Welcome to Desamarai

[Tetroneaque]

Tetroneaque arrived in town a around noon, traveling on foot as he always did. He'd grown tired of Samaisor and decided to leave on a whim, as was the usual for him. He rarely stayed in one place more than a week or two. The fact that the drunks from the riot had been constantly harassing him had helped speed his exit too, more so after they figured out he was the one stealing all their drinking money. The trip from Samaisor to Baidan had been rather uneventful... except for when he had to cross the river on a ferry. He hated boats, mostly because he couldn't swim. The river water terrified him and he'd stayed as close to the center of the boat as he could the whole way across.

Luckily that was behind him and he was in town now, and it didn't look like a bad town at all by his approximations. He noticed he was getting a few odd looks as he strolled down the road, not uncommon given his clothing. Most found the short hooded figure with a grinning fox mask odd at a glance. He didn't mind though, secretly loving the attention. In fact he was even sporting his new gauntlets this day. The white gold items shone nicely in the light, reflecting off the playful fox design etched into them. He was quite happy to have bought them from the wood elf Ren back in Samaisor. Thinking of her made him smile, even though he barely even knew her.

After all his walking, Tetroneaque was a bit tired. He spotted an empty bench nearby under a tree and decided to simply sit down and watch the townsfolk go about their business while he rested a tad. He started to hum to himself as he watched everyone doing their thing.

[Lyra]

There was a commotion in the street.
People were running about, shouting across the road, standing by and scratching their heads or crying out and charging away as fast as they could. It was all so...surreal was why. Surreal because there was a tree walking through the street, an apple tree.
It stepped forwards heavily, leaves rustling, seemingly unaware of the people being scared by his presence and only aware of those standing by in awe. It would crouch down to them and before them they would see a face as if carved into the trunk of the tree, a grinning mouth and kind red eyes.
The people never seemed to know what to say but the tree always spoke first with a chirpy "Hello!" and when they did not answer he would stand up and move on to the next one.
No one seemed to know what to do about it- this ent was no menace but then again people were too scared and perplexed to be his friend.
The crowd moved slowly down the street and before long, Red had said hello to everyone he could, answered only by stares. So he peered over top the crowd, spotting a quietly masked stranger sitting on a bench. He waved one long arm branch, grinning as widely as ever, calling out "Hellooooo!" in his ever-bright voice and he waited, his arm branch falling to his side, a few leaves trickling to the ground.

[Tetroneaque]

Tetroneaque continued to simply sit under the shady tree when he first heard the commotion. He did start paying attention, but he couldn't really tell what was causing the panic. He didn't hear any swords clashing, arrows being shot, or any of the usual sounds that accompany an attack. There was no smell of smoke, so fire obviously wasn't to blame either. Tetroneaque was curious, but not so curious as to move from his spot and get trampled by the always excitable humans. He didn't have too long to wait though as he soon saw the leafy branches towering over the other inhabitants.

"Well, that's certainly something you don't see every day." Tetroneaque stated to himself and couldn't help but start snickering at how the humans were all overreacting to the situation.

The treeman seemed to take notice of Tetroneaque eventually and seemed quite a friendly fellow. It Tetroneaque hadn't come across these beings in the past he might have been more surprised, as it was he returned the wave and started toward the treeman.

"Hello to you as well." Tetroneaque replied once he was close enough to be heard over the panicked voices of the crowd. The little Kitsune was nimble enough to thread his way through without getting trampled. Now that he was close though the crowd seemed to be watching the odd masked stranger talking to the treeman.

"So, how are you this fine day?" Tetroneaque asked, really not sure what a good topic of discussion was for an tree. Most of the crowd stared at Tetroneaque as if he was insane, but he ignored them. He was trying so hard to keep from laughing at the whole scene, but to no avail as his giggling kept rearing up.

[Lyra]

O what an odd pairing to see, these two oddities standing before each other in such an ordinary street. The crowd moved away, providing room for the two, a curious, more silent circle around them.
Red bent his trunk-legs, his roots creaking against the stone. He grinned, his red eyes sparkling with childish joy. He spoke like a child also, the same tone of voice, though with a strange creaking quality to it at the same time.
"I am good! It' a sunny day, I can feel it in my leaves!" He gestured with his arm-branches, reaching them up to the sky. He stretched then crouched back down to Tetroneaque, asking two questions in quick succession.
"How are you? And what's your name?"

(SFDHfb/jfdf I'm on a roll tonight.)

[Tetroneaque]

"Oh I'm doing fine, and my name is Tetroneaque. Now that you know my name, will you tell me your own?" He replied, also asking a question of his own. He felt a little odd being the center of attention here, tending to prefer sticking to the crowds and shadows to avoid so much notice. Yet he couldn't help but feel he needed to intervene before some human overreacted and grabbed an axe or something equally foolish.

Tetroneaque cast a nervous glance at the crowd who seemed to be watching the entire scene with great interest.

Definitely going to have to make my stay in this town a short one. Getting way too much notice here.

[Lyra]

All around people were watching them closely and with interest but Red seemed to have forgotten them. "I am Red," he said with great pride, "I came up with the name myself! Because of my apples!"
He reached up into his own branches, searching for an apple, but there was none. He was not in season, he never seemed to know when he was and when he wasn't. He looked sincerely sad. "I don't have any for you right now."
His arm-branch fell down and after a moment his unhappiness was gone, replaced by that indestructible joy.

[Tetroneaque]

"Pleasure to meet you Red, and a fine name it is." Tetroneaque stated in a cheerful manner. He noticed how Red seemed sad that he didn't have any apples, and how quickly he recovered. It was rather amusing actually. Still, Tetroneaque couldn't just leave this treeman standing around in town with the humans.

"Why don't we take a little stroll out of town Red? We can chat a bit if you like or simply enjoy the day." Tetroneaque suggested. The sooner he managed to talk Red out of the town, the less time the humans would have to do something drastic. It would be a shame if this gentle being was assaulted by fearful humans, or heaven forbid, he defend himself against such an attack. Things would get very ugly, very quick if that happened.

[Lyra]

Red nodded in agreement, his leaves whispering through the air and he said brightly, "Yes, let's!"
He began to walk, every step thudding on the cobblestones. People still followed, more at a distance now.It was then that exactly what Tetroneaque had been fearing happened. There was an awful cry, a cracking scream, a yell from someone else and a man was running at them, axe raised. He was old, probably senile, his teeth gapped. A woman was running behind him, presumably trying to stop him but she wasn't fast enough.
The crazed old man flung his body into the motion, flinging the axe Red's side. It slipped from his hands, nicking Red's bark and clattering onto the cobblestones. Red let out a scream, fell to the ground and curled up, whimpering. It wasn't that bad of a cut- he was mostly surprised and scared. But the way he cried made one think that he'd die from the drops of sap leaking from him.

[Tetroneaque]

Tetroneaque was a rather surprised at the unprovoked attack, as such he was unprepared to stop the attack before it was too late. In fact he barely managed to get out of the way of Red as he fell over and started to cry. Tetroneaque had never seen one of Red's kind cry before, which only confirmed the kitsune's suspicions that this one was only a child.

"Are you people insane!? Get that old coot out of here and take that blasted axe with you!" He yelled at the crowd who seemed just as stunned by the whole scene.

"Everyone just back off and go back to your usual business and I'll handle Red here, no one will get hurt." Tetroneaque added calming down a bit. The old man was still ranting as some of the other villagers helped carry him away, presumably back to his home. No one seemed to want to touch the axe though. Tetroneaque didn't blame them though, he was just angry with the situation.

Tetroneaque knelt down next to Red's face and starting to make soothing noises.

"Calm down Red. Calm down, you're not hurt bad. Just a scratch really, you'll be fine. Why don't we continue our walk? It's still a beautiful sunny day today." Tetroneaque knew he'd have to try and calm Red down and get him out of town before something else happened. It would be awful if someone actually managed to provoke the gentle Red. Tetroneaque had seen what an angry ent could do to humans before, and it was not a sight he ever wished to see again in his long life.

"Come on Red. Let's leave these mean people and go somewhere more quiet. What do you say?" Tetroneaque added in his calmest, most friendly voice.

[Lyra]

Red very slowly uncurled, still crying. He seemed scared to look at it, his body creaking. It didn't hurt so much any more, now that he thought of it, and he started to stand up, sniffing back sobs. "I just wanted to be their friend..." he said weakly, sadly. He made no agreement to Tetroneaque's plan but heavily began to walk on, facing the ground.
He never seemed to learn, always wandering into towns and causing some variety of chaos an then leaving sadly. It was either optimism or persistence, or a combination of both. but he never seemed to stop.

[Tetroneaque]

"Don't cry Red." Tetroneaque stated as he helped lead Red out of town. The crowd seemed to follow until they got near the edge of town, then apparently lost interest once the ent was outside the town boundaries. Most turned and went back to their normal, every day tasks. Tetroneaque however kept walking with Red, trying to cheer him up.

"If you'd like, I'll be your friend Red. Though I'm afraid I'm not going to be staying in this area for too long." Tetroneaque offered. It was a sincere offer though. Besides, what harm could it do?

[Lyra]

Red continued his soft sadness throughout the town, and then they were in stretching fields and they left the people behind and the air was fresher here. He suddenly brightened at Tetroneaque's offer. "Really?"
O how badly he wanted a friend. He'd follow the little man to the ends of the earth, through fire. "It's okay if you aren't staying here because..."
He frowned a little. He wouldn't be staying in this area too long either. He had to go find somewhere else. He checked his leaves for apple and sighed, knowing that making friends would be easier if he had some.

[Tetroneaque]

"Yes, yes I will be your friend Red." Tetroneaque with a grin, though his mask hid that fact. He didn't mind the ent or his child like enthusiasm for the world. He just hoped Red wouldn't be too disappointed when he had to leave though.

"You see Red, I'm on a journey of sorts. Exploring the land far and wide. Some places I go won't be very hospitable to you though. The frigid ice fields of the north, the scorching sands of the desert just to name a couple. I even plan to take a boat over the sea to Echydnis at some point." Some point when I finally muster the courage to make that trip anyway... He mentally added to himself, loathing boats and deep water.

"I only tell you this now so you won't be surprised when I have to leave someplace you may not be able to follow." He was rather kind in the way he spoke, being a smooth talker most of the time. Usually he was trying to seduce a lady though and not comfort a tree man.

"You can't just go stomping into human towns either Red. Humans can be a bit... crazy. I'm sure if you sought out a place with a more elvish population you might have better luck making a lot of friends though since elves tend to know more about your kind." It was true enough as far as Tetroneaque remembered, most elves were more in touch with nature and often allied themselves with ents. This train of thought brought a new idea to the young kitsune.

Maybe I can stick around long enough to help Red find a nice elvish community. That way he won't be likely to get lonely and go wandering off and panic human areas. I know I'd certainly feel better if I knew he'd be happy and safe than simply abandoning him when I leave the area. Yes. I shall try to help Red find a nice elvish area before I leave him.

[Lyra]

Red looked a little put out, didn't say much. " I never really met lots of elves. Sometimes I see one in the forest but they're always far away."
The were never with humans, in any case, which he tended to gravitate towards.
"Where do they live?" he asked innocently. Not that he'd know any names of places but he figured he'd seen enough to understand just where they were.

[Tetroneaque]

"Well the ones I had in mind live further to the north in Hyosald forest. They're a little uppity by most races standards, but they're good people really. In fact one made these gauntlets I'm wearing." Tetroneaque said, showing off his white gold gauntlets to emphasize his point.

"They're called wood elves, and they're rather close to nature. That's why I believe you'd find them quite friendly toward you." The little masked kitsune spoke in a confident manner as they strode though the fields. A few farmers turned to stare at the masked stranger and the walking tree. Tetroneaque tossed them a friendly wave, holding back a snicker.

"You see how the humans react to you right? They're just not used to your kind. Even though you mean well I'm afraid most humans will find you frightening. It's just the way of humans to fear that what they don't understand." He spoke from experience there. Humans feared what they didn't know, and they destroyed what they feared. In fact that was one of the main reasons Tetroneaque's kind kept themselves hidden so well, most of the time.

"I'm sure you'll find the trip to Hyosald forest enjoyable. Who knows, you might even come across some fellow ents in that forest." Tetroneaque was doing his best to put a positive spin on things.