Act 1

[untrueheart]

[For two days, Rue has spent her time deep in the forest, surviving on the supplies provided in a small but seemingly abandoned building. On the first day she saw no one, and spent her time as far away from the storybook bearing her name as possible, forcing herself to ignore the black wings on her back. Doing a terrible job of it.

On the second, someone came by, but she hid herself in the surrounding forest until they were gone. It was a stranger and she didn't want anybody to know she was there. Never mind that she was fairly sure this was outside the walls- somewhere she couldn't even imagine going. Not yet.

But on the morning of the third day, self-preservation wins out over uncertainty, and Rue (with her book, so no one else would find it either) walks from the small house until she finds a small lake, following its river upstream and coming within sight of a village with no wall.

There had been spare clothes in the house, so she wears a large jacket despite the heat, to cover her unfortunate wings; it turns away some of the rain that starts up part of the way through her walk. Eventually she stops under the overhang of a shop, staring around at the unfamiliar village, wondering if she ought to stay out of sight.

Too afraid to open a book labeled with her name - a book that might tell her story - she hasn't even come to understand just how different that story is about to become.]

[[ooc: Rue was at New Feather station bb, and she can be under any roof overhang you want but the Item Shop is the most likely one for running-into shenanigans.]]

Comments

[elongatedsmile]

You should have stayed inside of your dwelling if you do not like the rain. [Lame for not liking it. Just saying.]

[untrueheart]

That's not mine. I don't know whose it is. It was empty.

[elongatedsmile]

I was told that the human houses in the village were open for anyone to make claim over. [At least in the winter that's what she did.]

[untrueheart]

The village? What village? All I have seen is that little house by the lake.

[elongatedsmile]

The village that you will see if you continue to follow this river that way. [Xzana raises a scaled hand to point in the right direction.]

You have... just awaken? [Is that the right way to say it? She thinks it is and continues.] The humans there will be able to help you. [More than she can at least. Humans need a lot of care that she just can never comprehend.]

[untrueheart]

[Maybe it's really her town, and there will be a tall stone wall and the gate and-

That's a lot to hope for, all of a sudden.]

Is it far?

[elongatedsmile]

No, not too much farther for young human legs. You will reach it long before the sun sets.

[untrueheart]

[Well now she's thoroughly wet but a little less lost. She supposes she ought to repay this person's kindness somehow.]

Thank you.

[That will do.]

[elongatedsmile]

[The normal response doesn't come right away. She was still learning the mannerisms of humans. Her first response is to bow her head, but after a moment she remembers the proper human response.]

You are welcome. Travel safe, young one.