"What are you doing out here by yourself?"
Various question sentence starters || Accepting
Night has long fallen.
Serena had not seen the sun, itself, set. Between thick branches and blankets of foliage, only the transition of golden, warm light to a blue cold enough to ice a heart over could hope to mark the passage of time to the heroine in the depths of Ilex Forest. Moonlight filters through the canopy, strands sieved through leaves so that they might trickle down to the forest floor in silver threads. The tethering of a sanctuary to the world that rests just outside. How long has she been walking— searching? Aimlessly trying to find the forest guardian's altar, or an exit so that she might try again tomorrow in daylight?
Long enough, perhaps, to not have realised that she was not alone.
A gasp leaves Serena's form at the call, and she turns around on instinct. One hand shoots up to her chest, as though spread fingers could reach through and forcibly still her racing heart. But she does not move— not a single step. Not for now.
"M-My apologies— I didn't hear you coming. You frightened me,"
She stammers, and as seconds pass, the hand falls back down to her side— reluctantly so. At the very least, it is comforting, to know that there is someone else here, too, and that the forest has not swallowed her whole. With that question alone— that tone—, Serena finds the tiniest shred of comfort. It is self-assured. Neither demanding nor light-hearted. As though the blonde had turned up on this other trainer's doorstep in the dead of night, and hastily knocked at the door of her home to escape some unseen danger.
Surely, this stranger has some familiarity with this forest labyrinth.
"I heard there is a shrine in this forest, and wanted to pay my respects, but... I think I've gotten a little lost."
