it impossible to look without blinking at this hour of day. And before that view clears and the eye is able to adjust, whatever was moving there's already gone, but that's just as well because... ]
(2/2)
Three of them, a little closer to the house. That's all I could see from up there, but there might be more.
[ Expression dark, it's what he announces, giving a cursory glance to the foliage around them like he expects there might be more intruders like the ones he mentioned. There aren't any to be spotted, however, so he directs that same sharp, moody gaze towards Leto instead, searching him too. Not as suspiciously, mind you, but with masked concern that he might be injured instead. ]
No idea who they are.
[ Or what they want for that matter, sneaking around an uninhabited portion of the woods in the middle of nowhere like this. ]