In the water, instead of a wooden face with a Pinocchio like nose, as Gabe was expecting to see, a mask of birchwood with two hollow eyes looks back at him. Reeling back, Gabe takes a look around. Trees taller than buildings surround him, with their canopies casting shadows onto the lush forest floor. The wind emits a soft breeze that feel soothing to his wooden skin. Critters of different kinds chatter away, giving the forest a feeling of vitality. "This place is amazing...I could get used to this!" Feeling refreshed, Gabe trudges forward, ready to explore his surroundings. For hours, he travels only forward, leaping over fallen logs and crawling through the underbrush. Thankfully he does not seem to need food, just a bit of water and sunlight and he's good as new.
Night soon begins to fall as Gabe decides to take a break from his adventure. "Now comes the real question: can I sleep?" Gabe ponders to himself out loud as he looks towards the moon, a shining beacon second only to the sea of stars above him. "If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up." Recalling the bland skyscrapers and the factories that emit a smog so thick that it blocks the sky, Gabe sighs as he revels in the beauty of a clear sky long forgotten in the city. "I wonder how Sam is holding up. And what about ma and pa? It has been a while since I got to see them. Huh, you really don't know what you have till it is gone huh?" Gabe sits by the side of a tree as his mind whirls with memories of home. From the first spelling bee he won, to his first nurtured plant, they all appear in his head. And before he knew it, he fell asleep.
Morning comes as Gabe's consciousness returns. Standing up, Gabe stretches. "Sheesh, shows what I know about sleeping against a tree. I feel stiff as a board...Oh wait..." Ignoring his unintentional joke, Gabe resumes his travels. By dawn he comes across a cave. Normally he would not be interested, as he has already found three within a single day, but this one was different. by the entrance was a skeleton. Judging by how eroded it is, Gabe is sure that it has been here for a while. Yet somehow, of all of its gear, only the clothes remains intact. "Although it comes from a corpse, it is better than running around bare naked..." With some hesitation, Gabe takes the clothes and puts it on. Now donning some shorts and an orange cloak that reaches past his knees, Gabe was about to Leave when he heard something
"Treeman! Treeman!"
"Yummy sap! we take!"
"Skin make good weapon!"
Three angry sounding voices reach Gabe's earholes. And judging by what he can understand from the guttural words, they mean harm. Quickly changing to a sprint, Gabe dashes off. "No let get away! after, fast!" One of the voices yell out. Gabe ducks as a crudely made spear sails over his head. Two more follow suit, aimed straight for his arms and legs Gabe leaps over the first one, however the second hits his upper arm "OW!" Feeling a sharp stinging sensation, Gabe yells out, yet still continues to run, knowing that now is not a good time to stop.
Whatever is chasing him seems to have enjoyed Gabe's cry of pain, as primal grunts and hoots ring out not far from behind him. "Crap, how do I loose them!? wait, I got it!" Gabe drags his hand across the dirt, scooping up a pile along with a few rocks. Gabe pockets the rocks in the cloak, ready to use them for later. With the dirt in hand, Gabe throws it over his shoulder as he keeps running.
"EYES NO FEEL GOOD!"
"NO SEE! NO SEE!"
"RUDE TREEMAN! why no let us eat?"
Gabe nearly stumbles hearing the unexpected question. "What the hell? of course I do not want to be eaten! that means I DIE!" Sure that his makeshift smoke screen worked, Gabe books it for the nearest tall tree. He wraps his arms around it and begins to hoist himself up, with his feet staying connected to the tree's bark. "Good thing I cant get splinters otherwise I really would not know what to do." Gabe turns to look down to see his pursuers.
"EUgh! they look terrible!" before his eyes stood three short figures. With green skin, bulbous noses and warts that would even put a warthog to shame, Gabe was sure that he was looking at goblins. The trio all work to solve their eye problems in... unique ways. The first one is seen rubbing his face along the ground, making his problem worse instead. The second was Slapping his face, for unknown reasons on how that helps. The third, likely the smartest of the bunch, was wiping the dirt off of his eyes.
After finally regaining their vision, with the presumed leader having to enlighten his packmates, they began to look around. "Where tree man go? no yum yums?" The second, who was looking under a pebble, shouts out "Tree man not under here! Ow!" The third, having slapped the second on the back of his head, angrily shouts "Dumb! use nose! sniff out tree man." The leader then begins to sniff around and, much to Gabe's surprise, immediately points him out. "Up there! tree man in big tree!"
Watching them approach the tree, Gabe thinks to himself "How does he even know!?"