Fallow inhaled a sharp breath, the thumps of the bears trampling
closer making fear rise up. She took Marshall's hand and put a hand
on Abeline's shoulder, her touch gossamer. She flinched, causing
them all to teleport far enough from the were-bears. Their roars
were only a faint sound now.
Abeline blinked. She turned around, wary now. "H-what? How did
you... do that?" Her arm shook slightly. "I'm sorry." She said,
hiding her face and the tears pooling in her eyes. "I- I knew
someone once who could do that... too, and he..." she broke off,
biting her lip to shut off the welling sobs. Wow, one week back
with humanity and she was already an emotional wreck. She turned on
her heel, walking fast. The trees looked slightly familiar. "It's
this way." She nodded her head towards a leafy path.
Fallow looked at her with concern, but Marshall just shook his head
(but barely). "Alright," Marshall murmured, tracing Abeline's
footsteps towards the path.
After a few moments of wandering along the path, they reached a
massive tree with a huge, gaping hole. Dying leaves coated the
branches of the tree, a few drifting to the ground soundlessly. She
padded into the tree, via the opening.
Inside, moss lined the ground, along with some stray leaves. The
tree was completely hollow and open to the sky, product of a
lightning strike. Inside, stray clothing was scattered about, a
small sum of money was thrown carelessly by a worn spot of bedding,
and a bow and a quiver of arrow rested against a wall. "Well,
welcome, I guess." By now, she had complete control over her
feelings.
"T-thank you, Abeline," Marshall said, smiling at her as he looked
around the tree hollow. It was quite incredible, and he hadn't
expected something as luxurious as it was. It was calming, to
finally be in the shelter during the midsts of the night.
There's a literal pack of were-bears in this forest... maybe
it's not the safest place? Do we need to relocate soon? He
thought. Fallow simply looked at him, as if she knew what he were
thinking. "There's an ever larger pack of werewolves on the
outskirts of the forest, Marshall. Remember?" She said almost
sorrowfully. They had found that out from experience. "Right," he
muttered, glancing up at the nonexistent roof.
Adeline smiled and blushed at the praise. "It's not much," she said
modestly, "but it's home. Well, for now, at least." She featured
toward a pile of sharp thorns and sticks almost complete
unnoticeable in the dim moonlight. "We need to set this up before
we do anything else. If we don't, we might get a visitor in the
night." In one fluid motion, she threw odd the dress and changed
into a deer, hardly a second she was exposed. Handling the thorns
and sticks were easier in this form; she could move more with her
stronger legs, and it was harder to get scratched under such a
dense hide of fur. She began to push the clutter of brambles
towards the entrance, using her about, but careful to keep thorns
from jabbing her eyes.
(Btw, I'm on my phone right now, so pardon any stray mistakes! :3 )
(Ahaha, doing rps on the phone is the worst~)
Marshall's fingers glowed with a soft, purple-pink aura. The same
aura embraced the bramble shield, moving it slightly in the air
before moving the rest of it to the front of the entrance,
sculpting it a bit in the process. "That okay?" He said, his
shoulders relaxing a bit when he released it. Fallow sat on the
bare ground, pulling her knees up to her chest and silently
watching, as if waiting to say something.
Abeline would have widened her eyes if she could, but in her doe
form, her eyes were already too wide for her to make them any
bigger. She gave a dip of her head, trying to twitch a smile on to
her face. It worked, somewhat. Abeline nodded her head to the back
of the room, towards the pile of bedding. She spread it out, using
her hooves and her snout to make able to accommodate two people.
Granted, the two's bed would be a little hard this night, but she
figured that they could manage. She nudged her head at them, then
to the bed. She motioned at herself and pointed at the entrance,
half-closing her eyes. She won't be exactly on watch, but would
wake up if anything approached.
Fallow smiled at Abeline's poor attempt to smile in deer form. She
took a seat on the bedding, which to her surprise, was a lot softer
than she anticipated. The roars of the bears echoed in the
distance. It was followed by a shrill yelp, one that couldn't
possibly be of a werebear or even a human. The shriek was silenced
and Fallow knew that the bears had taken their kill. She sighed,
silently mourning the dead creature as she lay down.
(Yeeaaas.)
Light filtered firmly through the open tree, dragging Marshall
closer to the bay of consciousness. His eyes fluttered open,
dragging him to the sad realization that he had no idea where he
was. It took a moment (or two) for him to see Abeline, and remember
that he had fallen asleep in the tree. The gentle songs of the
birds wafted into the tree, causing Fallow to stir but not awaken.
Abeline's head snapped up as she heard someone moving around. She
spotted Fallow, still asleep, but tossing and turning, making the
noise. Marshall was already awake. She stood up, shaking her coat
out. She shed a coat of dead leaves before making her way to a pile
of clothing and changing behind a branch that had somehow collapsed
into itself. She slipped on the simple breeches and shirt, before
stepping out from behind the tree, grateful to be wearing her own
clothing and undergarments. "Now, on the matter of breakfast..."
She paused. "I am a vegetarian. I'll eat anything plant-like. At
least, that's not poisonous. Even grass'll do. I'm not sure I can
help you two with your food for the morning, except point you to a
black mulberry tree." She faltered for a second, then added, "Don't
eat the white or red ones, they cause some wacky hallucinations and
can give a pretty nasty stomachache."
Marshall looked up at her. "Alrighty. C'mon, Fallow," he murmured,
nudging his twin's shoulder. She jolted up into a sitting position,
her shoulders tensed for a split second before she was sighing and
brushing her aqua-colored hair out of her face. "Good morning!" She
said almost way too cheerily to Abeline, standing up and wiping the
water out of her eyes. Marshall looked towards the entrance. "Welp,
we'd probably best get started on food-hunting. He used his
telekinesis powers to open up the brambles of the entrance and
glanced outside, pausing. "Uh... was that there before?" He
murmured, looking at the human corpse that lay on the ground
outside.
Abeline reeled back, slapping a hand to her mouth before shaking
her head in a slight "no." "Uh, I don't think so." She said
shakily. She reached out to steady herself against the wood of the
tree. "This... has never happened before." She laughed nervously.
"Um, wherever I've been, that's never happened. Is this, uh, normal
for you guys?"
Fallow's petite hand covered her mouth, her blue eyes completely
horrified. After a small, eerie moment she whispered, "Yes...
sadly, it is..." She shakily walked over to the corpse, bending
down. She shut the eyelids to the ghost-like eyes of the dead body,
sighing mournfully as she did so. A warning sign, probably...
argh, we're not taking Abeline into account... if we tag along with
her--if she even wants to--things would plummet down the drain...
we'd be responsible if she got hurt, too, she thought, looking
over at Marshall. He nodded, knowing what she was thinking. "I-i'm
sorry, Abeline... w-we should go." She walked around the corpse,
Marshall following closely behind her.
Abeline dipped her head, shielding her eyes from the dead body. "I
think so too." Abeline had always been somewhat of a coward,
avoiding trouble, even when there was none. Some would call her
superstitious, but Abeline called herself careful. She gathered up
her belongings: her clothing, her bow and arrows, her bag, and a
few other things. Whoever, whatever these people were, they
brought trouble to her front doorstep, literally, and she had to
move again because of it.
The area they were standing in darkened, forming a pitch-black rune
around them. Marshall inhale sharply, looking up to the sky. "Run!"
Fallow snapped, harshly, at Abeline. A beam of darkness shot at
them from the sky, causing a large explosion. The thin dust
cleared, leaving both Fallow and Marshall in a crater in the
ground, protected by Marshall's shield of darkness. An armored
creature floated on the ground, landing in front of Abeline with a
spear pointed at her throat. The other soldiers behind him, he
spoke, "What relation do you have to the experiments?"
Abeline froze, the spear hovering inches from her throat. Her eyes,
as quick as a flash, glanced at the two kids and mouthed,
"Run."
She turned her gaze back on to the officer. Her eyes were sucked of
their usual warmth, and were cold steel. She parted her mouth
slightly and threw her voice to the left, making it seem as if
there was someone in the brush talking. "Abeline! I'm going for
help!" The voice cried. Even though she couldn't make it seem as if
someone was crashing through the brush, maybe she could get some
soldiers to chase the phantom.
Two of the soldiers sped towards the voice. Fallow slowly levitated
out of the hole, dragging Marshall up with her. We can't just
leave all the soldiers with Abeline... we've already brought her
enough trouble. He shot his gunblade at the leading officer
that had pointed a spear at Abeline, knocking the weapon out of the
soldier's hands. The demon soldiers lurched into the air, one of
them nailing Fallow in the stomach as it descended. She summoned
her spear, blocking the next blow that was sent her way. A shadow
claw grabbed three of the soldiers, knocking them to the ground but
only seeming to drag them down. Fallow slammed her spear towards
the neck of a soldier, aiming for the kill.
Abeline could take a hint. She gracefully leaped onto the back of
one of the soldier, morphing half her arm into a deer's leg before
nailing him in the face. He reeled back, but she could see no hint
of blood, whereas a normal human would have had a broken nose. As
another reached for her, she lashed out with her hind legs,
transforming them once again into cloven hooves. Each time she
landed a successful hit, her hands and feet would morph back into
their petite form.