#ProjectBThread

[indeeperwater]

Maybe she was reading too much into it, but she believed the other to be tense. Although, suppose she should be too? Meeting a stranger in the middle of the night in a forest where horror stories are born isn't the most comforting thing. But she didn't feel threatened, maybe it was because Darrian was close by, but she didn't feel as if she was in immediate danger around Shin either. Elowyn smirked when he agreed to go to the lake with her. Though for someone who lives in this forest, she was surprised he wasn't the one who found such a treasure.

Regardless, Elowyn sidestepped from where she was. "It's not too much further away." She stated, keeping the line with Darrian wide open as she turned her back. She didn't have her eyes on him, but she knew damn well that her familiar did.

Picking up a twig, she began to mess with it between her fingers. "Do you live out here alone, Shin?" She questioned, turning a little to look at him. "It would be really lonely if you do."

He didn't know what to make of her. Clearly she was not of the human world. But it really didn't matter at the moment. Because that was where they were, regardless. Shin raised an eyebrow when she asked about the lake. He turned his head a bit, as if he might see it and then shook his head “Don't think I have, no.” He was usually with his friends who were only awake at night. Which was often dealt with by being in the mansion or taking walks around the woods. Today was one such venture, though he was on his own for the time being, while his friends hunted.

Blinking, Shin glanced up to the sky “Maybe it wouldn't hurt to visit it, though. I'll consider it.” To touch the moon, or to seem like you could, that was certainly a sight worth seeing, of course. But he could not figure out a good time at the moment for doing that. Still, there was something he could sense that wasn't being said at the moment. Observing her briefly, he looked to Elowyn, focused and then quickly looking away again as a brief silence started to settle in. An awkwardness came about from it as that silence grew.

“Mmhm.” He couldn't let it go, honestly. This weird feeling he wasn't aware of all that was going on right now. Shifting, he brought his left hand up to his face, dragging his fingers along the bottom half of his face lightly “You are?” Shin then questioned her response, looking somewhat confused. But moving on as she had “Uh. Sure. I guess.” Pulling his hand from his face he stuck out his arm to pull the sleeve of his coat down and looked at the watch wrapped around his wrist “Yeah. I got time.”

[indeeperwater]

Coming to these mountains alone at night really does raise red flags—suppose they were both strange creatures. However, staring at the moon was honestly the reason why she came to the mountains. Elowyn needed a secluded place to go to in order to forget the reality waiting for her outside the woods. "Ever seen in above the Watauga Lake?" Her crystal blue eyes hummed in curiosity on the other as she narrowed them to watch him closely. "The full moon seems close enough to touch." Not to mention the lake itself was stunning, but the moon seemed different when you were sitting on the rocky shore and staring up in the sky.

Darrian was always circling close, but being in the Appalachian Mountains, he was able to get away with being closer. It was an odd adjustment when she discovered partially who she was and was only then reconnected with her familiar guide. A 22-foot-tall Asgardian black wolf who tends to have that get off my lawn old grouchy grandpa personality most times. Especially when Elowyn tests the waters on her safety, which considering what she does - is every day. And yet, telling this guy about her 22 tall Asgardian wolf familiar seemed safer than telling him she truly did come here to get peace of mind because her uncle is a crime boss who broke the deal they struck ten years ago for Elowyn to join the family business to keep her younger sisters far from his grasp and as safe as possible.

"You as well, Shin." You are too comfortable around him, young one. Elowyn internally rolled her eyes as she straightened off the tree. Though she shrugged at his last words. "I am." she simply answered, glancing up at the bright moon. "I can show you, that is if you haven't already been."

At the slight smile, he blinked, then lifted his head a bit, not sure what was going on here. The elf, himself, glances away briefly, mostly hoping to return to his isolated night wanderings, but was also overtaken in curiosity to this…other. There certainly seemed to be more going on, was all he concluded. Why else would she be out here alone, in the middle of the night? He knew why he was, of course. That could not be the same reason for her. His living out here, in the middle of nowhere, also helped with his reasoning for being there.

With her following answer, he glanced up to the sky, staring at the moon. The moon was very nice. Yes. But was it worth wandering into the middle of a mostly inhabited, for the most part, section of deep woods? Bringing his gaze back to Elowyn, he was not buying what she was selling. It didn't work. This moon could have been viewed at any other distance, right? He rarely left the woods, himself. But in his gut, he felt like this was not as truthful as it was being presented. Shin grinned back, “Great. The moon is always nice, I agree.”

Then with her question, he gave a nod “You could say that, yeah. Now. Not, always. I guess.” Shin shrugged, trying to keep the conversation casual, his thoughts undetectable, his face expressing cluelessness. Tapping a foot, he sighed, “Is that weird? I don't know.” He gave a careless shrug, not really caring that it might be peculiar that he was living out here, he was used to it now. Though as her questions continued, he laughed “Oh, right. Shin. Great meeting you in the middle of nowhere, at night, El.” He said. Shin was not his real name, of course. But he didn't trust her with his real name. Shin was more of a codename “So, just the moon brings you here, huh?”

[indeeperwater]

A hint of a smile crossed her features before it was taken away from Darrian's voice ringing in her head.

He's an odd one, Elowyn - you shouldn't keep your guard down with him.

He hasn't tried to attack me yet, Darrian. Besides, I have my fierce protector on standby.

I will not be your scapegoat for...

Elowyn blocked him out and focused on the other when he spoke up again. "Touche." Clearing her throat, she took a breath she didn't realize she was holding onto. "Suppose the moon offers me some peace as well." Which it does. While the stories still keep her on her toes, she knows nothing will happen to her when Darrian is close by. So, she was in a weird state of being at peace while still keeping every crunch of the forest floor under close watch. Well, at least keeping her fingers on the hidden dagger on her waist.

Her brows rose when stated he lived in the woods. "You live - in the Appalachian mountains?" Alright so, maybe Darrian has a point about keeping her guard up more around the other. Following where he was pointing, she hummed.

"You have a name? Or should I just refer to you as strange woods guy?" Elowyn was careful to keep that distance between the two as she walked to a nearby tree and leaned against it. "I'm El."

As the woman was staring at him, he was finding her to be stranger by the second. Though when she finally spoke, he lift his head up a bit, acknowledged. But then looked toward the moon, to, thinking about it. He certainly couldn't be doing that "Nah. Just enjoying the moon, Miss Presumptuous." Looking back at Elowen, he grinned "And what about you? Isn't it too late out for you to be out?" He wondered why she looked so freaked out, though.

"The moon definitely can't help me, anyway." Vampires were out hunting, and he was just their roommate. He wondered if they would hunt her, when he was around. Shin stares at the women, waiting for her to speak again. As she's talking he glanced away "I live here, so yeah. I guess I do. I'm one of those lost souls. My dead body is-" He pauses, scanning the area down below the cliff he came to stand at, before pointing toward some trees "Right there." He points, lying.

[indeeperwater]

Elowen was careful with the distance she put between herself and the other; it wasn't who she thought it was, and the more she focused on his features, the more she pondered if she'd run into him before. Maybe she had? She often visits these mountains and, more often than not, either runs into weird things or people or sees things that are better left not investigating. As much as these woods feel like home, she's heard the stories and the warning that if you hear or see something - no, you don't, seriously. Argo, it could be she's seen the other but, at the moment, couldn't place him. 

"Honestly?" She crossed her arms, keeping her surroundings in her peripheral and the other on her main focus. She moved her weight onto her right leg and forced her body to relax. I'm fine. "Looks like you're lost and trying to find direction on the moon." Then again, wasn't she doing the same in a sense? 

She took a deep breath and sighed out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. "Do you usually come into an infamous woods that swallows lost souls alive?" 

As a fog came over the mountainside and covered under the trees, Shin stared out of the window from the mansion that had been built deep in the woods. The six other occupants he lived with had been waking up as night began, he knew. After he had escaped the laboratory that had found him when he had been injured, he was living on the streets after running away from the orphanage that had taken him in as an infant. Shin, as he would come to be called by some, wandered into the woods and soon found this mansion, old but kept in pristine condition. The mansion had been built hidden deep into the woods to keep away from the eyes of others. However, rumors still had been passed around about it by the villagers and townspeople, who at times did manage to stumble onto it.

When Shin had found it, however, he was taken by the leader of the mansion's occupants. Shin was special, just like the others of the mansion, but not exactly like them. The leader decided that he was to take care of the 'daily' tasks that the other occupants could not do during the day. To have room and board. Shin readily agreed, just needing any place that would help him hide from those at the laboratory who would be searching for him. As he stays there, he also manages to learn more about his own family and enjoys the comfort of the small town and its convenient ability to keep things hidden.

Shin was able to become a relatively known member of the community, though he was still spoken of as 'strange' or 'odd' by several of the people in town. Shin sighed, pulling away from the window and deciding he was going to go look for cryptids while the other occupants went about their normal rituals of the night. Standing, he pulled on a jacket and made his way out of the front doors and into the misty night. A good time for finding such otherwise unfindable creatures, normal people usually hid from this world and were for the most part unable to see it. Shin however had the sight. He could see these creatures, that was how he found the mansion. Where others would go screaming back to town talking of creatures and curses, Shin embraced this supernatural side of things.

Making his way up the trails of the mountainside, he moved to stand at the cliff edge that gave one of the best looks over the treetops below. Staring down toward them, he could see some creatures moving in the night, some normal creatures that did their hunting at night. Others, not so normal. Lifting his head, Shin stares up at the moon, then turns toward the voice that calls out to him the next moment “Staring at the moon, what's it look like?” Shin turned to her then, and made a face, his head tilting a bit.