Another chunk of her hair flew by her face, and she gave an enraged snarly as she twisted quickly to once side, reversing the way she was going before she began to spin round and around; if she couldn’t get them off, she was sure as hell going to give them a ride they wouldn’t soon forget. This went on for a few moments before Gaal had arrived. By the time she’d spun around again, Mara had had enough time to realize there had been a hulking mass of black that wasn’t there before and she struggled to stop and focus. The world was wobbling back and forth still, but she managed to stay zoned in on the gigantic black cat who was, contrary to the usual way of things, standing on two legs and fighting off the brownies. Well, wasn’t that something? Something rather terrifying, in her opinion. If he hadn’t currently been beating off the Brownies, she might have had the inkling to quietly slink off in the other direction. Of course, she just found herself standing there look completely baffled and slightly confused with her nose wrinkled as she attempted to try and analyze exactly what the hell he was.  Obviously a cat, sure, but one that stood like a man? That seemed, well, odd.<br/><br/>And it talked. Good. That made things only slightly creepier. Mara just took a half step back, the wary look in her eyes obviously stating that she wasn’t quite sure what to make of Gaal. She opened her mouth to say something in her recoiled state but turned her head to the side to realize that she happened to be standing next to two surviving brownies who were just as confused looking as she had been. Nearly in the same pose as the woman, they were just blankly looking at Gaal with a sense of apprehension. Mara made a soft grumble and stopped her foot once, causing the two to shriek and make a series of garbled noises before they ran once around her in a circle and then took off in the nearby brush, avoiding the sudden swings of the woman’s blade.<br/><br/>Giving one last huff towards them, she turned back around to face the new creature and took a small step back. “Nothing so bold,” she paused to clear her throat. “Apparently they just don’t enjoy guests…or they find that funny. Hard to tell with something that can’t talk.” She gently rested the tip of her blade in the earth despite the tension in her body that sung of how uncomfortable she was in the newcomer’s presence. “ But, thankfully, now I don’t have to try and ask them. Much obliged. I was getting rather sick of the bite marks,” she gazed down at one on her hand. “I severely hope they don’t carry anything. Rotten little imps.”  There was a bit of awkward silence as he just looked at him, unwilling to remove her gaze from him out of sheer caution. Besides, she’d never laid an eye on anything that looked remotely like him, or heard tales. Odd thing for a woman like herself who basically lived on nothing but gossip and tavern tales.<br/><br/>After another moment, she blurted out “So, you from around these parts?” which didn’t sound as nonchalant as she hoped. What was she supposed to say to…it? She didn’t want to make any assumptions at this point. Still, it was surprising that things still could surprise her with everything that she’d seen before and thus far. Once, she’d even had a rather polite conversation with a bird who had turned out to be rather useful and yet something like Gaal could still surprise her. Funny world. Strange world, too, but funny. Attempting to remedy this, she just quickly added “I mean, originally. I just, you know, haven’t heard about any other,” she wanted to say intelligent creature but figured that would be a little too demeaning so instead she substituted “sentient things” which didn’t really sound any better. Deciding it couldn’t be salvaged, she made it better by just babbling on “around here. You know, mostly just beasts and birds and things that don’t really talk too right. Might be fairies, though but haven’t had the displeasure of meeting them yet. Met nothing really, ‘cept you… and the brownies, course, and a few spiders, and this nasty little hind. And then there was that bird that sounded strangely like a cow and threw rocks, which was right after the heavy growling and breathing that never really showed itself. And a dog. Just, you know, a regular one.”<br/><br/>She finally shut herself up and just went to standing there and doing what she did best. Which was just holding her sword and trying to speak as few syllables as possible and not to think any long strands of thoughts less she become annoyed and irritable. Thinking did that to her, for one reason or another.