[ Action, Accidental Voice, and Chibis ]

[ashesandpearls]

['tis the season for New Feathers, and it might be very easy to mistake this small blonde girl for one as she is wandering around in the shadows of town, trying to figure out the lay of the land

Comments

dated to around 11/11--coincidentally Zoro's birthday, huh. 8|a

[threeswordsoul]

[If a certain street-kid is hanging out in a particular part of the forest today, she'll probably notice a guy with green hair and three swords walking slowly through it, feet crunching through the dead leaves of the season. He stops by a familiar tree for a moment and then just-sits down beneath it. His head clunks back against the trunk and his eyes close.

Meditation. Startiiiiing...now.]

[mmmpersimmons]

[Hope you don't mind someone in your peripheral vision, Zoro. A small someone. Getting closer. What is she doing? Picking up sticks.

...you would not think this would be a noisy occupation. But yet, somehow, it manages to be.]

Let - [pull} go - [pull] root!!

[threeswordsoul]

[:| Ten minutes. All he needed was ten minutes to sink into deep meditation, and he could have just ignored this. Probably. ...That's a kid, isn't it.

He cracks an eye open but otherwise stays as still as stone. Yep. A small girl-child, one that he's never seen before. That's...wonderful.

...Maybe she won't notice him and she'll go away.]

[mmmpersimmons]

[Well, she doesn't notice him... but she also doesn't go away. She is trying to get the root to let go of her coat without dropping her load of sticks or falling.]

Let go!

[threeswordsoul]

[...Hn. Nothing for it, then.]

Oi. Kid.

1/2

[mmmpersimmons]

[Gah! Person! She whirls around, dropping some sticks and still managing to stay stuck on the root...

...which causes her to fall down on her back.

...which causes her to speak before she thinks.]

Oi! What's the big idea, going around scaring kids like--

[mmmpersimmons]

[...does everyone in this place walk around ARMED TO THE TEETH, HOLY WHAT.

...backing down right now is suicide. But this carries a weight to it that keeps her from completely pulling off her righteous indignation.] --that.

[threeswordsoul]

[A completely reflexive tensing and shift forward when she falls over-then he relaxes and snorts when she berates him. ...He doesn't miss the break in the middle, though, and folds his arms. Away from his swords.]

I was sitting here the whole time. Not my fault you didn't see.

[mmmpersimmons]

[She does not miss him folding his arms - in fact her eyes are wide and follow his every move even though it won't look like it. And her choice - instead of responding to that - is to not antagonize him. He might be saying he won't attack right now, but... you could never really tell.] Hmph!

[Step One to Getting Out Alive:
Free self from this root. She drops the rest of her sticks and turns around to try to get her coat free from the root, cautiously keeping the swordsman in her peripheral vision without seeming to - there's no way Zoro won't notice that, though.]

[threeswordsoul]

[...Canny kid. Not canny enough that's she's not completely obvious about keeping a wary eye on him, but that she's doing so at all speaks well of her survival instincts. Zoro slouches back against the tree and just watches her struggles with the root. He should...say something, probably, right?]

...What're the sticks for?

[mmmpersimmons]

Firewood.

[Stupid. Coat. She knows that the clothes here are free, and she could just rip it but it goes against the grain to carelessly damage something...

...don't think she won't tear it out and run, though, if it looks like the swordsman is going to move.]

[threeswordsoul]

[Other than a slight tilt of his head, he's not inclined to. ...Yet, anyway. That coat sure seems to be stuck.]

Bonfire, huh. ...Most places here have heating. [Never seen her around before --> new...?]

[mmmpersimmons]

[And - finally - she gets her coat free. Rangiku's first instinct is to bolt. But you should never show them that you're scared. And she doesn't want to abandon her kindling.

...however, that probing question is none of your business, and since she's treading the fine line of 'do not antagonize' and 'retain independence at all costs,' she's just going to pretend that she didn't hear you as she bends to start gathering up her sticks again.]

[threeswordsoul]

...Hmm. [Ignoring him, is she. Well. It isn't his business, so he lifts a shoulder in a shrug past the niggling of restless unease that her non-answer sparks, closing his eyes again. Meditation. Right.]

[..........]

[A single finger uncurls from where his hand is clasped on his arm, and points.] There's a splintered old log back that way, if you need more.

[It's not far at all, just a ways back off the path he came here on, so yes, his directions can in this rare instance be trusted. >.>]

[mmmpersimmons]

[She glances at him over her shoulder.

Politeness would dictate saying 'thank you.' But to Rangiku, that would mean acknowledging a debt she neither wanted or asked for... but it's impossible to pretend that she didn't hear that and ignoring someone too much could be just as provoking as saying the wrong thing.]

I'll keep that in mind. [After all, she's got a pretty full load. She may have to come back for it.]

[threeswordsoul]

[A nod of acknowledgment, but other than that-nope, just sitting here, probably looking as though he's more or less dismissed her from his attention. She can do as she pleases. Not his business, remember. She's obviously not a completely fresh New Feather with those clothes, she's most likely got a place to stay-she'll be fine.

...Yep. >_>a]