Interface

Mila

I wince away from the sentient vine, and I find myself making mental lists of all the things that I would rather do than fight another thorn bush.
So far, that list is two hundred and sixty four items long.
The newly-familiar sound of Mara's pipe smashing into something, and the thorn vine crashes onto my torso, wrapping around my neck due to its violent death throes.
The thorns dig deep into my neck, and blood flows from dozens of new wounds before Mara pries it off.
Mara glares at the now-limp vine, then wraps it around the end of her pipe. When I look to her for a reason why she has wrapped the vine around her weapon, she merely shrugs and says,
" fight fire with fire. If these thorns can cut through skin so easily, then it isn't a large stretch to imagine that they can cut through other thorn vines like themselves."
The vine is still writhing violently- still trying to harm us, but it has been rendered mostly harmless by being wrapped around Mara's pipe.
Mara grabs my hand and drags me along the bank of the river.
Her grip is rather soothing to me, but that may just be because I have been deprived of sleep for who knows how long.
The sky at the edge of the trees is glowing a beautiful mix of soft peach and violet hues, and I sigh contentedly before realizing that I can see the edge of the trees!
Mara seems to notice this at the same time as I do, and we both race to get out of the lightless and foreboding woodland.
Before we can escape the trees, thorn branches intertwine to block our passage, and Mara growls with unparalleled frustration before hacking away at the brush.
The thorn vine wrapped around her pipe starts wailing in a high-pitched tone, and we both wince as the sound pierces our ears.
Eventually, Mara drops the pipe in favor of covering her ears, and the bushes cautiously unravel the vine from her pipe.
Multi-shaded steam escapes one of the vines when it accidentally makes contact with the pipe instead of the vine, and I realize for the first time that things of this forest must be susceptible  to the pipe's material.
It makes perfect sense considering how Mara has only used this weapon to fend off enemies, when there have been countless other items that she could've used to fend the enemies off.
The vines are retreating now, and the newly-uncovered light hits me dead in the eyes.
I can see the vines wiggling off to the side of my vision, but it appears as nothing more threatening than a stand of weaving grass.
Mara glances over at me, and her expression is troubled. Her voice is rough and hushed, like she's trying not to draw any attention to herself.
" Mila, no offence, but you're acting like you've just had a glass of giggly."
I stumble forwards into her, and the impact forces us both to the floor. I try to ask what this 'giggly' stuff is, but it feels like my tongue is sewn to the roof of my mouth so that I cannot voice my thoughts.
Mara looks at me weirdly before shaking her head.
" yup, you are definitely on giggly. I don't know how you found berries this far into the forest, but you must've eaten some bad ones by mistake, so now you are experiencing the giggly."
For some reason, this is hilarious to me, and I snort a bit before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
Mara sighs, and wriggles out from under me before forcing/helping me to my feet, which just promotes more giggling from me, because suddenly everything is hilarious.
This behavior seems to exasperate Mara even more, and she nearly drags me towards the new clearing ahead of us, stopping only to retrieve her pipe.
Then she drags me further towards the clearing, and I stop dead when I see who is in the clearing.
The clearing is occupied by an exceptionally ugly little man.
His face is a mess of bruise-like color that makes him appear rather trampled, his cheeks flabby and light maroon in color, and his brow is heavy over his eyes.
He is short and fat, with long, greasy hair and cunning eyes that almost glow in the light of dawn.
He beckons us forward with a stumpy finger, and smiles- exposing crooked beige-yellow teeth that look suspiciously sharp- though that might be a trick of the light.
Mara gulps and tries to lead me away from the clearing, but I have had more than enough of this stupid forest, and I drag her towards the man, who has a stupidly large grin on his face.
Mara forces me to get behind her, and I groan in protest, because I want to see what is going on, and if I am behind Mara, I can't see what she is doing.
The little man smiles even wider, and begins to speak, and his voice is high pitched and stabbing. I cover my ears as he speaks.