Strolling with Shafiq

[Ash Wolfe]

He unfolded his arms and raised his hands briefly, to show he meant no harm.
"Relax.. I am sorry for intruding. I am just curious as to why you are all the way out here." His gaze flicked to the baby in her arms as he spoke, "And with young children as well. I'm Ash by the way, Ash Wolfe."
He gave them both a friendly smile, a warm look in his eyes.

[cassidy]

She shifted on the spot, rather uncomfortable in the man's presence...
"I was walking, is that not allowed..?"

[Djaq]

Djaq looked deep into the strangers eyes, and she immediately trusted him. There was something in those blue eyes that showed her he was telling the truth. She slowly brought her sword back down, still frowning slightly, and sheathed it. She cleared her throat.
"Sorry, you can never be too careful these days..." she said was a small laugh. She checked that Shafiq had not been awoken by her sudden movements, but he still remained sound asleep.

"I'm...Dj" she started and then swollowed her words, cursing herself. How could she almost tell these strangers her name so freely? She had to be more careful in the future. She trailed of awkwardly, and then laughed nervously.

[Ash Wolfe]

His eyes flicked to Cassidy as she spoke, "Not at all. Although I would say this forest seems a little more hostile than I remember."
His attention then turned to Djaq, giving her a nod of agreement at her words. He tilted his head just slightly, when she stopped mid-sentence. Then of course, he remembered it wasn't so strange for them to be wary of him. They had only just met him after all.
He decided not to press the matter, instead studying her appearance.

[Djaq]

Djaq exhaled as neither of the strangers seemed to take much notice to the fact that she had mysteriously stopped in mid-sentance. "I was just...walking too...with my child..." she said slowly but sternly, trying to make her words as believable as she could. She turned again to Ash and said, "So whats you're business here Ash Wolf?" He seemed so curious as to why the two women were deep in the forest, but he did not seem to have the desire to tell them what he himself was doing.

[Ash Wolfe]

Giving her a nod, not intending to press it further, he straightened himself up from leaning against the tree. A few seconds of thought passed, before he made the decision to approach them a few paces.
He then replied to her question with a shrug, "Nothing in particular to be honest with you."
It was true, he'd been doing nothing prior to interrupting them.

[Djaq]

"So where abouts are you from...are you new to Nottingham?" She said curiously. She was interested as to where this stranger had come from, he had a certain essence about him that told her he was not from around these parts. Being a foreigner herself, things like that intrigued her.

[Ash Wolfe]

"I suppose you could answer that either way. How it is now, i'm new to. It's changed a lot in such a short time." he his gaze moved away from her slightly, his expression turning thoughtful again.
A few seconds of silence passed, before he spoke again, "I grew up in Locksley, though I haven't been there for a good few years."

He sighed and shifted his weight to his other foot, absently lifting his hand to scratch the back of his neck. In truth, he was a bit apprehensive about returning to Locksley. If it had changed as much as Nottingham had, if it was in as bad a state as that..

[Djaq]

There was a large silence after Ash spoke, as neither of the three seemed to have thought of anything decent to say. Djaq cleared her throught to break the silence, and then contemplated what to do next. Should she just run for it as fast as she could, or stay in this awkward possition. She needed to get back to the camp and sort somethings out. She hadn't told the gang what she had seen, as she still needed time to mould it over herself. She sighed and waited for someone else to say something.

[cassidy]

She watched the man carefully, more than a little on edge in his presence..

[Ash Wolfe]

His head turned to the side, as if he had heard something. Narrowing slightly, his eyes fixed on a point in the distance. It was most likely something insignificant, whatever had caught his attention was gone within a few seconds.
Facing Djaq again, he frowned slightly in thought, before asking her another question.
"If you don't mind me asking.. whereabouts are you from..?"
He said it carefully, hoping it would not offend her.

[Djaq]

Djaq raised an eyebrow and smiled. "I'm from Isreal." she said softly, "But you people call it the Holy Land. I was brought here as a slave...and escaped. Now I live in hiding." She chose her words carefully but as she looked back at them wondered whether they revealed too much.

[Ash Wolfe]

He nodded, listening to her words, a look of sympathy crossed his face when she mentioned the word slave. Briefly, he had heard about slave traders dotted around the country, though hoped it wasn't true. But, apparently it was.
"It is one of the worst things imaginable.. nobody should live as a slave, or have to live in hiding. It's inhuman.." A hint of irritation was evident in his tone, enough to convey his feelings on the matter further.

[cassidy]

She listened with a hint of interest, not really making an attempt to cut into the conversation, but certainly listening to every detail...

[Luke Scarlett]

Luke had been brought up to appreciate the outdoors, and especially the woods, as a young boy with his father being a carpenter by trade and his brother following closely in his footsteps for as long as he could remember. After all, he had been dragged very often indeed to go and help collect the wood which would be required for his father's work, and so had become very accustomed indeed to walking deep into the forest, without too much thought about it. Forests were nothing scary after all, not if you knew you could run fast anyway from any danger.

As he neared a place to stop, his attention was soon caught by a scene of a group of people, two women with children. His interest piqued, Luke neared closer to them, not noticing that one was the woman who was part of Robin's gang. After all, he couldn't remember everyone's names and her face just... escaped him. ''Any reason you are all just standing around chatting?'' he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.