Social Outcasts

Maddox


I looked out to where Nokie was pointing, and much to my surprise... I actually saw trees!

"I see them" I said and raised my eyebrows in confusion.

"That, my fellow abnormal friend" he said and gave me a wink, "is where we need to be". We took off in the direction of the trees after finishing off the last bit of water in my cantine and I started thinking about something. After two weeks here in this desert... I actually have a- a friend? I started to laugh aloud but stoped myself and smiled instead then noticed that Nokie was quite a bit a head of me, I practicaly ran to catch up and continued walking beside him at his pace.

Luck was on my side..... at least until i starved or dehydrated to death. Time past, all i did was walk, walk and walk and walk, and walk. 'I needed food, and water' was the only thing i could think of. I knew that i would not eat or drink what the people had given me until the last moment. And that was when i saw them, two people a female and a male. I could tell that they had just met and they were not from the same race, not human like me. Also i could tell they were exiles and that i would have company. I walked towards them as they looked at a distance. They started walking and i started running, without water and food.
I was exhausted when i reached them. "Hello" I panted, they looked at me and i looked at them. I'm not a comedian so when i say catch me please catch me" I said and collapsed exhausted.

I kept walking and brooding. I hated how much time I had to think about everything. It made me miss and hate home so much more than if I was distracted.

I decided to walk up the dune in front of me. I wanted to see if I might be able to get a better view of anything. Maybe there was a town somewhere near here that I could sneak into and grab some food. My stomach felt like it was eating itself.

I trudged up the slope, feeling the sandy dust blow into my face. I spit and wiped my eyes, but it was no use. I gritten my teeth, feeling the dirt crunch between them just as I made it to the top.

And then I saw them. There were three figures not far off in the distance. I dropped down onto my stomach and crawled back trying to hide myself as best as possible. the sand was hot where my skin made contact, but I didn't dare raise myself up and more than I had to. I'd rather have burns than be dead.

It looked like two of the figures weren't even human. I'd heard stories of people like that, but none lived in my village so I'd never met one. I's heard stories though.

And then the one that appeared human collapsed! I shrunk back behind the dune further. Maybe they killed him for food? Maybe tthye put a spell on him! Maybe it's some sort of ritual! Should I go help him? Who knows, I could be next... although, I would probably heighten my chances by confronting them.

The one with the more dog-like tail bent down towards the man. That's when I hopped up and sprinted towards them. I wasn't just going to sit back and watch someone get eaten or sacrificed or something. I charged towards them, and they looked up at me in innocent surprise. They wouldn't fool me. I'd heard stories.

"What did you do to him?" I screamed, my voice breaking with nerves. now that I was so close with their cat-like eyes on me that I definitely regreted running towards them.

However, the male one said "We didn't do anything, he just fainted. He's probably dehydrated. Do you have water?"

My canteen felt heavier around my waist. I conisdered not giving to them. I mean, it was all I had left, and what if this was just a trick? ...But then again, if I could help this guy... I handed it over to him slowly.



**Sorry this is so long, I got carried away!**

Nokie took the water canteen, eyeing this new girl warily. Obviously not the trusting type. Of course, he thought, that's probably a good thing in this rag-tag bunch of people we're gathering.
He glanced at Maddox, and grinned slightly. "You mus' be the pied piper."
"Huh?"
"Who would think there were four people all in the same part of this desert? It's like we were all drawn here or somethin'."
The new girl cut in. "Stop talking and help him!"
"Okay, okay. Keep ya pants on." Nokie knelt by the human male's head and gently lifted it. Carefully parting his lips he dribbled water in slowly.
"Give him more."
"More in one go will drown him," Nokie glanced up irritably. "Milady."
She looked a bit put out, and Nokie pulled at his headscarf. Sprinkling a little water on it, he wound it instead around the Human's head.
"That'll keep him a bit cooler, but we have to get him to shade. It's a bad thing to be unconscious under this sun."

The guy with the tail began to pick the guy up, and I hurried to the other side to help carry him. I couldn't imagine where we would be going to get shade. I hadn't seen anything that would possibly hide me from the sun since I'd gotten out here. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to these people. It sort of freaked me out. First of all because I didn't know them and why would they randomly be out here in the middle of the dessert, but once I tore my eyes away from their strange features, I noticed that they looked just as ragged as I did. I wondered if their situation might be similar to my own. They didn't seem to know each other well, either. I decided to speak up.

"So where are we taking him?" my voice was satisfyingly strong and defiant compared to how I felt.

Maddox


"To the trees over there" I answered and pointed off onto the horizon with my bony hand. I noticed how this new human girl was looking at my hand, probably wondering how I stayed so pale under this heat. In truth, the heat didn't really effect me, if I didn't think about it. Averting my eyes awya from her I sighed and folded my arms around myself, I wasn't strong so I didn't even try to help them pick up the new human male.


*didn't know what else to say*

Name: Ives Clemson
Age: she won't tell anyone, but she's really just fourteen.
Gender: female
Personality: very quiet, seemingly sour. Tends to make seemingly random noises, but none of it is on purpose, which her few friends have eventually come to realize. When she does speak, it's on the subject of science. She embodies the notion of a person being a 'geek', with a persistent passion for science, science, and more science. Some find her to be a self-absorbed know-it-all, but she's a decent gal when you get through the cold, impersonal outside.
Physical Description: average height, shorter than the tall, taller than the short. She is also a sort of average weight, neither fat nor lean, but reasonably strong when someone decides to arm wrestle her. She's a pale girl, with shoulder length bronze hair tinted with streaks of copper and gold. Oval face with a nondescript nose, full lips, blazing green eyes and an intelligent brow. All in all, pretty, but not insanely gorgeous either.
Reason for being Exiled: She's mildly Autistic,(thus her obsession with science) and because of social anxiety cause by this condition, decided to take a hike on society and become a recluse. She also got tired of questions about her tics, (the noises she makes) caused by Tourette's syndrome, and this also drove her to get out of society's line of sight. The questions people always asked made her all the more aware of her differences from the average person, and she just wanted to be alone for once in her life. When she broke down crying from rage in the middle of her chorus class, the teacher exiled her.

I averted my eyes quickly. The girl seemed to not like how I'd looked at her. I wondered if I'd been rude staring at them... Maybe all the stuff I'd heard wasn't true...

At least, I hope it isn't. I thought as we continued towards the trees.

[b]Maddox[/b[


"So, um... Your name is Maddox?" asked the girl after a bit of awkward silence. I nodded my reply and looked up out at the horizon, the trees were considerably closer then they were a while ago. "Mind if I ask you what you are?" she asked, looking at me curriously.

"My race is often known for being a ban of thieves, or known for how beautiful our women are" I asnwered, pausing to laugh at the last bit of that. "My race, is a very rare race that no one ever trully see's anymore... My race is dead, but we were once called the Fennec." The sun sent its bright beams down into my eyes and growled, this was pure torture because I was still so used to the shade... So used to having things to jump and climb on.

"Um... How old are you, Maddox?" asked the girl, after pondering through some thoughts.

"I turned thirteen four months ago" I answered simply and gave a small smile.

"Oh... My name is Danielle" she told me and I nodded.

"And I'm Nokie, Love," the other guy said, heaving the body with me.

A race of theives? I thought with wonder. I liked the sound of that. It was epic. I suddenly felt so common. I wished I had more of an interesting background. Or something I could say.

"I can spit really far," I blurted out after a couple minutes. That was how I'd passed time after the first day walking out in the desert. It helped me figure out how far I was getting, when I passed where I'd spat.

"Oh," Maddox said, frowning. Ok, so it didn't sound really epic or interesting, but if you saw it, it's actually pretty impressive.

"Well let's see it, then," Nokie said, pausing. The sun was going down anyway, so we wouldn't be travelling in the sun much longer anyway. I glanced down at the guy, and gently placed his feet on the sand. I took a couple steps away. I took a deep breath, and then let it fly. I lunged forward, hucking a lungie as far as I could. It went probably 15 feet.

I turned around, satisfied.

"Wanna see how far it got?" I asked, excitedly.

"We should probably keep moving," Maddox said wrinkling her nose. I nodded, a little offended, honeslty, and went back the the body to pick him up again. I noticed that his eyes were beginning to flicker open, though.

"Guys! I think he's waking up!" I shouted.

*Wow that was long*

I opened my eyes and found out that i was being looked at.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked confused as i stood up

"Well considering the fact that you've been out for several hours at an end, we should be" A girl with pointed ears said.

I suddenly took a pouch and checked in it, yes my food and water were in it like they were before.

"Who are you?" I asked looking at the crowd "Exiles are no supposed to be in groups are they?"

"No, we just met up a few hours ago" said the man who looked like a cross monkey.

I looked around there was a Fennec, a human and some other kind did not recognize.

"what are you?" i asked pointing to the gorilla man.

"well.... we're just called the 'tree people'" he said.

"And what are you?" Asked the Fennec

"Neotac" I replied then added "I'm Zire, you are?"

They started introducing themselves and after a while i could manage to remember all their strange names.

"So why were you exiled?" Maddox asked

"I was an.... why were you exiled?" I asked not wanting to reveal my reason yet.


(Good or bad guys?)

Nokie stretched, and butted in.
"Well, I was exiled 'cause my people are a bunch of boring prudes!"
Maddox frowned. "What?"
"Well, I was mucking around, mindin' my own business, when I saw something on the ground. So I took it. How was I supposed to know it was a sacred relic? Anyway, I went t' see ma new lady, with this thing, a medallion, you would say, and decided to give it to her. An appreciation present, I guess. But then her father walked in on us...well, having a moment o' passion- don't worry, we were decent, saw my gift and went off 'is rocker! And then I got turfed out."
Nokie nodded, and tried to not look too proud of himself.

The first thing I thought when the new guy looked at me was Oh, thank God I don't have to carry him anymore! But the second was wow, another one with cat eyes. Are there any other humans out here?

I giggled a little at Nokie's reason. They all looked at me, and I didn't know how I should respond.

"Uh, my parents never really liked me that much, I guess," I muttered.

"So they kicked you out for that?" Maddox asked incredulously. I didn't want to get into it, so I just nodded.

"What happened to you?" I asked her.

Ballow


I glanced at the guy we had woken up and as he began to talk I saw his eyes and smiled. A Neotac! Very close to my own race, cousins in species. Then they began to talk. A bunch of exiles talking to each other like companions.

It seemed like a friendly atmosphere, really I didn't expect such people to have such interesting personalities. This was a good group, I realised staring at them with a smile on my face. No one really deserved to be exiled. Well, the ones that explained themselves at least. I drew my attention to the guy of my cousin species.

Strange, Neotacs usually stuck with their own kind, his exile must've been for a bad reason. People began to sit and describe their reasons and I followed them only mildly interested as they also stated their names. In the short time I learnt their names and remembered them.

Maddox was being asked a question, but the girl who had described her own race an extinct hesitated before answering. Her small dark toothpick like body made me think of a girl I had once known and been accused of killing. Suddnely I just wanted to protect her, like a little sister. I saw she really didn't want to answer so I took over stepping in front of her and smiling, "Well, I'm Ballow and I'm a Nekoen, a close related race to the Neotac."

I shot Zire, the Neotac a smile and continued sweetly, "I'm here for murder."

It was the truth and it took the spotlight off of Maddox. But now they were staring at me like a was a dangerous person. I didn't blame them. That was what everyone thought. The wind picked up and blew my hair over my face and a cloud passed overhead, placing unnatural shading on my face.

I must've looked like a monster. Poor them. I tried to put my face into a smile, but the only thing I managed to dredge up was a sneer-like grin. Some of them backed away. I actually wanted to laugh; they were scared of me. How could they?

The lips of my mouth tugged into a real smile and I looked them in the eyes. Would they trust me? Or wouldn't they?

(Sorry I butted in like that, but he hasn't been in and lets pretend he was always with the group, shall we? ^^)

Is it too late to join?