Exploring Continued [Gilbert + Ludwig & Roderich]

Gilbert felt a sense of thrill shiver down his spine as he and his merry band of adventurers stepped past the looming tree line. As soon as they were a few trees in, it was like someone had snatched the sun out of the sky and hidden it in the thick, oppressive branches twisted high above them. The air smelt of damp and rot, and the silence around them was stifling, broken only by their boots crunching over wet leaves or brittle twigs. Gilbert was ecstatic. All this creepiness...it was like they had stepped into a horror film of some kind. Maybe they would meet a werewolf!

He shuddered again, and brushed at his shoulders. He had the prickling sensation that they were being watched. Cool.

"This is so awesome," Gilbert said, his voice automatically hushing to make the still quiet of the forest. "Look how creepy it is! Do you think we'll meet a werewolf? Or, or maybe those cloak creatures, what're they called, Lethifolds? Oh, oooh, maybe we'll meet a vampire!" Gilbert was not exhibiting the nervousness a normal person would show, and was instead bouncing along the forest floor like he was skipping with glee, moving deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

Roderich at the moment was petrified. It was hard to see the sun, the forest leaves so thick it cut off most of the light. The lack of any sound was annerving, he had always hated silence, but even the slight sound of crunching leaves did nothing to put him ease. Even the trees looked ominous, their twisted braches high above them. Moreover, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.

Biting his lower lip he rubbed his forarm, trying to rub away the goosebumps that had come over him. This was not good.

He looked shocked at Gilbert's statement. How can he enjoy this frightening atmosphere? as Gilbert listed off all the creatures they could possibly run into his fear doubled. "I hope we don't run into those" his voice was hushed, not wanting to draw any attention to them. The last thing he wanted was for a Werewolf to come and pounce on them. He made sure to keep up with Gilbert, considering the guy was praticaly skipping with excitment. His free hand moved to his pocket were his wand resided, he had to be ready for anything the Forbidden Forest had.

Wand already drawn, Ludwig brought up the rear of the little adventuring party, shivering as the cool air of the forest replaced the warmth of the sun outside. Here, everything had become eerily quiet and muted, as though the trees themselves were swallowing up sounds. Neither their voices nor the clumsy snapping of dried leaves and twigs under their feet created any echoes. And Ludwig could have sworn something was watching them; the hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and his gaze swept warily over the scenery.

As Gilbert practically skipped further into the forest and rattled off a list of the creatures he wanted to meet, Ludwig shuddered. He agreed with Roderich here; he'd be far happier if they didn't encounter anything quite that dangerous. A unicorn would have been interesting, or even something small, like a Bowtruckle. Something harmless.

"Will you slow down a little? We're not in any hurry," he called to his brother, a small frown crossing his face. With a sudden start, he spun around, wand raised, but nothing had been following them - or perhaps, he hadn't turned around quickly enough. Whatever the case, Ludwig got the very distinct feeling that their group was not welcome here, and he didn't think that hunch had anything to deal with how strictly he usually obeyed rules.

"Stop being so jumpy," Gilbert chided, stopping his skipping to turn around. His fellow adventures did not look excited in the least, and in fact looked quite pale and nervous. "Look! It's totally eeeeeempty~" He spun around in a circle, his arms outstretched. Indeed, the portion of the forest they were standing in was empty, and very very quiet. Too quiet. "I don't think there's anything around here..."

Which actually did spark a thread of caution in the Gryffindor, but he swatted it aside. "I would've thought it'd be more interesting though. All there are are weird looking mushrooms." He nudged the closest mushroom on a fallen log with the toe of his boot, 'ew'ing quietly when it smeared a silvery looking mucus on it. He ground the toe of his boot into the dead leaves, trying to wipe it off, and moved a little deeper into the forest. "Maybe we have to go deeper or some- ah!"

Just as the albino ducked from sight behind a tree, he let out a loud, surprised squawk. He didn't get attacked or dragged away, no. It seemed like Gilbird, who had been gone for most of the day, finally made a reappearance. The little canary had swooped down, unseen from the branches above and landed on Gilbert's head, scaring the crap out of him briefly. "Gilbird!"

Roderich rolled his eyes. Just because it seems empty doesn't mean it is. he thought but kept it to himself, he was much more focussed on keeping up his guard in case the thing watching them-and he truly beleived something was watching- decided to come out and make an appearance.

Roderich shook his head at the others comment. "I doubt there are just odd mushrooms in here", because if there were than the school wouldn't have marked this place as off limits to students.

When Gilbert had ducked out of sight and let out a squawk of surprise Roderich ran to see what it was, his wand at the ready just in case there was some creature attacking the other boy. However, his momentary adrenaline rush was cut short when he saw that the attacker was nothing but a small yellow bird. He looked curiously at the yellow bird, it was quite cute actually. What is a canary doing way out here?

Sighing Roderich put his wand away in his pocket and walked over to Gilbert. He motioned towards the bird, that was now perched on Gilbert's head. "Is that your canary?"

Easier said than done, Ludwig thought in response to Gilbert's admonition. Frequently, his older brother seemed to prove that he had absolutely no sense of self-preservation. "Why isn't there anything here, though?" he retaliated, eyes still scanning the woods. "It's a forest. It should be full or birds or bugs or something. All I see is plants." Slimy plants, too; Ludwig made a disgusted face as Gilbert scraped mushroom mucus from shoes. Wanting a closer look, he wandered over to the mushrooms, just in time for Gilbert to yelp loudly enough to make him jump.

Spinning around, Ludwig raised his wand and stalled: a familiar flash of yellow feathers caused him to stall, and eventually, he lowered his arm. Gilbert's canary had apparently decided to join them, in the most surprising way possible. "Gott, don't scare me like that!" he protested, walking over to join the other two. Familiar as he was with the bird, he decided to keep a look-out instead as Gilbert made introductions between his pet and Roderich. The loud noises might have bothered something, and Ludwig certainly wasn't going to be caught off-guard on account of a canary.

Heart still pounding rapidly, Gilbert grinned a bit shakily as he let out a loud huff of air. "U-Um, yes! Yeah, this is Gilbird, my awesome buddy!" he said cheerfully, waving a hand to the bird settled atop of his head. The yellow bird chirped a greeting at Roderich, fluffing up its feathers as he made himself comfortable in Gilbert's messy, white hair. "He isn't my pet though! He's my friend, and he comes and goes whenever he wants!"

Gilbert smiled widely, turning away from his brother and Roddy, continuing his stroll deeper into the forest as if nothing happened. Although Gilbert had felt nervous earlier, despite his fearless attitude, any and all anxiety had vanished now that Gilbird was here. If any dangerous creatures attacked them, no doubt Gilbird would warn them with enough time for them to run away or something. The yellow bird was comfortable atop of his head, and wasn't tense or nervous at all. "Don't worry, you guys. Gilbird'll know if there're any dangerous animals nearby and warn us, right Gilbird?"

Gilbird chirped, flapping his wings in agreement.

Roderich smiled a bit at the bird's greeting. He had a soft spot for cute things, but he wasn't about to voice that. Although, he did wonder why Gilbert was letting the bird sit on his head, but he decided not to ask. However, he still couldn't shake the gnawing feeling he had that something was there....
No, I can't think like that! But, telling himself that didn't exactly help rid him of his nerves.

Sighing he put his hands in his pockets and began to follow after Gilbert, not wanting to stay in the same spot for a very long time. He really didn't want to get lost in this forest, were he could be mauled by a were-wolf...or worse. Glancing over his shoulder he made sure to walk slow enough for Ludwig to catch up with them, he wouldn't want anyone getting left behind here.

Roderich rolled his eyes at Gilbert's statement, he doubted that...Gilbird would be a very good look out for them. How is a canary going to warn us from a creature attack? He thought, instinctively grabbing his wand that was in his pocket. "Yes well, even if Gilbird acts as our...Look out, I think we should still keep our guards up". Although even if he didn't have to voice the obvious, it didn't hurt anyone for him to give a friendly reminder.

( Sorry this post is late, I've been doing Christmas cleaning xD )

Satisfied that they weren't going to be imminently attacked, Ludwig let his shoulders drop, although he still gave the surrounding woods a good look every few moments. Although Ludwig found the name a little ridiculous, Gilbird's presence was never an unwelcome one. Even with the canary's favorite perch being Gilbert's hair, he was generally unobtrusive, and the occasional chirps he let out could be honestly cute.

However, Ludwig had to disagree with Gilbert on one key point. The little bird was harmless and friendly, but completely unhelpful. How could he possibly warn them of impending attacks? A dog had a far better sense of smell; an owl, better sight. The only case Ludwig could recall of canaries being used as warning alarms were in coal mines, where they warned the miners of poisonous gas by dying. A sweet bird, sure, Ludwig mused, but not entirely useful.

Lengthening his stride to keep up with the two others, Ludwig didn't even deign to put his hands in his pockets: his wand remained raised, his glance sweeping over the trees and moss and underbrush. "Just how far in do you plan to go, Gilbert?" he asked in a low, quiet voice. "Next time, maybe we should bring a map. There might be one in the library."


((sorry as well, I've been celebrating the holidays!))

(Sorry! I had to go away to visit family ;; )

"I'm planning on going as deep as we can go," Gilbert laughed. "C'mon, where's your sense of adventure! But, if you're both gonna be skittish about it, we'll just walk in for ten minutes and look around a bit." That seemed fair to Gilbert. The deeper they walked in, the darker the forest grew, and the closer the trees clumped together. It got to the point where Gilbert had to take out his own wand to cast Lumos (a very powerful Lumos that lit up the forest like a floodlight) so he wouldn't stumble over tree roots and the like. They didn't meet any animals - or even heard any. The quiet was stifling, the only noise being their feet treading over brittle twigs and crunching dead leaves.

"Hm..." Gilbert murmured after several tense minutes of silence. "I would've expected us to meet an animal of some sort by now. Or at least heard something...it's way too quiet."

Roderich nodded. "Alright, ten minutes seems faire". And it was a faire amount of time, enough time to possibly see something new and magical but short enough that they didn't have to spend alot of time in this place. This extremely dark...Quiet place. It was quite annerving to him, how silent it was, he would have expected to hear something...Even the sound of birds would have been music to his ears at that moment.

When Gilbert took out his wand to cast Lumos (an extremely bright Lumos to his surprise, and releif, he really hated dark places. ) Roderich took his wand out and cast the Lumos spell as well, not that it was needed, but it did make the area even more bright. Glancing about the area he shown his wand behind him to see if there was anything, there had to be something out there. No area was this quiet...Not unless something was stalking them.

Roderich bit his lower lip, nodding his agreement. "Your right, we should have run into something by now... I doubt everything in the forest is asleep at this time" There must be something out there. Trying to calm his jangling nerves down he reached for his necklace that was under his shirt. It wouldn't be good for anyone if he started to panic like a child now. But who wouldn't panic? Especially when the feeling of being watched by a predator would not leave!

(( I think they should get attacked by something big lol xD...but not to deadly since they want to try and make it out with as minor injuries as possible :). ))