Aemilio wants to talk (08-29-2011) - Keoki & Aemilio

Aemilio pulled an unhappy face and looked away again for a moment. Incidentally that caused him to face the forest, depriving him of an easy view as he considered his options.
"I'm not going to talk you out of this am I?" he guessed correctly. Then he let out a deep sigh, looked her in the eye with a weak smile: "fine, I'll come with you."

Keoki just shook her head when he asked if he'd be able to talk her out of it, as there was no way that would happen. "Then that makes four of us. You can bring whatever you want along with you, but I'll be bringing along all the basic supplies in my camera bag," she replied, smiling back at him after agreeing to join, though she was still a little worried about his last experience with the forest. Deciding to voice her concern, she asked, "Will you be alright, though?"

"I'll be fine," Aemilio lied, smiling at her, "just tell me when you're going..?"
His optimistic and acceptant way of replying was awfully close to denial or pretence, but either way he left it at that when he casually went on: "what's the exact plan anyway?"

"Of course." Stepping back towards him and the railing, she looked out to the forest, scanning over the horizon of it as if to see if something would move. Though she doubted she'd spot anything right now. "We can't go too far in, not after what happened with the party," she finally said, "It's just down to some exploration. Get a feel for the forest, avoid anything that looks too strong. And, Creed's bringing a machete. Don't ask me why he has one." She couldn't help but laugh a little at that, remembering how she'd compared him to someone out of a slasher film.

Glancing back to Aemilio now, she added, "I'll be bringing a hunting knife as well. So, we're not unarmed, should something attack." Though now she was hoping that wouldn't happen. As wishful as that might be, she would feel horrible if Aemilio ended up getting hurt just because she'd invited him to come along. At least Tobias and Creed had abilities that could help them attack or flee.

Listening to the plan de campagne, trying his best not to verbalise his opinion on it still being a bad idea - despite it being reasonably prepared, he nodded slowly. He was just about to ask about Creed's machette when Keoki told him not to and instead he went: "ok so that's Creed coming along... who's the other person coming along?"
After that he starting thinking about what kind of weapon and other helpful items he could bring along.

He let out a sigh, decided he must've lost his mind if he was going back into that forest, out of free will... for a girl. "Let's hope we'll find something interesting then," he said with a less than enthusiastic smile.

"Tobias," she answered, hoping she wasn't seeming too out of her mind just yet, "I guess I owe you. For helping me out with something so stupid," she added quietly, knowing there was a definite chance that something could go wrong, after what had already happened at the party. And she also knew Aemilio was against the idea, which made her wonder if he had some other reason for agreeing to this over just being worried about her. Keeping her eyes on the forest so her thoughts might not be so obvious, she hoped he had a better reason than that, because she wasn't a very careful person when it came to staying out of harm's way. And she especially didn't intend to let someone else get hurt just so she'd be alright.

"You don't owe me," Aemilio replied, his gaze following hers towards the forest. After a couple of moments of this his expression turned a lot more trouble.
"Keoki...? Why are you so interested in the forest?" he asked, his tone indicating there was something other than innocent curiosity behind his question.

"At first, I was just curious. I love finding strange, paranormal things. I assumed, at most, I'd find a ghost, or some mischievous little creature. And that was only if anything was there at all," she started, figuring she owed him at least an explanation, "I've been interested in searching for the paranormal for a few years now, so of course the forest caught my attention quickly."

"Then there was the party. That made it all too obvious that something's wrong with that forest. Now, those undead things were one problem, but then something targeted someone I care about. I couldn't stand that... and I want to stop it before that happens again," She ended up rather quiet by the end, not even sure if she wanted him to hear that.

Aemilio looked at Keoki, coming to understand her motives. And as he did he came to reconsider his previous idea of sharing his reason to come to the forest, other than to keep Keoki safe. He didn't want to upset her.
So he kept silent other than a nod and a continued stare at the forest.

His silence was hardly comforting, but she didn't say anything about it. It was just quiet for a moment, but she finally said, "I guess, if there's nothing else, I'll just get to bed?" She sounded a little unsure about leaving just yet, wanting to see if he had some other question or something to say before she'd leave.

"No wait," Aemilio said in a slightly raised voice, putting his hand on Keoki's arm. He was embaressed about the next but he now realised that if he wouldn't get it out... he actually wasn't sure what would happen then but an ominous feeling about it.
"Uhm, can I ask you something really strange?" he started in a hessitant, soft voice, "because I've been feeling a little weird. It's the forest you see... Is it weird that I..." He took a moment to rearange his thoughts, hopefully leading him to a point where he could explain what he wanted to tell her a little better: "I feel... almost... drawn to the forest, and I can't figure out why." He looked at her in a near desperate way, hoping she'd know what was going on.

She was a little surprised when he stopped her and mentioned something 'strange', turning back to him a little concerned now. When he said he felt drawn to the forest, she immediately looked worried, wondering for a moment if Lugh had missed something. Aemilio could have a connection to the forest now, through that possession, but it still scared her to think about that. If Lugh hadn't noticed it, she wasn't that sure about what she would be able to do, and that just made her feel worse.

"I... I know someone who could help, but, she can't get here right away," she started, thinking back to Anna's expertise. If Keoki told her what was going on, Anna wouldn't just ignore the situation, and she especially wouldn't ignore her. But she didn't think to explain right away, instead placing her hand over Aemilio's, "First, please, just promise me you won't go near the forest alone. Even if it feels like it's calling you, just don't listen, always stay with someone else..." Maybe it wasn't as bad as she was thinking just now, but she couldn't help it.

Aemilio smiled at her caring (pleasantly) surprised; mostly because he still had to get used to her being this openly caring to him, but also because it still hadn't hit him they were seriously talking about supernatural phenomenoms like this.
"Of course not," he replied with a small assuring smile when Keoki told him not to go near the forest alone, "I just... I hoped maybe you'd know what it was... that's all."
The idea of Keoki knowing someone who might help - already assuming it was the mentor and travelling partner she'd mentioned earlier, was a good enough confirmation of everything going to be alright sooner or later... even though it'd probably be later, rather than sooner.
"Thanks," he said giving her hand a small, gentle squeeze; "for giving me a chance to talk about all of this." Then after a short silence: "I suppose I'll be off to bed then hmm?"

Hearing him say he thought she might know just made her feel worse, even though she knew he didn't mean it to upset her, "I'm sorry... I don't know that much, at least, not compared to Lugh, or my friend," she replied, smiling back despite hating how she anymore help than that. It was a little odd that she actually cared that much, she couldn't really recall being so worried about someone for a long time.

"Yeah. Well. If you need anything else, you know where to find me, ok?" she asked, still thinking over how she might be able to help other calling on Anna. Working up the nerve for it, she moved her other arm around his shoulder to lightly pull him forward into a real kiss, unlike before. But after just a short moment she stepped back, feeling a little embarrassed, and quietly said 'good night' before turning back toward the door.

Aemilio smiled, grateful Keoki was being so kind about it and... did he detect her openly caring about his well-being? He was just about to say something when he was surprised by Keoki's arm around him, followed by a real, genuine kiss. Even though it was a brief one, it left him speechless with a sheepish, happy grin on his face.

"Thanks," he replied in a soft voice - possibly to soft for her to hear - still staring at her with a boyish crush lovy-dovy expression.