As the girl a few metres in front of him made eye-contact, he lowered his brow and gave a bit of a half-smile. If she was paying close enough attention, she would notice the Orange in his eye brighten a bit, before returning to normal. He had always loved the color green, it provided a sense of comfort for him, reminiscent from the years he spent in forests. Her eyes were his favorite kind of green, powerful yet gentle, like an ancient tree in spring. As their eye-contact remained, he rubbed the back of his neck softly, before smoothly dropping it to his jacket pocket along with the other. He continued to half smile as she admired him, admittedly doing the same. She was indeed beautiful, but given his caution and unease towards relationships, it wasn't likely that he would do anything but admire her.

As she stumbled a bit, he couldn't help but chuckle softly and look away like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't, before returning his eyes to her and raising his eyebrows as if he were to ask "You Alright?"

Realizing he had been standing aimlessly on the sidewalk, he moved to a bench, sitting down and patting the spot next to him, inviting her to join him subtly.

What do I do for fun?

The question echoed about Alason's mind for a moment, his brain voided of any other thoughts for a time. It wasn't something he considered often, and it wasn't something that he wanted to consider. His life was rather cyclical, comfortable: get up, groom, work, go home, read, perhaps watch a film, drink on Fridays, family on Sundays, coven meetings every third Saturday...

"That's a good question," was all he could manage to eke out to fill the silence.

Facial features compressed into a contemplative series of horizontal lines, Alason searched his life for the place where he felt happiest. It wasn't with the coven, they were far too bureaucratic for his taste, favoring what he perceived as antiquated rites and ceremonies over actually dealing with the modern issues which faced it. It wasn't with the family either, he often felt that it was most often a heap of pleasantries used to cover the underlying tension between each of its members. As he considered his weekly trips to a city pub with his small circle of friends, for a moment he thought that he'd found the answer to Anwen's question. But then, it was more of a standard social act to blend him better among the people of the town. Well, that, and that nobody likes to drink alone, and he certainly liked to drink. Movies and books did little for him but pass the time and teach him things, so that left only two options. Either Alason did nothing for fun, or—

"I like to work. It feels good to accomplish things, to know that I'm properly doing my part and helping the ends that I believe in." Sometimes, those ends are only my own profit, but that's beside the point. "That, and I guess the big thing is that work makes me feel smart. I'm an attorney, I professionally outwit people, and while I do cheat a bit at it, it's a good feeling for my depraved, egotistical soul."

Alason shook his head as he returned to reality. Straightening his suit, fixing his hair, and sitting fully upright, he made a professional eye contact with Anwen.

"A silly question, don't you think? I suppose you just frolick about the woods, stroll about feeling generally pleasant, look at your coins and such. Sorry," he seemingly batted at an invisible fly in front of him in an obscure gesticulation of apology, "just peering into your mind. Right rude of me."

@hagroden@TheIrishJJ

Deseraei watched closely and saw what looked like a flame jump inside the man's eyes. A dragon! Of course! She was suddenly even more excited because she had never met a dragon before. She was usually very good at recognizing other species and all she had seen here so far were vampires and faeries, nothing fierce like herself. She guessed one could argue that vampires are fierce but they were so common now that they were the equivalent of a pink Starburst. Things, and people, who were different spiked her interest like almost nothing else could. She could feel her smoke building up inside her chest like heartburn.

Tapping her companion on the shoulder she said quickly "Hey a couple of my buildings are right here. Im gonna check them out I'll catch you later! We should meet up at the Tipsy Dragon sometime for coffee! I hope we can be friends." she said with a smile before turning around and trotting at a moderate pace towards the building that said Demonology. In all fairness, she wasn't 100% lying. She really did need to check out that building and that was the class she was the most interested in. And the fact that there was an extremely attractive dragon man that lived right next to it just made the situation that much better. In order to make her behavior look not as obvious, she took out her cell phone to see if she had any messages. Her aunt had texted her. Not wanting to make Ruaidhrí feel like he had been ditched, she rounded the corner of the Demonology building to be out of sight, giving the man on the bench a smile and a slight wave to follow her. Hopefully he understood the situation she was in and took the gesture. But maybe he was busy. Really if all else failed, she could always just put her headphones back in, continue to look for her classes and admire him from afar.

To give him a little more incentive, she blew a large quantity of smoke out of her nose this time and threw a spark of electricity at the ground. It made a loud fizzling sound and popped as it hit the ground. Chuckling a little, she flashed him a grin with her green eyes lighting up brightly just as his did. She then climbed the steps towards the door of the Demonology building.

@Sylverblu

Anwen laughed lightly, completely unconcerned. "Oh, don't worry about it. Plenty of witches have peeked around my head before, you're hardly the first! Be careful, though," she waved a joking finger, "there's a lot of stuff packed in here! Don't get lost! But really, you're right! That's pretty much what I do!"

Returning to what was talked about before, she laughed again. "Depraved? Egotistical?" She parroted. "Oh come on, you're not that bad! You asked to come after and talk to me, nobody's ever done that since I started working here! At least, not that I can remember!" Her mind raced as much as it ever did, wondering what she should do to find out more about Alason. If I help him, he'll help me. Hmm, what do witches want? Witches want knowledge. He said he likes feeling smart, so he wants knowledge even more. Maybe if I tell him more about me, I can ask him more about himself!

She continued thinking, unaware that it had rapidly metamorphosed into thinking out loud. "What would be the best way to tell him more about me? Oh, I know! I could take him to my tree! That'll help him answer his questions, right? Right!" Her mumblings ceased, replaced with her leaning excitedly across the table, bringing her face uncomfortably close to his before resuming her usual speaking tone, albeit slightly louder and more excited: "Hey! You should come to my tree! I wanna show you it!"

Without looking to see whether or not he was behind her, she leapt up and ran off, making her way quickly through town. The entrance of the forest loomed before her, and so excited was she that she barely noticed the flyer caught in a few tree branches, seeming to flicker in and out of reality as though affected by an illusion. She poked the tree, taking the flyer from its outstretched branches as it leaned down to her. Her eyebrows went up as she read it:

The kids from Gringore are having a party tonight? Ooh! I want to go!

She made to dive into the forest before remembering that she was supposed to be guiding Alason to her home. Sitting at the base of the tree, she inhaled happily, content to wait for him.

@TheIrishJJ

Julian stood up and puffed his chest out at Séamus, who still towered over him. "I've got nothing better to do. Sure I'll come." He followed Séamus down and out of the building, seeing that they were headed towards Nirvana Fitness to work out in the well-equipped gym he was so familiar with. He wondered if he and Séamus shared any classes this year. It wasn't likely since they were in different years, but it was possible since some classes were for anyone to take regardless of year level. He decided this would be a good time to show off his knowledge of the academy. "You're new here, so I'm going to give you some advice. It's easy to get lost here, so before you know the place inside out, you're going to want to have a map on your phone or something. Today you're with me, so if you don't have a map it's fine. Sometimes at the academy a newbie loses control of their powers. I never did, but some people have. Don't be that newbie. You might damage someone or something, and they're going to blame you. At least the students will blame you. The teachers are pretty understanding. The teachers are pretty nice and cool, but a lot of them are weird and superstitious. Some are better to students who have the same powers as them, which is not fair at all. All the teachers have their own powers, by the way. I haven't seen them use it much except for demonstrations. But yeah, there's pretty much a teacher for every power and ability." Julian talked all the way to Nirvana Fitness, failing to realize Séamus was hardly talking his share because Julian wasn't letting him. He walked in and flashed his membership card at the front desk before going towards the gym entrance. He stopped and turned towards Séamus. "Do you have a membership card? If you don't, it's 2 dollars to drop in or you can buy a year's membership for 50 dollars."

He watched her walk towards a building he had found to be his demonology class with Intent eyes as she abandoned her nearby friends. Watching her smile and wave, he stood up, taking her exhale of smoke as a further invitation. The pop from her bit of electricity hitting the ground only encouraged him, and a step later he had completely vanished. With his evolved camouflage, he had long since used the element of surprise on various occasions, ranging from an attack technique to a playful way of sneaking up on people, It had proven effectiveness in both. Malcolm was a slow learner, only due to his perfectionism prohibiting him from advancing faster. Therefore, everything he knows how to do, he can execute it remarkable well in every situation. His dedication has paid off; in many a battle he has had the upper hand due to his enemies not expecting stealth from his gigantic appearance.

Within moments he was in front of her on the stairs, facing her while sitting on the steps a few above her.
"I'm sure you've heard this before...
He started his voice deep and soothing, pausing to make eye-contact with her before continuing
...but you're pretty smooth."
He finished, raising his eyebrows slightly as he half-smiled, the deadpan tone easily confused between earnesty and sarcasm.
After a short pause, he chuckled softly before introducing himself.
"Hi, I'm Malcolm, but you can call me Breck."

@arca9

Séamus stood up and walked with Julian. He didn't manage to get a single word in whilst Julian spoke, but he was fine with it. It gave him time to examine the town, its residents, and most importantly Julian. Séamus figured that Julian would be a good companion, and that he could get quite close to him. All he had to do was feed his ego, and Séamus could be his best friend in no time. When they got to the fitness centre, Séamus applied for a membership, and took off his hooded, revealing a t shirt that showed off his arms. Looking to Julian he said, "Where shall we go first? If you want I can help you get more muscular, although you're already quite big," hoping that it wouldn't take much flattering before Julian was in the palm of his hand.

Sapphira, enchanting name, Jack thought to himself. She didn't seem to react well to being complimented on her looks, so why compliment a name she also had little say in receiving? He'd figure out something better to compliment. Maybe. Some people were tough reads, but he was getting better at figuring them out. Reading people, figuring out their strengths and weaknesses, their preferences, was important when one needed to network. Especially if one needed to do so with individuals that might already be biased against him for the way his parents treated other races; he might use people, but he never did half the awful things they did.

"Don't sound so excited for it, Sapphira," he said with a chuckle. Sure, she said yes, but it sounded more apathetic than an actual decision to continue to converse.

Nonetheless, he started off toward the cafeteria. He at least knew where that was, even if he'd need to figure out where his classes would be. His hands stayed in his pockets, fingers idly playing with the change he kept in his pockets. It was the only reason he carried pocket change - just so he wouldn't absently touch anyone while talking to someone; Nola had suggested it back when she realized how often he did it, and considering now he wasn't around just her and Ariel for most of his day he wasn't about to start any unwanted conflicts for a simple misunderstanding.

He couldn't, however, avoid trying to get to know her more while they walked the short distance to the cafeteria. "What lead you to want to be a Guardian? Being an elf, you've probably been alive for far longer than I have, so how long did it take for you to decide you wanted to do it?" He glanced over at his walking partner after he spoke, then held the door to the cafeteria open for her when they arrived at it.

Cafeteria, town, it made no difference to her. Though it was times like these that she considered getting better, stronger, with her ability to travel through shadows. Sure, it was kind of cheating, but who wouldn't mind getting from point A to point B quicker? Especially if it was a walk into town from campus. Maybe that would be the area she worked on strengthening this year given she had little desire to figure out if she could get strong enough to summon undead or command vampires - the first might be useful, though creepy, and the latter...she knew enough about vampires to know she wouldn't want to find out how one would react to finding out they had been controlled.

Penelope folded the flier up and shoved it into her back pocket while she walked with Tony. She preferred settling up plans right away than let them stagnate. It helped make sure it wasn't forgotten.

Deciding what to eat was always so tough. Mostly because she never seemed to have an appetite. Considering all she had was a protein bar before a strenuous work out, she knew it was about time for an actual meal. So she got in line behind Tony and picked out a sandwich and a banana.

Penelope had spotted the Wolfpack when they exited the line, but was going to ignore it until Tony kindly pointed them out. She did her best not to scowl, because there were a few that Tony was friendly with. But it was a tough thing to do - keep from matching glares with the upper rung members. The best she could do to not glare was keep a placid look on her face while making eye contact with the ones glaring. There was half a cafeteria between them and the Fitzroy Wolfpack, but that didn't really mean much when it came to the way shifters could move.

She set her shoulders, leveling her gaze with Conrad - a member that lost out on being lieutenant to the current one, and the one member she butted with the most after her freshman year after he tried more than putting moves on her at a party - as she continued on toward a different table. "Probably best to not pick a fight with a sorry lot of sods so early in the day." Being on school grounds - they learned from experience - wouldn't matter much in the terms of explaining why two guardian applicants - auxiliary members to boot - got into a physical conflict with others from the student body.

"Here's a good one," Penelope said as she rounded then sat at a table. It had the benefit of being well away from the wolfpack as well as being close enough to a wall to make sure she could see the whole cafeteria. One too many fights had her overly cautious and not wanting to give anyone a chance to get the drop on her from behind. At least, no one she had the chance of seeing. Maybe she'd eventually kick the habit, but it would doubtfully be while she was attending Gringore.

She hid her glances around the room as best she could from others, but she knew Tony would notice. He always noticed. So she decided to make conversation with him between small bites of her sandwich. "So, excited for your final year? Looking forward to going to Rome for the test? That's coming up next summer, isn't it?" She knew it was coming up soon, before she was finished training here, and that she'd have to wait at least a year or two to take the test herself.

"Don't sound so excited for it, Sapphira," he said with a chuckle.

“Sorry,” Sapphira replied to Jack. She was admittedly a bit amused by how easily he threw sarcasm back at her. Other than the occasional eye roll, she typically tried to refrain from being too “sassy” as her mother had called it. Some people are more easily offended, but Jack didn’t seem to be one of those people. Nevertheless, she would try her best to be well-mannered towards him.

She walked beside him as they headed towards the cafeteria. She had to slow down her long strides to match his more leisurely pace. She noted that they were similar in height, with him being only two inches taller than her 5’10” stature.

"What lead you to want to be a Guardian? Being an elf, you've probably been alive for far longer than I have, so how long did it take for you to decide you wanted to do it?" he asked.

“I was born into a long line of Guardians, so it is really all I know. Both my parents were Guardians, though my mother stopped going on missions when she was pregnant with me and thereafter. My mother homeschooled me and taught me the majority of what I know today. Given the way she raised me, I never really wanted to be anything but a Guardian,” Sapphira explained. Truthfully she felt a pang of sadness in her heart at talking about her parents in the past tense, though she was skilled at not showing the emotion outwardly. She didn’t think the sadness and anger from losing them would ever go away, no matter how long she lived. Instead of letting it destroy her, she worked hard to let it fuel her.

She gave him a grateful smile when he courteously opened the door for her. She walked through the doorway and let her gaze take in her new surroundings. She recognized some of the people, namely the red headed woman with dark magic and the telekinetic Asian man. Her gaze then landed on the Fitzroy Wolfpack seated in the back corner. She had barely entered the cafeteria, and they were already brazenly checking her out! Her eyes narrowed slightly, the characteristic sign that she was getting annoyed or feeling threatened. She returned her gaze to Jack before she had a chance to do anything uncivil. It was best that she not start a fight unless utterly necessary. @Nightfury Kat

@Lemons

Alas on shook his head and grinned. Always on the move. With a bit of a huff, he rose from the table and followed his new acquaintance at a walking pace not bothering to run after her but maintaining sight.

He was just beginning to worry that Anwen might fully disappear from his range of vision when she seemed to stop at the base of a particularly hardy tree. Rationalizing it to be her home; or just something she found the littlest bit interesting, given her characterization thus far; he began walking a touch more quickly before eventually reaching the base of the tree. Looking up the colossal trunk, he wondered how someone could live like this. The isolation, of course, would drive one mad, but also it just seems so…

"Cramped."

He looked down at the expectant Anwen, resting in the dirt and roots as though it were nothing. She seemed to be allocating him some time to investigate, so he went back to investigating the tree. Running his hand up the trunk, he imagined the decades it must have taken to bring this beautiful creature to its current shape. Broadening his gaze to he surrounding vines and roots, he saw the little ecosystem at work: a miniature garden of Eden all working around a nymph with no idea how impressive—how beautiful—her world was.

"Thanks for bringing me out here." But, Alason began to wonder, that begs another question. "Why did you bring me out here?"

Tony sat across from his friend, he knew she didn't like turning her back towards others. He on the other hand had no problems with such. Not that he was extremely trusting of the student body at Gringore, he trusted his sense of intuition in public. And at the very least, he had Penny to keep an eye on his back while they ate. She always looked around- she used to try and hide it from him, but realized that it was a futile gesture a long time ago. Tony didn't have extensive abilities like Penelope or some of the other potential Guardians, while he had extensive control over his own telekinesis, he didn't have incredible strength, immunity to poison, near-immortality; rather, he had a level of intuition and sense of people that gave him an edge on the other applicants.

"So, excited for your final year? Looking forward to going to Rome for the test? That's coming up next summer, isn't it?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, its a little unnerving. I still need to get a recommendation letter too. I'm not allowed to ask my dad for one, so I'm stuck asking Chief Évora or Professor Bianchi." Tony replied, inbetween bites of his sandwhich. "I'll probably ask the chief tomorrow- so let's try to get through tonight smoothly, yeah?"

Getting in trouble right before asking a staff member for a recommendation- regardless of whether or not the staff liked him or not, was in some bad taste. "Anyway, the Fitzroy party, you wanna drive, or me?"

@TheIrishJJ

Julian flexed his arms in response, trying to make them as big as Séamus' arms. He worked hard to gain muscle on his naturally lean body, and took pride that Séamus had noticed. "Let's do some weight training. We can spot each other." As they operated the machinery and lifted weights, Julian saw that Séamus could lift a lot more than him, but comforted himself by reminding himself that Séamus was naturally much bigger and taller. He couldn't stop his jealousy. "Did you do anything special to get so big? Any special exercises or routines or anything?" He listened greedily for a response, imagining his head on top of a bodybuilder's physique. As he followed Séamus' workout, he tried and failed to hide his exhaustion behind excuses and snarky comments.

@Sylverblu

As Alason poked around the base of her tree and checked it out in general, Anwen smiled like a proud homeowner. Well, she kind of was one, but certainly not in the typical sense.

"You seem like the kind of guy who's just utterly obsessed with knowledge to the point where it's a little weird!" She relied cheerfully, seemingly unaware of her insult. "And I want to know more about you, too! So I thought that if I took you to my tree, I could ask you some questions!"

Turning her head to the canopy for a moment and chattering her teeth strangely, she laughed as a small red squirrel jumped to her shoulder, replying with a similar sound before nestling down into a ball and covering its face with it's paws. She scratched it's neck fondly for a second, then twitched her finger at the tree. Just like when she left it in the morning, the bark peeled rapidly back along the staircase, revealing it as it spiraled around the trunk. Mounting the first few steps, she turned to face Alason.

"Alright! Stairs are ready!"

Some people just didn't understand the beauty of taking their time to get from point A to point B. Jack realized Sapphira had to slow her pace to keep better pace with him, but she didn't seem to make a fuss about it. Maybe if they continued to hang out he would walk a bit faster; it meant having to keep his hands out of his pockets to do so, but he could just as easily play with change or something outside of his pocket.

The fact that she used a past tense term to describe her parents leading her down the path to be a Guardian didn't go amiss. She didn't sound sad, but considering it sounded like she had a pleasant childhood, he didn't think pointing it out would be good. Well, not in the way that first came to mind which was to ask about what had happened to lead to their deaths. Most wouldn't want to share that information, whereas most in the area were probably familiar with how despised his were and knew their death was out of vengeance. There were no condolences; he didn't want them anyways.

[color-8493ca]"Sounds like a lot of training. You must be pretty good at what goes into being a Guardian by now. Why not go off to take the test already?"[/color] Perhaps it was a poor assumption, but she was an elf. She had to be at least a hundred given that she looked to be about his age. That was a lot of years to train depending on how long ago her parents died.

His gaze drifted around the cafeteria when her narrow eyed gaze turned toward him. She might have tried to get rid of it, but he still spotted it. Without many in the room to begin with - first day of school, he figured more would be there - he could pick out at least one group that might have set her off. The Fitzroy Wolfpack. No surprises there; they were a load of pompous animals as far as he was concerned. Maybe that was his parents' thought process, but they looked like they would try to bully and beat their way through situations. Not a bad group to befriend and manipulate, but some didn't exactly look like they were pleased to see him even if some were sizing up Sapphira.

Distraction. That's what they needed. "Here, let's go grab some food. My treat." He was going to leave it at that, but the half second pause between sentences told him that offer might be construed improperly. "As a friend thing. If you don't mind, that is," he added quickly. This wasn't a date; it was an opportunity to get to know a potentially powerful ally and possible friend.

He could have been at least a little more subtle about it, Penelope found herself thinking at the insinuated trouble the night might bring. It wasn't like she was planning for trouble, but she wasn't exactly shy about getting into it. She knew it, Tony knew it, worst was that the Pack knew it too. Her uncle Daithi had been pretty direct in his request she stop getting into fights on a moral ground, and she was trying but it was a hard instinct to combat. Something about stubbornness and hotheadedness being inherited traits; it was a statement she heard often in teasing considering her father's nature.

A sigh escaped her, and Penelope couldn't help but nod. "All right. I promise. I'll do better to ignore trespasses that aren't against me," she said. It would be hard to turn a blind eye to a lot of what went on at Fitzroy parties, but she'd make a conscious effort to at least.

"Though we might luck out and it might be my uncle to come break up whatever. He swept the fight from my freshman year under the rug after all. And you could always approach Connall about one if you can't get one from the Chief or Professor Bianchi. He's in good standing, and he's still teaching Guardian Protocol. I understand going elsewhere, but he'd write you a letter if you asked." Yes, it would be better to get a letter from someone that is strictly involved on a professional basis, but Connall wasn't Tony's family. Friendships shouldn't influence that sort of thing, right?

"You need to drive. Daithi took my license for a month - it's not suspended, he just physically has it - for getting into another fight with Conrad over the summer. In my defense, he started it...But that's neither here nor there. Point is, I can't get caught driving without it."

Ariel had waited for everyone - or at least, for the crowd - to leave the auditorium after the lecture. She had a lot of useful information, as far as she was concerned anyways. It would have been better to sit with Jack and leave with him, but he seemed to be taking Nola's instructions to branch out to heart. She, on the other hand, was quite content playing it safe and sticking to herself.

She had the map of the school grounds sketched out based on what the projection had shown, but she wasn't about to trust her ability to get to class on time following that map alone. Like most others she had seen at the assembly, she held onto her class schedule and searched around for the appropriate rooms. Most of her classes were related to learning more about other races; there was a vastly different outlook from what Nola taught her in the past couple years and what her parents had. She wanted to know more about each - as far as classes could teach her anyways - if it meant she might be able to better aide using her magical capabilities. Mixed in were more spell oriented classes as well. Nola cautioned against such a full schedule, which was the only reason she wasn't also taking any Ancient Languages courses this year; Ariel liked keeping busy, but that was too much as far as Nola was concerned.

With classes mostly found - one or two were at least in the same building as others and her schedule allowed for time to get lost in between courses - Ariel wasn't quite sure what else to do with herself. So she opted to end her travels in the library. Staying was busy was more habit than necessity like it seemed to be for her twin. Which was why she was searching for a book - she would know what she was looking for once she found it - to fill her quite necessary hours after finishing the few books she had brought with her.

"Sounds like a lot of training. You must be pretty good at what goes into being a Guardian by now. Why not go off to take the test already?" he asked as Sapphira returned her gaze to him. Why hadn’t she? Well, she wasn’t fully grown until she was 100, but after that… She was pulled from her mental contemplation by his next statement. "Here, let's go grab some food. My treat." Then he quickly clarified himself. "As a friend thing. If you don't mind, that is."

His sudden change of subject caught her a bit off guard, and it took her a moment to respond. “Sure.” Her mind then drifted back to his previous question. What stopped her from taking the test years ago? After she was fully grown, she planned to take the test but…Hunters, they sent her life into disarray. First, by killing her father then her mother. The realization hit her like a knife to the heart. She felt her emotions change in that instance, but it wasn’t sadness that was threatening to come to the surface. It was anger. Her eyes narrowed instinctively. Her jaw clenched, and her eyes seemed to darken the more the anger inside her surfaced. If one wished to completely infuriate her, hurt the people she cares about, then you will rue the day you ever met her. But she realized that now was not the time for vengeance or for justice. She was simply reacting to the darkness and pain of her past. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reining in the anger as she had often practiced.

“Hunters—” she began, with an edge to her voice that she couldn’t quite hide. The very word felt like poison on her lips. “They are the reason I kept putting off taking the test. They murdered both my parents. I was left to pick up the pieces of my life and the lives of the little Supernatural community I called home.” @Nightfury Kat

@Lemons

In retrospect, he hadn't given much thought as to how Anwen reached the living quarters of her tree. He had considered that perhaps there was an entrance at ground level, invisible to him, or that maybe she would climb the vines with the strength of an olympian gymnast. In any event, while he had assumed that there was some exceptionally strange mechanism for getting into the actual 'home' section of the nymph's little private condominium, he couldn't manage the tact necessary to keep his mouth from opening just a centimeter or so when the bark actually peeled off of the tree itself, revealing a cantilever stairwell. She seemed so chipper, inviting him in, seemingly oblivious--what else is new?--to the sheer oddness of it all. Now, while surely in his lifetime Alason had seen his fair share of 'odd' events, he mostly kept to himself and his coven, a bunch similarly preoccupied with maintaining privacy, subtlety, and a courtly air of respect for those to be respected, and hauteur towards all others.

In any event, after this brief pause for thought on the situation at hand, Alason cautiously prodded the base stair with his foot. Applying some weight to it, finding it sturdy, looking to Anwen, back to the stair, a bit more weight, all of it now, and he began to ascend, taking each step a bit more quickly and readily than the last. Upon finding himself at the top, he looked to Anwen, and then back to the tree, neither wishing to breach standard social regulations by inviting himself in, nor wishing to unwittingly enter into what, for all he knew, could be the lair of some plant-deer-bear-man abomination crafted up by Anwen in a passing moment of morning boredom which she had forgotten about in all of her... Anwen-ness.

"After you."