onepassingnight | .006 These Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep

Once upon a time, for all good stories start with once upon a time, there was a great forest. It stretched on for days, for countries, for unclaimed fairy tale after unclaimed fairy tale in fact. This was the Great Wood, the Olde Wood, the Place Where All Things Start. This was the forest of all the old tales and it will ever be, until men are legends that dogs tell each other around the fires at night. Everything lives in the depths of these woods and nothing at all. Be careful what you whisper when you go into the dark for even the trees are listening and stories have a way of happening here whether you want them to or not.

Deep in the darkness, in one of the less traveled spots, there lives a wolf. The Wolf, if you will. For he is the Big Bad, the Howler at the Door, the Winter Wolf, the Devourer, the Nightmare That Creeps In Windows, the Child's Warning and, occasionally, the Huffer and Puffer, though he's taken to outsourcing the last one after one particularly embarrassing incident involving a hay allergy. He's the wise talking beast or the prehistoric feral fear. He is, in short, whatever your story needs him to be.

Don't expect him to be particularly pleased or even helpful about it though. He's been doing this job for a while now and he's getting sick of getting yanked out of rolling in dead animals just so that he can trot his fuzzy butt over to make menacing, half-assed attempts at your basket of treats and God help you if he has to dress in old lady drag One More Time!

OOC: so. Here's Cloud to provide all your Big Bad Wolf TM needs. Or frankly, the forest isn't above dragging him in to take over any animal need. There appears to be a shortage of fairy animals going around at the moment, something about better paying jobs in Hollywood. Does your story need a talking bear? Suddenly you've got a snarky wolf as your guide. Your brothers got the mill and all you got was a cat? Well, it's a wolf now and it's not happy about having to wear boots or do all your work for you, you dolt. Need that straw spun into gold by morning? Looks like you're duck out of luck. Wolves can't spin, though he does a very impressive cats cradle if you give him enough yarn and tie the knots for him. Point being, if your fairy tale has an animal of any sort in it, you've now got a very grumpy wolf who can't say 'not interested' the way he'd really rather. And, of course, he's still here for all your big bad wolfish metaphorical needs as well.

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His huff elicits another of her easily given smiles, increasing when her own peek over the shoulder lets her see his swishy high tail. What a ham. But--

"Ah?" He's off! For a moment she's troubled and takes a few cautious steps after him--yes, even half-dressed--but he did woof at her. Even if she doesn't speak wolf she's quickly learned that he's a smart boy and has got his own ideas. He was talking to her, so he's probably not just abandoning her...

Brows furrowed as she tries to figure this out, she resumes dressing. Once that's done (the lacing itself takes a good few minutes), she's padding along the tailor's shop, fussing hands at her hair and thinking about how she should update her hair ribbon to match her dress. Except, it's a memento...she just can't.

Besides, what she really needs is a way to get to the ball. There's a thought that she needs to start hoofing it, pronto, and though she stays at the door to look out for Mister Wolf there's a notable impatience in how she cranes her neck to look around the street, bobbing up and down on her feet. Where oh where is he, and what is he up to?

Some quest items are harder to find than others. Especially if you're intent on getting the Very Best. And Cloud is. He's going to send the pretty girl off to the ball and he's going to do it so much better than any little 'magic' bird ever could. So it's a little bit of time but not too much before there's the distant and growing rattle of a carriage approaching the door of the tailor's. And what a carriage it is too. Drawn by four snow white horses (who look a little ragged and wild eyed) and painted in pure white with pink gold gilt trim around it (except in that spot on the coachman's now empty seat where it looks like it got pulled off when someone tried to hang on to something - unsuccessfully). No one's driving it and there's no one on the footman's perch but the driverless carriage pulls to a only slightly rough stop outside the door Aerith is waiting at and seconds later, Cloud, tongue lolling in pleasure, slips out from between the traces where the skitterish horses are waiting to trot proudly over to the girl in the doorway. He's quite proud of managing to play sheep dog to a bunch of horses but he's even more proud of what he's managed to get inside the carriage.

A pair of comfortable fur lined ~~Ugg boots~~ slippers. Because he's a sensible wolf and if she's going to be on her feet all night he's made sure to get her sensible shoes to hide under the long train of her dress.

Beat that birdie!

She's nervous when the carriage first pulls up, ducking back into the tailor's so she doesn't get caught--except, then she realizes that far from anyone yelling at her, there's no one on there to even notice her, only the four horses who look a bit skittish. She's drawing out again to see if she can calm them down when the source of agitation becomes apparent. And looking quite pleased with himself, too! She's staring for a moment before realizing what it means, and then she claps her hands in delight.

She'd shout, too, but she's not about to make those horses bolt.

"You...must be a big troublemaker, wherever you come from," she tells Mister Wolf when he trots up to her, the words warm as she leans over to look him in the eye. "Thank you."

And she hasn't even seen ~~dem boots~~ the slippers yet, though she'll discover them soon. She's already stepping up into the carriage when something occurs to her. She steps back down, putting her anticipation off for the moment. "Hey...I know it's probably not a wolf thing but...would you want to come with? It might not be normal, but." Instead of finishing that thought in words, she just chuckles quietly. 'Weird' is looking more and more fun tonight.

His chest manages to puff out a bit at her praise, because of course it's praise and his jaws open to let that tongue hang just a little bit more. He's done better than good for her and that's what matters to him. His eyes glow a happy blue when they meet the green of hers. At her invitation though, they go a bit wider in his face and then he turns his head to make a hacking noise over his shoulder.

That would be a no.

Social situations and Cloud don't seem to mix well. He can't imagine why. He will however wait outside the ball for her, one she's not going to have to rush out of because he certainly hasn't set a time limit on her fun like some stick in the mud bird.

Just in case she needs any help or someone to chop anything off.

And after that...

After that who says she has to go home? The world's a big place to find adventure in for a brave girl and a clever wolf...

.006 These Woods Are Lovely, Dark and Deep

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Time to about wrap this up? Unless Cloud's coming to the ball too :)

wrap up sounds good. They've certainly had their fun XD