Backing away so he could have room to take off, she seemed to do so in a manner as if afraid.
When he disappeared out of sight, she lingered only a moment as she looked around calmly and heard movement in the brush around her. Growling fiercely at it, her tail told otherwise as it started to frizz up.
Deciding to be safer than sorry, she quickly jumped into a tree and stayed in the high branches. She wanted nothing to do with whatever was on the floor and certainly didn't like the wolves that seemed to have come back after years of being gone from the area.
Rynn hated wolves, namely in specific, the feral ones that lived out here.
Though it was funny how she was scared of snakes and hated wolves..

Blake didn't take long to head to the school and slip silently into his room. The kids were still dozing and he was lucky enough to have a sitter... who was... also dozing, great. At least that meant nobody would see where he hid his most personal possessions. The black dragon grabbed his old war album and set it carefully into a bag so he could bring it out to the falls safely, slipping out just as silently as he came in. Now to get back to Rynn and hope she hadn't already pulled her famous vanishing act. Something was definitely still out here as he came to the ground, but where was she? "Rynn? You there? Dang you'd make a better spy than Athos, heh."

Upon hearing Blake making his arrival clear, she moved to some lower branches where he could easily see her. She refused to come down though.
"I've only learned from the best..."
She smirked, ears and eyes alert once again as the bushes began to move around once again.
Growling fiercely out of agitation towards it, she moved several branches up where it was quite a bit harder to see her.
"There's a wolf in the bushes... I won't come down until it's gone.. sorry.."
Of course Rynn had some of that dragon pride as she was obviously not going to admit that her biggest fear were wolves, tending more to say she hated them.
They were her biggest fear above snakes even, but snakes had become the least of her worries any more these days.

"Ah, I see. Well as I'm clearly too big to be climbing up and joining you there I should probably chase it off then shouldn't I?" Silly rhetorical question but he said it regardless. Blake shrugged and made an aggressive start toward the bushes, more like a feint than an actual charge to try and spook off anything over there. He saw a rustling, and nothing came running at him so he hoped it was going the other way. "Think that's got it spooked at least. Don't want to use fire unless I have to. Burning up the area isn't exactly on my "to do" list. Not yet anyway, hehe."

Of course it would be easy for him to scare off a wolf. He was twice as tall as Rynn and more so broader and scarier at times than she.
Man, the hybrid often wished she could use fire or some sort of dragon-esque ability, but as far as she knew, or grew up knowing, she did not have anything like that. Diablo could use fire, Ashlin could use the ice lung she had learned, but Rynn had nothing of the sort.
"Well, if it comes back, you'll be the climbing tower.."
She commentated as she cautiously made her way down, quickly looking around in all directions before dropping to the ground with a soft tmp. Shivering at the thought of staying out here where the wolf could easily sneak up on her, a brief conclusion passed her thoughts.
Though really preferring not to, Rynn kind of felt there was really no way around it without hanging upside down in the tree while the black dragon was to show her things.
"I know this is probably going to sound weird, but I'd prefer if we were to do this in my cave..."
She winced at how that sounded. Nothing like living in a bat cave for over a month...

"Sounds fine to me. Heh, and if you really need a climbing tower I guess I am pretty tall. Enough a wolf wouldn't want to bother you if you were standing on my shoulders at least." Sure to most it would have seemed like an awkward request, but Blake knew if Rynn had an ulterior motive she would have already said so. "Where exactly is your cave? You'll have to lead the way, unless you want me to stumble around blindly for a few hours just for laughs." And that was something he wouldn't put past her either. Though it wouldn't be as informational, or hopefully as fun, as going through the old war album.

Blushing at the thought at having an uleterior motive, it kind of threw her off for a moment before she started leading the way...
Well had she not decided on certain or had done certain things before, yeah maybe kinda sorta yeah she would have had a motive for something else. But she had already made up her mind on other things and actually wanted to see how things could work before moving around as hussie as Crimson had so kindly put it the other day or so ago.
"Oh.. uh.. It's this way... ehehe.."
She scratched at the back of her head before turning around and leading the way. Her ears seemed to have found their way to sit at a level that looked like they could be shelves... or something...
Taking only a few minutes to get there, the hybrid led the way in through the darkness and started to crouch to make a fire.
"You can sit down here if you like, lemme get this fire started and we can look through that album of yours..."
Taking a bullet out of her pocket and opened it up easily with her claws, she poured it in the area where she had done several fires multiple times before. After that, she clicked two pieces of flint together and immediately a flame sparked and crackled before spreading into the twigs and thin wood there.

Rynn was full of surprises, but Blake really needed to remember that his wandering thoughts could sometimes be loud enough for her to hear them. For a cave this was pretty nice, a little low for him but he could manage. "Nice. Heh, guess I should actually learn how to do that some day, I always rely on just being able to exhale and make a camp fire any time I want. Okay, so, let's see here. I think... this part of the book is the right time period." He scooted a little closer to her as he opened it up, right to a page that had some kind of medal on it and a black and white photo. "Hm... no, just a little further." And a few more pages flipped, a few more certificates, discharges, enlistment papers passing by and he was there. "Ah, company photo. Look, standing all the way in the back there. Heh, fourth row and we're still towering over the rest of the unit without any help." Everyone was sitting or kneeling in front of what you'd expect to see at a track and field area, one of those two or three level high stands and behind them two towering figures. "Yep, that's a definite now, he was my commander for a good two years. And dammit looks like he was actually taller than me, heh."

After sitting down a few feet from the fire, Blake scooted even closer to her and caused her to turn her head in an angle enough to keep Blake from even possibly seeing her face, acting like she was rubbing her eyes as if they were tiring. Of course they weren't but it helped recollect her composure.
As he flipped through the pages, her eyes seemed to light up at every new page and when she finally got to see a picture of them both looking serious in their uniforms, she giggled quietly.
"Wow, that must have been four years before he retired... I can tell a difference in his scar here from the one I have here."
The hybrid pointed out the broadened scar in Blake's photo compared to her father's first military photo she had.
Sitting and admiring her father in the photo, there was an air about her that probably said she was beeming with pride that not only had her father been a good General, but he was probably one of the tallest who stayed in until he was forced to retire.
Hating to even admit to it, but the money Rynn was living so easily off of was her father's retirement funds. He had been so long in the military that he racked up a fortune in retirement and being his heir with the same scar, he placed the bigger portion in his will to her. It was why her siblings were even living so easily...
That reminded her.. She needed to go stop by Shimmer's place and drop off more money to pay off those pesky bills and have plenty to buy groceries on.
"Looks like you were trying to stand as tall as you possibly could there. Fatherdoesn't have to try, hehe, look."
She giggled again. Father was standing in a laxed position, his joints bent in a comfortable manner to him and yet still being taller. Fortunate enough for Rynn, since her dragon blood had started showing a few years ago, she had hit a growth spur, now being taller than her siblings but still significantly shorter than the dragons here.

"Heh, well let's see what's on the next page here. I used to keep track of all my favorite buddies, should be some little FAQ sheet on this picture." Blake carefully turned the page. There was a bullet list of things about that unit, faded pretty bad but still legible. "Half these notes are just about him. Now I remember a bit better, your dad's one of the guys I always wanted to be like. So I've really got your family to thank for who I am, what I've done with my life... well... the good things anyway. Probably did a sculpture or two for him at some point, usually gave at least one to each of my bosses long as they were good. And he was the best." Good to bring back positive memories of war.

Listening to him seeming to gloat about everything in his notes, the hybrid smiled. But when he made the comment of oweing it to her family for several things, that smile slowly disappeared.
Touching the scars on her left shoulder, she rubbed at them as if in deep thought.
Yes... It's thanks to my family this place has so many problems now...
She mumbled and thought to herself.
Many a time Rynn had thought it her fault for several things, but having brought that demon here was not meant to happen. Then again, it had always seemed to be in favor of the least fortunate.
"I can believe he was the best, he will always be number one in my heart and memory.."
She spoke softly, smiling slightly as she turned back to the previous page with the picture.

"Heck he's pretty far up there in my memory, and heart. Hey... why don't you keep this one? There's probably another of him in here somewhere, and I think it'll mean more to you than it will to me." He could go without memories of his war days, they were brutal. Sure he met plenty of friends, people he'd trust his life to, but every photo had screams of agony attached to it as well. Everywhere he went his unit would be involved in battle, guaranteed. Someone was always killed on the other side, sometimes on his squad too. He shook his head lightly, focusing instead on his surroundings. The cave was quaint, and relatively out of the way. The dragon didn't even know it was here before she showed it to him. Maybe that was a good thing, but now it wasn't like he'd be able to come out here and find her, she'd know the location was compromised if she wanted another break from things.

It was alright to let him know about this cave. She had others to move to if she chose to do so. But since there were wolves coming back, it was either time to start living in the trees again or find a cave that recently had a bear living in it. Wolves tended to hate that smell for some reason... especially whenever Athan had been over and she had smelled of him for several days. Those wolves really disliked the smell of her snake..
Blushing a little as she thought about it, a small smile crept upon her lips as it was quite a fond and fresh memory. Pushing those memories to the back, she accepted the photo and quietly looked at it several long moments.
Noticing that he was looking around the cave, she cocked her head to the side and watched him for a moment before getting up and going over to her pack against the wall. There she put away the photos and tied her pack up once again, using a special knot that probably looked familiar to Blake but only she and her father knew how to undo it.

Several thoughts were randomly crossing his mind, some of them about Rynn and one or two about a face he had a feeling she wouldn't want to see. He tried to put those out of his mind and wondered instead if she'd like an update on things around the area, all the little gossip, what Drake had been up to, the usual things that could perk someone's interest. In fact he felt it was worth vocalizing that thought. "So have you been around enough yet or cared enough to pick up on all the news and gossip from when you were out of town? Lot can happen when you disappear, some of it good and some of it bad but for whatever reason lots of people feel better when you're around. Even me, I feel safer knowing you're here, and I don't have to worry about you as much, heh."

As she stayed in front of her pack fiddling with some of the pockets, her fingers slowed as she turned the right side of her face towards him. For some reason it still seemed to agitate her when everyone says they worry about her. It's not fair to them, she understood that well enough, but she was more than capable of taking care of herself with no problem. Sure there were a few things that she was absolutely scared of, but there were many ways that she had learned to overcame those obstacles.
She stayed away at long intervals to make others get on without her, to make them learn that even when she comes back that if she can take care of herself, then of course everyone else should not have to worry.
But no one ever listened or cared. If there was a possible explantion, she was sure to hear it eventually.
"The up-to-date news of the place? No... not really. I've been musing about heading back for any reason at all."
Kind of sounding as if musing the thought still, he mentioned the last bit of his words and the fur around her neck seemed to stand up without realizing.
"I don't see why everyone worries about me.. I can take care of myself rather well out here. That is, well enough."
She finally turned around and sat against her pack. Not a whole lot inside but it made a worthwhile pillow sometimes.
As the hybrid was distracted by something to her side, the darker eye seemed to still stare straight forward, though it was empty and cold like an abyss.