Young Writers Society

Okay. There seems to be some confusion. I'll try to straighten it out. Dax and anyone NOT with the rest of The Six, are now back with them. This is now about two or more hours later, Charna and company retreated mainly b/c Pravus, due to having to cut of his arm and cauterizing it, then losing control of the fire and then Charna receiving another letter from her father--from above...... (AKA, by 'dragon'.)

Anyway. Now, everyone is back with Zabe, Lulu and the Six. Charna and her goons are back in the city where they originally started, waiting for Pravus.

No. Complaining. I'm sorting out the mess, alright? No. More. Confusion. Do you all know where you are now? Good. Now we can continue.

Charna | Back at the Tavern, a few hours later:

Pravus was growing his arm back, apparently. But he'd been in there for over an hour. He'd gone into the room as soon as we got back and hadn't come back out. I sighed, looking towards Varik. The big guy just stared at me. I looked away. Well, this had just gotten interesting.

"Pravus," I called in a bored voice. "Are you done yet?" He groaned. I took that for an answer and turned away. "I'm going downstairs. Remember the second letter my father sent me?" The big oaf didn't answer. Neither did Pravus. "Well, I'm supposed to wait here for the next one. We're camping here overnight, while the fire dies down."

((Sorry about the length, but it's better than nothing, correct?))

Cypress

The bark felt wet, and it slipped around uncomfortably as I slid down on two knives. Here they all were again, faces ranging from scared to angry to something like relief. I stayed carefully under the shade of the big tree I'd just descended. The moon illuminated far too well for my liking. I pushed a lock of hair that had come loose behind my ear, shivering as a drop of water hit my shoulder. I glanced behind me.

Toliaz was far, far behind us. I could hardly even make out the buildings, and that's with super-vision. My eyes narrowed, and I cocked an ear. Heartbeats. Chirps, hoots, scratching noises. A howl, far off. But no hoofbeats- no Devon. I let out a soft breath, leaning into the tree behind me. He was gone. I wasn't getting hanged today, thank god. I looked both ways and straightened, taking a step. Staying in the shadow of some ferns, and a tree nearby, I inched closer to the group, keeping pace.

If I was lucky, no one would see me, and Lady Luck had changed her opinion of me, apparently. Careful, Cy. Step light. Soft breath. Stay in shadow. Pause -hold that breath- relax. Repeat. It was a simple method I'd perfected in the first two years alone. My shirt rippled in the wind, and I was aware of how much I missed the warmth of Roger's, and the fact that -aha!- I still had bread. Not warm, but I was hungry.

I twisted a crust piece off and slipped it between my teeth, chewing carefully so I didn't crunch. Crunching drew attention, and I didn't want that. Attention meant meeting, meeting meant bonding, and bonding meant breaking. A cycle I knew all too well.

So, in short, I had to avoid all attention.

There's a DT for comments like that, Ava....

DT link; topic66713-15.html

To answer your question... I'm not entirely sure. That's up to Isha. Go and ask her. I think it's back to where Zabe and Lulu came from--but there's A LOT of stuff that needs to happen between now and then. I guess you guys are camping by the river or something? Like I said, I'm not entirely sure so you need to ask Isha.


ANY MORE OUT OF CHARACTER COMMENTS ARE TO GO IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD! That's what it's for! Plus, it ruins the flow of the SB... -.-" *sighs and points at DT* Any more comments are to go in there! I mean it.

Fumusia | By the river

Dax had somehow found his way back to the group; I asked him where he had gone, and he just looked at me in an shell shocked way.
We were all together again: our little group of freaks. Most of us were tired and hungry, (somehow, there was a smell of bread in the air...) but Zabriel insisted on us continuing a little further.

Before we left, I made sure I filled my flask with the river water, which tasted clean and wonderful on my dry, burnt throat.
The morning sun shined through the green leaves, and the moon disapeared into the light of day.
I felt things were looking up.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

We walked for more hours, and I have to admit, I was getting achey and tired. Some others seemed not at all effected by the long trek.

Eventually, about half way through the afternoon, the dense trees became sparser. I watched them creep away from us, as if they were the one moving- not us. Soon, a large meadow was visible through the remaining trees, and the ground turned from damp soil, to dew sodden grass.

The blue, cloud spotted sky stretched out above the yellow and green grass. The afternoon sun glistened off the dew, and the wind sent ripples through the tall grass. Although there was still a cold wind whistling by, the sun was warm and comforting on my cheek.

"Right, we'll rest here for an hour or so, then get going again," Zabriel announced, "Make the most of it."

Immediatley, I was sitting in the grass, with my boots off. Making it rain had exhausted me, but then to walk for that long- it was almost too much. Sure, I had my strengths- stamina and physical strength were not them.

Ignoring the tickly grass, I lay down, and closed my eyes. I heard someone lying down beside me, but I didn't open my eyes to see who. I felt as if I would never open them again, I was so tired.
I let my shoulder relax and melt into the ground, which wasn't much of an welcoming mattress, but I didn't care.

I felt my mind drift off, and soon I was asleep.

Malis | Beyond the forest

The chips fell into the grass lazily with each swipe, and it almost looked like a rain of wood. Malis didn't look up even as Ari sat beside her, the eyes of the creatures trained on her methodical skinning of the branch. After a moment, he spoke up. "What're you doing?"

Malis paused, slightly surprised. "Oh." She went back to her chipping. "I'm making a dart." It was indeed starting to look like the sharp and pointy instrument. "Just in case we run into them again. I figure that's the first reason I'm in this group, anyway."

"Huh?"

"Well, I haven't got any special powers like you lot, do I? So I'm here to make weapons, aren't I?"

"That's...not true." Zabriel cut in, having overheard their conversation. "You're one of us, so I expect you do have powers. You just don't know it yet."

Malis looked over at Fumusia, who was sleeping soundly on the grass. She looked so peaceful - and unassuming. "I don't know. You think I'd have noticed any powers I had if I did."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see."

Aridian

"That's not true; you probably do have powers, somewhere." I said. Sundancer, with Eli and Jelly on him, settled down behind me.

"You'd think I would recognize them."

"No. Maybe it's something like the ability to transform or something. You never needed to use it, but it's still there."

"Great. Now I can run with the bears." She said sarcastically, continuing on her weapon. Kitten curled up on my hand. I stroked her absentmindedly.

"Maybe that's not it. i only found out my powers when I saw a weird falling shape. I followed it. It was a dragon. She gave me her daughter. Then I began to see them all. I discovered a whole new world- just by accident. That will happen to you, too. You'll see. I'm not lying."

A comfortable silence spread over all of use, disturbed only by the sound of Malis cutting her weapon. I almost drifted off, but I caught myself and stayed awake.

"Where are we going anyway?" Dax asked.

"Somewhere."

"Where?" I chirped in.

"Well, the thing is, we-"

"I bet that hey don't even know." Malis added.

"You brought us all the way here and you don't even know?!" I demanded.

"Shut up! We do know! Just get some rest while you can!" Zabriel screamed. We all quieted. Fumusia didn't even wake up. I suddenly got up.

"Where are you going?" Malis asked me.

"I don't know. Away from these crackpots?"

"No, come one. Stay a little longer, at least. besides, I could tell them right now and they could stop you."

"You wouldn't." I hissed.

"I would." She admitted. I sat down in defeat.

"I'm going to sleep." I announced to everyone. No one acknowledged me, though. I promptly laid down on the grass. I heard Malis sit down as well before I drifted off to sleep.

Malis

At last, all was quiet - except, of course, the sound of Zabriel pacing about, and perhaps, the chipping sounds of her umpteenth dart. She'd lost count a while ago. The others excepting the two sleeping forms of Aridian and Fumusia sat on the ground a little distance away from her: sometimes, she thought she heard snatches of conversation. However, what she did hear was rendered in such a peculiar fashion she half-wondered if her special power was turning normal conversation into coded words.

Which would be completely worthless. And lame.

"I think she looks kind of cute."

"You know, this branch looks awfully like a wand. Maybe if I wave it, something magical will happen!"

"Hungry..."

"Scary...oh wait, Zabriel's coming this way. Shut up, shut up, what if he can actually hear you?"

Malis grit her teeth and shook her head angrily, trying to get rid of the ridiculous words. It was just then that Zabriel stopped pacing right behind her, his face scrunched up into a confused expression. "What are you doing?"

NOW he notices. "Making darts - didn't you notice? I've been doing it for a while."

"Riiiiight. Except, I thought it was just a way to pass the time. But you're obviously serious about this." He looked to her side, where a rather noticeable mountain of darts was slowly building up. "At this rate, you'll cut off all the branches in the forest."

"Fine then." Malis grumbled, somewhat unhappily. "Your group, your rules. But give me something to work with or I'll simply go mad."

"Huh. Why don't you try sleeping? Like them, perhaps?" He was obviously referring to Aridian and Fumusia. One of whom had just tried to escape...Malis shook her head and frowned, taking a particularly vicious swipe at the half-formed dart.

"I'm..." Malis paused for a moment, without the sound of her regular chipping, everything went silent. She twitched slightly. "I've got insomnia." If only he knew. He'd probably laugh his head off at the notion that she was scared of being - was disturbed the word? - while she was asleep. And she didn't exactly mean by their pursuers. She bit her lip and resumed chipping away at her dart. "Anyhow..."

"Anyhow?"

She smiled up at Zabriel - a weird, visibly forced expression. "Don't you have something else to do?"

Nyeh, sorry for the lack of quality. Quick post, trying to get back into Zabe's head-- it's not as easy as I thought it would be xD

Zabriel | Beyond the Forest

The slightest hints of a frown worked their way into Zabriel's features. Malis' thoughts had been... disturbing, to say the very least. "Not really, actually." He sighed quietly and moved one hand to rub the back of his neck, averting his gaze to the grass. "And it's safe to sleep, Malis. I swear it on my life that I won't touch you."

"What do you mean?!" He's reading my mind!

Zabriel couldn't help but chuckle. "Only thoughts about myself. But you really should sleep. You won't have another chance any time soon." He cleared his throat and crossed his arms neatly over his chest, hoping that he looked more stern than he felt. "We'll be heading out in around half an hour. Lulu and myself will hand out food and we can eat as we go."

Malis didn't answer, only narrowed her eyes to slits. Fiery, distrusting, slits.

He returned the glare with a scowl, stole one last look at the pile of darts, and turned to leave Malis to her forgery and bitter thoughts. If she didn't sleep, she didn't sleep. They weren't stopping, and unless she was wounded, Zabriel didn't plan on carrying her.

He had hardly taken three steps when he caught wind of the end of a thought. Zabriel turned his head, eyebrows arched. "Don't you dare throw one of those at me." He shoved a finger towards the pile of darts and took his leave, allowing those who were intelligent enough to rest do so.

Lulu, where are you? There were a few things they needed to figure out. Starting with their pursuers.

Lulu

I dipped my hands into the stream and splashed the water up at my face. More walkers. Evil walkers. And they were after us. We had suspected we'd have some trouble, but these people were stronger then us. Much stronger then us. I shuddered and splashed my face again before a voice rang through my mind.

"Lulu... where are you?"

Zabe, I breathed slowly, propping myself against the tree. I rubbed my eyes and looked down at my hands, no visible signs of distress. Just extremely worried.

"I'm by the stream, what do you want now?"

I snapped. Perhaps that was a bit mean of me, but since when was I one to care? Since a while, I couldn't lie to myself. Zabe was my only friend.

"Ouch Lu, calm down."

I grumbled under my breath.

"I'm sorry, what's wrong?"

There was a moment of silence, knowing Zabe he was probably laughing at me. I stood slowly and stretched out, as I did I could hear my bones cracking from stiffness. I inhaled deeply and was about to ask if he was still there when he finally replied.

"Just get back here."

Well... who's being the snappy one now?

I walked out of the room, stretch and twisting my new grown arm. It still felt sore from where I cut it off, but that would go away soon enough. Coming downstairs I nearly walked into Charna. "So, are we going after those kids?" Pravus asked. "There's one in particular I would like to cut into little pieces."

"No, we are to wait here for further instruction," Charna replied. "And remember, we're supposed to catch them alive, not killed them."

"Oh, I don't have to kill him to get my revenge," Pravus said smiling evilly.

*All I got Ish*