an out-of-body experience ••• open

Another day, another....day? Money didn't really matter all that much to Lelianna. Well other than fueling her wild, totally-not-an-obsession garden she had planted near her house. She needed money to get those seeds, and seeds to make more additions. By that was neither here nor there and I'm getting off topic.

What Lelianna was up to was another one of her daily treks through the woods. Mostly it was to monitor how the very forest itself was doing. Assist in some growth, make sure none of the trees were dying or inflicted with disease, and moreover just listening to what the plants had to tell her. Oh, it wasn't anything like a "true" language. No words or verbal communication. What it was centered on was feeling. Lelianna merely felt what the trees, flowers, and brambles had to tell her. Almost as though she could feel Arecia's emotions. Right now it was still groggy coming off of winter. Yet even so there was the sign it was waking up once more, like a bear coming out of hibernation. Now here Lelianna was in her element. She trod through the undergrowth with a faint smile on her lips. This all came quite naturally to her (pun intended).

Until she saw the random motionless body of course.

"Oh! Um..." Lelianna started, pausing in her steps. It really seemed like a number of people were coming into the woods lately! Was there some sort of event she hadn't heard about (which was possible with her being a hermit) going on? "Ah, excuse me?" She called out tentatively at first. Coming a little closer, Lelianna stayed a bit on her guard. From what she could see, it wasn't a Magi. At least, she couldn't see anything that would clue her in on that. However oddly enough she didn't seem to be getting any response. "Um, hello?" Lelianna followed up, her tone a little more curious this time.

Yeah that boy wasn't moving. Even when Lelianna called out. Surely he hadn't....Frozen, had he? And standing straight up like that? Lelianna frowned and focused on the cold for a few silent heartbeats...yeah no, it didn't see so cold that anyone might abruptly freeze into a statue. "I don't think anyone can turn into ice in this particular cold..." It didn't come out as loud this time since the boy (or body, at this point) didn't appear to be responding at all. Lelianna kept moving forward, her curiosity growing more and more with each step. At that moment though, Wren caused the branch to slither around her ankle.

Lelianna tripped a bit over it, stumbling forward even more with a panicked "Whoaaahooaah!" and slightly flailing arms. Thank the gods for her staff! It helped her not fall flat on her face (which has happened before). Once that frightening incident was over, she glanced down at her foot. Upon immediately seeing the branch, she glared towards one of the trees with a scrunched up face. Incidentally, the very tree Wren had been in. "Hey! that's not very nice you know!" She protested. Of course, she wasn't talking to Wren. She had no idea the ghost was there. I mean really, how could she?

What she did know is that a certain forest liked to play similar pranks on her.

After giving the stink eye to the nearby trees (and for once it wasn't even their fault! How ironic), Lelianna tried to get rid of the branch before moving closer to Wren's physical body. It was...No one Lelianna has seen before. At first she was hesitant to get much closer than an arm's length of the figure. But after another tentative "Hello...?" gained her nothing, she stepped just a bit closer to really observe this person. At least she assumed it was a person. Judging from the body's nearly vacant expression, she wasn't really sure now. "Ah...Anybody home?" She even waved her hand n the person's face experimentally. Rude maybe, but this was really weird.

Something was realllllllly off about all this. The fact the boy wasn't responding at all was kind of alarming. Worse and worse scenarios were starting to play through her head. had he been posioned by something and his body locked up? If that was the case, how in the world had he gotten poisoned? Or stuck as he was in the first place? Lelianna leaned in a little closer, concern coloring her expression. She was trying to see if this guy was even responding. Heck, was he even breathing? Maybe it was just a really well done statue. "Are yo-"

His bright green eyes slowly flickered open to greet the stranger.

Oh holy shit, yup he was alive alright!

"WAAAHHAHAH" Comically Lelianna scrambled backwards, tripping over her feet to land on her butt. By the gods she wasn't expecting that! "Owww....." She moaned, rubbing her injured behind before glancing back up it the....quite nervous looking guy before her. "S-Sorry! Ouch..." With a little sharp intake of breath, Lelianna stood back up. Considerably further away from Wren this time. Her cheeks were bright red for a number of reasons, and she smiled sheepishly at the stranger. "Oh, um, no you can be here." She assured him, dusting off the back of her pants. "I-I was just....Y-you weren't, ah...." Wow, words were hard. Pausing for a moment, Lelianna tried to harness the power of speaking efficiently again. "Um....You weren't moving or anything s-so I ah, got worried....is all." The last bit of it came out in a mumble. Somehow she felt bad about all this. "I didn't mean to be rude, but when you didn't say anything...." She trailed off. "Anyways....yeah.....sorry.....Oh um, I'm Lelianna."

Ok so he was smiling. That was a good thing. At least he didn't seem to mind, or at least had forgiven her for getting all up in his face. Lelianna offered him a kind smile back, still a little awkward. Since, y'know, she'd been startled and (to be fair) had been a little rude going right up to him like that. "I just...I didn't know if you'd gotten frozen or something. I mean, I-I figured it wasn't that cold anymore." Lelianna responded. Yeah maybe she'd overthought things. She hadn't seen anybody get frozen solid like a statue before. Then again she hadn't come across an unmoving body in the woods before. She wasn't exactly prepared for these sorts of situations.

Apparently though he'd been passed out. And....wait had he been robbed before? Was this a common thing? Again the concern started flooding into Lelianna's features. She couldn't help it; he was talking so nonchalantly about passing out like that it might've meant he did it a lot. "I would never rob you, I promise! I had no intention of doing that." She assured him sincerely. The very thought of it..... "Um....Do you....do you pass out like this... a lot?" She chanced to asked. "I-I mean if it's personal you don't- actually that probably is pretty personal I'm sorry. I just don't hear about people passing out like that and y'know maybe this was the only time you've done that and-"

Fortunately Wren cut her off mid ramble as her cheeks maintained a pink hue. She blinked, a little embarrassed, but glad she was stopped before making even more of a fool of herself. "Oh! Y-yeah. Yeah I'm fine." She offered him a reassuring smile (if still a little sheepish from the reminder of her little stumble). "It happens. Are, um, you ok though?" He was staying unnaturally still. Talking and replying now, perhaps, but he'd barely moved a finger otherwise. Was he still lightheaded or something?

Wren was definitely right about one thing; Lelianna was not that kind of person. Especially when she was a person who had so little clothing to go with in the first places. There were pros and cons to being a hermit. Fortunately she'd never had much of an issue and fashion as a term was dead to her. What she was really focused on was whether or not Wren passed out like this a lot.

Which, according to him, he did.

Again, Lelianna's concern was really shining through on her features. This poor man! But then he had to go and accuse her of pitying him. Of course, the playful smile he added to it took away any fears Lelianna had of actually offending him, but still. "No no, I swear I'm not." She promised. "I just....Well I don't really get to see that many people, but the few I do don't...Well, y'know, pass out all that much around me. or at least I don't think..." Lelianna muttered the last bit with a suddenly suspicious and pensive look on her face. Her nose scrunched up a little as she thought, but soon she was back to the present and focused on the man before her.

Wait, did he say "off and on?"

Was he about to pass out again?

"Oh ah...Do you need something? Do you feel like you're about to....y'know...again?" Man she wished he come know as much about other people as she did about the animals or the very forest. Should she run off and get him something to drink? Would that actually help? Did anything help with this? Maybe she should dash over to Haven...."It's nice to meet you Wren. But ah, is there...anything I can do to help?"

Lelianna's cheeks turned rosy when she realized he'd actually heard her. She really needed to stop mumbling her inner thoughts; some people actually had good ears. "Well I....I don't really get to see them much so..." Shrugging helplessly, she fully acknowledged the fact that, yes, she was a hermit. Her best friend was either a sloth or a forest. What a healthy social life, right?

Despite Wren's words, Lelianna still worried. Even more so when he shut his eyes and feel even more still. Did he just pass out again? Eyes growing wide, Lelianna dared to scoot a little closer. She didn't want a repeat of her earlier scare. Still, she needed to get closer if she wanted to observe him. She crouched there for a while, and when Wren's head flopped forward she figured he was well and truly out. Well...great. She had no idea what she should be doing. She couldn't just leave him here, right?

So what should she do?

"Oh boy...." She sighed, frowning a little in thought. Well one thing was for sure: he was probably going to hurt his neck positioned like that. After a bit of deliberation, Lelianna sighed. She couldn't leave this guy lying there. Who knows what could happen, especially if he kept passing out like this before he got.....Actually Lelianna had no idea where he came from so that was even more worrisome. After a moment of debate, Lelianna finally shrugged out of the coat she was wearing. Again, it wasn't that cold out. She could handle the cold, and if she really had an issue she could take it back. For now though she carefully and gently positioned it behind Wren's head and leaned him back into it (while desperately praying he didn't wake up anytime soon). Once he was good and comfortable (or at least better off since he "passed out") Lelianna stepped back and sat down at another tree nearby. She should at least wait until he woke up to gauge how he was feeling. Maybe she could get him to Haven before he conked out next time.

Aright so it was actually pretty cold. Not terribly so, but enough that Lelianna would probably get uncomfortable waiting for Wren to wake up. And gods only knew how long that would take. So she used her powers to gently start raising up the dirt around her, trying her best not to disrupt the roots of the tree she leaned against. it took a while, but she eventually was able to make something almost like a blanket out of the earth itself. Was she going to get dirty from it? Yeah probably. But it definitely helped keep her warm as she relaxed into her tree and waited for Wren to wake up again.

Truth be told Lelianna was starting to doze off herself by the time Wren began coming too. When he made a noise, Lelianna's head jerked forward off the tree and her eyes snapped open. "Wha!? Huh? Oh..." Slithering a hand through the blanket of earth she made to rub her eyes but then managed to catch herself at the last second. Last thing she needed was a bunch of dirt all over her face. Shaking her head, Lelianna looked over to Wren.

Only to have her jacket hit her in the face.

"AH!" Came the muffled protest from beneath the furry coat. Much as she wanted to deal with that, she had to focus on returning the earth to where it lay first. So for a few seconds Lelianna just sat there with a coat over her head and propped up by her antlers as she lower her hands and her makeshift dirt blanket back into the ground. Only then did she pull the thing off with a bit of a blush on her face and dirt specks on her clothes. "Hey! I'm not a coat rack!" She huffed, putting the coat back on. But she had caught the last part of what Wren had said. After a few moments of silently buttoning up her coat, Lelianna looked up. A faint trace of her previous concern was still there.

"I couldn't just leave you here!" What kind of person would that make her? Besides, some of the other denizens of the woods were not nearly as kind as she was to visitors. Lelianna stood up and dusted herself off as best as she could. "Now, we really should get you to see someone. Or at least a better place the rest than out here..."