Tahki glances upwards as her heart skips a beat, surprised to find someone in her tree. She immediately gets up, careful not to injure herself. It’s clear she seems to have forgotten what happened.
She does realize right away though, her widened eyes relaxing, but she never takes her eyes off of the man.
Yakov doesn’t seem too affected on the outside by her reaction, though he does return her gaze.
He stays silent for a few more seconds then speaks.
“I’m..Yakov,” he gestures to himself.
Tahki seemed to be preparing some items. She had been in her clan for a while, so she knew what time of the year it was - the clan’s blood hunt was within a few days from now. It was best to head to the outer reaches of the valley, close to the Death Ring. But never in it. You don’t survive the Death Ring.
She looked up. “Tahki, the Exiled.”
The Exile? Yakov admits he is curious now. She must’ve been apart of something, then? To be exiled?
He doesn’t ask just yet, though. He moves slightly, preparing for when they exit.
Tahki finishes preparations, moving towards him again but this time past him. She doesn't say anything though, looking intently outside as she gets ready to head onto the forest floor.
Yakov wasn't sure how much he enjoyed this person's..style. She didn't speak, just expected him to follow. Or maybe she didn't.
"Some words would be nice," he said as he started to move out.
Tahki gave him a side eye.
"Silence." She turned, and now presented in the light of the morning was some sort of 'steps' or hold in the wood of the tree that she used to climb down. Anyone could climb a ladder up and down; that made it too easy for any thieves. Tahki pressed herself into the tree as she began to climb down. This way made it harder for intruders to sneak up there; not that they would suspect a human to build in a tree.
Which they would, Tahki knew; having heard of the Southern Tree Dwellers.
Wow. Okay.
"Y'know, I'm starting to think you saving me wasn't you being nice," he started, then stopped, seeing her go down the tree.
"Uh." He stared.
Tahki glanced up, taking a second to adjust to the light. When she did, she looked up Yakov.
“Come on. It is not that hard.” She resumed going to the ground.
Yakov stares in silence for a few seconds, then lowers himself, attempting to climb down the tree. He had climbed trees before, just not of this size and..height.
He really shouldn't have looked down, he realizes as he clings to the bark of the tree.
Tahki is nearing the ground when she glances up. Her companion is still really close to the top. Has he never been on a tree? She wonders.
"Hurry up. The day is wasting away."
Yakov looked back down but seemed to push himself into the tree even closer if it was possible. He wasn't that scared..no, he wasn't scared at all. Just trying to get some extra grip on the tree. He begins to move down again. While he's in no way fast compared to the woman, he's getting close to the forest floor. He drops to the ground, nearly stumbling.
He exhales, probably of relief. He looks at Tahki. "So, where are you going?"
Tahki almost rolls her eyes. She's never seen such foolish attempts at going down a tree. Even the children at her old clan could do it better. At his question, she answers in a tone that sounds somewhat hostile.
"Where are you going?" She glares at him.
He steps back at her hostility. Before the woman had saved him, but now she was aggressive again? Make up your mind, lady!
Instead of thinking of some smart response, he answers in the first way he thought of. "Huh?"
She seems to laugh, but not in humour. "You are from the outside. Beyond the Death Ring, why don't you go there?" She stares.
She suspected this because of his lack in ability of climbing trees. She's never been outside of the Death Ring, but she's heard the outside has little to no trees. And for what trees it has, they aren't anything compared to these trees.
Death..Ring? That doesn't sound very good.
"Listen, I do not know what a Death Ring is. I have no clue where I am, I woke up in a forest I don't know the name of yesterday, and I'd honestly appreciate some support here. But sure. By all means, treat me with hostility. Even though I..I'm not really that much of a threat to you..?" His rant started off frustrated, but ended in more of a question.
She huffs, then steps forwards rather quickly. "Liar," she hisses, pointing at his gun. Her sharp, slightly pointed teeth are quite visible now, if they weren't before. "I have seen what one of those things can do. You could take me out here if you really wanted to."
He steps back again. This woman told him he was wasting the day..now look at them.
His throat tightens at the sight of her teeth. Especially her canines. Those weren't normal.
He pauses, then speaks, his tone going neutral. "And I don't."
"And you don't." She repeated. That was true, she supposed. He could still do it later.
"Give me the weapon."
“Huh?” He said. “Why? Why do you want it?” Instinctively, he backs up again.
“I don’t trust you with it, so I’m taking it away. Now..” after much debate beforehand, she decided this was the best option.
She takes out her own roughly made handgun from her bag of supplies and aims at him. “Give me it.” It has no ammo, but she’s been aggressive enough and confident in her voice that she believes he’ll believe her. The handgun looks old. Very very old.
He holds ground at this point, worried that if he backs up anymore it might look like he’s attempting to flee. Hesitantly, he hands her his gun.
“You do know how to handle it..right?” He asks, slowly.
Tahki takes it. It’s a bit large for her, larger than her current gun. She puts away her current one. “Yes, I do. I’m not dumb.” Well, she had an idea on how it works.
She turns away, looking into the sky as some birds fly by. “We need to head to the lake.”
Yakov doesn’t like not having a gun out here. He stares at the birds, then back to her. “Why? What for?”
“Because we need to get to centre island before Blood Night.” Her voice was straight to the point. She began to move. “it won’t take long to walk there. It’s crossing the water I’m worried about, and other people.”