⚘ ㅤrocky path。

@ᶜ˖⁺ minwoo n。 Up in the air, every huff and puff showed just how cold the level of air was. The cold breath being visibly seen as she kept flapping her wings, hair as dark as night whisking back from the speed as she flew through the skies. The scene once again playing in her mind the moment Minwoo took blindness, the darkness that covered over his soft brown orbs. Once she took off she had no mind or worry though over him, but of course that was only because she had no knowledge of his gift. Spreading out her wings, hovering with the turbulent wind before looking at the landscape.

"Gale, eyes." she said aloud and instantly Gale shifted his sight with hers. The darkness of her irises lighting up into a golden brown and soon everything below became clearer - closer. "You're not as useless as you seem, finch." Bora said in a teasingly way towards Gale. "Now we'll be able to find the little rat before it's even dark." She slightly looked over her shoulder and saw the sun was starting to set but Bora didn't worry, not with the speed she was flying. Returning her attention back to the ground of the forest, skimming past trees, she didn't notice the small dot behind her that getting closer and closer.

Her eyes moved quickly in her search, eyes darting back and forth as she began to fly in a slithering like pattern. She was quite enjoying this too much, the wind against her skin along with the sight to see all; she was drunk off this transformation. Which actually may have been due to her using her magic back to back then merging with Gale for the first time. Until abruptly she stopped in mid air, wings flapping up and own to keep her afloat when her eyes caught the glimpse of something small and ant like in the trees. With no hesitation she dove her head first, the wind nearly parting as she flew through it and the closer she got the clearer it was. A wicked smile took resident on her lips and with an almost like roar, she blurted out to the young lad below.

"Found you!" Fear. That's all she saw in his as she said that, the words slipping out with a melodic ring as if she was singing a song. Bora saw that a chill ran down his spine as he sat there frozen. Her prey feets away and her claws sharpened and out, her viscous laugh now filling the air.

@ᶜ˖⁺ bora y。 Little by the little, the warmness faded from her voice to reveal a rather frigid and straightforward tone, that very much puzzled the young man. What even more so threw him for a loop was how icy and firm her grip was, as if she was attempting to establish some sort of connection. In response, he attempted to tug at his own wrist, however her grip remained firm and was soon accompanied by her ominous voice. At this point in time Minwoo wasn't sure if it was the enchantment that made him rigid, petrified in his place -- or the fact that he was taken by surprise. Then, as if an icy fire blew through his veins, dark magic travelled up until it festered in his eyes, instinctually making him rip his wrist away from the woman and cry out in frightened agony at this newfound blindness, clutching his eyes as his sight became black.

In a panicky mess, the boy collapsed onto his knees, palms buried in his eyes as he blinked frantically, while hearing belligerent thoughts from his familiar that was experiencing the same thing. Meanwhile, he heard the faint flapping off fabric, accompanied by faint chirps of the songbirds hidden amongst the trees that whispered in his ear hints that she has now taken to flight. Still, his head remained buried between his knees as he buckled over, blinking away the darkness frantically until it started to dissipate.

When the curse had finally faded he lifted his eyes up to the sky, spotting the outline of the witch. The sight made his heart sink, his palm instinctively coming up to rest over his chest as he rubbed at it slightly. In a sense, he had been betrayed by his only real 'friend' that he had made here since his arrival.

""Go get her.""

Minwoo whipped his head towards his familiar, who challenged the young boy with his own stance of peeved frustration and betrayal. Anger soon began to boil in Minwoo's veins, as his head started to pound. Then Tigger looked up into the sky as well; Minwoo's gaze following his as it landed upon a hawk circling above. The animal was trying to tell him something, and so as the emotions swirled within, Minwoo racked his head with all the possibilities, before reaching out to communicate with his mind.

On cue, the hawk caught on to --- something --- that Minwoo's mind was putting out, and oddly enough the boys body began to move on it's own internal instincts. At the exact moment the hawk's barrage of thoughts flooded Minwoo's mind, he began to run. Only, his head remained up as he maintained contact with the hawk, the creature letting him inside it's head. Soon enough a transformation took place. A miraculous one.

In one magnificent jump, Minwoo's arms grew feathers as he grew smaller and smaller until he stole the very appearance of the creature he was communicating with. In a few impressive he had gained a substantial amount of elevation, sending a message to his familiar to hang tight. His only recognizable feature now being his chestnut-y eyes as he took to the air in search of the runaway witch.

@ᶜ˖⁺ minwoo n。 She was only snapped back into the reality of time when she felt the warmth of Minwoo's body starting to seep through her fingers, not to mention as she watch the stone slipped through his fingers. Cursing within her mind as she thought her plan was foiled. Until it was the swiftness of his familiar that caught her attention, watching as he brought it up to the original hand Bora wanted it to be in. Fixing herself back onto her feet a small smirk formed when she looked the other way; disappearing as quickly as it appeared. Gale now quiet, hiding inside the previous coin satchel as Bora looked at the other began to fiddle with the diamond. Making sure to keep a fond smile as she stared at it.

Bora no longer surprised at the questions he was not constantly asking, earning that raspy voice to praise him instead of the intent of getting rid of him but that's what she wanted. A small sigh of content left her and admired the stone as he presented it in front of her. "I know it all seems rather unbelievable and that it seems I have made it up" which was partially true but Bora wasn't going to tell him that. "I would never lie about this. I've kept this diamond along with the set the thief stole for quite some time. It's actually the last bit I have of my family."

A dim of the sun was slowly starting, with the setting sun starting to peak through the branches and leaves that were left. She reached out her hand towards the diamond, "Powerful, I'm not sure about that but I wouldn't allow someone to underestimate me.. However, I have to admit you catch on quicker than the usual."

The cheeriness, the gentle smile, the worry, the fondness, the light.. faded from both her eyes and voice. Instead of taking the stone from his hands, her fingers wrapped around his wrist instead and met eyes with him. The gaze so cold it felt like you were being pricked by dry ice. Silence fell and just for a few seconds longer Bora's lips parted, an emotionless look in her eyes.

"Blind."

A small little stone, as pretty as it was when it sparkled with every fragment of light that shifted through it slowly began to cloud in Minwoo's hand. The black magic transferring through the tip of his fingers and up his arms, wrapping around his neck until it reached his eyes. A short incantation but soon Minwoo would see nothing but darkness, that's what the purpose of a diamond was when combined with black magic.

Quick to act, Bora held out her hand toward Tigger, marking the familiar with the same curse. She had to act fast, for the curse wouldn't last long. Gale scurrying out from the cloak sat atop her head, the sleeves of the black cloak slowly forming wings in the image of her familiar. "Shut up.." she spoke out loudly due to something Gale had commented and with a flap Bora began to hover. Taking off into the air.

@ᶜ˖⁺ bora y。 ‘A thief’


As her words began to unravel, revealing what she tried to push forth as the true motive, Minwoo's demeanor shifted from caring and concerned, to slightly suspicious. Bora’s story started out being implausible, only to change direction upon the young man’s questioning. The more he delved into all the possibilities, the more he was taken aback by her unrelenting charm and convinced that her reasonings weren’t exactly 100% believable anymore. Internally, he was worried that she was in trouble, or embarrassed or involved something that he could potentially aid; so of course he pushed himself to nudge her to clarify the entire truth. It was something he always did, yet another quirk of his when it came to friends.



Though, was she a friend? He halted his barrage of thoughts to think about this fact. Why did he care so much?



“Listen….Bora…..if you’re in some kind of trouble——“ he lifted his hand in reassurance before stepping away from the cool bark, only to be interrupted by her attempting to explain her story further. And then suddenly, she had stepped forth on an unstable surface and came stumbling towards his figure. In surprisal his eyes widened as he observed the breathtaking stone fumble off of her palm, the light refracting off the surface as it flipped down and down further, and as fast as his reaction time endowed him, he reached out for the stone. 



Unfortunately, the moments that ensued were not what Minwoo had anticipated; for the stone did end up dancing across his fingertips, but soon slipped through them and re-started its plummet towards the forest floor. His familiar caught on, the elevated heartbeat in Minwoo jumpstarting Tigger’s reaction and therefore making him spring into action impressively. As a frozen gasp left Minwoo’s swollen lips, his familiar fumbled for the stone until he scooped it up into his clutch. 

Then with a proud smile, Minwoo bent over and held his palm out in front of T, the Fossa rolling the stone into the young man’s palm. Minwoo waited until it was firmly secured within his clutch before he stood up to outstretch the jewel towards it’s original owner. “It’s a pretty diamond. The clarity is unbelievable. How many carats is it?” With the tilt of his head he offered a smile, before continuing. “I can believe that you would…… hypothetically want to find a thief who stole something similar…..but I can’t say your story is particularly compelling. Pardon me for saying that.” Minwoo then cleared his throat, mulling the diamond over in his palm as he inspected it for as long as it took for her to pluck the stone from his palm, which she hadn’t even shown signs of doing yet.

“So is that your final say? A thief who stole from you?” He inhaled the cool winter air through his nose, sniffling slightly due to their frosty surroundings. “That made a powerful witch waste her valuable time to trek out in the middle of nowhere?”

@ᶜ˖⁺ minwoo n。 Appalled she just gave a calm chuckle of embarrassment at his words, continuing to listen to him intently. In all honesty, Bora had really not cared for others she met in the witch and wizard filled city. So the knowledge of what Minwoo strived in was not known to her at all, she felt defeated already but she couldn't let it show. Mentally screaming at Gale to at least try to be useful now and help her come up with an excuse. Which earned her nothing but a snotty bird just snapping back at her. "You know he's a lot smarter than he looks, even more so with his familiar by his side." Gale told her, as much as she hated it he was right. This young man was more than he appeared. Bora had to be very cautious.

"You're right, now I just feel silly for saying I'm an expert when literally you're in front of me. Hm, perhaps you're more of an expert in the location of gem stones. I on the other hand, have more experience with the use of gem stones." Confidence emitting from Minwoo's entire aura as he continued and still she kept a smile; surprisingly keeping her outer appearance calm and composed longer than she assumed. That's when she was reminded of a certain gem stone she put to use a few nights ago, just maybe with that stone would she be able to buy some time.

"Of course I don't mind finding some granite. They're used a lot in protection and healing.." The worry from his voice traveled to her and that's when she saw opportune, the smile on her red lips fading into a small frown as her eyes dropped to the ground.

"To be completely honest, I'm just not out here for gem stones and crystals. I'm trying to find someone who took something very dear to me, I know I won't be able to find any gems out here.." she continued to explain, spinning a lie about how a thief broke into her shop and Gale truly staying there just in case anyone would try to break in again. In truth, Gale was once again carefully moving down her back by command just moments ago, shuffling into the small coin satchel that was attached to the belt loops of her pants; taking out the small yet dangerous shimmering stone. A diamond to be exact. She reached inside her cloak, just enough so Gale wouldn't be exposed and so she could take hold of it. Laying the diamond in the palm of her hand, showing it to Minwoo.

Taking a few steps forward carefully she displayed it better for him "This is a part of what the thief stole, it was like a family heirloom and-" when she was close enough she made sure to step on the loose rock hidden beneath the leaves and soil. Purposely showing the instinct like behavior of grabbing onto him, causing the stone to fall from her hands. Within that moment as quick as it seemed it felt like a life time to Bora, watching the diamond slip out of her palm; part of her really questioning if this plan would work.

Would Minwoo reach out for it? If he didn't, what was she going to do now..

@ᶜ˖⁺ bora y。 Curiously, he stepped a tad closer to her in examination, for some felt just a tad out of the ordinary. Minwoo knew it wasn't all having to do with this rare occurrence and his awkward presentation, rather the way Bora was acting was an indicator as well -- for she was being a little too easygoing and carefree then what Minwoo has previously experienced in her presence. "Okay, 'gemstone expert,' but you know I'm a Geology major right?"

He dug his toe into the dry, dead leaves, hearing it rustle lowly underfoot. Minwoo also clasped his cold hands behind his back, fingers twiddling while his gaze drifted down to the forest's ground as well. "You know...." he started up, slight suspicion anchored in his tone before he continued, "valuable gemstones in forests are still hard to find. You're gonna need some heavy digging tools, or -- well, as far as I know there are no tunnels around here. You could find diamonds in river deposits but.....there's no rivers around here either...." Minwoo flashed a knowing smile at the other, while his familiar scampered to his leg, only to clamber all the way up the boy's lanky body until he perched himself atop the boy's shoulder.

"I mean, there's a whole lot of granite around here. Aha, and that's about it without some heavy machinery or an already pre-existing mine or gem deposit" Smugly, the wizard leans up against the tree, proud that he's been able to exercise his knowledge in the real world. "And as a Geology major, I've done my duty to research all known sites around here and it seemed like there wasn't any around here." He pats his chest while proclaiming, before his arm winds up to give Tigger a scratch between his ears. "With Gale gone, me and T could help you out, T is great a digging. And I know all the historical spots are, or where things have been found before."

Then he caught the very minute change in her demeanor, the slight altering of her expression into that of worry. Soon, his natural instincts to be concerned were fueled, and so he tilted his head in a composed manner. "Are you sure everything is alright?"

@ᶜ˖⁺ minwoo n。 She gave a chuckle along with a soft nod, the bubble of laughter traveling through the air as if itself was spell made to cast upon the other; to stray him from any suspicion. Dark brown irises following the direction of his head in his observant action and when their gazes met another spellbound like smile form. "That's true the Rose Cavern would be better, I do hear there are rather rare gem stones and crystals there." Her hands lifted in gesture to display the forest around them. "But, the forest it self holds many gem stones as well. You just have to find the right places to search you know. With me being a gem stone expert, I'm confident in finding their hiding spots."

All in this moment she did not realize the creature that had already stepped between to two, by the time she had already noticed what the intelligent familiar was doing it was already too late for her to quickly spin up another tale of lies. The questions of the location of Gale had made him stop, clinging onto her shirt with his small like talons keeping quiet to not give himself away. Bora gave Tigger a gentle smile before lifting her gaze, hands folding together in front of her. "I told you to get rid of him." spoke the same cold raspy voice. She ignored it.

"You know he and I aren't the best of friends. Usually I bring him along because it makes the finding easier with his keen bird's eye view. Today he was being a bit more disobedient than usual so he's at the shop until I come back-" Once again, Bora was interrupted by that raspy voice - this time she could feel it scratching at her ear drum. "If you don't find a way out then I'm going to get rid of him. Master is tired of waiting."

Of course the normal Bora wouldn't care. That's until she felt the fright in Gale, the desperation in his voice in which begged her to let Minwoo go. As this actually was the first time Gale had accompanied her for a hunt, not the regular criminal hunting and returning to police. The hunt for a heart.

"Minwoo, I would really love to stay in chat but the day is nearly ending and sadly I do not have night vision or any light source. I should really get going to find these gem stones." she voice out calmly and with a hint of that human worry as her eye brows knitted together slightly.

@ᶜ˖⁺ bora y。 With each step, the crunches made underfoot got louder as he strayed off the beaten path to meet her. His cheeks and nose were rosy, hair cowlick-ed wildly, and sweater flapping aimlessly in the brisk wind until he came to a stop before her. "Looking for gemstones here?" With that Minwoo let out a breathy chuckle, head turning in either direction as if to do a double-take of their surroundings, before his gaze landed upon her alluringly petite visage. "You'd have more luck in Rose Cavern."

Tigger scurried in between them, lifting his upper body slightly to take a whiff of the air, and for a moment Minwoo's gaze flickered to him in peculiar wonderance, before he re-settled it onto Bora. He was about to open his mouth to continue with an inquiry, however it was intercepted with a thought pushed into his mind by the very creature that stood before him; however it wasn't out-loud like previously -- rather it was a message ushered silently from brain wave to brain wave.

'Where's her familiar?' was the thought transplanted from the Fossa to Minwoo, and before the silence between them became too suspicious, he blurted out haphazardly, "Where's Gale?" Despite the lack of smoothness Minwoo was able to present at this maladroit of a moment, he still offered a charmingly boyish grin, one that was always genuine and presented with utmost care.

@ᶜ˖⁺ minwoo n。 With a heavy exhale she had stopped in her tracks, catching her breath in which by surprise was something she didn't do often. But you'd guess that with a bounty hunter trying to catch you you'd run your as quickly as possible. Pushing back the hood of her cloak she spared a few minutes to look around her, hoping to find any other types of tracks left by the young wizard. With wide eyes Bora saw it, a ripped piece of cloth hanging at a branch as if it's life depended on it. As cliche as it was to her she was satisfied, positive that she was now closing in on her target. Going forward once more she anticipated to find him just around the tree or at least a few trees.

"Stop- wait Bora." Gale's voice echoed through her head and she let out an annoyed groan, glancing down at the bird which had once again popped it's head out. "There's something coming." He said to her before she could lash out to him; in which he was thankful for. But at those words her head shot from side to side trying to find someone or something. Complete silence surrounding the entire area and that's when she hear it, the crackle of branch and leaves. Bora snapped her head back thinking it was her target - to prove her wrong was just not the soft denial Gale muttered before hiding, but the silhouette approaching her. In normal cases she'd just flee or throw a quick spell however, upon hearing her name be called out had her freeze even more.

Lost, she didn't know what to do, until a more groggy and raspy voice whispered against her ear; the coldness of the voice nearly making her shiver. "Get rid of him." it spoke cruelly. She recognized the voice, but even if she wanted to do something he had already closed quite a distance. Quickly pulling up her hood over her head in which triggered that regular facade she pulled on a daily, turning around in his direction with a slightly cheery tone.

"Minwoo, I'm surprised to see you out here." she smiled, eyes quickly catching his familiar just near him. Taking a step forward to make sure the two had not gone any further, distracting him with one of those charming smiles she practiced.

"Just out here to do some finding. The gem stones at the shop has been selling quicker than usual so I'm stocking up on them again. What are you doing out here?" whilst spinning the lie she telepathically ordered Gale to sneak behind her and go off after their target. He was so small she was sure Minwoo or his familiar would notice, keeping her smile as Gale slowly and stealthy wiggled to her back and down.

@ᶜ˖⁺ bora y。 It was one of his many quirks, traipsing through the dense foliage of opacity's magic-tinged forests to clear his mind. And so as the wintry wind whipped up his hair into a comical mess, he continued his trek down a particular craggy path, of which was peculiarly lined with unexplainable dollops of crystal clear ice. Alongside him was Tigger, thick paws heard pitter-pattering above in the branches as he hopped to and fro.

There was something different about today, for the usual exercise of his quirk carried an underlying motive. Upon his last visitation of the nearby forestry, he began to hear voices. Then and only then is when they appeared. Among the chattering of songbirds and the rustling of dense foliage, waves of whispers and chirps swarmed his ears, muttering the oddest of things. Minwoo could barely make out the language, as it almost didn't seem human. Many would have stayed away from such occurrences, but suffice to say he was drawn in -- for this could have been the very hint he was looking for -- the hint that led him to his gift.

""Minwoo."" A soft, fluttery voice drifted down from the treetops, interrupting his train of thought. ""Minwoo," it persisted again, and this time his head whipped up until his alarmed gaze fell upon his familiar. "What the...." his own voice uttered, a foggy wisp drifting off coolly as his breath made contact with the winter air. It was then Tigger distinctly smiled, making Minwoo's beating heart nearly rupture out of surprisal.

""...So you can understand me now? Good."" Tigger then tilted his head, examining Minwoo's frightened state as he lifted a paw to start at it, warming it up from it's time dancing across the trees layered with ice.

"What the hell....y-you can talk?" Minwoo stammered in a shocked manner, mouth agape for a few moments. He didn't even realize it until his back hit a tree with a thud, ice cool bark penetrating his thin sweater, reminding him that this was very much real. Too real.

The familiar then scampered in front of it's human, head angled upwards as it continued to utter quietly, ""More like, you can understand."" Tigger's ear twitched before he proceeded to talk....a little too calmly for Minwoo's taste. ""But there's more pressing issues."" With that, the familiar's tail pointed downwards, over the rocky precipice they were conversing on, to a cloaked figure Minwoo soon recognized.

"Bora...." Minwoo's eyebrows knitted thoughtfully, his mind bombarded with too many things at the moment to healthily comprehend anything. Then his head snapped back to T, so he could warn, "Act normal. Don't talk." The little creature let out what Minwoo could only hypothesize was a chortle, before he scrambled forward, fingers grappling at the icy bark while he began to shout in order to garner the woman's attention. "Bora! Bora!" With ease, the young man made his way down the hill, familiar prancing behind in tow.

"What are you doing here?"

A chill brushed against her cheek, caressing it gently as she walked through the rocky path that was trailed out for everyone; but Bora hadn't come here to follow this path. Within a few feet she made a turn between two trees, each step making a crunch emit from the withered old leaves that had fallen to the ground; the sound somewhat becoming comforting to her. As she continued on the grassy path, the cloak wrapped around her followed with the wind as if to warn her to go back; in fact Bora had already known about this forest. The stories of travelers being strayed but this didn't frightening her one bit. Why exactly would she be afraid to be brought to her death? She was already dead.

A small gasped slipped from her cherry red lips, looking down below her feet laid a jagged stone that had coated with an icy layer. Crouching down she reached out her hand, bare fingers sliding down smoothing against the ice just before something began poking out of her chest. Seconds later a small head popped out, Gale; her familiar and honestly the one creature that bugged her the most. He too began to observe the icy stone with her and in the midst his thoughts relayed to Bora, causing her to sigh and stood up again; pressing her hand against the rough bark of a tree next to her.

"I know we're getting close you don't have to remind me every single time, Gale." Bora snapped at Gale sharply, annoyance clearing seen in her eyes as she started down at her. Usually one who saw Bora would be frightened by the look, customers at her shop knew her to be a very helpful girl. Which was most definitely not true and you could tell from the tone of her voice.

Although she had snapped at Gale he too wasn't one with a weak heart, no matter how kind he was. Snottily giving her sass back before stuffing himself back inside her thick black cloak, causing her to mutter a small 'coward' before her feet picked up again and taking her in the direction of a steep rock filled path. But what exactly was she searching for? It was actually more like who she was searching for, a person of course. Besides from her masquerade job as a shopkeeper Bora had a side job, bounty hunting and today's target was a runaway wizard. Who had messed with the wrong crowd - a gang actually. A band of dark wizards and apparently her target had stole something of great importance to the gang; it made her laugh really, but she had to make a living somehow.

Continuing on her path the previous icy stone she had slipped on became to appear more, a path literally being made to lead her right to the victim. A snarky smirk formed as she followed each icy layered rock. "How pathetic."

(pt1 of ???)

❅ ᕼOᒪIᗪᗩY ᗪᗩᘔᘔᒪᕮᗪ ❅

☪ cнecĸed。
— WANDER UP THE TREES WITH BAE. But like--- e u e Best place to find little wood creatures.