A Forest's Beast (discontinued)

Part 4 - Meeting

"Hey Con-... Human?!"

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The shocked girl turned around, only to be met with a questioning look of an obviously startled tall, rather thin boy. "What- how did you get in?" He asked, his features washed over with confusion and a sprinkle of disbelieve. Speaking about his features, he looked a lot like the friend she had made not to long ago.

He had the same branches resting on his head, maybe a bit thicker, and he sure had some interesting eyes that consisted of mostly pastels with a pale red iris and gave of a small glow. His navy blue cape with several buttons that looked to be golden, flowed alongside his skinny frame, hiding most part of it. Underneath his cloak, he wore a classic button-up white shirt and some grey pants, held up by black suspenders. His messy dark-brown hair swayed as some outside wind somehow made its way inside. The difference was that this boy wasn't just a silhouette with white eyes, unlike Connor. (A/N: picture isn't mine, wish it was)

(A/N: If some of you know who I'm talking about, you can imagen him any way you want, but in this story, I'm not gonna give him his hat, I think it's ridiculous for a __-year old [no spoilers, but maybe a hint?])

As she got a sudden soothing feeling, she answered in a 'you should know that' voice: "Oh... Well, Connor let me in." The alarms in the boy's head started fading a bit as she called his caretaker by his actual name, as he would only tell someone his name if he trusted them, and that is pretty rare. Right on cue, the one and only ruler of the forest came out of the chamber he was in, doing whatever. 

As he did, the boy still standing at the entrance of their home turned his attention towards the person that just joined them in the room. "Oh, hey Con, a strong soul got here..." He informed him, earning a slightly annoyed sigh from the dark figure. "I'll take care of it . . ." He said, going to take his leave.

But just as he's about to abandon the safety of his home, he turned his head to look at the boy with his bleu cape once again, who had moved to sit on their plant-made sofa with some moss coverings. "Oh, as long as I'm gone, look after her will you?" he said, pointing to Lavender as she looked in amazement at one of the walls, where her backpack just came back out off, causing her to lose interest in the small conversation the males were having. The boy looked back at the speaker in disbelieve and annoyance, whining out an annoyed "Why~..?"

"Do you really want a human teen to be in our home alone, Wirt?" Connor said as he fully turned towards the brown-haired male who was revealed to be named Wirt, his eyes glowing a bit more than they did before. "But- no, sir..." he groaned in defeat, falling back into the couch. Satisfied, the other male carried on his plans, leaving the two alone.

After an uncomfortably awkward silence, the smaller one of the pair started talking. "So... Your name's Wirt, right?" she attempted some small talk. "Correct." He answered shortly, letting their poor conversation fade into a heavy silence once again. As the little girl observed the boy a bit more, an interesting question popped up in her head.

"Are you Connor's son?" This caught him a bit off guard as he turned his head to look at the teen that relocated to sit next to him on the couch. "No. No, I'm not. But I guess you could say that he does act like a father to me..." he said, still looking at the small 13-year old as her eyes sparkled with curiousness. "Tell me about it!" She squealed in the excitement of wanting to hear the boy's life story. 

"Well, when I was fully human-" He went to start his tale but was immediately interrupted by the obnoxious girl asking questions again. "What, you were human?!" Rolling his eyes, Wirt answered with a nod, watching as the girl spoke again. "Then how did you get these?" she questioned, reaching to grab one of his antler-like growths.

With a tiny chuckle, he leaned down so she could touch them when the pastel-colored eyed fellow said "I was getting there... Now, where was I?" As the teen let go of her friend, she giggled at him for he cleared his throat in a funny way, as if he was going to give a whole speech.

"So, as I was saying... When I was still entirely human, I and my brother fell into a pond, waking up here. So after wandering the forest, meeting some other people, my brother got stuck in an edelwood after trying to help me by going to Connor. So to save my brother's life, Connor offered a deal to let him live, if I'd go with him. Seeing there was no other option but to take the deal, I did. He saved my sibling and took me here, forbidding me to leave the forest and that stuff. After a season or so, I started throwing up this ink looking blood, so when I went to confront him about it, he said that the forest was bonding with me. A normal human couldn't survive that long in The Unknown, so he told me I should just accept it as a gift of survival." He ended his short but entertaining tale, eventually turning his gaze back to Lavender, seeing he didn't notice that his eyes started roaming around the walls as he told his story.

"Wow, you're such a good story-teller!" was all she said, before a small silence fell between the two once more, but instead of an awkward one, it was very peaceful and calm, noting that the pair smiled at each other. Wirt's smile fell tho, as a thought fell upon him, along with some painful memories.

"If you plan on staying for longer, and the forest likes you... The forest will bond with you too."