Word Count 500+
Her examination of his figure seemed to last about as long as his of hers. His friendly smile grew and he broke the soon to become awkward silence. His comment and clarification about his name brought a small smile to her lips and she nodded, "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Oak," she responded in kind. A single stride brought his form closer to hers and automatically her gaze did another quick scan of his form, looking for any finer details she might have missed from even a few feet further away. She had not, and part of her felt foolish for checking.
He turned his form and she had to stop herself from looking him up and down yet again for he quickly turned back and asked if she was coming along. That was as good an invitation as any, though a bit less formal than she was used to, "Yes, I'm coming." A few short strides brought her beside him and they both began walking into the lands of Crimson Dreams. A couple more moments passed in silence before the russet male again turned to her and asked her a question. Ornaments? Had his tone not betrayed a bit of friendly sarcasm, she might have taken offense. Beautiful though they were her weapons were tools, extensions of her own form. Though she had only ever used the sword in sparring matches, and never drawn blood, she was confident in her ability to kill in defense if the need arose. Her bow was a different story as she had slain many a head of game with it from distances near and far. In her homeland her skill had become a bit of a local legend, though she had not believed it.
"Yes, I have been trained to use them since the day I could change forms. I once slew a stag from a hundred paces with this bow, though such a far shot is not the norm. More often I can get a bit closer," she replied, reaching behind her to run her hand along the lacquered limb of her long bow. "I can hunt without weapons as well, but larger game are harder to bring down in that manner by myself," she admitted. She did not wish to portray herself as bound to the use of her weapons, particularly for hunting. The cinnamon girl would not lie about her prowess with the bow or about her occasional difficulty with the old fashioned tooth and claw method. She was a female, and though a well trained, strong female, her lack of body mass brought with it a limitation of the force she could bring to bear. Her mind travelled back to the moment when Oak had arrived to answer her call and how he had sunk his axe into the tree with one blow. She would have had to use both hands and she still might not have struck the target hard enough to hold the implement fast. Knowledge of one's limitations was valuable, for it allowed recognition of other's abilities. [/html]