Re: [Woods: Patrick & Raven]
He didn't seem mad at having to deal with her, and that was good, because she couldn't do much other than she currently was. The words would continue to be difficult, her expressions would continue to be a little too flat. She seemed to feel like this was acceptable... or at least familiar. Wasn't it? Somehow it felt right to think "This will pass with time", and that only time could make things settle into their rightful places in her mind. At least as much as they ever did. She couldn't even say why she felt that way, just that it seemed right to think it.
Even so, she felt a little bit of pity for him, having to deal with her. Maybe the little bit of humor (because that's what the howl had been) hadn't landed right, or she'd tried to be funny too soon. So her face fell back into a flatter blankness again, sighing and returning to seriousness. She didn't know who (or what) Dahl was, so it wasn't a challenging decision to shake her head just enough to be noticeable. She wasn't sent by anyone. Repose was just where she'd ended up this time.
And suddenly, she was tired. She didn't need him to draw a house in the air or to point at her. To break it down into gestures and single words and mocking pantomime. She wasn't stupid.
But fine. If he needed to see, she could show him. And if he used the information against her, she'd just use her next time with wings to find a new town. There was always another town. She turned her back to him and began to walk unerringly through the woods, as straight a path as the undergrowth would allow, in a line that angled away from the lookout. She had to take careful steps, boots too big on her feet even with the laces pulled as tight as they would go. She wasn't being quiet in them, making sounds through the brush and old leaves that any creature would be able to hear and track. And she kept walking.