Re: The Lake; Briar and Newt
There was the free flow of series of moments, time passing between words issued and the fading of employed crypsis and the appearance of a... rather normal, human-looking woman on the bench, who seemed to be asleep. Newt was once again faced with an unexpected unexpected. That is to say, he was prepared for a different variety of unexpected than the one he seemed to be facing. The unexpected unexpected. The woman, or whatever she was, sat up blinking away her grogginess. Newt, still as he was, was able to watch her sense come back to her and was witness to her witnessing him. The widening of eyes dark, whites sudden, bright rings, was enough of an indication that she recognized the draw of his wand, as it was not the muggle's automatic befuddlement, that gaze of mingled confusion and fear. No, she recognized Newt for what he was—
And then she got up and walked away.
Newt quite nearly smiled. He had not approached her as if she were the threat, precisely, but as if she might construe him thusly. It was why he had made himself small and benign, showing no deimatic behavior. Perhaps he oughtn't've brandished his wand. He would remember that.—He didn't know what the woman was, but he had a number of hunches and a number of possibilities already crossed off. She was not any manner of ghost he had ever seen. The lack of piscine or amphibious features and the direction of her over-casual escape (false behavior, he suspected, meant to dissuade him) led him to believe she was not one of the creatures from the lake.
He was altogether too inquisitive to allow her to leave without one more attempt at communication. He knew she could hear him now and he knew she understood. "Hello," he piped as he followed in her tracks at a distance. He stowed his wand with some obviousness, just so she'd know he was approaching on good faith. "I was wondering if I might talk to you... just for a moment." He smiled and his gaze, for once, met hers, if she allowed it. He didn't hold it, as it could be misunderstood as aggression, but it was there, briefly.