RP: Merry Meet
Annis saw the girl approach the bend in Old Wells Road long before the girl had even decided to walk that far past Avalon Orchard. There was no way for Annis to ignore the fact that since she had taken up residence in the woods at Old Wells Bend that there had been a sharp increase in the number of living creatures, both magical and non, passing ( Read more... )
"Oh good gracious no," Annis replied to the girl's inquiry, "Nothing on this earth belongs to me or anyone else for that matter, especially places like this." Annis gestured to the trees surrounding them. "Although I know about six billion humans who would argue with me to the contrary. You have just a much a right to roam this forest as any of us living here."
The scared rabbit popped out of the girl's chest and taken control of her for a brief moment before Annis pulled the little duckie out of her apron.
"I'm not the one whose permission you should be asking that now, should I be?" Annis said with a soft smile, "She'll tell you herself, I believe." Annis nodded as the girl frowned. "Speaks to me all the time. 'Cheep, cheep, cheep in the middle of the night. Cheep, cheep, cheep, give me some oats. Cheep, cheep, cheep, scratch my bill. Cheep, cheep, cheep, here, let me shit on your kitchen table.'" Annis nearly beamed at the girl and the tiny birdie as she studied the child's mannerisms. The girl's heart was an open book even if she had fooled herself into thinking she had slammed it shut to the world.
"'Tis true, aye, 'tis true," Annis agreed with the girl's assessment, "Took me nearly a lifetime to figure that one out, yer a thousand furlong ahead of me in that realization. Give me a forest full of animals any day."
Annis listened to the girl talk about creatures, nodding and smiling along.
"Yer gonna solve this mystery, then?" she asked, "You got any theories just yet?" She paused before offering her hand to the young woman. "Me name's Annis Black. I live in the woods just beyond those trees so you could say I tramp and subsist here. It's good to have the heart of a child. The forest is for everyone, not just children nursing on fairy tales."
She winked at the girl.
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"I'll just walk in there until someone says I can't." Riley smirked slightly and squinched her nose as she spoke, then ran his hand over her other arm. "So you understand birds like humans speaking or do you mean just instinctively?" That would be a little disappointing because Riley was hoping for a bit more but even so, the woman was fun and Riley needed some fun in her life. "My cat used to use the same language except she said 'meow' and she didn't poop on the table. Instead, she liked to tear up my jumpers."
She smiled to show she was teasing and continued to listen her, smiling along as the woman agreed with her. "Don't get me wrong, I like human company but there's no deception in animals and you can trust their emotions to be true." It was odd to be speaking to someone so freely because there weren't too many people who really understand her philosophies or they just spent time staring at her tattoo.
"No theories yet but I want to start chronicling what I see and trying to figure out why." Riley smiled, then blushed slightly. "It's not like I'm some sort of genius but it's a puzzle and I enjoy those." She grinned a bit lopsided and replied. "My name is Riley and I live over the Beedle Bar because I fail at finding a decent place to live or a job for that matter." Riley looked around at the forests where Annis lived and smiled before she thought for a moment, then decided to trust Annis. She looked into her eyes, then asked, "Have you noticed a change in the magical creatures' behavior here?"
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She listened to the girl talk. Annis knew, even with as much as she loved to gab, that listening was more important than her own carrying on about this and that.
"A little of both, I believe," Annis answered, "Sometimes when the creatures speak to me, it's like they're talking in their own language and sometimes it comes out like the Queen's English! Other times it takes a look or a movement, and sometimes it's like they reach me with their thoughts. And yer right, they never lie." Annis found herself agreeing with the little scrap of a lass.
"Not just the magical creatures, lassie, the simpler animals are gathering too, all of 'em forming a kind of congress or congregation, so to stay. I just haven't been able to determine whether they're preparing for a carnival or an approaching storm.
"I happen to live back in the wood a bit, away from the prying eyes of humans," she said after a bit of thought. "A little farmette with a barn full. I realize you don't know me from an old hag, but if you'd like to come with me fer a visit, I promise I won't push you into me oven. Wotcher?" she asked with a nod toward her camouflaged home.
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"I love the Forbidden Forest. I would have spent my life there if they let me." Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she spoke. "It was fascinating and different every time I went in there." She remembered the long walks and the harmony she felt when she was in the woods. Everyone had looked at her oddly when she began to spend more time with Grubbly-Plank but she felt more at ease among the animals. "I wish I could talk to animals." Riley scowled and then thought about herself before she said tentatively. "I can feel them sometimes though or I think I can. Nothing big but sometimes I think I can guess at what they feel?" She chuckled and shook her head. "I know, it's stupid."
"I didn't notice the other animals." She fidgeted while she said a bit shamefaced. "I should have." Riley knew that if she wanted to make doing something with animals her life, she'd need to stop just noticing the interesting ones. "She scowled before she looked at Annis curiously. "What type of storm do you think because it can't be a carnival? They look ill."
She was surprised when Annis offered to take her to her home but paused when she mentioned it being away from the prying eyes of humans. "I'm a human." She replied hesitantly and looked at Annis. Her eyes followed Annis' and she frowned when she didn't see a thing where the older witch gestured. "There's nothing there."
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Perhaps that was why the young woman had been led to Annis' woods. She was the young maiden in search of a mother and crone to depend upon and whose wisdom she would search out.
And Annis needed; Annis needed as well...
She needed a fair maid to nurture, an apprentice-daughter to cherish and guide. Her own children had been taken from her far too long ago and the hurt was a pain which made each day more unbearable than the last.
"I can teach you their language," Annis said softly, "I can teach you how to speak to them so that they understand you, and I can teach you how to listen and hear their words, their wonderful words. You already know their hearts. I can teach you how to know their minds. And no, that is not stupid. What you feel is the very energy that keeps the world from fading into nonexistence."
"I have seen their flight to this place," Annis observed, "'Tis a kind of drunken panic to find a source of great energy. 'Tis the very thing that drew me here as well."
Annis turned to see her home, one which Riley could not. "'Tis there, before you, only you cannot see because of the protection magic with which I have shielded it. Let me take the blindfold from yer eyes and say the spell and they will be opened and you will be able to see all, the entire compound and its creatures." Annis waited for Riley to accept before she put the palms of her hands over the child's eyes and spoke.
"To this daughter's sight,
In the April light,
I call to thee,
To give me your might,
By the power of three,
I conjure thee,
To protect all,
That surrounds me,
So mote it be,
So mote it be!!!"
She revealed to Riley a wooded path ahead of them stretching beyond to an elfish house with an inner courtyard to the side. The opposite side of the little house held a dragon carving on the surface of the house's outer wall. In the woods behind the house stood a large barn and corral.
"Welcome home, dear Riley," Annis said with warmth and greeting in her voice.
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She nodded at the woman, smiled softly before she replied. "I'd like to learn. I think it would be fascinating to actually communicate with animals, like you seem to." Riley chewed on her bottom lip before she continued. "How exactly do you do that? I saw you could understand what the your ducky was saying sort of but I how do you know?"
More importantly, how could she teach Riley how to do just that? It wasn't like learning to ride a broom which came so naturally to her. This was something she didn't even know that people could do that but she knew her knowledge was limited and she needed to consider that there were many things she didn't understand you.
When Annis mentioned the protection magic, Riley relaxed, sharing a small smile with her before she shook her head. "I'm sorry. You know, it just freaked me out a bit. That's a powerful ward." She said with a bit of admiration in her voice. When Annis revealed her home, Riley gasped at the beauty, wondering why she'd want to hide such beauty. After a moment of taking it all in, she looked over at Annis and smiled. "It's like a fairy tale, Annis. Your home is amazing." She then paused, her smile disappearing as she gave the older woman a curious look and asked hesitantly, "Excuse me. Did you say my home?"
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Annis was taking a chance. It was something she did not usually do but it was also something that needed to be done. She had been isolated with only a House Elf for a companion and friend for too long. The old curses placed upon her which separated her from the company of others for fear of ultimately losing them to age and death did not seem to apply in Annwn, where those lost were found again. But her people were thousands of years gone and of a race not accustomed to the frailty of human beings. Her clan was lost and part of a larger scheme and archetype and she was cursed to be apart from what they had become over the eons.
"I have a proposal to make to you, Riley who lives above the Beedle Bar and needs a decent place to live and a job," Annis began, "I am not an animal and creature healer in the traditional wizard sense. Nay, I know no wand magic nor anything that could be learned in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. I am not that kind of witch. But I'll teach you all the natural and elemental magic that comes with a career in animal care and magical creature healing and husbandry. You will be able to communicate with them and perhaps one day, heal and comfort them with yer touch."
The old witch gazed around the property, the easy feeling of her compound sinking into the skin.
"But what is in it fer me?" she continued, "Well, I get an apprentice for a companion to whom I can pass on me knowledge. I've an extra pair of hands to help around here. Yer a might side less cranky than Owsley, resident free House Elf. There's a small living space in the barn loft, complete with wash room, pipe stove, and other amenities and comforts up there. 'Tis close to the the creatures, cool in the summer and warm in the winter. You don't hafta make up yer mind right off and you can feel plenty free to tell me no, but the offer will stand as long as you need."
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Annis was the oddest person Riley had met in a while but there was an honesty to her that was refreshing and she enjoyed the fact that she'd found somewhat of a kindred spirit. Riley didn't quite understand her magic but Annis didn't set off any alarms or whistles, so she thought that just maybe she'd found a friend here, a commodity that she didn't have much of in town or anywhere else for that matter.
She listened to Annis speak and was befuddled. Its as if the woman was speaking in tongues because Riley didn't understand a thing she was saying. How could Annis not know how to use a wand or did she go to another school? She seemed to be speaking about nearly the same concepts that Riley had been taught by Professor Grubbly-Plank but in a whole new manner. The idea intrigued Riley and at the same time scared her a bit because this was a concept she didn't quite understand yet.
It seemed that Annis spoke to herself a bit and when she sort of answered an unspoken question, Riley looked away from the scene before her and stared curiously at the older lady before she replied. "Umm...well, I'm glad we both would get something out of the deal although you haven't seen me at my worse." She chuckled, then added. "I can be a real bitch." Riley winked at Annis and hoped she didn't take offense to the cursing.
She didn't need too much time to consider Annis' offer before she smiled brightly. "I'd like to take a look at the loft if you don't mind. I don't take up much space." Riley looked around the property again and thought about how nice it would be to live so close to the forest and even more so, to someone she seemed to be forming a bond with. "As long as its got a loo and a shower, I think I'll be perfectly fine."
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Annis knew she could be an enigma to every living creature she encountered. She was alone in the world after having been separated from her people. So many times now, in the life to which she was banished for all eternity, she was absolutely alone. Since the passing of the second modern millennium she had felt the sting of solitude more acutely than ever before.
Annis laughed at Riley's joke about being a bitch. If the girl only knew the possibilities of the harpy she herself could become.
"'Tisn't anything fancy," Annis said of the little loft, "But 'tis a might cozy and secure. Cool in high summer and warm through the deep winter. And the animals will grow strongly attached to you. Well, I'm almost jealous that I'll hafta live in the fae house with grumpy old Owsley. So, is it an agreeable bargain?"
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Even if she’d just met Annis and the entire thing was pretty damn surreal but Riley knew that somehow, innately, she trusted Annis and understood she wouldn’t harm Riley. It was the first time that she’d felt this way since her mum and sister died and it was comforting to share this type of trust again. Or at least the beginnings of it. But she knew that trust was a two way street and while Annis seemed pleasant enough, she seemed to live a solitary existence and Riley needed to respect that fact.
Also, Riley knew she needed to feel a certain sense of honor for Annis allowing her this privilege. It was easy to see that she enjoyed her privacy despite her seemingly outward nature and Riley didn’t need to be hit in the head to understand that while it seemed to be a simple offer, the offer of a place to stay long term was generous beyond belief. “I lived with the animals for the most after I finished Hogwarts and got to stay on the grounds after. It was great and I got used to the smell.” She winked again at Annis. “In fact, I learned some strong freshening charms from my Magical Creature professor.” A smirk appeared on Riley’s features as she added. “Come out and visit any time. If you want to get away from Owsley and all.”
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