Closed Nature Loves Us Too Much

[Ryan Woodlock]

Ryan Kevin Woodlock often wondered how he found himself in situations like this. He often wondered yes, but he also knew. He loved his girlfriend, he really did. And he really loved that they've been going around the world. What he constantly wonders is why he doesn't make more of an effort to convince her that staying at a hotel would be just fine. It's not even that Ryan hated nature. It felt more like nature hated Ryan. Maybe animals were attracted to the pair of them cause Nora is a magizoologist, but Ryan just played the guitar for a living. And well, the animals that tended to find Ryan when Nora was away were usually not of the magical kind.

On to the matter at hand. It was already afternoon in Sao Thome das Letras, a quaint place in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was apparently a pretty well known mystic area, so naturally, Nora was going to investigate. There were nice places to stay at in town, but of course, Ryan had eventually agreed to camp out with his girlfriend. And not at a town campsite either, but some spot in the wilderness his girlfriend had chosen. He didn't complain much at first, there was an amazing waterfall nearby. And he heard that there was a pretty cave nearby as well. It was a short walk and he had taken his chances with interacting with a tourist group and gone for a swim at the falls. He thinks he did a great job as muggle and he had an amazing time. It was coming back to their campsite was the problem. There was a big fat snake by the tent. Where his wand was. A big fat snake. Just coiled up right there. It was yellow. And black. And nope. He was not dealing with that. He just stood there, arms crossed, drenched, and glaring at the snake.

 

[Nora Blythe]

Nora knew she had been gone for too long when the air started to turn chilly - she had left Ryan in the wilderness for too long and try as she might to make him a little more sensitive to the way nature works, he didn't seem to be able to grasp the things she needed him to grasp. That was fine, she mostly kept him around because she liked listening to his music anyway (not really, but mostly) and she didn't mind that she had to sort out his dilemmas whenever they came up. Still, as she turned to head back she thought about what she was actually out here trying to do - research of course - but sometimes tracking down some of the rarer species of Brazilian Dugbog meant she was wading almost hip deep into some of the more meshy areas.

When she finally made it to Ryan, she couldn't help but to laugh at him, because he appeared to have taken up a rather apparent issue with Boa Constrictor who seemed to be beginning to coil up around his wand. "Ryan, please don't move," she warned him, carefully pulling out her wand to stun the poor thing. It was at time likes this that she wished she could speak Parseltongue because then she might have been able to have the snake move of it's own accord, and whilst a Constrictor was really the least of their snake problems in Brazil, it was still a snake, and they could be unpredictable at the best of times. Best left alone, she thought. "Are you okay? Did you go for a swim at the falls?"

@Ryan Woodlock​

 

[Ryan Woodlock]

Ryan knew he was saved when he heard his girlfriend's laugh. He didn't take offense, this was kind of a regular thing by now. Well, a snake taking his wand hostage was definitely new but it always did seem that animals were attracted to Nora's presence but always took issue with his. His ongoing theory was that animals had taken offense that he was Nora's boyfriend. He knows it sounds stupid but what else was he supposed to think? He hasn't even done anything most times to deserve animals' unwitting attention. He still shuddered at the memory of the spider in Australia. Or that squirrel in Thailand. And Merlin forbid, he swore there was a bear near the campsite when they were about to leave Canada. "Definitely gonna stay right here," he said at his girlfriend's warning. He didn't really know what snake it was and it would have just been his luck if the snake would be one that would lunge at him so he had settled for glaring at it from where he first saw it. He had not moved from his spot since seeing the snake getting cozy with his wand and he was definitely not going to move until he had his wand back in his hand or until it was sleeping.

His girlfriend, bless her soul, was a miracle worker and he couldn't help but sigh in relief when the snake was finally stunned. Deeming it safe, he headed straight for his girlfriend and gave her a kiss on the cheek with a "Hey sweetheart." Pulling back, he took a good look at her and noted that she definitely had a productive day working but thank Merlin she came back early enough that he wasn't dead by snake with a wand. "Perfectly fine except for the scare. And yeah, I went incognito as a muggle and met up with a tourist group that was headed to the falls. They were confused but I just told them I got left behind by another group," he explained. Ryan was pretty good with pretending to be a muggle, mostly cause his mother's side of the family were muggles and he saw them a lot growing up. "How was your search though? Hopefully went better than this," he said with a sheepish grin gesturing to the stunned snake who still had his wand. "Think I should get it now or..." with Ryan's luck the snake would miraculously shrug off the stunning spell and kill him in front of his girlfriend, which would just be plain embarrassing. It was just better to wait for Nora to tell him that it would be fine before he made any sudden moves.​