[ Whether or not he picks up on that fragment of misplaced gratitude, he doesn't let on, lifting an arm to wave a hand at the air dismissively and disturbing the flight pattern of a confused moth, in the process. She's been asleep; even he isn't unfair enough in his judgement to think she should have learned any better, unconscious.
He isn't even certain he heard her dreaming, in all of that time, but she's been less of a hassle, because of it.
In the same offhanded way he seems to deliver all of his blunt assessments, he adds, ] You were sick, for a while.
[ Though with cold or poison, he doesn't hope to clarify. In truth, he isn't certain whether it was her own fatigued body that failed her, or his naturally poisonous attributes. Toxicity is assured of his long-time familiars, and most species of his forest, yet, but she is still something new and different from the rest. It's an impossibly careful dance, mixing disinterest over his fleeting attempts at genuine concern, to keep any underlying kindness masked.
It's a matter of survival, now, though - whatever he decides to do with her. And for him much more so than she might think. Letting her go has become an increasingly difficult prospect to imagine going smoothly, since she first fell asleep under his watch. He knows no remedy to erase memories (or at least none that mightn't also destroy her mind), and if she's remembered in the outside world, the other humans might inevitably become curious as to just how she lived so safely for so long in the indefinably dangerous woods.
It's a matter of reputation, and he doesn't intend to let that go lightly.
Standing up and stepping unhurriedly down from his overseer's position, he crosses into the shadows of the trees, once more, the glow around him fading and rendering him solid and much less ethereal in presence. ]
i have no idea what you mean :|
He isn't even certain he heard her dreaming, in all of that time, but she's been less of a hassle, because of it.
In the same offhanded way he seems to deliver all of his blunt assessments, he adds, ] You were sick, for a while.
[ Though with cold or poison, he doesn't hope to clarify. In truth, he isn't certain whether it was her own fatigued body that failed her, or his naturally poisonous attributes. Toxicity is assured of his long-time familiars, and most species of his forest, yet, but she is still something new and different from the rest. It's an impossibly careful dance, mixing disinterest over his fleeting attempts at genuine concern, to keep any underlying kindness masked.
It's a matter of survival, now, though - whatever he decides to do with her. And for him much more so than she might think. Letting her go has become an increasingly difficult prospect to imagine going smoothly, since she first fell asleep under his watch. He knows no remedy to erase memories (or at least none that mightn't also destroy her mind), and if she's remembered in the outside world, the other humans might inevitably become curious as to just how she lived so safely for so long in the indefinably dangerous woods.
It's a matter of reputation, and he doesn't intend to let that go lightly.
Standing up and stepping unhurriedly down from his overseer's position, he crosses into the shadows of the trees, once more, the glow around him fading and rendering him solid and much less ethereal in presence. ]
Are you hungry?