....

But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

[barrierpasser]

     Of course, no response game— but a mere nod of the head that As’bel probably couldn’t even see at the moment.

     A futile gesture, but she went about doing it anyways.

     A more absent-minded reaction than anything, really.

“…”

     Moving her now free hand to tap at the words on the paper— apparently this girl not noticing said words— and quietly, Mao frowned a little. Out of mild annoyance, by now.

     Fortunately, she was more than a little patient when it came to dealing with people. As such… she waited.

     … Although, she did tap the paper at least once more.

     Maybe she would take the hint.

[monjamarillo]

A finger worms its way through blurred vision, tapping at the notebook... thing. As'bel only stands -- leans -- in further confusion. Nervousness clouds her thoughts, but eventually light reaches through and she realizes there's something written. The question was... what? 

"Ah... um..." Squinting, she tries to decipher the scrawl through white cloth and mist. Panic further wells in her throat, tunneling already wavering vision. If she can't answer, what would this person do to her? Was the option of not speaking at all available?

Racking her brain, As'bel spits out the most generic thing she can think of.

"...Um? F-Fine? Ok... I don't know where I am, I-I'm sorry..."

Now hopefully she didn't just consent to being dinner.

[barrierpasser]

     Fortunately, she ended up falling right in to Mao— who easily caught her with an eyebrow raised. What was wrong now? Was something wrong with her foot…?

“…”

     Sheesh.

     Using a free hand to dig in to the satchel she carried with her, a small notepad was procured, and before long, a writing utensil. And within moments, said notepad was offered to As’bel, whom still rested against the taller woman.

[ are you OK? ]

     Might as well get to the source of the problem.

[monjamarillo]

A moment passes of disbelief as As'bel hangs in suspension, waiting for a rough impact that will never come. Tension is released in her muscles as she comes to the realization she's landed on something softer than the ground, something vertical. Wait. Not something -- someone. She could go as far as to wager this was the same person who she'd spotted before falling and twisting her ankle.

Panic accelerates her heart upon this realization, even more so when her ankle sends waves of pain if she even attempts to struggle away. She hears the other person shuffle around, presumably for a weapon, and she shrivels as something is put in front of her.

"...?"

Se's tentative as to what to think of it. Fingers eventually reach out in hesitation, curling around the notepad to bring it closer to her face. Was she being given this? Her grip tightens.

"Um... is this for me? th-thank you?"

[barrierpasser]

     Good grief. This was getting bothersome, and fast.

     As such, equally as fast, Mao decided to change how she was handling things. With another sigh, she suddenly moved in closer to As’bel— and without any prior warning, Mao extended her arm once more. Reaching out, she grabbed the back of As’bel’s habit, and pulled.

     And easily, with a single hand, Mao had lifted the cyclops back up— and from there on, regardless of how As’bel struggled, Mao simply sat her back down on her feet.

     Like a mother picking up their child after having fallen.

     Taking a step back, Mao rested a hand at her hip to properly gauge this stranger. Weak, demure, and seemingly easily frightened…

     This really wasn’t the sort of person that should be wandering around a place like this at all.

[monjamarillo]

A shrill "EEK--!" comes from the nun as she's unexpectedly picked up and moved like a rag doll. If it weren't for the fact Mao had set her back on her feet,she thought she would have gotten eaten. She's relieved when she isn't, however the relief lasts but a moment as weight is resettled on her wounded ankle, setting As'bel into an off-balance stumble.

A stumble that leads to the inevitable for such a shaky woman. She throws out her hands to prepare herself blindly, falling forward with another gasped yelp.

Lord knows how this girl made it here in one piece.

[barrierpasser]

     Ah.

“…”

     Well alright then.

     Slowly continuing her walk up to the now-fallen person, she could only blink in surprise in realization that, apparently, this girl hadn’t even been looking this entire time. Her… hat or whatever it was seemed to have been pulled down too far.

     What’s a person like this doing wandering about a forest…?

     Nudging As’bel gently with her foot, a hand is extended downwards, to help the other up if she so needs it. … And if she had been going through this forest sightless, she probably would.

[monjamarillo]

A nudge. A gasp, As'bel quickly pushes herself up and attempts to escape -- stopped short with a hiss of pain, her ankle twisting uncomfortably. She turns to reach for it, fingers wrapping around the area in attempt to nurse it as quickly as possible. Panic closed her throat, heart thumping against her chest when she realizes that shady figure had come much closer.

A hand is reached out to her, or so she assumes, but she shakes her head and holds out an open palm to shoo it away.

"Pl-Please, I'm sorry --" She speaks barely above a whisper. Another attempt to crawl away is made; another attempt failed due to the cyclops's ankle. Shoot. Hands raise themselves to spread fingers across her habit in nervous movement, curling and uncurling around the yellow cloth.

"A-Aah... Don't -- Don't hurt me, please, I'm sorry..." Pathetically begging, the tiny nun continues to panic in pain.

[barrierpasser]

     Was she afraid? Or had she believed to have not been seen?

     … Watching her shuffle back to hide, the traveler stands her ground for a few moments. And quietly, she exhales a small sigh. How to handle this?

     Stepping forward in to the glade, eye on As’bel, Mao raised her hands to her sides— spreading her bandaged fingers to show a lack of anything in them. A small attempt at showing that she wasn’t dangerous.

     And if that wasn’t much else, she stopped near the glade’s center— not approaching the other any further.

     ’It wasn’t good to approach a wild animal, for they might retaliate’ was the sort of mindset she carried, at this moment. … Albeit, in this case, she was glad she was dealing with a person, and not an animal.

     Animals were only good for eating, after all.

“…”

     And now, to wait for a response.

[monjamarillo]

Footsteps catch her attention, patting softly across the glade -- was the stranger moving towards her!? 

It didn't sound much like it, but As'bel moves her head up to peer just in case. Of course it's rather fruitless, considering her obscured vision, but she can't help but act alert. She couldn't see that Mao held her hands up, only that there was a blurry patch in the midst of white cloth and fog.

Feeling threatened, still, As'bel tries to shuffle inwards of the forest. Unfortunately overestimating her ability to navigate a foreign landscape unlike any she's seen, the demon ends up trapping her foot in the crux of a bamboo root and completely throwing herself forward. A gasping-yelp escapes her throat as the faux-nun descends with a prompt THUD!

Timber.

[barrierpasser]

     As she recalled, normally, these forests were abandoned.

     The mountainous forests of the Eastern Continent had all been just about abandoned, as she recalled, due to various reasons concerning the nearby Jin Kingdom.

     But even with their involvement on the people of this land, no colonization seemed to have been made. Perhaps there were hermits and the sort living around here, but in this foggy bamboo woodland, she had her doubts that any normal people could be found living here.

     Only monsters, and the like.

     And yet, much to her surprise, there very much so seemed to be someone here after all.

     Approaching the glade where a lone figure clad in yellow stood, Mao kept caution as to whether this was a threat, or someone in need of help— albeit, such caution didn’t show on her rather plain face.

     ”…”

     Quietly, she offered As’bel a small wave.

[monjamarillo]

How she got here was a mystery. Where 'here' was is an even bigger mystery. As'bel felt the foreign sensation of damp fog soak through her habit, sticky and uncomfortable. She wanders for several minutes, blindly navigating her way through stalks of bamboo with arms wrapped around herself.

There wasn't another person for as far as she could see... which, admittedly, wasn't very far -- considering she not only had the veil of her habit to squint through, but this damn fog obscured the already-blurred image. Just as the demon thought it might be good to remove it, movement catches her eye.

" - Ah "

She backs away immediately, likening the figure to a person, and crouches behind a few bamboo stalks. It doesn't do much to conceal her, but... what else was around here? She could only automatically assume this stranger as a threat, after all.

[monjamarillo]

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