Upon the first realization of the person before her not being human, she immediately grew tense and felt her survival instincts kicking in. A grotesque creature wielding a weapon will naturally trigger such a reaction. She regarded it with an ice-cold expression, ready to defend herself. She made the call that she might be unable to escape if it decided to attack her, so she made sure not to be intimidated by it, daring it to approach. Seeing as it hasn’t attacked yet and instead stares her down intensely, she appears to have made the correct choice. It tried to appear intimidating, just like her. However, the effort was for naught, as Marianne could discern that this creature was wavering. It was shaking. Meekly so.

Considering the tense and bizarre situation, she cooled down relatively fast, but that was mainly because of its expression. Even though this wasn’t a normal human being, she could still discern the emotions it likely felt right now. He looked scared; in fact, he looked like he was holding back tears. She couldn’t push away her sympathy. And so, she assumed a more relaxed pose and smiled softly, something that he seemingly took notice of as he started lowering the knife in his hand.

“Hey, can you understand what I’m saying, little one?” She squatted down, encouraging him to step forward.

He regarded her with a very tense stare, likely not knowing what to do. It was unclear to her whether he understood what she said. The hostility hasn’t entirely disappeared, either. He was obviously not sure what to make of her. She wasn’t entirely sure either.

“I assume you don’t then.” She chuckles to herself. She patiently waited for his next actions. After a few moments of hesitance, he ran away meekly, and she couldn’t help but take notice of the limping. In fact, his movement seemed extremely sluggish. He was also very skinny, and so she surmised that he was suffering from malnourishment. He was starving and yet didn’t attack her. He might have been smaller than her, but an old bat like her must have looked like an easy target. No matter how intimidating she was, she couldn’t shake the feeling that fear wasn’t the only reason he decided to retreat.

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Against her better judgment, she starts following the path he used to escape. He might have been out of her eyesight, but he couldn’t have gotten very far. Sure enough, she found him leaning against a nearby tree within minutes, panting heavily and clearly exhausted. And so, Marianne decided not to approach him so he wouldn’t threaten. She would like to help but didn’t have any food on her. And so, she resolves to look for something edible. Both to sate her growing appetite and to help him. She glanced in his direction and started to look around this area, observing the wildlife. No matter how different this ecosystem appears to be, she should be able to find something she might be familiar with. She has enough experience in the wilderness to determine what is safe to eat and what is not.

Sure enough, she stumbles upon a berry bush. They appear to be blueberries. Before she gathers them, she takes one out of the stack alongside its attached branch and leaves to check for poison. She determined that it didn’t have a strong odor, and she didn’t feel any reaction when she rubbed the berry against her skin. Contact with her lips and mouth provided the same results. “Those berries appear to be safe for consumption, I see.” After gathering a reasonable amount, she returned them to where she last saw him. Thankfully, he didn’t move away from that spot and instead peacefully rested there. She decided to approach him, but upon noticing her, he grew wary. She took out one of the berries and gestured for him to try them. As he was evidently wary of her, she decided to demonstrate that they were safe to eat by putting one in her mouth and making it clear that she chewed and swallowed them. Seeing as he was still unwilling to come closer to her, she placed the berries, which were gathered inside her underneath the shirt, on a nearby rock and took steps back. When she was far enough, he hesitantly approached the food and took one in his mouth after a seemingly long deliberation. When he confirmed that they were safe to eat, all the previous fear left as he began to greedily feast on them, which made her slightly chuckle. She was also overcome with sympathy. “The poor thing…”

She waited patiently for him to finish and sat on a nearby rock. When he was finally done, he took a while to remember that she was here. He seemed hesitant as always, looking towards her with hesitation, but she could tell that he was debating whether he should trust her. However, just then, a grim voice started talking.

“I finally found you, you little pest.” A young man appeared, holding a sword pointed at the little one.