saving grace - open; tree home and garden

[RHINESTONE.]

Rhinestone had never really been a big fan of the Twisted Forest, if she was being honest. It all stemmed from when she was a child, being teased by the older apprentices and told that there were disturbing and terrifying beasts within the trees. Obviously she now knew that such rumors weren't true, but those old stories still sometimes came to her as she walked through the trees, eyes seeming to gleam out of the darkness. She wished, truly, that she could overcome such a childish fear, and for the most part, she had. Still, there were many other places she vastly preferred over the Twisted Forest, so she had a tendency not to go there unless she was going to hunt, or speak to Medusa. Even then, she usually liked hunting more in the sea, rather than on land – aquatic prey had always been her specialty, after all. However, there were times where she simply didn't have a choice. This was one of those times, although not for the usual reason. Rather than prey being hard to come by everywhere else, Rhinestone was instead trying to test her hunting skills in the forest, since she was a bit more clumsy in her new tasmanian tiger form. She needed practice, and she could only get it by going into the forest.

Of all the things that the legate had expected to see in the forest, however, a tree shifting into a home was not one of them. As she had approached where Sorbet was making his new house, she hadn't even initially noticed the way that it was moving. Instead, her attention had been on the ground, newly green eyes searching frantically for any signs of prey. But then, the sound of wood twisting and splitting as it was carefully manipulated by Sorbet's elementals caused her to lift her gaze. She almost jumped back in surprise as the tree was opened up and hollowed, all of her worst nightmares from her childhood suddenly slamming into focus. Rhine's heart was beating wildly in her chest as she tried to force it to calm down, knowing full well that it was just the use of someone's elementals. Still, her mind raced with thoughts of those old rumors – of the very trees themselves reaching out to try and grab passersby, only to rip them limb from limb. It didn't help that visions of her first death suddenly flashed in her mind, razor sharp wolf teeth sinking into her flesh and producing noises eerily similar to the wood splintering in front of her.

Rhinestonestar was only finally ripped from her panic when a voice reached her ears, snapping her out of it – Ares. That new girl that had shown up only a few days ago. She was young, and yet she seemed utterly unbothered by her surroundings – as Rhine should've been, honestly. That was enough to finally make the legate's spiked up fur settle, a relieved and shaky breath leaving her as she shook her head. Nearly having a panic attack over something so trivial, especially after surviving a full blown assassination attempt just a few days earlier... it seemed so silly. She gave another little shaky of her head before making her way over to the front of the structure, sitting down and inspecting Sorbet's handiwork. It was certainly impressive what the other could do with his powers, especially since Rhine had never done something similar with her own. After a moment of admiring the new tree home, the tasmanian tiger found herself muttering, "This is pretty impressive, Sorbet. And it almost looks... cozy, honestly. The Twisted Forest isn't really my cup of tea, but I'm sure you'll like it here." Not my cup of tea was an understatement, but that felt like the safe thing to say.

Just as she was about to offer her own help with cleanup and home decoration, the legate was caught off guard by the scent of blood on the air. With a small frown pulling at her muzzle, she took a step forward to look Sorbet over, her frown only growing when she noticed the stains of blood near his ears, and nose. Shaking her head in disapproval, Rhinestone then muttered, "Oh, Sorbet... you shouldn't have done this all at once. You could've really hurt yourself. Has Rosemary taught you enough to make sure you're alright, yet?" It really was a pain, not having Vaas around as their medicus legionis anymore. Not only that, but the other's absence did leave a bit of a whole in Rhinestone's aching heart. However, she maintained that Vaas's practical disappearance was more of a loss for the Glades as a whole, rather than just herself.

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